What is your reason? What is your motivation, your inspiration? Why do you get up in the morning and work on this thing called podcasting? Why do you do that? I want to dive deep into this topic today because this is the heartbeat of your show.

And if you do not have this key piece in place you will fizzle out. You will not be here next year. Let’s dive into all the things of giving yourself a solid reason about why you’re podcasting. 

If you haven’t done this before, if you haven’t walked through this, let’s walk through it together. If you have been here let’s refocus on it. Let’s just pause for a second. Do a quick, check-in like a quick checkup. Is it still good? Does it still apply? Let’s dive into that in today’s episode.

When you feel like you are not getting anywhere 

To be completely transparent here, last week for me as in two days ago, I was in a week where everything was just lagging. Everything felt like it was moving through mud.

And when you feel like that, moving through mud, feeling like nothing’s working, nothing’s clicking and why am I doing this? All these doubts and fears can come crashing in if we let them. Right? So if we have a great mental space of why we are doing this. If it is like a, it’s like a solid rock foundation to our podcast show, our show will live on. We will continue to do the show. 

So let’s dive into this really key piece. 

It is, this is foundational. It’s why I wanted it right at the beginning of this podcast show. Because if you do not have this piece, the rest won’t matter, the rest is fluff. It’s not actually fluff because you will need all the other strategies, but.

This part is like across the board. You need to have this. Other strategies: sure, pick and choose. This one, it’s a must. It will be the motivation. Knowing your “why”, having your reason to get up in the morning to do your show, to work on your show will be the reason that you keep going.

Knowing your reason why also gives you a direction. It gives you a focus. It gives you a purpose, even if you don’t know all of what that purpose is, even if you don’t have a crystal clear perfect niched down topic focus. If you don’t have that, that’s okay.

When things get tough, when times are tough, you will keep going. You will persevere because you know your reason why.

This is your starting point

Your “why”. It will drive that focus. It will drive that niche. This will drive you into an area that you just light up and you cannot stop talking about. And that’s why this is such a great exercise to do at the beginning if you’re a beginner podcaster. But it is also a great one to have as you’re going through the slog of the middle.

Like to be honest, the most glamorous part about podcasting is launching your podcasts. That is the exciting part, the climax, the high. Also getting your community to talk about your podcasts, that’s another amazing high. And getting guests onto your show and getting your guests to talk about your show as well. That’s another high.

The rest, it is day to day. It is day-to-day living. It is day to day chores. And I don’t mean that in like a negative type way, but it can lose the glamour really fast. That is what I mean. It can lose the glamor really fast. The adrenaline rush of launching a podcast show wears off really fast and anybody in the messy middle knows this.

But if you’re in that spot of the messy middle, if you’re in the spot of slogging it out day after day. Totally fine. But if you are feeling like depressed while you slog, it’s a good time just to pause for a second, even if it’s just for 15 minutes and reestablish your “Why”. We’re going to go through how to do your “Whys” in the second half of the show today.

• But the first part here I just want to reiterate if you just started, let’s do this. 
• If you’re in the middle pause, let’s refocus. Make sure you’re good. 
• And if you are just, you’re like a pro, you’re like a pro podcaster. Awesome. You are amazing. I love you. How’s it going? Do you still have a “Why” that’s in line with what you are saying? Is your “Why” still getting you out of bed in the morning to do podcasting? Is your “why” still like firing you up? Even on the days that you’re kind of like, Oh, “I really don’t want to spend the next three hours working on this.” Is it still enough of a motivation to just open up everything and get going? 

If so, you’re good. Keep going. You’re awesome. 

If not, let’s just pause for a second. Maybe pause for 15 minutes and let’s just realign, refocus. That’s all I want for you. 

So if you’re going for “knowing your why” as giving you direction, focus, and purpose, the goal of the future would be to expand your “why” as you experience more, as you pivot, as you change, as you realign, you’ll be expanding your “why” you will be, you’ll be tweaking your “why” to follow you and help you keep podcasting.

It’s not like a one and done solution. I guess that’s what I’m trying to say. Don’t leave it on the shelf and buried away. And we’re going to get to that a little bit later, too. 

