Podcast Your Way Through The Unknown

It’s not surprising that podcasters new and established want the best. But when they embark on successful paths blazed by others, they’re often disappointed with their own results.

January 20, 2021

Article

Are you staying too safe with your podcasting efforts? As we—both as individual podcasters and as the podcasting industry—mature and grow it's quite natural that we, the podcasters making the content, want more.

We want to be in a different state than the one we currently occupy, ideally occupying a more advanced state. Perhaps you want to seriously embark on a growth plan for your podcast. Maybe you want to change up your format drastically. Or start a brand new show. You could even make a commitment to yourself to double-down and recommit to the craft of podcasting.

None of those state-changes is guaranteed to work out in your favor. And if you’ve never taken such actions before, you probably don’t know where to start. So you stick with known entities, mitigating your risk and assuaging your fears. Why blaze your own trail when so many other successful podcasters have done the same thing you want to do? Why not just copy what they did? It’ll all work out, right?

Well…

Popping Big Podcasing Bubbles

Having a big-name guest on your podcast—if your episodes feature guests—will not make your podcast popular. It might make that episode more popular than some of your others, especially if you make it easy for the guest to share. Oh, and make an episode worthy of their effort to share.

Starting a Tiktok, Instagram, or even Clubhouse account for your podcast will not make your podcast popular. Those may be the hot social properties today, but that doesn't mean your show is going to be popular on them.

If you follow the formula laid out by a podcasting superstar—a formula they swear they swear by—there’s no guarantee it will make your show popular. Yes, I know you spent your hard-earned cash on that course. And I know thousands of other ardent fans of that superstar podcaster also bought the same course. But sunk costs don’t care about your feelings.

Yes, you can buy the same mic I use, or buy the same audio interface I use to connect it to my computer. Many podcasters big and small use those or similar pieces of kit. And while it might make your audio quality better, it might not. And more to the point: New gear is not going to make your show popular.

What does? Many factors working in conjunction, many of which are difficult—if not impossible—to replicate. For every successful combination, there countless other combinations in place by other successful podcasters and podcasting teams. Combinations that are unknown to other podcasters and podcasting teams. So why not embrace the unknown just a bit?

Try out that social media platform that you're personally excited about. Grab that microphone you haven't used in a long time and get to know how your voice sounds on it. Stop measuring your guests by the size of their audience and instead bring on people you find interesting who you can have great conversations with.

Slaying Silly Superlatives

Do you want to know the best way to promote a podcast? There isn't one. There's no such thing as the best way to promote a podcast. There are lots of ways to promote a, and they all work to varying degrees.

Are you looking for the best podcast media hosting company? They don't exist. There are lots of fine podcast media hosting companies out there, and they all work for at least some of the podcasters relying on that infrastructure.

Looking for the best source for sound effects and music to use in your episodes? Once again, no single source is the best. There are many good places—some popular, some less so—that provide music and other audio elements to podcasters. And each of them has its adherents and its detractors.

Claiming anything as “the best” presumes comprehensive knowledge about all options. And that’s just not possible. Maintaining the mantle of “the best” requires reevaluation each time a new contender enters the space. Another impossible feat.

The podcasting ecosystem is always in flux, with new ideas and entrants coming to the stage—and exiting the stage—with increasing frequency. There is much we don’t know simply because it is impossible to know all things. So rather than sticking with what’s safe, sometimes we should embrace the unknown.

Podcasting Is Risky, And That’s OK

The funny thing about the risk vs reward payoff is that it’s true. No, I’m not saying every risk you take automatically comes with a reward. The truth I speak of is that reward is rarely seen without risk. How big of a reward? How big of a risk? That’s debatable. Or unknowable, I’d wager.

There’s only so much risk-mitigation you can do. Sometimes, podcasters need to take risks and just do what feels right. So do what feels right to you. Because the unique combination you bring to the table just may pay off.

Please don’t take this as your excuse to do foolish things. I’m a fan of best practices because there are many best practices. It’s not best practice, singular. That’s just silly. Best practices help you navigate trodden ground, showing you exactly where the traps are. They don’t tell you which way to go, but they do clearly say “don’t step here!”

Where and how you step is up to you, regardless of what paths others took. To stick with this tortured metaphor a bit longer, maybe you have an idea to build a bridge over a trap. Go for it!. Just because others haven’t tried it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Especially if it feels right to you.

There’s still a lot of unknowns out there in the podcasting world. Embrace it! Use best practices to help you easily avoid making dumb mistakes, but leave plenty of room for you to explore the unknown portions of the landscape. The only way to make a remarkable podcast that is uniquely yours is to, at least sometimes, embrace the unknown and find new ways forward.

