Special Series: The Power of a Podcast Refresh and Audit
If you've been podcasting for a while, you might feel that your podcast could use a little makeover to realign with your evolving business goals. Today, I'll share insights into why and when a refresh might be necessary, along with a behind-the-scenes look at a successful refresh and audit and the amazing results that followed.
Refreshing your podcast isn't just about aesthetics; it's about ensuring your content continues to engage and convert your audience effectively as your business grows. Whether it’s tweaking your intro music, revamping your cover art, or overhauling your content strategy, every element should resonate with your brand and the goals you aim to achieve. Join me as we dive deep into the process of giving your podcast a facelift, ensuring it remains a vital part of your business strategy.
Grab the FREE Strategic Podcast Performance Review Checklist here: http://wildhomepodcasting.com/audit
The Signs You Need a Podcast Refresh
Every podcast reaches a point where changes are necessary to maintain or increase its effectiveness. You might notice a plateau in listener engagement, outdated content, or a misalignment between your podcast and your evolving business strategy. Here are key indicators that it’s time for a refresh:
Stagnant or declining listener numbers despite quality content
Shifts in your business focus or audience
Feedback from listeners suggesting a need for different content or format
The desire to incorporate new technologies or trends in podcasting
Behind the Scenes: A Successful Podcast Refresh Case Study
Refreshing a podcast can be as simple as updating your intro music and graphics or as involved as rebranding and overhauling your entire content strategy. Let’s look at a case study of a client whose podcast underwent a comprehensive refresh. This client saw a remarkable increase in engagement and conversions by realigning the podcast’s content with her current business objectives, such as focusing more on why her services are essential rather than how they work. This section will cover what was changed, why these elements were chosen, and the impact they had on the podcast’s success.
Strategic Tips for Refreshing Your Podcast
Refreshing your podcast should be a thoughtful process that aligns with your broader business goals. Here are some strategic tips to guide you:
Audit Your Current Content: Understand what works and what doesn’t. Look at your most and least popular episodes to determine topics that resonate with your audience.
Define Clear Objectives: Set specific, measurable goals for what you want your podcast to achieve. Whether it’s increasing subscriber numbers, boosting engagement, or supporting a product launch, your objectives should guide your refresh strategy.
Engage Your Audience: Involve your listeners in the refresh process. Use surveys, social media polls, and direct feedback to gather insights on their preferences and expectations.
Update Your Branding: Ensure your podcast’s visual and audio elements reflect your current branding. This may involve new cover art, updated music, or a revamped podcast intro and outro that better speaks to your audience.
A well-executed podcast refresh can reinvigorate your content, attract new listeners, and deepen engagement with your existing audience. It’s not just about aesthetics; it’s about making your podcast a more effective tool for achieving your business goals. As we move into the busier fall season, take this opportunity to evaluate and refresh your podcast. Your listeners—and your business—will thank you for it.
Are you ready to give your podcast the refresh it needs but not sure where to start? Download our comprehensive Podcast Performance Review Checklist at wildhomepodcasting.com/audit, or contact us for a personalized podcast refresh!
The Transcript for Podcast Your Business:
188: Special Series: The Power of a Podcast Refresh and Audit
[00:00:00] If you've been podcasting for a while, you may hit a point where you're like, I think my podcast needs a little bit of a makeover. And that's exactly what a podcast refresh is. And so in today's episode, and then continuation of our series on getting your podcast ready before the fall, I'm going to talk all about why you may need to refresh your podcast.
[00:00:20] And I'm going to give you a little inside peek into a refresh that we did with a client and helped her with and what the results have been. So let's dig in.
[00:00:28]
[00:00:28] [00:01:00] Hello, everyone. And welcome back to share strategize and shine. I have been on a little bit of a summer break and I so, so appreciate everyone's patience with me. I was not anticipating. Taking a break. At all until the end of July. And life just got nuts and I needed a moment or two or three or four or five.
