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Trent: Welcome back to the Snohomish Podcast Playground.
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Trent: Today we’re stepping onto the playground to really talk about why should you start a podcast? Last time we talked about what classifies a podcast, what makes a podcast, the different types of podcasts. Now let’s get a little more personal. Why should you or why should anyone really create a podcast?
I think that’s an important distinction to make because there’s so many out there, there’s so many reasons why people get into podcasting. And I want you to think about—I want to give some ideas and thoughts for you to consider when you’re deciding if a podcast is right for you.
Last time we talked about what classifies a podcast. The first episode we really dove into literally the definition of a podcast, how it started, its roots. And now we’re getting into, okay, now that we’re getting an idea of this podcast, we’re getting an idea of what this playground looks like. Really, that’s all that we’ve done so far is I’ve been telling you, hey, there’s this playground that has monkey bars and the slide and all of these weird things. Cool, that’s not really helping you figure out how do I go play? How do I go have fun? How do I make the most out of this playground?
So that’s what we’re gonna start diving into today are some of these harder questions and things that are worth taking your time to really think about and figure out before you go into making a podcast. Yes, if you just wanna play around and go for it, awesome. Go record, go hit record. I always recommend that. As soon as you can, as soon as you have something, just practice, that’s one of your biggest things.
And when you’re ready to really give this an effort, want to make this something real and want to build that consistency and push this to be something bigger than just that passion playground or when you want that to be bigger than just this playground, that’s what we’re gonna talk about today is why should you really get going into a podcast?
So why should you start a podcast? Great question. And I think, again, there’s so many reasons why people start podcasts and there’s not a right answer either. I wanna make that very clear. There’s not a right answer, there’s not a wrong answer for why you’re starting a podcast. I’m just giving you options and things to think about so that you are most successful in your goals.
It really comes down to a couple of questions. What do you wanna get out of it? What are you trying to teach people or what do you want people to get from it and who are you talking to? I think those are the three things that are really important, right? Especially if you’re looking at it from a business perspective, as a brand, as something that you want to grow, you really have to look at it through that same marketing lens as you would any other business, right? What’s the impact you wanna have, and who are you talking to, right? Really, that’s what it comes down to.
So let’s start with the first question of that, I would say is, what do you want to do? What’s the impact you wanna have? And I promise later we’ll get into how you can help figure this out yourself and I’m just gonna give you some context before we get there. Why are you doing this in the first place? What’s the impact? What message do you want people to walk away with, right? That’s really the questions I always think about is, what do you want someone to get from this?
Do you want it to be entertaining? Do you want it to be educational? Do you want it to be just informative? Do you want it to be whatever, right? Those are your broad categories.
For this podcast, really I’m trying to educate people, get people out there, get people playing with podcasts so that there will be more folks that want to join this podcast network and we can really build this community of podcasters. That’s really why I’m doing this, right? That’s the intent, that’s the goal, that’s the outcome that I really wanna see with it. I want people to take away from this that it’s not that hard to get going with podcasting, there’s just some questions and things that you need to consider and if you take that time in the beginning, it can really be beneficial and you can have a very successful podcast.
Also wanna show that there’s a community, a network and give people a chance to play with it, right? So yes, I’m trying to do this to build the podcast community, get more people into podcasting so that we can grow this community, grow this podcast network.
What I want people to get out of it is I want them to understand how to do podcasting, how to create their own podcast and how to just develop it, what it’s like to do a podcast and meet other people that are there, right? So my goal, get more people into podcasting. What are people that are going to be listening to this, kind of getting away, what are they taking away from it, how was this helping them, adding value to them in some way? It is letting them develop their podcasting skills and abilities.
And then thirdly, the audience. Who am I really talking to? This is such an old marketing ploy and such a big marketing thing that you hear. Everything in marketing, advertising, it’s all about the audience. Who are you talking to, this and that. And same goes with the podcast, right? If you’re trying to say, “Hey, I’m just gonna talk to everybody,” and you have that mindset of, “I’m just talking to everyone out there,” it sounds like you’re talking to a blank room. It doesn’t sound like you and I are having a conversation, even just saying you and I, I’m bringing you in, I’m making you feel like you’re the only one, you are building that community and I’m talking to you.
And I know who you are because we thought about it for this podcast of I’m really trying to get people that are like, what did I say, like 25 to 40-ish range, that are into podcasts, listen to a lot of podcasts. Think about how podcasts are made, wanna know kind of behind the scenes and just maybe need that little bit of push to help get into podcasting.
So that’s really what I’m talking about with the audience, is you really want to think about the audience. You really wanna think about who specifically are you talking to. And to break that down, I’ve got some great advice on this, I read it in a book and just other work that I’ve done, really helps to create what is called a persona, basically this fictional character that you are talking to when you come and sit down, right?
Like I’m just having this monologue, I’m just talking to a sofa in front of me and that’s it. And in my mind, I see this person, right? I’m talking to Jim, who is a 30-year-old, interested in podcasting, has a full-time job, so can’t commit full-time to this and just wants to learn more about how the process is, maybe learn about some of the tools so they can start playing and getting better at it and just having it as a fun avenue for them and their friends to talk about what’s going on. I created this Jim, right? I don’t know anybody named Jim that fits that criteria and that works.