If you like the things I said today and want to give me a little bit of support, great! BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra is where you can do that. (There are lots of services podcasters use to solicit direct support from their audience. All of them work for someone, just like BMAC works for me.)

And if you know a podcaster struggling with the unknown or who perhaps isn't taking their podcasting quite as seriously as you wish they would, send them this episode of Podcast Pontifications. Perhaps this is just the spark they need.

I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Cheers!

Transcript

[Download & share this transcript]

It's not surprising that podcasters new and established want the best, but when they embark on successful paths blazed by others, they're often disappointed with their own results.
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Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.
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Are you staying too safe with your podcast? As we mature and we grow as an industry, I don't mean us individuals, although sure that too, but as the industry grows and matures, it's quite natural that we, the podcasters making the content, want more.
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We want to do something different. We want to move from where we're at right now to somewhere else. And moving states is oftentimes rather scary. I don't mean U.S. States. I mean states of being, right?
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So like growing your show. Or changing your format. Or starting a brand new show, maybe. Perhaps just doubling down and recommitting yourself to the craft of podcasting.
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So there's lots you can do. Lots you don't know about. So you should stick with known entities before making these changes, right? Or when making these changes. Well, maybe, but I'm here to counsel and offer a contrarian opinion that says perhaps no. Perhaps it isn't all about the known entities here.
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Because here's a reality that many have found out - big-name guests will not make your show popular. I mean they can. They certainly can help boost your audience, especially if it is set up in a way for them to easily share your content and they want to share your content, but having a great big-name guest on isn't necessarily going to be the thing that makes your show popular. In fact, I would posit to you that if that's what you're relying on? Not going to happen.
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If you start a TikTok because everyone's on TikTok, or you finally get on Instagram because that's where the things are right now, or maybe a brand new Clubhouse, and go talk about your podcasting that's not a guaranteed path to making it popular.
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I know those platforms are popular. That doesn't mean your show is going to be popular on them. If you follow the formulas laid out by some podcasting superstar that's not guaranteed to make your show popular. Yes, I know it worked for them. And yes, I know you spent a lot of money on that course, but that doesn't necessarily mean it works for you.
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And I know lots of people bought that course, but still, it doesn't mean it's going to work for you. If you buy the same mic I have, or you buy the same audio interface I have, or you buy any other tech that some big podcasting superstar recommends that's not going to make your show popular. It's not.
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I mean, what does make your show popular? Well, lots of different things. Lots of different things that work in conjunction. Lots of things that each podcaster or podcasting team does collectively is what makes a show popular.
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So if there's no guarantee that following those rules are going to make it popular, why not embrace the unknown a little bit? You don't - why not try to do something on a social media platform that you're excited about? Why not try that microphone that's been sitting in the corner that you haven't actually used in a long time? Why not bring people on you find interesting and can have good conversations with, and don't worry so much about the size of their following?
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Embrace the unknown. You know what the best way to promote a podcast is? There isn't one. There's no such thing as the best way to promote a podcast. Who's the best podcast media host? Doesn't exist. There are lots of great podcasting media hosts out there.
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Where's the best source for sound effects and music, other things you can use in your program? Doesn't exist. And the reality is, the reason it doesn't exist is because there are lots of good places, but there are places I don't know about. There are great places other people don't know about.
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We're making new things in the podcasting space. We don't know the things we don't know. So we should embrace the unknown. We should take risks and do what feels right to us as podcasters. Do what feels right to you.
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Now having said all of that high and mighty pie in the sky stuff, of course you should not ignore best practices. Don't do that because we have plenty of trodden ground out there that shows you exactly where the traps are. Don't fall into them.
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So don't just blindly stumble around. But at the same time, you don't have to follow the same paths. Those are good paths to go, but there are lots of ground you might see, which has not yet been covered.
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Or maybe, to stick with this tortured metaphor, maybe you have an idea to build a bridge over that trap. Go for it. Why not? We didn't try it. We tried something else. When we were doing it it was all unknown. It's still a lot unknown out there. Embrace the unknown.
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Best practices are good to be aware of so you don't do dumb things, but they will leave room for lots of exploration on your own. Explore the unknown. The only way you're going to get through this and make something that is yours, that is uniquely yours, that is remarkable is if you are out there embracing the unknown and finding new ways forward.
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I want to listen to that.
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Now if you like the things I said today, you want to give me a little bit of support, great. Buymeacoffee.com/evoterra. Lots of ways you can get people to support your show. That's just one. I happen to like buymeacoffee.com. So buy me a coffee.com/evoterra.
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And please tell one other podcaster you know, or someone maybe thinking about a podcast, ideally, somebody who is podcasting, but maybe isn't taking it quite as seriously as they should. Send them this episode of Podcast Pontifications and say, here's a way forward that you may not have thought of that will be helpful.
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Now that's it. So I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.
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Cheers!

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