052: Interview or Solo Episode? Choosing the Best One for You
Everybody loves a good interview. But is it the right format for your podcast? And is it right for your business and phase of life?
In this episode, I’m sharing some common formats for business based podcasts and why they may or may not work for you. You’ll hear about my own decision to cut back on interviews and how you can make your solo episodes impactful. It’s all about setting yourself up for success so you can grow your podcast and your business.
What’s in this Episode
Why Interviews aren’t always the answer
My current phase of life and what episode format works for me
How solo episodes can be impactful
The mindset shift you need to make about podcast download numbers
How the wrong format can make consistency difficult
Why choosing something that works for you is important
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051: How to Revive Your Podcast After a Break
030: Reframing "Monetizing" Your Podcast
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There is no right, perfect, amazing format for every podcast, I think you have to kind of find your own way and find what works best for you, and you have to keep your ideal client listener in mind when you're making these decisions. But you also really have to make sure that it works for you and works for your life. And that's really, really key because we want to make sure that we are setting you up for success. Welcome to the Wild Home Podcast, where we talk about podcasting life and all the wild in between. Join me, Caroline. Every week I share a peek into the world of podcasting and my wild life as well. Ready? Let's get into it.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Wild Home Podcast. This week, I wanted to kind of go off of Episode 51, which was all about how to come back from a break and talk about how you know what format is the right format for you and for your podcast. I think that a lot of times we kind of get this idea in our heads of what our podcast should be. It should be an hour-long interview with some amazing guests. It's going to bring in lots of traffic. And a lot of times that isn't necessarily the right move for you personally or for your podcast. And in Episode 51, I talked about coming back from a break and how it's really, really important to set your podcast up for success. That way you can remain consistent moving forward, especially when you're coming back from a break. You've been on a break for a while, or maybe you're rethinking how you do your podcast because things in your life have changed. And it's really important to kind of take into account what format is going to work best for me and my life, but is also going to be impactful for my business. And so let's dive into this topic today. And as always, if you have any questions after the show, I would love it if you would hit me up on Instagram at @Wildhomepodcasting. You can DM me there or you can send me an email hello@wildhomepodcasting.com.
Let's start with interviews. Everybody loves a good interview. And a lot of new podcasters will come to me and they're like, Oh, I want to do interviews because I want to have on all these guests, which is going to drive all this traffic to my podcast. And sometimes that's true, sometimes it's not necessarily true. It really depends on, you know, if the person is going to share and how much they're going to share about the podcast episode. And that's a whole other topic for another day. But here's the thing: When you're doing interviews, the key is really to ask yourself, is this going to benefit my audience and how can I tie this back into what I do as a business owner? And I think this is where people kind of get hung up because they will just start booking interviews because they're really excited to grow their podcast and to grow their listenership. And they forget that, you know, we want to make sure that the podcast is working for you and for your business. And so it's not necessarily an avenue for other people to come on and promote their work and their products unless it matches what you do and coordinates and works well and makes sense for your listeners. And here's the other thing, too. So on one side of the coin, we have to make sure that interviews make sense for you, for your business, for your podcast. If you're using it as a piece of your marketing strategy. We don't want to just be doing random interviews. We want to make sure that there is a method to our madness. Right. We want to make sure that it makes sense for us that it's driving the right people to us, that it's something that makes sense for your business. And it's kind of like coordinating, like a best friend to your business, like a, you know, something that kind of ties in. Right.
