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Video is a powerful tool to help people connect with your brand and your business. When video appears, there's an instant intuitive reaction compelling people to click play to watch. Here are our top four reasons why you should be using video to drive your sales strategy: Cut through the noise through email - people are receiving hundreds of emails a day and video has the potential to earn you 3x more responses than a standard text-only email. Build better relationships - when people can see a human face and look you in the eye, there's already a different level of interest and trust; like they know you and will therefore be more willing to connect with you. Save time - if you can engage with your prospect efficiently by taking them to the next stage faster without you having to repeat yourself time and time again, wouldn't that be amazing? Keep it simple - you can explain really complex subjects in a much simpler format by showing people and not just by telling them. It's much clearer and can be structured in a much more concise way. How or where to use video as part of your sales strategy Subject lines that have the word 'video' in it are more likely to be opened. Include a thumbnail for extra brownie points! Including videos in social networking channels like LinkedIn InMails, Twitter DMs or Instagram DMs can be highly effective when targeting specific people. Maintain the connection and the momentum by explaining and informing your prospects with video. This helps people feel like that already know you even before they've met you and that is a massive competitive advantage. Furthermore, you can and probably should maintain that connection even after they become your customer to simplify any complex processes or topics. When it comes to content, the key to getting started is simply to start. Still not sure how? Contact us so we can help you setup your video sales strategy.

Short-form content that is 30 seconds or less is now the most popular and most preferred type of content watched today. TikTok-style, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are growing rapidly in viewership and it comes down to it being highly engaging, fast paced and high value. And no, it's not all just dance routines and silly pranks. Short-form content that is going viral are those that offer people something to learn, something to laugh at or something that entertains. It does not matter what industry you're from or how "boring" you think it may be. Every business has the ability to provide useful, educational content that attracts viewers on all the different social platforms. Short-form content is now simplified thanks to the competitive nature of each platform. When TikTok first started, it was a very alien channel many businesses and brands avoided for a long while. Today, you have Instagram and YouTube changing up their platforms to accommodate the TikTok-style of content to keep millennials and Gen-Z audiences engaged. Beyond this, short-form content is quicker to test and learn with and just for using a trending audio in your video, your changes of reaching thousands is possible without spending a single cent in digital advertising. To help you get started, a couple of suggestions so you can start creating short-form content for your business today. Start with the problem - what's a common problem that your customers or consumers often face? Start by sharing this problem and tease the result in the first few seconds of the content. Then walk your viewer through the exact steps or suggestions you would take to get to the results. Make it fast and make it interesting. Because short-form content is on average between 10-15 seconds, the chances of one person reviewing the video multiple times is very high which you're ultimately rewarded for by the algorithm because people are engaged. Get creative - a lot of people assume that they don't have a creative bone in them which is stopping them from creating content. To begin with, it's all about keeping it simple. What do you enjoy most about your job or your business? Short-form content that works is about being real and offering something of value. If you're an insurance broker, demonstrate your understanding and knowledge the best way you know how. When it comes to the production of the content, let the experts help guide you. After-all, most of the leg work is in the editing. If you're a business coach and your favourite sport is basketball, film yourself shooting hoops. Every hoop you swish, add an effect and a tip on how to be a successful business owner. Content creation always sounds daunting to begin with and it's understandable. You don't have to do it alone and that's what we're here for. If you love filming, we encourage that part of the process. If you don't have time to edit and add in all the features and audio, let us help you.

