
January 6, 2020
How to Create a Successful Podcast – Mind Pump
Key Takeaways
- In 2018, 17% of Americans said they had listened to a podcast in the last month
- In 2019, this number jumped to 26%
- Over $500 million was spent on podcast advertising in 2018
- Tips for creating a successful podcast:
- Be an expert in your space
- Invest in sound quality
- Be authentic and vulnerable
- Be consistent with your release schedule
- Cultivate a community around your audience
Intro
- Mind Pump consists of Sal Di Stefano (IG: @mindpumpsal), Adam Schafer (IG: @mindpumpadam) and Justin Andrews (IG: @mindpumpjustin)
- The trio have 50 years of combined fitness experience as personal trainers
Podcasts Are Exploding in Popularity
- 🎧 In 2018, 17% of Americans said they had listened to a podcast in the last month
- In 2019, this number jumped to 26%
- The news gets better: There’s still tons of room for growth
- “Still to this day, 56% of Americans have never listened to a podcast… But 92% of Americans listen to the radio on a regular basis.” – Sal Di Stefano
Podcast Advertising Revenue is Growing Exponentially
- 🎧 “Ad revenue for podcasts in 2018 was well over half a billion dollars. It’s growing exponentially… We’re probably 5 years away, maybe 10 at most, from podcasts being the number one place companies spend money on ads.” – Sal Di Stefano
- One of the best parts about advertising on a podcast: The audience is extremely niche
- Compare this to a commercial during a football game – the audience is much, much broader
- Typically, advertisers pay podcasters per 1,000 listeners (AKA CPM)
- CPM’s range from $10-15 on the low end to $100+ on the high for podcasters like Joe Rogan and Tim Ferriss
- Podcast listeners are an excellent advertising target. Here’s why:
- They’re generally more affluent and educated
- Podcast listeners are more active on social media than the general population
- Also, they’re far more likely to subscribe to things like Netflix and Amazon, which means they’re less likely to be exposed to TV advertising
Steps to Creating a Successful Podcast
Be an Expert in Your Space
- With hour+ long episodes, if you don’t know what you’re talking about, it’ll soon become apparent
- To boot, the best way to add value to the listener is to be an expert
- “You can get away with bullshitting on a short-form format. I can bullshit an Instagram post, or even a short blog I can bullshit, but try to bullshit an hour-long podcast week in and week out; it’s just not going to work.” – Sal Di Stefano
Invest in Sound Quality
- For more on the best mics and podcast equipment, check out these Podcast Notes
- No matter what your podcast is about, even if it’s the most exciting subject in the world, if the sound quality is poor, listeners will turn it off
- The mics play part of the role, but the environment in which you record the podcast is probably more important – find a room that doesn’t echo and deadens the sounds
- Do what you have to do – park yourself in a closet, and line the walls/floors with blankets/carpet, or preferentially foam tiles
- At the end of the day, improving your sound quality is a small investment worth making
Be Authentic and Vulnerable
- The information/subject matter is essential, but what’s even more critical is authenticity
- Trust is built with the listener through vulnerability
- When you’re trying to be something you’re not, it’s going to reveal itself pretty quickly during a long-form conversation
Be Consistent
- Pick a release schedule and stick to it
- Your core audience will learn to depend on when you release an episode – you’ll absolutely KILL off your avid fans by taking frequent breaks, especially at the beginning
- Start small – commit to releasing X number of episodes/week (with X being a number you know you’ll have no problem hitting)
When Launching a Podcast, Have 10-15 Episodes Ready to Release
- Also, when you release for the first time, drop 3 episodes at once (at a minimum)
- Why? – When you first launch a podcast, Apple only ranks you against other podcasts that launched in the last 8 weeks
- For your first release, dropping 3+ episodes at once allows you to rank highly
- Why? – When you first launch a podcast, Apple only ranks you against other podcasts that launched in the last 8 weeks
Practice, Practice, Practice
- The best way to improve your interviewing skills is through repetition, there’s no way around it
- No matter what, you’re going to suck before you get good (and that’s okay!)
Cultivate a Community Around Your Audience
- You may not end up creating a podcast that reaches 10s of millions, but with some hard work and a little luck, it’s relatively easy to create a community that provides you with a 6-figure income
- This is similar to Kevin Kelly’s advice in his famous essay, 1000 True Fans
- How exactly do you cultivate a community?
- Create a private forum
- Start a Patreon
- Release exclusive episodes for paying members
- Etc.