Podcasting has loads of so-called guidelines. Publish persistently. Keep away from inside jokes. Area of interest down. Observe a predictable format. Maintain your episodes a sure size. Script every little thing. Define every little thing. Do that. Don’t do this. And whereas a lot of these concepts will be good recommendation, a lot of them will not be legal guidelines. They’re pointers.
To be clear, I’m not speaking about precise legal guidelines, ethics, disclosures, copyrights, logos, or anything that carries authorized or ethical accountability. These issues matter. I’m speaking in regards to the podcasting greatest practices folks generally elevate into absolute necessities.
Lots of these greatest practices come from expertise, analysis, and a real need to assist podcasters succeed. So this isn’t permission to disregard knowledge. However should you’re going to interrupt a type of “guidelines,” right here’s an important factor: break it with intention.
Break “guidelines” with intention
Good design has guidelines: alignment, consistency, distinction, proximity, typography, and extra. However good designers additionally know when to interrupt these guidelines.
For instance, think about a clear structure the place each component aligns completely on the left. Then one picture intentionally breaks out of that alignment. If it breaks out clearly sufficient, it could draw consideration, create visible curiosity, and make the entire design stronger. But when it’s solely barely misaligned, it normally seems like a mistake.
That’s the distinction between breaking a rule with intention and breaking it carelessly. One can enhance the consequence. The opposite normally creates confusion.
Podcasting works the identical means. For those who break a suggestion, ensure you know why you’re doing it, what tradeoff you’re making, and the way it serves your viewers or your podcast.
Consistency: a suggestion, not a regulation
Consistency is among the largest podcasting “guidelines,” and it’s a superb guideline. Publishing persistently may also help you construct your catalog, your viewers, your authority, and even your rankings. Whether or not your schedule is day by day, weekly, month-to-month, or one thing else, consistency normally makes progress simpler.
However consistency shouldn’t be a regulation.
Some profitable podcasters break this rule with intention. Dan Carlin’s Hardcore Historical past is a good instance. His episodes are virtually audiobooks, and so they take an enormous quantity of analysis and manufacturing. If he compelled himself right into a strict schedule, both the standard of the podcast or his high quality of life would in all probability undergo.
So he sacrifices consistency so as to shield high quality. That’s intentional. His viewers doesn’t love the present as a result of it’s inconsistent. They adore it as a result of it’s wonderful.
That doesn’t imply it is best to abandon consistency merely as a result of it’s laborious. However it does imply it is best to perceive the tradeoff. In case your life or your manufacturing course of makes consistency troublesome, you may want a unique type of rhythm. I talked extra about that in “Methods to Proceed Podcasting When Your Life Is Unpredictable.”
Inside jokes can construct rapport
You’ve in all probability heard that you just shouldn’t have inside jokes in your podcast. And that’s partly true. For those who and your cohost are laughing about one thing your viewers doesn’t perceive, your listeners can really feel excluded.
However inside jokes may construct rapport—in case your viewers is a part of the joke.
A shared joke could make listeners really feel like they’re a part of the neighborhood. New listeners could not perceive it instantly, however as they catch up, they will really feel welcomed into that circle. Typically, the recurring joke itself turns into a part of the present’s persona and neighborhood language.
So the higher guideline shouldn’t be “by no means use inside jokes.” It’s this: don’t exclude your viewers from the joke. Convey them into it.
I coated this extra totally in “Ought to Your Podcast Have Inside Jokes?”
You might not have to “area of interest down”
“Area of interest down” is one other frequent podcasting rule. And sure, having a transparent area of interest may also help your podcast. However “area of interest” doesn’t need to imply solely your matter.
It’s also possible to specialize by viewers, method, format, persona, worldview, or the type of expertise you create. So that you may break the “rule” of getting a slender matter whereas nonetheless being area of interest in one other means.
Your present may not be the one podcast a few broad topic, however it may be the one one for a selected type of listener, from a selected perspective, with a selected promise. That’s nonetheless a distinct segment.
The purpose is to not reject niching. The purpose is to know what sort of area of interest you even have. I defined this extra in “4 Sorts of Podcast Niches—It’s Not Simply Your Matter!”
“It’s not hurting them” is a delusion
Once you see profitable podcasters breaking guidelines, you may suppose, “Nicely, it’s not hurting them.” However you don’t truly know that.
They may have an viewers, revenue, and affect regardless of breaking a rule—not due to it. Perhaps they’d have much more success in the event that they adopted that guideline. We merely can’t know the alternate model of their podcast.
So don’t assume that no matter a profitable podcaster does is robotically a part of why they’re profitable. At most, you may normally say this: breaking that rule has not prevented them from reaching their present stage of success.
That’s a way more sincere conclusion, and it ought to make you extra cautious about what you copy. I unpacked this extra in “Debunking the Fantasy: ‘It’s Not Hurting Their Podcast’”.
Some “guidelines” are dumb
Some guidelines are useful. Some are outdated. And a few are simply dumb.
Podcasting has inherited some practices from radio, promoting, and Web advertising and marketing that don’t all the time match the medium, your values, or your viewers. For instance, some advertising and marketing “guidelines” say it is best to use synthetic shortage, faux urgency, fixed popups, and countdown timers to extend conversions.
And sure, a few of these issues work. However that doesn’t imply it is best to do them.
If a countdown timer resets each time somebody opens a non-public browser window, that’s not urgency. That’s deception. If a suggestion is all the time “ending quickly,” then it isn’t actually ending quickly. I do know I might in all probability earn more money by utilizing extra aggressive techniques, however I might somewhat be trusted than squeeze out a number of extra conversions by means of one thing I contemplate dishonest.
That’s a rule I’m keen to interrupt with intention.
The identical applies to your podcast. Simply because a tactic works for another person doesn’t imply it matches your viewers, your values, or the connection you’re making an attempt to construct. If a “rule” pushes you towards one thing manipulative, complicated, or misaligned along with your promise to your viewers, you will have an excellent motive to interrupt it.
Don’t break “guidelines” out of laziness
So sure, it’s okay to interrupt some podcasting guidelines. However don’t break them out of laziness.
Don’t skip consistency merely since you don’t really feel like publishing. Don’t keep away from planning since you don’t really feel like making ready. Don’t ignore your viewers as a result of engagement takes work. And don’t name one thing “intentional” when it’s actually neglect with a nicer label.
If you’ll want to break a suggestion, be sincere about why. Perhaps you want a hiatus. Perhaps your format requires extra time. Perhaps your viewers is best served by a unique construction. Perhaps you’re defending your values, your loved ones, your well being, or the standard of your work. These will be good causes.
However “I don’t really feel prefer it” shouldn’t be the identical as intentionality.
Earlier than you break a podcasting rule, ask what guideline you’re breaking, why you’re breaking it, what it may cost a little, what issues greater than following the rule of thumb, and how one can make the selection clearly intentional.
Podcasting “guidelines” are sometimes pointers. You may observe them and succeed. You may break some and nonetheless succeed. Simply don’t break them carelessly. Break them for a motive. Break them with intention.
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This submit could include hyperlinks to services or products with which I’ve an affiliate relationship. I could obtain compensation out of your actions by means of such hyperlinks. Nevertheless, I do not let that corrupt my perspective and I do not advocate solely associates.
