113: Five Ways To Make Your Podcast Sustainable for Your Business
In this episode, I talk about five ways to make your podcast sustainable for the long term. It’s easy to fall into a podcast hamster wheel, working harder, and feeling tired. It’s understandable to want to be involved in every part of your business; I’ve been there, tried that. Getting involved with every part of your business is a one-way track to burn out, and find less joy in your work.
If you start a podcast, or you already have one, it might be time to re-evaluate how you are approaching your goals. If you want your podcast to be a long-term project with your business and you're not being strategic or intentional about what you're sharing on social media, or how you're sharing it, then all of your good ideas are not going to be sustainable long-term. WHen I talk about strategy, I’m thinking 3-6 months in advance.
What is Sustainability in Business?
We start businesses to succeed, have an income, create profit, and the ability to share our piece of genius with our communities. Sustainability is about the customer path, and where you see your products and ideas being used by customers. Do you have a clear plan in place? What does that look like? What details are you including- social media? Customer out-reach? Email momentum?
Here at Wild Home Podcasting, we usually like to plan 3 to 6 months out and then if anything comes up, we can definitely move episodes around. But why this is so great is because whenever I am recording, I can sit down and do multiple episodes at once, and having that plan makes the process a whole lot easier.
How To Avoid Burnout
Hiring help is a big part of what makes the work sustainable. It doesn’t have to be a full-time employee; it can be a service or a virtual assistant. Having help allows me to focus on the things that I'm better at, as well as freeing up my time and energy and space for the things that need to be done, such as sharing and promoting the episode. I cannot tell you how many times I will meet somebody who's working on a podcast and because the actual podcast takes up so much of their time, they don't spend any time on themselves or their planning.
So again, this goes along with planning your content way in advance, right? If I'm having to record and do all of the tasks to get my podcast out into the world, when I've got a million other things going on: client calls, client deliverables I need to be working on, and all the background work of running a business. If I have to do it all, then it's not going to be my best work. By hiring help, I am able to create something that I'm really proud of, something that feels really natural and easy and something that I can do long term.
What’s Next In Your Plan?
Now you have help and are planning ahead. You have a vision and a plan. What about your goals? Are they attainable? Are you thinking of the biggest number and hoping to achieve that, or are you looking at what kind of downloads are common in your niche? As we’ve discussed in episode 109, don’t let your download numbers be the measure of your success in the past, present or future of your business.
Which brings me to number five– which is to have fun with your podcast. It’s okay - and encouraged! - to have fun. Fun means you’re passionate about the topic, and you’re seeking creative ways to share what you know. It has to light you up! If it lights you up and that comes through in your episodes, that passion is going to help create a deeper impression of knowledge and trust with your potential clients and customers who are listening to your podcast.
If you’re ready to make your podcast more strategic, your marketing easier to produce, and your business more profitable, then join the waitlist for the Strategic Podcast Academy.
The Strategic Podcast Academy is here to help your podcast and your business work together to make your business more profitable and to free up more time for yourself. This monthly membership will cover topics such as Customer Path Planning, Content Planning for Sales, Podcast SEO, Creating Connection with Your Listeners, Social Media, Email Marketing for Your Podcast, PR for Podcasters and so much more! The doors open in May, and you’re not going to want to miss it. Join the waitlist here!
Links:
Ep. 109: Don’t Let Your Download Numbers Hold You Back
Ep. 080: Getting Clear on Your Podcast’s Purpose with an Audit and Refresh
Join the waitlist for the Strategic Podcast Academy!
Are you ready to start strategizing your podcast and simplifying your marketing? Download our free guide to do your Podcast Audit!
Are you ready to start thinking strategically and simplifying your marketing through your podcast, so you can grow your authority, your network, and your business?
We can help! At Wild Home Podcasting, we don’t just want to help manage you podcast. We want to help you think strategically, make a plan, and create a podcast that’s intentional, aligned, and will actually help move your business forward.
Check out all of our offerings, from our signature monthly membership, the Strategic Podcast Academy to our 1:1 Strategy Intensives. And ifg you’re ready to outsource all of your production to a top-level team, take a look at our full-production podcast management package.
If you have a podcast, we’re your #1 cheerleader and we can’t wait to help you share your message with the world!
The Transcript for Podcast Your Business:
113: Five Ways To Make Your Podcast Sustainable for Your Business
[00:00:00] Caroline: So it is definitely possible to have a podcast for a very long time and to have it work for your business in a way that is meaningful and helps you actually hit your business goals. Are you ready to start a strategic podcast for your business and share your message in a way that feels wildly authentic? This is the place. Welcome to Podcast Your Business, where each week I share the strategy behind having a podcast that helps grow your business. I'm Caroline Hull, podcast manager, strategist and consultant, and I've seen the power of podcasts can have for your business. Let's get started. Hello, everyone. So excited to be recording episodes. I know I said this the last time I sat down and recorded a bunch of episodes, but when sitting in the chair has been difficult for a while, it's really exciting to do it. I am doing well and recovering from my surgery still, so thank you everyone who keeps checking up on me on Instagram. Today I wanted to share about something that I've talked about a lot, which is that podcasting is a long game and I know when I say that people are like, "Oh, podcasting is a long game. I don't want a long game, I want something quick" and I totally get that. But if you can stick with it and be consistent, there are so many amazing benefits that can come from podcasting and I'm not going to dive into all of them here because I've talked about them on so many episodes. But I will link to episode that we did about five ways that podcast can support your business.
