The Art of Podcasting: Record Your Podcast Trailer

1. Introduction: You have something important to say. Podcasting is a great way to make sure it's heard. By the end of this class, you will know the ins and outs of starting your own podcast and getting your unique message out to the world. So take a deep breath, get you some tea, and let's do this. 2. Class Project : This project will be to produce a trailer for your podcast. A trailer is a one to two minute video or audio clip, which includes the title of your podcast, what your podcast is about, and really encouraging folks to subscribe to your podcast. It's the thing that you're going to use to get people excited about what's to come and to get them excited to tune into that very first episode. It's also that thing that's going to allow you to publish that first episode sooner rather than later, but we'll talk more about that as we move along. Sharing your podcast trailer is an excellent way to become accustomed to the recording and editing process to promote your podcasts to others, as well as setting the stage for future collaborations. I'm a firm believer in the best way to actually get anything done is to do it. Once you complete this project, you will be well on your way towards completing the first season of your podcast. I'm going to guide you through naming your podcast, finding your target audience, the best format for your podcast, as well as how to actually record. For this class, you're going to need the following tools: a laptop or desktop computer, a microphone, and headphones. If you don't have any of those things, that's fine because a smartphone will get the job done as well. Always keep a notepad handy because it's super helpful. Now that you have all of your tools. Take a breath and let's name that podcast. 3. Name Your Podcast: In this lesson, we're going to be naming your podcast. What's in a name? Everything. When I first came up with the idea for my podcast, I had this theme of tiny couch talks. I'd gotten this really great piece of furniture from IKEA, I'm a psychologist, we're going to talk, we have a tiny couch. It works, right? It definitely works because someone else was actually using that name. So I got some brainstorming. To be completely honest with you, when I came up with the idea for the podcast, it was a very abstract one. I wasn't as methodological with the naming process as we are about to be. In a retrospect, it makes complete sense for us to start right here. The name of your podcast is going to determine how you promote it, is going to determine how you format it. Are you going to have interviews? Are you going to have a co-host? It's also going to determine what art direction you take for your podcast art, which is very important as it's going to be the main part of promoting and marketing your podcast. You and I are on this journey together. This lesson is going to be a guided one. I'm going to ask you some very specific questions. You may become overwhelmed, you may become a little bit impatient, but just go with it, because the questions that I'm asking you are the ones that I ultimately asked myself when it was time for me to come up with an intentional name for my podcast. Let us brainstorm for a bit first, what's your big idea? What is this podcast going to be about? Take a minute, write down the first words that come to mind when you think about your podcasts. When I think about my first podcast, I think inspiration, boss Lady, savvy, fun, community, friendship, and encouragement. Ready for the next question? The next question is why, why should you do a podcast? Think about why you as an individual should do this. What do you bring to the table. Why includes what is your motivation for doing this podcast? Why are you the person that is best positioned to do this podcast? It's a hard question, I know, but it's really important when we do things that we understand our why. Our why is what makes us plow through those difficulties. Our why is what helps to inform a lot of the decisions that we make. Again, ask yourself, why you and why are you motivated to do this in this space and time. Your why gives you a direction to move in, and it also creates a foundation as you move forward. Let's imagine for a second that someone is hiring you to produce the content for this podcast as well as to be the host. What would you say to this person to sell them on you as the best, being the best person for this job. Take a minute and write this down, be honest with yourself. Now that we know that you are in fact the best person for this job, let's think about why is your message in-point. Even if it's a fun, lighthearted one, it might be an inspirational one, it might be an informative one. But why is the information, why is your voice the important thing that should be heard right now? Now we've talked about your big idea, we've talked about why you're the best person to do this and we've talked about why it's important that your voice and your message is heard right now, let's talk about what, what is your content? What are the things that you want to talk about on your podcast? What are the various topics you are going to cover? I know you want to talk about more than one thing, but there's going to be a theme that comes out of all of these topics. For example, for my podcast, I knew that I wanted to interview women who were very successful. But I wanted to hear those parts of their stories where they actually did not succeed, where they actually failed, where they were being vulnerable, where they were maybe afraid and where they stumbled. Those were the parts of their stories that I wanted to tell, those were the parts of their stories that I was going to share with my audience. I knew that every woman was going to be different and each episode was going to be about a different topic, but there's a general theme that emerged for me. As you think through the topics, again, I love my trusty notepad, so pull yours out, write down those