Episode 17

How to set up your first podcast episode | Episode 17

Podcast newbie? Start here! This "Podcast Done For You" (PDFU) episode is your guide to launching strong.

Host Anthony reveals how to create a killer first episode, from defining your audience and show purpose to structuring a compelling narrative. Learn to engage listeners, share your story, and plan for launch. He covers choosing guests, setting the tone, episode planning, and even market insights.


Get actionable tips on segments, Q&As, and storytelling. Plus, learn about effective calls to action.


Ready to podcast? Tune in to PDFU! Explore "Podcast Done For You" for pro support. Subscribe now!





#podcast #podcaststrategy #podcasttips #howtopodcast #podcasting

Transcript
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Intro - Anthony: How to structure your first podcast episode, a

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beginner's guide to podcast format.

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This is for the first podcast episode that you are going to

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release the actual recording.

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I'm going to break down what you need to include in that first episode that you

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put out, getting the structure, right?

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Making sure of the things that you need to talk about, be prepared for and what

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you are going to talk about and say, I want you to get some notes, pads ready.

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Because you're going to want to fill in a lot of blanks here.

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There'll be some details in the show notes for you to take a look at,

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but I want you to make sure that you are ready because we want to get

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your first episode up and running.

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This is podcast done for you?

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The show.

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Getting you ready for your first podcast episode?

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The actual recording.

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This is podcast done for you?

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The show.

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We're going to teach you some valuable lessons about how to get

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your first podcast episode, right.

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And up and running.

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So.

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First things first.

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And you may have seen some of my other videos about this.

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But you have to decide who is going to be on the show.

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Now, what I mean by that is on an ongoing basis.

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Have you got anyone regularly going to be with you or will it just be you.

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And will it just be you always, or will you bring on guests?

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These are some valuable things that you need to think about before you can record.

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And it's not what the central theme of this episode is about.

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Because this episode is really about the recording itself.

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So I'm going to assume that you've made some of those decisions, but one of the

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key things to think about is that in the episode, much like I'm trying to do now,

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you need to be talking to an audience.

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You need to be aware that the person sitting there listening to you is if

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they're right across from you, it's often easier to do that with a cohost,

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but you can check out my other videos.

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If you want to know more about that sort of thing right now, what we want to give.

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Give you is a beginner's guide to getting these first episode.

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Right?

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So now that you know, who's on the show, The thing to remember

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is that this is about the first episode you are going to air.

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This may not, and probably should not be the first episode

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that you are going to record.

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So stay tuned a little bit later on, and I'll explain more about why

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that should be the case, but let's get into the detail of what should

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be on your first release podcasts.

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Now, the first thing you want to do is set the.

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Scene.

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Because people don't know who you are.

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They don't know what the show is about.

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So you want to capture them really quickly and early on.

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Now, what I advise you do is, is you record the show and then perhaps you

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might want to record a little bit of an introduction that you can post in before

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to tell people about what's coming up.

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Because often that is easier to record afterwards because you know exactly,

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what's been said, it's a good habit to get into, to do that immediately afterwards.

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So.

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Once you pass that and you're starting the actual recording.

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What you want to do?

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Is then say.

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Right.

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What are the high level things, the high level ideas of why people

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should be listening to the show.

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So, what are they really going to get out of it?

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Much like podcast done for you?

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The show.

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Why should you listen?

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Well, if you are a kind of person who wants to get your

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own podcast up and running, then this is the place to be right.

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So that's what you tell people.

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What is the high level idea that will capture people as to

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why they should keep listening?

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You want them to be go beyond the first 30 seconds, right?

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So.

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Then what's really important to stay is who is the podcast actually for now,

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you may have a very specific audience in mind that you're going to be targeting.

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It could be for example, CEOs at a particular level of company or a

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particular niche market that you're in.

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There's all sorts of ideas about who you should be in.

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And I would say to you that.

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Be in a niche.

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It's very hard.

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If you go in with an attitude that the podcast is for absolutely

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everybody, because chances are, it's not for everybody.

