Thread by @digital_whiskey

THREAD: Audience development is the biggest challenge for podcasts.

Discovery is the second biggest; and the primary contributor to the audience development problem.

These are the exactly the kinds of challenge that Digital Whiskey is supposed to help with.

But we find it can be a struggle.

Here's one of the more obvious lessons we've learned.

If the podcast is about a topic, then the topic should be in the title to aid discovery

Ideally, the topic should be one for which an audience already exists. If the audience doesn’t exist, it will need to be created.

Creating audiences is very hard. You have to persuade people that something they don't currently care about is worth caring about.

If your company name is in the title, then the topic is you.

It means you've already established an audience platform, and you're increasing the channels through which you can reach this audience.

The Property Podcast is about property, but The Tim Ferris Show is about Tim.

Putting your firm's name in the title means you're confident there are people out there who want to listen to a podcast about your firm; and that there's pent-up podcast search demand on your company name.

There are very few firms for whom this is true.

Here's a simple example of the alternative approach. This is the initial result page for a search on "Private Equity" (a niche, but relevant search.)

This is eminently game-able.

If — on the other hand — you believe that a sufficiently large number of people are searching Apple Podcasts et al. for your company name, then please don't let this thread stop you following your dream.