On this episode of School of Podcasting, we're discussing an important topic for podcasters – rebranding. The conversation revolves around the possibility of changing a show's name, intro, outro, and thumbnail, including updating old episodes and descriptions. Dave offers helpful tips on going about the process and stresses not changing your feed. This episode is filled with valuable insights and resources for both aspiring and seasoned podcasters. You won't want to miss it!
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Today's Parameters: We Are Not Changing Media Hosts
For today's podcast we are talking we need to change something in our brand. We are not moving media hosts. We will mention feeds and websites, but for the most part you are just changing your brand.
When To Rebrand Your Podcast
Your name is outdated. (My original podcast had the word cyber in it because they early days of the internet referred to it as “cyberspace”).
Your logo is outdated (maybe you did it in Canva, and you're ready to have someone like podcastbranding.co recreate your artwork).
You didn't do enough research on your show's name, and it's been trademarked.
You “break up” with your co-host and discover you don't own the name.
Anyone who has heard your show thinks it's awful (Think New Coke). Infusionsoft changed its name because everyone called it “Confusionsoft.”
If you join a network of some sort or combine it with another podcast.
When you want to make it more obvious what your show is about.
When you want to make it easier for your target audience to understand that your show will benefit them.
What is Involved In a Rebranding Your Podcast?
While people in the marketing department will want to go deeper, for this episode, I'm discussing:
- The name of your show
- The tagline of your show
- The artwork
- The description
- The author
- The website URL
- Episode titles
- Your show's feed (and why you want to leave it alone).
Who Is Your Podcast Serving?
Weight Watchers helped people lose WEIGHT for decades. As the “Body Positivity” movement increased, they were afraid of not connecting with a younger demographic. So they focused less on weight loss and more on living healthily. They changed their name to WW (thus removing “Wedight” out of their name). Their tagline was “Wellness That Works.”
Kentucky Fried Chicken changed their name KFC to avoid the word “Fried” as, well, I think we all know that you won't find the healthiest choices (they do have grilled versions of their chicken) at KFC? What prompted this change?
KFC decided to undergo a rebranding with its business marketing because its brand was not as popular as it once had been, was down in sales, and millennials weren’t hopping on the bandwagon. So much so that 60 percent of millennials had not eaten at the fried chicken chain ever, according to Business Insider. (source)
By knowing who you are trying to attract, you can get your audience involved to help you pick a new name, artwork etc. As your target audience helped influence your brand, in theory, this should work better.
Changing Your Artwork
For me, your artwork has ONE job: to show the name of the show. Your tagline and author field will take care of filling in any gaps. You need to remember this will be very small. If you're not a celebrity, putting “with (your name) on the artwork doesn't really help. After all, you can put your name as the author which will make it searchable (Where it won't be searchable on the artwork.
AVOID THIS MISTAKE:
Make sure the new artwork has a different file name, or it won't update in the apps. So if your original artwork was called artwork.jpg. Make sure the new artwork is something along the lines of artwork2.jpg to make sure it is different.
Make sure you have the right dimensions and the right FILE SIZE.
Dimensions: 1400X1400 up to 3000X3000
Files size 500kb or less. See https://squoosh.app/ if you need help resizing and compressing.
Your Website
Even if you're not rebranding, check your podcast settings in your media host, and if you have your own website (you do have your own website, right?) make sure it is listed instead of the media hosts default site (check out www.trypodpage.com to build a website in 10 minutes with no coding, and www.learnpodpage.com to learn more for free)
The reason I bring this up is so many people have a great website with an email list, courses, coaching, etc, and they send people to their media hosts' version of their site or some sort of Link Tree tool. Keep YOUR brand in the center of your audience's mind.
Your Description
Your description should focus on the benefits of listening to your show. They don't care about you or your background. You don't benefit until your audience benefits. I did an episode on Podcast Show Descriptions. Occasionally we feel a lot of pressure when writing the description. While it is important, remember you can change this later (and probably will).
The Author Field
The author field in your podcast is searchable by most apps. This is where you need to think like your audience. I see people put the name of their LLC in this spot and nowhere in the episode do they mention this name. Is your audience ever going to search for that when looking for your show? Then put YOUR NAME there.
Your Podcast Is A Recipe: Episode Titles
Everything we are talking about today, you can change later. With this in mind, when I see a podcast where the episode titles are (and I'm not making this up) “Episode 1,” “Episode 2.” If this is you, think about how your audience will benefit from listening to this episode and swap out “Episode 1” for whatever the benefit is (“Updating your episode names can boost your download).
Don't Forget To Wait
Your podcast information is in your media host (your feed). So when you make changes, it is stored in your feed (A file that is a wall of text that apps can decipher). When you change your podcast in your media host, it can take up to 24 hours for those changes to be available in the apps.
How A Rebrand Can Ruin Your Show
So far everything I've mentioned is easy to do. If there was a typo, or something not quite correct, there is no real damage outside of embarrassment. I've seen people start with a simple rebrand and then grow it into changing web hosts, media hosts, names, feeds, and more.
Here are some things to watch out for:
- If you use a tool like PowerPress or Seriously Simple Podcasting plugins, your feed (again the heart and soul of your podcast) is based on your website address. Consequently, if you later rebrand your show and move to a new website address, you can end up deleting your feed when you delete/take down your old website.
- In the same way that I know enough about web design to make a basic website, most “webmasters” know what a podcast is, but not how they are syndicated. Consequently, taking advice from the “Web person” may result in some seriously bad advice.
- While changing your artwork and description could be seen as an “outpatient” medical procedure, anything involving your feed is a major surgery that could result in death. When you redirect a feed, if you input your new address incorrectly, you can send your audience into a black hole and never get them back.
If your rebrand involves your feed, find someone (like me or another seasoned podcast consultant) who understands how to podcast syndication works, and ensure you're not taking steps that will end up with you losing your audience.
Because of My Podcast: I'm Alive
Jennifer Dragonette shares how podcasting help redefine who she is and put her back on the road to success. I recently appeared on episode 60 of her Cure for Podfade show.
QUESTION OF THE MONTH
This month's question comes from the History of North America Podcast by Mark Vinet. While we know the perfect length of a podcast is “As long as it needs to be and not a minute more.” What is YOUR perfect podcast length, and why?
Leave Your Answer at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/question
I need your answers by 4/21/23
Where I Will Be?
I look forward to seeing you all; please come up and say hi. To see my full itinerary, go to schoolofpodcasting.com/where
