The Lie of Consistency in Podcasting

Consistency won’t make your podcast successful.

Yes, yes, I know. Last week I wrote about how to be consistent at all costs.

You do have to be consistent. Failing to do it might tank your show.

But being consistent isn’t enough to be successful. That’s the lie.

“Keep at it!” They’ll say. “Just keep podcasting! You’ll get there eventually!”

You might.

But it’s not a sure thing.

Consistency isn’t the key to success, it’s table stakes. Its what you do to create the opportunity for success.

Because for consistency to make your podcast successful, you have to be consistently doing things that drive your business forward.

If you’re consistently doing the wrong things, or just none of the right-for-your-business things, then you’re not running a profitable marketing channel. You’re digging an expensive hole.

So if you're not currently delighted with the results your podcast is creating, ask yourself a few questions:

1. What is the main reason I am podcasting as a marketing channel?
2. What about my podcast is creating the business outcomes I need to be profitable?
3. Can I alter or adjust those parts of my podcast to be more effective?

That is how you create a podcast that works for your business.

Let’s look at each of these in more detail.

What is the main reason?

This comes back to the primary reason you’re podcasting. Is it one of the Business Podcast Blueprints: Relationship Building, Audience Engagement, Thought Leadership, Conversions or Content? Is it something else? You need to name it so you can look at your podcast and the results it generates and say: “Yes! It is creating the main thing I need it to create” or “No, it is not creating what I need, and it must change or stop.”

What is creating the outcomes?

This gets more granular. Different elements within the podcast do different things.

Guests you connect with are one source of value. How you repurpose the content you create is another. The strategies you use to promote are a third. There are probably an infinite number of possibilities, so think about what, specifically, creates the value in your podcast. There aren’t any rules here. The ideas you get, the pleasure you experience, the engagement you create, the community you’re building - those can all be important creators of value for your business.

The trick is to identify how, exactly, your podcast contributes to the outcomes you value.

What can I improve?

Once you’ve identified what creates the value to your business, you can adjust your podcast and the workflows around it to make more of it. If networking is most important, how can you create more touchpoints for communication and follow-ups, or be more strategic about your guests? If conversions are most important, where are your CTA's and how is the messaging around them - what can you experiment with? If content repurposing is most important, how are you indexing content for later use? And how can you spend less time on all of it?

This is an ongoing process (when you’re consistently releasing!) of tracking the data, making changes, evaluating the results and repeating until you’re making much more than you’re spending, or you’re sick of podcasting.

There are many potential areas for improvement, but the first and most important is usually setting a clear goal and specific metrics that will indicate how well the show is working.

Very often, I also see shows that are creating a lot of value - but take up so much time and mental energy that the results are negated. If your podcast is a key asset for your marketing, but you’re exhausted rather than energized by it, this is probably your problem and you either need a workflow overhaul, or more support! (Send me a message if you want to talk about that. No pressure, no sales, just some advice and next steps for your show.)

When you are asking these questions, and optimizing your show to create the outcomes you need in your business - and tracking the results! - then being consistent means you have a perpetual engine that drives profit to your business.

If you’re not, all is not lost. It’s never to late to improve your podcast and the workflows that surround it.

Start with your primary reason for podcasting, choose the outcomes you want and optimize for more of, track the results, make changes and refinements as needed and you’ll get there eventually. ;-)