CREATIVE EDGE
Creatures of Habit: Guide Your Audience (And Yourself!) into a Rhythm that keeps them coming back
Are You Really Ready?!
How much are you willing to commit? Your release schedule completely relies on your ability to keep up with it for the long haul.
The worst thing you can do is to start a podcast and go all in, dropping tons of episodes and then... crickets.
THE CADENCE
The highest ROI podcasts are shows that push out episodes weekly and even multi-weekly. That is a fact and there is no getting around it, more on why this is the case later.
However, if you can't keep up with a weekly show you can still have a successful podcast. You just may have to work a bit harder on your marketing and social media side, and possibly spend a bit of money on a network, marketing, or PR manager.
Luckily, certain types, genres, and formats of shows lend themselves to seasonal spurts. Think about football shows that have off-seasons. Or educational series get that summer lull. True crime tends to be anthological, which is an awesome way to package seasonal content. Seasonal episodes can be dropped daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or all at once.
If you don't have a theme that allows you an obvious reason to cut your podcast publishing into seasons, which may be necessary for your ability to commit at the moment or to give you a much-needed break, you can work around this by creating seasonal themes.
Simply pick a theme, storyline, arc, feature, or focus for your season, and each season can deep dive into a different one. Voilà!
Whether you are doing a seasonal podcast, or a weekly podcast with no end in sight, successful shows always have a specific drop calendar that the audience can depend on.
We are creatures of habit. A doctor wouldn't expect patients to show up on time without creating a schedule. A movie will never be watched if nobody knows it's available, or worse... forgets!
We all have experiences where we really enjoyed a certain TV show but after a winter hiatus, we just somehow forgot to tune back in.
This phenomenon is typical throughout all entertainment consumer habits, so it's important to get ahead of that.
The release schedule and seasonality structure is the Heartbeat of your podcast.
Creating a clear and consistent day, week, and time to push your episodes live on a regular cycle is setting that internal appointment time with your listeners.
It allows them subconsciously to feel free to add you and your content to their lives and their calendar. People are seeking stability and your regularity will build their trust in you and in turn, you will nurture loyal, long-term customers. A podcast you are passionate about will motivate you to go the distance. Consistency is the only way to succeed.
💡STORYTELLING IDEAS THAT WORK💡
Choosing Your Cadence Action Steps:
Even if you already decided on your episode drop cadence, it is always good to do these sorts of exercises to solidify your decision in your mind, heart, and subconscious. Having a very clear point of decision helps in the confidence level of a person, and these points of confidence are vital at moments of weakness, such as just before the breakthrough when it seems like nothing you have been doing for the last two years has worked.
Choose two possible options for how often you will drop your episodes. Focus less on the different day/time and more on weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, seasonal, etc. Remember, just because your podcast is seasonal, nobody ever said you can't release more than one season in a year!
Tuesdays are the most popular days of the week to drop, and mornings are the most popular time. Don't forget to research when your listeners are consuming to make an educated guess that will have the highest conversion rate. You can fine-tune this later on after you have more real data.
Write a simple, well-thought-out Pros and Cons list for each of the options. Think deeply about your audiences' habits, your ability and lifestyle, and the success of the podcast.
All-Star Tip: Once you know your commitment level, you can decide your cadence and then you'll be able to lock down whether seasons are the right choice for you or not. The best schedule is normally the most frequent one that you can stick to on a regular basis. – Usually, that would be once a month, every 2 weeks, or weekly.
