Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hello, my friends, Welcome back to Soul Podcasting, the show
that helps you create a podcast with purpose, clarity, and
confidence without burning yourself out or losing your joy in
the process. And I'm your host, Dimitria, and today we're
diving into one of my favorite topics, which is planning
your podcast content for the new year. I know planning
(00:34):
can feel overwhelming, especially when you're a busy person like me,
juggling work and family, a business, and a million other responsibilities.
But trust me, I get it, and I got you.
I run multiple shows, I coach podcasters, I'm a mom,
I'm a musician, and somehow planning still lights me up
because it keeps me from scattering my energy all over
(00:57):
the place. So today's episode is going to feel like
a deep exhale. I'm going to give you evidence based strategies.
So we'll be using some stats and research, real life examples,
and a handful of good tools and a step by
step structure that you can start using immediately, whether you're
a wellness podcaster or a copywriting coach, or running a
(01:20):
show about faith or business or literally anything else. So
stick around to the end because I'm going to share
in this episode where you can find my newest YouTube tatorials.
I've got some practical screen by screen videos dropping soon
that is going to pair really nicely with what we're
talking about today. So let's get into it. Let's talk
(01:49):
about why content planning matters and why most podcasters skip it,
and I just want to encourage you not to skip
this part. It's so important. Here's a hard truth. Podcasts
fail not because of bad ideas, but because of bad planning,
sadly so. According to a twenty twenty four bus Sprout
data set, only twenty percent of podcasts published consistently beyond
(02:12):
their first year, and Edison Research reported that podcasts with
consistent weekly or bi weekly schedules experience up to thirty
three percent higher long term listener retention compared to shows
that published sporadically. Consistency isn't magic, but it is part
of your planning and it helps you as a podcaster
(02:34):
to build a show for the longevity. And here's where
I believe most podcasters mess up. It's that they're treating
content planning like it's optional, or they're planning only week
to week, which definitely leads to burnout. I've talked about
burnout quite a bit. You want to hear more about
my advice on burnout, check out episode's number thirty two,
(02:56):
forty forty four, and sixty seven. All of those episodes
mentioned burnout, and I focus a good bit of my
energy on helping podcasters not to burn out. So if
you want to learn more about how to avoid burnout,
those four episodes can help you. A third way that
podcasters might mess up in this process of creating content
is that they plan without strategy, meaning that they pick
(03:18):
topics at random instead of intentionally guiding the listener toward transformation,
towards some type of action and even loyalty to their show.
So before we talk about tools and templates and episode calendars,
I'm going to give you a simple reframe. So content
planning isn't about being rigid, It's about creating freedom. You
(03:39):
want freedom from scrambling around trying to find things at
the last minute to add into your show. Freedom from
creative droughts where you don't have any inspiration and you
just have a blank screen. It's kind of like the
writer's block that can happen definitely in podcasting. You want
freedom from burnout and also freedom from oh no, what
(04:00):
am I going to post this week? That kind of panic.
So if you want to grow next year, you definitely
have to plan for the upcoming year. As I'm recording this,
this is twenty twenty five, and we're about to head
into twenty six, and so this episode can of course
be applicable to any year that you happen to be
listening to this episode. But I want to give you
some personal examples of what I've done throughout the years
(04:21):
to help me with my planning. So a few years ago,
when I ran my homeschool podcast, which I'm still running
right now, I was doing everything off the cuff. I
didn't really start off with a strategy or a calendar,
just vibes how I felt, you know. And that was
what worked for me back in twenty twelve, and I
was super passionate, but passionate without structure is chaos. So
(04:42):
I would record at the last minute. I would rush
ed it, so I would forget to post on socials
and then wonder why my show was stalling out and
it wasn't growing as quickly as I would have liked.
When I shifted into podcast coaching, I finally began to
build a more intentional planning system and that truthfully, it's
changed everything. Suddenly, my episodes are more aligned with my goals.