Repurposing content is about finding alternative ways to give new life to your previous content. It involves adding more value to your content by consistently revising it. But why should you bother? In this article, we share 10 reasons why it's essential to start repurposing content, the benefits of it and how you can plan for it. 1. You've already invested the time and resources into creating this one piece of content. The hard work is already done. Sometimes, your content just needs a little refresh to keep your audience engaged. This content piece might be a blog post you wrote. Could you turn this into a podcast or a video? Perhaps you can use the same topic and turn it into a webinar presentation? Could you break each point of the blog into 10 different infographics to post? It's the same valuable content just in a different format. 2. You've shared it once and maybe it didn't attract that much attention. Content has a greater impact when you give it time and repurpose it in a new format. That gives the content an opportunity to reach new audiences and increase its traction. For example, you shared a brand video on your landing page. The views are increasing but rather slowly. Repurpose that video by cutting it down into shorter edits and reformatting its size. Add your logo and a call-to-action if relevant. Post it on your socials, boost it and drive people to your landing page to view the whole video. Watch the numbers increase! 3. Generally, it takes seven touch points for a prospect to even consider any action or purchase ? That means that whatever your message, you need to drill it through to your prospects screen and into their heads. Be memorable and stay top-of-mind because the next time they need something relative to what you do, you will be the one they think of. 4. Repurposing optimised content has proven to increase your site traffic organically. For example, if you've written a blog, think about how you can turn that blog into a social media post. It could be an image or a carousel of images that tell a story or offers insights. When you share it, add a link to drive traffic back to the blog on your website so they can "Learn More" or "Read More". 5. 85% of people prefer to watch videos rather than to read online. If this statistic is true, your written content may not be getting the justice it deserves. Instead of dismissing all your efforts, make a video. Film yourself discussing the topic of interest and sharing your knowledge. Let people into your world so they too can learn more about you. Sharing a video with a real person talking to you authentically and wholeheartedly creates a level of trust no other content can compare to. Even better, update your old blog by embedding this new video into your blog post to give your audience the option to view whatever they prefer. Chop the original video into lots of smaller videos to post and remind people of your key messaging. Now that is high-value! 6. Testimonials or reviews is another great trust-building piece of content. Before someone makes a purchase, the chances are they're checking to see if you're legitimate. Sharing your customer's voice matters so if you've received a written review, find a way to get a video review. This doesn't need to involve a camera crew or expensive equipment. Simply request for your customer or client to film themselves on their phone and share that piece of content on your website, your socials or even on Google Business. You'll be surprised by how effective this strategy is as you watch your rankings increase across multiple platforms. 7. Turn statistics or collected data into engaging social media content. When you can turn words into a graphic or animation, you're providing your audience a new experience whilst educating them. Sharing this type of content demonstrates that you're knowledgeable and that you care about data which ultimately, makes you more credible. You can take it another level by repurposing your social media feed post into a Story Highlight by simply reformatting the content from square (1:1) to a vertical (9:16) piece. 8. Have you written an ebook? If you have, look at how you can repurpose each chapter by creating something different to explain the subject. It might be a GIF, an animation, a meme or a short video. Every time you re-share it, there's an opportunity for you to promote the ebook again so people can buy it or download it. If you haven't written an ebook, collate all your written blogs and repurpose them into one downloadable collection - TADA! You are now the author of a brand new ebook! 9. Presentations happen quite often and nowadays, a lot of them are being recorded on an app like Zoom or Microsoft Teams. You've put in a lot of work and there would be plenty of value in this video. Surely it would be a waste to archive it into a folder and not think about it again. Instead, why not select the golden nuggets from the presentation and cut them up into smaller pieces that you can repurpose for your socials? 10. Repurposing your content will help with your SEO. The importance of keywords may change over time which means that what was popular a year ago may not be the case today. By repurposing the content you have the chance to update your content to ensure up-to-date keyword data. With all these strategies to repurpose content, you will find that in no time, you will have so much content that your capabilities to post daily isn't unrealistic at all. Sure, you might need a little help to get started on certain types of formats but leave all the fine-tuning up to the experts. Remember that content is king, queen and the whole army but it's only as good as the strategy and effort you put in at the start to see the result you want on the other end.

