It seems like nearly everyone has a podcast these days. So that means you need one too, right? Before you jump into the podcast sphere, here’s why you should hire a podcast producer.
A producer, really? Why do I need a producer? What would they do? Press record? There’s actually a lot more to it than you realize.
If you’re going to launch a podcast, you’ll need to figure out a focus, identify potential guests and schedule sessions with them, purchase audio equipment, and find someone to edit it.
This sounds like a lot more than I expected. It is. That’s why you need a podcast producer. These are all the phases they can support you with on your podcast journey:
Concept & Development
Podcast producers can do more than record your episode. Remember all of the brilliant podcast topics you dreamed up? Yeah, I remember them. Do you think I should share all of them on my podcast? When do we get started?
It’s great you have so many ideas, but having too many can also make you and your audiences feel overwhelmed. You may feel passionate about all of the ideas and topics you want to share, but if it’s too much, audiences will tune you out. What matters more than having a dynamic host or guests with lots of deep insights is knowing your focus and how it aligns with your goals and mission (whether you’re doing this for a business or as an individual).
A podcast producer can support you with figuring out the overall theme of your podcast so there’s a clear direction that you, your guests, and your audiences can follow. A producer can also help you identify who your audiences are and what they want so you can have a clearer idea of what to discuss and whom to invite as a guest. Podcasts shouldn’t be run like bulletin boards cluttered with sticky notes. They’re much more successful when they have a specific focus.
Take Payne Lindsay’s podcasts, for example. He’s part podcaster revisiting missing persons’ cases, part alien researcher, and part real life scary story reteller. Whether his podcast is about missing and murdered Indigenous people on Up and Vanished or sharing a ghost story or strange encounter on Radio Rental, his podcasts stay focused on a theme and all share one commonality: Investigation.
Production Timelines & Management
There’s a lot that goes into making a podcast. It can’t be that hard, can it? After working as a producer on a video podcast, I’ve learned there’s more to it than you might expect. From pre-production to post, there are numerous details and tasks for every step.
Phase 1: Concept/Development
This is where you select key themes or focus points for your podcast as well as identify your target audience. Once you’ve decided on a theme, the ideation stage begins as you brainstorm potential topics and guests for seasons and episodes.
You’ll not only want to align on topics, you’ll also need to decide if you’re filming both video and audio or audio only as it will impact how you record and prep your guests down the line. A podcast producer can help you think through all of this so you can develop necessary documentation and materials for pre-production.
Pre-Production
You might already have some potential guests in mind, but you should still research them to make sure they align with the focus on your podcast. This is also a time when you’ll need to conduct guest outreach and arrange a time to walk them through a run-of-show so they know what to expect and what kind of mics and equipment they need.
Up next, you’ll figure out a time for a recording session and write possible interview questions so your guest knows where the conversation is headed and can think on or prepare answers ahead of time. Before you head to the recording session, this is when you’ll need to have your guest sign a media release form so you have their permission to record them and send any other materials you need for promotional content such as headshots.
Before you move into the next phase, it’s important to understand how you’ll determine the success of your podcast. What metrics do you want to track? What marketing content will you need to promote the podcast? It’s a lot to remember and juggle, which is where a producer can come in handy.
Production
It’s time to hit record! It sounds pretty straight-forward, but a lot can happen during a recording session. I’ll touch on this in the next section, but it’s a time when you’ll need someone who can troubleshoot as issues arise such as background noise, step in when needed to keep the conversation on track, or look at the time to make sure the recording session won’t go past a guest or host’s availability. This can all run much smoother with a producer at your side.
Post-Production
This is the phase when you edit, schedule, and publish your podcast episode. Sounds pretty simple to me. If only it were. Editing may involve multiple rounds with notes depending on what needs to be fixed or selected for soundbites. Once the episode is uploaded and scheduled for publishing, you’ll need to communicate any updates to your guest and have marketing materials ready for promotion. I’ll expand more on this phase in a later section, but it’s yet another example of multi-step processes a producer can wrangle together so you don’t have to.
Guest Research & Scheduling
Who you invite on your podcast matters. You might be excited to have a conversation with your BFF, but when it comes to a podcast, you have to think about how your audience will receive what you have to say and if what you discuss has value to them. But why wouldn’t everyone want to hear all of these great ideas? People have limited time in their day and are selective about what they watch, listen, and read. That’s why you need to carefully select your podcast guests.