And so definitely go listen to that if you're wondering how it can support your business long term. But what I wanted to talk about today is if it is a long game and I am committed to doing this podcast because I know of the benefits that it can have for my business, how can I make it sustainable so I don't get burnt out? So I'm not releasing an episode and then not releasing an episode. And so today I'm going to give you five ways to make your podcast sustainable for your business, even if it is a long game. So we're going to start with the number one, which is have a plan in place. When I say plan, I'm not talking about content. We're going to talk about that in a minute. I'm not talking about a spreadsheet or an asana board. I am talking about having a very clear plan for how your podcast is going to support your business. Oh, my gosh, Caroline, didn't you just say that you weren't going to talk about that because there's a whole episode? Yes. But what I want to reiterate here is that it is important to actually have a plan in place. If you start a podcast or you already have one and you're not being strategic or intentional about what you're sharing and how you're sharing it about the customer path, all of those things, it's not going to be sustainable long term because at some point it's going to not work for you the way that you want it to when you have a clear plan in place. And I want to say it's almost motivational in a way, because when you start to see the benefits of it and you start to see how it is working, it keeps you going. And the other great thing about having a plan in place is if you make any shifts in your business or let's say you start a new program or you change your services, it's going to be so much easier for you to understand how that is going to relate to the podcast and how the podcast can actually help you when you have that plan in place and that clear path and all of those things. Right?
So having a plan in place is my number one for making it sustainable because you're going to need this for long term success. And if you need help creating a strategic plan for your podcast, we got you. So definitely look in the show notes for a link on how you can get help with that. The second thing is planning content way in advance. So one of the things that can make podcasting feel really hard is when you're having to do episodes the week of right. I am not a huge fan of knowing that I have an episode going live on Monday and recording it on like Wednesday or Thursday. That is the absolute worst for me. It feels last minute and it feels like it's not my best work and usually if it's last minute, then it's not anybody. It's best work. It's not my office manager's best work, it's not my designer's best work, it's not my show notes writers, because they were all frantically trying to get it out right. And so what I do is I have a plan and I usually schedule a couple months out. For me, that's what works best just because of how I get inspiration. We usually like to plan 3 to 6 months out and then if anything comes up, I can definitely move episodes around. But why this is so great is because whenever I am recording, I can sit down and do multiple episodes at once, and having that plan makes the process a whole lot easier. The other reason why having all your content planned in advance is super helpful is because now you can see how it all works together and you can also see how it's working for whatever is going on in your business. So if you're selling a specific program or you're pushing a specific 1 to 1 offering, you can make sure that all your content is. The line for that promotion, right? If you're just doing episodes week to week to week, that can get very difficult. And it's also really helpful for me as I'm scheduling in guest to make sure that everything that I'm doing around those guest episodes kind of makes sense and fits as well. And so I just like having that clear picture of all of my content as I'm planning it and scheduling out. And so definitely make sure that you're planning your content in advance. It's going to make sustainability of having a podcast long term so much easier. Number three is going to be to hire help. I've talked about this a lot. Hiring help can be such a game changer, especially when you are trying to have something be around long term for you. And it doesn't have to be a huge thing. It can be as simple as having a VA come help you with a couple tasks. Or it can be, which is my favorite, which is offloading everything to a team and having them produce your podcast for you. The reason why help is so important for sustainability is because your podcast is your main piece of marketing A and B, it's also helping you generate leads for your business. But if you're only spending time on the podcast, you're not going to be able to focus on the things that are in your zone of genius. And that kind of defeats the whole purpose of having a plan in place for your podcast in the first place, right?
And so hiring help frees up not only your time but your brain space so that you can focus on what you are best at, which is the services you offer, which is what you teach, which is the education that you provide. Right? Probably your zone genius is not writing show notes at 11 p.m. the night before your episode goes live. And so, you know, I will be the first to admit that for me, this was something that I was really stubborn about and wanted to have my hand in my podcasts because I'm a podcast strategist. Like, that seemed logical to me that I should be working on my own podcast. But when I did finally hand it over, it has made things so much easier for me. I literally record and give it to my team and they make it happen and all I have to worry about is coming up with the content, recording it and then promoting it and sharing it after it comes out. And so what it does, in essence, is it has allowed me to focus on the things that I'm better at and also freed up my time and energy and space for the things that need to be done, such as sharing it, such as promoting the episode. I cannot tell you how many times I will meet somebody who's working on a podcast and because the actual podcast has take up so much of their time, they don't spend any time on them before or after. So again, this kind of goes along with like planning your content way in advance, right? If I'm having to record and do all of the tasks to get my podcast out into the world, when I've got a million other things going on, client calls, client deliverables I need to be working on, then it's not going to be my best work. And so by hiring help, I am able to create something that I'm really proud of, something that feels really natural and easy and something that I can do long term.
