You’re a brand, and you have decided to start a podcast. 

Before you begin brainstorming podcast structures, topics, guests, and everything involved in the process of bringing your podcast to life, there’s one key question that you need to ask yourself - what are your podcast goals? 

Many people tend to overlook this question and that’s a big mistake. Being able to identify your podcast goals is going to help you immensely when making decisions around your podcast (i.e. what format should the show be? What types of guests should you feature? Where should this series be promoted?). 

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Podcast Goals 

Now, there are a variety of podcast goals you might have. It’s very much up to you and your brand. Some possible podcast goals might be: 

Brand Awareness 

You want to get as many listeners as possible onto your podcast to spread awareness about your series and your brand. The focus of this goal is all about quantity and the number of ears you can have tuning in.

Tapping Into New Audience Targets 

Is there a new audience segment that you want to tap in to? This goal involves shaping your content around a specific niche audience that you want to break into. 

Thought Leadership 

Do you want to be known as a credible, go-to source on a specific topic? This goal involves you bringing on targeted guests and discussing subjects that will help to make you the go-to source on a desired topic. 

Sales 

Are you looking to sell a product or service through the podcast? You want your podcast audience to be consumers of whatever you’re selling. This goal means that you must find a clever way to sell your brand during the podcast without coming off as inauthentic. 

Lead Generation 

Trying to find new leads for your business? For this goal you want to shape your content in a way that will attract new leads as listeners OR bring leads as guests onto the podcast. 

Strengthening Culture Within Your Organization 

Internal communication podcasts are on the rise. This goal involves you creating an internal podcast that is focused on building or strengthening the culture of your organization. You could feature different employees, discuss company updates, etc. 

Training 

Podcasts are a great medium to share training content for new employees or tasks. Having this goal will drastically change the way your content is produced since you aren’t trying to grow your listener base. 

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Podcast Example

These are just a few examples within an endless list of possibilities. Let’s say your podcast is about brand awareness. With this goal in mind you might decide to create a multi-story series where you feature guests that have larger audiences. The reason you might aim to find guests with larger audiences is because you want to be able to reach as many listeners as possible with your series. Having guests promote your show is a powerful tool when it comes to growing your podcast. 

This also means that when marketing your podcast you might set your targets for awareness over conversions. You also might look to advertise your show on other podcasts that have large audiences that are still relevant to your target but with a primary goal of quantity. 

Now let’s pretend you’re creating a podcast for B2B lead generation. Rather than having a multi-story series focused on featuring as many voices as possible, you might go for a more intimate discussion or interview format where you’re only speaking with one guest. And when it comes to who you invite onto your podcast, invite your leads! 

This is a great way to have a warm introduction with a potential lead AND get to sit down and chat with them for the length of your podcast (focus on building a great foundation for a relationship during this time)! 

Once the mics are turned off, that’s when you can have a discussion around sales. I highly recommend you do not bring a sales discussion/pitch to the conversation while you’re recording because that’s just putting your lead on the spot and creating pretty awful content for your listeners. 

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Podcast Goals Setting 

The optimal structure and strategies for your podcast ultimately depend on your overall goal. 

But also remember that goals can change and evolve. You might start with the goal of lead generation but after some time decide that thought leadership would actually perform better for your series. After this, you might change your show’s format, marketing tactics, guests, etc. to fit your new goal. 

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We highly recommend taking the time to sit down and figure out what the true goal of your podcast is. Why does it exist?