How to Discover and Research New Podcasts

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If you’re thinking about starting a podcast, one of the first things you should do is research. Thankfully, the best way to research is to experience podcasts. From a listeners perspective. How do you find these great podcasts? What questions should you be asking yourself to make sure you have all the information you need? Today we’re talking all about how to discover and research new podcasts. Take it away, Radio man. Podcast Your Business!

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Hey, everyone, welcome to Podcast Your Business. My name is Sunny Gault. I am a podcast coach and mentor. And I’ve been podcasting for the last 17 years. I’m also the founder and CEO of Independent Podcast Network. It is a network where we help you grow, monetize, and connect with other podcasters. And I am here to help you create amazing podcasts for your business. We do this by mastering the Five P’s of podcasting. Right, the five P’s of podcasting, this is something I talk about in my online course, it’s called “How to Launch Your Profitable Podcast in 30 Days”. And we go through the five P’s I’ve discovered, you know, throughout the last 17 years of doing podcasts, pretty much anything you can learn about podcasting can be categorized in these five P’s. The first is prep, should you start a podcast? And what kind of prep work do you have to do? In order to answer that question, plan? What is the look and feel for your podcast? Produce? How do you create the content and create it well promote? How do you tell everyone about your beautiful new podcast you created? And finally profit? How do you make money with it? So radio man, what are we talking about today? Now prep is all about preparing for your podcasts. This is before you get into really thinking about how you’re going to do your show and the name and the format and all that good stuff. Before you even get to that, you have to know that you should start a podcast. And to do that you have to do some research, you need to know exactly what you’re getting yourself into. And this is the advice that I give all of my clients or potential clients who think they want to start a podcast. Now, if you do this correctly. And if you’re honest with yourself, this is going to save you a lot of time and energy. Because it is possible that even though you think you want to do a podcast, that this is not the best format for you. So it will really help you narrow down whether or not you even like podcast, right?

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So here are some of the topics we’re gonna discuss today. How do you discover new podcasts? Now, if you have been listening to podcast for a while, that may seem kind of like a silly thought, right? Well, you know, I just do this, you know, this is what I always do. But for a lot of people, they still don’t even know how to access a podcast. So if you’re one of those people, we’re going to break that down for you today. Also, what type of research do I recommend to all of my clients? Because like I said, this is a process, you really have to think about what you’re doing, especially as it relates to your business. Because you are a busy business owner, you’re an entrepreneur, there’s a lot of hats and stuff that you’re probably wearing, right? And you love what you do, but your time is still limited. So what do you need to do when you’re listening to these podcasts after you found them? What kind of information? Are you trying to get out of this? Right? So I’m going to take you through the process that I guide all of my clients through. And then finally, how can this research everything that you’ve done the research you’ve done with the podcast? How can that help you in potentially launching your own show or not? It really depends on how the research goes. Right? Well, we’re gonna get started on all that and begin our discussion right after this quick break.

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Okay, let’s talk about how you find podcasts. Everybody has their own little way of doing this. Okay, but the easiest way to find and listen to podcasts are through podcast apps. podcasts were designed to be listened to on the go. So my recommendation is that you find a podcast app that you really like. So what podcast apps are out there. This is going to be really important when we talk about where to distribute your show. Who’s but the top three places that you really need to have a podcast listed in. And as a listener, this is important for you to write because it’s how you find the podcast. Are you ready, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. So those are the big players. And then from there, you do have independent podcast apps. But most of those pull from the big guys, mainly Apple podcasts. What I mean by that is, if you have your podcast listed with the quote unquote big guys, yes, that is a technical definition, then your RSS feed will be pulled from that and used in the smaller apps. Okay. So as a listener, I’m just giving you guys a little bit of background on where you should put your podcasts when you have one. But from a listener perspective, you really just need to find an app that you like, if you have an iOS device, check out Apple Podcasts, you can download. Even with iOS, you can download the Google podcast app, I have it on my iPhone, you can listen to Spotify through their app. So those are pretty easy. A couple of the other independent ones that seem to be really popular right now, if you want to check them out, Overcast, Pocket Cast, Castbox, and Good Pods. All of them have something you know a little different about them. Like I said, this is very subjective. Bottom line is find a podcast app that you like, because this is the primary way you’re going to be doing your research.

