Streamlining Your Podcasting Workflow

Photo Credit: Luis Cortes on Unsplash

Podcasting can be a great way to have your opinions heard, talk about something you are an expert on, and more.

But it does take time to produce one, something that many of us don’t have a ton of on top of balancing our personal life, work, and whatever other activities we are part of.

So, finding the time to be efficient and streamline your podcast production can make a big difference! Here are my tips to get you started.

It starts with the outlines

A great place to start streamlining and making your podcast more efficient is right from the beginning when you are outlining episodes.

When you are creating your scripts/outlines for episodes you can…

• Outline episode topics and structure them in advance. So, for example, if you have 4 episodes coming up — find an hour or two where you can sit down and do them all at once. That way you are ready to go when it’s time to record.
• Another great option is to use templates. If you have a similar structure for every episode then create a template in Notion or on Google Docs that you can duplicate and fill in the information. This will save you organizational time in the long run.
• Or consider using tools to get your thoughts and outlines going. If this is an area where you feel like you are spending hours just trying to organize everything. Sit down and use tools like ChatGPT or Notion’s AI to help brainstorm and get those ideas flowing.

Next is recording + post-production

Another area that can take a lot of time is the recording and post-production of your podcast.

Some ways you can make recording easier —

• Start with creating a checklist. Some items to include are covering the basics by setting up your headphones, microphone, and recording software. Also, think about conducting a brief audio test before starting. As well as, setting the stage for your recording environment by closing doors and windows, turning off any unnecessary technology, and creating a quiet space. Double-check that all your content is ready, including your script or outline. Additionally, make sure you’ve provided clear instructions to your guest on how to join the recording session. Here is a great checklist from The Podcast Space if you want help getting started.
• Have a designated recording space. This will help make it easy to start recording, that way you can just hop on over to it when you are ready to get recording versus setting it up every time. Note: if you don’t have the space and you need to set up something every time make it easier on yourself by keeping everything together in one box that you can quickly put out. So, if you need a backdrop, sound-canceling items, your mic, headphones, etc. Keep it all in one place so you can put up and take down faster.
• Consider the software you use. Surprisingly this can save you a lot of time if you aren’t constantly hassling around with your software. So, some great recording tools I would use are Riverside or Zencastr.

With your recording completed, the journey doesn’t end there. The editing process and post-production phases can be among the most time-consuming parts of podcasting.

Here are some tips to help streamline your editing process —

• Utilize keyboard shortcuts or “hot keys” in your editing software for faster navigation and execution. For example, in Audacity I use “L” for silence, “Q” for fade-in, and “W” for fade-out to help me save time.
• Use editing templates! So similarly to your outlines, you can create a template for compiling your episodes together to help save time. For example, for all of our clients here at Golden Goose Creative, we have a “working template” for each one. That way we can easily bring up the last episode that was compiled and insert all the new episode content such as adding the episode intro, the episode itself, ads, music, etc. And then the formal intro/outros stay within the “working template” so that we don’t have to reorganize each episode every time. It helps save time and make episodes sound almost the same other than some of the content changes.
• Utilize scheduling options in your hosting platform when it’s time to take your episode live. You can automate episode releases to get ahead of the game or if your platform allows it, insert your ads dynamically (that way you can skip that part in the last step!)

Promotional Support

Of course, you want to let your listeners know that episodes are out so they know to go listen, but it can take up quite a bit of your time.

Here are some tips to help support your promotional process —

• I bet you can guess what I am going to say first, which is templates again!! Having templates for cover art and branding across all your promotional graphics will help you be able to access them easily and just replace them with updated information. For example, some podcasts have cover art that they change every episode so having a template allows them to easily swap out pictures and words versus recreating every time.
• Use tools to make it easier/quicker to create. If you like using video clips for promotion you can use AI clip grabber tools like Riverside Magic Clips or Opus to help save time. If you are like us and love grabbing your clips, we utilize Vidyo.ai for quickly editing videos together and adding captions.
• Use schedulers to save time and streamline the process. Such as Buffer or Hootsuite to allow you to batch all your content for the next month, for example. That way you can batch it one day and be ready to go as your episodes come out!
• And don’t forget about email marketing tools. Email newsletters can be a great way to let your listeners know that episodes are out so build automated email sequences you can reuse and utilize their scheduling options too.

Some additional tips to help streamline

I know this doesn’t cover every area that you may want to streamline so here are some additional tips to help -

• Batch parts of the process! I mentioned this a little above but set aside time in your calendar every month where you can record, edit, and create promotional pieces. That way you can get multiple things done at once. For more tips on batching or saving time with your podcast, here is a blog we wrote discussing this more.
• Create a content calendar. That way you can know what’s coming ahead and plan for it. But make sure you leave some room for flexibility so you can incorporate relevant topics that come up or if you end up needing to adjust schedules.
• If you have the capacity for it, another great way to get your time back is to outsource/delegate tasks when necessary. So tasks that are taking you a ton of time and hinder your focus on the crucial aspects — pass those off to your Virtual Assistant or Podcast Manager.

Streamline to Save Time!

Having an efficient workflow is important to keep your time under control and help avoid burnout. You don’t want to get so overwhelmed that you quit altogether.

Your voice and your podcasts matter, so consider where you can add processes to make your life easier whether that’s in outlining, recording, post-production, or promotion.

And don’t forget to leave room for continuous improvement and adaptation. As you get going you will find or learn new ways to make your podcasting journey easier — be open to whatever comes your way!

Let me know in the comments what is one of your favorite ways to streamline your podcast.

Thanks for reading! To discover more about Golden Goose Creative and explore our podcasting services, visit https://www.goldengoosecreative.com/