✴ Defining My Ideal Listener

Welcome to episode 3 of Making the Pod. Today, I’m going to ensure my podcast speaks to the right person by defining my ideal listener using a listener persona.

✴ About Making the Pod

Hey, I’m Lauren Popish, founder of The Wave Podcasting. I help women start and grow podcasts. I recently sunset my original podcast and have decided to create a new one focused on, well, podcasting. I’m taking you along as I build this podcast from day one. Be sure to hit subscribe and hit the bell notification over on YouTube so you never miss an episode. You can start from the beginning or pick up anywhere in the series and start learning. Welcome to Making The Pod.

✴ The Secret to Creating a Financially Viable Podcast

We’re still not at the point where I can pick up the mic and start recording my new podcast just yet. We are, however, at one of my favorite phases for podcasting. Defining your ideal listener. I love this phase, because it is when I see light bulbs go off in the heads of my clients.

One of my favorite podcasters, Evo Terra, talks a lot about viability on his podcast, Podcast Pontifications. He says that there are different standards we have to hold ourselves to as podcasters if we want a show that is viable. Viable meaning financially viable. In other words, you can grab your phone, start recording yourself talking, and call it a podcast. But if you want to get listeners to subscribe to that podcast, and eventually, grow that show to a point where it can generate money, then you have to put your listener first instead of yourself.

By the way, this is true for literally every marketing platform like your blog or YouTube channel or social media accounts. If you are posting pictures of your breakfast on Instagram and wondering why you aren’t getting dozens of likes and follows, it could be because your audience doesn’t care about that thing, even though you do. Now, if you decided that you wanted to use Instagram to help your audience eat healthier, and instead, you posted videos of how to create simple healthy recipes in under 30 minutes, then that kind of content could start to get the attention of people who are interested in healthy eating. If you don’t want to use your podcast or Instagram or blog for brand or business building, then it doesn’t really matter what you post. You can use the platform however you want. But if you have ambitions for these accounts, then value to your audience should be your number one priority when creating content.

Long story short, if you want to create a financially viable podcast, then you have to understand that the podcast isn’t for you, it’s for your audience. It can be told from your perspective and feature your unique take and opinions, but the content of the podcast should add value to your target listeners above all else.

✴ How a Listener Persona Can Help

This is where a listener persona comes in. A listener persona is a tool podcasters, marketers, and even entrepreneurs use to make sure they have someone specific in mind when creating content. It’s too easy to assume that your interests are the same as everyone else’s. Your target listener might be someone similar to you, but ultimately she isn’t you. Now, I have a complete video here on how to create a listener persona, so use that as a companion piece to this video. But for the sake of our conversation now, I’m going to show you how I’m defining my target listeners using a listener persona.

The trick to creating a good listener persona is to be super specific about who your target listener is. I’m talking details like what her name is, where she’s from, and how she spends her free time. It may feel silly to do, but it’s the only way to have a picture clear enough that you begin to empathize with your listener.

For my podcast, I know I have an ideal listener in mind who is female between the ages of 28 and 34. She already has a podcast, but she wants to begin to grow it so it can act as a lead generation tool within her business. She lives in one of the top 25 US cities, let’s say Austin.

Okay, my target listener is starting to shape up, but at this point, I’m realizing that I don’t just want to help women with existing shows on my podcast, I also want to help women who are wanting to start a podcast. The differences between these two people are significant enough that I know I actually need to create a separate listener persona for my new podcaster target listener. You will probably find yourself in the same position. It’s okay to have a show that appeals to many different kinds of people.

✴ Keeping Your Podcast Niche

I want to pause here for a second to make sure I don’t send you down the wrong path. While your show can have more than one type of listener, it shouldn’t appeal to everyone. A show that is made for everyone is actually made for no one, because it’s too hard for individuals to see themselves in the vague audience that you’ve defined. They won’t feel seen and won’t want to join the community that you’re building around your content. It can seem counterintuitive, but having a podcast made for a specific niche means that you have a better chance of growing a large community, because you can attract a larger share of that audience than you could if you tried to compete in a general category like wellness or lifestyle.

We’ll get into how to define your niche in a future episode, but if defining one specific person as your target listener feels tough, it could be because you’re thinking too broadly about the reach of your podcast. Really dig in to the individuals you want to impact through your show. A solid growth and monetization strategy is built on a rock solid community of super fans. And to get those super fans, you have to know what defines them. What do they care about? Where do they hang out online? Creating one or more listeners personas will help you answer those questions.

✴ Creating My Listener Persona

Okay, I put together my listener personas using the templates from my guide. This is what they look like:

✴ Conclusion

If you want some feedback on your listener persona, put it in the comments over on YouTube, and I’ll be sure to give you my two cents. And If you want to follow along with the entire journey, be sure to subscribe and hit that bell notification.

You can create your own listener persona using this free excerpt from my guide RIGHT HERE.

In the next episode, we’re going to check out the competition in my niche and define my podcast’s special sauce or “it” factor, as I like to call it. This will help ensure my podcast stands out from the crowd. I’ll see you over on the next episode of Making the Pod.

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Making the Pod: Defining My Ideal Listener