WHAT’S THIS EPISODE ABOUT?
HOW TO BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR PODCAST
How to stay consistent? Why is consistency so important? We hear all of the time that “Consistency is Key!” But why is that? Why does consistency matter?
Well, it’s pretty simple…because your audience needs to know that you’re going to show up for them that way they can show up for you.
I’ve listened to many podcasts in their infancy and the ones that don’t make it a year later have something in common. They quit showing up consistently.
As a result, what do you think happened? Their listener base either got confused about what was going on and moved on. Or they just forgot about their podcast altogether.
I don’t want either of those things happening to you!
So, let me give you…
5 Ways to Stay Consistent with Your Podcast!
1. You have to COMMIT to the work!
I tell this to my students and clients all of the time when they’re just getting started. They need to COMMIT to their podcast before they do anything else. I’ll tell them,
“Don’t pick a day of the week to publish if you aren’t 100% committed to showing up on that day every single week.
Don’t commit to publishing every day if that’s not realistic for your schedule.
It’s better to create a realistic publishing schedule than to burn out because you overcommitted to your podcast.”
Take it from me, once you COMMIT to the work…you’ve already won half the battle!
2. Understand Your Why!
There are going to be days where you do not want to podcast. Either you don’t’ want to do the editing, you aren’t in the mood for an interview, you’re too tired to create marketing materials for your latest episodes, etc.
It’s a fact of life that there will be times in your life when you are faced with circumstances outside of your control. You have a sick kid. You had 3 interviews in a row cancel due to schedule conflicts. Your equipment stops working suddenly. You are hoarse from a cold. Your internet goes out because of construction down the road.
I feel like I’ve seen and experienced so many setbacks at this point.
But it’s at those times that you need to have a deeper reason to have a podcast than just to get more downloads. Or to have a popular podcast.
Why are you really doing this? Why are you committed to showing up every week?
And those aren’t questions anyone but YOU can answer. You have to understand your why. You have to have a deeper meaning tied to your podcast other than something that’s surface level.
But I’ll give you MY WHY to show you what this could look like.
I’m committed to showing up every week for my audience for a couple of reasons:
-
This A LOT of fun for me and the opportunities that have come to me in the last year wouldn’t have existed without podcasting.
-
I want to help people who have the EXACT SAME questions I did when I got started. I don’t want people feeling lost or dumb in any part of the podcast process.
-
I’m generally curious to see what other people create and the messages they are able to put out into the world through podcasting.
I’m sure you know that we recently opened Proffitt Podcasting my digital course for a few days and I’m totally blown away by the podcasts the students in there want to create. Someone has a podcast for nonprofit organizations. Another student has a podcast all about how to grow a beautiful edible landscape. And another podcaster aspires to help music teachers improve learning for kids in the classroom.
Y’all, I can’t quit on those people. What they have to share in the world is SO MUCH bigger than me! It’s bigger than all of us. And that’s what keeps me coming back every week to help people, just like you, start, launch, and market your podcast.
Okay, we’re going down an emotional rabbit holeI told myself we wouldn’t go down…but this is what I’m talking about. Know your why! Understand exactly why you’re creating this podcast!
Joined the Bootcamp Yet?
This is our FREE 5-day Podcast Video Series that walks you through the basics of podcasting!
3.PLAN AHEAD!
I’ll be the first to tell you that I have not always been a planner. For most of my childhood and teenage years and early twenties, I was kind of the fly by the seat of your pants kind of girl. I definitely didn’t plan out my weeks, my meals, my workouts, my hours spent in the day, or when I was going to go to the grocery store.
But having said that, I truly know both sides of the coin!
I’ve been in situations where I am just reactive to everything going on around me… And trust me, you feel like you are treading water!
I like I said a second ago, I just got finished with launching my digital course. and while I had planned everything for the launch for the past 3 months, I hadn’t worked in time in my schedule to keep creating content During lunch week.
So for the last few days, I have been pretty reactive and not as organized as I tried to be. the reason why I’m telling you this is because we aren’t ever going to be perfect! There will be times in your podcasting journey that you are super organized and you’re on track and everything falls smoothly into place!
But then there are other times when you have no idea yes you created content for the next week or if you remembered to schedule your last podcast episode.
The reason why I want you to plan ahead is that you can create so much more content if you are always ahead of the game!
4.Batch record and edit episodes!
This was a total game-changer for me! I talked many times about being reactive here on the podcast and I truly believe that watching content was the Saving Grace to me not totally burning out in the last 6 months!
I learned how to batch multiple episodes at once, record them all in one day, and edit them as time permitted in my schedule.
This relieves so much pressure off of you as a content creator. It gives you the ability to use your creative juices when they’re in their prime and stay focused in your zone of genius long enough to really produce some amazing content.
I don’t know about you, but my time is limited for me to dedicate to the podcast. I have three kids, thankfully they are all back in school! But I still struggle with finding time to record episodes in a quiet house! Batch outlining and batch recording have saved my life when it comes to staying consistent with this podcast!
If you haven’t tried it yet, I urge you to because it is a total game-changer!!
5. Keep margin in your schedule to keep up with your editorial calendar!
This kind of goes back to planning ahead, but I want you to make sure that you don’t overcommit yourself to too many things. Don’t say you’re going to do a Daily Show if that’s not realistic. Don’t try to do too many things if you’re just getting started.
I started with one episode a week for the first year of my podcast. The only reason why I do two episodes per week now is that the editing and marketing sides have been streamlined and I can get them done a lot faster than I could’ve in the beginning.
But I also am very stingy with my calendar! I don’t say yes to things I really don’t want to do personally and I always make sure that I have time in my calendar for the things that need to happen for the podcast. So prioritizing hacks for my podcast has helped me also create plenty of margin in my calendar to make everything happen!
Again, don’t over-commit yourself in any area of your life!
RECAP: Consistency is Key – How to Be Consistent with Your Podcast
- Have to commit to the work!
- Understand Your Why!
- Plan ahead!
- Batch Record & Edit Episodes!
- Keep enough margin in your schedule to keep up with your calendar!
Comments +