topics, write down, make that list and look at what the general theme is because we're getting closer and closer to naming your podcast. What names are you thinking about? Some people are big on alliteration, like Jesus and Jolloff, Respectable and Ratchet. Some people want a witty name, some people want a name that actually tells you what the podcast is all about. Honestly, if you're not a well-known person with a well-known brand, I recommend going with the option that says what your podcast is about. As soon as folks see that name, they should know what topics are going to be covered, what type of content to expect and whether or not they actually want to subscribe to this podcast. Once you come up with the name of your podcast, Google it because you want to be sure that no one else is actually using that name. You'd be surprised, I went through a number of different thoughts and ideas, but every time I Googled it the name already existed. Ultimately, the name that I came up with for my podcast is the misadventures of an inspired woman podcast. It captured everything that I wanted my podcast to be about. I think the name makes people curious because you have inspired women and then you have misadventures. A misadventure is always sure to be a good story. Let's recap. You want to remember what are the big ideas for your podcast. You want to know the why of you doing this podcast, why this message, why you and why now. You want to know the what, what is your podcast actually going to be about? You want to be sure that your name captures the essence of all of these answers. Now that you've got an idea for the name of your podcast, let's move on to talk about who this podcast is actually going to be for. See you in the next lesson. 4. Find Your Audience: Earlier this year I created the mood board. It wasn't thought fashion shoe or a fashion line or anything like that, it was for me and for my business. I do a lot of things. I am a professor, I'm a researcher, I'm a psychologist, I write, I produce content. I needed to have a visual representation of where I wanted to go, of what I wanted all of these things to look like and so I compiled this mood board. On this board, there are a number of things that highlight what's important to me. They highlight people who I admire, that are actual words that speak to me. If you notice the $ signs, I actually want to create some profit from all of the things that I'm doing. It was really important that I did this. You don't have to create a mood board, although they're fun, as you can see behind me, I actually also have a general vision board, which I look at every day. But I do want you to visualize the things that best represent you and your podcast. Images come to mind. I want you to picture your ideal listener. What are they doing while listening to your podcast? Are they walking down the street? Are they getting ready for work? Are they driving to work, or they're about to take a long trip? How much time do they have to listen? For me it was my girlfriends, woman that are of a similar age and generation as me, woman who I in my generation or age range who are in the same life stages as me. It might be people who I went to high school with, maybe even college. They're all working towards similar things as I am. They're all inspired by similar things as to what inspires me. We're all trying to figure out the same things, or my ideal listener might actually be trying to figure something out that myself or one of my guests have already figured out. For example, being in a dead end job, feeling like you need to find your purpose. Maybe feeling like you need to find success and success for you may not mean having the top salary, but actually doing something that you enjoy, that gives you life. My listeners are all about finding their purpose, all about channeling their creativity. Maybe even figuring out that side hustle, how to figure out their finances. These are all of the things that my ideal listener would want to know and guess what? I have the guest and the expertise to actually answer these questions for them. I'm going to tell you some intel about my ideal audience. I want you to think about how you can answer these questions for your audience. My audience, a primarily black women between the ages of 22 and 45. They are who I call goal-getters. They're all about setting goals and finding the best way to accomplish these goals. They are on a journey towards becoming a better version of themselves. On social media, they follow accounts that are all about women's empowerment, wellness, health, fitness, positivity, and because they enjoy a good laugh, they follow humor accounts. Mindlessness, oftentimes enjoy laughing alongside with the guest on my podcast. My secondary audience, a black men within the same age group. It's important that I mention the secondary, because most people tend to focus on their primary audience and you definitely should and make sure that everything you do is catered towards this audience. But keep in mind that there may be a significant percentage of another group of people that are actually tuning in to what you're doing. Don't let them feel left out, figure out a way to have them be included. Now, I've told you a little bit about the people who listen to my podcast, I want you to think about the people who are going to listen to your podcast. What are their demographics? What are they age? Are they married? Are they single? Do they have families? What are their time commitments? Do they have time to listen to a 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minute podcasts. What maybe some of the restrictions on their time, or what maybe some opportunities actually with their time that you can take advantage of in terms of the length and the format of your podcast. This is all about research. If I were you, I would interview a couple of people that are in my demographic, the people who I want to tune in, and I would ask them questions about themselves. I also