What is best practice for PMing an internal podcast?

JAR Audio's CEO, Roger Nairn, sat down with América Turner, our new Head of Operations, to have her share best practices when project managing an internal podcast.

What do companies need to consider before starting an internal podcast (from a project management standpoint)?

Logistics and Planning

The first things you need to ask yourself is:

• Which stakeholders are critical to the success of this podcast (i.e. CEO, marketing department lead, social media manager)?
• How many stakeholders are there in total? (i.e. 10, 15, remember, the more stakeholders in your project, the higher the complexity and the risk)
• What role will they play: decision making, approval of the audio and sign-off, being actively informed in all the final decisions. I highly recommend identifying your stakeholders in a RACI Chart.

If you're thinking about hiring a podcast production company to help you launch your product into the world; after you've identified all your internal stakeholders and their roles, look for gaps that need to be filled externally:

• Who will handle the creative development of your show?
• Who will measure your show's success and how?
• Who will take the audio production and launch it?
• Who will work on the promotion, PR and online strategy of your podcast show?

Lastly, what is your launch date goal? Your launch date is essential for everyone involved in the project since you will need to take your team's calendar into account when creating your work-back schedule.

Whom should you assign to lead the project?

Most likely, many of the creatives on your team will like to participate in the show's creative development. For a branded podcast, your best bet is to have your marketing team work alongside the production company of your choice.

They have the best understanding of your audience habits, preferences and demographics.

Likewise, having a few executives informed or consulted during the initial creative process will help the show reflect your brand's values more effectively.

What is the best way to gather feedback?

The best way to give feedback to your producers is with a time-stamp methodology.

It can be as simple as a 1-page template that states:

Time-stamp + feedback + Who (i.e. at minute 12:09 + delete the part where we talk about fast food in Europe, it is not relevant for this interview + Peter, Marketing Director)

Feedback needs to be clear, consistent, and coming from the stakeholders assigned as "consulted" and "accountable" in the initial RACI chart.

What are some "watch-outs" when creating your timeline?

A podcast timeline has the following steps:

Pre-production: Creative treatment development and budget analysis

• What is the budget for the show production, distribution, marketing and promotion?
• What type of guests should I have on my show? Will I need to offer them an incentive?
• Who will host the show? What is my budget for my host? How will my host prepare for this role?
• What audience I'm trying to reach? How will I take into account my current audience's information when developing the creative treatment?
• What will be the dynamic of my show's interview? (2 guests, panel, 1 guest)
• What is the storytelling format we'll be working on?

Production: Producing scripts, preparing pre-interviews and recording guest(s).

• Everything from equipment delivery logistics to confirmation of guests happens here.
• Depending on your list of guests, you will probably need to create an interview release agreement with your legal team.

Post-production: Audio editing and creation of marketing materials

• After all the interviews are done, your audio engineer and sound mixer will make the editing magic happen
• How are you promoting your show? Do you need social media assets?

Analysis and continuous improvement: Once your first episode is released

• Establish a publishing cadence and stick to it
• Read your audience's feedback and iterate as needed
• Track your metrics and results

Critical things for success:

1. It is essential that you set a realistic timeline from the start.
2. Track and measure your team's weekly progress by ensuring "any blockers" are removed from your team's path.
3. Divide action items in critical vs. nice-to-have; not everything needs to happen at once.

How do you keep the project on track?

Two main project scope creeps are "budget and timeline" issues.

1. Always compare your estimated budget to the actual allocation to obtain accurate data.
2. Every change in scope (i.e. add three guests into an episode instead of 2) will unquestionably affect the scope and delivery turnover; plan accordingly.
3. Give sufficient time to your stakeholders to provide feedback (i.e. 5-7 business days instead of 2)

Having a risk management plan at the beginning of your planning process will proactively put you in a better position once scope changes arise. To create a risk assessment plan, ask yourself the following questions:

1. List the risks of your project (i.e. a guest cancels last minute)
2. Analyze the impact of the risk (i.e. low, moderate, high)
3. Calculate the likelihood of this action occurring (i.e. frequent, rarely)
4. Create a “risk rating” system (i.e. 1 = low risk, 5 = high risk)
5. Create an action plan to address the potential risk (i.e. have 2-3 evergreen episodes already in production for when this happens)

How do you ensure that key stakeholders are kept in the loop?

A communication plan is crucial for your project's success. Understand your team's roles, responsibilities, and contact information will make your team feel confident and prepared.

It is also essential to establish communication tools and methods since the very beginning:

For example, if you communicate via email weekly and use a weekly meeting to strategize, plan those calls. You will also need to ask your team which prefer the method of communication they want to use in case of an emergency (i.e. phone, text, slack)

With some solid planning in place, you can now go forth and create something awesome. And it will resonate with your team.

Thanks for the insights, América!

Written by Roger Nairn, JarAudio.com