Content is, and always will be, king. The slickest audio, eye-catching podcast artwork, or fun social media images, although all playing an important role, will only get you and your show so far. If you’re wanting your podcast to be one that continually grows it’s listener base and consistently hits high download numbers, it’s your content you need to put the focus on.
But how exactly do you ensure that valuable content reigns supreme? And furthermore, how do you make sure that you’re consistently putting out that top-notch quality?
You keep reading! We’ve sharing nine strategies focused not only on helping you up your content game, but helping you do this consistently.
So let’s get right to it…
1. Start With a Schedule
Consistency, unfortunately, does not just happen. By definition, it’s deliberate. It’s planned. So, in order to consistently create valuable podcast content, it follows that the first step is to have a plan! It’s an age-old phenomenon – if we don’t make time for something, it simply does not get done. Content creation for your show is no different. To make sure you get to do all you set out to achieve, you need to make some schedules, and then you need to stick to them!
First up, create a schedule for content deadlines. This is when you want your content to be ready for recording. But you’re not done yet! You should also break down this deadline into a few mini-deadlines by drawing up a schedule for the steps involved in creating the content itself. It’s all good and well to plan for when you want your episode content to be ready by, but that often leaves us perpetually chasing deadlines. However, if you set aside consistent time to create your content, you’ll find that by the time the deadline rolls around, you’re all done and ready to hit “record” on another great episode.
Do you need a little help when it comes to boosting your productivity levels? We do too! That’s why we created this post sharing our Top 10 Work From Home Productivity Tips. Check it out and you’ll be creating valuable content for the long haul!
2. Thoroughly Understand Your Topic
You need to understand the depth, and breadth, and height of your topic if you’re going to create killer content. This boils down to really understanding what is at the heart of your show. You need to know your subject inside and out, backwards and forwards in order to create content that is valuable to your listeners.
Being well-versed in your topic and establishing yourself as an authority puts you in a fantastic position to create content that is highly valuable, completely unique, and just down-right interesting. You’ll also be able to deliver all this in a way that is confident and engaging – a sure-fire way to keep your listeners tuning into your show episode after episode.
Related read: 8 Strategies to Build Authority in Your Podcast Niche
3. Know Your Crowd
A tip that goes hand-in-hand with knowing your topic intricately is an in-depth understanding of your listeners. Knowing your crowd thoroughly allows you to then create content that directly appeals to their preferences, wants, and needs. This then ensures that you’ve put your show in the perfect position to satisfy those needs. Your content will be the source that they turn to for whatever it is they are looking for. But this can only happen if you have an intimate knowledge of your audience.
In order to create meaningful, valuable content, you need to know who you’re creating that content for. You can gain this information by determining demographics as they relate to your audience, such as the age groups they belong to, the activities they enjoy, the beliefs they hold, or even their motivating forces. Besides the demographics, you should also aim to find out what makes your audience tick, what makes them feel alive, and what are they passionate about? You can then tailor your show to be the answer by creating content that will meet their needs.
4. Keep the Focus on Your Audience
Here’s a little ego buster…Great content has very little to do with you. Ouch! But all this actually means is that really great content keeps the focus on your audience. You are the creator of the content, yes, but the content cannot and should not be about you.
Listeners do not respond well to a self-focused host and will very quickly take their ears elsewhere. With this in mind, when you are creating content, always keep your focus on the needs of your audience, and on using your content to meet their needs. Think about how what you have to share will benefit your listeners and then use this as your driving force for consistently creating a shared experience between you and your audience.
5. Focus on Feedback
Knowing your audience and having an idea of what they’re after is one thing, but actually knowing what they want is even better! Knowing what your audience is looking for is vital to help you keep creating valuable content! When you know what your listeners are looking for, it will make it that much easier to deliver it!
Feedback from your audience is therefore something you should pay attention to. Check out your ratings and reviews on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or sites like Podchaser to see what your audience is saying about your show, what they’re loving, and even what they’d like to see change. Provide opportunities for your audience to share their thoughts with you. Either via comments on your blog posts, or provide an email address which they can use to reach out to you. Then use this feedback to help you keep creating valuable content catering to the needs of your audience.