[00:09:03] Caroline: Did you know that your podcast can be so much more than a hobby? It can be a way for you to attract your ideal client and establish yourself as an authority in your field. But you need a strategy. And that's why we've created the Strategic Podcast Academy, a monthly membership designed to help you build a strategy for your podcast. You can grow your business and get off the content creation hamster wheel with support from myself and a community of like minded podcasters. You will create a strategic plan for your podcast and start implementing impactful changes during our time in the monthly membership. We're going to cover topics such as customer path planning, content planning for sales, podcast SEO, creating connection with your listeners, email marketing for your podcast, and so much more. So if you are an online business owner, coach, consultant or service provider, and you're ready to have a podcast that supports your business, then this strategic podcast academy is for you. Head to Wild Home Podcasting dot com slash membership to join today. [00:10:08][64.3]
[00:10:09] The fourth thing that I want you to think about when we're thinking about having a podcast and having it be sustainable for your business is setting attainable goals for your podcast. Now I've talked a lot about like how your podcast goals should also align with your business goals. But I want to reiterate here why is it is so important to set attainable goals? Because if you set goals that are unattainable for your podcast, let's say you want an episode to get a million downloads because that's the biggest number I can think of right now. That is probably not attainable. Right. And if you're shooting for a million downloads and you never get there, you're setting yourself up to be discouraged. For me, what is attainable is like, I want to boost my downloads by 50 per episode and I focus on that. That is something attainable. I know I can do that. I can create a plan for how to do that. I can promote in new ways. I can share in new ways. I can maybe run some creative ads. But I know that that is something that is attainable for me. And so it's not going to be discouraging or feel like I'm never going to get there. So why even try. Kind of thing? I think it's really important that we set goals that we can hit and feel good about. And so having goals that are attainable for your podcast, again, that are aligned with your business goals is going to be important for you long term. And, you know, if I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to set these goals or what I want them to look like, you know, I'll think about like, what is a goal for me right now?
Well, one goal for me right now is to grow my email list. And I know that if I can grow my listenership, I can also grow my email list that kind of work in tandem. And so that's a goal that I'm working on right now. I've got a goal set for my email list and I've got a goal set for my podcast. And then what do I do to make that happen? Well, I mean, to tell you to join my newsletter at the end of the episode instead of anything else. And so by setting those goals now, I can make sure that my plan also supports those goals. I can make sure that I have content that supports those goals, and I've got the help I need to just get it all done right. Do you see how this all works together? And I haven't even gotten to number five yet, but all of these things work together to make it sustainable, right? And I'm not saying that you can't DIY your podcast and you can't just publish episodes that you're excited about. You absolutely can. What I am saying, though, is if we are looking at again, podcasting being a long game and being something that we really want to support our business with, our endeavors, our programs, our services, all the things that we're working on in our business, it has to be something that you can do consistently for a while and these things are going to help you do that.
So that brings me to number five, which you got to have fun with your podcast. You have to enjoy it and share what really, really lights you up. Really think about the things that you're passionate about. So when you sit down and record, you're excited to do it. I actually didn't plan on recording this episode today, but I just got them on the podcast interview and it was so much fun. I didn't want the fun to stop, so I was like, I'm going to record some episodes. And so here I am. It's fun for me. I enjoy it. And it wasn't always like this. There was definitely a time period in my podcast where it felt like I was pulling teeth to get episodes out every week, and that's because it wasn't being sustainable, right? I was still trying to do all the work. I wasn't fully aligned with what my listeners needed and their customer journey. And when I was able to kind of get all of these pieces in place, it became just this amazing tool for my business and something that just I'm so excited to engage with pretty much every day. I talk about my podcast, right, because it is the main piece of my marketing. And so it has to be fun. It has to light you up because if it lights you up and that comes through in your episodes, that's going to create even greater know like and trust with your potential clients and customers who are listening to your podcast. So it is definitely possible to have a podcast for a very long time and to have it work for your business in a way that is meaningful and helps you actually hit your business goals. And if you kind of start with these five things, you're going to be setting yourself up for long term success, which is what we want. And so if you want more of this type of thing, I highly suggest you join my newsletter. We will put the link in the show notes. And thank you so much for listening. I would love to know if this episode resonated with you, what you thought of it. Be sure to come follow me on Instagram and we can connect there and talk about it. And I hope you have a great week. We'll be back next week with a new episode. Thank you for listening to Podcast Your Business. For more podcasting tips, follow us on Instagram at @WildHomePodcasting. If you're ready to launch up level or grow your podcast, head to WildHomePodcasting.com to get started today.