asked them about what podcasts they listen to and this isn't about copying, this is about understanding the marketplace. If your goal is to put a product out there, you want to understand what else is out there and what things you can learn from them, as well as what things you want to do that will set you apart. Write down the words that come to mind when you think about your ideal listener. The person that's going to tune in every time you put out a new episode. What words come to mind when you think about this? Because the next thing that I want you to do is to create an avatar. What is an avatar? An avatar is like an imaginary friend? No, an Avatar is a fictional person. Who is your ideal customer, your ideal listener, this person, you always refer back to every time you have to make a decision about the podcast. I'm not saying that you should sit there and talk to an imaginary friend. What I'm saying is, you should have an idea as to who is this person that you're catering to. I'll tell you all about my avatar. My avatar's name is Kiara. She is 38 years old, single, no children. She works as a financial manager for a non profit, and she does graphic design work on the side. She is socially conscious and she considers herself to be a foodie. She enjoys traveling and being involved in her community. As she's approaching 40, she has become more aware of how diet and exercise, and she's constantly thinking about the next chapter in her life. She is generally very contemplated about the things that influence how present life stage. She's constantly thinking, am I living up to my full potential? She loves listening to R&B, some old-school hip hop, Reggae, and Soca. She is very spiritual, she believes in God, and she spends a significant amount of time praying. Now, you try. What is your avatar, what's their name? What's their age? What are all the things that are important to them and what are all the things that they enjoy? Remember, to find your audience you have to think about them as individuals. The more specific, the better. Think about the things that are important to them, their lifestyle and their needs. Now you know the name of your podcasts, you know the focus of your podcast and you know who your podcast is for. Next we're going to talk about formatting your podcast. See you in the next lesson. 5. Format Your Podcast: Solos, duets, girl-groups, or boy-bands, ballads, power-rock, R&B, or jazz. These are not random musical choices. They're all about creating a vibe and a pace, they're all about creating an experience. In this lesson, we're going to talk about the format of your podcast, and then at the end, you're actually going to get to record something. But first things first. Are you going to be doing this as a solo-host or are you going to be having a cohost? Will it be an editorial featuring you and or your cohost, or will you have guests on each episode? For my first podcast, I wanted to interview my friends. No, I didn't just choose them because they were my friends, I chose them because they actually have something to say. They actually have stories that I wanted to tell. Is interviewing them if they had an interesting story or life, that others could benefit from hearing. These are women who inspire me in my everyday life, and I knew they would also inspire my listeners. For my second podcast, I have a cohost, and in that format, we talk to each other about current events and occasionally we may bring on a guest. Let's get into the nuts and the bolts, to help you figure out these next few decisions, if you haven't done so already. So host or no cohost, guest or no guest. Obviously, if it's just you, scheduling is super easy, you know when you're available and you record. If you have a cohost, then you have to find a time that works best for the both of you. If you're interviewing guest, then that adds an additional layer. So it makes it a little bit complex with the scheduling, but you decide how flexible you can be in all of these things. Side note about cohost. So I picked my cohost because we were working on the series of events together and we had a really great synergy. Not only that, but we bring different skills to the table. For example, my cohost is a boss at graphic design and all things technology-related. Be mindful of how your personalities are going to play out on air, as well as what skills you bring to the behind the scenes things that needs to get done. The same thing applies to podcasts that have multiple cohosts. How frequently you're going to put out podcasts, episodes. Some people put out episodes daily, some people do it weekly, biweekly, or monthly. I do it biweekly because that's manageable for me. But also, I wanted to do it weekly, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep up with it. So it's best that you give less in the beginning and then pick it up, then you give more in the beginning, and then folks are expecting it and you're not doing it. Again, when you think about your avatar, when you think about what their needs are and what their lifestyle is, are they going to be able to tune in weekly or biweekly or monthly? I highly recommend biweekly, because monthly is a long stretch to go and weekly is just a lot. Should you have guests on your podcast. Whether or not you have guests on your podcast depends on a number of things. What is the purpose of your podcast? Is it an extension or build of your brand? If that's the case, you may not need any guest. But if you do bring guest on, then your guest should highlight your skills in your brand. Is it to educate and or to bring awareness? If that's the case, then you or your guest should have expertise in whatever the topic is that you're covering. How long do you want your podcast to be? Thirty to 45 minutes? Some go an hour long. It's hard to talk for over 30 minutes by yourself. It could be just as difficult for folks to have to listen to only your voice for that long. So if your goal is to go over 30 minutes, I would say