As part of what you need to start a podcast, you also need to prioritize podcast goal-setting. Setting clear, actionable, realistic goals is one of the recipes of a booming podcast. Of course, you will have some things in mind to achieve with your show. You might have started your podcast to promote your business or for altruistic reasons like giving voice to the voiceless. But are they specific goals? More importantly, are your goals SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound). Have you asked yourself of what do you need to start a podcast, or how do your goals enhance the progress of your podcast?
A Harvard Business School study found that people who set goals are ten times more likely to succeed than people who don’t. Since it is already established that goal-setting is what you need to start a podcast, how do you set goals?
Please write down your Podcast Goals
If you want to achieve your podcast goals; then you need to commit them to a pen and paper. You are
42% more likely to achieve your goal if you have them written down. When you have your podcast goal in black and white, you can pause to think about how to go about it.
You will be able to compare your strength against your goals. If your goal is to be the #1 podcast in your niche within the next five years, writing down your goal will make you examine your current position while setting the goal.
Understand your Goal
Don’t set goals that are too vague or complicated. While answering the question of what do I need to start a podcast and setting your goals, simplicity is the key. Your goals should be clear, concise, and easy to understand whenever you go back to them. Your podcast goals should look like this;
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- To increase my podcast listeners from 1000 to 2000 within the next six months
- Expand my brand awareness from online to local communities this year
- To make $50,000 from my podcast this quarter
- To increase my audience engagement by 50% in the third quarter of this year
If your goals are one or two lines, you can always glance through them or commit them to memory. More often than not, simple goals are easy to measure than those that seem daunting on paper.
Set them high
Just because your goals are simple does not mean they should be too low. Give yourself some credit and set high but realistic goals. For instance, if you have not
monetized your podcast, it might seem impossible to realize $50,000 from your podcast within three months. However, setting your expectation high like this will push you to take the necessary steps to make money from your podcast.
Conversely, setting high goals does not mean you should overestimate your ability. If you want to make $50,000 within three months, do you have sponsors for your show? How many ads do you have on your site, and how many people visit your website to click on these ads?
Break your Podcast Goals into Pieces
Now that you have set high goals for yourself, how do you achieve them? Create subcategories to each podcast goal that you can work on daily without any huge negative effects on your usual daily routine.
If your goal is to increase your audience engagement by 50%, you need to polish the means of communicating with your listeners. You can reach out to your audience daily on social media, respond to comments and reviews on your podcast hosting platform, and send them a weekly newsletter. After you have found the means of
connecting with your listeners, carve out the time you will spend on each communication channel. Next is to know how many listeners you can engage within the scheduled period.
Be Accountable
So many goals go unachieved due to a lack of accountability. As a podcaster, how do you ensure that your podcast goals are not shelved, just like most New Year resolutions? Task yourself with regularly reviewing the progress you have made on your goals. For instance, if your goal is to grow your audience from 1000 to 2000 within three months, check how many new leads you have had in a week. From this, find out how many conversions you gained from these leads. If you have gained just 20 new listeners in a month, you need to change your strategies.
Another way of staying accountable is having a fellow podcaster set a similar goal as an accountability partner. You can compare notes on your progress.
Final Thoughts: What You Need To Start a Podcast
To stay motivated to achieve your podcasting goals, remember to always reward yourself for every feat you achieve, even if it is just a pat on the back. Goal-setting and success go hand-in-hand. Remember that as part of what you need to start a podcast, you need to set both long-term and short-term goals.
