Get Your Podcast Launched: Content Ideas for Your Initial Episodes with Sarah Scott

After speaking with Diann Wingert (host of The Driven Woman Entrepreneur Podcast), it occurred to me that one of the hardest parts of getting started with a podcast is coming up with the format and content ideas for those initial episodes.

And I had a few thoughts about how you can overcome them easily, and more importantly, quickly so you can stop overthinking your show and get started today!

You might remember that once Diann stopped overthinking the entire process she jumped in by printing every blog article she had written (350 pages worth of content) and read those as her initial episodes.

If you have this kind of content on hand – follow her lead!

This gave her close to 6 months worth of initial content to work with before she re-evaluated the process and made some modifications. By then, she had a podcast that was up and running and getting listeners.

What if you don’t have content that’s already written? Then why not look into one of these types of content that you have probably already created:

Social Posts (especially those with high engagement levels)
Email Content
What questions do your customers have about your product/service or niche?
What questions do you get on sales calls?
What questions do you WISH someone would ask you about your products/service or niche (I LOVE this one!)

Take these and see if you can come up with 12 topics that you can talk about. (Pst…if you can do that – thats 3 months of weekly podcast content! BOOM!)

What if you are brand new and haven’t created any other content? Try these ideas:

Can you coach a dream client? For example, I could pick the podcast of someone I would want to work with and talk about how I would improve their show on my show. Or Host Kerry Dobson who took the business books she was reading and suggested on her show (Book Desserts) and showed how the book could be turning into a profitable group coaching program.
If you have any audience at all – why not ask them to submit questions to you via a voice memo application (like SpeakPipe) and you can answer those questions on an episode?

Add these ideas to your list!

Another way to help yourself as you are getting started is to limit the amount of time you make each episode. Let’s say – 10 – 15 minutes max. It will help you stay focused on the topic at hand and reduce the chances of you rambling.

You might have noticed that these are all ideas for solo episodes and not interviews. I go into it a bit more in the episode about why I think you need to start with a solo show (especially if you are having a hard time launching) but if you really think that interviews are the way to start there are some things I want you to consider:

Your time table is tied to your guest. They need to be available and ready to record.
You need to seek out guests and invite them to your show.
Quality will always be on your mind – is their equipment good, will the conversation be engaging?
If you believe that having guests will help increase the visibility and growth of your show – think again. Most guests will not share your content with their audience (unless you find something new about their story that they haven’t already shared or you’re a big name that they want to be tied to). Its not that you’re show isn’t wonderful, its just not something we see done often.

When it comes down to it, I think most people avoid solo shows because interviews “feel” easier. They believe that they will be more engaging if in a conversation vs. by themselves. And I would challenge that.

Its not that having a conversation is easier its that you have an energy that you get to play off of.

Think about it.

If you were asked to speak on stage you wouldn’t ask the conference to put you up there with someone else so you could have a conversation. No! You would prepare your one-person talk!

So whats the difference between you on a solo podcast and you being solo on a stage? Energy!

On stage you have the energy of the crowd to engage you. When you are doing your own podcast episode you have the wall starting back at you (or worse – you are staring back at you on your recording software).

The key is to find a way to give yourself that same energy that you would feel from a crowd. Can you imaging having this conversation with the person who needs to hear it. What do they look like? Do they love your jokes? Will they react in all the places you want them to?

If you can get that in your head I think you will see that doing a solo show can be just as much fun.

So go back and use these ideas to find 12-episode ideas. Share them with me! I want to cheer you on! And if you have another brilliant idea to find content for your show – let me know that too so I can add it to the list!