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You don't have to think of promoting your podcast as this task that you have to check off. Instead, I want you to think of it as a way of just strengthening relationships with your audience, because at the end of the day, podcasting is about connecting with people. That's why you're doing it in the first place, right? This is the show for creative entrepreneurs who have a message to share and want to live a life of freedom. Learn how to grow your network and net worth. hear from exciting guests and more. My name is Dylan Schmidt and welcome to Digital Podcaster. Welcome to today's show. I'm your host Dylan Schmidt and I'm going to be covering ways to make sure your podcast is impactful and interesting. As a podcast host, it's our responsibility to make sure that our show resonates with our listeners. I meet a lot of podcasters who feel lost and like they're talking in the void. And what seems to end up happening is that is that they eventually stop their show because they don't see growth. A lot of times we think of growth as more downloads, more followers, and more money. But one of the first places we can see growth is how big of an impact our message is making on somebody. Now, I understand there are a lot of different types of podcasts out there. If you had a real estate podcast, for example, you might be thinking to yourself, I'm just trying to sell houses. I'm not sure about what impact I'm making on someone. That's the thing though. No matter what category of podcast you're in, you can make an impact. And it's the impact that's going to make your show spread like wildfire. The more we can zero in on the impact you're making, the more interesting your show will be and we'll start to see a compounding effect. So with that being said, let's dive into seven ways you can make sure your podcast is impactful and interesting. Number one is knowing who you're talking to. Broadcasting is an intimate form of communication and while you're broadcasting on the internet, you're really talking to one person. So when you're crafting your show, it's important to know who it's for and sometimes it's more helpful to know who it's not for. This is how you can tailor your episode content and structure your show. An example I like to use is if you had a podcast for entrepreneurs but you didn't really think about that and you made your episodes two hours long. I don't know about you, but I know a lot of entrepreneurs and I don't know a single one of them that has time to listen to a two hour episode, let alone consistently. By knowing who you're talking to you can communicate more effectively. In the case of episode length for entrepreneurs, you need to get your message across clear and quick. Number two is setting clear goals. You could publish a few podcast episodes and call it a day, but how big of an impact would you have? Not much, right? To make a lasting impact, you need to be in this game for a long enough time to win. And that comes down to setting clear goals. Similar to number one, setting clear goals leads back to your why. Why are you podcasting? What is your clear goal with having a show? When I first speak with podcasters, a majority of them I speak with don't know why they're doing it or they have a hard time articulating why it is that they're doing what they're doing. They say it's a fun thing to do. They say that it's just something they've always wanted to do. They say that they're just doing it and they don't know where to lead to, but they just want to keep doing it because it's fun. The problem with this is that when things in life start to get busy, your podcast will fall apart quickly. If you don't have a clear goal, a clear direction, a clear north star to move towards, it's going to be really hard and unlikely that you'll keep it going. By setting clear goals, you're giving yourself something to strive towards. And in the process of setting and achieving those goals, you're going to be helping your audience move towards their goals as well. That's when things like impact start to really come into play. Number three is developing a unique voice. So something that's been on my mind a lot lately is how effortless great podcasters make it look or should I say sound. For example, if you turn on any NPR podcast or radio show, they just sound so natural. It's almost like they just came out of their moms with this radio voice with the perfect pacing and vocal tone. They got it all. Or look at someone else like Joe Rogan who has recorded thousands of hours and is a professional entertainer and has been for so many years. The bottom line is that it's easy to forget that people we listen to have been doing it for so many years and have spent a lot of time developing their unique voice. Speaking for myself, I know it's easy to get into comparison mode thinking about how I sound and wondering why I don't sound as natural as others. But the reality is, developing a unique voice for podcasting just takes time. I like to look at it like this, podcasting is different than other forms of content. With a 30 second video for social media, I can edit all the graphics around you that support your message and what you want to say. I could cut out all the dead air in between your words and create a nice flow for the audience, but podcasting is different. Podcasting requires you to be yourself. And it takes a lot of time sitting in front of the microphone to get comfortable and find your own unique voice. It requires you to be yourself and talk like a human would. It forces you to use your voice to express yourself in ways that other forms of content just don't. Podcasting gives you the opportunity for people to really get to know you in what you do. The good news about this, though, is when done properly and with enough time, you can really develop a voice that stands out and resonates with your listeners. Number four is choosing relevant topics. When I first started Digital Podcaster on Instagram, I would do free podcast audits where I'd have podcasters submit their show information and I would go through and highlight strengths and weaknesses that I found in their episodes. One of the recurring themes that I would see was podcasters being too broad with their topics. There's a time to be narrow and a time to be broad and it's important to narrow in on topics that are relevant and interesting to your audience. Because if you get too broad, it's really hard to focus the show and feature guests who can provide value and talk about interesting topics. Podcasts can be incredibly fun, but if you want your show to be impactful and interesting, I suggest every episode have structure and purpose. Part of that process should include choosing the right topics. Just because it's interesting to you does not mean that it will always be interesting to your audience. For example, here on Digital Podcaster, I'm talking about podcasting. I have interests outside of podcasting, but I don't really talk about them here unless they fit into what I'm sharing with you. I've really been into playing Microsoft Flight Simulator lately. Some people find that incredibly boring. It's been fun for me. I find the slow pace of the game really relaxing and a nice way to unwind. Nowhere else in Digital Podcaster will you hear me talk about anything related to flight simulators. It's not that I don't like talking about it, it's just that I know you're here to learn more about podcasting and grow as a podcast host. That's why choosing the right topics for your show should happen in the planning stages of your podcast. If you plan to have guests on, make sure those conversations are relevant