The 3 Questions You Need to Answer Before Starting a Podcast
In my last article, I made the case that there are three different types of podcasters: The Hobbyist, The Corporate Podcaster, and The Entrepreneur. Each one has its place in the world of podcasting, and I believe every one of them belongs here.
You might come into the world of podcasting for fun and find yourself as an entrepreneur at a later time. You might create a podcast for the company you work for and do something for fun in your off-time. You may do all three if you’re in the game long enough.
When I started in 2006, podcasting was still very much a pirate thing, and there weren’t any “rules.” Incidentally, there weren’t as many podcasts out there either. Today, according to Nielsen and Edison, there are at least 700,000 live podcasts.
You’re free to take anything I’m saying with a massive grain of salt, but if the days of “If you build it, they will come” were ever a thing in podcasting, those days are long gone. If you want them to listen and subscribe to your show, then you need to make something people can find and want to listen to.
If you’re a hobbyist, this may not be that important to you. That’s fine. Podcasting can and should be fun. However, if you’re a podcaster that wants a following, engagement, community, and a possible way to market a product or service down the road, then there are some things to consider.
In my mind, there are three questions that any podcaster who is serious about the craft needs to answer.
What’s It About?
While this would seem to be an obvious question, it would astound you how many people simply turn on a microphone and just ramble all over the place. Full disclosure, I’ve done this as well. Go look at the descriptions of podcasts and see how many of them are a variant of “whatever I feel like talking about.”
If you look at the reviews, you may not see many. In fact, you may only see less than 10 episodes, the last one being more than six months ago. Why? Because they didn’t define the show. If you can’t describe the show, then you can’t tag it correctly in the Podcast Directories. You can’t write a good description. You won’t know where you should promote the show, or you’ll promote it in places that will have no interest at all in it. If you can’t do these things, then no one is going to find your show.
Who’s It For?
Do you know who your audience is? I have a client that found his audience in a unique way. In fact, without this experience, he wouldn’t have a podcast. He’s a Civil War historian from the South with a contrarian point of view from other Southern “Civil War historians” you may have heard of. He made a video explaining this on Twitter, and it went viral. He had a built-in audience of hundreds before he even decided to do a podcast.
When he announced that he was thinking about starting a podcast, his audience enthusiastically encouraged him. Ten episodes in, he’s doing quite well, and he’s leveraged his success to drive people to a Patreon account that’s pulling in over $100 a month. Not bad for a first-time podcaster who’s still learning.
My client found his audience, and a passionate one at that. Do you know who your audience is? What’s your subject? What are you passionate about? Try testing your idea out as my client did. Post your idea somewhere on social media, and see if it travels beyond your followers. Does it engage with people who usually never engage with you? Does it get the attention of Opal in Toledo, who you’ve never met? If it does, you may be onto something. Test it out.
Why Would Anyone Listen to This?
Of all the questions needing to be answered here, this one is possibly the most important. After all, there are many podcasts about podcasting or creative work out there. Why in the heck would anyone want to listen to mine? How am I different?
With over 700,000 podcasts out there, the market for every niche is filled in some way. Do some market research. Listen to the other people in your category. What are they doing?
In the Podcasts about Podcasting category, most of the podcasts are more about marketing and less about what appealed to me back at the very beginning. The appeal was the act of creating art for fun, for therapy, for a purpose, or for any reason that floats your boat. This is in direct opposition to the supposed podcasting ‘gurus’ who believe — in my opinion — that podcasting should be done by certain people with a particular purpose.
I rebel against that philosophy, as any good pirate should. That’s the podcast I wish to present to the world, and I think that’s why people should listen. Find what sets you apart from the others in your space. That’s your lane to occupy.
Final Thoughts
This is the very beginning of the process, but if you’re treating podcasting as a serious venture, then you really can’t afford to overlook these questions. Answering these questions provides you with clarity. If you have clarity at the very beginning, then every other decision you make as you go through the process is less complicated.