have a guest. Also, think about which podcasts you enjoy, which ones do your listeners enjoy and see how long they are. Pick a happy medium from there, and then you can think some more about it. Should you have different segments on your podcast? If it's over 30 minutes, I would say yes. For my solo podcast, the main segment is the interview, and then we have the lightning round. It's a great way to break up content. The lightning round for me, allows me to end on a light note, while wrapping things up. The second podcast, where I have a cohost, we mainly do segments. Because it is two people talking to each other, it helps us guide the conversation, break up the content, and also facilitates audience participation because we have this great feature in our podcast, where the audience can actually call in and leave us a message to be included in the episode. Pick the options that organic to you and to your audience. The things that come naturally or usually the things that are most impactful. So let's talk scripting next. So why do you want write a script for the entire podcast? Unless it's a scripted podcast, scripting is really helpful for you to be able to pre-record certain parts of your podcast and use them repeatedly. In our lesson, and for the purposes of your podcast, we're going to talk about a scripting for your intro, your outro, and the trailer, which is going to be our ending project for this course. So let's talk about the intro. Because at this point you should realize, I believe in options, I'm going to give you two options. You can't script and record a intro that you use repeatedly. We do that on my cohosting podcast, or you can record into every week. I do that on my individual podcast. Intro something like this, ''Hi, I'm Dr. Keisha. Welcome to the Misadventures of An Inspired Woman podcast.'' That line right there tells you what the podcast is about, but I'll go further and tell you, "In this week's episode, we're going to be talking to Kiara, Kiara is someone, who came upon a crossroad in her life. She was having difficulty making the decision, she felt incomplete in her job and she made a change. So listen up." So now I want you to practice, do an intro, write it down, type it out, and say it. You know what? Why don't you look in the mirror while you do this and say, ''Hello, I am such and such. Welcome to my podcast.'' So my episodes usually end with me saying, ''Thank you for listening to the Misadventures of An Inspired Woman podcast. Be sure to follow me on social media at Dr_Keisha, that's DR_K-E-I-S-H-A, rate, and subscribe to the podcast and always remember to be intentional. That be intentional is my catchphrase. Anybody who comes to my events, who follows me on social media, who's been to my website know that I'm all about living the intentional life. So think about your catchphrase and implement that in your outro. Why don't you write down what you'd like to say now and practice it in the mirror. Now that you've done the intro and outro, let's talk about your trailer. Think about your trailer as the elevator pitch of your podcast. You have until the elevator gets to the bottom folks to sell folks on why they should listen to your podcast. So use the same terminology from your intro, use your catchphrase at the end, and in the middle, put in what topics you're going to be covering where people can find the podcast, as well as always put in your social media handles. Again, your intro, this is the podcast of all the fabulous things that I want to say. These are all the fabulous things that you're going to hear about. This is where you can find my fabulous podcast, and you can find me and my fabulous self on social media at x, y, and z. One to two minutes, tops. Our focus in this lesson was all about setting the stage and the vibe for your podcast, setting things up so that your audience gets the best content from you. You decide on a full map based on the information from the naming lesson and the audience lesson. All of the language used in the scripting exercise should resonate with you, the creator, and with the audience that you're hoping to attract. Now, we write it all out. PS, although I want you to use the format that I gave you for the intro, outro, and trailer, I want it to be 100 percent you, it should sound feel like and embody all that you want this podcast to be. See you in the next lesson. 6. What the Tech?: Welcome back. I said let's record in the last lesson and you probably were like, how? Good question. In this lesson, I will tell you all about your various recording options. In an ideal situation, you would have a laptop or desktop computer, a microphone, and headphones. I'm obsessed with sound quality and sounds in general. I have super sensitive hearing, so I hear the faintest sound. You're probably wondering, what does that have to do with you? Well, think about it. In podcast, people are listening. I don't know about you, but if I'm listening to something, I don't want to hear someone chewing, I don't want to hear paper in the background, I don't want to hear a dog barking. Your ideal listener may be listening in their car. They may have headphones in. I want my listeners to have an optimal listening experience. I want them to be able to hear me clearly, and I don't want them to feel like I'm yelling at them. If recording with the microphone in a quiet environment, it show us that the only sound they hear is your voice. Some people record in their bedrooms or even in their closets to reduce the amount of background noise that may be on a given recording. Headphones, how? When you have a guest or a co-host so that you can hear them clearly. It's also good to use while you're editing because it gives you a clear idea as to how the end product will sound. Personally, I use the Blue Yeti microphone, but I believe in acting your wage. If this microphone fits into your budget, I recommend it. If it does not, I do not recommend it. If you have a bigger budget, go for it. But at the