Note: This document is a publicly visible live draft; to be updated. Tweet @AwesoundApp or comment to let us know what you think is missing.
Claim:
A new podcast series is a startup
This article, and much more I’ll write in future, is based on that thesis.
By “startup”, I mean that magical phenomenon as defined by Paul Graham in his essay, “Startup = Growth”:
A startup is a company designed to grow fast
For a starting independent podcaster, your audience starts at approximately zero listeners. Whatever your motivations for podcasting, you need to quickly grow this number.
This article is a live draft of a few ways to think about this growth.
Grow your audience by 5% every week: within a year, you’ll have >10 times more listeners
Growth: What can I do to get another 5% new listeners next week?
Short answer: Make it easier and more appealing for your existing listeners to share your show.
1. Give listeners soundbites to share
There’s something very elegant about sharing a specific quote; make it easy for listeners to do this.
It’s a huge request of someone’s time to say “check out this podcast series”, or even “this episode”. Make it easy for your listeners to tweet a single sentence from your show. It gives your show exposure, without the demand of explicitly saying “I expect you to listen to all of this”. Friends won’t feel they have to actually listen to the episode in order to Re-Tweet a nice quote, or “like” such a Facebook post. Gradually with more exposure, some people will actually click through to your show and become new fans.
2. Remind each listener of one specific person in their life, who might like THIS EPISODE
Again, it’s much less imposing to say “check out this episode” than “you should subscribe to this show”. For each episode, describe who should be introduced in detail. Bring them to life, so as a listener, I think “that sounds like my friend Alex, actually”. Be specific to this episode: this will allow you to vary up your description from show to show.
We all have that one friend who…
Examples:
Episode 01: “So if you want to feel good about inspiring a parent who’s been through this experience, send this podcast to them, share this story of …”
Episode 02: “…which applies to starting your own business… Do you know anybody starting their business? Why don’t you grab your phone right now, let them know you thought of them and …”
Episode 03: “…and that’s something that would have given me great encouragement if I’d known it before I started college. If you know someone starting college…”
Episode 04: “…this is something I’m going to be passing on to my good friend who’s pregnant; she doesn’t always listen to this show, but I think with a kid on the way, she’d enjoy this episode…”
Episode 05: “…I’d be curious to hear if any of you share this episode with someone you know who’s actually been to Africa, if they agree with this assessment — feel free to forward this episode to them and let me know on twitter what they think of it…”
Thus it needn’t be something overly calculated, but you should make an effort during each show to think:
How can I be more inclusive today?
Note: you should at all times have one ideal listener and at all times be consistent to this, but you can still describe aspects/versions of this ideal listener in different words.
Rate, not number
Remember, I said 5%, not “5” or “500” every week. Again to quote Paul Graham:
If you’re really getting a constant number of new customers every month, you’re in trouble, because that means your growth rate is decreasing.
If you’re nearing your target audience size, pas de problème! But if you’re not yet close to where you’ve decided you want to be audience-wise, then keep thinking about rate of growth. Get excited by relative progress vs. the previous week; avoid the temptation to get over-excited by absolute milestones like “10k listeners”.
We usually advise startups to pick a growth rate they think they can hit, and then just try to hit it every week. The key word here is “just.” If they decide to grow at 7% a week and they hit that number, they’re successful for that week. There’s nothing more they need to do. Focusing on hitting a growth rate reduces the otherwise bewilderingly multifarious problem… to a single problem. You can use that target growth rate to make all your decisions for you… Should you spend two days at a conference? Should you focus more on marketing? Whatever gets you your target growth rate.
Growth = New listeners — lost listeners
Retention: How do I make sure I keep the listeners I have?
Most podcasters make generic requests like, “subscribe, review me on iTunes, follow me on Twitter, share with your friends” half shameless plug, half apologetic. Try not to bundle these into one throw-away sentence. Don’t say any of that for the sake of it; any one of those requests (if the user hasn’t already done it) is asking the listener to give up their time and so should feel like a very deliberate, thoughtful request. Let’s take them one by one:
1. Subscribe: Convert passers-by into members
a.k.a., If you just stumbled in here, you should probably hit that subscribe button
If you’re doing all the above right, you should know what % of listeners each week are “new” vs. return visitors. Subscribing is about making your podcast “sticky” for new listeners.
Most important to give listeners a reason to subscribe that’s about them. “Subscribe to avoid missing… [for your own benefit]” is likely a more successful sentence than “Please please subscribe… [for my benefit]”
2. Review: Reminding listeners, “I’m a listener too — even to the bad stuff”
a.k.a., I need to hear it: whether it’s a glowing review or a chance to “get it off your chest”
It’s only in this context (a genuine invitation for feedback) that a review is meaningful.
Negative feelings:
Imagine that one of your long-time listeners has not enjoyed this episode, and is thinking of unsubscribing. Make them feel involved, not ostracised. Analogy:
Imagine you take your partner on a fancy dinner date; you prepare diligently and go to great expense but notice they seem to be in a bad mood, quiet, uninterested in the food… you would probably ask, “is there something the matter?” You invite them to express themselves. (To ignore their mood and bluster on, “isn’t this just great?!” would only serve to alienate them from you.)
Unfortunately, some listeners may be losing their appetite for you, so don’t deny such feelings might exist. Give listeners some other action to express this other than hitting ‘DELETE’ or ‘unsubscribe’.
Positive feelings:
Podcasts are free to consume but took a lot of your time to produce. One of Cialdini’s “Six principles of influence” is “reciprocity” — the natural tendency to give back someone who has done something for you. Remind your listeners that you’ve put effort into getting this out there, and how this whole podcasting thing works is that now that they’ve heard it, it would be great if they could review you…
Example:
As always, I really value your feedback. If you’re a fan, help other people like you to find this show, by leaving a quick review on iTunes [provide link]. If you’d like to see anything done differently, please let me know by… [say how: email, blog comments etc.]
Incorporating actual feedback into your show, referring to previous emails/comments from listeners, will motivate more to contact you. It will be obvious you do listen, and it’s worth your listeners’ time sending you their thoughts.
3. Follow
Extend your presence any way you like, whether that means directing people to your blog, your facebook page, your BBQ… but again, make it clear why people should bother. Do you greet new twitter followers? Do you offer something free when someone signs up to your mailing list? Do you post exciting photos on your Facebook page, which they’re now missing out on?
4. Share
See “growth” section above. Sharing is mainly about growing your audience. Make your listeners feel proud to share your show, rather than aggressively begging them to do so.
— Posted by Mark
Unlike a podcast, I have the luxury of editing this after making it public: please let me know (@AwesoundApp) what I’ve neglected to mention, how apt the comparison to a startup is, what growth/retention tricks you’ve tried, etc., and I will gladly update this article to make it more complete.
