Like podcasts? You’re not alone.
There are roughly 4 million podcasts published right now, and the number shoots up every year. Podcasts are among the most popular media on earth. Shows like Crime Junkie, The Joe Rogan Experience and Call Her Daddy draw huge online crowds. And podcasting is big business too, with revenue expected to hit $4 billion in 2024.
A lot of businesses are considering getting into the podcast game if they’re not already. You might be one of them. But the market is crowded, and it gets more crowded every year.
Don’t let that deter you. Most of these shows aren’t that successful; you can distinguish yourself by being intentional about your content.
Here’s how to create an engaging podcast for your niche.
Connect With Your Audience
We’ve talked a lot about connecting with your audience; it’s one of the most important factors in marketing success. There are three major ways you can connect with your audience. Start with:
- Yourself. Are you part of the audience you want to reach? You already have an idea of who your audience is and what they like. Plenty of podcast showrunners got their start because they were creating content they themselves would have liked.
- Your community. If you have an established business already, consult your best clients. If you have advocates in your space or friends who know your business, tap into them too. They know your community.
- Your data. The best marketers use both data and anecdotal evidence to make decisions. If you already have an established business, you can use your first-party data to look for audience insights. Look at your competitors too; figure out what you can replicate and what should be done differently.
Use these sources to define who your audience is and what kind of content they want. Whatever the outcome here, you need to make sure what you publish is both authentic and authoritative; no one will listen otherwise.
Once you’ve defined who you’re talking to and how to connect with them, you need to make sure they stay interested. That’s where our next point comes in …
Provide Value for Your Audience
Every piece of content you put out (including podcasts) asks for people’s attention.
Are you giving them value for their time?
To build a podcast that people are interested in, you need to make sure people get value out of the time they’ve invested. There are a number of ways you can provide value:
- Experience: Do you have inside knowledge of a field? Many former sports players and CEOs have turned this into podcast material. That knowledge sets you apart from the average joe and creates interest.
- Connections: If you’ve fostered some strong relationships with people who will come on your podcast, that can catapult you to relevance rapidly. It doesn’t have to be general celebrities — just people that are relevant in your field. Bobbi Althoff (The Really Good Podcast) used this to build clout overnight.
- Humor: You don’t have to be a comedian to succeed with a humorous approach — Chapo Trap House and other niche podcasts have a humor-first approach to fields like politics.
- Unique information: Shows like Hot Ones or The Joe Rogan Experience succeed because of the clips with new stories and information from their interviews that get shared on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Reddit.
- Personality: If people like the person running the show, they’ll tune in even if the content isn’t as strong as the competitors.. Greg Titian, who runs the How to Drink channel on YouTube, has built several podcasts around the brand that have nothing to do with his original cocktail channel because people like him.
- Perspective: Have a valued opinion on something? People will listen to what you have to say. The Needle Drop (music), Trash Taste (anime) and Giant Bomb (video games) all offer a unique perspective on their fields and have built audiences around it.
You have to provide at least one of these types of value for your audience — and your audience has to recognize it’s valuable. Give your audience AS MUCH value — if not more — than you get back. Their time and attention is valuable, or you wouldn’t be going after it.
Make Your Podcasts Work
To create an engaging podcast for your niche, you have to think about the listener first.
Define your audience and provide value. It’s a simple idea, but that equation has to balance, and many brands miss the mark. You can’t be a selfish content creator. Need a hand building content that appeals and provides value to your audience? We’re here to help. Just drop us a line, anytime.
Best Regards,
David Brandon
Copywriter
Rainmaker Digital Services