Keep It Coming!
Podcast Pointer #2: Consistency
What’s one of the most important “must haves” when it comes to B2B podcasting? Consistency! Without a steady stream of content, your audience can easily get disinterested and/or lost in translation. It’s also a potentially challenging necessity due to the time investment it requires. And this, of course, is what makes having a podcast partner so advantageous.
So, what’s the secret sauce for consistency? We’re glad you asked!
The Reward of Regularity
If you’re doing a podcast series on the surge of embedded payments, for example, and you have too much of a time lag between episode one and two, your audience will lose the foundational building blocks from episode one that make episode two real-time and relevant. Likewise, if you give them a promise for more information to come and you wait too long to deliver it, chances are it will be too easy for them to forget they’re interested and wanting more.
And there’s more to it than just timing. There’s also consistency when it comes to content themes, tone, and even the caliber of guests you have on your show. All of it counts and matters. So, let’s dive in one at a time…
A Theme for Excellence
One of the most common pitfalls when it comes to podcasting is consistency. The scenario is pretty common: You just hustled to launch this amazing episode, with an amazing guest and some extremely value-rich content and (of course) you’re totally tapped from it. So, you take the next episode “off” and just deliver something relevant but not dynamic with the intention to get your hustle back for the next episode.
The truth of the matter is that every episode needs to deliver impactful content. Getting caught in the trap of holding yourself to a standard of excellence on every other podcast will result is a corresponding wax and wane effect from your audience. This being the case, the best guiding principle here is realistic expectations. Set realistic expectations for yourself that you can consistently deliver on and this will foster a sense of trust between you and your audience.
A Tone for Trust
Consistency in the tone of your podcast is another way to establish and sustain the trust of your audience. Time is everyone’s most valuable commodity and none of us ever seem to have enough of it. That being said, it’s extremely important to be able to establish a tone you can stick with and one of the most important aspects of establishing tone is timing.
When listeners tune in to your podcast, they have already allotted a certain amount of time in their schedule to share with you. They know that each week, you spend 20 minutes providing a platform for them to explore some of their favorite industry-relevant topics. If all of a sudden you go a little over the top and talk for 45 minutes, you’ve just taken 25 minutes of their precious time without even asking. And this can result in frustration from your audience given that they no longer know how to successfully make time for you.
And the same goes for the timing of your schedule. If your audience is used to hearing from you once a week and all of a sudden there’s a two-week gap in your drop schedule, this will result in cognitive dissonance and they’ll have a harder time showing up for you. Keeping your tone consistent is crucial.
The Best Guest
And finally, you have the guest factor. Who you have on your show is just as important as what you talk about. Maybe even more so because your guests are there to add credibility to the podcast and your subject matters at hand. This being said, it’s important to maintain consistency with the caliber of guests you bring on your show. If you’ve established a cadence of interviewing CEOs, for example, and then all of a sudden you start interviewing mid-level managers, there’s probably going to be a disconnect with your audience and your numbers will suffer.
People tune in to podcasts they find relatable. So, if your guests are typically at the c-suite level, it’s a pretty safe bet to assume that a good amount of your listeners are probably at the same level and tuning in for the relatability and insights gained from someone who talks their talk and walks their walk. This being the case, it’s important to continue providing them with contributors that will resonate.
Ultimately, consistency in all areas of your podcast will only result in the opportunity for more trust and engagement from your audience – enabling you to both create and sustain a network of influence in your industry.
Food for thought: You don’t have to do this alone! Partnering with the right podcast company means you have someone intentionally dotting and crossing all these I’s and T’s for you. It doesn’t have to be complicated.
