The success of your podcast depends on numerous factors, and there are many mistakes that new and existing podcasters make. While these don’t necessarily mean a podcast will fail, it does sometimes mean that your business doesn’t do as well as it should.
Therefore, you should look for ways to improve your podcast. Luckily there are dozens of opportunities to improve your podcast. These are as follows.
1. Short Form Content
Short-form content is about taking sound bites out of your podcast. If you’re creating video podcasts, you can use video snippets for your podcast. These short snippets from the main show should be memorable and be considered potential moments of transformation for your listeners.
Every episode should contain at least two or three moments like these, and they can be shared as Instagram Reels, YouTube shorts, or on TikTok. These will quickly gain traction, helping you reach a wider audience and bring in more regular subscribers and listeners to your show.
At the same time, short-form video is much easier for engagement. People will like, comment, and share this content more than on longer-form content, allowing you to expand your reach quickly.
2. Consistent Episode Releases
If you want to be successful at podcasting you must be consistent. Have a schedule and release at that same time, every time. Don’t be tempted to leave a show for a week or two because you’re busy or not feeling well enough. Audiences appreciate the host being consistent, and it will help you perform better in the rankings.
To help you achieve this, move away from a ‘just in time’ model and instead be several episodes ahead. If you look at some of the most successful podcasters and YouTubers, they can have content recorded weeks or months ahead of schedule.
There are other advantages to this strategy besides keeping up with a schedule. For instance, you should be able to mention what is coming up in the next episode, use soundbites to advertise future episodes, and have more time to edit the podcast so that episode’s quality is at its best.
3. Utilize Guests
Guests on your podcast are certainly one way to improve your reach. Encourage your guests to share the podcast with their followers. Invite guests who have a good following on social media, email, or on their podcast/YouTube channel.
When you tag them, it will let them know, and they will share with their followers. In addition, you can reach new audiences and improve your reputation.
4. Face-to-Face
If you’re doing a video for your podcast – show your face. It is one of the best ways to build trust with the audience. However, if you’re not doing a video podcast, you might have to think about ensuring your face is on the cover art.
Ensure that you’re always looking your best as well. Refrain from anything blocking your face in the image, such as a microphone or covering your face with a hand (that will also worsen sound quality).
Seeing your face builds trust and makes you more relatable to the audience.
5. Consider New Ideas
Always consider new ideas when it comes to your podcast structure and tactics. Don’t be too rigid because that can mean that your podcast becomes stale and no longer relevant to audiences. As a result, you lose audience retention, and it can lose you revenue.
However, that doesn’t mean you should use every new idea thrown your way. Instead, you need to carefully consider every single option and whether or not it will offer any benefit to you.
If there is an opportunity to do so, like with email marketing or social media, you might want to try A/B testing. Testing to see what title structure is more appealing or whether emails announcing the latest episode perform better in the evening or morning can be great options for finding what resonates with your audience.
6. Consider Latest Trends
One mistake often made is not moving forward with the latest trends. There are so many new podcast trends in 2024 that it can be easy to be left behind. For instance, live podcasting has plenty of promise. So do other trends like edutainment and other strategies.
There are always going to be ways that you can implement these into existing show structures. Like ensuring there is one live podcast a month or adding a new monthly episode with a slightly different structure.
7. Prioritize Quality
You must consider the quality of the content, rather than the volume of the content. Quality is always going to improve audience retention and there are numerous ways to improve content quality.
For example, you can use professionally produced music, use software to remove awkward pauses, and even use better podcasting equipment to ensure you have the quality that will wow audiences into trusting your professionally produced podcast.
While there will be some investment into this, the investment itself will pay you back many times over. You can improve some elements, such as improving your tone and pitch, through training and practice.
8. Podcast Length
One of the biggest factors that might harm your podcast is too long. The attention span of audiences is not what it used to be, and some shows can sometimes say a lot without saying anything relevant to the audience. Therefore, be more concise and consider whether your episodes are too long.
That doesn’t mean that a short 30 minutes is the ideal length. Different audiences require different content lengths, so you have to look at retention statistics and see how long audiences spend listening to the podcast or whether they’re turning off after a certain point.
9. Choose Relatable Topics
Finally, choose topics that relate to your audience. You might be a financial podcaster with a high level of knowledge, but your audience might not want to know every detail of financial plans from 10 years ago. They’re going to want to know relevant news and advice. So, pitch content that’s relatable to the audience and at the level they want to know.
Going any further, and you’re just wasting time.
FAQs
How do I make podcast audio sound better?
Podcast audio might sound better if you use better podcast editing software. You might also want to improve your speech, learning not to say pause words like ‘um’.
Which is better: a podcast or YouTube?
Both can form a critical and successful part of your marketing campaign. Podcasts can be used on your YouTube channel.
Is investment needed for a better podcast?
You don’t need to invest much to get a better podcast. Some improvements can be made through practice or learning the right techniques to be successful.
Final Word: How to Create a Better Podcast
There are many ways that you can create a better podcast. It all depends on what you’re doing now and what potential opportunities you’re missing out on. Above are some of the options available to you. However, it can be hard to see what options are best for you, which is why you might want to have a podcast consultation.
Produce Your Podcast is a premier podcast consulting, production & marketing agency. Our team of experts provides comprehensive, full-service quality solutions for B2B clients to incorporate podcasting into their overall marketing strategy. If you’re looking for a reliable partner to help launch or grow your business-branded podcast and boost your sales and marketing goals, we’re here to help.
Click here to schedule a conversation with our team today. Let’s work together to create a high-quality podcast that takes your business to new heights!
