Lots of creators start podcasts, but how many stay consistent? It can be tempting to give up podcasting after a couple of months of low-performing content. But achieving podcast success might not be as far off as you think—research shows that if your podcast gets 25-30 downloads per month, you’ll already be in the top 50% of podcasts.
In this article, we’ll consider a few ways to stay consistent with podcasting. Consistency means not only releasing regularly scheduled content, but also continuously producing quality content.
Stick to a schedule
One of the most important steps in remaining consistent with podcasts is to pick a schedule and stick to it. While that may seem fairly straight forward, this step can be really challenging.
Sticking to a schedule is vital in terms of establishing a connection with your audience. With a regular posting schedule, listeners will know when to expect new content from your channel. You might try posting the same day every week, or posting biweekly.
Keep in mind that the schedule that you start off with may change as your schedule changes and your podcast grows. Schedule changes are okay—what matters is that, once you do pick a schedule, you should try to stick to it!
There are a few platforms you can use to plan and schedule releases. Asana, a team-based platform, allows you to add tasks, deadlines and assignees. Notion is another great platform that allows for individual or team-based scheduling.
Automate content
Creating podcast content is a lot of work. To cut down on some of the workload, you can automate certain content.
For instance, for podcast scripts, you can find a transcription program that will automatically transcribe the contents of an episode. You will likely have to clean up the transcription a little—but a good program will jumpstart the process.
Platforms like Descript can help with audio editing. Descript includes not only transcription, but also audio and video editing assistance. Otter is another option for aiding in the transcription process.
You can also create templates for social media posts and newsletters that are affiliated with your podcast. Doing so will not only lessen your workload, but also create a consistent visual theme for your podcast that listeners will become familiar with over time and recognize quickly.
Create in batches
Some podcasters create content in batches. If you know that you’ll be busy certain weeks, then you can record content ahead of time in batches. That way, you’ll still be able to stick to your content release schedule and ensure consistency even when your schedule is hectic.
Document ideas
Podcasters may struggle with consistency due to lack of content ideas. One way to fight off podcasters’ block (think writers’ block, except for podcasters) is to document every idea that you have at the time that you have it.
Though you might set aside time to work on podcast-related things, it’s likely that you’ll still have ideas for content outside of podcast work time. If so, it might be a good idea to jot them down so that you can return to them later.
Don’t be discouraged
Don’t give up if your analytics don’t look the best right away. Not everyone blows up overnight—in fact, consistency over time is often one of the best ways to achieve success as a content creator. If you can put in the effort now, your podcast will thank you later on.
