Podcast planning template

It happened—that brilliant editing technique you wanted to try out during post-production (the one that was sure to make your podcast go viral) was skipped over by a team mate. It’s frustrating if it happens once, but if you and your team can’t figure out how to coordinate the production process, your podcast (and ultimately, your audience) will suffer. 

Thankfully, you can prevent this by planning ahead. When you launch a podcast, you’re usually looking to strategically connect even deeper with your audience or customers. Building a digital podcast planning template keeps you focused on the task at hand and ensures you follow all of the necessary steps to launch a great episode. 

What is a podcast planning template?

A podcast planning template is a reusable tool that includes all the information, resources, and tasks you need to properly plan for your podcast. In order to produce high-quality, consistent podcast episodes, you need to stay organized—and a podcast planning template is one way to do that. Usually, these templates are broken down into sections for your specific workflow. 

There are a variety of templates you can build to help you through the podcast production lifecycle, such as:

• Podcast planning task list. This template includes all of your to-do list items for every podcast. For each episode, duplicate the template and use it to stay on track for production timing and sharing. For example, you could include sections for research, podcast content, and post-production—each with their own associated tasks.

• Podcast episode outline. You can also create a podcast planning template that acts as your own podcast outline for each episode. In this version, you would likely have sections for the podcast intro, interview questions, and closing thoughts.

Do you need a podcast planning template?

If you’re hosting a podcast, you’re likely a natural conversation starter. But what about your organizational skills? The truth is, even if you’re a talented and thoughtful creator, you can still benefit from the structure of a podcast planning template. 

Every aspect of the episode needs to be done correctly and in a specific order, and several things—like people’s names and titles—need to be triple checked. We’ve created custom project templates with anywhere from 18 and 20 tasks per episode. We start with a solid baseline and then customize the template for the exact show as needed. It’s critical for us to track every step in one place so nothing is forgotten. ”

This is especially true if you build your podcast planning template in a digital platform, such as a project management tool. Along with helping you stay organized and track deadlines, your digital podcast planning template can also:

• Remind you of the details. Little details—like checking to make sure you've correctly spelled your interviewee's name—make a big difference. Using a template keeps these small (but important) bits of information from falling through the cracks. 

• Reduce planning time. When you create a digital podcast planning template, you can easily duplicate it within minutes, allowing you to dive right into work.

• Keep information together. Link all your materials in one place, so you always have your references on hand when you need them.

• Make details shareable. Easily share with your podcasting team and any external partners, including advertisers and influencers.

• Help you stay consistent. Random topics and thoughts are hard to follow. By outlining your podcast creation process and exactly what to say during each episode, you can stay on topic and build a routine for seamless content creation.

• Scale with you. As you grow and expand, you can adjust your template so that it grows along with your business.

How to create a podcast planner template

Exactly how you create your podcast planning template is up to you, but in general, you can build it in five simple steps:

1. Choose a digital format, such as project management software, that makes it easy to duplicate and use your podcast template.

2. Use your template to capture every important task. No to-do is too small. By listing everything out in one place, you can ensure no tasks fall through the cracks.

3. Use sections to organize work. Your podcast likely goes through pre-production, production, and post-production. Use sections and tags to clarify what stage you’re at and keep everyone on the same page.

4. Save your template and share with all of your stakeholders. If you have contractors, freelancers, or agency partners working with you on the podcast production process, you can all use your template as a source of truth. 

5. Duplicate your template and use it for every new episode.

Every time a new recurring task pops up, add it to your template so it’s not missed moving forward. ”

You can also create podcast templates for any of your related workflows, like a template for your episode research, script template, or content strategy—or a checklist for reaching out to prospective sponsors. 

What to include in your podcast planning template

Your podcast planning template should detail everything from pre-production all the way to promotion. Include sections for each of these stages, then break your template down even further into tasks with assigned team members and deadlines to keep you on track. Here are some task ideas to get you started:

• Pre-production tasks: List out everything you do before producing an episode. For example, pre-production tasks often start with research, compiling notes, or getting release forms signed.

• Production: What do you do every time you make an episode? For larger podcasts, this might mean checking in for your studio space or transporting your guest from their hotel to the podcast studio. For smaller podcasts, your production tasks will include the steps you take during recording, such as turning on a noise blocker.

• Post-production instructions: Include everything you and your team need to properly manage episodes during post-production, such as editing or formatting them specifically to upload to Spotify or YouTube.

• Marketing: Follow tasks aligned with your marketing strategy for both pre-production promotion and a post-production marketing push.

• Resources and references: Keep all your relevant materials in one place. For example, a “what not to ask” list of what you will not cover on your podcast.

Templates in Asana are integral to helping us stay consistent; we know exactly what we need to do to get the episode out on schedule and promote it to our audience.”

Integrated features

• List View. List View is a grid-style view that makes it easy to see all of your project’s information at a glance. Like a to-do list or a spreadsheet, List View displays all of your tasks at once so you can not only see task titles and due dates, but also view any relevant custom fields like Priority, Status, or more. Unlock effortless collaboration by giving your entire team visibility into who’s doing what by when.

• Forms. When someone fills out a Form, it shows up as a new task within an Asana project. By intaking information via a Form, you can standardize the way work gets kicked off, gather the information you need, and ensure no work falls through the cracks. Instead of treating each request as an ad hoc process, create a standardized system and set of questions that everyone has to answer. Or, use branching logic to tailor questions based on a user’s previous answer. Ultimately, Forms help you reduce the time and effort it takes to manage incoming requests so your team can spend more time on the work that matters.

• Messaging. Need to share information that isn’t actionable? Try Messages in Asana. Messages enable you to communicate within Asana about non-actionable work. You can send messages to any combination of individuals, teams, and projects, so everyone is on the same page. Link to tasks, projects, and Goals in Asana to make it easy for your message recipients to gain context and drill down into the details.

• Project status updates. Say goodbye to sorting between multiple tools to find project status information or sitting through another meeting that could have been an email. Project status updates in Asana aren’t just easier to use—they’re also directly connected to the work your team does. This makes it easy for team members to access additional project information, like your project plan, communication plan, project goals, milestones, deliverables, and more. Ultimately, project status reports reduce your manual work, centralize information, and keep everyone up to date.

Recommended apps

• Vimeo. Text may get the point across, but written words lack tone, emotion, and expression. With video messaging in Asana, powered by Vimeo, you can give your team all the context they need, without having to schedule another meeting. Record short video messages of yourself, your screen—or both—then embed the videos in tasks, projects, messages, and comments to provide additional clarity and context. A transcript of the recording is automatically created by Asana, making it readable and searchable. Give feedback, ask questions, and assign tasks—all without leaving Asana.

• Dropbox. Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Dropbox file chooser, which is built into the Asana task pane.

• Adobe Creative Cloud. Creative teams do their best work when they can focus on designing. With the Asana for Adobe Creative Cloud integration, creative and design teams can easily access the information they need to kick off work, get feedback from reviewers and approvers, and deliver final assets without leaving Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign. See new tasks, share designs, embed XD share links, and incorporate feedback delivered in Asana—all in Adobe Creative Cloud.

• Canva. With the Canva for Asana integration, easily embed beautiful Canva designs to bring your Asana projects to life. From presentation decks, social media assets, wireframes, to videos, the Canva integration allows you to consolidate all your ideas and designs all in one place so you can seamlessly communicate and collaborate.

FAQ