All right. We’ve kind of talked about how important this is. It’s almost like morning routines. You hear again and again, influencers, bloggers, podcasters, pretty much anybody who’s had a high level of success could say a good chunk of that. (And I know it’s kind of wiping it across the board, but it is due to a morning routine.)

I love to get up early. I love to have a pattern of how I start my day. And the pattern of how I start my day, no matter what time I wake up, sets my day up for success. I know what’s coming at me. I know what I’ll try to do. And I know it’s not going to all workout, but I know I’m going to give it my best shot. Why? Because I went through the pattern of starting out my day. The same with knowing your “why”.

When you know your “why” it gives you that umph behind your message. It gives you that power behind the words that you say. It wipes away guilt. When you feel like you should be spending time, maybe with your family, but instead you have to work on your podcast. The “Why” of why you’re doing it is going to wipe away that guilt. 

It might not erase it completely from your life, but it’s going to be powerful enough to motivate you to overcome the guilt of not spending time with your family, that you’re going to spend time on your podcast.

Similarly, if you know your “why”, it will be a motivation strong enough to overcome yourself, to get yourself out of your way, to help people, to serve your people, to teach your people, to keep podcasting. And sometimes we can get into our own heads. 

I know I’ve been dealing with that a lot lately, too. Thinking of “who are you, who are you to deliver that message? Who are you to have people listen to what you have to say?”

And to overcome that you are not just going to magically wake up one morning and be done with it. Right? You’re going to use tools. To push that aside saying, “I see you, I acknowledge you. I am feeling imposter syndrome” or something like that. 

And then you can move it out of the way and say, “but my ‘why’, why I’m doing this is more than my imposter syndrome. So I’m going to get up and I will be doing this anyway, whether or not I feel like a fool.” That gives like knowing your “why” just this, the whole other meaning of it’s not just like, I need to have a persona in place. My avatar. Which we talked about in episode number two, it’s not just about that.

This is you and nobody else. Nobody else will probably be seeing this, but it will be behind everything that you do, which is amazing. It is awesome.

15-minute exercise to help you keep podcasting

Let’s jump into this exercise, we’ll probably take about 15 minutes. Grab a scrap piece of paper, open your Evernote, pull up a new card in asana, whatever you do, wherever you do it. Don’t try to do something new. Don’t start going into Trello if you’ve never been there before. just open up what you usually use and label it: “My Why” And we’re going to start with a question. I’m going to ask you a series of questions and we’re going to start with:

Where did you start from? 

Where did you start from when you started this business, when you had this inkling of a dream of a podcast show, where did you start from?

What were you thinking? Write it down. What were you feeling? Write it down. What was the punch in your face feeling of I have to do this, even if I don’t have it all figured out, even if I don’t have the equipment, even if I don’t have fill in the blank, whatever it is, you have this like gut reaction pull on your heart? I have to do this. So what was that feeling?

Was it like I have all this knowledge and I need to share it with the world. Is it that I’ve gone through this God awful experience and I’ve overcome it. And I am going to be the best friend to the next person that is going through a similar situation. Like, what is that thing that got you started? What did that first fire look like for you in your heart? When you’re like I’m doing a podcast show, call me crazy. I am doing it. 

Next question:

Compare your “Why” from then to now.

Looking at where you are at now and looking at where you started from, is there something that is going on now in your “why”? Something about why you’re doing what you’re doing now? Is there something from your past that is still true today? Is there something from where you started from that is still true right now that is a common thread. 

It could be that your “whys” shifted and changed so much you don’t recognize where you started from to where you are now. 

But if there is a commonality between the past and the present, I want you to draw a line from question one to question two. And what is similar. Just pull it right out. Is it that you still are wanting to teach people, but the topic has shifted. Do you still really want to walk beside people? Is it still that you want to share your story? Like, what is that thing? 

Is there a commonality between the past and the present?

Compare YOU from then to now.

Question number three, we are going to ask ourselves, looking back from where we started to where we are today, just as we pulled from our message in question number two, a common thread, a common theme. What about us? The person that we were when we started is not going to be the same as the person we are now. 