end of the day, get something that's going to give you great sound. If you're familiar with recording software such as GarageBand or Adobe Audition, then you can record your podcast that way. I will walk you through my process and then again, as always, choose the option that feels more organic for you. I record my episodes using Zoom. The great thing about using Zoom is that if it shows you and one of the person, you can use the free account because it has unlimited time. If you're adding in a third person, you're going to be capped at 40 minutes. If you have a Zoom account or you want to invest in there, because you want to have multiple people in a given recording or episode, then go for it. But like I said, with the free option, you can have one other person on there, and you can record it. There's a way to set up your Zoom so that it records three audio files. It records a general audio file with both you and one other person, and then it records an audio file say for instance for me, and then one for my co-host. If you're going to be editing it yourself and you are not amass editor, then you just need that one file. But if you go into outsource it and hire someone to edit, those multiple files could be useful. Say for instance, if my microphone is at one level and my co-host microphone is at another level. The first thing that I do is I record in Zoom. A lot of people will tell you to use GarageBand because if you have a Mac, it comes free with the computer. I'm familiar with the Adobe Suites of editing software. The Adobe Audition made more sense for me. I also recorded my intro and my outro in Adobe Audition, I also have a theme song. My theme song is something that I played during the intro and outro of my episodes. I do not play it throughout. I love music. Oftentimes, if I'm listening to a podcast that has music throughout the entirety, I can oftentimes lose track of the conversation because I'm following the chord progressions. I suggest using the music at the intro and then at the outro. I again, love free stuff. If you go into the YouTube Creator's Suite, there are options where you can use music instrumentals that are free for use, and the licensing allows you to utilize it in your podcasts. That's my process. With all of these things that I'm telling you, do what feels organic to you. But I honestly think that the way that I do it is fairly easy. Some people utilize Skype as well to record their podcasts. Again, for what you're doing, you want to do the things that are organic to you, that are going to sound good and feel good to your audience. Here's a bonus tip. When you're actually recording your episodes, record as if you are not going to edit. Don't record things and say, "No, let's do that over again. Not, I'll just edit that up." Of course you can always do that. But in my experiments, when you record it as though you are not going to edit, it actually cuts back on the amount of time that you'll spend editing at the end. If you're doing this podcasting thing and you are like, "I don't have a laptop, I don't have a desktop, I don't have a fancy microphone and headphones." If you have a smartphone, you can still record your episode especially if you're doing a solo. Hosting sites and platforms such as Anchor will allow you to record your episode directly into the app on your phone. Now you have a couple options. Now you can go ahead and record that intro and outro. But before you go, I have one more tip for you. Smile when you're recording the intro and outro. Trust me, it'll come out in your audio. 7. Create Your Cover Art: Welcome back. One thing that is interesting about me is that I see things before they happen. No, I don't give visions, and I'm not psychic, but I envision a project before I get started. I see the colors I want to use. If it's an event that I'm doing, I see the venue, I see the setup that I want, I think about what type of music I want, because I'm creating an experience, I'm creating a whole vibe. I know is different for everyone, but this works for me. People enjoy my events and my content, and that's because I'm able to implement my vision. Let's do this activity together to figure out the art and branding of your podcast. What images come to mind when you think about your podcast? Remember those words that we wrote down in one of our very first videos. What colors come to mind? What feeling comes to mind when you think about those words, when you think about your podcast? Remember tiny couch talks. We talked about that a couple of videos back when I first started thinking about the art for that podcast. This was before I found out that the day was taken. I had this picture of me sitting on my tiny couch, and I would use that for my art. But like I said, the name was already taken. Even before I got to finding out that the name was already taken, I couldn't seem to get the image right. I tried and tried, and I'm a pro at taking my own photo with a tripod and with lights, but because of everything that was going on with the pandemic, I wasn't able to get it done. I wasn't able to get the image that I needed, and I wasn't able to get the name that I wanted because it was already taken. Once I came up with the new name, Misadventures of An Inspired Woman, I started thinking, do I already have images or photos of myself that would be useful or helpful, that one I like? Because let's be real, if we're using a photo or an image for our podcast, we have the like it because we're going to be using it for an extended period of time. Not only do I need to like it, but it needs to capture the essence of the podcast. I chose this image that I already had. I look fierce and fabulous, if I may say so myself. But also, I'm in the middle of a street. I'm standing there with this coat. It looks like a super, you're okay. But I was standing in the middle of the street, and one can't help but wonder what's about to go wrong. To have this image to be for the Misadventures of An Inspired Woman, it worked