If you're a brand considering integrating TikTok in your marketing mix, here are some tips on collaborating with creators effectively to maximise your messaging without compromising your brand safety. As a brand, you first need to understand what type of people use TikTok and what they are on the platform for. What are these users looking for from a brand like yours? How can your brand be the answer and help these users fill the gap they're hoping to fill? Businesses are utilising key trends to maximise TikTok's key features to be seen. From a content creator's perspective, the content they create for brands must still be authentic to them, whether it be delivered through their passion or their stories. Before you connect with your next collaborator who will be helping create content for your brand, consider these top tips: Don't be too forceful - the important word in this relationship between you and the creator is collaboration. That means you must avoid dictating everything about the content. Being too forceful can limit the creator and potentially affect the result they deliver. Give creative freedom - to further emphasise the above point, many creators and influencers should have the freedom to express themselves through their content authentically. As long as you're selecting the right creative partner based on interests, values and audience suitability, you don't have to overthink the content they can or can't make. Let them do what they do best. Entertain or educate - TikTok users are on the app to either be entertained or to learn something. Make connections by providing insight into your brand's world through the eyes of the creator. Lean into what users want and keep them engaged by giving. Stay on trend with features - music is incredibly important, and brands must be open to tunes being used in the content if they want to see success on TikTok. Visual effects, transitions, and edition actions are all part of the joy of TikTok videos. Allow your creators to use their style and aesthetic to make the content interesting and appealing to their audience. If you're adding TikTok into your content strategy this month and need help getting started, we can help. At ONIX, we help brands develop a purposeful content strategy, and produce, capture, edit and deliver TikTok content that engages and helps businesses grow.

If you're just getting started on TikTok, this one is for you! We've got some great tips on how you can optimise your bio and content to reach more people and grow your business through actual sales and click-throughs. So first things first, let's create your TikTok profile: Your Profile Photo - TikTok's profile icons are circular and small scale so whichever image you choose, it must be easy to recognise. If you have a logo, make sure it is high-contrast and easy to read A fun headshot is always engaging Selling a product? Use a clean recognisable product photo that still highlights your brand Selecting a Username - If one of your objectives is to be top-of-mind, make it easy to remember. Extra numbers and special characters should be avoided unless its relevant to your brand. Your written Bio - Clear and concise is key. You have 80 characters to grab people's attention and help them connect with you. What's your value and shows your personality? If you have relevant keywords or a CTA, include them! Lastly, include a URL link to get people to where you want them. When it comes to how TikTok works and its algorithm, it's undeniable that it's super powerful and it has mastered categorising content and learning how to serve its users content that is relevant and of interest to them. The content is ranked and shown to users based on some signal indicators: How are users interacting with your content? Through likes, comments, shares, favourites, view completion and re-watches What's the subject matter? Quality of the video content, caption keywords, hashtags and sounds used Is there negative user Feedback? When videos are skipped or marked as 'not interested' by users, the algorithm that's it seriously and won't rank the content high. How do make my content captivating? It always starts with a hook - makes it a question, a relatable statement, a challenge or even something controversial. The idea is to make people stop scrolling and watch your video so make it impactful! How do I improve my discoverability? Keywords are a real thing on TikTok, especially how the algorithm recognises the content. Knowing this, you should scatter keywords all through your content, voiceover and captions. What about trends? This one can be tricky and it does involve being really involved and knowing what's happening right 'now'. To maximise on a trending feature, song, challenge, or topic - just do it! Don't overthink it and worry that it needs to be perfect. If you obsess over something little, the trend may pass and all your efforts will be wasted anyway. How much engagement is needed from me? As with any social media platform, community engagement is super important to connect with people and sound human. Comment, pin and reply to encourage engagement to get you ranking high! How often should I post? There's no magic number but the goal is to post consistently. Post often enough for the algorithm to learn who would resonate with your content. Keep it consistent and soon enough you'll have a grip on your niche. Need a bit of help getting your TikTok started and content created for your business or brand? From capturing the content to just editing your footage and assets, we've come up with creative solutions to ensure you can maintain a consistent content strategy and stay top of mind! Contact us now for a free consult - dee@onixproductions.com

