A five-step strategy to building a successful podcast

Starting a podcast is a great way to connect with potential customers and build trust and personality around your brand. But how do you set your show up for success?

First, you need to work out if podcasting is right for you and your brand. If the only reason you’re starting a podcast is to get your business in front of listeners, but you haven’t thought about whether there’s an audience for your idea, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

For a podcast to work it needs to be made with an audience — not your ego — in mind. Here’s how.

A five-step strategy

1. Design your ideal listener

   Having a clear idea of who your ideal listener is will help you make better content decisions.

   If you haven’t thought about who they are, you’ll make decisions based on what you want… but you are not your audience.

2. Focus on high-quality content and keep the branding light

   Some businesses feel like they need to stamp their brand all over a show to get value, but you’ll get much more traction if you focus on delivering high-quality content that doesn’t feel like a giant ad.

   People listen to podcasts to be entertained, educated, and inspired.  Content doesn’t feel like any of those things if you’re constantly being sold to.

3. Don’t forget about audio quality

   Just because it’s convenient to record in your echo-y boardroom doesn’t mean you should do it. Listeners don’t care about how convenient your show was to record; they care about how it sounds.

   Buying a decent microphone is the first step, but the best microphone in the world will sound terrible if you’re in a bad recording environment. Make sure you record your podcast in a space where sound can be absorbed rather than reflected by the surroundings — think curtains, rugs and cushions rather than tiles, wooden floorboards and high ceilings.

4. Maintain consistency

   Audience growth in podcasting can be frustratingly incremental so if you want to build a loyal fan base, you’re going need to release content consistently over time.

   The ideal consistency is weekly, however, the main importance is regular episodes. So if fortnightly episodes are all you can handle, that’s fine, as long as it stays consistent — and you recognise it might take you longer to build your audience.

   If you’re dropping weekly episodes and want to shift to daily, try experimenting with an additional episode or two a week first. While daily podcasts can grow audiences quickly, five times the content doesn’t always mean five times the downloads for some shows.

   The main thing is you need to settle on a frequency that’s sustainable so you can keep showing up for your listeners, because that’s the key to growing an audience over time.

5. Define your own success metrics

   Success in podcasting doesn’t have to be a million downloads.

   Maybe your show gives you an opportunity to showcase your ability as a speaker or entice new clients. If your podcast brings in even one new client or one new speaking gig, that’s a client or gig you wouldn’t have gotten without it. Maybe your podcast gives you compelling content you can share with your email list or provides a resource you can point people to that answers frequently asked questions.

   There are plenty of reasons to do a show other than ‘a lot of downloads’. Instead of thinking about your download goals like you’re trying to fill a stadium, think of them like you’re trying to fill a room. Twenty listeners might not feel like much when everyone is screaming about their “million downloads” on social media. But if you had 20 people in a room listening to you talk, it would still be a nice turn out.

   Show up for the people who are showing up for you and eventually you’ll build a loyal fanbase.