(05:04):
I'm not scrambling around to figure out what I'm going
to post and win. My content is actually leading me somewhere,
and honestly, I have a lot more peace. I flow
more with my episodes. I feel good about the content
that I'm bringing to the table and that I'm sharing
with the world, and I really feel good that I'm
sharing more of me and so it feels really soulful,
(05:26):
and that's what I want for you this year. So
let's set a clear podcast purpose for the upcoming year
of twenty six or whenever you happen to be listening
to this episode. So step one of planning isn't just
choosing your topics, it's choosing direction. So you're going to
ask yourself, what is the purpose of my podcast this year?
(05:47):
Not the lifetime purpose, not the original purpose, but the
twenty twenty six purpose and beyond twenty twenty six and beyond.
Some examples of yearly purposes could be that, let's say
you want to grow your email list by a thousand subscribers,
or maybe your YouTube channel. Maybe that's part of your
podcasting ecosystem, and you're going to grow that YouTube channel
(06:11):
in addition to your podcast listeners. Maybe you want to
build a community around let's say you are a wellness podcaster,
so you want to build a community around wellness from
women over age forty. If you're planning on that one,
be sure to let me know I will join your community.
I will very likely join your community. So maybe your
idea is to promote your upcoming book, or maybe you
(06:31):
want to create some evergreen content to support a digital
course that you're planning to create. So once you know
the purpose of your podcast for this year, then planning
becomes laser focused. Many of you know that I have
been softly announcing and upcoming membership that I'm creating right now,
and as I'm planning out my goals for twenty six,
(06:54):
I'm aligning my podcast around this membership and I'm excited
to have the course and the membership kind of be
a backbone to what I'm doing here at Soul Podcasting,
in addition to the coaching that I'm offering. So I
wanted to create a community, and so in order to
know where I'm going with my podcast, this community is
(07:15):
going to be a staple in that it's going to
be kind of the backbone of how I show up
in twenty twenty six on this podcast once again. Once
you know your purpose, then your planning will get so
much easier and you'll know how to base your podcast
around the work that you do. I always encourage entrepreneurs
solopreneurs to create your podcast as an extension of the
(07:40):
work that you're already doing or plan to do. So
we want to be going in the direction of making
your podcast a connection and a backbone to what you're doing.
It's not just this extra activity that's floating out there
in the atmosphere. You know, something that you're just kind
of grabbing at because a lot of other people are
doing podcasts and it just looks fun and it's just
(08:00):
something people do and it's trendy. No, this is something that,
as a business owner an entrepreneur, that you can strategically
add into your workflow so that it fits into your
lifestyle and your goals as a business owner. So let's
say you're running a wellness show for women navigating stress
and hormones and midlife changes. And let me tell you,
(08:21):
if you are running a show like that, please let
me know and I will subscribe. I am all about
learning as much as I can about the stage of
life I'm in right now, So that's just a plug
for those of you who are in that space. But
if that's where you are, let's say that your twenty
twenty six purpose could be something like help women reduce
(08:41):
burnout through simple weekly practices. So then your content themes
might include hormone friendly habits or the science of rest
or the mind body connection, some beginner movement routines like pilates,
which is something I'm completely into right now, and maybe
some myths and nutrition, or maybe how to reduce your stress,
(09:04):
maybe some challenges. Every single episode that you create will
connect back to your yearly mission for your business. I'll
give you another example of another industry. Let's take a
copywriting coach. If that's where you are and you're creating
a podcast, Let's say your purpose could be something like
grow my coaching program and help small business owners write
(09:24):
copy that converts. So then your content themes might include
something like copywriting mistakes, writing email sequences, sales pages, storytelling,
brand messaging, client psychology, and seasonal campaigns. And every single
episode should build toward nurturing your future clients. So when
(09:46):
you route your plan in your purpose, you stop sounding
super random and you start sounding like someone that's worth following,
because we want to follow your journey and find out
what coaching programs, products, what services you're offering, so we
can learn and glean from your expertise. That's exactly what
(10:06):
I'm doing with one of my favorite podcasters in the
wellness industry, Jessica Vallant. Follow her because of her pilates
program that she has free resources available on YouTube, plus
her podcast, and because of her podcast and her YouTube channel,
I'm connected to her membership and some of the other
things that she offers. So I promise you that I'm
(10:26):
living and practicing what I preach. And if I'm encouraging
you to think about your podcast in this way, it's
because I see the benefits of it, not just as
a producer, but as a consumer. So it's really important
that we look at our podcast as part of our
business ecosystem. The next thing I want to encourage you
to do is to choose about three to five content
(10:48):
pillars for the year. One thing you'll notice on my
podcast is that you'll find repetitive information I do talk
about things over and over again. I'll mention it in
an episode, and then maybe in at three to five
episodes forward, I'll mention it again, and then maybe I'll
talk about that same thing again. And you'll notice that
I've talked about content pillar since twenty twenty three, and
(11:10):
it's because it's so important and it is a foundation
for content strategy. And before I started committing to doing
the work of a podcast coach, I was a content strategist,
which is very similar as a web designer and online marketer.
