It’s harder than ever to find innovative advertising strategies to engage and delight your customers. Fewer of them are watching TV, digital ads are hyper-competitive, and most internet users are pretty jaded with the ads that do come their way.

That’s why more brands are turning to video podcasts or video series. They offer a unique way to engage and educate potential customers while avoiding the shortcomings of traditional advertising. What’s keeping more brands away from this strategy is largely that it’s new and, frankly, they don’t know how to use it.

That’s where this guide comes in. In it, we’ll break down all the steps required to create a compelling video podcast that will delight your audience and build your customer base.

Step 1: Develop a concept

It all begins with a concept. Will your show be centered around interviews, or maybe behind the scenes looks at your processes? Your first thought may be to look towards other companies in your industry, but the best ideas often come from more unexpected places.

After all, your show should help you stand out in your industry. Think about a concept that will:

• Be entertaining for your potential audience
• Allow for enough content to be created
• Provide opportunities to educate your audience and move them down the funnel

If you’re still stick on which concept to use, we’ve got some more in-depth suggestions and examples.

Step 2: Get your equipment

This step can feel very intimidating. The world of audio and video equipment is vast, but choosing the right equipment isn’t as hard as you think. A few lapel mics, some free software, and a tripod for you smartphone can be all you need to get started. That means a full setup can cost you under $100.

Once you’ve got your concept and the gear, you just need to create a space to record.

Step 3: Create your setup

First, ask yourself whether you’ll be filming in one place, or will be moving around documentary style.

For a static setup

Choosing the right room comes down to getting three things right: audio, visuals, and feel. For the audio, choose a smaller room without too many hard surfaces. If you still have echo problems a few sound panels can fix that. Then you want to choose a space with as much natural light as possible. But, it doesn’t hurt to get some studio lights for cloudy days.

Lastly, the trickiest part is the feel. So much of creating a great video podcast is about being in the right headspace. Trust me, as someone who’s been podcasting for over 6 years, this is what constantly trips me up when getting ready to record. So, think about the little touches that create the atmosphere like a comfortable chair or even little knicknacks.

For a mobile setup

Again, here a modern smartphone with optically stabilized video should let just about anyone get smooth shots of people going about their business. You could invest in a gimbal to make that easier. In that case, around $100 will let you move around and shoot video with confidence.

For the simplest setup

The other way you can go about creating a video podcast is with a static image and audio. While this approach is cheaper and easier, it does limit your options for using video to engage your audience, create microcontent, and promote your show.

Step 4: Record and edit episodes

Now that you’ve got your setup together it’s time to record. If you’re recording with a phone or mic, always double check you’ve got plenty of memory capacity before you start. If you’re recording static video, spend the time to get your composition right. Here’s a quick rundown of how to do that:

Once you need to edit, ask yourself whether you can do it or whether you need some help. For static video, you should be able to take care of the more minimal editing required. For something more in the documentary style, considering bringing in some extra help.

Step 5: Optimize your video for SEO

There are a few things you still need to do once you’ve got a completed video.

• Pick the perfect thumbnail
• Give it a YouTube optimized title. It should be no longer than 60 characters. Also rename the file with the same name.
• Write a short description, focus on including keywords that people might search for when looking for something like what you’ve created.

It’s worth reading through a YouTube SEO guide to get a better feel for everything you need to do. Just remember, you can create the most amazing video podcast in the world but if nobody can find it, then it’s not going to bring you any value.

Create a great thumbnail

Great videos have carefully crafted custom thumbnails. Using anything else will make your video podcast look sloppy and amateurish. Luckily, Youtube has a great guide for how to do this.

Step 6: Create and repurpose microcontent

Now here’s where things get interesting. All of the previous 5 steps are something you probably knew you had to do. But repurposing your video content is a critical step far too many video podcasts and other shows fail to do.

In short, you take the longer episode you’ve created and you break it up into smaller clips built around potentially engaging moments. You can also make images, charts, memes, blog posts, etc. In essence, each of these pieces of microcontent is a little test to determine what resonates with your audience.

Once you’ve created your microcontent, you put it out on your various social media channels and see how your audience responds. You can even ask them which parts of the original episode they liked best (ask for timestamps to save yourself the hassle of finding it) for ideas.

Then, once you’ve seen how that first batch did, you can create a second batch of microcontent based on what you learned from the first. Finally, take all the things you learned about what your audience responds to and pour them back into creating your next episode.

This process both helps grow your audience by putting out far more content for people to see and share as well as by letting you learn fast. Now, you’re building an engaged audience and gaining valuable insights about your potential customers. That’s why businesses are turning to video podcasts.

Need help getting started?

Obviously there’s a lot to learn here, but we’ve got your back. Feel free to book some time with us where we can share our knowledge. We can help you develop ideas and share our hard-earned practical tips.