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So you really have to have that in mind, who was it for and state that.

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So this podcast podcast done for you is really about people who

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want to build their brand, want to build their personal brand.

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And they're looking for ideas on how to get all of this up and

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running because they liked the idea of a done for you service.

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But.

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They want to get some insights.

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First of foremost, that's why you're here right now.

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Get some insights as to what it's all about.

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And for me, the kind of audience is ideally, and I'm open for anyone who

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wants to listen, of course, but my ideal audience of people is CEOs and

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business owners of professional services.

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Businesses.

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They're very much focused on trying to build their personal brand and

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build the brand of their organization and become the go-to people.

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In their field.

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You're busy.

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And you want some quick information on how to get it done quickly,

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hence podcasts done for you.

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And we'll tell you more about what that service really looks

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like later on, because that's not the theme of this episode.

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It's really about what the first episode should be for you.

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So I was just giving you a bit of an example of.

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Trying to set the scene for who is it for now?

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Really what you've got to do as well as make sure that people in the course

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of talking about that as I just did give some idea of what the objective

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for the show is as well, what you are trying to achieve by listing in.

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Uh, what people are going to get if they keep listing over an extended

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period of time, because the show must serve some sort of purpose

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for those of you that follow me.

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Well, you will know that I also have a show called biz bites and biz

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bites is really for thought leaders.

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Very similar audiences.

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I just mentioned before.

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And the whole objective of the show.

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Is to give people those little one percenters that will help them shift their

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business and compound that over a period of time of listening and your business

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is going to be in a much better position.

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We talk to key people in the thought leadership space for professional

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service business leaders, to make sure that we can make an impact.

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So that's the reason why people should listen to the show.

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Now what you want to do as well, particularly in this first

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episode is set a bit of the scene.

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How long do you plan the episodes?

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To be.

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And how often are they going to come out?

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Uh, it's a big thing to be thinking about.

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And one, you have to have well-planned in advance before

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this first episode goes out.

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Because you want them to stick with you.

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So you need to make a commitment to them.

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If you're going to say I'm going to do 10 minute episodes and they're going

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to come out every day, then you need to make sure that's what you're doing.

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If it's going to be 30 minute episodes every two weeks,

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then that's perfectly fine.

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Is it going to be with guests or without guests?

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That is something else to be thinking about and letting

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them know what to expect.

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But you don't want to spend too long on all of those things, because

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you want to start bringing in some sense of story, because story

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is what connects people, right.

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It's what makes it interesting to listen to?

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So you want people to hear your backstory.

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You want people to understand.

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Who you are.

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What has actually driven you personally.

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Then, of course you want the business story.

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What is it about your business?

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What makes you different?

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What are the things that you do again?

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Very high level.

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Tell a couple of stories, maybe of a typical client that can also.

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Be, uh, something that you've solved for them without necessarily going into the

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fact that this is what we do for clients, because podcasting is not about selling.

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It's really important to always remember that podcasting is about

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having a conversation with people.

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So that whole idea of stories are that they become relatable.

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Now also think about telling them about what led you to creating the

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show in the first place, because you might've seen some information that

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was missing or you might've seen that.

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There was an opportunity there, or it might well be that it was a way of

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connecting with your existing people.

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On a basis that meant that you didn't have to go and meet with everyone individually.

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Uh, there's many, many reasons why you create a podcast show.

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And I think it's important that you be upfront with your audience from the

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beginning and telling them why it's there.

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Now what you want to do early on in the piece as well is get through

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all of that stuff and don't take up too much time with it all.

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And you can even make sure that you say in the introduction right.

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In the beginning that there's going to be some observations about what's

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happening in the market right now.

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I think that that's a really important thing to give people

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a sense of what to expect.

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How does your brain work?

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What are you on about what are you seeing?

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What are the differentiators in the market?

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What are the things coming up?

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You don't have to be two times specific because people might come

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back to this episode in the future.