But as the message is the story and testimony of what you’re doing and what you’re saying, is it still true for you? And if it is, draw a line from your question, number one down to question number three, and pull out something about you that is still true. You can circle the words that jump out at you that still describe that passion in your heart. Circle those words, because those are the words that describe who you are still.

So you are making sure that you are still aligned with the message. You are still aligned with the testimony and the transformation that you were teaching and sharing. 

So question number two is you’ve reassessed your message, and you pulled out something common from the past to the present. Question number three is that you have pulled out something from the past to the present that is aligned with you and who you are. 

And now that you’ve done all this, seen where you’ve been and where you are, I want you to ask yourself question number four. 

Is it still true? 

What you’re doing from the past to now, is it still good? Has your business changed? Has your messaging changed? Maybe your business pivoted. Have you niched down even more? So I want you to start putting a checkmark beside your answers for question number two. And your answers for question number three, if they are still good, if they are still true, and if they still apply.

If they don’t want you to scratch them off.

Objectively look at your “Whys”

Question number five is that I want you to go through your reasons of why you’re still doing this. And I want you to look at them objectively, picture yourself in your mind’s eye, looking at them, the words on the page about why you’re doing what you’re doing.

And I want you to look at it from above. Just try to remove the emotion from the situation. And I want you to look at them as if you are studying them in a scientific experiment type of way. And I want you to ask yourself: “are these ‘whys’ strong enough in three months from now? Are they still going to be strong enough for me to stand on so that I will still be doing my message?”

Any of your “why’s” that came out in question number two or three that are not strong enough, that you feel are not going to last you much longer, I want you to cross them out because those are not for you. And I just wanted to go through that almost like you’re putting pressure on them to see if they still work.

So let’s go do an example for this one.

Let’s say you have a friend, a really good friend and they are having so much trouble cleaning their house. They are desperate. They’re like, “Sharon, please help me come over and help me clean my house.” And I say, “yeah, sure. I’d love to help you out. You are my good friend. I’m going to help you. You are amazing.” And you go out and you help your friend and you guys clean their house together and it is awesome. 

And time goes on and things shift a little bit as your friend is saying “can you help me clean my house? I actually can’t clean my house because I’m busy grocery shopping. Can you just come and clean it for me?”

And you go to their house and you are by yourself and you clean the whole house. It looks great, but your passion for it is kind of waning. And time goes on and your friend keeps asking you to do this. The reason why you started: to help out your friend with them to clean the house, is a great reason why you started, but it’s not a reason that’s gonna last you the long haul. 

You’re not going to keep going back volunteering, cleaning the house all the time. When slowly your friend becomes disengaged with the whole process. The process has shifted, the processes changed. And the “why” you started out with is a weak “why” now. 

The “why” that got you started then to help them clean their house is a strong enough “why” to help you get you out the door and to help them clean the house the one time. For the long haul, it would never last for 10 years. You wouldn’t, no. You’re not going to do that for 10 years.

If you’ve done that before you are a Saint, but this is just an example.

And what I mean is you need to cross off that “why”.

It doesn’t work anymore. It’s not going to last you the long haul. Everything with your message and your podcasting and your “why” has to be thought of in that long-term goal setting mindset because this is not a one and done, (unless you’re like a pop-up podcast to teach people a strategy while you are launching your new product or something. Maybe that’s something that you do.)

But if your “why” is set that you were going to help people or transform lives or serve your people or teach your people, then you need to be thinking of long-term strategies that are going to get you there. And a solid “why” with strong reasons behind it is what’s going to last you.

So cross off anything that’s weak, cross off anything in number two or number three that does not work for you anymore.

What is going to motivate you?

Question number six to ask yourself is “what are the one to three things that are going to motivate you?”

And I want you to be really specific here, like write out a situation, include words from a person about how you changed and transformed their lives. Include those words here.

But what are the one to three things that are still relevant from questions number one, two or three, that work? What are the ones that’ll fire you up still?

