Having a small budget does not mean you can’t make it happen for your podcast, video series, or social campaign. It usually means you need to be thoughtful, scrappy, and honest about tradeoffs.
In this live Substack chat, I spoke with Tara who’s spent more than a decade working with nonprofits, NGOs, and creators who regularly operate with small budgets for their podcast projects. The through line of our conversation is that that budgeting isn’t about cutting corners, it’s about making clear decisions.
Here are some takeaways:
Before Starting a Podcast, Try This
If someone suggests that you or your organization should start a podcast, Tara’s first response is simple:
Have you been a guest on other podcasts yet?
Guesting on podcasts gives you experience in some of the unglamorous parts:
Scheduling and follow-ups
Waiting for release
Promoting the episode once it’s live
If you make a push for a guesting campaign and don’t enjoy that process, hosting your own show does have some of the same tasks, just multiplied. Definitely start with pitching yourself as a guest and see how it feels.
Budgeting Starts With Taking Inventory of Your Skills
Before spending money, ask these questions:
What can I do myself? (Or my team)
What do I actually enjoy doing?
What truly needs help?
One of Tara’s early personal podcasts started with no mic and no budget — just audio skills and a willingness to ask a musician friend to collaborate in exchange for credit. That collaboration lasted four seasons.
Money matters, but skills and relationships come first when you’re in the scrappy phase.
Get Bold and Ask for Discounts
Many tools offer:
Nonprofit pricing
Educational discounts
Free trials
Custom deals
They don’t always advertise them. You have to ask. And you might have to hustle to find contact information for the people who make the decisions as certain softwares and services you might be interested in using.
Tara’s rule: if you’re willing to pay full price anyway, there’s no downside to asking first.
You Don’t Need To Be Active on Every Single Platform
Time is money. Time needs to be budgeted in addition to money. So where do you actually like spending time on social media? The answer to that question can act as your guidepost.
Start with one or two platforms. Give them time (3–6 months for experimenting). Use analytics to decide what’s working instead of chasing trends.
Put out posts that are thought-out and intentionally created with a specific audience in mind.
The Big Lesson
Having a small budgets force clarity in your approach.
Outlining that small budget and allocating it forces you to:
Test before committing
Choose fewer, better tools
Save money for people and flexibility
Be honest about what actually moves the needle
If you’re building something on a limited budget, you’re being asked to be more deliberate in your tactics.
If you watched the live session or you’re building something right now:
What part of budgeting feels hardest for you?
Shoutouts to Halicue, Tony Garcia, The 5RQ Companion, and many others for tuning into the live event with Tara!
Tara Jabbari is a Digital Media Consultant who specializes in social media marketing and podcast producing/booking. She helps podcasters, nonprofits, & organizations increase impact and become recognized experts, and ultimately exceed their initial expectations through digital marketing.
Discover her writing:
She also is a co-producer and rotating host of WIFV DC’s MediaMaker Spotlight about the media industry. She hosts Who was she? Podcast about women throughout Baha’i history.
Some tools she recommended during our chat:
Metricool for sm scheduling and analytics: https://f.mtr.cool/LMJOXC
Riverside for podcast video and audio recording and editing: http://riverside.sjv.io/safepassages
