How to build a profitable podcast.
Want your podcast to be a hit? Here are 7 tips for you...
Let's welcome our guest writer Nicholas Rubright
Out of the 116 million people who listen to podcasts every month, how many are listening to yours? If the answer to this question is not pleasing, you probably need to up your game to grow your audience.
Content is king in raking in the audience for your podcast. It takes time and hard work to create great podcast content, but it’s worth it. Here are seven tips to improve your content and grow your audience.
While you want your podcast to reach as many people as possible, it is impossible to please everyone. You'll need to narrow your audience if you want to grow your podcast.
The best way to narrow down and identify your audience is by niching down. You can't talk about anything and everything. Identify a niche you're passionate about, and focus on content that people in your niche would find interesting.
You should also create a customer persona. Some of the demographics you can use to identify your audience include:
Research what your audience likes to listen to in online groups and forums. You can identify their pain points by reading comments and seeing what content people engage with. You can also check what people post on social media or engage your listeners in the comments of your podcast.
Create a content plan once you understand your audience's preferences. You'll also need to test the tone to see what format resonates with your audience. Capitalize on any insights to grow your audience.
Remember, don't make the podcast about you. Let your listeners feel seen, heard, and valued.
If you want your podcast to succeed, you need to market your podcast content.
There are many effective ways to market your podcast content. You need to utilize the approach that plays to your strengths. You should repurpose your content for the various marketing channels you use.
One effective way to repurpose your podcast content is by creating clickable audiograms. These short clips of your podcast will draw people to listen to the full podcast.
Here's an example of an audiogram of one of Steve Harvey's Vault 365 podcasts. Most of Harvey’s podcasts carry messages of hope and resilience.
You can also record your podcast. Recording your podcast and sharing it through social channels via LiveStreaming is a great way to grow your audience. After all, people can share your content, which is more challenging to do through platforms like Apple Play.
Facebook Live, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Live are some of the best channels for streaming content. bCast can help you combine your audio content with a podcast image into a video, then post it on your Youtube channel.
See how Ashley Graham does it on Instagram Live with her Pretty Big Deal Pod.
You can also repurpose your content into blog posts. This guide discusses how to write better content your audience will love.
The only way to keep building a strong audience for your podcast is to improve constantly. However, you can't grow by merely choosing new topics for each episode.
You need to get feedback from your listeners and build on it. Understand what your audience expects you to deliver, and work towards keeping them satisfied.
You also need to keep track of your ratings and see what your audience loves. If an episode has fewer ratings than other episodes, you can review the comment section to learn what your audience didn't like. You can also review analytics for the episode.
Use that information to improve subsequent episodes.
If something is not working, don't be afraid to make changes. Implementing a change is better than repeating the same mistakes in every episode. You can use survey templates or qualtrics alternatives to discover what your listeners like and what you need to change.
Here’s an example of such a template. It’s a simple survey designed to help you gather information about podcast listeners and their preferences. Visit the Podcast Listener Survey for the original copy.
You can share such a survey with listeners through your social channels. Providing an incentive for people who fill in the survey will improve response rates.
Whatever niche you choose for your podcast content, you don't want to be a boring host. You need to figure out a captivating way to keep your listeners glued to the end of each episode. The best way to do this is through engaging storytelling.
A good story has the following features.
Your introduction should be succinct, engaging, and straightforward. You can throw in a teaser in the intro to make the listener want to listen to your episode. Have some opening music, a clear title, name your hosts and guests and give your episode a theme.
The characters in your podcast could be you (the host), the guests.
Each episode on your podcast should have a plot. It could be a story of personal struggle, success, or anything you want to talk about. If you have an engaging format, people will want to listen to the whole story.
A good way to increase tension in an interview podcast is to ask hard questions. The conflict questions should provide insightful answers. Considered questions, and interesting answers, help your listeners feel the authenticity of your discussion.
At the end of the podcast, help your guests and followers draw lessons from the theme. It's where you give your followers a takeaway and convince them to listen to the next episode.
Having experts discuss your topic earns you credibility and shows your commitment to serving your listeners. If you want to stand out from the competition, you need an interesting format.
Invite interesting people to your show with a story to tell. You'll be giving your listeners something fresh that they've not heard on other podcasts.
Rich Roll and his guest Adam Skolnick discuss the Black Lives Matter movement in the podcast example below. Rich Roll is an athlete-podcaster with over 636k subscribers and over 20,000 views for this podcast. On the other hand, Adam Skolnick is a journalist who has written extensively on human rights issues, making him qualified to discuss BLM and its effects on society.
You can imagine this was a fascinating chat.
Study your guests beforehand and ask them intelligent questions. You can also challenge them by asking unusual questions.
Don't just follow the script and forget to listen to your guests' responses. Take time to understand their responses and ask relevant follow-up questions. People who are experts at interviews master this skill.
Don't shy away from discussing it if something new comes up off-script. You'll be coating your content with uniqueness your listeners can't resist.
You need to have a specific time when you post your content. Make your listeners look forward to hearing from you. Don't miss recordings or be late in posting your content.
If you change your schedule, inform your audience beforehand. Manage your time by scheduling your activities.
You also need to be consistent with your niche. If you keep hopping between niches, you'll confuse and lose listeners.
Keep on practicing your creative skills and adapt your approach based on the feedback you receive. This will help you develop the right voice that people will associate with your show.
Most importantly, maintain a good reputation. Your followers trust you to deliver quality and truthful content at all times. Vet your guests before inviting them over, and assess the content before you hit publish.
Do thorough research on your topic too. Researching a guest or topic results in a more interesting show. Don't use gossip mills to get your information.
You can't possibly cover everything on a topic in 30-45 minutes. Your audience might want additional resources. So why not help them with that?
Look for relevant and credible resources to answer the extra questions. You could recommend books, articles, YouTube videos, or even other podcasts on the same topic.
However, you need to be specific about the material. For instance, if you're recommending a YouTube video, don't just tell your listeners to go to YouTube and search. Give them the specific title of the video they need to watch. Better still, leave a link for them.
You can also make transcripts of your podcasts for deaf people. You can turn those transcripts into blog posts. Here’s a nice guide that discusses how to optimize a blog post if you’re interested in trying to make it rank on Google (a great way to grow your audience).
Growing your podcast's audience doesn't have to be an impossible venture. You can use some simple strategies and grow your audience.
Know your audience, repurpose your content and use feedback to improve your content. Use storytelling to pull more people to your audience, invite expert guests to discuss your topic, and be consistent with what you post.
Keep feeding your audience with what they like to hear and watch the numbers grow.