There’s nothing wrong starting out with connections you already have as long as they align with your podcast’s focus, but eventually you’ll want to branch out. It’s important to thoroughly research potential guests to make sure they: (a) have stories to share that align with the podcast's direction, (b) provide information that’s valuable to your audience, (c) have a sizeable audience that can help you reach more people and (d) feel comfortable being on camera or in front of a mic.
It’s important to spend time researching potential guests and evaluate their background and experience, review any content they’ve been featured in, and check out their accomplishments. Knowing where they’re currently at and what they’ve done can help identify if they’re a good fit (and they’ll feel confident knowing you’ve done your research and not some rando asking them for something).
If you’re looking for someone who does this well, look no further than The Business Case for Women’s Sports. Hosted by Caroline Fitzgerald, this podcast features interviews with leaders in women's sports that take a deeper dive into niche topics like data insights, marketing strategies, and sponsorship deals. Each guest, whether they’re an athlete, marketing executive, or Chief Development Officer, brings their expertise and a different perspective on why it’s important to invest in women’s sports.
Once you’ve selected guests, the next step is to contact them, which sounds simple but there are always many more emails than meets the eye. Scheduling time to introduce them to the production team and host, walking them through the recording process, and finding time for the actual recording can take many, many emails. Plus you’ll need to make sure they have good recording equipment, can login to your recording platform, sign media release forms, and that they send you any materials such as photos to make marketing assets.
Attempting to do this all in one email is very ambitious and can get confusing very quickly. That’s when a podcast producer can step in to project manage and make sure all the pieces are in place.
Audio Recording
Guest prepared for the recording. Check. Guest and host have necessary recording equipment. Check. Recording date scheduled. Check.
That means we’re good to go, right? Well, sort of. There’s a lot more to recording than you might expect.
The first time I ran a recording session on my own in Riverside, it looked pretty simple. That was until we started recording. It seemed like anything that could go wrong did go wrong.
First, the guest couldn’t login to the session. The host and I decided to start a new session and I invited the guest to the recording. When we still encountered hiccups, the Executive Producer joined the session while on break from another shoot to provide additional support. Eventually, the guest was able to join, but their video looked blurry, so they logged off, restarted their internet, and rejoined the session.
All of the troubleshooting worked and we started recording (yay!). But that doesn’t mean it was smooth sailing. There were times we had to stop because of random noises coming in from open windows or kids coming home from school. These aren’t one-time only experiences when you’re recording. After filming interviews, I know that unexpected interruptions and pauses happen often.
Once the conversation gets going, a particular quote might stand out or you may get caught up in the conversation and lose track of time. When you’re filming and hosting the podcast, you won’t have a lot of time to pause and take notes or check the time. It’s a lot to manage, which is why you’ll want an experienced podcast producer by your side who can oversee these responsibilities and stay calm through it all.
Editing
Once the recording’s over it doesn’t end there. But editing can’t take that long…can’t AI make it all better with one click? Although programs like Adobe Premiere and Audition have robust editing tools, they’re not a solution for everything. Some of the Adobe Premiere AI audio features clean up background noise like magic. Other times, it makes someone sound like they have a cold or gives them a robotic voice. Not ideal when you’re aiming for a natural sounding conversation.
No matter how much advanced technology you have, it doesn’t always resolve everything. Sometimes you have to use lots of different tools and features in your editing program that require time to listen and figure out how to remove strange whirring noises in the background without dulling a speaker’s voice. Removing the “ums,” “likes,” and “you knows” gets tricky when a speaker is high pitched or loud at the beginning of their phrase and quieter after the filler word that you removed. Smoothing out strange dips and peaks takes time and precision that can stump even the most advanced AI feature.
Allowing time for post-production and keeping track of edits between clients, creative directors, executive producers, and editors gets complicated as more people get involved. Information can get lost in the mix as notes get shuffled around and you try to figure out who said what, where, and when. That’s when you need a podcast producer to step in and pull everything together.
A producer’s role doesn’t end after recording. Figuring out the best system for distributing feedback, keeping track of editing due dates, and making sure everyone follows through on their part is what a producer does to make your recording into an actual podcast. Taking something from concept to delivery is where producers shine. That’s why you’ll want one through every step of the podcast production process.
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