Honest feedback to improve your podcast

It's nearly impossible to be objective about your own work. That's why you need feedback. But not all feedback is valuable. Here are my favorite ways to get feedback that can help you improve the quality and interest level of your podcast. 

It’s hard to make a podcast about a business or project that you’re passionate about and stay objective about it. That’s why so many of us ask for feedback. But too often how we ask is counterproductive.

With that in mind, here are 3 ways that you can get what you need. Don’t do all of them at once. Do one, then make some changes to your podcast. Then breathe and schedule the next one for a couple of months later. Remember, podcasting is a marathon, not a sprint.

3 ways to get critical feedback on your podcast:

#1: DOWNLOAD TRENDS: 
The quickest way. Look at your downloads. Look for trends. Look at what episodes came out during peaks AND valleys. You’ll have to make some assumptions but if you notice a repeated trend in content (either peak or valley), then this may be your listenership telling you what they like. Let me know if you’d like a separate post on this. I can get analytics geeky if needed.

#2: PODCAST AUDIT:
Get a professional podcast audit. There are many kinds of audits available. I’d suggest finding one that’s customizable instead so that you can share your specific podcast goals before they dive in on the feedback. I’d also suggest adding on a call option to the written audit, if your budget allows. As complete as a written audit can be, you’ll probably still have some questions about what they wrote. The ability to ask these questions can bring out other impressions and suggestions that they had that wouldn’t come out otherwise. If you’re interested in an organic audience growth audit, this may be of interest to ya.

#3: WATCH FOR FEEDBACK:
I recently watched a video from Gregory on The House of Kush YouTube channel. He builds compressors and such for musicians. His heart and soul is in the feel of music. I’m not a musician but his views on how sound emits emotions mirrors how I feel about voices in podcasting. In this specific video, he has an interested suggestion on how to get feedback. Ask someone to listen and watch them. Do NOT ask them for feedback during or after. Just watch. As you can see from the YouTube comment conversation below, I’m still pondering how to do this type of feedback online instead of in person. I’ll let you know after I try it out. 

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Which method will you try next? Please comment below. I'd love to know!

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