4 Steps On What To Do About Starting a Podcast

There is an overwhelming amount of information available on what to do when launching a podcast. The worst part is that you have to go to different articles to put the idea together.

My aim is to make it simple. To put it all in one place.

1. Define The Purpose Of Your Podcast:

Understanding the purpose behind your podcast and the reasons for launching a podcast are important because it will help you determine how you measure the success of your podcast.

You have to understand that a podcast is a specific channel and you improve your success rate when you limit each channel to one goal. For example, you might already have email to nurture leads you’ve captured and adwords to compete locally.

Each is a channel in your marketing strategy. If you want to establish thought leadership, choose education as the goal of this channel and you’ll position your branded content for success.

You’ll have the exclusive attention of your audience during moments when they can binge on education. In the end your target audience will be better prepared to use the products or services in your industry because of you. This would make you a preferred source to buy from and learn from--don’t take my word for it just take a look at how much companies like Apple invest in creating opportunities to educate their audience. It can be argued but it’s safe to say Apple is a thought leader.

Link to Apple's latest product education efforts

People hate to be sold to, but they love to buy.

1. Be prepared for the long sale:

There are three different goals a podcast can fulfill but only two can begin without a built in audience of engaged followers.

The two that you can start to go after immediately is building Thought Leadership and building Brand Awareness.

The last one left is, Lead Generation and even though it might happen as a consequence of the podcast--if your content is good it will--it’s important to understand that the leads may take some time, results do vary and where some companies can take three to six months to generate leads. It’s better to focus on one goal and having the others be a consequence of your commitment to providing value.

Thought leadership, brand awareness and lead generation are different goals and it's an important factor to keep in mind because this will distinguish your content. It will distinguish your content from other types of content you’re creating and from other content creators.

1. Choose the right KPI to measure success:

For all the advances in technology audio streaming is one format that has the least reliable metrics to determine engagement. Most podcasters focus on downloads and although it's a nice number to throw around to people it can be hard for any podcast analytics to tell the level of engagement your listeners had during any one play of your epsiode.

What if someone listening gets distracted by a phone call or visitor? It’s not the same as a video where we can use heat maps to measure engagement. This is why your calls to action and content has to have clear purpose.

In fact, a fun fact most podcast analytics don’t differentiate between a play and an actual download. This is because of the way an RSS feed works. Every podcast runs off the RSS feed framework.

A better way to measure the success of your podcast will be in the number of 5-star reviews you are able to inspire your listeners to leave on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play.

Just be sure to include this call to action in every episode. A positive review is social proof. Positive social proof is high quality social currency and social currency can be leveraged when you decide to publish a book, get people to show at your speaking engagements or even launching new products or services.

Setting a goal of getting twenty 5-star reviews within the first month would be a killer goal to have and one of the most important things you can do if you don't have an big following, yet.

1. If you remember one thing, remember good content is usually a damn good answer to a basic question:

What questions are you going to answer? For Who?

What questions does your target audience have that they need answered? What questions do your target audience not even know they need to ask?

If you have any further questions about podcasting or any suggestions for articles that you'd like to see from Own The Rhythm feel free to send an email to [email protected]