So, you’ve chosen the name of your podcast, you know what you want to talk about, and you’re excited about getting started, but you find yourself wondering, “How do I consistently create episodes that keep listeners hooked?”  Well, the secret is having a refined podcast workflow.

Anyone can set up and talk into a microphone, but if you want your podcast to stand out above the rest, there’s only one way to do it: proper planning.

What is a podcast workflow and why do you need one?

A podcast workflow is the process you follow to create an episode from beginning to end. Having a podcasting workflow is like following a recipe while making a meal – if you follow it to a tee, you can be sure that it will turn out exactly as it should – massively increasing your productivity while reducing stress and mistakes. 

Having a workflow will not only ensure that every episode is top quality and builds trust with your  audience, but also make it much easier to hire an editor or producer as your podcast grows. Unfortunately, creating a workflow is something that new podcasters often overlook, and I don’t want you to make the same mistake. The good news is, creating a podcast workflow doesn’t need to be complex, I’ll show you. 

What is the structure of a good podcast episode?

Every top quality podcast episode should include the following elements:

1.  The Intro.  Much like the hook in your social media content, and the headline on your website, your intro is arguably the most important part of your podcast, because if your listener doesn’t make it past the first five minutes, the rest really doesn’t matter. Your podcast intro should be short, relatable to your ideal client and include your name, the transformation your content will offer them and why they should care about it, and royalty free music for the background. Free Music Archive is a great place to look for royalty free music where you can sort by genre. I recommend recording one standard intro and adding it in during the editing process. 

2.  The Main Content. This section will be the lengthiest portion of your episode and where you offer the most amount of value. To ensure this section keeps your listener engaged, be sure to follow your outline and use storytelling throughout. 

3.  The Outro. Your podcast outro is the most crucial section of your podcast to raise conversions. It should include a short recap of the value you offered during the episode, royalty free music, and a specific call to action to purchase one of your paid offers, download a freebie, leave a review for the show, follow you on social media, or encouraging them to listen to the next episode by giving a teaser of your next episode’s content.  You should choose your call to action based on your current marketing goals. For example, if you’re in a launch period, encourage them to purchase that offer, if you want to grow your email list, encourage them to download your current freebie, etc.

4. The SEO Title & Description.  If you want your podcast to grow, you need to increase visibility, therefore every episode needs to be optimized for search engines. To optimize your podcast episode for search, every episode should have a keyword rich and concise title and keyword rich description. Speaking of keywords, by the time you name your episode and draft your description, you should already know what your target keyword is because keyword research should be part of your planning process for each episode. 

Now that we’ve covered what structure makes a good episode, let’s dive into the three processes and all of the tasks required to ensure those elements are of the highest quality.

Three Processes to Creating High Quality Podcast Episodes

In order to create your podcast workflow, you’ll need to map out exactly what you need to do and when to do it. While the workflow for each podcast will be different, there are three universal phases of creation that every podcast undergoes: planning, production, and marketing. 

Planning Process

The planning process should begin about one month prior to the episode being published. Planning your episodes is important to ensure your content is brand aligned and nurtures your ideal client, so you can achieve your goals. Great podcasts begin with excellent planning. During this process you will: 

1. Plan your episode topic – the topic should fit within your brand’s content pillars 
2. Do your keyword research – I recommend using Uber Suggest and/or Pinterest for this
3. Choose your episode format – will it be solo, a guest interview, or a multiple guest interview. 
4. If your episode is a guest interview, you’ll also need to do research on which guest to invite, reach out with an invite the guest, and coordinate their interview time
5. Create your episode outline

Production Process

The production process is what most people think of when they think about starting a podcast. It is the audio/visual portion of the podcast and ideally it should begin approximately two weeks prior to the episode being published.

1. Record – Audacity and Descript are both excellent software programs for recording. Recording should occur 2 weeks in advance to allow ample time for editing and scheduling.
2. Edit – Audacity and Descript are also capable of editing to improve sound quality, clip mistakes, add your intro and outro
3. Export audio file as an MP3 file
4. Upload to a media host (like Buzzsprout or Simplecast) & schedule to release on a consistent day of the week
5. Optimize your episode for SEO by adding your keyword rich title and description

To ensure your audio is the best possible quality, follow this recording checklist:

• Remove yourself from background noise (fans, music, noisy children or pets)
• Turn off notifications + silent your phone
• Test your headphones and microphone
• Connect your guest (if it is an interview)
• Hit record
• Follow your episode outline
• Make notes of any necessary edits (interruptions or mistakes to edit out) with time stamp
• Stop recording and save file

Marketing Process

The marketing process is what ensures that people know about your new podcast episode. It should begin immediately after publishing your episode. There are millions of ways to market your podcast so this is a non-exhaustive list. But, with my clients I implement a low maintenance marketing strategy that focuses on creating long form content (like a podcast) and repurposing it for maximum visibility with an emphasis on SEO. With that in mind, I’ve listed all of my recommended marketing tasks below. 

1. For interview episodes, send a media kit to your guest containing a link to the episode, and video clips or social graphics and request that your guest shares them on their social media.
2. Download the episode transcript (I like using Otter.ai for this) to repurpose into social media captions and blog copy
3. Create 60-90 second audio/video grams of key parts of the episode to use as short form video content (like reels and tik toks)
4. Create pin graphics linking to your podcast episode
5. Create a blog outline and format the episode transcript into blog copy and publish to your website with a link to the podcast episode

The Best Way to Manage Your Podcast Workflow

Now that you know exactly what you need to do, the next step is implementing a project management system to keep track of when to do it all. When managing podcasts for my clients, I use Clickup. Clickups highly customizable platform is the perfect solution to store ideas, stay organized, set and track deadlines, and improve efficiency when creating your podcast episodes.

And there you have it – the roadmap to top shelf podcast episodes. By following the proper episode structure, building your unique podcast workflow, and implementing a project management tool, like Clickup, to ensure everything is accomplished in the correct order and on time you’ll be well on your way to creating episodes that your ideal client is obsessed with.

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Starting your podcast in 2024 and want to outsource some of the work? Let me help. Inquire about podcast management services.

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