What are the three sentences you could say about why you were doing this thing you’re still doing? If you need to get super specific here and nothing is coming to mind right now, I have a little exercise. It’s a fill in the blank sentence. One that I actually did in episode number two and one I will be doing again in episode number five, but it is so powerful.

Related post: Who Are You Talking To?

And I just want to tell you a quick story.

For two years, I had been blogging and sharing, just random stories about my life and things that would help people. I wanted to serve and help people, but I couldn’t figure out a way to do that. And what the problem was is that I really needed to niche down.

And I hadn’t done that yet because it was too hard. It was too scary. Then, if you know my story at all, I jumped into YouTubing after blogging and I did YouTube for a good year. Did the courses and the coaching and did all the things with my teacher and my teacher is amazing.

But unfortunately, what I found out is that when I finally went through the whole entire process of niching down, my audience was not on YouTube. And that broke my heart, but that’s not the point. The point is that my teacher was super specific and said: 

“You need to figure out who you’re talking to and why you’re talking to them. What is it that you are trying to do? Transform promise, teach, or change people’s lives. And you need to know.”

This is what you have to fill in. It’s a fill in the blank sentence, and this is a great, great starting point or a great refresher point. 

I help ______ by _____ so they can _____. 

I help ______ Who do you help? Who do you serve? So just mentally say that, who is it that you help?

By _____ How do you help your people? How is it that you change lives? Transform people, serve them. What is it that you do?

So they can ____. This here is your promise. This is why people will come to you and listen to what you have to say. This is why people will seek you out. What they will type in, in a Google search bar and you will pop up as their answer. What is the thing that they’re typing in the Google search bar? And how are you going to fix it? 

This is your “why”, this is your promise of what you were doing. So that is your starting point. When you have that piece all together, then you have a solid starting point for why you, (you personally, the thing that nobody else will see,) are doing this. This starts right from here and can stem from here. 

So I know I went through this process and it took me months to niche down from a huge lifestyle type blog, into a tiny time management type niche. And when I figured out that my audience wasn’t on YouTube, I was given the choice I could tweak and change my messaging. Or shift and journey onto a new platform, which is what I did. I jumped headfirst into podcasting and after YouTube, it’s super easy. I love it. And that’s what I did. 

It still is a lot of work. Don’t get me wrong, but I know that you know that already. And how come I do all this work to put out my podcast? Actually, I have two podcasts. So why do I do all the work to put out two different podcasts?

Because I know my “why”.

And those weeks that I have that shake me, that feel like I am slogging through mud just to get out one episode, I need to go back to my “why”. “Why am I doing this?” And I want you to ask yourself that too, whether you never have before or whether you already mostly know and just need a quick refresher. Totally fine. 

And, and don’t be afraid to dig deeper.

I think it was about a month ago, I was diving into the “why” of my writing aspect. And I kept asking, “okay, I’m doing it for this reason, but why, but why. But why?” So I just kept asking layers and layers deeper. And I talk a lot about that in episode number two. And I was free-flowing handwriting this out on paper because I can think faster and write slower. So it works for me to keep up if that’s the way to say it.

But as I’m writing it out, I just started crying because I wasn’t really being honest with myself for my first, “why”? And I dug a little deeper and I got more honest with myself, “but why”.

Keep digging deeper and just keep being super honest with yourself, because nobody’s going to see this. Nobody’s going to know, but be super honest with yourself. Is it about financial security? Write it down. Nobody’s going to see it. Nobody’s going to know, but you have to be honest with yourself and write down financial security. 

Your “why” should move you, whether you cry or not. It doesn’t matter. You’re not me. I’m not you. That’s fine. But you need to have it written down in a way that moves you. So when you’re done free-flowing, writing it down, you read it over and you’re just like, “YES, this fires me up. This is why I’m here. And this is why I will keep coming back”

Because it is hard. It is not worth it. I’m sorry to say that, but it is not worth it if you don’t know why you’re doing this, I’m sure you can have an inkling of why, but I mean, I mean like die-hard, honest with yourself, smack in the face, I’m-super-freaking-honest-with-myself “Why”. 