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Next, let’s talk about how you’re going to do the research. So you pick your app, and maybe you want to try a few, right, then I want you to subscribe, or sometimes they call it follow now there was this whole thing, don’t call it subscribe. It sounds like you got to purchase something. Well, podcasts have always been free. So I don’t know what they’re talking about there. But subscribe or follow whatever you want to say to at least five podcasts. So if you’re already listening to podcasts, that’s great. Subscribe to five more. And only one can be in your genre, right your category of the type of podcast you think you’re going to produce, because it is important to do a little market research and know what else is out there. But for this exercise, only one of the five can be in your genre. Also, don’t just pick the top shows that’s the easy way out. Because those are going to be quote, the best shows out there. Now I say quote, because there are some amazing podcasts that have a small audience. And you know, unless someone tells you about the show, you may not even know it exists. So do a little digging to find those gems. It’s you know what this reminds me of like the indie music scene. Yeah, there’s top 40. And they’re going to be played on all the radio stations out there. But there are some gems. And if you can find them, then it’s amazing, right, and they are out there, I promise you. So do a little digging, subscribe to five shows. For the next I’m going to say 30 days, you can do less than this. But I’m thinking most of the podcast, you’re probably going to subscribe to our weekly shows, that’s just kind of the average. So I say for 30 days, you need to stay subscribe to the shows, and listen to the episodes as they come in. And when you do that, take notes describing and this is just notes for you describing what you like, and what you don’t like about these podcasts. So for example, let’s say you subscribe to a show, and it’s a co-hosted show. And you just love the banter back and forth between the co-hosts. And you make a decision later on. Based on that little market research you did that, Hey, maybe I don’t want to do a show just by myself. Maybe I want to bring on another business owner and do a co hosted show. That may be something that you decide these are things that you’re going to be learning. When you’re doing this research. Perhaps you learn a little bit more about show structure. You know, a lot of podcasts do a lot of chitchat back and forth, especially in the beginning. Maybe you discover that you don’t like that. Right. You want to get right into whatever the topic is about. You’re gonna learn a lot about the production quality of the show is the host right on top of the microphone where you hear all the popup noises, right? Do you hate the music that they use? Also, are they using commercials in their shows or promos and how are they doing that? And does it seem disruptive or do they do it in kind of a cool way? Because you’re gonna want to be promoting stuff in your show eventually, too. Right? Maybe it’s your own In products and services, we’re gonna be talking more about that in the future. But you need to know how other people are doing it. And this isn’t stealing information, guys, I want to make that very clear, you are getting ideas, but you’re gonna put your own spin on everything. Another thing to consider is how often are they releasing episodes I mentioned weekly, is the typical cadence for most podcasts. But maybe some of your favorite ones release twice a week. Maybe there’s a daily show you really like that’s a lot of work. I don’t know if I would jump into daily, but you get the point. Right? Okay. So that’s the process that I coach people and I tell people how to do research on the podcast. That’s the whole process that I lay out for them.

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Once you’ve compiled all this research, then you need to ask yourself the question now, what am I going to do with all this? Right? What was this exercise for? Why is this exercise important? Well, we’re trying to figure out bottom line is, should you start a podcast. And trust me, I had many people come to me, without doing any kind of research, someone told them, they should start a podcast. So they go find a podcast coach, and boom, we’re supposed to create a podcast together. But they haven’t done any research to really know anything about podcasts and what they like and what they don’t like. So these are the people that I usually take through this whole process, right? You need to know what’s involved. And you may find really quickly based on maybe something one of the hosts said, or just the sheer amount of information that’s coming out from a podcast, that this may be too much for you at this point. I always get a little frustrated when people are like, oh, yeah, it’s so easy to start a podcast. Yeah, you just, you know, press record, whatever. That’s a huge misnomer. Guys. It is so much easier now to start a podcast because the technology is there. But the fundamentals of producing a show and coming up with topics and, you know, connecting with your audience, and just being a good podcast host and the research that’s required, that isn’t going to change, I don’t care how much new tech comes out. So I’m hoping that as you’re listening to the shows, you’re taking in some of this additional information as well. Someone may say something to you and be like, oh, sorry, we didn’t get a chance to get this episode out this week, because I was at my daughter’s recital boom, that puts a thumb into your head. Oh, that’s right. Yeah, we do do those recitals or my son has soccer practice every Friday night, maybe I shouldn’t do, you know, weekly show, maybe I should start off with every couple of weeks. This is some of the stuff I’m hoping that you pick up on, my piece of advice that I’d love to tell people is if you decide to push forward with doing a podcast, you need to create the type of podcast that you would subscribe to, that you would listen to. Because in order to keep this up week after week, or whenever you’re releasing new episodes, you have to be in it, your heart has to be in this. And if you’re producing a podcast for somebody else, even though your names, you know, on a billboard, so to speak, it’s not gonna last. So that’s why we’re going through this. That’s why we’re doing this type of research to get you more connected to what’s already out there in podcast land, and determine if this is a good fit for you. Should you start a podcast for your business? I’ve got a PDF that outlines the top five ways Podcasts can help your business. And we’re going to learn more about that on the other side of this break.

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Why should you seriously consider starting a podcast for your business? How will your business benefit? Well, I’ve got five reasons for you and I lay it all out in my free PDF, the link is in the description. And if you need a little bit more guidance as you launch your podcast, I would love it if you would consider working with me. I’ve got some coaching packages that are listed on the website. We have prices for every budget guys, we have a DIY, do it yourself kind of package where I just outline the steps that you need to take and you do everything on your own. We’ve got packages for “Hey, help me get started and you know, complete some of the production work for me” all the way up through “Will you just edit and do everything for me and I just show up and talk?”. So depending on what level you’re at, we’ve got a package for that. So check out our website. It’s https://independentpodcast.network for more information. Until next week, remember, podcasts are awesome!