13 Things To Keep In Mind To Make Sure You Aren't Making Another Boring Podcast

So you also want to start a podcast? Welcome to the club. Here is what you can do to make sure it isn't boring...

Sure, podcast are the latest hottest thing. But please make sure you aren't just putting more dull content out there. Here are 13 ideas to help make your podcast as professional and as engaging as possible.

Just Ask

Book Great Guests — My motto is “just ask.” What’s the worst that can happen? They don’t respond or they say no. Move on to the next. I network whenever I’m out at events, and I network virtually all the time — via email, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. I will, oftentimes, reach out to people who I’ve been following on social media for a while and who I think would be a great fit, and then I simply reach out. I also stay up to date on happenings surrounding the people I want to interview. For example, one person who came on is a musician and I checked his tour schedule, found out when he’d be in my city, and then I reached out to his publicist. It benefited them, too, as it was publicity for his gig. - Julie Lauren

Background Noise

Just be intelligent about what you’re talking about. Try not to lose listeners because your show is poorly done. Simple things like background noise can make a big difference. Pay attention to the details. - Gary Leland

Many Times

Promote your podcast launch many times within a short timeframe. Share compelling video snippets across other platforms and promote your podcast hard in a short space of time, as high podcast placement in the podcast charts (which increases the podcast’s exposure, and thereby attracts listeners) is based on velocity at which downloads, subscriptions and reviews are received. The algorithm also weighs week on week growth heavily, so your first podcast will enter the charts at its highest position because the benchmark starts at zero. - Oliver Yonchev

Professionals

Professionally Produce: There are so many components to having a successful show. We’ve really benefited from using professionals to produce and edit the show. This allows us to focus on what we believe are the highest value activities — getting great guests and prepping for incredible interviews. - Dustin Mathews

Networking events

Booking great guests comes from two major sources: networking and reaching out. I am constantly attending networking events around town but I don’t always stick within the industry. After all, it can be more difficult to stand out among a group of identical peers. Outside of events, I extend electronic invitations (via e-mail or social media) to potential Guests. Anticipate getting a lot of rejection when building a reputation. For every great Guest I get, there were 20 more who turned me down. Keep an open mind about where interactions can dovetail. Your current guest may be the key to your next. - Phil Machi

Survey

When you’ve grown an audience, look at the demographics of your followers on social media and send out a survey to ask questions about your listeners. This information will be vital to understanding who your listeners are and what interests them. Use that information to do research into finding appropriate sponsors. It takes a fair amount of leg work, but it pays off. Also, listen to other podcasts that are like yours and pay attention to who is sponsoring those and reach out to them. Knowing who your community is will help you better understand what ads will be right for them. - Jill Grunenwald and Adam Sockel

Ask 10 times

Create a wish list of who would be a great guest, send them a DM with a request to be on your podcast, call them, call their agent and team, don’t give up keep messaging, emailing, calling or texting. You may have to ask 10 times, don’t quit. Let them know the theme, who the target audience is, and how they can add value to them. - Ben Anderson

Swaps

One of the best ways to increase listeners is to do podcast swaps with like-minded podcasts. This helps cross-pollinate audiences and introduces you to new listeners in a meaningful and strategic way. We were guests on Chatty Broads and spoke about mental health since Scout lives with bipolar disorder. We were able to connect so deeply with their audience and developed new relationships with new listeners. - Scout Sobel & Mady Maio

Thought provoking questions

When it comes to encouraging engagement from your audience it is important to ask thought provoking questions, have guests on that your audience can relate to or guests that they might be interested in, ask some questions you think your audience would have themselves when listening to the episode, tell them to connect on social media and finally, promote your podcast on social media. All of the above tactics will help you create engagement and buzz! For example, one of the segments I have on my podcast is “book of the week” and “app of the week”, where the guest provides a recommendation for each. People will often have thoughts on the recommendation whether it is that they love it or that they will check it out. - Bradley Thompson

Editing

Editing is absolutely critical. This is time consuming, and we outsource it to a professional. This makes our podcast much, much more listenable. We also have a fun intro (dramatic music, with a custom “in a time and place, when you can work from anywhere…” intro that tells the listener what the ep is about, as well as an “ear snack” outro that includes a funny outtake from the episode). - Kari DePhillips

Avoid Imposter Syndrome

People are more accessible than you think. Take an interest in who they are and what they do. If they’re not available, that’s about schedules. They’re not in another stratosphere. Don’t take it personally. Be persistent. Your possibility pipeline should be vast. Reflect on the people you want to talk with and learn from. Your audience probably wants to hear these conversations, too. Get over the doubts. Keep reaching out, person to person. Come from the energy of your belief that you can do it. And you will. It’s ok to not always be aligned. Take a step back from imposter syndrome and get back into your own flow. I’m not Malcom Gladwell. I don’t have to be. Aiming for that will always feel like a failure. I can learn from him. I can aim for my truth and I can succeed. One way to help people say yes is to talk about what the value might be to them in participating in your podcast. For example, my guest Judy Ringer was able to promote her book on my podcast. And I was able to be inspired by her and learn from her. - Tom Rosenak

Short Content

To increase both listeners and engagement, keep your content short and carefully produced. Also, try going out on the street and asking people questions. In journalism, we call this MOS *man on the street) tape. When people hear the voices of other people answering questions, they are more likely to respond themselves. For example, when we were doing an interview about vaccines, I interviewed an expert, but also took my recorder outside and did short interviews with lots of people I met outside the grocery store. I edited those responses into the interview. It really created aural interest and got other people to feel they were missing out on a broader conversation, so they called in and emailed. - Celeste Headlee

Be Yourself

There is much to consider before even purchasing equipment. Decide your audience, where you want to broadcast, the type of guests you will have, and how often you will broadcast. Get the equipment and learn to use the technical side of podcasting. If you are not tech savvy, partner with professionals who are.

Decide the best platform for your show and how to reach your audience. Consider if you will want to add a video element. While I started with audio, it was important to me to also add video.

Most of all, be yourself! - Steve Grillo