I took those skill sets and I worked with solopreneurs
to help them to strategize their web pages and optimize
(11:31):
them and create content that made an impact for their brand.
And so I'm taking that same skill set and transferring
that to podcast coaching. And so I'm always going to
be talking about content pillars because that is such an
important part of planning out your strategy. So pillars are
your anchor topics, these are the categories that your show
(11:54):
revolves around. Now, I was looking at some research, which
I'm known to really dig in the research because I
think it's important to know what's happening in your industry
so that you can make more quantifying decisions, and so
it does take me a little bit longer to decide
on what to talk about or making decisions and moving
forward because I actually want to look at data and
(12:15):
research before I make a leap. So that's why I
talk a lot about research here on the episodes, and
I hope that you find it helpful and that it's
enlightening for you. So let me know what your thoughts are.
But again, let's hop into the research and Edison research
found that shows with tight thematic consistency, meaning there are
themes that are tightly niche, they have fifty two percent
(12:38):
higher completion rates. And why is that. It's because listeners
know what to expect. So if you choose three to
five pillars and you stick to those pillars for the
whole year, again with some flexibility, because life does happen,
and maybe we have just this illumination, this grandiose idea
that we want to do an episode that doesn't have
(12:59):
anything to do with their pillars. You know, those exceptions
are okay, But for the most part, if you're sticking
with three to five pillars, this will help you to
maintain a completion narrate of your listeners wanting to listen
all the way through your episodes beginning to end. And
so here's some examples. Again, I'm using the wellness podcaster
(13:20):
and the copywriter podcaster as examples. Fill in the blanks,
make this your own and think about what industry you're in,
and just plug and play for yourself. So for a
wellness podcaster, those pillars could be stress reduction, movement and hormones.
I know rest and sleep is important, and then maybe
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mindset and some type of like emotional wellness. So that
could be your four pillars. So that's yeah, that falls
within the three to five. And then for your copywriter podcast,
you might want a pillar about writing skills or one
about specifically about email marketing. That will be two. Your
third one could be conversion strategy, how to convert your
(14:06):
reader to follow through and make a purchase. So your
copywriter podcaster could have those few pillars. For my specific podcast,
I'm typically working on pillars like content strategy, which is
something I'm talking about today, podcast growth. I often talk
about podcast workflow and systems, and I also talk about
(14:29):
storytelling and creativity. I have a few more, and I'm
learning that it's important I kind of narrow those down
just a little bit more. But those are things that
I generally talk about. So think about what you want
to be sharing with your audience and come up with
three to five pillars. Once those pillars are set, you
can break each one into monthly themes if you saw it.
(14:51):
You don't have to do it this way. It's just
an example to help you map out the upcoming year.
So if you were to map out your year with
those monthly themes, this is where planning starts. Feeling really
creative and exciting, and again, life happens. You probably won't
stick with it exactly as you've planned it out, but
it just gives you an idea of what could happen.
(15:12):
So you could give each month a theme based on
your pillars. For example, January could be if you're a
wellness podcaster, it could be your stress reset month. It's
a great month to reset, so January could be reset.
February could be heart health and emotional wellness, March could
be gut and hormone balance, April could be about movement,
(15:36):
May could be mental health, and so on. Right, just
kind of plug and play where those themes are and
plug it into the right month that you think is
appropriate for what you want to talk about that month.
