The Importance of Vision in Podcasting

Vision in podcasting is a very important thing to consider. It is so important that it must be decided upon before you even record 1 minute of audio.

Podcasting has become increasingly popular in recent years. The number of entrepreneurs, business owners, authors and other such people using podcasting has been increasing steadily. This is mainly attributed to the fact that more people now know the various benefits of podcasting.

To have a successful podcast, it is essential to know the important issues to consider. This is because these issues are the ones that determine whether the podcast will achieve its desired goals or not.

When you have no real path, anyway will take you where you are trying to go. Get a vision together and that all changes. The vision acts as a road map. It makes everything else easier along the way.

One of the most important issues is the vision in podcasting, which is very important for any podcaster to consider. Here are the main reasons why vision in podcasting is so important.

Have a Reason or Goal

Before you start your podcast, you must come up with a reason or goal for why you are doing it (your vision in podcasting). Most people have reasons that fall into one of four categories.

1. For your pleasure/hobby or to entertain other people. Are you trying to promote a hobby? Are you trying to provide entertainment to others?
2. To make money. How will you monetize your show? How will you know the right path to take towards monetization?
3. To educate or encourage. If your purpose is to educate and encourage, a good vision will make that possible.
4. To build a brand or promote something else you do. This all requires a clear vision.

Your vision in podcasting has to be specific to you. If you try to craft a vision that reflects someone else’s values, it will be mostly useless to you. Keep it personal and you will be motivated by its contents.

Motivation is hard to come by at times. An extremely clear vision will provide you with motivation at the times you require it.

I believe your content should also have a goal. Do you want to get a new job? Do you want to change your lifestyle? Do you want to become the expert in a field? Do you want to connect with others in your niche or start a new community?

Without reasons and goals, your content will drift around in and out of relevance and quality. This will definitely slow your growth or potentially kill your podcast completely.

Clarity

Vision in podcasting plays an important role when it comes to enhancing clarity. The people who will be listening to the podcast will be able to understand your purpose provided there is a good vision. The vision will keep your content on the right track so your listeners who understand your topic will also understand your content. Your vision will enable your listeners to connect with your content.

It is important for the content to be very specific. Your content must fit your overall show topic or you will confuse your listeners. With a good vision in podcasting, it becomes possible to send clear messages to your listeners.

Attracting Others

It also helps to have a vision in podcasting because it allows you to attract more attention to your show. A vision is helpful because it means the audience for your podcast will continually grow. When the vision is of the right quality the podcast will standout when placed among the many other podcasts currently available. This is solely due to the focused content you create.

This is extremely important as there are many competing podcasts and each wants to attract the attention of the listeners. Your vision will resonate with a certain percentage of society as long as they can pick up on what that vision is.

With the use of social media, your vision will help you promote your podcast to people you might never think would listen. A good and clear vision will resonate with your followers, turning them into listeners.

Don’t Focus On Numbers

Creating great content should never be about the number of listeners! Do not get me wrong, it is important to know your numbers. It’s helpful to know and track your numbers to see what is well received or gets the most attention. But focusing on your numbers will make you a people-pleaser and not a quality content creation person.

Think of churches that focus on just filling their pews and taking up huge offerings to pay for their debts. These churches are missing the point! They also fail to grow.

Imagine you’re in a small audience and the presenter is spending more of their time trying to bring new people in. How would you feel? Wouldn’t you feel neglected, like you didn’t matter as much or that you were just a number? Don’t be like that presenter!

Focus on the audience you already have more than trying to gain a new audience. Growth will happen when you release stellar content.

Ease of Listening

A podcast should be easy to listen to. Content that jumps around from place to place is difficult to listen to.

A podcast with good vision is also easier to find. Most people tend to prefer such podcasts. The fact that a vision is driving the content seems to bring many more listeners. They do not have to struggle to try to understand even the smallest details.

Your short description will revolve around your vision. That vision will speak to potential listeners, convincing them to give your podcast a try.

If a person listens to a podcast and happens to notice that it has poor vision, they will most likely not be interested in listening to any further episodes. There are some details which might not be clear and this will make listening difficult. Your content won’t be as easy to digest because it won’t be as focused.

Easier to Find

Finding and then downloading a podcast with good vision is much easier than the those without good vision. This is because those with good vision are more focused, making them easier to find.

By sticking to your vision, each of your episodes will have descriptions that match the terms people may use to find you. This goes a long way towards growing your podcast.

People get attached to good podcasts. When you have a clear vision, you provide great content for your listeners.

Wide Distribution

It is important that your vision in podcasting include where to distribute your show. The more places you distribute your show the larger your audience will become. A lot of people will prefer the podcasts that can be downloaded easily using almost any gadget regardless of the power of the gadget being used. The concept of wide distribution makes this possible.

