J Cleveland Payne's Creators Pep Talk

Strive to be a better quality podcaster and not to show up the local radio guy who is not your competition.

The Perfect Formula For Your Podcast Elevator Pitch is: [PODCAST TITLE] is a podcast where host(s) [NAME(S) OF HOST(S)] discuss(es) / interview(s) / analyze(s) [TOPIC OR FOCUS OF PODCAST]. It has a run time of about [AMOUNT OF TIME] and new episodes are published [FREQUENCY OF SCHEDULE].

is your podcast not getting traction caustic the audience is not getting what they want from an entertaining or educational aspect.

Put more work into you podcasting efforts that you put in listening to other people's podcast. If you need to put yourself on a 'podcast diet,' then do it.

Know if the point of your podcast to get a message out to the public or just to hear yourself talk.

Your downloads are not the only measure of success. Knowing your listener count can help you steer the direction of your show, but it should not dominate any aspect of your show.

People believe they are listening to what you are saying when they are actually barely hearing the words you are speaking. This is a hazard of the business of broadcasting and podcasting.

People don’t have time to devour your entire story in a single sitting. They will get a fuller picture from the bits and pieces they pick up along the way. Be patient.

Podcast Pep Talk is one year old, and we've learned and grown a lot in the past 52 weeks. How much have you learned over the course of your podcast's life?

Trying to be all things to all people never works. Not in business, not in relationships, and definitely not in podcasting. You don’t have to go hyper-niche but having a definite vision for who you are not catering to will greatly help keep your content topic from becoming scattered.

Ironically, no one will really notice you’re gone if no one is listening intently to your program. But they will notice that you come back stronger after a break.

You will probably not be jailed for your opinion on a pod cast. If you could be that is something to seriously consider if you feel the need to speak your mind in audio form. If not, stop fretting and just do it.

After a few months of podcasting, you may find yourself asking a few specific questions. Is the love still there? Is the purpose still there? If you answer no to either of those questions, you may be a zombie podcaster running a zombie podcast.

Put your best 'fake it till you make it' moves in action, because in podcasting unless you are extremely famous already, expect no following from your initial launch.

Always have a spare piece of tech: All your tech is just a worst-case scenario moment from going bad on you. Within reason and budget, you must always have a backup plan and equipment for just the right time for the wrong thing to happen.

There are people who because of time constraints and preference listen to podcasts at 1.5X speed and faster. Does your podcast stand up to being sped up?

Sound quality a greater factor in the delivery of your message when all you have is pure audio to send to listeners. But perfect is not the goal. Clear and airable is.

There is pressure to keep a podcast publishing schedule consistent, but there is pressure to maintain a life, especially when your podcast is more of a labor-intensive labor of love than a vehicle for profit. So there is plenty of reason to skip a week in your production schedule, but you have to do it right.

Have titles that are catchy and draw people in without reading like clickbait that turns people away.

At the beginning of your podcast journey, you will probably not be very good. But as you continue, if you are not gaining the response you want, you may not be improving. This is not the sign to quit, but a reminder to always evaluate your latest work.

A podcast is an audio recording...and a for-the-record recording of the words you said. So make sure the words you say on any podcast are understood in context, and that you are willing to face the consequences of how others interpret those words.  

Apple Podcasts is your direct way into the iPhone ecosystem and the directory many other podcatchers use to update their listings. But it may not be the most important home for podcasts for your audience.

Breaking down the inside jokes your older listeners to your podcast enjoy so that your newer listeners can understand them does not make them less funny. It makes your show more inclusive, and less cultist.

Stop trying to keep pace with the big-time podcasters. Run your own race, which is very easy to say and very hard to do.

What metrics are you using to gauge success for your podcasts? Is it really about listener engagement or cash from sponsorships?