Meta (the business formerly known as Facebook) is really driving Reels on its platform. The algorithms favour Reels content and so recently, if you've found that your Feed or Stories posts aren't getting the traction you're used to, it's because that's what Meta wants. Video still accounts for 50% of the time people are spending on Facebook with 20% of people using Instagram specifically for Reels. A recent change has also been confirmed that ALL video options will soon be posted to Instagram and will be displayed in Reels feeds! But why is this happening you ask? People's behaviour has once again shifted based on their behaviour and with so much going on in the digital world, users now have even shorter attention spans. That means that short-form content has become even more popular and much easier to consume. Brands and creators should create Reels that are entertaining, inspiring or experimental. If you want to improve and maximise your Instagram performance, Reels must be a part of your digital marketing strategy. To help you explore the Reels option further, we've listed some tips to enhance the performance and get you inspired: Hook them in - You have 3 seconds to gain a user's attention. In this time frame, highlight your brand and showcase your product or service in action. Always assume that users are watching without sound so make sure that you have captions on. Get creative - Albeit to people's assumptions, the shorter in length of the content, the more challenging it is to deliver your message in an engaging way. That's why you need to get really creative with how it is edited. Utilise creative tools available including transitions, text, camera effects and filters. All this will add to the effect and how your audience will connect and engage with your brand. Don't be afraid to experiment, it's all a test and learns until you find the right style for you. On the beat - Music is incredibly important for Reels and TikTok. Be on top of the types of music are trending and sync your content to the beat. It will really maximise its performance and enhance engagement. Stay on trend - Scroll through the feed and gauge an understanding of the popular types of content you're seeing. What are you engaging with and what's resonating with you? Create content in a similar way and encourage your audience to comment and get involved. Hashtagging will also increase exposure for your content. Collaborate to connect - working with other skilled creators will help you connect and experience the real power of reels. Collaborating with influencers is an effective way to have a greater impact on your brand's story, authenticity and awareness. The reason for this is simple, influencers and content creators know what they're doing and they understand what works. Be you - Be good with being you. Authentic content always works best when it comes to short-form videos. It should be true to you and reflect your brand values. People can see right through content that offers no value and is consistently selling, so be open to giving people more before asking for anything. Other FAQ about Instagram we've uncovered that you should know about: How many times should I post? There's no true answer because it's different for everyone. Instagram's algorithm is account-based so if you're a well-known public brand with a massive audience and following hungry for news and updates, the algorithm is expecting you to post 20 times a day to see really good performance. If you're a smaller business with a small following of 5000 or less, you just have to test and learn and figure out what works best for you. Should I worry about how my grid looks? Having a themed grid look used to be a real focus for brands as it's seen as their "shop front". These days though, it's no longer a necessity and you don't need to obsess over it. Sure, keep your brand style looking consistent in case someone clicks on your profile and is looking through your content - give them an overall aesthetic. In saying that, people no longer judge you on how it looks at first sight. People will now click on a post and want to know what value are you offering. Should I only focus on Reels now? In short, no. There are over 1 billion users using the app every month and each of them is using it differently. Some prefer Stories, others are still utilising the main feed or now exploring Reels. Don't disregard a potential pool of users just by focusing on one type. As we always say, test and learn and let the numbers tell you what direction to take. Does the quality really matter? The quality of your content definitely matters. Reels that are low-resolution, blurry or recycled from another app like TikTok will be deprioritised by Instagram and will likely be seen less across the app. Do hashtags still work? If you want an additional boost to your Reels, share the content to your main feed and hashtag it. It 100% still works and it will bolster your discoverability. Don't forget to write a good caption to make it more accessible! If you need any support in creating Reels for your business or brand, we can help. From capturing the content to just editing your footage and assets, we've come up with creative solutions to ensure you can maintain a consistent content strategy and stay top of mind! Contact us now for a free consult - dee@onixproductions.com

For most modern digital marketing strategies, content is the key to whether the plan makes or breaks. For some brands, it's about building an audience or increasing organic visibility and for others, it's about developing a stronger brand reputation. Whatever your objectives are to create and use content, you need to understand which pieces are the most effective based on metrics. From there, you should then find ways to squeeze even more value out of the best pieces; simply because it is already gaining great results with your target audience. So how will you do this? Firstly, based on your metric goals, find out which pieces of content has gained the most traction through comments, shares or click-throughs. Once you know which pieces of content provide the best results, you can squeeze more value out of it by: 1. Translating that piece of content into a different medium. For example, if your blog post had a high number of views and you received great feedback from it, turn that blog post into a podcast or into an educational video you can share on your socials. You're basically taking the information and messaging you've already written and resharing or retelling it in another way that can be more engaging and keep the conversation going with your target audience. Better yet, translating your content in a new way can potentially help it reach new audiences with the same content and not a crazy amount of effort! 