At Resonate, the Contract Podcast Producer plays a vital role in many of our client’s podcasts. This position operates with a ‘quarterback’ mentality, is a perfect blend of creativity, organization, and leadership, and helps drive a client and their show towards success. To do this, Producers first and foremost establish trust with a client, then maintain that trust throughout the entirety of their relationship with Resonate.
When a client requests producer services, they are signaling that they feel a lack of knowledge, skillset, and/or time in bringing their podcast to life. This may come from a place of inexperience, insecurity, or indifference, and the Producer must identify their needs, meet them where they are, and fill the necessary gaps.
Responsibilities
Producers work with clients across the following 7 Key Services:
- Project Management – The all-encompassing responsibility of maintaining the ‘big picture’ view while also keeping a close eye on the details. Producers must be organized, consistently communicate, delegate tasks, manage schedules, meet deadlines, and ensure the production is running smoothly at all times.
- Creative Direction – Clients’ ideas are often still raw and need development. Producers must be able to listen and identify the core parts of their vision, aid in helping find clarity, generate unique and relevant ideas, and move them along the process of bringing that vision to life.
- Research & Development – Shows based on specific topics or subjects often require substantial pre-production work for each episode. Producers help to gather and collate information, identify guests, write interview questions, prep guests and host, and more.
- Technical Production – Podcasting is a tech-centric medium, however, many podcasters are less than tech-savvy. Producers assist clients in all aspects of audio and video production, including remote recordings, hardware and software recommendations, operational procedures, troubleshooting, and best practices.
- Editorial & Copywriting – Producers are often asked to bring their creativity and expertise in storytelling to the post-production process. This can involve crafting a concise and engaging narrative from an interview session, scripting attention-grabbing episode intros and descriptions, and even identifying specific soundscapes to enhance the emotion of a scene.
- Analytics & Reporting – Producers monitor podcast metrics, such as number of downloads, listener demographics, and listening times, to review with the client and make suggestions for improvements on how the show is structured and produced.
- Growth Strategy – Audience growth and engagement, sponsorships and monetization, and brand awareness and promotion are all common goals that most podcasters hope to achieve. Producers must be able to continually guide clients towards these goals by providing them with the necessary tools, strategies, and resources.
Key Attributes
LEADERSHIP – The Producer is responsible for interacting with many different people across the client’s team and Resonate’s team and must ensure that everyone’s work aligns. It is paramount that they have the confidence that they can lead the team and rally, inspire and motivate everyone to create the best show possible.
RELATIONAL – The Producer needs strong interpersonal skills to be flexible and understanding with the diverse members of their team, making them feel heard and understood. They must possess the ability to view things from their client’s perspective and provide the best support accordingly.
ORGANIZATION – The Producer must be disciplined about their workflow and workload, being able to work quickly and efficiently while managing multiple moving parts simultaneously without compromising quality.
CREATIVITY – The Producer must possess an inherent love of story-telling, as well as natural ability for creative problem-solving. They must be able to cast compelling vision and catch the vision of others.
COMMUNICATION – The Producer must be able to set accurate expectations, give clear and precise directions, present ideas and information thoughtfully, maintain guardrails at all times, and know how and when to tell a client “No” with tact and professionalism.
Required Experience & Skills
- 3+ years of previous experience in podcast production and/or marketing.
- A thorough understanding of the podcast industry as a whole.
- Strong writing skills that are adaptable to a wide variety of styles, subject matter, and formats.
- Competency in audio and/or video production at a minimum; production experience highly preferred.
- The ability to collaborate and work with diverse stakeholders.
- Capable of working in a fast-paced environment.
- Connections with external podcast networks is a plus.
