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Not every podcasting idea is a great podcasting idea.
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At least not beyond the person who had the idea.
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How predictable is the success - or failure - of your next podcasting project?
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And would you bet on it?
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Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.
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I'm a firm believer that anyone who has an idea for a podcast
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should start that podcast.
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You and I know that, with very few exceptions, a motivated
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person with means can make just about any podcast on their own.
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And the podcasting directories and apps are filled with passion projects.
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And I love that about podcasting.
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Many of those podcasting passion projects have a handful of passionate
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listeners and will probably only ever have a handful of passionate listeners.
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And that's okay.
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But sometimes that passion spreads and a show itself spreads, either rapidly
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or overtime, to become a viable success.
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So how do you know which path your next podcasting project is going to take?
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And if it's going to take serious resources, time, treasure, talent, to get
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that off the ground, is there any sort of a litmus test you can put your idea
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through before you make that investment?
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No, there isn't.
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Not really, in my opinion, at least.
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And not a test in the way that you're thinking of what
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a test should actually do.
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But there are, good news, four questions that I think you can ask
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and examine the answers to, to help really triage your idea to see if it
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might have legs beyond just an idea.
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Question number one, is there a benefit to this podcast, or
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is the podcast just a feature?
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Another way to think about this is, "Cool idea, bro, but
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what's in it for the listener?"
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You know, all too often I hear pitches talking about the caliber of
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guests that will be on the program, or the wealth of knowledge that
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the host brings to this subject.
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And those are all great, but they're just features, features
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probably repeated in lots of other podcasts or lots of other mediums.
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So if you can't turn those features into clear, obvious, and desirable
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benefits for the listener, it will be hard to get that to take off.
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Question number two, who will care about this?
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Now, your first answer should be, "I will care about this."
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Of course, because if you don't care about it...
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um, who else was going to?
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And I'm talking about more than just having a passing interest, more than
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just an infatuation of something.
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I'll give you a personal example.
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I have ridden a folding bicycle for more than two decades.
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Now, there is a huge community of folding bike enthusiasts that I know I could speak
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to on a podcast, and have a podcast highly targeted towards folding bike enthusiasts.
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But about what?
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It's got to be more than that.
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What needs do they have that I could fulfill with the podcast?
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I don't know.
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Question three, how unique is this idea?
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Now, my inner grammarian hates the fact that now it's okay for us to
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put modifiers on the word unique.
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But we grow and adapt along with our language, don't we?
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Look, not all podcast ideas need to be unique, but it sure helps.
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So be sure to check out the competition.
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Do you really want to join a crowded marketplace?
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Look, podcasting's crowded enough.
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Do you want to join where there are already 50 or 500 other shows, or
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5,000 other shows doing the same thing?
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And, also, besides you, who could make an amazing podcast on this subject?
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More importantly, if they did, how likely is it that their
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podcast would out-compete yours?
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Question four, how promotable is this idea?
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If you build it, they won't know it exists, so there's no way
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they're going to come, right?
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So how will you get the word out?
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Do you have the necessary platform to get the word out?
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And if not, can you partner with someone who can use their
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platform to get the word out?
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Do you have the budget to launch a sizeable marketing/promotional
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campaign for this podcast?
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Because that's becoming more required all the time.
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And the answers to the first three questions I just asked, are those
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strong enough answers that will justify the money you're about to
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spend on this promotional campaign?
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So there you have it, four questions to ask yourself to
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help you triage your next idea.
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Again, this is not a litmus test, neither success nor failure is guaranteed
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regardless of what your answers were.
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Regardless, though, good luck on your next podcasting project.
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I shall be back tomorrow 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.