[00:01:33] And, all that to say, like, I wish I could tell you that I have been spending my summer on the beach. On an island. Uh, quiet the opposite. My husband started a new job right before this summer. And he finished training right before this summer. So we knew that we were going to be here. For most of the summer for all of the summer. And so we've been doing things like we got a pool for the backyard.
[00:01:57] We've been redoing our backyard. [00:02:00] Which if you follow me on Instagram, you've seen me talk a little bit about the backyard project. We've. Added another kitten to our lives and yeah, just been doing things like that, but it's interesting because you always think, oh, this summer I'm going to be so chill.
[00:02:16] I'm going to have so much free time. I'm going to get so much work done. It has actually been the opposite. I have been, you know, trying to get all the doctor's appointments in all the follow-ups and the phone calls and, you know, that's like a full-time job. Top of that. I have just thrown myself into planning my homeschool year. And I want to talk about this for just a quick second, because I think a lot of times during the summer, You know, we can feel like, oh, I'm not being productive.
[00:02:48] I'm not doing anything useful. One of my goals for Q3 was. That I really wanted my homeschool and my business lives to mesh better. 'cause I always feel like they're at [00:03:00] odds with each other. If you're a homeschool mom, And you work from home. You understand this because your time is very much. Always filled with something like you're either working with your kids or playing with your kids or you're working on your business and doing calls and, you know, there's no in between.
[00:03:18] And I just felt like last year it was a lot of. Feeling scattered and feeling like, oh my gosh, I don't even know what I'm doing other than surviving. And I didn't want to do that. Going into this next school year, we start school in just a couple of weeks. And one of my clients, her name is Pam Barnhill.
[00:03:36] And if you are a homeschooler and you do not follow her, I highly highly recommend, and she has a planning course called pitcher. At your homeschool on autopilot. And I have been doing that course. And so, although I haven't been working on my business. 'cause I've been doing that course. It's been laying a lot of the foundations for. How the rest of Q3 and Q4 and Q1 and Q2 are going to go for [00:04:00] me. And that course has been so eyeopening to not just what I need to fix in my business schedule, but like our daily lives. We spend a lot of time running around.
[00:04:12] I want to Nick some of that. So it's been so, so impactful. I will put the link for that in the show notes, because if you're a homeschooler. You need to take this planning course because it has been life-changing and it led me to finally figuring out a calendar system that works for me, which I'm so excited about. Um, almost too excited about, to be honest, but like, You know, when your calendar isn't working, it's, it's awful.
[00:04:38] So, so excited about that. And so I just wanted to give you a little update about what I've been working on the last couple of weeks while I haven't been podcasting. And I'm super excited to dive into today's topic.
[00:04:52] So we are continuing my summer series on getting your podcast ready for the fall. And I just want to reiterate real [00:05:00] quick, why this is such a good time to be working on your podcasts. And one of the main reasons is when we get into the fall, we start to see an uptick in downloads, downloads or listens because people are coming back from the summer, they're ready to dive into work and do whatever they're working on in their lives. They're looking for solutions for the problem is we also see the same thing happen after new years, right?
[00:05:25] Because people make resolutions. They're like, oh, this is going to be my year. They start looking for the podcasts that are going to help them solve those problems. And we see that in the fall. And so. While I do encourage my clients to slow down a little bit during the summer because Lord knows we all need a break.
[00:05:41] I am a very good example of that. It's also because it is a quiet time of really great time to work on the fundamentals of your podcast. And taking a step back and saying, okay, Do I need. To do an audit. Is this aligned with my business goals. Maybe [00:06:00] I need to refresh some things. And that's exactly what we're going to talk about today is. A podcast refresh what that might look like and why you may want to do that. So in the past two episodes, we have talked about. If we need to align your podcast with your business goals and what that looks like.
[00:06:20] And that is a really important step in making sure that your.
[00:06:25] Podcast is actually working for your business. In a way that is meaningful. And then before that we talked about. Why you need to think about refreshing your podcast and doing an audit. But I wanted to today take you behind the scenes of what a successful podcast refreshed looks like.
