Five Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Your Start Your Podcast in 2023

Congratulations! Wanting to start a podcast is the first step to starting a podcast, so you are already on the road to being a successful podcaster. However, as with starting any new thing in life, there are mistakes that beginners should avoid. I have found after launching numerous podcasts that if you can’t answer these five questions before you begin your podcast, you will have a very difficult time with growing your podcast.

In order to be successful, you need to be able to answer these five questions!

1. Why do you want to start a podcast?

This is the ground level of your podcast. Consider you building your podcast to be like building a house. Your podcast needs a foundation to stand on. Discovering your purpose is what is going to drive you to make a successful podcast. When you don’t have a purpose, it will be hard to get through the periods of time where you don’t have a lot of downloads or listeners.

Here are some additional questions that may help you find this purpose:

● Do you want to gain visibility?

● Are you looking to form a personal connection with your audience?

● Do you want it to be part of your marketing podcast?

2. Who is your podcast for?

The goal of this question is to determine who you are talking to and what your ideal audience is. If you know anything about marketing, you will know that knowing your audience is arguably the most important part of making successful sales. You may not think of a podcast in this way, but every time you are gaining a listener, you have successfully sold your podcast to them through your podcast artwork, your podcast bio, or your social media presence.

You must narrow down your audience into a niche so that you are speaking to a specific audience with a specific pain point in order to make these “sales” and grow your podcast.

3. What style of podcast are you going to have?

Consider what the format of your podcast will be. Consistency is key with your format as changes to it can be jarring. Some people dislike interview podcasts and if your first 10 episodes are all 20 minutes long with no guest and you suddenly display an episode that is 60 minutes long and has a lengthy guest interview, you could end up losing listeners.

Here are some additional questions that may help you pin down your ideal format:

● Are you interested in having a co-host or is this a solo gig for you?

● Do you want to be an interviewer and have guests on your show?

● Will you be telling stories?

● Will you be hosting a discussion?

● How long will your episodes be?

4. When will you commit to your podcast?

In other words, when are you going to be able to show up in the lives of your audience? Successful podcasts have schedules, much like popular television shows. Just like a person may watch The Bachelorette every Monday evening at 7 pm with a friend, people will rely on your podcast uploads to be consistent. Consider when you would like to upload and how many times per week that you are able to upload to be a consistent figure in the lives of your listeners.

5. How will you deliver your podcast?

You may be interested in using video as well as audio. Deciding this now will help you know how you will repurpose your podcast episodes in the future to use on social media. If you love the idea of placing short videos on TikTok to help drive traffic, you may want to consider starting off with video. It takes episodes of practice to be comfortable with adding video into your podcast so why not start early while your listener pool is smaller and you can grow into the host that you want to be!