Some of you, you might come up with a podcast like, “Hey, I really know my friend, Jenny will absolutely love this and I’m gonna be talking to Jenny when I do this.” Perfect, that’s the way it should be, right? You wanna feel like you’re having that one-on-one conversations talking specifically to someone, whether you’re a monologue or even in an interview setting, right, thinking about who that audience is. So if I’m in here interviewing somebody, I’m asking the right questions that will inform and add value to that person, to that persona, to that audience that I’m thinking about.
So those are some of the things to think about, right? When you’re really going into, should I do a podcast? What’s your goal? What do you wanna get out of it? What’s the value you’re giving to your listeners? And who are your listeners? Who is that audience? Who is that one particular person you’re really looking at?
And some of you might be like, “Oh, this is so helpful. It’s great a day, I know exactly that.” Some people might be like, “I have no idea where to start with this. I just wanna be my buddy to sit down and talk about what we normally talk about.” And that’s okay too.
And you have to think about what is your goal from it, right? So really think about if you’re just, “Hey, we have these garage conversations we wanna just document and share with the world.” Awesome. So what is your goal with the podcast? What is your goal of doing this? Is it just to educate? Is it just to share your thoughts out into the ethos and hope someone else connects with it? Is it to try and promote something that’s going on, trying to get a sponsorship for some brand?
You just kinda have to think through those added steps of just where you want to get with it, right? Because you’re working with them, you kinda figure out, this is our goal. We wanna inform people, we wanna get out there. Awesome. Now you’re gonna talk about what’s that daily value? What’s that episode value that you’re giving to them? So you’re informing them, but why should anyone care, right?
I wanna tell people about my local sawmill because it’s very interesting how that work is done. Awesome, I can go watch a YouTube video about how sawmills work. What makes your experience more valuable? What makes what you are doing, what you are talking about your perspective, just adding that value to someone’s life, right? Why am I gonna take my time out of it to learn about sawmills?
So that’s the other part that you really need to think about is just, is this going to be a history lesson? That’s just documented, which is great. And that doesn’t necessarily help you give a unique perspective and form, actually build an audience around it. Which again, for some people that’s it. They’re like, I don’t care if this gets an audience or not. I just wanna have it documented out there so that if people want it, they can find it. And it’s a perfectly acceptable answer.
So we talked about goal. We’ve kind of talked about what’s the value that we get there. And we’ll talk a little bit more about structure value of per episode as we get a little bit later. But just think about in general, what’s the value that people are gonna get from listening to your podcast overall, and then that persona, right? Really taking the time to sit down and think about who is this persona?
The more detail you can put in, the better. The easier it is. I want to put together a full dossier, a full document on this person saying, this is their income level. This is their marital status. Do they have pets? How long is their commute? When are they listening to podcasts? How long do they have to listen to podcasts? And so on and so on and so on.
Again, I’m getting into a lot of the details on a lot of this extreme is like, if you have a podcast that you really wanna grow, you wanna eventually make monetization off of and you want to have it be this bigger thing. These are the things you need to really consider and the more precise of an audience you have will make that a lot easier.
And just because I’m glazing over this in some senses, I’m saying focus on this persona and a lot of you are probably like, well, I wanna reach much more people than that. I wanna reach people that are well beyond this, Jen or Jimmy or whatever names I said earlier.
I wanna reach bigger than them. And that’s fine. That will happen. And you have to start with just addressing that one person. If you address it and you’re hitting the points right, other audiences will come in and find it and find it useful and valuable. It’s much easier to focus on one person and attract more folks in than if you try and addressed everybody and say, we all love this or trying to get so many different themes, hit on so many different criteria of these different groups that you’re not going to make any of them actually interested in it.
So it’s better to make something super focused and interest for one person and you’ll be surprised how you’ll just start collecting from all these other groups that you might not have thought of was relevant to them or whatnot. So again, persona doesn’t mean that’s the only people you’re marketing, the only people you’ll get. That’s just your starting point of who you are talking to to really help focus and build your podcast.
So today we talked about what is the goal of the podcast? What’s the value? What are you bringing to someone? And who are you bringing the value to? Who is that person? Who is that persona that you’re really talking to trying to give an impact to?
And again, for everyone, it really takes sitting down and kind of answering these questions on your own, really thinking about it and answering that question, and not just saying, “I’m gonna create a podcast where I talk with my buddy.” That’s not the end of a sentence. That doesn’t give you your goal. That doesn’t talk about what’s the value you’re giving or doesn’t talk about, well, it might give you your audience because you can say, “My buddy, this is the person I want to be similar to.” So that can help you get your persona. And you’re still missing those other two that really help you to stay focused and create something that people will want to keep listening to.
So go start answering more of these questions and help figure out what this playground really looks like for you. I think that’s one of the important things in what these questions and this concept starts to do is really shape what your playground looks like. We’ve talked about all different things, talked about all different shapes and sizes of these playgrounds. Now, what is it gonna look like for you? How are you going to start playing with your podcast, creating that goal of that value, and then who are you talking to about it?
So go out, have fun with that playground, start putting the pieces together. But we have one more episode at least that we have to go through, talking about some of the more not fun stuff, but things that will make your life a lot easier down the road before we can get into really playing it on this playground.
Till next time, have fun.