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Real Advice New Podcasters Need
What advice would experienced podcasters give to someone just starting? That's the question we took to Podcast Movement, gathering wisdom from creators who've been in the trenches and know what truly matters for podcast success.
"Shoot everything and don't second-guess yourself," advises one veteran podcaster. It's a common theme we've heard repeatedly—those magical podcast moments are often the unplanned ones you didn't recognize as special at the time. Another creator emphasized the snowball effect of consistency: "If they don't have the content every week, they're not getting the content every week." This simple truth underlies all podcast growth, as steady content creation builds momentum that starts slowly but accelerates over time.
Many successful podcasters stressed the importance of community over competition. Cross-promotion through guest appearances emerged as a powerful growth strategy, with one podcaster suggesting, "Don't ask to be a guest, ask them to be a guest." This generosity often leads to reciprocal invitations and expanded audiences. We also heard valuable insights about defining your podcast's purpose, giving yourself permission to evolve your format, and focusing on the four pillars of podcast identity: what's your show's name, what's it about, who is it for, and what value do listeners take away? As one podcaster eloquently put it, "Always keep going. If you are true to yourself and make the kind of show you would like to listen to, you'll find your audience."
Whether you're five episodes in with "just your mom listening" or looking to take your established show to the next level, these actionable insights will help you create a podcast that resonates with your target audience and brings you joy in the process. Ready to transform your podcast journey? Subscribe now for more behind-the-scenes conversations with podcast professionals who understand exactly what you're going through.
Hello, we are here at Podcast Movement, so what is some advice that you would give to someone just starting out?
Speaker 4:Shoot everything.
Speaker 5:There's no breaks yet.
Speaker 4:No, no, I just it would be twofold. Shoot everything and don't second guess yourself that's a good one. That's a good one, cause usually the best things are the things you don't think were the best things. You know. You'll look back on footage from a week ago and say that was great, like that was a great interview, or that was a funny moment, like let's put that out, it's the hidden gems that you didn't realize in the moment. Well, and you have expectations from the shoot. You're like I have to capture this thing, the kiss, the whatever, and it's the stuff that happened around it that ends up being the most magical.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure.
Speaker 4:In photography it's the same thing with shooting content. It's often the things that you're you know. You trip over yourself, so don't trip over yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't trip on these don't do it uh, consistency that's the best thing, is the key. Uh, consistency is key. Um, if they don't have the content every week, they're not getting the content every week. I mean, it's kind of as simple as that. I mean, if they're, you know, if you're cutting up your podcast and you're putting them in reels and you're putting it on youtube and spotify and wherever else you need to do, you know they're in that feed every week and people are getting fed. That.
Speaker 1:It's all about promotion. And if people are, you know, if it's in their face, they're more likely to think about it, and if they're thinking about it, they're more likely to click on it. You know it's all about those small instances of just scrolling on your phone, you know, and if it seems fun, they're not going to stay there. If it seems fun, they're going to click, they're going to stay there. If it seems fun, they're going to click, they're going to subscribe, they're going to see what's up. So, all about consistency and staying up there, and the more content for people to discover as a backlog, I'd say, the better as well. It's almost like a smaller streaming service that people discover, especially when you find a podcast that's like 10 years old. That's really good. You have all this content for you to discover.
Speaker 5:That's a good feeling. Well, if it's not taking off as fast as you hoped, I would say stick with it. It's a slow burn and momentum is something that builds slowly at first and then it okay, it's a snowball going down the hill.
Speaker 4:So trust the process and enjoy the ride.
Speaker 6:The technology part overwhelmed me. Older guy, but I've been doing all this for 25, 30 years. I would say try to get a hold of somebody who has done it before you and that can kind of get you on top of their shoulders and give you the vision, so that you don't have to get in a mire and find out all the things that go wrong. Now that I'm part of this, I'm like ah, I made it too tough for myself, yeah, so hopefully that helps.
Speaker 3:I love it All right. So don't be afraid to fail, right? Don't get afraid to fail because you are going to be terrible. Whatever, your first episodes that you do are going to be the worst episodes in your entire catalog, and that's okay. Yeah, because you're the one that's learning about it. You should have somebody in mind. You may tinker with that, you may change that a little bit. You may find out that it appeals more to this kind of person than the person that you thought you were talking to, and you can adopt to that over time.
