Follow the Show

Asking Your Audience For Feedback

When you create a recipe for food, you serve it to someone and ask them "What do you think?' They might say, "it needs more salt" or some other suggestion. It is then up to you like the chef to decide if you want to implement that recommendation or not. It's not any different in podcasting, but I feel we don't take the time to ask out audience, "What do you think?"

So I decided to do this, and bring you along. I asked two simple questions (thanks to Lee Silverstein of the Colon Cancer Podcast who did this first) and saw what kind of feedback I got.

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You Think You're Going to Get Butchered, But You're Not

If you are asking your audience, if they are your audience - they like you. If they have any negative comments, they will probably attempt to deliver them with kid gloves.

By Know What Works, You Can Do More

I feel like a bit of an egomaniac today, as much of the show it telling me how much people like my show, but I was more interested in WHY they like my show, and I learned:

I make things easy to understand (which is my #1 priority)
I am a likable guy
I make people laugh
I get to the point
I'm willing to speak my mind
People understand my intentions to help people
I'm not judgemental
I'm encouraging
I share insights into my life and do a great job of relating those stories to podcasting

Here are some great ideas on how I can improve my show (from listener feedback):

Put episode numbers in your posts for easier searching
Try not to repeat the same content on the School of Podcasting as I do on my Ask the Podcast Coach show. (some people listen to both)
Mention that I have a newsletter more often
Be more confident in my sales pitch.
Maybe not so many appearances of my cat.

Here are some suggestions from my audience that I'm not going to implement

One person said that the phrase "Tackle the technology" was not entirely correct. I like the "Theater of the mind of that phrase, so it's staying.

One person doesn't like the "Ladies" that sing my jingle. For now, I love my jingle in the same way I loved the theme music for Johnny Carson. I know much more people who LOVE the ladies.

You're Not Going to Please Everyone

Some people like my cat and other could live without the "Bernie blooper real." Some people like my intro and other do not. With this in mind, you're not going to please everyone. Follow your heart, and remember a few things:

It's your show
There is a fast forward button

Making An Audience Survey

There are all sorts of tools for feedback. You can use speakpipe, voicemail, email, and forms.

Here is a quick tutorial to show you how you can use a free tool that allows unlimited forms, unlimited questions, and unlimited responses.

https://youtu.be/BvYihe3tah4

Don't Be Afraid To Look in the Mirror

Somewhere in your life, you had someone give you feedback, or maybe you made a mistake, but it leads to you becoming better at that task. Constant improvement has been a mantra of mine for many years. You just spent all that time in the kitchen slaving over your podcast. Shouldn't you take the time to ask people what they think?

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Episode 559 first appeared at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/559