Why Podcast Quality Is So Important

In December 2019, there were over 800,000 podcasts and over 30 million episodes - we know what you’re thinking; that's a lot of podcasts. So, naturally, there needs to be a discussion about quality. Not all podcasts are created equal, and long gone are the days where you could simply record an episode out of your garage. 

With endless podcasts available, if your podcast doesn’t fit the quality or standard of your rivals, listeners will move on. They are used to hearing top-notch quality, so your podcast needs to be competitive.  

Podcast listeners are highly educated and have higher household incomes. So if listeners are intelligent and used to the nicer things in life, as a podcaster, you need to deliver smart, high-quality content. Three key things to keep in mind:  

1. Content Quality. Is your podcast actually valuable and relevant for listeners? Is it engaging and enticing? What makes you different from the other shows in your category? 
2. Audio Quality. How does your series sound? Is the production value high? What are you recording off of? This is where an agency can come in to assist you in taking your series to the next level (shameless plug). 
3. Consistency. Remember how your podcast will be perceived by audiences. If you want a loyal listener base, they expect you to deliver. Communicate with your audience about when your episodes are dropping so they know when to tune back in. 

A couple of our favorite ways to make sure your content quality is strong: 

1. Interesting topics. If you keep the conversation around topics that you’re interested in, your passion for the subjects will show through the discussion. 
2. Stories are key. Share lots of stories! Whether they’re stories from you or guests that come onto your series, listeners enjoy hearing engaging and interesting stories. 
3. Actionable content. Create content that encourages listeners to continue the conversation or engage with your podcast community. This could be done by telling listeners to check out a specific hashtag that has a conversation going around it that listeners can participate in. 
4. Maintain focus. Try to make sure you don’t get sidetracked too much with your content and conversations. Quickly going off on a tangent now and then is okay and can actually be very interesting, but consistently doing this can frustrate and confuse listeners. 
5. Engaging guests. Bring entertaining and relevant guests onto your series. Make sure that you’re inviting relevant guests for the topics that you’re covering and they can provide value to your listeners. 
6. Ask for opinions. Ask your listeners for their thoughts and opinions on the podcast. If you’re trying out new content or want to make some changes to the series, ask your listeners what they think. See what they like, don’t like, would add to the series to make it the best it can be for them. 

Overall, there’s a time and place for low quality, quick content. I’m all for that. But podcasting isn’t it. When you are engaging someone for a prolonged amount of time, you need to consider how they will receive it. 

Would you want to listen to 40 minutes of huffing, puffing, nonsense content? No, case in point.