The more preparation, the better the podcast
My father-in-law is one of those guys who believes in order. I can hear him saying:
“Everything in its proper place.”
“No manual left unread.”
“No list unprioritized.”
No equipment is ever lent out without a “short course” of instructions first.
You get the type.
It used to grate on me, honestly. As a creative type, I’ve always been more, “shoot from the hip” and “chuck the spaghetti to see what sticks” sort of person.
I love to improvise.
Barry, on the other hand, adheres to the maxim of “proper prior planning” he learned in the military.
So what does all this have to do with podcasting? Well, as much as it pains me to admit this in writing, when it comes to ensuring your podcast is a success, my father in law was right.
“Proper Prior Planning Prevents Production Problems.”
Everyone wants it quickly
I now lead a busy podcast agency – and our clients often ask why it takes some time to get a podcast off the ground. I respond that the work we do up front is when all the really heavy lifting happens.
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You’re plotting out the season arc
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Scripting the structure of each episode
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You’re figuring out how your team is going to integrate with the team making the podcast.
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You’re running your show concept up the flagpole with your key stakeholders
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Testing equipment
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Working with your host.
You’re then developing a marketing strategy, reaching out to media partners and the media. You’re creating beautiful colour-coded workback schedules. Then you’re scrapping them, and creating new, more realistic ones as you get a sense of the real scope of the work 🙂
You can produce a podcast on the fly, but…
All of this takes time. It’s tempting to just jump in with both feet and learn on the fly – and many podcasters do. The entire “5 guys and a Yeti” genre of hour-long ramble-cast podcasting is rooted in this practice. And sometimes – this approach can work. Improvisation is fun, and improv shows can be popular. But the best ones – if you listen closely – tend to have evidence of planning at their core. It’s “behind the scenes” – but it’s there, nonetheless.
Nobody’s saying you should fall into analysis paralysis and never get your podcast off the ground. But if you want a professional-sounding podcast, you should absolutely take the time to work out as many of the kinks as you can before your host gets anywhere near the microphone. Doing this can save time and money later in the production schedule.
What happens if you don’t plan?
A poorly planned episode, for example, might result in a long, unfocused interview. This in turn can lead to a heavier load for your producer or audio editor, and more visits “back to the drawing board” to fix structural issues that would not exist if you’d paid more attention to the planning in the first place. All of this leads to increased billable hours, and more expense. It can also result in a narrower marketing “window” and fewer opportunities to connect with your audience.
There’s a better way
It boils down to this: The better your planning, the more free you are to improvise with confidence, on budget, on point, and in a way that serves your audience and your show. So yeah, plan ahead folks. Or else, my father in law may have to give you a “short course.”
Jen Moss is the Chief Creative Officer of JAR Audio
