As podcasters, we sell ourselves short when we create shows designed simply to supply information to our audiences.
That information is likely already easily available elsewhere. First, on a dozen other existing podcasts, but also, of course, on Google.
When we build our shows around the concept of information gathering and sharing, we inadvertently place ourselves in direct competition with Google. We’re betting that the reason people are seeking out a show like ours in the first place is that they’re in search of new information.
But when most people are in search of information, they don’t go to their podcast app. They go to Google. Which presents some questions to ask ourselves?
- Even if they do happen to stumble across an episode of our show in their search for information, once they’ve obtained it, what’s going to keep them coming back? How often do you make more than one visit to a website once you’ve collected the information you came for?
- Is the information you provide actually the very best possible answer to the question your listeners are asking? If not, aren’t you selling them short by not directing them to the more complete version?
- Most importantly, if information is all you provide your listeners, what’s going to make them talk about your show to others?
We can do better than to create transactional shows based on the uploading and downloading of information. And in fact, we need to.
Of course, many shows have built massive audiences on the backs of shows filled with titles like “How to _________” and “5 Ways to _________”. But look a little closer and you’ll see that most of those shows were started in years past, when the podcast landscape was less crowded, less competitive, less oversaturated with easily-found information.
If we’re looking to start and grow a new show today, we need to build it around a concept that is fresh, unique, and instantly compelling to our target audience.
Rather than seeking to spout out more easily searchable information, our opportunity is to create content around problems that are not easily searchable.
We can create a show providing answers to questions our listeners would never have thought to ask.
We can create a show providing not information but context and insight to make sense of the overabundance of information.
We can create a show that ditches the answers all together and simply presents and muses on bigger questions.
Our opportunity is not to funnel information to our listeners but to take them on a journey of shared discovery. Google’s great at providing information but it’s helpless when it comes to creating an experience, filled with emotion, tension, and ultimately, transformation.
This is the potential each of us has with our podcasts. To create something that makes people feel.
No matter what your topic, genre, or format, creating a show that makes people feel is now table stakes.
There’s a place for information, but it’s probably not your podcast. If the same information could be obtained and understood in a three-minute blog post, why make someone sit through a 45-minute podcast episode, after all?
If your audience needs the information, create a resource page directing them to the very best sources of it. But reserve your podcast for that which they can’t easily get anywhere else, for which you and your show are the only option.
Focus on asking the questions, leading the charge into unknown terrain, taking your audience on a journey of discovery.
Create a show your listeners never would have thought to Google, but can’t help telling their friends about once they find it.
If you’re looking to build a show your listeners talk about alongside a cohort of other highly-motivated podcasters, who are seeking to change things for their audience, check out Podcast Marketing Academy.
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