2. Promote the content to new audiences. There are options whereby you can further advertise or syndicate the already interesting content piece to an even wider audience. Find relevant industry personalities who would be interested and tag them or ask them for their opinion. If they like what you've done, the likelihood of them resharing on their own Twitter or Linkedin page is very high. Another to keep in mind is that just because you've promoted or shared a piece of content once before doesn't mean that you can't share it or promote it again in the future. Recirculating your content will keep your feeds fresh and it will continue to drive new people to it. 3. Make it work even harder by deconstructing or reconstructing the content. If you wrote an ebook, think about how you can break that book down into an article or into several social media posts. Each chapter can basically be its own post with a call-to-action message for your target audience to "Read More" by downloading that longer and more informative ebook that you wrote! 4. Updating and revising A lot of the time, people don't create content with the evergreen content mindset. That means that content may need to be updated or revised if the information is no longer relevant due to a time or seasonal reference or due to an old statistic or new conclusion. Another example of revising content is when you need to tweak it for a different market segment. If it's for a different channel with a different audience, it's important that you write or frame the content in the type of language that would appeal best to them. Ultimately, better understanding your best types and pieces of content will enable you to gauge what topics, styles and interests resonate most with your target audience. The more pieces you identify and analyse, the more you'll be able to test and learn and come up with new ideas in the future. Remember that it's always about adding value so proactively present it and share it with pride. There is no limitation to what you can do to create and achieve your objectives through content. So if you're looking for more ideas on how you can squeeze more value out of your content, get in touch with us today for a chat on how we can help.

Evergreen content applies to the topic and the mediums used to communicate the subject itself. Dedicating a percentage of your content to produce evergreen content allows you to maximise your content's potential to provide you with a higher return on investment in terms of its use value. Work on it once and have peace of mind that you can then consistently repurpose the same content over and over again for the next few years (and then some). When you're planning your brand's content marketing, you need to include evergreen content as part of that strategic process so that you can seed more opportunities. Doing it right can aid you in generating more growth from website visitors, to newsletter subscribers, social followers and leads directly to you. But what is evergreen content anyway? Evergreen content is content that remains relevant and does not have an expiry date. If you think about trees and bushes that can maintain to keep themselves green regardless of the season, that's evergreen. With evergreen content, it maintains its value and messaging and can have a great (if not finite) shelf life. Keep in mind though that sometimes the content may not necessarily be timely based on a situation but it can certainly remain relevant. When it comes to content marketing, your main focus should be able delivering content to the right person at the right place and time. Creating evergreen content such as articles, videos and blogs as part of your strategy across multiple channels will mean that whenever a visitor is seeking something relevant to what you do, they will always find something on your channels worth consuming. To get you started in your next content strategy planning session, here are some tips: 1. Choose a topic that is timeless Timeless pieces of content are those that attract the most followers or visitors to you consistently. If you can apply SEO keywords to your piece, it'll be 10 times better because it will help your content appear high on a search result page. To make this content evergreen, ensure that your headline isn't tied to an event or holiday. Don't add dates or times and avoid trendy or seasonal types of visuals in your content to ensure that it remains relevant on any given day. 2. Turn content you already have into evergreen pieces You may already have a stack of existing content you've created that can be modified into an evergreen version. Do this by removing sentences that make it time-relevant and are a nice-to-have detail. if it's not a major edit to the content and we have little impact, delete it. Perhaps you just need to update the introduction to take any seasonal or dated references. This process would be a much quicker way of addressing and having evergreen content than creating brand new pieces! 3. Plan ahead to create evergreen content When you're working with your team or production company to create a script for your brand video, take into consideration that evergreen content is what you need. By having this deliberate mindset, you will have a script that accounts for it. This means that the content and the messaging you capture will likely remain relevant for a very long time. Not only will this be engaging a few years down the track, but you will also save time, resources and money when you know that the video you created 10 years ago, is still great to watch. Creating evergreen content is one of the best ways for you to maximise your content's use value to bring you more interest, more engagement and more leads. Why wouldn't you do it?