perfectly. I used Canva, which I'll talk to you about, to get that image to further represent the essence of the podcast. People should be able to look at your graphics and get a feel as to what your podcast is about. My podcast is all about women finding their way. They are strong, they are determined, but they oftentimes come up against obstacles and detours. This photo that I used conveys that and so much more. Red is a powerful color. It's standing there in the middle of the street with this cape-like coat just screams adventure, possible mayhem, and shenanigans. Then I discovered the effects option on Canva. It makes the image imperfect and hazy, all of the things that the podcast is about. Let's talk about Canva. I just mentioned Canva, which is what I use the most of my graphics. I do the graphics myself, but you can always outsource and hire a graphic artist. Even if you do hire a graphic artist, you need to know all of the things that we've just talked about because the graphic artist is going to ask you all of these questions. If the graphic artist is actually good, they will ask you these questions, and they'll be able to come up with something that reflects the answers to these questions. I mentioned my co-host in an earlier video, and I said he's a boss at graphic arts. He is a graphic artist, so he created our home, cover art, and all of the art that we used to promote our podcast for Black and Saved from scratch. We collaborated on the colors, but he knows how to do that. I do not, so I use Canva. Why is it important? In order to get your podcast streaming on multiple platforms, you have to have cover art or podcast art, whatever you want to call it, that actually size guidelines as to what that image should look like. Apple in particular is very strict about that. If you go into Canva, and you literally do a search on podcast art, a bunch of templates will pop up. I love Canva because it keeps you within those restrictions, but you also can play with the images. You can play with the colors. Remember, we talked about what images come to mind. We talked about what colors come to mind. You can utilize all of the information that we've talked about so far in Canva to actually come up with the design. If the limitations are so much, and you actually want to hire someone, then I say go for it. Most things on Canva are free, and I love free. But even if you end up paying for an image on Canva, it'll be a dollar tabs. It's still going to be budget friendly in terms of the cost of you producing a podcast art. Most people promote their podcast on social media and on their website. Depending on what social media platform you use, graphics is going to be really important. You can even create videos as well. That's another bonus part about recording with Zoom, is that you can also get your video content, and you can cut it up and put that out on your social media. Just a bonus tip. But back to the art, what you want to do with that initial art or logo for your podcast is you want to create variations of it. If you have Facebook, you want to create a Facebook banner. You want to get the size specifications for Twitter, for Facebook, for Instagram, wherever you're hosting. You also want to use the similar concepts and colors in promotional posts of upcoming episodes, so maybe to announce that you have a guest host, maybe to announce who your next guest is. I tend to do out the week of a podcast coming out, also put out little snippets, but I put out little quotes from myself or from my guest, and I used the same color scheme and the same design to put that out on to my social media, so everything looks uniform. When folks see this particular picture or these particular colors, they know it's you, they know it's your podcast, and they're going to pay attention. Now that I've given you all of that information, your task is to go into Canva and create cover art for your podcast. Think about all of the things that we spoke about and go into Canva, find the template, play around, change around the colors to suit you, put in what images you think. If you're not going to do it yourself, then go talk to your graphic artist, take all of this information, and take it to your graphic artist. You'll be able to have a piece of art, cover art, and future promotional art for your podcast. Remember, your graphics and your art should represent your podcast. When someone looks at it, they should know what it represents, what the podcast is all about, and what they can expect. Even if you're going to be using a graphic artist, still go do the exercise and answer all of the questions in this lesson, because it's ultimately going to help guide you towards picking those colors, picking those images that best represent you. I know you're going to do a great job. I can't wait to see it. 8. Record Your Trailer: So now you've named your podcast. You have your art, you have your format, you have your intro, your outro, and your trailer. Now we actually need to record the trailer. Are you getting excited? I'm getting excited. Are you also getting overwhelmed? I know for me when I'm doing things like this is very easy for me to become overwhelmed. Not necessarily because I don't feel like I can't get it done, but because I know how awesome it's going to be, and that feeling can be very overwhelming. