As well as “understanding your audience”, the second most frequent piece of advice I’m giving to people asking how to make a successful business podcast is “consistency and frequency” when it comes to podcast publishing.
In podcasting, consistency is one thing that should always be consistent. There’s consistency in format to help built familiarity for the listener, and consistency in quality to keep them coming back; but there’s also consistency in your podcast publishing schedule. This is what I want to talk about in this blog post.
Establishing and maintaining a regular podcast publishing schedule sets the beat for your podcast, it’s vital for nurturing audience growth and engagement. But what might be the right schedule for one podcast, might be unmanageable for another. Running a business podcast is a big commitment, so coming to an agreement internally on what is achievable but highly effective, and then sticking to it, could be the difference between your podcast flying, or dying!
What you’re looking for is maximum cadence and maximum content quality, and for most there’s gong to be some trade off (just don’t be tempted to compromise on audio quality). Come up with a groundbreaking idea that burns through all your budget and your team’s time in the first few episodes and you’ll quickly find you have to either pull the plug or scale back to something different, neither of which are helping you achieve consistency zenith!
What you’re looking for is maximum cadence and maximum content quality, and for most there’s gong to be some trade off
The pillars of consistency
When thinking about podcast publishing, understanding the power of consistency is the first step. It’s about creating a rhythm that your audience can rely on, building trust and forming listener habits. When your audience knows when to expect new content, you become a regular part of their routine, enhancing engagement and loyalty.
Think about how your listener might be engaging with your content, they leave the house to get in the car or take a train on their commute, reach for their phone, depending on the day they’re going to expect to find an episode from you, if they can’t they’re going to look for something else, and you may not get them back!
Regular content, strategically planned
If you’re aiming for a consistent podcast publishing schedule, effective planning is going to be crucial. We work really closely with our client PTC on the pipeline of content for The Third Angle podcast. We have a Clickup list mapping out who is confirmed or suggested for each bi-weekly episode for the next 12 months, we’re also logging when those guests are available for interview (you can read a bit more about how we make that podcast here)
Not only is a detailed content calendar a great planning tool it might also be something your wider team can feed into. Think about planning episode topics, bonus episodes, draw up your dream guest list or schedule batch recordings of episodes for maximum efficiency.
A much overlooked part of the process is podcast promotion. Budgeting time and resources to marketing a podcast is equally important as producing a podcast. You might find that a weekly publication schedule is totally within budget and resource, but if your resources for promoting each episode aren’t there then you might want to look at dialling back the cadence to give you a much better chance at getting under the eyes (and ears) of your audience. Or, you may want to look at partnering with specialist podcast promotion experts who can manage this part of the puzzle effectively.
Don’t be afraid to adapt
Mastering consistency for your business podcast is about learning what works for you whilst creating the best podcast you can for your audience. As with any aspect of producing a podcast, using the data to help shape your decisions is wise and something we’re either encouraging our clients to do, or we’re doing it on their behalf. Keep abreast of all your podcast metrics. That doesn’t just mean download numbers; but importantly completion rates (how much of each episode people are listening to), unique listener numbers ( you can get these from your Apple Podcasts or Spotify dashboards), listener feedback, or what time of the day/week people generally listen.
By looking at the full picture you’ll be able to tell whether your podcast publishing schedule is working, you may find that you need to allow more time for promotion, or there seems there is more demand than you thought for your content, or that certain content goes down better than others. For example, you might see that semi-regular topical updates always go down really well with your audience which might inspire you to increase volume of topical content that keeps your podcast relevant and engaging. Alternatively you might find that a bonus episode on a special topic performed excellently, this might inspire you to plan further bonus episodes to be published at more regular intervals.
The compounding benefits of regular podcasting
The true value of consistency is seen over time. Like compound interest, the effects of regular podcast publishing build upon themselves, and it’s why we always say that the key to effective audience growth is through frequency and consistency. With each new episode, you’re expanding your audience by welcoming new ones who will go back and discover your back catalogue. You are also deepening the connection with existing listeners who come to rely on and trust your content, enhancing your brand’s authority and credibility.
I love this graph below, this shows the growth in audience of A Life More Wild, a podcast we make for nature holiday company Canopy & Stars. For them consistency means publishing episodes in 12 episode runs with short breaks in between series. It means they can plan effective promotion around it, build up a good pipeline of guests and the audience know what to expect. As a result, we’ve seen a cumulative effect on audience growth and there’s no reason to believe this pattern won’t continue with series four!
In summary
Achieving consistency in podcasting is part science, part trial and error but it takes commitment and belief in your content for you to start seeing the fruits of your labour. Don’t expect to see results overnight. If you run a business podcast that you want to take to the next level, enlisting the help and outside perspective of a dedicated team like 18Sixty can be a big help. Take your podcast from just another show in the vast podcasting landscape; to a solid pillar of your brand’s content strategy.
Elevate your podcasting journey with 18Sixty – Let’s create a consistent, engaging, and quality-driven podcast experience together – drop us a line.