If you're looking to build on your audience engagement or grow a community, Instagram Stories is one of the easiest formats to create. Part of the reason why it's so effective is that it's informal and there are so many features to make your content interesting and creative. Some of the features we especially love include polls, stickers, Q&As and the ability to give your audience an insight behind-the-scenes. To get you started, we've put together some ideas for you to try for yourself: Ask Me Anything (AMA) - using the question sticker, you can host a Q&A series. Post a story question then share your answers using relevant images or videos to make it more engaging. Preference Polls - Find out from your audience if they prefer this or that in a series of story posts. Dogs or cats, summer or winter, chocolate or cake - you get it! Vlogging Behind-the-Scenes - dedicate a time of a day and film clips showing your audience what a day in the life of you or someone in your business looks like. Take them on a journey as though they're a fly on the wall. Promote an Event - using the countdown sticker, get your audience hyped for future events! Share a Blog Post - using the link sticker, create a direct link to your website blog. Add call-to-actions like 'Click to read the full article'. Reshare an Instagram Reel - repurpose past Reels on your Stories to give them new life! Answer FAQs then Save Them as a Stories Highlight Share Tagged Posts - Collect all the posts you've been tagged in and share them in your Stories with a comment to keep your community engaged Instagram has over 500 million users watching Stories every day. It's an amazing way to give your followers a quick snapshot into your life and what you have to offer. Whether you're a consistent Stories user or not, as with all content formats and platforms, all you need to do is get started.

In today’s content-centric digital world, standing out is a constant challenge. That is why a brand video is a necessary requirement for every single business. It doesn't matter if you're a massive corporation, a franchise or a small local business, the brand video is what helps people understand why you're different, how you'll help them and why they should work with you. What is a brand video anyway? A brand video is one of the most effective ways to educate, entertain or inspire an audience to take action. As part of an awareness strategy, brand videos, unlike the traditional ads we've seen in the past, branded videos focus less on the hard-selling, and more on humanising a brand through emotive content and storytelling. By showcasing a brand’s capabilities and offerings, it increases the chances of capturing the attention of prospective customers because it is less about selling and more about giving value, offering value and sharing more 'heart'. Now that we understand the importance of a brand video, here are some tips on how you can create a brand video that'll stand out from your competitors and stand out: Make it a story - when working with your production team to create the script, share with them all the key features and benefits that make your business unique to your ideal audience. Consider the kind of emotions you want to elicit, and what actions you want the audience to take. Take your viewer on a journey with a story that resonates. The deeper the emotional connection, the more trust and rapport you will build. Make the first 6 seconds impactful - with everyone's attention span getting shorter by the day, it is vital that you attract and engage people in the first few seconds. Hook them in at the start to keep them interested for the remainder of your brand video so that they can fully learn more about your brand and your business. Collect, share and incorporate user-generated content in your brand video - if you have a business that sells products, encourage your customers to create content about your product. It could be their experience in receiving the product, unboxing the product or if it's a food product, have them create content around how they eat the food. Once created, your customers will share and tag you on your socials. This type of content is highly valuable because it is social proof that you have a great product that people are happy to enjoy and tell the rest of the world about it. Collect all your UGC so that when you're creating your brand video, you can include this content into it. Add customer testimonials into your brand video - video testimonials are another way to demonstrate social proof. According to Wyzowl, 2 out of 3 people say they’d be more likely to make a purchase after watching a testimonial video demonstrating how a business, product or service had helped another person like them. It's always more effective for your customers to tell people what it's like to work with you than for you to say it. Including authentic testimonials in your brand video will take your prospective customers to the next stage of their buying process to take action. If you need any assistance with creating your own brand video, contact us for a free consultation on how you can get started.