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In fact, one of the great things about this first episode and the way

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I believe you should structure it is.

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That it gives you a great thing to put on your, about page on your website.

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So people can fill in the blanks and know more about you before they

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even have a conversation with you.

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So, and you might want to chop the episode up.

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You may not want to put the whole thing there in one, go.

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Uh, you may want to use bits and pieces of it.

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So make sure when you do some current observations of the market, it's

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something that is a bit timeless in its observation, rather than, Hey,

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we just read in the news this week.

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Now, also there is things that you want to talk about about more to share.

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Um, Um, you know, more things that you're going to share in the episode into com.

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Now, I think that's one of the things that you want to think about

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as well as is what is coming up.

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Right.

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You need to have, that's why.

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I want you to think about making sure that this episode is not the first

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episode that you actually put to air.

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Uh, sorry, not the first episode that you actually record, but it is the

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first episode that you put to air.

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The beauty of it is if you've recorded two or three other episodes,

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at least in advance, when you talk about what's to come, you're actually

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talking from a place of knowledge.

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So you know that there's going to be a great discussion with such and such,

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and that there's going to send me some fantastic tips on X, Y, Z. So at this

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point, you can also tell people, please subscribe, and you can point them.

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If you're watching on YouTube and say, hit the subscribe button below, and please

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share it with your friends or whatever platform that you're listening to this on.

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If you're not watching on YouTube, if you are listening on your favorite

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platform, be it apple, Spotify.

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Uh, Amazon and many, many others, then please hit the subscribe button.

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And if you're really loving it, don't forget to comment.

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And like now you won't be able to tell people to comment and

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like on your first, um, on.

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And rated, I should say on your first episode, because it's too early in

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the piece for people to do that, but you can encourage them to subscribe.

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So I want you to also be talking about what's, uh, as well as what's

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planned in the coming episodes.

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I also want you to talk about the structure of the show.

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Now it's really important that understand what is this going to be?

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Is it just going to be a conversation with people and.

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There's no more structure to it than that.

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That can be okay.

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Or are there particular segments or Asian feature questions

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that you might have often?

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It's a good way to end a show is to have either one or a series of

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quick questions that you want to ask.

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Uh, the person it's a nice way to wrap things up, gives you some consistency,

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gives audiences something to compare as they go along the way with the journey.

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It's also worth pointing to people that they can write

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in and share some questions.

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Particularly if you are in a position where you can promote upcoming guests.

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Now here's a little secret tip for you.

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You can have already recorded those episodes and promote them and people,

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you might get lucky and someone sends in a question it's okay.

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You can send them in.

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You can always send them a response later on and say, Hey, thanks for your question.

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I think we covered it, but if we didn't.

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We'll try and do that.

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We'll try and go back to them afterwards and ask that question maybe for a

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special comment that you can put below.

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Uh, in there, the great thing about it is that.

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The truth is people don't know if you've sent questions in or not,

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or who they've received it from.

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So here's a little secret tip.

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If you want to encourage questions from people, there's nothing stopping

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you in a recording and saying, Hey, this question is actually

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come from one of our listeners.

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They wanted to remain anonymous, but, or this has come from a bunch of listeners

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have asked us to ask this question of you.

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Now.

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That's really nice for the guests that's coming on the show, but it

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also encourages people to want to write in if that's something you

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want them to do in the future.

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Now, also again, you can remind people to subscribe at that point in time.

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I want you also to think about some quick insights or tips that you can

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give in this first episode, three little quick, quick things at the most.

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Just little insights that will give them a sense of, Hey,

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there's value in this podcast.

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And I think that also then extends to references and notes that you're

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going to find in the show notes.

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So you might put something about three tips quickly and you might

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have, Hey, there's a fact sheet and you'll be able to download it below or

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you'll be able to go here and get it.

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Whatever the, the, uh, the opportunity that takes your fancy, you can definitely

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do that, but referenced the show notes.

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I want you to make sure that you're referencing the show notes and

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saying for more information, please go to our show notes and we'll be

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including lots of information there.