For copywriter podcasts, your January could be about the foundations
of messaging. February could be about sending love to your subscribers,
your email subscribers and keeping in touch with them, right,
(15:58):
So February love right. And then March it could be
your sales page, spring cleaning right, spring cleaning in March,
so maybe throw in something about that sales page. April
could be repurposing your content. May could be just whatever
you are doing as a copywriter. You know what those
pillars are and you add them in. So for me,
(16:19):
I could have my January be planning in strategy. My
February could be clarity, messaging, and purpose. Or I might
even have purpose be January and then in March I
could talk about more growth fundamentals for podcasting. I could
do more batching in April and talk about branding and
storytelling in May. You know. So that is the kind
(16:40):
of the idea we're going with is once you know
what your pillars are, it gives you an idea of
how to map out your months. You don't need to
plan the entire year right away, but if you plan
just six months, you'll be ahead of ninety five percent
of podcasters. Believe it or not. All right, so let's
talk about planning episodes using a four part framework. So
(17:02):
once you have themes, you want to use this structure
for every single episode. You're going to have four parts
to this. The first is that you give a promise.
You will be wanting to know what the episode is
going to do for your listener. So that's the promise
you're giving. What is the promise that you're delivering for
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each episode? Number two, what is the path the pathway
that you will have your listener step through. You're going
to walk them through the path, right, so you get
to figure out what that looks like. Number three is
the proof. You're going to add data, personal stories, examples
for example, if you're the wellness or the copywriter, those
(17:43):
examples would go in your proof. And lastly, number four
is the push. So you're going to have a clear
CTA to your email list, your product, maybe a challenge
you're running, or in my case my YouTube channel today.
I'm going to plug that at the end. But this
framework really boosts your retention and clarity, and it means
that your listeners stick around a little bit longer, and
(18:03):
that's going to boost your algorithm and distribution. Okay, let's
talk about tips to boost your plan all right, we're
going to look at research. I always love research. So
the first thing that I want to recommend is sac
your episodes need to be scannable because MPR's twenty twenty
four training guide found that listeners stay longer when segments
are clearly structured and predictable, So you want your episodes
(18:28):
to be easily scanned. There's an intro and outro, there
are there's the information that you generally share with your audience,
and it's pretty much the same format. Not always, but
for the most part. Number two, consistency is going to
beat frequency. So podcasts that publish every other week consistently
outperform weekly shows that skip episodes. So just kind of
(18:50):
be on task. Even if it's every two weeks, every
three weeks, once a month, at least it's consistent. The
third thing is that search actually matters. So Apple podcasts
prioritizes clear titles and keywords that are topics specific, and
that's why planning your titles in advance is super powerful.
So keep your search and your seo in mind. And
(19:13):
then fourthly, repurpose increases your reach. So podcasters who actually
repurpose your episodes into at least a couple of other
formats for either that's your email or social reels or
Instagram posts or something like that, or a blog post
will see up to four to six times more exposure
according to Podchasers twenty twenty four report. So your planning
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should include some repurposing structures. If you go back and
listen to my last episode, episode ninety, I share how
you don't have to be everywhere at the same time
doing all the things all the time, but it is
important to pick your favorite platforms and just start there
and get some repurposing going, even if it just means
that you have a blog post in addition to your
(19:56):
episode and maybe one social media outlet. All right, we're
gonna talk real briefly about planning tools and apps. And
I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on this
because there's so many options out there, you guys, I
could never cover the amount of tools that are available
for your use. But this is the good stuff, and
it's tools that actually simplify your workflow. So pick and
choose what works for you. But first you're gonna have
(20:18):
content planning and calendars. So there's Notion, which is my
personal favorite. There's Infinite Customization, I love it. There's Trello
and it's great for simple batching and it's very visual.
There's clickup. It's highly structured and it's great for teams,
so I don't tend to use clickup. There's airtable, which
is a database style planning, and then there's Asauna, which
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is good for classic project management. Pick and choose what
works for you. Start using it to plan your content.