When it comes to content creation, we're not just exclusively about videos. Video content is definitely at the heart of everything that we do but we know that with any content strategy, to cover all your bases and extend your reach, business owners must consider a multichannel approach. Beyond the visual mediums, the next best thing is audio, specifically, podcasting. A podcast is an audio series shared online and accessible by streaming or downloading the file onto a user's device. A podcast can also be described as an audio version of a TV series. The theme or topic generally ranges between 20-60 minutes but it can be longer. What makes a podcast different to a TV series is that in most cases, a podcast will be led by a host who narrates the story or guides the listener through an episode. If you're thinking about starting a podcast in the near future, we've whipped up this quick guide with keynotes and questions to help you plan and get it going. What equipment do I need to record my podcast? Surprisingly, it doesn't require much at all. At the bare minimum, you could use the voice memo app on your iPhone or even record your audio via Zoom. Similar to video production, you can get away with DIY'ing the production but remember that the user experience is key to keeping your audience engaged. If the sound quality is poor, people may not be too excited for the next episode. If you have access to a bigger budget and high-quality equipment, here are the essentials to get: A microphone - As mentioned above, you can get away with your mobile or computer's in-built microphone but the optimise the sound quality, an XLR or USB mic will always be better. To level up from that, a condenser mic would be best. Headphones - It's just as important to listen to the production during and after to monitor the levels and detect abnormal sounds to edit it out. If you can, get a noise-cancelling headphone A soundproof room - Big rooms without soundproof will generally create echoes. You want a room that keeps ambient noises at a minimum as to not distract listeners. Editing software - After recording your episode, there are elements like music, intros, outros and even ad spots that will need to be edited into the episode. Our go-to software is Adobe Audition because we already use the full Adobe Creative Suite but if you're looking for something free and user-friendly, Audacity is also a good option. Subscription to a hosting platform - To give your podcast the best opportunity to reach the masses, you need a reliable hosting platform to help you do that. See the next point on how. How to publish my podcast? You need to find a podcast platform to host and distribute your series to all the popular publishers like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The host platforms we recommend include Buzzsprout, PodBean and Casted. After signing up to one of these platforms, you upload your audio file, an RSS feed is created and your episodes are distributed to the publishers. How to start a podcast 1. What will you talk about? The content makes the podcast. So what is the idea? What is the topic or theme you will cover or uncover? Where can you be of value? Select a theme that you are curious about, knowledgeable in or that you are passionate about. Having a genuine interest in the subject area will provide you with opportunities to learn more, investigate further and be proactive in providing incredibly valuable content. Here are some important questions HubSpot has suggested you think about when planning: Has this been covered before in another podcast? If so, is there another angle I can take? Is this idea relevant and timely? Is there an audience for this? If so, what type of listeners will it attract? Is there enough content to create a season? Podcasting is easy to get started but it's not easy to maintain. To create a podcast that connects with people and build a meaningful community from it has to have longevity and that can be challenging over time. To build a relationship with your listeners over time, you need to show up consistently and put in the effort. 2. Your show format Will it be an interview or will it be storytelling? Will you have guests or will you be driving the episode all the way through? Brainstorm your segments and how you want it to play out. Remember that you need to keep it interesting, exciting and intriguing to keep your audience engaged and on their toes. 3. Record and edit Once you've got a good plan on what your episode format looks like, you are ready to record your first episode. Don't worry too much about the little imperfections of this recording. If it gives you more comfort, do it in segments so that you can make adjustments as you go (as long as it doesn't interrupt your flow). There will always be something that you wish you said or hadn't said but that's okay. Take notes and be ready to comment on them in the next episode if you want to. In these early stages of your podcast recordings, ask people for feedback and know that worst case, you always have your next recording to improve on. 4. Develop your creative content A list of content items you need to have ready upon launching: A name A logo A short blurb or description about your podcast Social media profiles Secure social handles Social media images: display profile, cover image, podcast image A website or blog 5. Marketing strategy People will not listen to your podcast if they don't know it exists. This is why you need to develop a promotion strategy to ensure it gets in front of your ideal audience. The promotion should start even before your first episode