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Now, one of the things as well to do is to include a final call to action.

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Now, in this first episode, the best call to action that you can possibly give

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them is to do what I've already told you.

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Three times hit the subscribe button below.

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We'd love you to do that.

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We'd love you to also tell some other people about it.

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If you think it's been of value and that's a great thing to do as well.

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That is a very simple call to action for this first episode.

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As you get more episodes under your belt.

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Well, you can definitely include more, more call to actions.

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It might be to download something.

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It might be to attend something.

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It might be about the.

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Uh, the guest, or it might be about some opportunities that you have coming

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up, but I would encourage you for the most part to keep it simple subscribe.

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That can be a consistent call to action, because the more subscribers you have.

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And the more that they get interested in, as well as in check out the show

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notes and don't forget to subscribe.

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All you're telling them to do is to go through.

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And if something is taking their fancy, there is something they can download.

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And if you're clever about how you make those downloads, as I was saying before,

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send them to some kind of a landing page where you can put in a. Um, a form.

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Very simple email and name so that you've got some way of getting in

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contact with your listeners into the future, which is really important

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because subscribed does one thing, but actually having them in your database

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is a whole different thing altogether.

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There are some things you may just want to make commonly accessible

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and that's completely fine.

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But there is some specialized stuff that you do want to build your database with.

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So the biggest thing then is to end it by saying, thank you.

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Thank you for listening in.

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We really appreciate your company.

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We hope that you've got a lot out of this, and again, we'll put more

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information in the show notes.

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We encourage you to, uh, put some comments in or give us any feedback on the episode.

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And again, Don't forget to subscribe and a promise.

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Don't forget to listen in next time on the show, because we've got lots of great

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things coming up for you in particular.

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So there you go.

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That's your first episode of your podcast of how I think it should run.

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Lots of reminders, but lots of insights and some stories being shared, make

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it about you in the first episode and use it wisely because this is an

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episode that you can draw people back to, as I said, on your website and

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in many other ways into the future.

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So I hope you've enjoyed that episode and that your first podcast episode is

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going to be an absolute winner in the actual recording that you've now done.

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Hopefully after you've watched.

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This the second time, maybe even a third time and then do me a favor.

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Why not in the show notes share, oh, sorry.

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In the comments, share with me a link to your podcast because I'd love to

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go out and check it out and know that I've been some kind of assistance

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to you in making that happen.

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Now if you would like some more careful assistance in how your

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podcasts can get up and running, then.

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This episode and all our episodes is brought to you by the podcast done for

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you service podcasts, done for you.

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Dot online link in the show notes.

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Uh, what we do is make the podcast happen for you.

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So in fact, you don't have to worry about any of these things.

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You just show up as the expert.

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We do absolutely everything.

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We co-host the show for you.

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And for some people, the investment of time is as little

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as two hours per quarter.

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That's less than that's basically.

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That's not less than it was probably a bat.

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The equivalent of one day of work a year, and you've got a

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podcast for the entire year now.

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That's pretty cool.

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So if that's something that you want to get done and you don't want to have

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to worry about all of these things and we'll take care of it all for you,

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then contact us through the website.

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We'd love to hear from you.

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So that's it.

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Subscribe below podcasts done for you?

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The show.

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And don't forget to tune into podcasts done for you, the show future episodes.

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And if you've got something you want help with.

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For your podcast, then shout out.

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We're happy to do a special episode on that into the future.

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About the Podcast

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About your host

Profile picture for Anthony Perl

Anthony Perl

Anthony is an engagement specialist, building a great catalogue of podcasts of his own and helping others get it done for them. Anthony has spent more than 30 years building brands and growing audiences. His experience includes working in the media (2UE, 2GB, Channel Ten, among others) to working in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors, and for the last 13 years as a small business owner with CommTogether. The business covers branding to websites - all things strategic around marketing. Now podcasts have become central to his business, finding a niche in helping people publish their own, making it easy.