4 podcast content strategies that cause burnout (and the fix)
Hey Pod Pals!
This newsletter was lovingly curated (without the use of any AI) in real time on Thursday morning at 8:47am CST.
I've had a productive morning so far:
✅ I went for a walk.
✅ Made breakfast for the family.
✅ Answered some questions inside of my Skool community.
One quick thing before we dive in today:
➡️ I'm hosting a free Content Collaboration session on Tuesday next week.
If you are looking for podcasts guests or looking to be a guest on podcasts I've got about 30 seats left in the zoom room.
📈 Today we are going to talk about four content strategy swap outs that I want you to consider making.
I think one of the reasons why so many podcasters burn out and quit is because we tend to spend a lot of time on inefficient or non-important content strategies.
This basically means we are spending a lot of time doing things that won't produce any ROI....especially early on.
I'm going to list four things that I want you to spend a little less time worrying about and then four other content tasks that you should be leaning into a bit harder.
Four things that I want to encourage you to spend less time on:
✅ 1. Editing time....You KNEW this was coming...right?! 😉
When I talk to a podcaster that is in full on burnout mode they are usually spending an obscene amount of time editing their show.
My best fix for this is to implement my 1:1 Editing Ratio Rule:
➡️ However long the episode is, you get that same amount of time to edit it.
Example: If I record a solo episode that is 17 minutes long, I get 17 minutes to edit it........not 6 hours!
I can hear some of you crying... SORCERY!!!! How do you do this??? Don't you re-listen to the episode???
No, I do NOT re-listen to my episodes.
One thing that saves a ton of editing time is I always edit my episodes as soon as I'm done recording them.
If I mess up during the episode I just pause for 3 seconds and make a time stamp note so it's super easy for me to find that part to edit out.
✅ 2. Video/Youtube content.......I know this one stings a little for some of you!!!
I've helped a lot of podcasters launch a brand new show this year and I've pivoted my strategy a bit compared to previous years.
If a client wants to do audio and video I tell them that we are going to record audio/video for all episodes but we are going to focus on getting their first TEN EPISODES out as audio only.
Here's why this strategy is working so well:
-Only 83% of all podcasts that are launched make it to episode 10.
-I want to make crossing that threshold as EASY and SIMPLE as possible for all of my clients.
Learning how to create, edit, and effectively promote both audio and video content is like trying to learn two separate foreign languages at the same time......
So let's focus on learning ONE single language at a time and then fold in the next one a bit further down the road.
✅ 3. Specific content patterns.....I fell victim to this one early on!
When I launched my first podcast I was convinced that the optimal content strategy was to rotate back and forth between a solo episode and an interview episode each and every week.
I was scared to death to change this content pattern because I was convinced that I would lose ALL of my podcast listeners if I changed it up.
Sound familiar???
We all tend to do this at some point, but here's what I know to be true.
Our listeners are showing up for great content...period.
They don't care about specific patterns or whether your intro has music or not.
I think it's important to try new content ideas and break patterns when it makes sense.
✅ 4. Fancy over produced intro/outro.........this one is going to make some of you nervous!
Question: What do YOU do when you are listening to a podcast that you listen to every week and you hear "the music" at the start?
I will bet you money that your finger jumps over to the SKIP button as fast as possible!
Now, as content creators, we really want our listeners to pay attention to our intro/outro because we usually have some important things to share like a CTA....so how do we pull this off?
My suggestion is to just bake your intro/outro into your main episode content with NO MUSIC (and only ONE call to action).
Now here are four things that I actually think you should lean harder into and spend more time on:
🎯 1. Consistent weekly podcast content.
If you are spending less time on editing and focusing on audio only for a bit......the goal is to get a fresh episode out every week!
🎯 2. Build your email list.
A great use of the time that we've freed up is to start writing a newsletter like the one you are reading right now.
It takes me 30-40 minutes to write this thing each week...which is less time than most of you are spending (wasting) by over-editing your podcast!
🎯 3. Promote your freakin' episodes people!!!
This week inside my Skool community we are doing a simple social media promo challenge and I'm realizing how much most podcasters struggle to come up with simple ways to promote their weekly content.
Way too many podcasters are not promoting their episodes at all!
🎯 4. Connect with your audience members.
One of the HUGE advantages I have as a content creator with a minimalist strategy is that I have a ton of time to connect with my audience.
Every day I'm easily able to:
-Respond to DM's and comments on social media.
-Respond to emails.
-Interact and answer questions inside of my Skool community.
For me, if I'm given an hour where I could either connect with audience members or edit a Youtube video........my audience always wins!
Now I'm sure some of you had a few feathers ruffled as you read some of my suggestions....and that's OK Pod Pals!
My job as a coach/mentor is to help you stretch outside of your comfort zone!
Here's your homework for this week:
👉 Pick at least ONE thing from my "wasting time" list and put it on pause.
👉 Pick at least ONE thing from my "do more of this" list and, well...do more of it!
Talk to you next week!
Your Pod Pal,
Adam
⭐️ P.S. Here's the scoop on my podcast episode this week!
🎙️ Podcasting Business School EP 636: Three reasons a niche podcast beats a broad one.
If you are a podcaster who has ever felt fearful on niching down your content topic....this episode is a MUST LISTEN because you are leaving serious growth and monetization on the table!