Related read: 7 Strategies For Dealing With Negative Podcast Reviews
6. Repurpose Your Content
One key strategy when it comes to consistently putting out valuable content is to learn how to repurpose your content. You put a lot of time and effort into crafting podcast episodes full of the valuable information your audience is hungry for, now make that content work for you by getting clever with repurposing.
For example, running a blog alongside your podcast can do wonders for your SEO, but the time you take writing posts from scratch is time you’re not spending coming up with your next stellar podcast episode. However, if you take your episode transcripts, and work a little editing magic, you’ll have a fully-fledged blog post ready in no time.
You can also turn your top take-aways from your episodes into your social media posts, thus freeing up more time to keep creating knock-out episode content.
Related read: 6 Effective Ways To Repurpose Your Podcast Content
7. Create Consistently
The saying “Practice makes perfect,” could not be more apt when it comes to creating amazing content for your podcast. Practicing your content creation skills will also help you develop your voice – that thing that sets you and your show apart. Make time to practice the skills in your wheelhouse, as well as creating the space to learn new skills. Allow yourself the freedom to try new things and explore new ways of doing things.
We often become so concerned with “getting it right” that we stop our creative flow and don’t allow ourselves the freedom to try and even possibly fail. If this happens, all your efforts to do things right will actually end up being all wrong! If you’re creating consistently, however, you remove the pressure from yourself to get this one thing right, as you know that you’ll have an opportunity to try again tomorrow, and so the stigma and fear of failure are greatly lessened. Not to mention, practicing consistently will send your skill set through the roof!
When you’re setting up your weekly schedule, remember to include time for you just to flex your creative muscles. You don’t need to create a masterpiece each time. What is important is that you set designated time aside in your weekly schedule to flex your creative muscle, and then consistently showing up to do the work.
8. Enhance Your Skills
So you’re armed with all the knowledge of your topic and have heaps of insight into your audience, but creating great content requires more than that! You now have you to hone the skills you’ll use to transmit your content to your listeners. Great content will come to naught if it is not delivered expertly. To that end, you should strive to improve the skills you need to create an excellent podcast. This could include improving your writing, delivery, and even your editing skills.
Sites like Udemy and Skillshare have an abundance of courses on a variety of topics that could be useful to you and your podcast! They are easy to use, and most are really affordable, so there will definitely be something to suit your skill levels as well as your wallet!
Enhancing your podcasting skills can be likened to strengthening and conditioning your muscles. The more you do this, your body becomes stronger. You’re able to lift more weight, you can run further, and your body just moves with more strength and fluidity overall. The same is true when you enhance your podcasting skills. Your able to edit more efficiently and effectively, creating content becomes easier, and your overall creative stamina grows overall.
Related read: How To Improve Your Podcast Creative Writing Skills
9. Fight Fatigue
The biggest enemy of consistency is fatigue. As soon as we’re tired, worn out, or burnt out, all of those good habits start slipping. We start skipping workouts, we pick “easy” over “healthy” when it comes to meals, and, when it comes to our podcasts, we pick “easy” over “amazing”! And that’s never a good thing!
So, in order to consistently create amazing podcast content that’s completely saturated in value, you need strategies to help you fight fatigue. You know your own triggers best, but some simple ways you can do this is to firstly make sure you’re getting enough sleep each night. Sure, a few late nights are all part of what it takes to create a great podcast, but don’t let these late nights become your norm.
You could also look at trying out some self-care practices to help keep your mind refreshed, or you could even pick some podcasts specifically created to help keep you calm and mentally strong.
Related read: Self-Care Tips To Help You And Your Podcast
Closing Thoughts
All the bells and whistles, fancy equipment, and even an impressive social media following cannot save a podcast that severely lacks any form of valuable content. Good content will never go out of style, and it truly wears the proverbial crown.
And in terms of your podcast, consistently creating valuable content catered to your audience is of utmost importance to ensure your show’s success.
But this is often easier said than done! And that’s why this post exists! To arm you with nine strategies to not only assist you in creating that oh-so valuable content, but also to give you the tools you need to do so consistently. Put these into practice, and you’ll have one amazing podcast on your hands for many moons to come!
