My Buzzsprout Podcast Advertising Experiment
Plus, podcasting goals for 2024
Hello Besties!
This year, my podcasting ethos is “Less is more.” I came across Zach Kahn’s 2024 Podcasting Wish List on X/Twitter and was nodding while reading it.
I've also been thinking along these lines, with a few additional points:
Maximize sustainable content strategies (aka reduce, reuse, recycle)
When Lauren Passell came on Podcast Bestie, the Podcast and told us that one of her clients had their best year by recycling more content than ever, that got my wheels turning. Thus, I've been doing more strategic programming for Private Parts Unknown over the past seven months, recycling and remixing old episodes on a monthly basis since I already have such a big back catalog of great content for that show. This has freed up extra time to concentrate on book writing. I want to release at least 25 percent recycled content this year, including some shorter iterations of popular previous episodes. My first 2024 episode of The Bleeders was repurposed from 2022 crowd favorite.
Another thing that has freed up time and made podcasting more sustainable for me lately has been letting go of a set schedule for The Bleeders and Podcast Bestie. That's not possible for Private Parts Unknown because it's a more established show with ad obligations, but loosening up my release cadence on the other shows has made my podcasting workload more manageable.
I hope that by recycling worthy content and doing fewer episodes, I can do outstanding work on all my existing feeds AND have time to bring a new limited series to life.
Don’t be afraid to go solo
2024 is the year of more solo episodes. In the past, I’ve tended to keep things guest-centric. And while I want to continue to have guests on my shows, and I love interviewing, it’s important for me to recognize that a lot of people listen to my podcasts for me. My rare solo episodes for Private Parts Unknown are among the most popular, and my hunch is that my audiences would like to hear more behind-the-scenes about my writing for The Bleeders and podcasting for Podcast Bestie, as well. As long as I give myself enough time for brainstorming and outlining, these solo eps are fun to produce, and I love the audio diary quality. Plus, it allows me to save time on guest booking. I want to do about 25 percent solo episodes this year. In fact, my first Private Parts Unknown episode of 2024 is a solo episode about my first colonoscopy.
Bangers only
I want to focus my efforts more in 2024. I typically follow my passions above all else, but I want to do that more than ever this year — not just topics and guests I'm interested in but topics and guests I can't resist. That goes back to the "bangers only" philosophy.
As a listener, I'm always down for a longer episode when it offers a super-involved deep dive. And as a creator, I long to immerse myself in things I'm curious about. Doing a special series for each podcast can also help me create marketing moments and focus my bandwidth and money investments. I would love 25-50 percent of my content this year to be really intentional, highly produced episodes or series.
So those are my big podcasting goals for this year. Fewer episodes, less stress, more passion, and hopefully more impact. As far as new content, it’s basically a bangers-only strategy. It’s also about giving my best content from the past a new chance to shine. And centering myself on my own podcast.
Do you need some help reaching your creative resolutions? I’m teaching a couple of upcoming classes that might help!
Okay, now I want to share my Buzzsprout advertising results with y’all. I’m running a special this week, so now is a great time to upgrade if you’re not yet a paid subscriber.