53: Should Your Podcast Have Seasons?
"It's almost a guarantee that you'll lose subscribers in your off season."
Podcasting can be a lot of work. Maybe the idea of producing an episode every single week all year long is overwhelming to you. I totally get it!
Summer's coming ... the kids are out of school, the weather's finally warmer, there are trips to be taken, and fun to be had. Again, I get it! (Well, maybe not the kid part, but the travel and having fun part at least.)
Maybe your signature course or group coaching program is only open once or twice a year and you need to focus all your efforts on that and don't have time for a podcast during those weeks or months. Yeah, I get that too.
Formatting your podcast to be released in seasons instead of having an ongoing weekly show, can be a huge blessing in these situations. BUT, it doesn't come without a price.
In this episode, I explain the benefits and drawbacks to having seasons for your podcast and provide some tips for helping to minimize the loss of subscribers between seasons.
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Transcript
Welcome to podcasting for coaches. I'm Britany Felix and I'm a podcast launch consultant who specializes in helping coaches and consultants utilize the power of podcasting as a way to build brand awareness and generate new leads for their business. I realize not every new coach or consultant can afford to hire someone to help launch their show. So I created this podcast as a way to guide you through the process of launching and utilizing your very own podcast to help you grow your business and reach a new audience of adoring followers and potential clients. If you're ready to get your voice and podcast out into the world, head over to podcasting for coaches.com to learn more. Welcome to Episode 53 podcasting for coaches. In this episode, we are going to be talking about whether or not your podcast should have a seasons. If you're not new to podcasting, you probably come across a show or two or a few other podcasters that you know, who do seasons with their shows just like a TV show. There are some positives and negatives to doing this. So I wanted to cover those today considering we are coming up on another school year ending another summer break starting warm weather in most places people love to travel at this time. And things can just get pretty freaking hectic. So I wanted to provide this information to you today so that you can decide whether or not switching to seasons, or starting with seasons, if you've yet to launch is a good idea for your show. A common theme on this podcast is me saying that when it comes to podcasting, you can pretty much do whatever you want. And that applies to seasons as well. With a podcast, you don't have to abide by production schedules for TV stations, you can make your seasons be however long or short you want. And you can decide to have however many seasons during a year that you want. Some podcasters choose to do half and half, six months on six months off, some podcasters choose to do three and three. So three months on three months off three months on three months off. Some podcasters choose to not even go any specific length of time, but rather a set set of episodes. Maybe they do a 10 episode season or a 25 episode season. It can be whatever works for you. And I'm sure you're tired of me saying that. But you should really rejoice every time I say that. Because it just means to not beat yourself up about whatever other people are doing, and to just do what is going to make you be the least stressed and most consistent and successful. Now the obvious benefits of having a season is that it's less work. You're not putting out an episode every single week of every year that you do this podcast, you can hit it really hard while the season is going. And then you can take a complete break if you want. While you're in your offseason. You don't have to even think about the podcast. I don't really advise that. We'll talk about that in just a little bit. But you can do that if that's what you need. If you just need that mental break. You can do that. If you want to travel with your kids while they're home for the summer, you can do that because you're not having to be at home in front of a computer recording interviews or solo podcast episodes. If you know that you have a time of year where you always do a big launch for a coaching program. For example, Marie Forleo. Zbyszko happens once a year. Now, Marie Forleo is a beast and she consistently puts out content. But maybe some of the rest of us aren't Wonder Women and need to take a break and really only focus on one thing at a time. So maybe when you're doing a huge product launch every year, or a huge course launch. You don't have your podcasts going at the same time. Now, some of the drawbacks to having seasons, is that you are almost guaranteed to lose subscribers in your offseason. With 600,000 700,000 the number changes depending on what article you're reading podcasts out there. If you're not Top of Mind with your people, some of them are going to just move on to somebody who is to somebody who is consistently putting out content every single week. Now, should that be enough of a reason for you to not do seasons? I can't answer that for you. That's a decision that you're going to have to make yourself and maybe you start off with seasons. And you see how much that dip really is. There are some shows that they take a short enough break and people know exactly when they're coming back and they know they can rely on them to actually come back. They don't really lose that many people. However, there are some other shows where if they're in a really, really, really crowded niche or category and their podcast app. Yeah, maybe they lose like half their subscribers in the offseason. You just really don't know what it's gonna look like for you until you try. There's no way to predict it. So a lot of people find that when they start a new season, they have to almost start again with educating an audience and finding new subscribers each time and that can get a little bit exhausting, and a little bit discouraging, especially if you're someone who's going to have sponsors on your show. I don't typically recommend that for most coaches and consultants because you should be selling your own product. extra services. But there might still be an occasion when a sponsor is a good idea. And having to start with lower download numbers and fewer subscribers every single season can sometimes be a little bit troublesome when