with our thanks to Creating Powerful Podcasts guest columnist, The Segue’s Brad Nolan.
The Biggest Hurdle
There is one hurdle I’ve seen over and over again in the transition back and forth between radio and podcasting. The mindset around audience sizes. On the radio, we turn on the microphone and there they are. Maybe you are battling their favorite song, or they are passively listening while in the drive through, but there they are. In podcasting, we hit publish and… CRICKETS!
This is really difficult for a lot of broadcasters to wrap their heads around. It’s true. Maybe we aren’t as good as we thought! MAYBE the audience chose the radio station, and you happened to be there. Damn that hurts.
These three things are now truth:
You have no audience.
You have no marketing.
No one cares about your content (yet)
You’re moving from BROADcasting to NARROWcasting. The same things won’t work when it comes to marketing and you won’t have other radio shows to tell people to listen to yours. Instead, you have to build those highways yourself.
Podcast listeners are better anyway
Here’s the beauty of this – the listeners are far more into you when you do get them. In my opinion, one podcast listener is worth 10+ radio listeners. Think about it. A podcast listener’s journey to you is much more complicated than hitting seek on a radio and landing on the song you’re talking after.
The podcast listener’s journey might look like this:
- Follow you on Twitter.
- Interact with none of your tweets
- Remember seeing your name somewhere
- Seeing your name in a podcast app of their choice
- Clicking play
- Liking it
- Missing a few episodes
- Clicking play again
- Subscribing
- Becoming an ACTUAL fan of your content
Look at all those steps! By the time someone subscribes to your podcast, they’ve climbed mountains to get there! So, treat them right.
These are not casual people! These are people who sought out your special brand of audio. Make sure they know how you feel about them. Encourage them to tell you what they love, but more importantly, what they don’t love. Converse with them. Engage with them on social media. Nurture their support with your attention.
Do all the things you wish you could have done on your radio show when you didn’t have enough time to get to all the callers.
Where radio pros shine with podcast listeners
You’re damn good at audio. This is your sexy advantage.
Take everything you know about audio (the mechanics, processing, show structure, soundscape) and use it to its full potential. And if you’re feeling weak in an area, take the time to learn it. It will take you half the time of a podcaster who hasn’t been on the radio or produced a segment before.
Three things you need to do with every episode:
- Stop and ask yourself if this is good enough for the radio (quality, volume, processing)
- Aircheck it. Send it to a radio friend and ask them for feedback.
- Listen to it all the way through (Don’t you even think about it. I know how it is. You’re busy, you know what you said… it’s fine… I’ve been there. Just the other day I sent out part of a syndicated radio show and missed one of the 7 dirty words. I was lazy. Don’t be lazy. Listen to it all the way through as a listener one last time)
I hope this issue was hard to read. It’s supposed to be! Remember, we are leaving our ego at the door on this segue to the world of podcasting. Be a word of mouth MACHINE and you’ll have that radio sized audience in no time.
*Used with permission and our thanks to Brad Nolan. You can contact Brad on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bradnolan or find more here: https://segue.beehiiv.com/p/wheres-your-audience
Brad Nolan shares advice for radio professionals looking to add podcast creation to their library of content. Master the mechanics and mindset of podcasting from the knowledge you already have.