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I don't know about you, but it really helps to take the pressure off. Before we actually record the trailer, I'm going to walk you through a breathing and mindset exercise to get you started on the right track. Close your eyes, get comfortable. Seek some place that's comfortable. Make sure that your feet are firmly planted on the floor. Make sure that your body is relaxed. A good way to tell if your body is relaxed, that that is to tense it up and then release it. Once you release it, you get a sense of where your relaxation point is. Again, close your eyes, get comfortable. I want you to take some deep breaths for me. But most of us don't necessarily breathe correctly. I want to teach you the best way to breathe that will allow relaxation to take place. When we breathe in, oftentimes I see people breathe in and they suck their stomachs in. But when you breathe in, you're actually filling your lungs with air. Your stomach should expand when you breathe in. When you breathe out through your mouth, then your stomach is going to deflate. A good way to keep track of that is to put one hand on your chest and one hand on your tummy and keep track of it that way. Your eyes are closed, you're comfortable. You're going to take a deep breath in through your nose and hold it and exhale through your mouth. You're going to take another deep breath in through your nose and hold it and out through your mouth. Let's do one more in through your nose, hold it, and out through your mouth. How do you feel? You should feel better. Breathing in this way ultimately triggers the sensor in our brain that's for relaxation and it tells our body to relax. Now don't go to sleep, we have work to do. Now you're relaxed. Let's talk about your mindset. Your mindset is so important as you are about to record. The things that you're thinking all go into translate into your tonal voice and your approach. Before you actually record the trailer, I want you to think about your why, why you. Remember, you are the best person to deliver this message. This is either an informative message or is an uplifting message, or maybe it's a fun message. Whatever it is, get your mindset that you are the right person to do this and that you are going to do a great job at it. All of this translates into the tone of your podcasts. For your trailer, you want people to be able to hear your voice and to get excited about it, to be intrigued, to be curious about what's to come. It's natural to feel anxious as you're about to record. Hopefully, the relaxation exercise is one that you can use repeatedly and it'll get you into the right mode to start recording. So go over the script for your trailer one more time. Remember, your mindset and tone of voice is going to be very important as you record. Your tone of voice should be natural to you and keep in mind the person that your talking to. Remember that avatar that you created, whenever I'm recording, I picture myself talking to Kiara directly. I picture her listening in as I talk to my friends, I picture her participating in the conversation. I know that when I have this mindset and I know that I'm talking directly to Kiara the message is going to be received by my target audience. Your equipment should be setup from the earlier lesson. Remember your mindset. If you need to do some deep breathing again, do that and get yourself relaxed. Picture your target audience, your avatar, and record. 9. Put it out!: Welcome back. You have some audio, you have art, and now you need to get your podcasts out there. Your podcasts needs to live somewhere. Hosting sites have all types of capabilities. They will allow you to record directly, they may even allow you or help you to find sponsorships. But the most important thing that you need from a hosting site is a RSS feed. The RSS feed is what allows your podcasts to be streamed on multiple platforms, even though it's hosted in one place. There are a lot of options for hosting sites and depending again on your budget, and what capabilities you want from the hosting site, you choose the one that's best for you. Again, because I like all things free, I chose to go with Anchor. The other great thing about Anchor is that because I used Anchor, once I receive the RSS feed from them, my podcast was immediately available on Spotify. When I think about streaming platforms for music as well as for podcasts, I think about Spotify and Apple. Going through Anchor, I was able to right away be on Spotify. Apple takes a little while longer. Once you get your RSS feed, it usually takes about a day or two for you to get onto hosting platforms. Apple can sometimes take between 5-7 days. But because you have a trailer, I have a tip for you that's going to allow you to publish your first episode sooner rather than later. Here we are. You have your art and you have your audio. In order to get an RSS feed, you have to upload your art and your audio to your hosting platform. Like I said, it usually takes sometimes a couple hours or 24 hours for you to get onto Spotify or any other podcasting platform, Apple can take longer. Here's my suggestion. Before you launch your podcasts, have your launch date in mind. Before you do that, maybe a week or two, upload your trailer onto your hosting site labeling as a trailer or as season 1, episode 0, and this will allow you to have an RSS feed. Once you have an RSS feed, that means folks can search the name of your podcast, and they can find it, and they can listen to it either on the hosting site or on their favorite podcast streaming platform. Now, remember I said Apple takes a little while longer, so if you do the trailer now, and you upload it, and then you go ahead and you record an episode or two or three, by the time you edit and have that first episode ready, guess what? You're going to be on Apple. That means that you're on the two major streaming platforms for podcasts even before you really launch. Again, your trailer, you're going to put it out on social media to tease, but you're going to really use it to get that RSS feed, which means that your podcast is now live. For your trailer, you have your script, you may want to add images, I'll show you what my trailer looked like for my Misadventures podcasts, as well as what the trailer was like for the Black and Saved podcasts. The Misadventures podcasts, I did video. For the Black and Saved podcasts, we did audio. Once you have that, share it, send it to your friends, send it to your grandma, send it to your cousins, but also put it on your social media. If you have a newsletter or a mailing list, and if you don't have one, maybe think