Not all podcast ideas are created equal, especially when you’re just starting out.
In this episode, I answer a listener question about what makes a podcast idea bad and share the one mistake many new podcasters make when choosing a concept for their show.
If you want people to press play on your podcast, your idea needs to be more than just “talking to interesting people.”
What you'll learn:
Why vague podcast ideas don’t work (especially if no one knows you)
The common pitch that sounds good… but isn’t
How to think about your show from your audience’s perspective
What makes a podcast idea truly valuable and worth listening to
This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Wangal people, of the Eora Nation.
I pay my respects to Elders past and present.
Transcripts
Intro VO:
Got dreams of being a professional podcaster, but have no idea what you're doing. This is impossible. That's about to change. A new kind of school. Welcome to the Pod School Podcast.
Rachel:
Hello. Welcome to the show. Today I am answering a question from Melinda.
If you would like to submit a question, just head to the description of the episode and click the link and you can submit it there. Her question is, what is an example of a bad podcast idea? Great question.
A bad podcast idea is anything that is not definable, anything that is difficult for an audience to grab ahold of.
One of the most common pitches that I get that I would say is an example of a bad podcast idea is the pitch of, I would like to do a podcast where I talk to people about interesting things, or I would like to do a podcast where I talk to interesting people. That's not an idea. I mean, that is an idea, it's just not an interesting idea for anybody other than you.
So the idea of a bad idea, it's not that you are bad at coming up with ideas or any of those kind of things if you haven't settled on the right idea, it's just that idea is probably not made or conceived with an audience in mind.
So those are the bad ideas, the ones that don't have an audience, the ones that are too vague and too general to really appeal to people.
If you are starting your show from scratch and you're starting your audience from scratch, you do not have an existing audience, you do not have an existing fan base, and you’re really going out there and trying to build up a listener base on your own, it is going to be very hard to do that with an idea that people cannot immediately grasp.
And if they do not know you, they are not going to check the show out unless they can work out, well, is this show interesting for me? The exception to that is if they are already interested in the person that's hosting.
So if that person is Oprah, or whoever else it is, and I follow Oprah, or whoever else it is, because I like them. I like their perspective, I like their way of interviewing, I like what they've done.
They have built up enough value in their career for me that I am willing to check out something that they want.
If they turn around to me and say, okay, well, I'm going to do a show where I just talk to really interesting people that I like, then I can understand that, because the niche is kind of them. So I get that. But if you are not known to people, they don't know what you find interesting, they don't know anything about you.
So you need to be really clear on exactly what they are going to get from this show, so that when they're scrolling through, they're like, okay, I've got this. I know why I want to press play on this.
I know what this is about and that is what I'm going to do. So that, for me, is the main kind of overarching thing of a bad podcast idea. It's not about saying you can't come up with ideas or you're bad.
Everybody can come up with a great podcast idea. You just have to think about it in the right way. You have to think about who you're doing this for.
You have to think about what they would find valuable, what they need in their lives. Can you entertain them, inform them, engage them in some way? And what is it about this that is going to make them play?
Think about yourself in their shoes. If you came across somebody that you didn't know and their podcast pitch was, I'm going to chat to interesting people, would you press play?
If you're like, it's going to take me too long to work out by listening to your content whether what you find interesting is what I find interesting, whereas you could have told me in a sentence and I could have worked it out and I probably would have pressed play.
So that is what you need to think about when you're putting your idea together. Like I said, everybody is capable of coming up with a great podcast idea.
And the idea that you have now might not be a completely different idea to what you end up with. It might just be that you need to tweak it slightly to make sure that people will actually seek it out and want to press play when they see it.
So thank you so much, Melinda, for the question. Really appreciate it. If you want to submit a question, then you can just head to the description of the episode.
And if you have some friends that you know that are wanting to start up their own podcast, have questions about podcasting, please share this show with them and I would love to help them out as well. If you would like more help with your podcast, I have an online podcasting course called PodSchool.
If you are looking for help with equipment, you can also head to podcastingguide.com.au and I have an equipment guide there that is free. You can download it. It's got all the tools and tech that you need to help you set up your podcast. So check it out and I will see you next week.