and interesting to your audience. Your guests could be a nice way to start to broaden out your podcast topics and bring in different perspectives. But but I've been a guest on other podcasts that I could tell didn't have a clear focus or really any of the things that they were talking about were cohesive. And it was just clear to me that they lacked a dedicated audience based on the topics that they were bringing up. As a listener and a guest, I'd rather a podcast be too narrow and interesting around one specific topic than too broad and boring. Number five is edit effectively. There's two extremes of podcast editing. There are podcasters who edit so much that it sounds like a TikTok video with no dead space in between their words. And there are podcasters who don't even edit, they just upload the raw recording. I'm not going to go into editing techniques here, but I do want to share with you that regardless of which side of the editing spectrum you lean towards, your speaking technique as a podcast host is really what's going to dictate your editing. For example, most beginner podcasters throw in a lot of filler words with their speech. like "um", "uh", "I guess", "you know", "like", words like that. More experienced podcasters will reduce the number of filler words they use. So whether you're editing out the filler words or certain parts of your podcast or you're doing it live, your speaking technique as a podcast host will determine the amount of editing that you're going to do. That's also why I suggest thinking through what kind of show you want to have. How do you want it to come across and work on developing your voice as a podcast host because you can start to self edit your voice as you go and be more intentional about the words you use. A book that dives into this whole speech technique is a book called "Pitch Perfect" by the author Bill McGowan. Bill is a media coach and the book talks about how to overcome common communication pitfalls. One of the points in the book that stood out to me was what Bill calls the backspace button presser. And this is a way of talking. That's people who try to talk like they type, meaning while they're talking, They try to get it perfect, so they'll kill the momentum of a story because they're constantly going back to fill in details that are completely unnecessary and the audience just doesn't need. I recommend reading Pitch Perfect if you want to improve your speaking skills and ultimately reduce the time you have to spend editing. It will really pay off in the end. Even though I try to pack as much value as I can inside these short podcast episodes, the reality is sometimes it only takes 20 seconds or less to get the message across. That's why I'm posting quick, bite-sized, helpful tips and strategies just for podcasters every week on Instagram and TikTok. My usernames there are just like the podcast, it's @digitalpodcaster. Follow Digital Podcaster and learn specific beginner tips as well as more advanced automation techniques and everything in between. When you follow me @digitalpodcaster, make sure to send me a quick DM saying "Hi, I'd love to meet you." Thank you and let's dive back into the episode. Number six is promoting your podcast. So a lot of podcasters think of just their episode content, but when it comes to promotion, if you're taking a listener focused approach, I want you to think about where your listener is spending their time. It's not just spent listening to your podcast, right? So an effective way you can promote your show is just creating conversations where your audience is already hanging out. That looks like LinkedIn, if that's the place where your people are, you could post relevant topics that start conversations there. It could be Twitter, it might be YouTube videos or creating content on other platforms that that brings your audience back to your podcast. It's about being active and present where your audience is already hanging out and they're not just hanging out listening to your podcast. You don't have to think of promoting your podcast as this task that you have to check off. Instead, I want you to think of it as a way of just strengthening relationships with your audience and people that aren't even aware or in your sphere of your podcast yet. 'Cause at the end of the day, podcasting is about connecting with people. That's why you're doing it in the first place, right? So lead with building relationships and the promotion part of it will come completely natural. Your conversations as you build relationships with people will likely already touch on subjects that you've covered in your podcast and it's an easy way to direct people back to your show. Number seven is continuously improving. Tony Robbins has an acronym that he uses to remind people of the importance of improvement and it's always stuck with me. The acronym is CANI, Constant and Never-Ending Improvement. As a podcast host, you should always be looking for ways to make your podcast better, more engaging and more entertaining. The way that I approach this can I attitude with clients is by creating an open dialogue with the hosts and listeners. My assumption is that a lot of hosts are kind of freaked out by the idea of feedback, but the reality is we need it to grow. And if we have a mindset that we're always gonna be growing and never really finished, we're just always a work in progress, then it's easier to hear feedback, not take it personal and think, how can I use this if I can to improve my podcast? So if you're looking for ways to make your podcast better, create an open dialogue with your listeners, get their honest opinion and feedback, and you don't have to incorporate every piece that you hear. You don't have to listen to everybody, but it is crucial in the beginning to know that your message is being heard and that you're doing something that's resonating with your listener. Once you have a good understanding of your podcast's core message, then it becomes easier to make small tweaks here and there, or experiment with new approaches. This is what Tony Robbins calls the compounding effect, and that's where little things done over time result in big changes. So podcasting is definitely a long game, and if you're committed to the craft, then know that the rewards will come with time and effort. All right, I threw a lot out there, so let's do a quick little recap before we go. Number one was know who you're talking to. Your words have an effect, so make sure you know who you want them to reach. Number two was set clear goals, Knowing where you're headed is just as important as who you're talking to. Number three was develop your unique voice. There's no other podcaster out there with the exact same style and content as you, so I want you to lean into your own uniqueness. Number four was choose relevant topics. In the beginning, it's better to be too narrow while still being interesting than being too broad and boring. Number five was edit effectively. Whether you edit out every filler word or leave some for flavor, Make sure you stay consistent and only include what adds value. Number six was be active in conversation. I want you to reframe promoting your podcast to creating conversations that will naturally lead back to your show. Number seven was constant and never ending improvement. The mark of a true expert is someone who is always learning and growing. That's what I got for you today. I hope you found this informative and helpful. I continue to be honored that you let me be a part of your podcasting journey. I don't take that for granted. We're on this path together. So for that, thank you. Keep going and I'll talk to you in the next episode.