But we also want to make sure that we have time in our life for interviews. And if with your current schedule, you are unable to do interviews all the time, and trying to set those up and record those is going to be difficult. And we definitely don't want to do that because the minute that you introduce something that's super difficult for you to accomplish, to finish, to do, that's the minute that we start forgetting to do it or skipping a week or, you know, those kinds of things start to happen and pop up. And so you really need to ask yourself, do I have time for interviews? Is this going to make sense for me right now? I'll be 100 percent completely honest. I'll just let you in on a little bit of what my life looks like right now. So I am still homeschooling my kiddos and also running my business and running my home. And this year it's a lot harder than last year. I mean, I don't know why, but. Well, I do know why. I'll explain. It is like it, but it is exponentially harder this year. So I think there are a lot of reasons why. One of them is that I have a toddler, a one year old. She's adorable. She's starting to walk, but she definitely keeps us on our toes and keeps us busier. And I also have a 10-year-old who's not that far from turning eleven and a seven-year-old who's turning eight in like two months. And their schoolwork has gotten harder this year. And so it's taking us a lot longer to get through it. And so I have to be really, really intentional about my time because I can't push off their education. Right. I mean, we can maybe take a break one day or take a break another day. But, you know, I can't do that every day. And so for me, scheduling interviews right now just doesn't. It Makes a ton of sense, I do want to do interviews this season. It's only going to be a few and I'm going to have to really think about when I'm going to schedule those and how I'm going to work it into my schedule. But I have to be really intentional with my time, which means I have to be really intentional about those interviews that I choose to do. And so that's kind of an example of really thinking through if it makes sense for you and for your business. And a lot of times, you know, we forget that our personal life ties into our business life. And if we've got a lot of things going on, we have to kind of make sure that we're doing everything efficiently and with intentionality. And sometimes an interview just doesn't fit into that unless you can do a quick interview. But if you're like me the minute you are on the phone with somebody or are on call, you're like, let's talk for five hours because I haven't seen a person in forever. So as you know, I love doing interviews. I love the connection. I love what it can do for your podcast. And, you know, one of the ways that we suggest that people grow their podcast is to be on other podcasts and do interviews. And so it's hard when you do have a schedule like mine that is completely packed and leaves me only a little bit of time to do these kinds of things, which is why I am recording this episode in the early wee hours of the morning on a weekday, because this is when I had a moment and had some time to do it. So, you know, there is a little story on how to make that work for you and make sure that it's working not just for your business, but for your life.
Let's say you're listening to this and you're relating to me and you're like, yeah, interviews are really hard for me right now. They're not as accessible as I wish they could be. I don't know how to fit them into my schedule, but I want to make sure that my podcast is impactful. And what a lot of times what people forget is how impactful solo episodes can be. So one of the reasons why a lot of podcasters don't want to do all solo episodes is they're worried about download numbers. And what I love about solo episodes is that it really gives you a chance to show what you know, to build that authority, to share your knowledge. And also you can work it around your schedule, like I said. So right now, again, it's like the wee hours of the morning, everybody is asleep and I'm able to record a podcast episode. This works really well for me and I'm able to share topics that I think are important. And I'm able to in a way, it's like a teaching platform for me to be able to teach here on the podcast and share. But here's the thing. I think that we need to really think about and not get caught up in, and that is that when we talk about download numbers, especially when you're using a podcast to build authority and to grow your business, when we talk about those numbers, we want to make sure those numbers are also reflecting our ideal client. Right. These are people that we want to pull in to hopefully work with one day. And so we don't want to be chasing arbitrary download numbers. What we want to be doing is creating connections and making sure that we are creating impactful content that is attracting the right kind of listener for our business. This is a very different mindset from just having a podcast and trying to get to a million downloads right now.
Here's the thing that I have seen working with many clients over the last five years is if you have a podcast and you are creating impactful content, you are going to grow. The podcast is going to grow. You're going to attract the right kinds of listeners and you're going to see your download numbers go up. And so it is a long game, especially, I think, when you are only doing solo episodes, but you also have to know that it's going to be impactful. So let me give you an example. I have only been doing solos since I had my baby because it's just been way too difficult with the pandemic and everything else going on to have child care and to be in a position where I can schedule interviews and do a whole bunch of interviews. So I've been doing solo episodes. I did them all last season. I'm starting this season with them as well. And I mean, I'll be completely honest with you guys. I'm not like rolling around in download numbers here. And where I see the impact of this is when I'm speaking to people online on Instagram or when I have meetings with potential clients. They always bring up this podcast. People listen to the podcast. It may not be millions of people, but it's hundreds of the right people. And that's how I know it's working, because the people that are coming into my inbox and into my DMs are telling me that they listen to the podcast. In fact, I got a message today on Facebook from somebody who listens to the podcast. And so when we're measuring impact and we're measuring, OK, is this working for me? Is this working for my business? We need to remember to measure those kinds of things and not necessarily focus so much on the download numbers, and don't get me wrong, if you're down, the numbers are not going up. If they're only going down and there's a whole nother issue. But I think it's really, really important to reframe that. And I have a whole podcast episode on this, which I will link in the show notes about kind of reframing how we think about growth and downloads and that kind of thing.
