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Most Podcasts Fade Quickly, Here’s How to Avoid It

Written by Pavle Marinkovic | Nov 16, 2022 9:30:00 AM

Outline:

The problem with traditional podcasting

Most podcasters quit soon after starting their shows. They’re highly motivated at the beginning but once they do a couple of episodes they give up. Why?

Of over 2 million shows on Apple Podcasts, only one-third (720k) make it past 10 episodes. Two million titles reflect a strong interest but seven hundred thousand show endurance. It’s not a matter of passion but a poor execution that discourages them from keeping on over time.

The traditional podcast process is painful. It takes a lot of steps (research, scheduling, interview, edit, show notes, publish) and it’s time-consuming. At Rumble Studio, we’ve calculated that it roughly takes 10 or more hours to produce just one episode! And don’t think it will take you any less on your next episode. You still need to go through the same steps and do the same time-consuming and expensive work again and again. It’s a flat slope of improvement and it’s not scalable. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

To avoid this slow decline and death of your podcast (a.k.a. podfade) you need the right podcasting strategy. With what we’ll see next you’ll be more likely to be in that 36% of podcasters that make it past 10 episodes. Let’s dive in!

How do you avoid podfading?

If you keep on using the same traditional podcasting method, you’ll never be able to scale your show. It’s about time we worked smarter rather than harder.

You have to find a sustainable process that allows you to create and deliver episodes consistently. Consider the following ideas to upgrade your game:

-        Batch and buffer: create a series of 6 to 10 episodes (the batch) and keep a few as a reserve (buffer) so when you separate your show into seasons, you’ll have enough content to keep you going while you already embark on your second season.

-        Sustainable frequency: determine the periodicity of your show whether it’s once a week, every two weeks, or any other frequency you feel comfortable with. But above all, be consistent. Listeners create a habit of looking for your podcast and they’ll engage more if they know that they can count on you.

-        Crowdsource your content: instead of going through a slow one-on-one interview process, take advantage of new and innovative tools that use remote and asynchronous work. You'll have a lot of episodes for a fraction of the cost and effort.

Create a standard procedure that can be repeatable over time. You’ll save on cost, effort, and time. If you don’t have the faintest idea where to start or you’re looking to try something new, here’s one technique that will definitely step up your game: asynchronous podcasting.

What is asynchronous podcasting and why should you care

Asynchrony refers to the act of removing time out from the work equation. Events happen at different times and everyone works independently.

We use it all the time in e-learning (going through the lectures and homework at your own pace), communications (emailing or leaving comments in forums), and work (completing a shared document where everyone works on it at their own time). And this can also be applied to podcasting.

Think of having a tool that allows you to go through the following steps:

  1. You create and record your questions for your guests (async work).
  2. You send them a link where they’ll access the questions and the online environment to record their responses (async communication).
  3. They record their answers in their own time (async work)
  4. You get the audio back and edit them at your own pace (async work)
  5. While you work on one recording (async work) you get the responses of other guests uploaded to the platform (async communication)
  6. With your batch of episodes ready, you start releasing your content and people listen to them whenever they like (async communication)

This method allows you to gather a lot of responses, select the best bits and combine them into one or more episodes. You now have a scalable solution that will keep you delivering content consistently to your audience over time.

What’s so great about this way of working?

There are a lot of benefits!

Here’s why this technique will significantly upgrade your podcasting process:

  •       It’s more efficient: when you work asynchronously you avoid scheduling calls with guests since they record their answers in their own time.
  •       It’s more reliable: when you interview multiple guests you don’t have a single point of failure; even if one guest doesn’t send their recording, you still have all the other ones to create your show.
  •       It’s more accessible: you’re more likely to get content from hard-to-reach guests (e.g. executives) since they don’t have to sync their calendars with yours to carry on the interview.
  •       It’s more scalable: while you edit an interview, you’re also receiving answers from other guests in your inbox. You can gather more content in less time which leads to more episodes.
  •       You get high-quality answers: when guests take their time to record their answers (and can also re-record them to get the best take) you get more informed and well-thought answers that will add more value to your listeners.
  •       You spend less time editing: since these answers are well thought out and are recorded with cleaner audio, they save you time in the editing process.
  •       More engaged communities: you can get a wide array of guests for your show like (potential) customers, client’s customers, thought leaders, and other members of your community. Their voices will be heard and they’ll feel part of your community. Also, when you have multiple guests on your show, they’ll be more likely to share their interviews with their audiences so your net will be wider.

Do you now feel excited to try it out? If you need more information on asynchronous work and communications check our article on this topic. For now, let’s just briefly look at who’s already using this tool.

Branded podcasts already using asynchronous tools

At Rumble Studio we both help our clients with their podcasts and create our own using this methodology.

We’ve helped clients with different audio formats:

  •       Multiple guests in an episode: Voicebot gathered answers to 5 simple questions from 13 guests and created a two-series episode on the predictions of voice technology for 2022. If you’re interested to learn more, here’s a deep dive into their endeavor.
  •       Dozens of guests for multiple episodes: to create an index of all podcast companies, Sounds Profitable created hundreds of 5-minute episodes that would fast-track new people entering the space. Here’s their case study if you’re interested in how they did it.
  •       Deep dive on one guest per episode: we are also podcasters and we keep a consistent release of episodes with guests that are hard to reach thanks to our asynchronous tech. Here you’ll find all our episodes.

There are multiple ways to make asynchronous podcasting work, it’s just a matter of finding your own way to do it. If you’re interested in looking into our tool, contact us and we’ll be happy to set you up. You’ll soon realize that asynchronous tools are the future of podcasting.

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