At the beginning of last year I made a commitment to launching my own podcast after co-hosting a local radio show for a few years.
It’s been 4 months since launch and I have 6 reflections with some insights and lessons learned which may be helpful if you are considering launching a podcast in the future!
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1.Keep the big picture in mind
From inception, I knew having an overarching theme for the podcast would really help to shape interesting topics and conversations. Rather than just invite people on to talk about their business, I wanted each episode to be hinged on the theme of ‘words that change lives.’
This has led to some juicy conversations like ‘Who Do We Give Voice To?’ with the fantastic Danusia Malina-Durben, the AI VS Humans debate with John Spencer Williams and solo episode sound bites like ‘Direct Words for Direct Wins: Strategies for Getting What you Want.’
It’s also helped me to continuously evaluate and refine the topics I want to discuss and has helped me secure some fabulous guests who specialise in different areas of communication. Watch this space for upcoming episodes!
2.Listen back regularly
You know when you’ve posted something on social media and you read it and reread it a few times? I’ve done that with the podcast too!
Listening back to each episode a number of times has not only helped me to improve my own delivery (as podcasting is a different beast to presenting or public speaking,) but it has also helped me understand from the listeners point of view what topics, conversations and questions give the best responses.
3.Continue to research and evolve
I’m just about to record episode 15, and in that short time I have been continuing to research and refine what I want the podcast to deliver. This has been quite an exciting process and it has been helped by keeping the big picture in mind and the overarching theme of the podcast. This has helped me to focus on specific topics and guests for future episodes and the types of discussions I want to have.
4.Find someone to be inspired by in the podcast space
During this process I’ve become a student again, learning the ropes of a new craft. And because of this, I’ve really enjoyed listening to a multitude of other podcasts hosts who are having thought shifting conversations. One person I am really inspired by is Chris Willimason who runs Modern Wisdom. I love his interview style and he is also an evolutionary psychology geek like me, so it’s been great to listen and gain inspiration.
5.Get clear on the models you want to work to
I’ve had quite a few messages and DMs asking how the podcast is doing and how it earns money.
This is a really important question to consider as there are a number of different strategies. My podcast strategy is lead generation. I am using it as an asset base to point my existing audience towards and to grow a new audience with.
I’m not looking to make primary income from the podcast right now (in ads and sponsorship.) So far I have signed 4 one to one clients for my premium package from the podcast alone. 2 of which were warm (already in my audience) and 2 who were completely new to my world. I am super chuffed with these results so far and feel like the podcast is doing what I set out to achieve! I do have future goals as the podcast grows, and will change the types of the leads I want to generate.
6.Get the right support to compliment your strengths
One thing I’m grateful for, is that from the outset I knew where my strengths lie and where they really don’t! I’m good at creation, ideas, topics and execution. I’m not so great at all the technical bits to get there.
Having the team at Winter Audio to help me launch the podcast has been invaluable. And now that we are launched and in a steady flow, they will continue to support the technical aspects, so I can focus on the conversations.
So if you are considering launching your own podcast, hopefully this has provided some insight! If you have any questions or want to know more, just contact me hello@helenpackham.com and ask away.
And if you’d like to listen, there’s a new episode released every other week on a Monday. Check it out wherever you listen to your podcasts by following this link.
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