And if you're using Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Sheets,
use it all right. Content repurposing, you might want to
look at descript for your clips and your transcripts. You
may want to look at Canva for audio, grap ams, carousels,
episode promos. I'm using Canba. I'm also using a little
(21:04):
bit of descript. I'm using opusclip, and I am trying
out cap cut at the Moment, which is great for reals,
shorts and TikTok okay so recording and production. So there's riverside,
which allows you to do remote interviews in high quality
video and audio. I'm actually purchasing Riverside as of this month,
and I haven't used it yet because I've been using Zoom,
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but I'm thinking of making the switch, and so that's
something that you could look into. There's Adobe Podcast AI
to help you clean up and enhance your audios. I
use this religiously and it has been such a time
saver and life saver for me. So I'd rather use
that than try to figure out all of the different
complicated back end tools in Adobe Audition. So I'd rather
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just use Adobe Podcast and have it clean it up
for me. And then there's Hindenberg, which is amazing for
spoken word audio okay, and idea management. How are you
writing down your ideas because you're probably getting it explosive
ideas just walking around your neighborhood or doing grocery shopping.
You might have ideas and you may need to get
them down quickly. So are you using voice memos for
(22:10):
when that inspiration hits while you're driving, or are you
using Apple Notes or Notion, idea bank or whatever you're using,
have a system or you jot down your notes really
quickly so that when you are in your office in
your studio and you're ready to do your research for
your recording you know where to find those off the
cuff ideas that you had in the moment when you
(22:31):
were shopping for dinner for the week. In fact, I
do this all the time. I'll be shopping at Trader
Joe's and it's where I seem to get most of
my ideas. I'll either be listening to a podcast or
I'll be getting ideas about how I can add something
to one of my shows and what kind of episodes
I want to do next. And so I don't know why.
There's something about Trader Joe's, and there's something about selecting
(22:53):
cheeses and almonds and sourdough bread that just gets my
mind into, oh, I can add this into my podcast
next week. Don't know what it is, but maybe it's
something different for you, and I'd love to hear what
your experiences are coming up with ideas. I'm just going
to give you an example of what a fleshed out
(23:14):
episode could look like. And I'll give you those two
examples of those different podcasters, the wellness podcaster and the
copywriting coach. Okay, so for the wellness podcaster, let's say
that their episode theme for the month is stress Reset.
In the month of January. So now because they know
what their month's theme is, they can start curating ideas
(23:36):
for podcast episodes that month only about stress and resetting.
So let's say they came up with one called five
hormone friendly Habits to reduce stress this week. All right, Well,
then they've created the episode, they've recorded it, it's ready
to go. Maybe it's been published. So now what do
they do with that episode? It's been published? But now
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what Okay, so they could create an Instagram care so
called free signs that your quartersol is too high. They
could do a reel which is maybe a ten second
breathing reset, and they could create an email that's entitled
your seven day Stress Reset Plan, and then create a
blog post that's an expanded version of that episode. Now,
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I'm just going to tell you right now, this idea
came directly from chat GBT, and so this is how
easy it is for you to create your themes and
to come up with content so that you can move
forward with creating a podcast that is helpful for you
in twenty twenty six and beyond. From this information for
the wellness podcaster, they could also then create a lead magnet,
(24:40):
maybe a fourteen day stress journal template, and this way
their subscribers could grab this template and now they're part
of their email list, and their call to action would
be get the free stress tracker. Right at the end
of my episode, I have a link for my stress tracker.
Join my list, I'll share my journal template with you.
(25:02):
That kind of thing. So that is an example of
a full episode based on knowing what their episode themes are.
And then one more example I'll give you will be
the copywriting coach. So let's say that their theme for
the month is messaging foundations. They're going to start people
from the very beginning on how to do messaging just right.
(25:24):
So maybe the name of their episode is stop confusing
people how to clarify your core message in twenty minutes.
That's a really strong title, by the way, It's very
eye catching and I would definitely want to listen to that. Okay,
So the email that they could send out to their
list is three messaging mistakes that kill yourselves. I would
open that email for a carousel. They could create something
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like the common copywriting myths and for their real it
could be what you're about page is really supposed to do?