[00:06:44] So we're not just refreshing for the sake of refreshing. Like, that's not what's happening here. We don't want to just like go into our podcast and start changing things. Willy nilly. We want to really come at this with a strategic viewpoint. And [00:07:00] one of the best places to start is with an audit and going through and looking at, okay, what do I actually need to update to refresh?
[00:07:08] I love that word refresh because it just feels so good. Today I was working on an email for my list and a Instagram post in a while I was working on it. I came up with the idea that it was like giving your podcast and make-over. And how good you feel like when you go and you got new makeup or you get a new hairstyle and it kind of, usually we do these things. As people, , or a new shirt, a new pair of pants who knows whatever, you know, new shoes, whatever the thing is that gets you, you know, makes you feel good about yourself.
[00:07:38] Um, for me, it's a new frame for my glasses. So sometimes we'll do that as we enter a new season, a new phase of our lives. Maybe we're starting a new job, you know, I think the same could be said for your podcast. It's it's a really good thing. When you are evaluating and tweaking, maybe your branding, your messaging. [00:08:00] Oh, we need to do this with a podcast as well.
[00:08:03] And so that's a really good moment to say, like, okay, I need to think about a podcast refresh. Is when you are evolving, because we always want to make sure that our podcast evolves with us. And that it is supporting those goals that we have. There are couple things when we do an audit that we look at specifically. So that may be something as simple as cover art description, intro outro, but then we may also look at okay. Is the podcast getting the reach that it needs to be getting.
[00:08:34] What can we tweak to increase that reach? In addition, we might also look at processes and the audio, the format of the content, you know, how is all of this working together for the bigger picture? I think a lot of times people get overwhelmed when they hear me talk about, is everything working together for the bigger picture.
[00:08:56] And it's really not as complicated as it [00:09:00] sounds. When, you know what the purpose and the goal of your podcast is, then it's really easy to look at your description and say, is this serving my purpose and goal? Because if it's not, then we know that needs to be tweaked. One of the best things you can do. As you're refreshing your podcast is to go back. And look through. Your analytics and see, okay. What has worked up into this point? What hasn't. What kind of feedback am I getting from my listeners? What are they enjoying hearing? What are they enjoying, receiving from me through the podcast? And those are also really important things to incorporate. So I want to talk for a minute about a couple of specific examples. So I had a client and she knew that she wanted a full podcast refreshed.
[00:09:52] Like it was time for a complete overhaul. She was moving into a new phase of her messaging. And her podcast up until that [00:10:00] point. Was pretty separate from the new direction that she was going in with her business. So she knew it was going to need a major. Overhaul.
[00:10:09] So the first thing we looked at or what ultimately was her goal for her business. What did she want to happen? And the very first thing she said was, well, I want to get more clients into my one-on-one programs, but I'm also opening up a membership.
[00:10:25] Okay. So what can we set up to make sure that when it's time to promote that membership? This all makes sense. Now for her because the podcast was , making such a huge transition. It did mean. Like changing the subtitle. So we kept the title because it's so her, but we didn't need to change up the subtitle.
[00:10:46] It meant changing the cover art. Completely rewriting the description, rerecording her intro, outro trailer, and even getting new music to go with those. So this is like a complete refresh, [00:11:00] right? So this is like basically taking everything. And giving it a makeover. One of the other pieces that is so important to this is also content strategy. And now this isn't necessarily something that you get with just an audit. But a lot of times, what you can do personally for your own podcast is take a look at your content. And say, you know, is my content speaking to my ideal audience to help me achieve my goal and purpose. Now with her podcast in particular, we completely overhauled her content strategy. So this meant, like not only changing the topic, but actually coming up with like a full, complete picture. Of something different. For her podcast content. While also incorporating things that she loves, like doing a few interviews a month. But really honing in on those solo episodes and making them more. Impactful. Basically we started with an audit.