goes live. You want to start building hype around your show and launch with a strong listenership. Sharing on platforms you already have a presence is a great way to get it going. If you already have a database or newsletter with a captive audience, utilise those channels to promote your podcast. Get creative and find new ways to give people a sneak peek into your podcast to entice people to listen to the whole episode. As you build traction, ask your audience to download, rate and review your podcast to further boost and promote your show across all distribution platforms. It's the most effective way to give your podcast a chance to be seen and heard more. 6. Distribute & Metrics Who do you know in your network that you can potentially lean on to feature on the show? Are there interest groups on Facebook or LinkedIn you can join to post and share about your new project to? Keep this in mind for when you're ready to push and showcase your podcast series to more people. Consistently track and monitor the performance of your podcast. Understand which episodes received the most downloads, the most subscribers, what topics were people more engaged with, what's the average listening time, how many unique page views did you get to the podcast page. The more you know, the greater insight you will have to inform you on your next strategy for future episodes. 7. Monetise Your Podcast Whether or not your intention is to earn an income on your podcast, the truth is, it would be nice if you did wouldn't it? Sponsorship or partnerships from other brands and businesses is a great way for you to monetise your podcast. This may happen through pre-roll ads, mid-roll ads or affiliate marketing. For any of this to happen, you'll have to actively engage with brands, pitch your podcast and the benefits of partnering with you. Once you've launched and grown a captive audience, the pitch will be easy than you think. Another way people make money through podcasting is to offer bonus content through exclusive fan memberships, Patreon and/or Stitcher Premium. An example of this is to offer an extended version or segments of your episode in a video format. Alternatively, you can also maximise your podcast reach by being present on YouTube. With a good home or studio setup, you can definitely access a bigger audience and diversify ways to promote your show. At ONIX we have a podcast recording kit that we can bring to you and help you produce, record and edit. If you're thinking about starting your own podcast and need some assistance planning or recording your first series, contact us for a chat on how we can help you.

1. Repurpose old content Whether it be written content or visual content, you are sure to have some gems you've created in the past that you could reuse or recycle. Focus on the high-performing pieces of content that people liked or interacted with the most. You might think that people will notice, but the chances are pretty low that everyone will be bookmarking every single post you send live (secret - no one cares as much as you do about your socials). You can simply change the wording around, swap out certain elements of the creative or take a written piece and make it visual and vice-versa. If you work with videos a lot, review what's in the bank and adapt the footage to new messaging. You'll be surprised how much you can repurpose without spending big bucks or massive efforts on refreshing your content. When you view your content this way, your content world is your oyster! 2. Build your content topics and ideas from social media Sometimes you run into roadblocks or your creativity runs dry and that's totally normal. There's no need to punish yourself by racking your brain for a topic you're unsure about. Social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn provide us with tonnes of ideas daily. Follow the handles and hashtags relevant to your business and we guarantee that if you jump on to any of those channels you'll be served with some valuable posts that you can utilise for your own content generation. Further to this, if you're able to find clever ways of creating your own unique content referencing someone else's post and have the ability to tag them in it, you could potentially reach an even wider audience. Everyone likes to be acknowledged for their work so if it makes sense to do it, give it a go! 3. Ask the Public or Content Row can help Hundreds of content ideas are literally at your fingertips. Simply Google, Ask the Public or Content Row and you will be provided with a world of ideas relative to the keywords you typed in and searched. Take any of these titles or themes and reword them to craft them into your content. It's truly a blessing. Check it out for yourself! Generated by Ask the Public Generated by Content Row 4. Plan ahead Sure, it's easier said than done but with a clear strategy in place, this should enable you to create content consistently in advance. Utilise the tools that the world wide web has to offer you and really take ownership of your content plan. Where possible, batch key topics and create content in bulk. This jus means that when the time comes every week or every month to share a new piece of content, it's not stressful because it's already done. And when it's already done, it makes the whole process so much more enjoyable because you're not burning out every time! If you ever need help planning your content strategy or creating consistent content for your business, reach out to ONIX. We're experts in the field and can help you as much or as little as you need. Contact us now for a chat to learn more.