Content Is King But Consistency Is Queen

Everyone is searching for what I like to call the “golden brick road” in podcasting — That single thing that, if done well, will guarantee you more listeners and a booming podcast. That’s led podcasters to look for answers in all the wrong spots. On today’s episode of the Q’d Up Podcast on Podcasting, I’m going to give you the two main things that will truly give your podcast the best shot at success: great content and consistency.

“If content is king, consistency is queen” is a phrase I’ve used often on this podcast and in discussions with our clients. Essentially, your podcast is nothing without great and engaging content that you deliver in a consistent way on a consistent schedule. Missing an episode or putting out a lackluster one because you were rushing is the quickest way to chip away at your audience and limit your growth as a podcaster. You should always be focused on making the best content humanly possible for every episode, so we turn our attention to the power of consistency in this episode with some useful tips that will help you become more consistent in everything you do.

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Episode transcript:

In talking to our clients and prospective clients, everyone wants to know the one thing that will help them rise to the top. What day is the best to publish an episode? Is weekly better than every fortnight? How long should the intro be? Do we go with a 4 act structure or make it more freeform? 

Those are all brilliant questions but they don’t really matter. Let me correct that, they do indeed matter but they’re far from the most important thing for your podcast. 

As a society, we’re always looking for the silver bullet or, as I like to call it, the golden brick road to success. That one thing that if you do it, will give you everything you want. Unfortunately, very few things work that way and considering podcasting is still in its infancy, relatively speaking, the industry is still trying to figure out what works consistently for every type of podcast.

See, that’s actually the problem. No two podcasts are the same. Even within the same genre, two podcasts can be dramatically different. Different hosts, different energy, different talking points, different expertise, different music, different release schedule, different built-in audience, different marketing strategies, different everything. That makes it impossible to tell anyone what will “absolutely” work for them. However, there are a few things that matter just a little bit more.

Over the years, I’ve come up with a saying, or at least added onto one that already exists.

“If content is king, then consistency is queen.”

On today’s episode of the Q’d Up Podcast on Podcasting, I’m going to discuss why your content and schedule are the most important things to the success of your podcast. If you’re tired of going 2 steps forward only to take a step back and you really want to grow your audience, keep listening.

“If content is king, then consistency is queen.”

You might have heard me say that here on the Q’d Up Podcast on Podcasting or our other podcast, Podcast Industry Experts. But what does it really mean?

In my mind, your content is the top thing you need to think about. In general, the content within your podcast has to be great to attract and keep listeners.

But how consistent you are matters just as much. Though it absolutely means sticking to a release schedule, consistency also means having a consistent quality to match. If every other episode sounds rushed, has no good information in it, and is generally lackluster; it won’t matter that every other episode is amazing, your listeners will think about finding better content elsewhere and when presented with an opportunity to do so, they’ll leave. 

That not only means you’ll see huge waves of downloads instead of steady results, it also means you’ll be spending more when marketing your podcast. Running ads will get you fewer long-term listeners, meaning you’ll have to keep feeding that beast to see any real results. Cross promotion will be tougher as well because you might just end up presenting another podcast to your audience they’ll like more. Even monetizing your own podcast will be harder as advertisers use things like click-through-rates to determine an ad’s success and if they buy an ad spot on a down episode, they might not be as eager to buy another ad spot later.

To help create a consistent podcast, you really should have what is called a “show bible.” It’s little more than a document that helps you detail what your podcast actually is. At Qd Up, we write out things like the podcast’s goals, an ideal listener profile, the tone and energy we want, the release schedule, and any other important notes we might need to refer back to later.

With that written out, you then need to create a production process that works for you or hire an outside agency like Q’d Up to manage things for you. By having a production process and following it like clockwork for every episode, you’ll be able to put out consistent episodes on a consistent schedule.

Look, things happen sometimes. People get sick, technology can suddenly stop working, accidents happen. But you don’t want the sniffles or the wrong press of a button to not only derail your day but force you to miss your release schedule. Here at Q’d Up, we love being a few episodes ahead whenever possible. It allows us to plan for the unplannable and it takes the pressure off by not having as hard of a deadline, which means we’re more focused on creating great content instead of just trying to get something done in time.

Now, that’s not to say you can’t take breaks. In fact, I’m a big fan of podcasters taking regular breaks to recharge their batteries. But they should be planned out instead of sudden. Remember, your audience isn’t in your head and if you haven’t told them you’re going to miss an episode, they might just think you’ve podfaded. 

Let me use an example of something one of our clients did before working with us to help drive this point home. A business podcast had been putting out weekly episodes for about a year, building up a sizeable audience of around 30,000 downloads a month. However, they didn’t tell their audience they were skipping an episode during the week of Christmas. Low and behold, that one missed episode saw their downloads cut dramatically. Their very next episode had ⅓ the number of downloads, which continued into January. Ultimately, it’s taken them thousands of dollars in marketing to get back to the place they were, albeit with new listeners that might not yet be as loyal. 

Something as simple as a missed episode with no explanation quite literally cost this podcaster the bulk of their audience. That’s the power of consistency, and the damage it can do if it isn’t respected.

It’s also good for you as a podcaster to be on a regular schedule. Creating whole episodes can be a chore at times, no matter how much you love podcasting. Just like exercise or quitting a bad habit, the second you give yourself a break, you’ve actually broken your willpower. Now, some people can recover from that and get right back on track immediately. Others can’t and missing a single episode can turn into 2 and 3 and 5 and 10 and eventually, you just don’t have a podcast anymore.

I want more podcasts out there. I want more original, engaging, exciting content in this world. I also want you to take care of yourself, in whatever that means for you specifically. If you create your show bible and get a production process in place that can get you ahead, you’ll be happier as a creator and your podcasts will be better for it. And that’s what makes me, and more importantly, your audience happy.

Now get out there and great something amazing!