There are a plethora of outlets for your podcast. Research them and see which ones fit your vision. Make sure your podcast is available for distribution everywhere that fits your vision.

Adding More Details

With good vision in podcasting, there is freedom to add more details which might be relevant. By adding details through the lens of your vision, you ensure that the content is relevant to your listeners. The vision for your podcast is what guides your content.

This will enable you to take side trips with your content, but side trips that make sense. They fit your vision. Your listeners won’t be lost. Perhaps a political podcast can discuss a story about how politics affect the ordinary person on a daily basis? As long as it fits your vision, feel free to pursue the topic.

The Nightly Rant is the type of show that can discuss any and all topics. One problem is that we wanted the free version to be a little tame than you might expect from a show with the word “rant” in the title. That’s why we created The Nightly Rant Uncensored. Our vision told us this was the right thing to do and it has proven correct.

Long-Term Planning

What do you want your podcast to look like in a year or two? This is where vision in podcasting can help you tremendously. Your vision will drive everything you do going forward. It will be the key to setting and achieving the goals you have for your show.

Don’t focus on creating a larger audience. If you provide great content to your existing audience, you will gain listeners over time. The two concepts go hand in hand.

Nurture Your Vision in Podcasting

Once you’ve established your vision the hard work begins. You must do things daily to further that vision. This is going to depend upon your immediate goals at the time.

To produce more episodes, you must publish regularly and consistently.

If you want more community interaction, focus on relationships, ask great questions, and respond to feedback.

If you want nicer equipment to enhance your quality or do something you couldn’t do before (like live-streaming or high-quality video), skip coffee or soda regularly and save that money.

If you want to get better at any aspect of what you do, invest the time to learn and grow in your knowledge and technique.

A Podcast Launch Coach

A podcast launch coach can be very helpful in determining the vision for your podcast. The coach can provide professional advice on techniques to use so as to enhance the vision. The coach can also provide advice on the content to include, being certain that it applies properly to the vision you have for your podcast.

Revisit Your Vision Often

By taking the time to revisit your vision on a regular basis you will find that you become more focused and your content improves. You will avoid “going off the rails” by losing focus. I suggest writing your vision down and posting it somewhere you will see it often. Read it every single time you see it.

Burn your vision into your head. You should be able to recite your vision with no prompting at all. It should be ingrained in your mind.

How Do I Create My Vision in Podcasting?

So you understand the importance of a vision in podcasting, but how do you craft that vision? What are the steps for creating a great vision? Let’s talk about that for a moment.

Grab the Tools You Need

The first thing you need is pen and paper. I suggest grabbing a notebook or journal and your favorite pen. Be sure you settle in a quiet spot to work on this vision. This is work that requires distraction-free time.

Consider Where You Are

Everything has a Point A and a Point B. You want to stop and consider where you are in the podcast journey (Point A) and where you want to go (Point B). Point A is your current location while Point B is your vision.

Now you must consider what needs to happen for you to get from Point A to Point B. What do you need to do to make your vision in podcasting a reality?

You should use brainstorming and free-writing techniques for this part. Spend 10 to 15 minutes free-writing and your vision will start to surface. Try hard not to censor your thoughts as you put them down on paper. That will become the key to a great vision going forward.

List Your Values

Take about 20 minutes to list out the things that are important to you personally. This is your list of values. Start with a large list of 10 values.

Your list should things like truth, entertainment, family, wealth, kindness, integrity, justice, fun, hard work, loyalty, honesty, etc. (It’s okay if they don’t explicitly have anything to do with podcasting.) Really put some thought into what your values are because they will serve as the guiding principles that will help you accomplish your mission.

Narrow Your Values List

At this point, take your list of values and reduce it to 3 key values. You will either circle the 3 values you consider to be the core values or you will use a process of elimination to work backward through your list, eliminating secondary values as you go.

How Will the Core Values Help You

Take some time and journal about how your core values will help you reach your vision. If necessary, write out definitions of your core values to help you with this step.

Make it Actionable

It is now time to write up a statement that begins with “I am” or “I will” that explains how you will express your core values through your podcast. Once you complete this step you will have a mission statement for your podcast.

Now Podcast With a Purpose

Take your mission statement and post it somewhere you will see often. You will now create your podcast content according to your mission statement. This is going to help you:

• Explain to others how your show provides value
• Remind you of your show’s purpose when you’re running out of steam
• Understand your own story
• Make hard decisions (e.g., know when to turn away an interview guest, or scrap an episode)
• Guide you toward your podcasting goals
• Remind you that you are making a difference.

Your Changing Mission Statement

As your values change, your mission statement will also change. This is perfectly fine and expected. We change and grow as we learn, so our values will also change. This is what humans do.

Originally published at yogispodcastnetwork.com on January 17, 2019.