There are a ton of questions swirling around in our heads the first time we launch a podcast. We often don’t even know what we need to research about the podcast medium, which, piled on top of all the work we already have, can lead to a vague sense of dread regarding our podcast. This uneasiness about the state of our podcast often pushes back our launch date so we can get everything “perfect”, or in many cases shutter the project entirely.
With so much to do and learn, we often have no idea on which tasks we should be spending our limited time.
So in this article, I want to lay out for you where you should be spending the bulk of your time and energies when starting your podcast, and where most podcasters get it backwards.
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Where Most Podcasters Get It Wrong
If you’ve been hanging around my little corner of the web here long enough you can probably guess what I’m going to say next. If you’re new here, welcome! You are about to be indoctrinated*
* Don’t worry, the indoctrination party is followed by a catered lunch. With cake!
Ok, I’ve kept you in suspense long enough, most podcasters spend too much time focussed on the gear and technology of the podcast process, you might refer to this as the how of the podcast.
Now, before you get all uppity with me, let me explain myself here. Knowing how to record a technically sound podcast is essential to a successful podcast. If your show is unlistenable due to poor audio quality, wildly fluctuating levels, or your inability to find out how to post it online (in that case, literally unlistenable), you’re going to have a hard time getting listeners and growing your audience.
The issue here is that most new podcasters with a limited or nonexistent audio or tech background vastly overestimate what constitutes “acceptable” audio quality. As a result, they spend waaaaayyy too much time focussing on researching podcasting gear, software, website design, their logo and on and on and on. All of these things are essential, but they should fall into the minority of where you are spending your time and energy during the podcast creation process.
“But that sounds like the whole process of starting a podcast,” you say.
So where does that leave us to spend our time?
Where To Spend The Bulk Of Your Time
Before we get into where you should be spending the vast majority of your time when it comes to laying out a new podcast, I want to get something straight.
You by no means need to follow this guideline to have a good podcast. You can choose to spend your time and energy however you want, and if your concept is good, end up with a thousand listeners per episode. If you’re lucky they might even be engaged enough in the show for you to monetize it, either through product or affiliate sales, or sponsorships.
But here’s the deal. I’m not writing this to help you set up another “good” podcast. There are a lot of good podcasts out there that no one has ever heard of.
And remember what I said about “maybe getting lucky” and monetizing that podcast of yours?
I want your podcast to be kick-ass right out of the gate, and I want you to know from day 1 that you’ll be able to monetize it, if not immediately, then in the very near future.
And if this sounds like the podcast you want to create, there is only one area that you should be focussing the majority of your time in.
Ok, NOW, Where To Spend The Bulk Of Your Time…
Alright, I won’t keep you in suspense any longer.*
* I actually would if I could, but I’m out of sidebar rants at the moment and this right here is a last ditch effort… Nah, I got nothing, let’s get back to the good stuff.
If you’re looking for the one pursuit that will impact your podcast more than all the others combined, it’s getting to know your audience, or in the case of a new podcast without an existing audience, getting to know your target audience. Basically, these are all the people who you feel you can help, entertain, or speak to through your soon-to-be podcast, even if they don’t know you exist yet.
But they’re about to.
I’m guessing you’ve heard this advice before, but told yourself you already do know your audience and moved on to the next item on the podcast startup checklist
I get it, very few of us actually like reaching out to people we may or may not know who are a part of our target audience. To be honest, it’s scary.
What if they think our concept is a bad idea? What if they laugh in our face? What if they tell us that someone else has already put out the exact same podcast idea that we were so proud of?
It’s so much safer to keep up our excitement about the project, spend hours perfecting every technical detail from web design to the final edit, and if it never takes off blame it on not having the budget or backing of big-name podcasts from NPR as to why we failed to build an audience.
Maybe our target audience just doesn’t listen to podcasts, they’re more of a blog based audience right? Yeah, let’s start a blog!
Shit. Maybe we should have figured that out in the first place huh?
Why You Need To Research Your Audience
See, getting to know your audience isn’t just about getting demographic data about your potential listeners that you can display of a chart. It’s about allowing them to dictate the direction and form that your show takes moving forward.
Sure, you’re the expert in your topic, but you’re also likely too removed from your audience to actually know with certainty how you can best help them.
Remember how I defined the technical aspects as the how of the show?
Well getting to know your audience is how you define the all-important why of the show.
Through conversations with members of the audience you want to connect with, you’ll be able to quickly find out exactly what makes them tick. You’ll find out what they’re struggling with, what they feel would be the greatest benefit to them, what products or services they use, what other podcasts or blogs they engage with, and what they feel is missing.
Most importantly, you’ll get a sense for how you and your unique skill set and knowledge base can position yourself to be of greatest service to that audience.
Yeah, I know. You thought you were going to be running the show on this podcast*, but if you want to create a podcast that your audience can’t help but engage with, you’re going to need to defer to their needs, desires, and dreams, and find out how you can best help them get there.
*is that a pun?
Clarifying Further
To be honest, I feel as though I’m cheating a bit here, saying that the majority of your time should be spent on getting to know your audience. But as I mentioned above, the category of getting to know your audience plays a huge role in the content you end up creating, and is the root of almost every other element that will lead to the success of your podcast, however you might define that.
Some examples of how knowing your audience will affect your future podcast decisions include:
- The topics you cover
- The guests you have on
- How you promote or market your podcast
- How you monetize your podcast including sponsorships, and products you pitch (either your own or as an affiliate)
- The length of your podcast
- The editing style of your podcast
- And on and on and on.
As you can see, some of the more technical how details of the podcast are actually either influenced or determined entirely by the why of your podcast!
This is why it’s absolutely necessary to get in touch with potential listeners as soon as possible and get as many opinions as possible on who they are, where they’re at, and how you can help them.
If you’d like a guideline on how you should be approaching the creation and launch of your podcast, be sure to download the free Podcast Startup Checklist below! Inside you’ll find a list of what goes into creating a successful podcast, and the rough order in which you should be tackling them!
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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.
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