Podcast Strategy – Do You Have A Podcast Inside You?

Before your podcast dreams go any further, you have a critical podcast strategy question to answer… Do you have a podcast inside you?

There is a lot of brain work needed to look at the strategy of what you are doing. And why you are doing it. And a crucial part of that is to ask yourself, in total honesty, if your idea and knowledge are enough.

I was thinking about the podcast strategy aspects of starting a podcast a couple of weeks ago. I took a break to listen to an episode on the Mirasee Business Reimagined podcast with Danny Iny. He was talking with Tucker Max from ‘Book In A Box’ which was an interesting episode in itself. Then along came a very relevant section where Tucker was talking about 3 questions that he works through with authors to determine if they actually have a book in them.
These three questions are also very relevant to podcasting. So with thanks and reference to Tucker Max, the rest of this post revolves around that concept,, but for podcasting.

1. So the first question is what result do you want from your podcast.

This is also the first step in my podcast planning process – in there I call it Define What Success Looks Like For You. It’s the same idea. You must be able to clearly define in a specific way exactly what results you are looking for, for you to determine the podcast a success. Note it’s YOUR terms of success, and not some arbitrary popular thing such as number of downloads.

And you need to make it specific, and narrow it down until you get clear, specific goals for your podcast. You may want to drive leads to your website, increase speaking opportunities, or become known as a thought leader. These are just some of the goals that can be achieved with a great podcast, and of course they need to be refined to become specific measurable goals.

2. Then the second question is what audience must you reach in order to get those results?

So in the example that you want to become known as an innovative business problem solver, then you would have 2 audiences to reach. Firstly, those businesses of a relevant size, who need a ‘trouble shooter’, and secondly, those people who book speakers and experts for conferences & events.
Same goes for any other examples of the results you want from your podcast. Who do you actually have to reach to achieve that goal? How big is that audience?

And then we get down to the third question.

3. What do you know that is both interesting and valuable to that audience.

This step will ultimately give you the topic of the podcast. You will know what to podcast about to a specific audience, to achieve success with your specific podcast goals.

As Tucker described, it is an iterative process, where you may go round in a few circles, as you realise that you don’t know enough of something to reach and attract a specific audience, so you go around again and tweak the audience and tweak the subject and tweak the goals until you get to something that will be sustainable and attractive as a podcast.

There undoubtedly will already be podcasts in your ‘target topic’ so you will have to look at it from a different angle, to create something new and interesting – something that reflects you rather than copies everyone else.

You can read more in this post ‘too many podcasts in your podcast category‘.

There is one major difference however, with a podcast, rather than a book.

A book is a standalone thing – unless it is part of a series but even a typical book series will cover only several books. A podcast has a timeline attached. A new episode is released every day or week or 2 weeks or whatever interval you decide upon.

So in deciding if you have a podcast inside you, then consider the life of the subject as well. Is it something that can be talked about for a long time (if not for ever) or is it a limited subject, where you do 10 podcasts then that’s it – nothing left to say? That’s not to say that is a bad thing, either – just decide and say and plan from day one that it is going to be a limited edition 10 part series. That way your audience are very clear from the outset what to expect from your podcast, not be disappointed when you ‘suddenly stop and disappear’ after 10 episodes.

You might want to also read another of my posts,  ‘Do you have to podcast for ever‘

So hopefully this helps you in your early thoughts and wondering about doing a podcast. Acknowledge whether you even have a podcast in you, or not!

Next Steps On Your Podcasting Journey

If you want to explore podcasting benefits or podcast strategy for your business, why not take that next step and Contact Me? Let’s have a friendly chat!

I will listen to your ideas and suggest the best next steps for you.

If you want to learn more about the unique way in which I work with you, then my Podcast Services page would be a good place to start.

Are you ready to get started? I’m here to help  🙂