I'm podcast Award winner Hank Davis and I've launched over three dozen podcasts In my 17 plus years of podcasting and This time I'm talking about five podcast Launch mistakes and how to avoid them Number one spur of the moment let's Start a show sometimes during the Planning process you'll figure out that Maybe you initially chose the wrong Topic or subject matter or you don't Want to start a podcast at all this is Why a lot of the podcasts that are Created never make it past seven Episodes so you definitely want to have Careful planning of what your podcast Will be about how you're going to gather Information when you're going to record Who's gonna be involved all that type of Stuff you want to have that planned out Well in advance personally I don't think It's unrealistic to have your podcast Planned in place preferably a year ahead Of time six months is doable 90 days is A definite in my own opinion number two Keeping your podcast a secret guess what Your podcast is already a secret so Trying to keep the tarps up until your Podcast is ready to launch is a terrible Idea because the whole objective is to Get as many people as you possibly can On board when your podcast when it Launches you don't just open a Restaurant and have a full capacity with No advertising I see this mistake far
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Learn the Correct Way To Launch a Podcast
Too often people put on the parameters Of like a hardware manufacturer who is Making r d top secret equipment Therefore they need to keep a secret you However want as many people in the world To find out about it as humanly possible During the process of sharing your idea With other people you might find out Some key information that can help shape The overall show and all along the way You want to be garnering attention you Want to start to be the go-to person Whether it's a television series whether It's a book or some specific subject Matter you want to start being the go-to Individual for that and the only way you Do that is by starting early and Building up your credibility podcast Apps are littered with some of the best Kept secrets in podcasting number three Hoping against hope that you can clout Chase and get a celebrity on your Podcast and then magically it's just Gonna go through the roof this just Doesn't work I've interviewed Celebrities I've interacted with Celebrities and you know what kind of Bump they give to my podcast zero Because on your podcast You are the draw not them usually people Don't experience a bump when you're Interviewing somebody famous but even if You do those people are less likely to Stick around because they're coming
There for them and not you you need to Make it the other way around you need to Add value to your guest if you're gonna Have a so you need to already build your Audience as much as humanly possible Prior to launching in order to add value To them instead of hoping against help That somehow they're going to be able to Pull in big numbers and then all those People are going to magically stay with You it's just not a realistic idea in Over 17 years of podcasting I've seen it Hundreds and hundreds of times where People try to find somebody to give them That Spike and then they're devastated Once they figure out that it doesn't Work that way take for instance Dwayne Johnson he's launched some dud movies And he has one of the biggest followings On the internet which brings me to Number four social media does not Directly correlate to downloads in Podcasting it doesn't work that way so In the past when I've competed against Other shows on a specific television Series I was focusing on the podcast they're Focusing on building their vanity Metrics like social media Twitter Facebook page and all that and it just Does not correlate to downloads that Stuff looks cool but it just does not Work the way you think it would so Oftentimes I see ground I seed X and
Facebook and Instagram and all that I Let you go out there do all that hard Work building that up all the while I'm Creating content and engaging with an Audience that is after a podcast so While I'm building my podcast others are Building their likes and retweets and Shares and all that stuff you can have That I'll take the downloads recently I Started a podcast gear newsletter and It's a free monthly newsletter that'll Keep you up to date on all the latest Gear that's been released Link in the Description it's an easy way to keep up On devices as they launch or sometimes Be four day launch channel members get The exclusive video version so consider Becoming a channel member today and Number five create your own mechanism For communicating with your audience the Bad thing about YouTube and Facebook and Twitter is they don't often surface your Content to people who said yes I want Your content Now podcast apps do when You subscribe to a podcast you're able To get every single episode other Services don't work that way they want To get into your pockets if possible so You need to create another mechanism in Order to reach out to your audience you Can do this through a newsletter an Email delivery rate is much better than Facebook showing your post to the people Who said yes we want to see these posts
You could start a Discord Channel you Could create your own message board or Start one on another service that allows You to interact with everybody and Doesn't hide your posts like some of These major social networks too but you Do need to create a point of contact With everybody who has raised their hand Subscribed to your podcast and then you Have another way to keep in touch with Them just in case something goes wrong With the RSS feed or if you just want to Relay some information that you don't Want to create a whole podcast episode About so cultivate your own audience and Have mechanisms in place to reach them More reviews training and breaking news Coming soon please subscribe thank you