about creating one for your podcast so you can let folks know when new episodes are coming out. Send that information out, put it on YouTube if you want, put it on Instagram, share it, share it, share it, so folks can get excited about the content that you're bringing their way. Really important, once you get your trailer out and also your first episode out, really encourage folks to review and subscribe to the podcast. The more people review and subscribe to it and leave you comments, not just the stars will also leaving a written review is the more visible your podcast will be to people that is simply looking for new podcasts to listen to, so be sure to always encourage people to do that. The other thing is your social media. Are you going to create a new account for your podcast or are you going to use an existing account? I've done both. With my Misadventures podcast, I manage a number of social media accounts, it didn't really make sense for me to create a new account for that one, especially since it really is the essence of who I am as Dr. Keisha, I'm all about empowering my community, I'm all about giving informative content, I'm all about making folks laugh and having a good time, and really inspiring, uplifting, all those things that the podcast is about. It made sense that I would use my Dr. Keisha account to promote that podcast. With my Black and Saved podcasts, I have a co-host. We then needed to create a separate account that we both would have access to and that we both would put content up on that we agreed upon. It made sense to have a separate account for that. Think about if social media isn't your thing, talk to someone who was really informed about this and decide, are you going to use your existing platform or are you going to build from scratch? Now, your podcast is out there. People can go into Apple Podcasts put your name in, put the name of your podcast, and it'll pop up, or they can go to Spotify or they can just do a Google search, and it'll pop up. You need to do a launch some event. If you don't do it in person, you can do it virtually. I launched my Misadventures podcast virtually to Instagram Live. I had my first five guests on, each in 5-10 minutes segments, so that folks were able to see what the upcoming episodes will going to be about. I had the music playing in the background, I had the folks pop in, I had people asking questions. Then as you know with Instagram Live, once you do a live, you can save it as an IGTV file. I was able to do that, and it exist. So anytime anyone who wants to know what the podcast is about, they can go check that out. Make sure you have a launch. If you can do giveaways, do giveaways. If you want to do it on YouTube. If you just want to have folks listen and posts hashtags and all of these different things to promote your podcast, do something not just to let folks know that, "Hey, my podcast is here," but to celebrate the great work that you've put in, all of this hard work is going to pay off. Just to go over everything, no matter where you choose to let your podcast live in terms of a hosting site, be sure that it's available on all streaming platforms. Guess what, these platforms are free. A simple Google search will tell you about various podcast platforms. If encrypt doesn't directly send it there, you can always add it in, you can go directly to those sites, and you can add it in there. Be sure that you are letting folks know either on social media, so it could be a separate social media account or your existing social media that your podcast is here, it's coming out, and they want to tune in. Encourage people to subscribe and review that podcast is really important. Last but not least, no matter what you do, make it a celebration. 10. Conclusion: Here we are. We are at the end of this class, and you have done it. You have created your artwork, you have created your trailer, you know the name of your podcast, you know who your target audience is, you know where you're going to launch it, where you're going to tell folks all about it, and I am so proud of you. Thank you for sticking with me throughout all of this. Your hard work is going to pay off when you hear that 1st episode out there. So always keep in mind, what your why is, why you, why are you doing this now, why is this message so important to get out there? You have something to say, and it's really important that you package it in a way that other people will want to hear it, and you have gotten all the tools from this class in order to do so. You know how to name your podcast, you know how to find your target audience, you know how to find the art that best represents you, the right music, the right tone, the right format. All of those things you now have in your toolkit, so go forward and record season 1. So be sure to upload your trailer to the Skillshare page. If you share it on social media, please tag me @dr_keisha, that's DR underscore K-E-I-S-H-A on Instagram, and I would love to see the work that you've done in this class. No matter what, know that the message you have to put out there is great and it definitely should be celebrated. 11. Bonus: My Trailer : One, 2, 3. Welcome to the Misadventures of An Inspired Woman podcast. Have you ever looked at someone and said to yourself, "Wow, they really have it all together. They're such an inspiration. Why can't I be like that?" Well, I have news for you. You are exactly like that because no one "has it altogether." Even if someone who you find to be inspiring has shown you a snapshot into their lives, it doesn't mean that before or after that moment it didn't all fall apart, that they didn't have moments of confusion and not have indirection. This podcast takes you on the journeys of several women who are trying to become better versions of themselves. They've had many successes, but they've also had many failures, and so they're sharing with us their peaks and valleys, and practical insight into how we all can become better versions of ourselves.