You don’t have to show anybody up. You don’t have to pretend you’ve got it all together. Just be honest with yourself.

And give yourself the respect that you deserve by stating clearly “why”. 

Write down why you will keep podcasting

This brings me to my last point number seven.

If you did the whole entire free-flowing journal exercise and you’ve just gone for it until you have nothing left to say. Go back to question number six, where I said, pick one to three motivational sentences in there and string them together.

This is almost like your mission. It’s almost like your vision. And if you get them polished up enough that you’re comfortable with sharing them with the world, go ahead and put them on your contact page. Your mission and vision for who you serve, what you do, and why you are here. Go ahead and do that. That is awesome. But once you’ve picked out your three to one sentences that motivate you:

Write it down, write it down somewhere. Buy a cute little chalkboard at the dollar store or a poster board or a scrap piece of paper. Write it down, write it down messy. Write it down nice and pretty. And stick it on your wall. Stick it right beside your computer. Stick it somewhere where you can see it every day, like in your face.

Cause, especially for those weeks when it feels like you are moving through mud, you’re going to need this. You’re going to need this reminder. “Oh yeah. That’s why”. It might not feel as powerful as when you’re super revved up and motivated, but it’s going to be enough for you to keep going. 

This doesn’t have to be a perfect keep going. It just has to be enough that it keeps you going. That’s all it has to do through those weeks that are really super tough, which is why a visual of it will be great. You could even like create a cute graphic and stick it on your desktop wallpaper. That would be kind of cool. 

You’re going to need this.

Recap – how to keep podcasting

A quick recap of today and how we’re going to go through and hash out our why.

1| We’re going to write it down.

Scrap piece of paper or whatever app you use on a regular basis. Please do not start something new, but you are going to write it down. What it was like when you started? Why was it that you started? What was that thinking back, turning your mind’s eye to the past?

What was that passion or heart flare-up that you said “Yes, I’m going to be the brave one and step out and do this thing called podcasting”

2| Think back. Is there something that you did then that is still true for you today?

You are going to circle it. You are going to draw a line out of it, however, you want to lay it out. But you just want to make sure you pull out what was true back then. Is this still true now?

You’re going to pull out the things that are.

3| What is still true for you today?

Have you shifted? Is there anything that you see of yourself back then when you started? That is still true today? So it’s almost kinda like question number one through three is just taking stock of what was, is it still good? Is it still working? Yes. Awesome.

Keep it, expand upon it if you need to. Pivot it a little bit, if you need to shift a little totally fine.

4| Is there anything that is weak?

Any “whys” that are weak? Reasons why that will not get you to the long haul? This is a marathon. There are no fast sprints here. Cross it off, cross off anything in number one that does not work for you anymore. Cross off anything in number two, that is not good. 

Question number 3 was to ask yourself, is this still true? Has this changed? And if they have changed, move on into question number 4, cross it off, cross off those weak reasons why. The ones that are not going to last you the marathon of podcasting, anything that’s still is good. Put a checkmark by it from question number two or three.

Anything that is not going to work for you, that is not true of what you are or what your business is today. Cross it off. It doesn’t work. Throw it out. It’s okay. We’re going to find something new for you. 

5| What are the one to three reasons that you are doing what you are doing?

And I want you to be very specific here and how you’re going to be specific is that you are going to do a bit of a free-flowing journal-type therapy session. (If you want to call it that). I love doing it this way. It’s like the act of writing it out or speaking it out into your app or writing it out on a piece of paper. The speaking motion is slow enough for your brain to slow down. Cause sometimes it’s like we think too fast, right? It’s like we can’t keep up with our thoughts.

So speaking it out into your app will force you to slow down enough to articulate what you were feeling, what you are thinking about, why you are doing this awesome thing of podcasting. The act of writing it down, does the exact same thing as slows your brain down long enough for you to get it out on paper?

I love the writing it out part, and I want you to be super specific here, but more importantly, raw honest. Be true to yourself, be true to who you are. Be completely vulnerable with yourself. If financial security is what works for you right now? Write it down. It is Okay. Just be super honest with yourself and ask yourself, “okay, why am I doing this?” 

