Singapore's No1 Financial Literacy Podcast, The Financial Coconut
Growing a Podcast is quite a crazy ride, but not impossible. I have stumbled into podcasting while trying to rant about how these "online gurus" are screwing people's life.
I have since come a long way and would love to share with everyone the steps and tips to go about building a podcast that resonates.
- Define your audience narrowly
I think too many people that are trying to start a podcast want to just wing it and try to go big talking about all sorts of random shit under the sun. If you are famous, sure, go ahead, if you are a nobody, who cares then?
Your audience needs to know what they are tuning in for and your tonality, references, and perspectives need to primarily cater to them. My Podcast is focused on Personal Finance in Singapore for young professionals from 25-35. I have done a good job vibing with them because they are all I need to care about. Over time, the audience will grow beyond your narrowly defined group, that we can deal with it later.
- Hangout Where they are
So while it is not always easy, if there are Facebook groups, forums, or any groups and digital spaces that your audience hangs out, you should be there. You need to know what they are concerned about and what are they talking about. it would be great if you fit that demographic but it is not always the case if you run a company and whatnot. BUT if you do not hang out where these guys are, you very likely will not be able to resonate with them and will find it hard to gather a loyal following.
- Start with Monologues to Test your Audience and yourself
I think many people try to get a co-host and interview guest right away without recognizing the complexity of arranging common interview times and recognizing that a podcast is a performance and not a casual conversation. So before going into all the complex logistics, why not just pick up a mic and test out if there are people who will vibe with you? The truth is, it is very different running monologues but monologues train your ability to carry conversations and gives you space to throw out your thoughts to sense your audience.
After 10 or so episodes of monologues, you have thrown out many of your primary principles and would probably already start to have some audience (if not, back to drawing block), now it is much easier to get a good co-host that you can vibe with and guest that your audience is interested in.
- Grow a telegram group or a Facebook group
So I think many of us would love to have a whole range of social touchpoints from Twitter to newsletters to what have you. In Singapore, Twitter isn't that popular and many people run telegram groups. I intentionally kept it a group rather than a channel so my listeners can come and hang out and chat. I get to know them better and I have an easy start to a funnel to bring them together, closer to me.
- Make friends with your listeners and make them your fans
I met many of my listeners and was especially active in the early stages, I would meet them for a cup of coffee to learn about them and what they love about the podcast. I would do it to get feedback and also give myself some motivation that yeahhhhh this is worth my time! I also think when listeners meet you IRL, they have a higher tendency of becoming friends and sharing the podcast with their friends.
Word of mouth is amazing and as someone that does not have a lot of digital marketing experience, I found this an effective way of spreading the show.
Thereafter, there are many things you can do, cross-pollinating on another podcast, repurposing your content for socials, creating an email newsletter, but all that matters is that you get your base going. Get to know the audience and the problems they face, build resonance, and provide perspectives and solutions. Fundamentally we have to go past the Question of "Who Cares?", so many podcasters just ramble and invite big names, but who cares? haha
Feel free to reach me at hello@thefinancialcoconut.com if you wanna have a chat with me about podcasting and check out my podcast network at thefinancialcoconut.com/podcast