you're worried about delivering for your sponsors. So if you've decided that you want to give seasons a shot, maybe the benefit of having a mental break or the capacity to travel with your family, or the capacity to focus on a different project in your business is worth the potential risk of losing some subscribers. Here are some tips for you to help minimize that impact and to help make sure that your seasons are as successful as they can be. The number one rule just about when it comes to anything in podcast is communication. Obviously, we're speaking, we are communicating with our listeners about our topic. So we should do that with our publication schedule as well. As soon as you know that you're going to be doing seasons, announce that to your audience so that they can expect that if you have yet to launch that will let someone know whether or not they want to check out your show. I personally am not a big fan of shows with seasons, unless it's a storytelling type of show where they have a season to work on one story, they wrap it up, and then they do another story the next season, that's different. So you may find that some people just don't really want to check out your show, if they know that you're not going to consistently be putting out content. And that's okay, that's fine. I promise you there are more than enough people who don't feel that way. But clearly communicating exactly when your show will be out in terms of the season starts on this date. And we'll go for this many episodes, and we'll end on this date is really, really important because they still know that they can trust you and rely on you, especially if you can also tell them the exact date that you're coming back. So the exact date that the next season will premiere. How many times have you binge watch a show on Netflix and you get to the end of it and you realize this is not done, there's still more seasons? Yes, that's amazing. you celebrate a first. And then you realize, Oh, this is Netflix, they take like a year and a half between seasons. And they never announce where they're coming out. I am freaking looking at you mind hunter and Stranger Things. You do this all the time. But that's the fury ating as the viewer or in our case, the listener. So if you can just let them know upfront exactly when you're coming back, then when they in that season, they can know hey, I only have two months to wait. I'm going to go ahead and wait, I'm not going to unsubscribe, they're going to be back. And then while you're on your break, don't forget about your audience. Don't forget about your podcast. Now I realize part of taking this break might be to get an actual break. But you still want to try to stay top of mind if you can. So when you're wrapping up, and actually even during your entire season, promote a place where listeners can connect with you further, whether that's a Facebook community, a YouTube channel, where you're going to document whatever you're doing in your off time, an Instagram account, LinkedIn group, I mean, there's so many places that you can build this an email newsletter, for example. But let them know that there's going to be somewhere that they can stay in touch with you in that offseason, so that they can still connect with you, you're still Top of Mind and you can provide them with updates. As you start recording content for the new season. post about it share pictures of you in your studio, hey, recording the season two premiere for you. It gets people super excited. Again, go back to Netflix, whenever you have been waiting so freaking long for a TV show to come out with a new season. And then Netflix starts with these little teasers. It gets you super excited, at least it does for me. I know that when they started posting these little title designs for the next season of Stranger Things or they started teasing it with these little videos. And I see the cast members posting from set. I am so super proud for the next episode, by the time it comes out. There's no way I'm missing it. It's the exact same thing for your show. Take these same lessons take these same experiences that you have as the one who's excited about a new season. And then just flip the script, do what they're doing so that you can get your audience just as excited. And then the last key thing here is stick to your word. If you say that you were coming back with Season Two at a specific date, come back with Season Two on that date. Don't ruin all that trust that you have built with your audience in the previous episodes. And if for some reason you cannot stick to that date, something crazy has happened and you just can't do it. Use that community that you've already built up with your listeners to announce that to communicate that in advance as soon as you know, hey, listen, here's what's going on crazy life situation. We're not going to be able to meet our original date for season two. But here's our new date instead. So hope by now that you're catching my drift that communication communication communication is the most important part of doing seasons to make sure that all of your people don't abandon you in the offseason and that they are super excited and ready to go for your next one. If you have any questions About this please don't hesitate to follow up with me I am here totally open and accessible to you reach out to me on Instagram at podcasting for coaches or email me Brittany br it a ny at podcasting for coaches calm or of course just look for podcasting for coaches on Facebook, and I have a page there as well. It's super easy to get in touch with me, especially when I also have a contact page on my website. Links to all of these things are going to be included in the show notes for this episode, which you can find by going to podcasting for coaches.com click on the podcast tab in the main menu, and then just select episode number 53. Thank you again and I hope that whether or not you take a break this summer season, you still find time for you to enjoy the things that your business is providing for you. Have a fantastic week. And that wraps up another episode of podcasting for coaches. If you'd like to connect with me further, you can do so on Instagram at podcasting for coaches. If you know it's time to finally get serious about starting your podcast, go to podcasting for coaches comm and click on the work with me tab in the main menu to learn more about my one on one launch consultation packages or my self paced online course. And I look forward to seeing the podcasts that you create and put out into the world.