Go take a browse through the Amazon business or self-help book categories. Notice anything interesting about the titles and subtitles?
Almost every single book in these categories makes a bold promise about how the book will transform readers’ lives, and it makes that promise abundantly clear.
There’s a lot that podcasters can learn from this practice.
Every podcast should have an equally clear promise for what listeners will gain by listening to the show.
As much as we may not always want to believe it, people are in fact looking out for themselves *gasp*. In order to grab their attention and pique their curiosity enough for them to give our show a listen, it needs to be stupidly obvious exactly what they personally can expect to gain by doing so.
Having a clear podcast promise not only helps you title and subtitle your show in a way that makes the value to listeners clear, however. It also provides you with a measuring stick against which you can judge everything related to your podcast.
Using Your Podcast Promise to Stay Aligned
Let’s say your show’s podcast promise is to help wellness business owners create more profit, ease, and impact in their businesses for example.
When they listen, it should be clear to your listeners exactly how every episode helps them achieve more profit, ease, or impact.
When you write your episode titles and descriptions, they should convey exactly how this episode will help listeners achieve more profit ease and impact.
When you share your episode on social media, every post should speak to helping wellness business owners create more profit, ease, and impact.
It might sound like you’re beating your listeners over the head with a frying pan, but that’s kind of the point. You want your show’s promise to be so clear and so obvious that anyone who is looking to achieve those results can’t possibly resist listening.
Defining Your Promise
The problem most podcasters face when coming up with a promise that their show will deliver on is that they don’t actually have any belief that they can, in fact, deliver on any promise they make.
Most often, this is because they haven’t targeted a specific enough niche.
Rather than aiming to become the very best in the world for a thin slice of people that they know they can help, they aim broad and dilute their target audience with people they’re not so sure they can have an impact on.
The more specific you are with the people you’re seeking to engage with, the more clearly you can define what challenges they’re facing, where they’re looking to go, and how you can help them get there.
Once you have the roadmap in your head, you can make a bold promise about how you’ll get your listeners to their destination, how you’ll help them navigate the challenges they’re facing, how you’ll help them make meaningful change in their life.
This promised change needs to be compelling, targetted, and achievable, but it’s essential to all of your marketing and content creation efforts.
Get clear on what you’re promising. Shout it from the rooftops. Then deliver on it.
Every Sunday I send out an exclusive article on how to use podcasting to build an audience and grow your business.
No opt-in, no freebie no bribe. But hopefully a new perspective, encouragement, and maybe even some occasional wisdom. It’s something I’m proud to create and I’d be honoured to share it with you.
Jeremy travels full-time, loves long-distance cycle touring, and will always look back on the day he finally saved up enough money to buy the Millennium Falcon Lego set as one of his proudest achievements. He believes that the way to grow sustainable businesses is by leading with heart, vulnerability, and helping your people be and become their best selves.
- Why Wouldn’t They Just Google It? - March 14, 2021
- Before You Can Market Your Podcast, You Need To Create A Marketable Podcast - March 11, 2021
- Podcast Promotion & Marketing Are Different (Here’s How to Use Each Effectively) - March 10, 2021
