How I Changed my Podcast Format to Stand Out
What I learned from my first few episodes that shaped my show into what it is today.
We all want to start a podcast. It is the new way that people are launching into stardom and bringing in passive income. With millions of podcasts available you might be thinking “How will I get my podcast noticed?”. The internet will tell you that the best way to do this is to pay for promotions. This may work to bait the hook, but you need to hook the listener and make them want to come back. This is why you need to have something that stands out.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark is a stand-out true-crime podcast, mixing true crime & comedy. These two styles are what drew me to the show. I love true crime and was looking for a podcast. I am also a laid back chill person who wants to listen to something fun instead of a graphic reading of an autopsy report. They baited me with the true crime and hooked me with the comedy. I have now been a listener for over 2 years.
So what did I do to make my show stand out? My show “A Future Author’s Diary” is a writing advice podcast for people who want to someday publish a book. There are already hundreds of podcasts with this same concept so my first few episodes got little to no listen. I thought I was doing everything right and was spending more money than I would like to admit on marketing. It hit me when writing the outline for my sixth episode.
I was developing an episode based on writing fantasy stories. Usually, I would discuss 3 to 5 tips for the subject and that was it. I ran out of good ideas at tip 2 with this story and needed some inspiration so I began searching the web. I decided to make my third tip a shortlist of questions for fantasy writers to ask themselves. I began putting a lot of work into these questions and explaining what was being asked. I loved this concept and decide to incorporate it into every episode. I then decided to ditch the list of tips and begin basing my episodes solely around the questions. I tell my listeners to pretend they are published authors being interviewed by Oprah or Barbara Walters. The questions they struggle to answer are the areas they need to work on. Changing to this new structure made my episodes longer, and were more enjoyable to record. Most of all they began to attract new listeners.
Pretend you are a successful podcast host. You are being interviewed by Oprah and she asks “What makes your podcast stand out?”. If you answered right away your show probably stands out already. If you had to think or had no response then you may want to work on it. Podcasts are not the news. Listeners come for the topic and stay for the personality of the host. Remember this when you are recording your next episode.
If you would like to check out my show “A Future Author’s Diary” it is available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen.
