448- Why anyone would listen to your Podcast

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In this episode of the Podcast Reporter, we discuss an article in medium.com by Denis Murphy called “Why would anyone listen to your podcast?”

Obviously, the main focus of the article is the value that your podcast episode can deliver to your listeners. For myself, the word “value” has such diverse meanings:

it can mean any emotional VALUE to the listener — e.g., happiness, joy, elation or sadness, tragedy, concern;
it can deliver entertainment VALUE to the listener — such as fictional or crime stories that are now popular;
it can deliver educational VALUE to the listener in the area of “how to” information or training (e.g., I myself delivered a six-month course of personal productivity in a premium audio podcast back in 2007-2008 that delivered skills in being able to do more in less time with better results while reducing stress);
it can deliver relaxation VALUE to the listener by just publishing either music or non-stressful content that can help one relax;
and many other types of VALUE.

Now, this article by Denis Murphy has the subtitle that states that it took him 115 episodes to realize why an audience member would listen to his show.

He starts off by stating the obvious — that the beginning of your show will be the toughest and the slowest for growing an audience of loyal listeners. As a matter of fact, he uses the term “slog” which can signify inertia in the development of your show to a set of growing fans. As he says: “You want an audience of dedicated listeners. You want to see messages of appreciation from some of them. You want to feel like you’re helping them come unstuck in the same way you came unstuck in your life.”

But then Denis reassures you that the “slog” won’t be forever, and that consistency in the production and publication of episodes that provide value to your audience will be the key to eventual decrease of the “slog” and the uptick of popularity, acceptance and finally subscription from fans to become loyal listeners.

In summary, he has these sections that highlight his thoughts:

Accept that you will suck;
Your job is to make listeners think;
Why do you, yourself, listen to your favorite podcasts?
As he states, your job is to make your audience FEEL and think: “Focus on making your audience think and feel.
- Share your most helpful, raw and honest thoughts and opinions.
- Genuinely take an interest in having a conversation with your guest.
- Allow your personality to evolve with the podcast organically.

Do these things, and you will get to one hundred episodes and beyond. Do these things, and your podcast will become a vehicle for your personal growth.”

For this podcaster, consistency is one of the greatest skills and characteristics that your podcast can show. It gives you the symbol of being a prolific podcaster that is in it for the long term (i.e., not just a fly-by-night hobbyist that can get disappointed if you are not making six figures in monetization with thousands of downloads each episode within a few months).

But this also means that you have to create good content and deliver exceptional VALUE to your targeted audience (i.e., NOT everyone, but your niche audience that is waiting for your content that is directed to them and not the masses in general). It is this value that Adam Curry from the No Agenda show calls “an outstanding product” (in this case, PRODUCT is the content of your show) — and Adam has had success in both growing a loyal fan base, delighting producers (for he does not have “listeners” — everyone is a producer) and successfully monetizing his show for over a decade, and still growing.

And for myself, this means giving thoughtful attention to the VALUE of your content to your listeners. You can monitor this by surveys, opinions, reviews and feedback. You can also put together some strategies for monetization to see what VALUE will be in the minds of your listeners. And you can now refer to the updated book by Dave Jackson called Profit from your Podcast to see which strategy may work best for you to create revenue streams. One such strategy that has been successful for Adam Curry is the “value for value” model (which is also being used by the Grumpy Old Bens show). You may wish to listen to the episodes of No Agenda to find out more in detail about this.

So, whichever method you use to review your content and assure that REAL VALUE is there for your targeted audience, we hope that you can then plan your strategies for longevity and become the prolific podcaster that Denis Murphy describes. And we hope that you can grow your audience — and that perhaps it will not take over 115 episodes to finally understand this.

We wish you all the success to have the audience you desire in the shortest time with the value you provide from your great podcast show.

Thank you for your attention.