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Finding advice on how to make your podcast better is easy.
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Knowing what advice to take and what to ignore is trickier.
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Before implementing any advice, take a close look at
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the agenda behind that advice.
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Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.
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Your agenda is not my agenda.
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Sorry, but it's not.
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Yeah, we both wanna make podcasting, the entirety of podcasting, better.
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That's an agenda we do share.
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And there are likely other shared agendas between us because we're good and decent
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people, as well as we are podcasters.
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But your agenda with your podcast is not the same agenda I have with this podcast.
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I recognize that.
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And it's one of the main reasons I try not to give the "how-to" information
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out there with hard and fast rules.
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I mean, yeah, I've done the podcasting thing for, what, going on 20 years now.
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But podcasting has evolved into disparate factions that in- across that entire time.
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And while there remain some similarities, a lot of similarities
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across all of podcasting, production to, to publishing, the vagaries that
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are unique to each niche are causing differences between those factions
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to become more and more pronounced.
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And my agenda, just in case it needs to be stated clearly, is to keep you listening
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or reading or watching with the hopes that you might tell a friend and even
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maybe become a supporting member of mine.
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Now, to get those things, I have to give you valuable information that you can
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take back into your podcasting life.
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But do I have just the trick so you can create a hard-hitting investigative
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reporting series that captures the hearts and minds of millions of listeners?
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No, I, I've never done that.
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That's why I don't give advice on that.
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And you shouldn't come looking to me for that advice, nor should you
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seek out the advice from any other long-time podcaster or even podcast
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consultants who have not done that.
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Choose to get advice from the people who have the very same
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specific agenda as you do.
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Cuz close enough probably isn't close enough anymore.
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Now, your agenda also isn't the same as your podcast hosting company's agenda.
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Sorry, but it's not.
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Sure, they want your show to be successful, but they want all of
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their users' shows to be successful.
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For the 10 to 20 bucks you pay them every month, they can't afford to
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give you super specific tips and tricks that are perfect for your show.
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Their agenda is based on keeping, not just you as a client, but
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keeping thousands of other people as clients, as well as finding thousands
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of new people to become clients.
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All so they can keep their business in business.
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So when they create advice-based content, they do it with their own agenda in mind.
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So before you refactor your entire show to fit the most recent advice published
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by your, or maybe a competitive, hosting company, remember that it wasn't written
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specifically for you and the advice may not work for you and your agenda at all.
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Your agenda also isn't the same as the agenda held by a podcast listening app.
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Sorry again, but it's not.
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Yes, that app wants more people to listen to your show, but only
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if that happens on their app.
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And yeah, they're gonna give you a, maybe a nifty-looking badge or an
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easy link to share that looks great when it's shared on social media.
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But what they want more than that is to get more people using their app, switching
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away from other apps as much as they can.
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I know they might showcase plenty of success stories from other podcasters
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who followed the playbook provided by the app and then seen massive success.
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But the success they, the app, cares most about is the number of
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people using the app, not listening to that particular podcast.
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Now, none of that is to say that everyone has a different agenda
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than you have for your show.
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There are likely some other entities who are incredibly aligned with
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the agenda you have for your show because you have shared agendas.
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Add representation firms are one example.
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They want your show to get as much ad revenue as possible because they
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take a percentage of that ad revenue.
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When you do better, they do better.
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So yes, it's very likely that any advice you're gonna get from your ad rep firm,
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be they placing programmatic ads or live host reads, whatever, I think those
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will closely align with your agenda.
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Also, the people you select to help you keep your podcast running, that's
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a great example where agendas align.
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Assuming you're paying them or giving them some sort of an
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upside, which you should be.
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When the show that they work on, your show, does well, they keep getting a
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reward with a paycheck or a bonus or some other truly tangible and valuable benefit.
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And then there's...
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well, that's actually about it, really.
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Entities who not only profit from your show, but have a vested ownership
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with all the risks and rewards are likely aligned to your agenda.
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So listen to them.
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Listen to others, sure.
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But listen most closely to those who share your same agenda, podcaster.
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And with that, I shall be back next week with yet another Podcast Pontifications.
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Cheers!
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Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra.
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He's on a mission to make podcasting better.
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Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes
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section of your podcast listening app.
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A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at
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podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected
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transcript, both created by Allie Press.
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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.
