We've probably heard it said that "the best marketing of all is a good product". Nothing could be truer, but what does one do with that? In this case, what makes a good podcast?
I want to share with you 4 factors that determine a podcast's success from design. In other words, we are not yet going to talk about channels, launch strategies, or publication frequenciesWe will focus only on the product features that are somehow "fertile ground" for growing an audience or - why not - a community.
3.1 Clear and audience-focused value proposition.
If we already told you that the first conversation should be "why make a podcast", the second conversation should be "why make a podcast".
The second must revolve around two questions: who do we want to make people fall in love? and how?
A podcast is about the questions the audience has, not the answers the company has; or put another way, if what you end up doing is a long commercial about yourself, you are digging your own grave.
This sounds obvious, but it is possibly the most rocky road, because it is very easy to tell ourselves lies and focus so much on "what I want to tell about my company" that we lose sight of the audience. The difference is subtle but essential, it's the difference between a podcast that people care about, and one that they don't.
The proposal we make is that every time you have a podcast idea, ask yourself 5 questions: What are the reasons why people will listen to you? Why would people dedicate 30 minutes to those episodes? What will people take away from your content? What are the questions / pains that the audience has? or what is the space you will fill?
Try to answer as honestly as possible, and then read the answer again and ask yourself, "Do I really believe this?
We repeat it so much because we understand that in any content strategy, it is natural to feel that fear of doing very nice things that later do not claim value, that do not impact the brand. In this regard, we can only emphasize that a podcast is NOT a short-term strategy. A podcast is cooked over a slow fire.
Here are 4 signs that we are not putting the audience first.
- "My company wants to lead this banner, so I only tell company stories" → Company over audience.
- "The interview wasn't that good, but too bad about the interviewee. Let's take it off the air" → The guest over the audience.
- "Whenever I think of a potential guest, I only think of someone INSIDE the company." → Company over audience.
- "Editorial, guests or topics start from ME and put ME at the center" → The company above the audience.
3.2 Who is your host/hostess on the podcast?
Hosts are becoming a key factor in attracting audiences and visibility on the platforms, but also as an opportunity to claim value in the case of business podcasts.
This depends a lot on the purpose of the podcast, but in our experience, there are three ways to approach the host: (1) we hire a "nice voice", but also a generic one, (2) we choose a visible voice within the company, or (3) we choose an influencer.
The first option is not the most recommended, not necessarily because it "subtracts", but rather because it "does not add up". In other words, it is very common that people end up falling in love with the host, his personality, his jokes and his humanity, and that is very difficult to enhance with a host who is only "a voice".
The second is a good idea only if it is well executed. It makes sense if it is strategic to enhance the personal brand of someone within the organization, but also if this person is eloquent, funny or "easy to like". Success stories are rare, but when they work, they work very well.
The third one makes a lot of sense because it is a way to leverage your audience and also to be attractive to podcast platforms. In our opinion, if you are thinking of hiring influencers for your podcast, cast them! Having thousands of followers on social media should not be the crucial factor for our hosts to succeed in the podcast. Additionally, check things like:
- Are your followers there because of what you think or how you look? If it's because of how he looks, he's probably not the best profile for a show. Remember that, first and foremost, this person will be speaking and must connect with the audience.
- Have more than one possible choice and evaluate who makes sense for your show concept and really matches what you want to convey. Think about chemistry, people's backgrounds, their interests and even their tastes. Many shows start hosting people who, despite not having thousands of followers, make a genuine match with the subject matter and bring more than just a voice to the show. For example, many writers are potentially amazing, even if their social networks don't make them "influencers".
- Look for win-win agreements: don't make proposals where no influencer would want to join because there is no clear reward for him/her, but don't make a show where the only thing you gain is his/her name. If you work hand in hand, both producer and influencer should win.
No matter which option you take, always remember bring your hosts to life.
Here I write about something that doesn't happen much at Naranja, but we want it to happen more often: bringing hosts to life, even in narrative shows. Many times the announcer is a voice that is part of the program, but people don't know anything about them.
By bringing our hosts to life, allowing people to connect with them and feel more than just a voice in them, we generate a virtuous cycle of audience growth and, in the end, strengthen the show.
3.3 Titles and descriptions.
For us almost could have two types of podcast: the interest and intent, two categories that work almost as well as type of search on web.
Those of interest are podcasts that we came to because of a post that caught our attention or simply when we wanted to listen to something new. Here there is no specific problem we want to solve and we listen to them, perhaps, because we are more in an entertainment mood.
In this type of podcast, titles can be intriguing, not say too much, be more in line with the thread of a story or the mood of the podcast. For example, the titles of one of the most successful fiction podcasts in Spanish: Case 63
Here the titles continue to carry us through the intrigue of the story and leave us with a thread of suspense characteristic of the story.
Or, in another example, our show Talent is there: also seeks to awaken people's curiosity in subjects they didn't even know they could be interested in... That's the point: to keep awakening that interest or that flame.
In both cases, the descriptions, both of the shows and the episodes, must develop the audience's interest and it is highly recommended that the descriptions include keywords that are related to the content.
On the other hand, in intent podcasts, there is a timely need: people come to them usually because there is something they want to learn about or improve.
These podcasts MUST be more intentional with titles and descriptions because they work more like the table of contents of a book, where people can quickly go to the chapter that solves their need.
One of our shows in which this feature is most relevant is Sales machine. Look at the episode titles: there is no need to follow a series, but those who want to improve their sales skills can go directly to the episode that best meets their current need:
Now, also keep an eye on the descriptions: it is important to include keywords that people may be using when searching for a podcast. For example: if a person searches for "podcast for salespeople", and our episode or show has the word "salespeople" in the description, it is very likely that we will appear there. That's why I do recommend using a keyword in the title of the show.
With all this in mind, we can talk about how to grow a podcast's audience (see next article).