So let's go back to format. So I want to really encourage you again, this is kind of building off of Episode 51. So if you have not listened to Episode fifty-one, I encourage you to go do that because it's all about coming back from a break and making sure that we're setting ourselves up for success, creating a system in which we can be consistent. Right. We want to make sure that we're not creating an environment where it's going to be hard for us to continue podcasting and we're going to want to stop or like I said, skip a few weeks, that kind of thing, because it is important to be consistent. I did retract my statement on Batch record, and so doing these solos allows me to not have to batch record because they don't have a lot of time to do that anymore. And I know I'll have time again one day it will happen. But right now this is just my phase of life. And so I need to make sure that I do what works for me. So how can you if you're not going to be doing interviews, let's say you're not going to be doing interviews, you're going to be doing solos, and you want to make sure that your solo episodes are really, really impactful, that they are working for you.
Let's just talk about a couple of things that I want you to think about to make sure that your solo episodes are working for you. I want you to make sure that you have a clear outline of what you're going to talk about. So I don't necessarily write out my episodes completely. I like to riff a little bit. I like to talk. I like to move my arms around a lot when I'm speaking into the microphone. I should video myself one day because, I mean, it's like it's very animated. But I do have some key points I want to hit and this helps me kind of stay on track. So we want to make sure that we're staying on track and that the episode is impactful.
Another thing we don't need to worry so much about length. So it can be 10 minutes and it can be super impactful. It can be 20 minutes, it can be 30 minutes and be super impactful. The point of it is to make sure that, again, your content is very clear. I like to fill it with action items. Right. So we want to make sure that people walk away with something that they can do, something that they can implement or something that they can really, really think about. The other thing is, is making sure that you're really in tune to what your ideal listener, customer or client is needing to hear right now. So what is something that you've been seeing people talk about online? What are some things that people are bringing up in your community where your questions are being asked? It's one thing to sit down and just record whatever you want, but if you're recording kind of very timely episodes of things that you're hearing people talk about a lot, then it's really, really going to make a difference. It's going to draw in more people, but it's also going to stick with them longer, right. They're going to remember that episode. The other thing I really want to encourage you to do is to think about your show, note your title, things like that. Make sure those have key words. They've got a striking title, something that will grab attention. If you're doing it yourself, look at some other kind of blog posts and podcast episodes, see how they're titled. And if you're able to, this might be a really good place to outsource something. That way you can make sure that you're able to use those notes to your advantage and to also work SEO and all those kinds of things.
So I just want to wrap up this episode by saying that, you know, there is no right. Perfect, amazing format for every podcast. I think you have to kind of find your own way and find what works best for you. And you have to keep your ideal client listener in mind when you're making these decisions. But you also really have to make sure that it works for you and works for your life. And that's really, really key, because, again, we want to make sure that we are setting you up for success because longevity this is a long game, consistency, those kinds of things are really, really important in growing your podcast, growing your audience and having it work for your business and be a major player in your marketing strategy and building authority. So I hope this episode helped. Originally, when I was thinking about this episode, I was going to title something about interviews don't necessarily have to be for you. And that's what I really wanted you to take away from this episode, is that if the season of life does not permit you the opportunity to do interviews, I don't want you to stress about it too much and focus on creating really, really impactful solos.
So I have something pretty exciting to let you know about at Wild Home Podcast. We are an agency that supports online business owners and entrepreneurs who are using a podcast as part of their marketing strategy. We do this through a launch service, podcast management, monthly podcast management. And now I'm super. Excited to announce that we have a new package, which is called the podcast refresh. So this is for current podcasters who already have a podcast. And maybe you've been delaying or just outsourcing the editing, but you really want to get a second set of eyes on your podcasts so that you can grow. This is all about growth and it includes an audit. It includes a refresh of your intro, outro and trailer. It includes updates to your copy of your description, making sure that your share notes are set up properly. And then, of course, we take a look at everything and make sure that it is working for you. Look at the strategy behind your podcast, your episodes, that kind of thing. If you would be interested in doing this. We have some spots available for September and also we are booking for October. So head to wildhomepodcasting.com/services and we would love to help you refresh your podcast and give it new life so that way you can continue to grow it and have it be an amazing part of your marketing strategy for your business. Again, that's wildhomepodcasting.com/services. And if you have any questions at all, you can just email me hello@wildhomepodcasting.com and I will be here next week with a brand new episode. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for listening to the podcast today in the Know head to wildhomepodcasting.com and be sure to connect with me on Instagram @wildhomepodcasting. See you next week.
