Podcasting is a great way to connect with your audience and make them feel like they’re part of something. Use these 10 tips to help you grow a loyal following that will stick with you forever.
1. Know your audience
The more you know your audience, the better you can make them love you. So here’s what to do:
- Know who they are. What are their demographics? Age group? Gender? Where do they live? What are their interests? What are their values? Do they have any pain points that could be solved with a product or service of yours? What questions do they ask about the things that interest them most (and which ones don’t get answered)? How does this compare with previous audiences—is there something new happening in your industry, or some shift in how people want to interact with it?
- Know their goals and dreams. What’s driving them forward at this stage of life—what’s keeping them up at night worrying about how things will turn out for themselves and for others around them? You might be tempted to focus on what motivates customers right now, but keep in mind that there may be some shifts ahead; if so, make sure those shifts align with where your target demographic is headed as well!
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2. Consistency is the most important thing you can do for your audience
Consistency is the most important thing you can do for your audience, and it’s what they will expect. It’s also what will make or break your podcast. Think of consistency like a few things:
- A promise that you’ll always be there for them
- A promise that they’ll always get quality content from your show (and not just one episode every three months)
- A promise that their favourite episodes won’t be buried on a random day
3. Make sure you’re there for the audience
You are what they want, and people want to hear from you. Make sure that when they see your name, they know that you’re there for them. That means being consistent with your content schedule and keeping the same tone throughout all of your shows.
Don’t be afraid to talk about yourself! Your audience will love hearing about how silly you were as a kid or how much time goes into creating each episode. They want to learn more about you so they can get to know who they are listening to on their commute home from work or during their morning run in the park (if that is where you record). And don’t forget: sharing little anecdotes from your life makes it easier for listeners who might not otherwise relate find common ground with you (and possibly even relate!).
Finally—and most importantly—don’t be afraid of failure! Whether it was something funny that happened at work last week or failed project from years ago, share those things with the world because it lets others know that we are all human and make mistakes sometimes but still have fun doing what we do anyway
4. Know who you are as a person
- Know what you want to say about yourself
- Know what you want your audience to think about you
- Know what you want your audience to feel about you
- Know what you want your audience to do about you
- Know what you want your audience to buy from you
5. Focus on the length of time that works for your audience
A good rule of thumb is to keep your podcast between 20 and 60 minutes long. It may sound like a lot for many people, but it’s really not that long when you think about it—after all, most people listen to music at least once a day for 30 minutes or more. A podcast is similar in that sense; if you’re listening to a podcast on your commute, then you’re looking for something entertaining and informative. You want something that lasts long enough for the ride but doesn’t drag on too much so that you lose interest midway through your commute.
The same goes with other common situations where people listen to podcasts: while doing chores around the house (such as cleaning up after dinner), while exercising outside, while driving somewhere new instead of taking directions from Google Maps (this one’s more popular in countries where GPS isn’t very reliable). All these scenarios require different amounts of time depending on what else is going on in your life; if there’s just one thing going wrong with this list right now I’d say “keep these tips in mind” but no matter how many things are going wrong I’d still say “don’t worry about making the perfect length yet.”
6. Don’t analyse the data too much
You should never let the data tell you what to do. It’s tempting to just start making changes based on your analytics, but that’s not a wise idea. The data can inform your decisions and give you an idea of how people are interacting with your podcast and where they might be dropping off, but it won’t tell you all the answers.
The key here is balance: use your analytics as one tool among many when deciding on how best to grow and improve as a podcaster. Don’t put too much stock in any given metric because there are so many factors affecting each one (like device used for listening).
Check out this article on 10 tips on How to brand your podcast for more sales in your business.
7. Be authentic, but remember what you’re trying to achieve
Authenticity is a powerful tool. And it’s even more effective when you couple it with self-awareness and good intentions.
People are drawn to others who are being real, so don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through while recording or live streaming. They need to know that you really care about what they have to say, and this is the best way for them to see that in action. If you can show them how much you care by getting excited about their story or by sharing some vulnerability on camera—and I mean REALLY vulnerable (think: crying) —that will go a long way towards connecting with your audience in person, via video chat or virtual reality headset (if we ever get there). This has been proven time and again: People respond well when someone lets them see who they really are inside their headspace as opposed to hiding behind a facade of professionalism all day long every day at work or school.”
8. Pick topics that will make your listeners come back again and again
It’s not enough to just be interesting. Your podcast should also be useful, and that means picking topics that will make your listeners want to come back again and again. This is why it’s so important to choose a topic or niche that you know well and can talk about with authority.
If the topic isn’t relevant for your audience, then they won’t care about it—and if they don’t care about what you have to say on that particular subject, then there’s no point in making an episode about it! So pick something relevant for them (but not too close). In other words: Don’t make a podcast on waterfowl hunting if most of your listeners are hikers or backpackers. Instead, choose another subject like camping tips or cooking over an open fire instead of hunting game animals with guns (or bows).
9. Use these 4 tips to make your podcast part of your customers’ everyday lives.
- Make your podcast interesting: If your audience doesn’t want to listen to what you have to say, they won’t.
- Make it useful: If you can teach people something of value and make it entertaining, then they’ll keep listening.
- Be consistent: Show up every week with the same cadence and tone as always—it will help keep listeners engaged in what you have to say if they know that things are going according to plan (and maybe even look forward).
- Be on all platforms: Your listeners should be able to listen wherever they want! Get onto iTunes, Spotify and Stitcher Radio or wherever else people are getting their podcasts today (if not yet) so that everyone who wants access can get it
10. Listen to this podcast on making your audience love you
We stop ourselves from creating a podcast because we don’t know what to make. We don’t know what will make our audience love us. We struggle to link all the amazing things we’ve done into a podcast concept for a certain audience. All this leads to us creating just another generic podcast that everyone else has made before. 
Well, until now. Because if this is where you are at right now, then this episode is just made for you.
- Learn how to activate a Facebook group of people that want to hear from you
- Understand how to produce weekly content without stressing about what to create
- Learn to make your podcast punchy & relevant
- Take a deeper look at how to create content specific for your specific audience
- I answer a question about where to find your audience for your podcast
- Rethink your podcast creation by first speaking your truth
- Understand how a product where people buy from you is so important for a podcaster
- Hear us talk about trust and how to create a podcast that builds trust
- Learn how the foundations of creating a business for transformation
- Think differently about how normalise the secret fears of your audience
- We talk in-depth about credibility and how to make a podcast for your audience so that they love who you are, and the mission you are on.
Conclusion
Hopefully we’ve given you some ideas about how to make your podcast extra appealing to new listeners. Podcasting is a relatively new medium, so there aren’t very many hard-and-fast rules. It’s still important to be mindful of what makes good storytelling and communication in general, but the truth is that your audience will give you feedback—and even if it isn’t always positive, it’s valuable. The best way to understand the people who listen to you is simply by asking them! And when you know what they want, and deliver on that, they are bound to love what you do next time around.
At We Are Podcast we specialise in getting small business owners out of the daily grind and into building a business that can scale — all from a podcast.
Our proven tactics, templates, and trainings will give you:
- More listeners
- New clients, and
- A lot of credibility.
The best part? We guarantee results.
But, we can tell you want a win right now — and we’ve got you. After working with thousands of business owners, we’ve put this document together to reveal the 10 biggest mistakes they make with their podcast. You can get that here.