Summary

Heidy De La Cruz shares the essential tools she uses to manage her podcast, which includes interviews with immigrants, emphasizing the importance of organization and quality in podcast production.

Abstract

In a detailed article, Heidy De La Cruz outlines the various tools she employs to streamline the production of her podcast. She discusses the use of Calendly for scheduling, Google's suite of applications for organization and communication, Zoom for recording episodes, video editing software like CapCut and iMovie, Grammarly for writing assistance, and Canva for graphic design. Heidy emphasizes the efficiency these tools bring to her workflow, from scheduling guests to editing episodes and creating promotional materials. She also notes the necessity of providing clear instructions to first-time podcast guests and the benefits of using transcripts for content repurposing.

Opinions

Heidy finds Calendly highly effective for scheduling but wishes it could block off the day once an episode recording is scheduled.
She expresses a strong preference for Google's suite of apps, highlighting their utility in managing various aspects of her podcast.
Despite some podcasters' reservations, Heidy has had positive experiences using Zoom for recording and appreciates its transcription feature.
She recommends providing comprehensive information to podcast guests to ensure a smooth recording process, especially for those new to podcasting.
Heidy values the role of Grammarly in maintaining the quality of her written content, including show notes.
She is enthusiastic about Canva's versatility in creating a wide range of visual content for her podcast.

Tools I Use for Podcasting

And how they help me.

There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that comes with podcasting, and as I’m building my digital course to teach people how to podcast, I’ve realized there are certain tools I use to run my podcast.

Today, I want to share those tools and how I use them.

First, let me share that I have a podcast where I interview immigrants — I don’t record solo episodes, so some of these tools may not apply to your show if you only record solo episodes.

Let’s start!

Calendly

This is the app I use to schedule guest episode recordings and discovery calls for those who want to launch a podcast. With this app, I set my schedule, it syncs with my Google Calendar and will show the guests my availabilities. Calendly connects with Zoom so when a guest schedules a Zoom link automatically generates.

This app allows you to generate a message for guests to see on the booking page. On this page I let guests know that the show is recorded on Zoom and to be camera-ready and I tell them to please log on to a laptop and have headphones and mic if possible. For some of my guests, it’s the first time they are on a podcast so I try to provide as much information as possible up front for a smooth process.

The only thing I wish this app would do is block off the day once someone schedules a recording because I only record one episode per day.

Google Forms/Sheets/Documents/Calendar

Okay, Google has the best apps ever to be completely honest, and I use multiple for personal, business, and podcasting.

I use Google Forms for potential guests to fill out a questionnaire. With this questionnaire, I gather the information I need to send questions before our episode recording, gather social media links, and ask if they are interested in joining the podcast newsletter. I also use Google Forms to receive guest’s consent to record the podcast episode.

Google Sheets

This is where I keep track of the episode schedule. I have the episode publish date, episode number, the guest name, what country they came from, and where the episode was recorded (in-person or Zoom).

Google Documents

I’m currently writing this blog post on Google Documents and then I’ll transfer to WordPress, but I sometimes use Google Documents to write my show notes or Mircosoft Word.

Google Calendar

As mentioned above, I connect Google Calendar with Calendly so that my schedule for the day appears on my Google Calendar, and this is how I keep track of my day-to-day work. If it’s not on my calendar, it’s not happening.

Zoom

Zoom is the virtual app I use to record my episodes. Although I’ve read how other podcasters do not like using Zoom, I’ve had no issues (*knocks on wood*). Zoom transcripts the episode so I’m able to choose quotes to create graphics with or for video cuts. And I can record directly to the cloud so I don’t have to worry about storage issues with my MacBook.

CapCut and iMovie

These are the two video editing software I use to edit my videos. CapCut I use for the video cuts to promote the episode on social media. iMovie I use to edit the actual podcast episode. You can see behind-the-scenes footage about this here.

Grammarly

This app I had before I started podcasting because I use it for editing my writing. However, each podcast episode should have show notes so I use Grammarly to help with quick grammar things.

Canva

Canva is amazing for creating graphics! I use Canva to create my podcast cover art, graphics for the episode, graphics with quotes, the YouTube channel banner, each episode thumbnail for YouTube, and Reel covers.

These are the tools I use to run my podcast. Are there any tools you use not on this list? Let me know.

With Love, Heidy

Is a personal development newsletter an interest of yours? With a little bit of poetry? A little of opinion pieces? And some faith-based encouragement? Sign up for my Substack newsletter, “Into My Thoughts.”

Originally published at https://heidydelacruz.com on October 5, 2023.