Podcast best practices inevitably change from one year to the next. As the streaming landscape begins to mature, it’s never been more important to follow podcast best practices and deploy a range of strategies to attract engaged audio listeners.
While the consumption of audio content is increasing, listeners only have so much time in a day to engage with podcasts.
So how do you make sure yours stands out?
Keep reading for our tips!
Podcast Best Practices – Is There A Magic Formula?
When it comes to producing high-quality podcast episodes, there’s no magic formula. To unlock growth and build an engaged audience, you need to focus on delivering value-driven content.
Podcast episodes should be jam-packed with value. If you’re a business owner and thought leader, you should be leveraging this content medium to provide your audience with as much value as possible.
If your podcast is not providing your audience with value, what incentive do listeners have to tune in? The stronger the value proposition, the easier it will be to pull in listeners.
Establishing a clear value proposition begins with a memorable podcast name.
Create a memorable podcast name and optimize titles
To create a memorable podcast name, you should try to strike a balance between creativity and authenticity. In an audio library, the podcast name should stand out from the crowd and offer a sense of what genre your content comes under.
It’s worth taking the time to think carefully about the podcast name. You should bounce ideas off colleagues and associates to ensure you’re getting a range of opinions and perspectives.
You should approach your target audience about possible podcast names to gather their opinions. If you’re a business owner launching a podcast, you could approach existing customers to get their opinions on potential podcast names.
By involving your target audience in the conception of the podcast, you’re more likely to create content that is valuable to them. Launching a podcast without consulting your target audience is a poor strategy.
As you name individual podcast episodes, you should consider specific keywords to target. These should be keywords that are likely to intrigue your target audience.
If you’re a business owner creating podcast episodes, we would recommend that all episode titles consist of frequently asked questions about your products or services.
When people know what question you’re going to be answering in a specific episode, the value proposition becomes crystal clear.
Utilize welcome and send-off phrases to build audience trust
Try your best to address listeners in a memorable way. This will help to establish a sense of familiarity.
The way you introduce yourself as the podcast host will set the tone for the rest of the episode. Consistency in how you open and close your episodes adds structure to your content.
It’s impossible to know which podcast episode new listeners will tune into first. With this in mind, consistent welcome and send-off phrases can make all the difference to the listening experience for newcomers.
If you don’t know how to set the tone for each podcast episode, you can take inspiration from other podcasts in your niche. Take note of how the hosts open and close each episode.
Cross-sell other podcast episodes and related content
Once you’ve recorded a few episodes and have built up a back catalog of content, you can begin recommending specific episodes to listeners that explore specific topics and questions.
This will help to shine a light on your older content and keep each episode focused on a specific topic. When you’re delving deep into topics, conversations can occasionally veer off course.
Rather than steering too far away from the central question at the core of each episode, you can simply point listeners to previous episodes where you’ve explored topics in greater detail.
When podcast hosts restrain themselves from going too far off-topic, the discipline can help to maximize the value of each episode. If listeners have tuned in to hear you talk about a particular topic or answer a certain question, the best thing you can do as a podcast host is stay focused.
Consistently schedule and publish new podcast episodes
Consistency in releasing new podcast episodes is critical to your success. If you want to build an engaged audience, you need to ensure loyal listeners know exactly when you’re releasing new episodes.
If you’re releasing new episodes consistently, loyal listeners will bake your content into their weekly routine. For instance, when listeners know that a new episode comes out every Friday, listening to your podcast on this day will become part of their routine.
A lack of consistency in publishing new podcast episodes can lead to disengaged listeners. To build an engaged audience that’s prepared to tune in every week, you have to commit to a clear publishing schedule.
The publishing schedule must be communicated to your listeners. They need to know exactly when to expect new episodes.
Engage in marketing and promotion efforts
After taking the time to record and edit podcast episodes, it’s vital that you engage in marketing and promotion efforts. While it’s easy to search through streaming services for podcasts, you cannot rely on organic discovery on these platforms to build an audience.
You must go to your target audience. You cannot expect them to come to you.
We would recommend leveraging social media marketing to create awareness around your new podcast episodes. This could involve posting links to your episodes in niche-relevant groups and using influencers to create conversations around your content.
Final Thoughts on Podcast Best Practices For 2021
We hope this guide has given you some potential ideas for implementation.
Launching a podcast is no easy task. However, with the right support, you can hit the ground running and deliver value-driven content that engages your target audience.
Every best practice related to producing a podcast ultimately stems back to value creation. In your efforts to build an engaged audience, you should be striving to produce value-packed podcast episodes that fire on all cylinders.
If you want to learn more about developing impactful podcast content with the power to engage listeners, you should book a consultation call with Cashflow Podcasting today.
Ben Krueger is the founder of Cashflow Podcasting and he specializes in helping thought leaders and entrepreneurs amplify their impact through podcasting. He’s a world traveller, outdoor sports junkie and future enthusiast!
