What's stopping you from starting a podcast?

Audio has become a thing. Both Twitter and LinkedIn joined the race to launch audio-only content types with Twitter spaces and LinkedIn audio. Was it just the Clubhouse boom that prompted this decision or did they also have one eye on the podcast market?

According to the Edison Research Spoken Word report, 46% of the U.S. population listens to podcasts daily and the number of 13–24 year olds listening to podcasts has increased 214% between 2014–2022 – making podcasts a direct threat to social media.

Remote working has also influenced the growth of podcast listening. In fact, 25% of homeworkers are listening to podcasts to help them unwind or even to be more productive.

Why start a podcast?

If you fancy getting into podcasting at your charity, the first thing to consider is why. What strategic aims could a podcast help you with?

Reach a target audience group for your podcast

Reaching the “elusive” Gen Z was the motivation for Jo Swinney, Director of Communications at A Rocha International to start their podcast three years ago.

A Rocha International is a global family of religious conservation organisations heavily reliant on an older supporter base. Bringing in a younger crowd is vital for their collective futures.

Swinney says the podcast “enables us to have longer conversations” and really interrogate the reasons for hope in the midst of the climate crisis.

The situation was similar for Winston’s Wish, a charity giving hope to grieving children. Jess Pardoe, Children and Young People’s Content Lead brought the podcast idea to the charity’s newly formed Youth Team – a group of young ambassadors with experiences of bereavement.

Catch 22 also wanted to reach a key audience, but for them it was national and local government partners and commissioners. People with white collar roles who are more likely to work remotely and have a podcast on in the background (let’s be honest, even in the office everyone’s plugged in listening to true crime or Pod Save America these days).

Catch 22 works across justice, apprenticeships, education, young people, and families. Melissa Milner, Director of External Affairs, sees the podcast as a good opportunity for this audience to, “hear about the breadth of work that we’re doing and the impact that we’re having.”

Make good use of your network of experts

One of the tricky things about conversation-led content is finding relevant, engaging people to invite on your show.

For organisations like A Rocha International with a federated structure and a very cool little black book, finding guests was a non-issue. Swinney says, “we’ve gone from business to arts to campaigners to explorers. We’ve had the National Geographic’s Explorer in Residence on, for example.”

At Winston’s Wish, Pardoe’s approach has been to put young people with lived experience front and center. She works with the Youth Team to sketch out themes for each series and then puts the call out to them to come forward as hosts and speakers. Each episode is different, they “range from…personal experience to advice” says Pardoe.

What’s stopping you from launching a podcast?

If you have relevant strategic goals and a good network of contacts, what’s stopping you from starting a podcast? Perhaps one of the usual culprits – money, time, or expertise.

It might surprise you to learn that you can start a podcast for zero cost. Recording your audio on Zoom and editing and uploading using a free podcasting platform like Buzzsprout will allow you to test your concept without cost.

However, there is a time-cost involved. Thea Symonds, Digital Content Manager at Catch 22, estimates that it takes “around a day in total” to record and produce each episode. At Winston’s wish Pardoe allows, “two days for editing each episode.” So that gives you a ballpark.

In terms of expertise, Swinney at A Rocha International says, “I honestly think anyone could do it.” When they first got started, Google was their friend and a member of the team went through some free training to get skilled up.

How to measure podcast success

Before you hit the green button and go for it, take a moment to work out how you’ll measure success.

You can look at:

• Downloads
• Unique listeners
• Play through rates
• Website traffic

And you might also think sideways about a metric that relates to your target audience. For example at A Rocha International, Swinney measures success by charting any increases in younger supporters in their annual supporter survey.

You may also get a pleasant surprise like Catch 22. Their podcast has been a hit with their 1,000 plus members of staff too!

The one bit of advice Pardoe at Winston’s Wish would share with a charity getting started with a podcast is: “Don’t be afraid. It’s not the end of the world if your first episode or series isn’t perfect.”