And write that first thought down. Okay. But why? And write that, like, just keep asking yourself why. Go six layers deep, if you can. And I mean, just keep digging through what you’re thinking and feeling. Write it down. And when you’re done reading this whole mess of why thoughts down, I want you to pull out, as I said earlier at the beginning of question number 5, the one to three thoughts that are just like the heartbeat behind it all.

If everything else fell away and all that you were left was this handful of sentences about why you’re doing what you’re doing.

6| Write that down.

That is the handful of sentences you want to make sure you save, write it as a desktop wallpaper, write it on a scrap piece of paper and smack it on your wall. Write it on a beautiful poster board with beautiful calligraphy type handwriting and frame it for behind you. Write it as your mission and vision and stick it on your contact page on your website, write it on a chalkboard that you can buy at the dollar store, and stick it as a little prop up beside your computer while you’re working.

You can glance over and see why you are working so hard on what you were working on because it is a marathon. 

It is tough, but you totally got this. Love you guys so much. And I’m so glad you tuned in with me today.

Thanks for reading today. I hope you found it helpful. You may also like the backlist of episodes, as well as my FREE PODCAST PROCESS CHECKLIST, all the things you need to do to bring your podcast episode from idea to published. It has all the steps laid out for you of how to bring each of your podcast episodes from ideas to life.

So print it off. Check off each step as you go through and create your weekly show. That way you’re going to know at a glance what’s left to do and where you left off.

Turn your mic on, start sharing your message and you are good to go, right? That could be the simplest way to describe podcasting, but it’s not quite true. We need to take a step back and answer this question. Who are you talking to? Who’s your Podcast Target Audience?

Who is it you’re trying to help, who really needs to hear your message and cannot spend another minute of their life without hearing what you have to say? And why does that matter so much? Why can’t you just turn on the mic and go?

That’s what we’re talking about in today’s episode. 

Hey, Hey! And welcome to the second-ever episode of the just keep podcasting podcast. I am so excited to be here and share another episode with you guys. What I’m doing today and what I’m doing actually for the first handful of episodes is going over setting foundational type practices.

The best practices for either starting your podcast, if you haven’t started yet or as you continue to grow and continue to develop. Pause, have you done these already? Have you done all this foundational work? If your answer is no, obviously you’re going to maybe just pause and go back and try to work the foundations of your podcast. Work those foundations back into what you’re doing into your message into your motivation.

But if you have done the work, if you have done the foundational work, take this time to reflect, take this time just to pause. 

We’re getting close to the end of the year now. And I guess in a way, no matter what time you’re in, you can still just pause to reflect, to figure out is this still good? Is this still right? Are my foundations still solid? Have pieces of my foundation kind of come off and over time, just kind of fallen away or eroded or been forgotten. 

So this is a great chance just to either pause, make sure your foundations are good, or if you haven’t done it yet, let’s get into setting a firm foundation for your podcast because I believe that if you do not have these handfuls of pieces in place, your podcast is not going to last. Or it’s not going to be reaching the right people, or you are going to burn out like a candle in July. It’s 10 times harder if you do not have these foundations in place.

So let’s get into that today. 

Creating an Avatar???

We are actually talking about who you are talking to and how to build your podcast avatar (or your podcast target audience) the right way. Now, before we dive into that, let’s just define what I mean by avatar and no, we are not talking about the movie here, (but in a way, in essence, it could be kind of like that)

Another word people might use instead of Avatar is Persona. It is also known as ICP, your ideal consumer profile. Some others call it “Customer Avatar” as well. Or your podcast target audience. So there are just some words to describe what people mean. And what is an avatar? What is a consumer profile? What is an ICP? 

A consumer profile is a way of describing a consumer categorically so that they can be grouped for marketing and advertising purposes.

It represents the person that you are specifically talking to whenever you’re giving your message. So before we dive into the, how: “how are we going to create our avatar?” “How are we going to create our persona?” “How are we going to create that person?”

The first thing we’re going to do before we get into the nitty-gritty of how… I love jumping into the Why.