Speaker 5:So I had an elderly neighbor who passed away in the past year and every conversation you have with him he was a beloved history teacher in the small town where I live every conversation you would have with him he would end with always keep going. That's just what he said instead of goodbye. That's the answer always keep going. If you are true to yourself, you're making the kind of show that you would like to listen to or watch, you'll find your audience. And your audience may never get huge. You may not even get far payment money, much less rent money, out of it, but you will have a dedicated audience that truly loves your show, and that's you can't do that in any other medium. It's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2:Well, again, jan, what I've just said marketing onto other podcasts, being a guest on other podcasts, new genre I mean that is clearly one of the best things Cross-promoting. You know a lot of people. There was the whole thing in the election and people came out and go oh, the right side, there's this, you know corporate conspiracy, where they're built, where they built up these bro podcasts? No, they didn't. I know the podcasters and I know Joe Rogan. I know those folks and it's just as Joe said, we're just friends going on each other's podcasts. There's All Things Comedy the podcasters go on each other's podcasts around Bill Burr. And then there's your Mom's House. It's around Tom Segura and all his friends and all those shows grew from being guests on each other's podcasts and I've seen that work in fantasy football podcasts meet groups where they go and guest on other people's. I've seen it work for Doctor who and sci-fi podcasts, where people go around to other podcasts and have the other podcasters on. So it's finding your niche and reaching out to them and don't look at your niche as competition, look at your niche as your community and if you embrace your community, go out and bring them on. Don't ask to be a guest, ask them to be a guest. They'll ask you to be a guest. Others will ask you to be a guest once they see you're getting guests on. So you know, go out, bring them on.
Speaker 2:And then the other thing is go out and find bloggers that aren't podcasting, that are in your community. Bring them as guests and edit them. Edit them really well so they sound brilliant. Especially if you're bringing a blogger on who's not used to talking. They're going to feel self-conscious about how they sounded. They're going to have a lot of ums, uhs. You knows, edit them out. Send them a link to your interview with them. When they hear how brilliant they sound, because you edited, took the time to edit them, they'll link to it. They'll promote it. But if they listen to themselves back and they think they're stammering or stuttering and they sound, they sound, they feel they sound foolish.
Speaker 7:They're not going to tell anyone number one build a better why, or why, why, did you get started right? Was it passion? Was it so you can make money? And rethink that. Why make it bigger than who? You are right. When you do that, it's much easier to create the content because now somebody else is holding you accountable. That bigger mission of yours, and the reason I keep producing you know, releasing an episode a day on my podcast hacks and hobbies is because I want to teach my children before 15, 10, 7, and that anything is possible if you might put your mind to it. The success comes from the boring work, so keep doing the stuff so that you can grow and you know bring motivation to others.
Speaker 8:So, beyond the why and everything, also don't compare yourself to other people. You're not Joe Rogan. I'm sorry, it's going to take you time, and they say it takes. Well, I heard today 100 episodes before you really get it.
Speaker 1:Really, yeah. Okay, so you're learning Like the first couple episodes are just not good.
Speaker 8:Yeah, they're going to be trash. Your first couple episodes are going to be trash, so just forget those, even though they're up there, because you need the playlist, but yeah, don't start at episode one when you're first starting it.
Speaker 8:Yeah, I started like episode three. Oh no, I've done that before. I'm like, oh, this was terrible, let me go to the next one. Like 10th, 30th, you know episode. All right, that makes sense.
Speaker 8:I would say, probably are you having enough fun, because and even if you're a business, it doesn't matter are you enjoying the content creation side? Because a lot of times when you get frustrated, that shows. And so I would say question what you're doing, question the format. And so if maybe you're doing only interviews and the interviews are really long and you're not enjoying them, change it up, be okay with, like changing it up and bring more fun of that element of like hey, I want to try the solo shows, so maybe you do want more solos. Like my podcast is exclusively solo, until the point where I was like, actually, when I have people, and then I was like, okay, how can this content still solve their problem for my audience? But just, the format is just finally different, and I think that that's really important.
Speaker 8:People don't give themselves, don't allow themselves to have fun and change themselves. They're waiting for someone to like grant them permission. Yeah, so you are, you can do it. You can do it. You are the show. It's your show, you're in charge. Yeah, yeah, so that's what I would advise.
Speaker 5:Four things that you need to focus on. Right, and I don't care if you just started your podcast or you have been doing eight years of your podcast, or you just got the five episodes in and, like you're struggling, oh, my gosh, it's like 25 subscribers.
Speaker 1:It's like my mom watches it and that's about it. You know, I feel like, but yeah, but we're getting there.
Speaker 5:We're getting there. You know that's why we're here. So you need to write down on a sheet these four things what is the name of your show, what is it about, who is it for and what value do they take away from it? It's very, very simple, but once you have those things nailed down to a science where you can quickly say who it is that you are, what you do and why people should listen to your show and what they're going to learn from it, it really helps you focus and craft your show to be specifically for someone, rather than trying to throw spaghetti at the wall and see which one of the noodles sticks right. Right, you're trying to really focus in and give somebody something that they're going to take away from it. Because how many times have you watched a show or anything where you're like immediately forgot it as soon as I turned it off and got distracted? I've got ADHD, so I do that a lot.
Speaker 5:Yeah right, it's like I'm going to play my on my phone, but the ones I always come back to are the ones that I got something out of. I'm not subscribed. I'm gonna come back and listen to this as much as I possibly can. You know? Yeah, sure, that's that's how you do. That is continuously craft yourself, reinvent yourself and now you can analyze yourself. You know, is my name still consistent with my brand? Is what it's about? Still, what is consistent with you? I want to serve and pay, and who is that? And then what value are they taking away from it? So those four things.