FAQs

Podcast show notes capture an Episode’s key points and highlights in a visual, written form. They should NOT be a transcription or an exhaustive recap of what was discussed. Instead, your show notes should provide a summary touching on the major topics covered, highlight background information about guests, and point the listener to additional resources to advance their knowledge of the covered topics. These resources could include links to related articles, publications, or products/service; or actual clips from the Episode itself.

Show notes enable text-based algorithms to identify and make your podcast visible on major search engines, and can be a valuable resource in improving search ranking. They also provide visual information to your listeners to reinforce what they have heard, while making outreach, action, and information sharing much easier. Finally, show notes make it easier for new listeners to jump aboard your Podcast Series and assist returning listeners in keeping track of previous Episodes.

The best way to keep the listener engaged is to engage them meaningfully from the very start. There are a number of techniques to do this, including beginning the podcast with a compelling quote, question, or statistic that immediately immerses the listener in the content. Personal stories or colorful anecdotes are also great ways to creatively grab the listener’s attention from the get-go.

To keep listeners engaged throughout the Episode, knowing the their knowledge needs and reminding them of why the content is important is critical. However, it is often helpful to break up the discussion in a way that refocuses the listener. This can be done by addition music or sound effects between blocks of conversation, or summarizing a topic or set of topics before moving to new “chapter”. If you employ advertising in your podcasts, they can be used in a similar fashion.

Preparation is critical to ensuring that the guest is both comfortable and is in the position to deliver knowledge that addresses the needs of your listeners.

The 3 key areas of preparation:

Guest Research:  Know as much as possible about the guest so that you can both ask insightful questions and interact effectively with her/him.   Sources include previous podcast guest appearances, social media/blog posts, publications, and a good old-fashion Google search up.

Episode Storyline Development: Questions should not only be prepared and reviewed in advance with guests, but they should be structured so that the discussion naturally flows like a story. Be sure to ask the guest to think about short stories “vignettes” and specific examples to retain the listener’s interest.

Logistical Preparation: A standardized “Podcast Series Profile” should be prepared to give guests an understanding of the overall objectives, format, and length of your Series, as well as any equipment and technical requirements for recording. We recommend SquadCast for remote interviewing (essentially it’s the “Zoom of Podcasting”) and the guest should be encouraged to use headphones and a quality mic to ensure quality recording.

Traditional marketing channels such as print, radio, and even digital marketing rely on “short-burst” communication. The customer is only engaged for short periods, and the impact is short-lived. Podcasting fully engages the listener for 20, 30, 40 minutes or more, offering a fuller and longer-lasting exposure to your brand.

Secondly, the customer interaction taking place in traditional marketing vehicles tends to be transactional. The delivered messages are limited in scope and do little to make an impact on the customer’s life. Truly effective podcasts are designed to be important to the customers’ personal and/or professional development and be a source of entertainment. As a result, your relationship with your customer becomes more "sticky", and your brand becomes important to them.

Your customers can benefit from the expertise you offer by reading books, visiting your websites, or even listening to a speaker. By contract, podcasting relies on storytelling with compelling characters and personalities. Which will best hold the attention of your customer?

Podcasting dramatically improves your customers’ ability to absorb and retain the knowledge your expertise creates because they are intimately engaged. And because podcasting engages the customer in longer time blocks over a longer period of time, the time and space is created to provide information in a variety of ways, from different perspectives, using enlightening examples.

Different organization have different starting points in their podcasting lives. Some are starting with a passion for what they do and are looking for guidance in creating a vision for their podcasts – and defining the role their business strategy. Others have established a strong concept and a strong creative direction, and just need professional assistance in producing and distributing their Podcast Episodes.

ModPod will we meet you where you are. We will first determine where you are in your journey, and custom design a set of services that address your needs – from podcast strategy development to studio preparation to audio editing and podcast distribution. To start the discussion, schedule a call with one of our podcast experts. 

E-mail your raw (i.e. unedited) audio file(s) to production at info@gomodpod.com. Ideally, you should send one file for each podcast participant so that we can independently edit and adjust acoustic characteristics for each recording. A podcast editor will edit up to 60 minutes of audio in total per Episode. If, after, reviewing your raw recordings, you’d like us to make specific edits, such as removing words, phrases, or even sections of the recording, please provide specific instruction for each edit, and including the start and stop timing markers (for ex., 3:45 to 4:12). Up to 15 edits per Episode are included in the service price. Additional edits are chargeable at $2/minute in increments of $30.

When we have completed the editing process, we will send you an e-mail with a link to a dedicated folder from which you can download your episode.

Your Project Manager will ask you for a description of the genre and style that you believe best fits your Podcast Series. It is also helpful for you to provide descriptive adjectives that will help guide us. Our Creative Director will then identify 3 to 5 selections for you to choose from for your intro/outro music.

If upon reviewing the audio we’ve returned to you identify further editing needs, e-mail us the edits you request. We will perform up to 10 minutes of edits at no charge. Additional edits are chargeable at $2/minute in increments of $30.

All you need to get a podcast studio going is the following:

1. A desktop or laptop computer with recording software.
2. A high quality free-standing podcast mic.
3. A quiet, enclosed space free from extraneous noises.   
   

A Studio Preparation & Initial Testing Checklist with recommendations for individual tools and equipment, as well as tips for creating a podcast-friendly studio environment, is available in the Tools & Guides section of our Helpful Info menu item. You may also watch how-to videos in the Videos section.

We submit episodes on your behalf by working with a podcast distribution service provider called Libsyn. This company provides a platform for distributing Podcast Series and Episodes to the major podcast broadcasting sites, such as Apple Podcasts, Google, Spotify, Tunein, and other providers. We will ask you to set up an account with Libsyn and then provide us with your credentials (or add us as a user on your account).  

Once you have approved the Podcast audio and associated assets (intro/outro music, title/show notes, artwork, etc.), we will make the submission for you and verify that it is complete via e-mail.   

The turnaround for providing professional edited audio files is five business days from submission of raw audio and associated notes. Initial artwork creation and Intro/Music selection can generally be completed within a 5 to 10 days period, depending on how quickly the approval process proceeds on your end.

Once you’ve approved the audio, allow an additional 3 days for the generation of title/show notes. Once you’ve approved all elements of the Podcast Series as well as the first Episode, we will post to the distribution platforms within 2 business days. Turnaround for additional Episodes follows a similar timeline.