[00:11:58] We decided what [00:12:00] needed to be tweaked and changed and refreshed. We went through, did I make over of her podcast and of her content strategy? And so what was the end results of all of this? I'm actually going to read to you her own words, because I think it's really important to hear from the person who experienced it. While I can sit here and say, oh, it was amazing. Uh, first of all, I will say that her podcast now is so much more on brand. For what she's doing and how she shows up.
[00:12:29] And I think that's one of my favorite things about her refresh. And that's one of the things that we work on. Is really making sure that the podcast is like, Matches your energy in what you're doing. But this is so cool. So she said after we did this. That her PI tasks filing feels like her, right. And I think that's really important because as we evolve and change, As business owners, like I know for me, Giving my podcast, a refresh when I've been making some big shifts in my business. [00:13:00] Has been just so energizing. She said that it is attracting her dream boat clients. And that she is blown away with the results in a short amount of time. And the thing I think that really I want to drive home here is we were not chasing downloads with her refresh.
[00:13:20] We were chasing leads and clients. So while her podcast is growing. And she is actively trying to grow her podcast. At the same time, her podcast is still converting for her. I think a lot of times when people start a podcast, they think they have to have tons of downloads before they can see any actual results.
[00:13:41] Well, what results are you trying to actually see? Because if your results are to get more leads and clients, you can do that with fewer downloads while you're growing your podcasts. You don't have to wait till you have 200, 300, 400, 500, a thousand downloads per episode. To see those results, you can see [00:14:00] those results before then. And that really is because when you have a truly aligned podcast that matches your brand matches who you are and really speaks to your ideal client. The people who go to listen to your podcast are going to be so nurtured.
[00:14:14] They're going to connect with you. And they're going to be so excited to take that next step. So I want to share one more example of a small refresh. I'm just done from an audit. So when you do an audit with me, you just are basically getting some quick, simple, actionable items that you can apply to your podcast. Now, so things that can happen. Fairly quickly for you.
[00:14:41] We're not overhauling. We're not doing new cover art. I mean, I may suggest like, Hey, you might want to think about doing this with your cover art. You might want to think about those with their description. Right. But the point of an audit is quick, actionable things. And one of my clients, she came to me.
[00:14:56] She has already a successful business. Already [00:15:00] has a podcast with great messaging. But she's still struggling to have it actually work for her. So in her audit, we really focused on okay. What can we change today? And that's exactly what I told her. Like what can we change today? That's going to have an impact because she didn't need new cover art. She didn't need, you know, new music. She possibly might have needed a new outro, but she didn't need a whole refresh.
[00:15:27] She had a light refresh. A little maker where some new earrings, some new glasses, I don't know. Um, And the results , for her was that she was getting more leads, she's ranking higher, and the charts on apple, on the podcast apps. And that has made a huge difference in how the podcast is working for her.
[00:15:48] And if she's getting found by new people. So I wanted to share those two stories for you, with you, because I wanted you to understand that like, Doing a refresh, taking the time to go through [00:16:00] it , and thinking about, okay, what can I enhance and optimize? So my podcast is ready for the fall. Is so, so, so important. And if you're wanting to know how your podcast is doing, if you're listening to this and you're like, okay, I hear you, Caroline, but I'm not even sure. If my podcast is doing well or not, well, or what I want it to do. I highly recommend going and downloading my performance review checklist.
[00:16:28] You can head to wild home podcasting.com/audit. And a little pop-up will appear, and that is the performance review checklist. And that's a really good place to start to think about what you might need to tweak and change to get your podcasts ready for the fall for the end of Q3, beginning of Q4, because. Let me tell you, if you can take some time here at the end of the summer to make a few changes and tweaks, it can make a huge impact for your podcast and for your business in the fall.
[00:16:59] So don't [00:17:00] skip out on this. Don't skip out on auditing and seeing if your. Podcast needs a little bit of a refresh and definitely make time for this and these last few weeks of the summer, because it'll be so worth your while. And of course, if you have any questions about this, you can hit me up on Instagram at wild home podcasting, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week.
