When it comes to episode ideas for your podcast, sometimes it feels like the easiest thing in the world – but other times, it can be really hard. Whatever the reason, I wanted to make planning your podcast easy all 24/7, which is why I’m sharing how to get one year of podcast episode ideas!
And I’m not sharing a theory; I’m sharing a process that I used last year and this year, and I recommend to my clients who want to plan out their episodes in advance (which makes it so much easier to record and make use of the time you have recording).
What makes this planning strategy amazing is that you can use it if you just launched your podcast or if your podcast has been around for a while! Since you know how much easier it can make podcasting and how helpful it can be in your planning, let’s break down how to get one year of podcast episode ideas –
As always, you can listen to the related episode on Moms Who Podcast here:
Why You Should Be Planning Your Podcast Episodes
I get it; some of us are go-with-the-flow/plan-on-the-fly mamas, and that’s okay – but, as mamas, we’re typically working in a tight timeframe to get a good podcast recording (and our mics can only block out so much background noise). This process is so much smoother when you have a plan for our podcast in place.
I don’t want you to stress about not having a plan right now or not knowing what type of content you want to create. In full transparency, I’ve only recently really become inspired by the content I was planning, it’s normally difficult, and I get “podcaster’s block.” But, this past year, I hired a business coach who really helped me gain the clarity and insight I needed to create.
Now, hiring a business coach is not the only reason I’m able to plan a year’s worth of podcast episodes; it was just a nice little bonus that made it easier, and if you want to know more about my experience with a business coach you can send me a DM on Instagram, I’m always down for a good talk. But let’s get into what helps me plan my podcast episodes year after year.
How to Get One Year of Podcast Episode Ideas
Before I start, I want to preface this by saying that my audience has not always been what it is. My business is in a season of growth, and I am extremely grateful and thankful for that. However, when I originally started using this process, my audience was much smaller. I’m sharing this because I don’t want you to stress yourself out over the size of your business/audience. You can still use and get great results from this process of planning a year of podcast episodes. Here’s the deal –
Every year, I host an annual survey. In this survey, I ask my audience all kinds of questions that help me gauge where they’re at and what they need/want. Here are some examples of what I gather in my surveys or market research:
- Who my audience is
- Where they’re at in their journey
- What they want to see from me
- What they think of my content/podcast so far
- What they think when they think of my brand
- What they’re currently struggling with
From this survey, I can get almost everything I need to plan out all my episodes for the year – whether I’m literally sitting down and planning every single episode or I’m planning on the fly and going back to reference it for ideas and inspiration.
How to Conduct a Survey for Your Podcast (and Get Real, Honest Answers)
The downside of this method is that while it provides so much insight into your audience and what you should create, it takes a little bit of work. And, although it’s not a requirement, I do my survey as a giveaway – which means more time and money are invested. But I’ve found that a giveaway is just the right incentive to get my audience actually to participate in the survey.
People are busy, and to reward them for giving you a few minutes of their time is essential and that’s where the giveaway comes in and works really well. But, for your actual survey, your first step is going to be creating a form. You can do an Airtable form that connects to a base or a Google form that links to a sheet, and both work well (although I personally prefer Airtable).
You’re going to add questions that will help your audience know what to say; for example, you could ask:
- What do you want to see from me?
- What do you want me to answer on the podcast?
- What topics do you want me to cover on the podcast?
- What are you struggling with when it comes to [add your niche/topic]?
If you’re planning on launching an offer or have a new service you want to promote, you may want to ask leading questions related to your offer.
After you’ve created your survey and set up your systems to ensure that everyone’s responses are organized, you can easily enter them for your giveaway (and have the contact information necessary to giveaway the prize), you can start sharing! Don’t be afraid to promote it across your social media channels, on your podcast, and in your emails. The more answer you have, the more content you can create that your audience will find valuable.
When and How Long Should You Survey Your Audience?
You can leave your survey up for however long you want, but consider these two things: if you don’t leave it up long enough, you won’t get enough responses. But, if you leave it up too long, your audience will forget they participated, and you’ll lose the “hype” you’ve created around it.
I like to keep mine up for an entire month, but you can leave yours open for a week. I also only do a survey once per year – typically during the month of December. If once isn’t enough, you can do one twice a year or even once per quarter.
Taking Your Responses and Turning Them Into Podcast Episodes
As your audience starts participating in your survey and responses are coming in, you’ll see angles that you didn’t think of, and their needs/wants you didn’t realize you weren’t meeting. Plus, you’ll start to see trends and areas where multiple people in your audience are struggling and need some additional support that you can create content based around.
You can also see where they’re at in the journey, take that information, and plan more content around that time period. For example, for me, this looks like creating content for launching a podcast versus growing a podcast. And if you need some help planning your podcast content or launching your podcast or just need some podcast support – get in touch! Let’s see what we can do together!
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