Their lead magnet could be ten plug and play messaging prompts,
and then they could have a CTYE to join their
writing workshop. Here's a personal peak behind the curtain of
what I'm doing. When I first shifted soul podcasting into
(26:09):
a more structured show, I had to unlearn the record
whatever I feel inspired mindset because I'm a creative at
heart and I love spontaneity, but spontaneity alone was keeping
me really small. So here's what I did. I blocked
out a weekend. I made myself a cup of ginger tea,
I turned on some soft lo fi, and I mapped
(26:30):
out my next couple of months, not every single episode,
but just the direction of each month. And January was
planning and clarity, and February was a bit on messaging,
March was growth and so on. And then immediately something
began to click for me. Suddenly my examples were richer,
my stories had more flow. I felt like my episodes
(26:52):
were connected instead of all random, and I think, based
on my stats, that my listeners were listening for longer.
And I did see an uptick in coaching inquiries, so
I knew that something was happening and people were more
responsive and interested in what I offered. Now, this structure
didn't cage me, It didn't like block my creativity. It
(27:13):
actually unlocked it. And so that's what planning does for
a podcaster. I'm not saying you have to plan everything
out strategically and specifically all the time. There are some
moments as a creative that you just want to flow
and you just want to be creative. But planning is
so helpful for the most part. For the long term.
What planning does for a podcaster is it unleashes your
(27:36):
creativity in ways you couldn't have imagined. So it helps
you to show up intentionally and consistently and with way
more peace. So your seventh step New Year Podcast planning
system are all the things that we talked about on
this episode, which is a very long one because I
wanted to give you a lot in this episode. The
first is that you should define your purpose for the
(27:58):
upcoming year. Remember one per one direction one mission number two.
Choose your three to five content pillars that guides everything
you do. Then break the year into monthly themes. Do
a six month minimum, don't worry about going beyond that
for now, and then brain dump twenty to forty episode
ideas and you don't even have to use much of
your brain. I promise you. Just chat. GBT can be
(28:20):
your idea bank. Just use your AI tools to help you.
Number five, assign your episodes to themes. This is where
the calendar forms out really beautifully. You're going to see
your episodes kind of filling in those gaps, and you'll
know what to do when it's time to get behind
the mic and start recording. You want to build a
repurposing workflow so each episode has a few pieces of content,
(28:44):
maybe two to four or three to five pieces of content.
And then set up your planning tools so that could
be notion, a trello, or Google calendar, whatever works for
your brain. And if you follow these steps, I think
you're going to walk into the new year with podcasting clarity.
I really do so, all right, my friend. That wraps
up today's deep dive on planning your podcast content for
(29:05):
the new year. And I hope that this gave you
clarity and direction in some practical ways to just make
the next season of your podcasts more intentional and more impactful.
Content planning isn't about being perfect. It's really just about
alignment and when you know where you're going, your podcast
becomes more soulful and more strategic and sustainable for you.
(29:28):
So if today's episode help you, please make sure to
head over to my YouTube channel. Guys, I've got this
new thing happening where I'm starting to add new videos.
I'm dropping in new step by step tatorials, planning more
templates and visual walkthroughs and podcast strategy tips that are
not necessarily on this podcast. So if you want extra,
(29:50):
head over to the YouTube channel. And this is going
to make your next year of podcasting, I believe, the
smoothest one yet. Just search for my channel. You can
type in my name in YouTube. I'm at Dimitria Zinga,
so that's gonna be spelled out in the links, and
you'll see the title of the channel is my name,
Dimitria Zinga, podcast coach and creative CEO. Now, of course
(30:12):
I'm probably gonna change the name of the YouTube channel soon,
but you will always see my name on that channel,
so it's my business channel. I do have another channel
just for moms of faith and women and homeschoolers, and
that's a whole different channel under a different name. But
if you type in my name and look for podcast
coach you're gonna see that channel that I have for you.
For those of you interested in podcasting, be sure to
(30:34):
check the link in the show notes, hit follow, subscribe,
hit the bell so you don't miss anything. And thank
you so much for being here, and thank you so
much for creating with heart and with Saul. And I'll
see you next time. Happy podcasting,