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We don't often think of listening to podcasts as
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problem solving, but it happens.
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A smart podcaster knows how to present solutions to their
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audience, as well as who else is helping solve those same problems.
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Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.
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What are the problems your audience needs to be solved?
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Understanding their pain points can really help you, the podcaster, craft
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your message, your approach, and set up proper expectations for your audience.
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Problems fall into one of two camps, typically: acute
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problems and chronic problems.
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Acute problems are those things that need to be solved once, ideally
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quickly, but not necessarily, and then that is no longer a problem.
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It's fixed.
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Take filing taxes this year, or any given year for that matter.
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All the deductions and changes in tax law, anyone doing that needs very specific
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information from someone like you, perhaps a podcaster, but that information needs to
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be somewhat wide because they don't know what they don't know about the problem.
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But they do only think about that problem once and then it's
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gone - for at least a year.
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If you're servicing that audience or an audience like that with your podcast, you
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need to put out some quick-hit content.
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You need solid titles on that content to help your episode stand out as
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they're sorting through what they're going to listen to to solve their
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problems with their podcasts that day.
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Or maybe think about someone going on a really long flight, like
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eight hours, and they need a lot of content to keep them entertained or
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informed while they're in the air.
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They're going to want to download that content and take it with them.
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All those episodes should flow together nicely as well.
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They don't want to be grabbing their phone and resorting in the middle of
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the flight, even though they could.
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If you're servicing that audience or an audience like that with your podcast,
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maybe you need to put out a series of episodes or a collection where you
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focus on branding the entirety of the series, so that they grab the correct
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content, not just a few random episodes.
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Or let's say, perhaps, we've got a consumer out there looking for
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the best laptop to fit their needs.
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For them, features and benefits are obviously going to be quite clear.
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If you're servicing that audience with your podcast, or an audience
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like that with your podcast, you need to have a format that makes it very
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easy for the listener to understand what you're trying to convey.
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Maybe give some comparisons, some reviews.
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Whatever it happens to be, whatever these acute problems are, knowing why
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your audience is there allows you to craft the right kind of content to
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solve their immediate acute problems.
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Now, chronic problems are more long-term, maybe even perpetual.
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Instead of filing taxes, it's financial planning or it's money management that
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your audience might be interested in.
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So, if you're servicing that audience with your podcast, you
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need higher concept episodes that focus on the "why" questions.
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Also, all the positive benefits and reward-reaping keep your podcast audience
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coming back to you for more of that.
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For our travelers, let's go wider on a more chronic problem.
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Maybe instead of a single, one-time long flight, this person travels frequently,
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or maybe they have a day job where they need something to listen to for
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multiple hours a day - they're a driver, they've just got a boring job, whatever.
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If you're servicing that audience with your podcast, you have to develop a
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good amount of content, a nice healthy back catalog, which means you have
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to find ways to increase your output.
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Maybe you should consider collaborating with another podcaster, showcasing
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work of other podcasters, or even syndicating other content.
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That helps you build up that healthy collection of back
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catalog that much quicker.
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Instead of a single, big electronics purchase, maybe you and your
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podcast service an audience that is deeply interested in the latest and
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greatest technology, for example.
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If that's the case, you need to become a trusted source, not just your podcast, but
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you need to become that trusted source.
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Still super smart for you to have a format that makes the content you're
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going to share easy to digest along with reviews and comparisons and that
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kind of stuff, but also you might need to inject more you into your show to
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keep your brand recognition high as you become that true, trusted source.
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Now, of course, were it this easy, it'd be great.
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We'd choose what problems we're going to solve for our audiences, acute or chronic.
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But it's not that easy.
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And I'll tell you why.
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In reality, your audience has both acute and chronic problems to solve.
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Your task is to make your podcast an invaluable resource
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to both of those needs, actually.
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Not necessarily every single need, but most of their
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needs, both acute and chronic.
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But here's the reality, it's not just us.
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You and I both know that it's sometimes much easier to jump on YouTube and do
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a quick search to find a fast answer.
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As much as we podcasters like to gripe about the crap info that sometimes
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litters YouTube, it's not all bad.
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There is good stuff.
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We use it.
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And we certainly can't beat the searchability of YouTube.
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Not yet in podcasting.
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You and I also know that books exist, whether those are paper books, electronic,
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audio books, don't really care.
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And we also know that those books often make a nice little container of
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knowledge or entertainment, and they certainly are more often on point
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with a lot less extraneous content.
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We also know the experience of consuming a book is pretty darn
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uniform from cover to cover.
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So here's the reality, again, as much as your audience loves you, they're
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going to consume other content that delivers the same type of advice you do.
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That means they're going to cheat on you.
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And that's okay.
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I mean, really the best you can do is make the best podcast
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content that you possibly can.
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Just understand that a good amount of your audience may dip in and out of
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your content as they dip in and out of other people's content over time.
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You can't solve every single problem that's out there, but you can work
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to make sure you've covered as much of the problem landscape as makes
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sense for you and your podcast.
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With that, 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.