I’m a very practical step-by-step person, and I want to take you through and teach you why we need to define who our customer is, who our people are, who our tribe is. And I want to go through and teach you how you can go about and very easily figure out who it is you’re talking to step by step by step. 

So let’s jump into the why’s.

1st – Why Do You Need to Know Your Podcast Target Audience

Why would you even care about setting a persona? Why would you care about figuring out who your podcast target audience is?

1| Direction

Because when you know who you’re talking to, you have a direction with all of your conversation. You know exactly what to say to your podcast target audience.

You’re never left thinking. Hmm. Okay. What am I going to say next? I’m not too sure what to address. Maybe I need to tweak what I’m saying a little bit. No, you don’t need to do that when you have who you’re talking to clearly defined. 

It also gives you the direction of how you’re going to teach your people.

Are you going to teach them like classroom style and do live videos with a whiteboard behind you and teach your people? Which you maybe wouldn’t do because you’re a podcaster, but maybe rip off the audio of that and put it on your podcast as an episode.

Are you going to inspire people with your message? Are you going to try to inspire people to take action to transform their lives? And if you know who you’re talking to, it’ll give you the direction of how you’re going to inspire them, for sure. 

Also, when you know who you are talking to, you are never ever going to run out of social media post ideas. You will always have something to say on Instagram, whether it’s the stories or your feed or IGTV. You’re always going to have something to say for Facebook. You’re always going to have a message to give on Twitter. There will always be proper context around what you are saying because you know exactly who you are talking to.

2| Clear Focus

Also knowing your audience gives you a clear focus on their pain point and how you’re going to solve it. It will define and refine your message. If you don’t know exactly who you are talking to, then your message may be all over the place because you’re trying to help them solve problem A and problem B and problem C, Oh, and you forgot about problem H. 

You just have all these things you’re trying to fix. All these things you’re trying to go for. All these things that you are trying to be an expert in. That won’t work. That’ll drive everybody away because nobody is understanding what you’re talking about, nobody is understanding what you are clearly here for and what your clear message is.

And you need to have a very defined, very specific message for your very specific person. I truly believe that. All the experts keep saying 2006, 2009 was the time to be a blogger about anything. Now’s the time to niche down. 

People are not going to their Google search bar to type in “weight loss” for example, no, they’re going to be typing in “weight loss for the busy mom with two kids that has no time” or “weight loss for the mom who has no time” or “weight loss for the entrepreneur” or something like that. Like it’s not just a general lifestyle type idea that we can do. We have to get very specific and very focused.

Also, it’s a service to your people, your podcast target audience. 

Whenever you have clearly defined yourself, you put it right on the front of your website, you put it right on the description of your podcast show, you have it in your imagery for your podcast, you have it in your imagery for your website. Somebody lands on your podcast or your website and boom, they know exactly who you are and who you are talking to.

And it does a great service to your people because instantly it will attract the people that you want around you and you want to keep in your sphere of influence. 

And it will also tell the people that are not for you to go away because they will be wasting their time if they stuck around and listened to what you have to say. This is a wonderful thing for all the people because we are all so busy, we don’t need our time to be wasted.

When you have a clear focus of who you’re talking to you’re going to know their pain point. You’re going to know what you’re talking about to give them the transformation they need. 

And sometimes your people may not know what they need exactly for the transformation. 

Like, finances, for example, they think that if they just fix their business finances, all their finances will be fine when, YOU know (because you’re the expert) that if they started with their personal finances and got all of that under control, their business finances would fall into place and it would be so much easier for them.

So you will be teaching them and bringing them along and giving them step-by-step instructions to get them from what they think they need to actually what they really need. But that is because you know the transformation.You know who you are talking to and you know exactly how to get them from point A and what they think they need to complete their transformation – point B.

3| You’ll Be The Expert

Also whenever you are figuring out who you are talking to and the transformation that they need, you are also labeling yourself the expert. But what does that expert look like? You will be defining that position for yourself whenever you are defining their transformation.

Are you going to be the Inspector expert?

Picture you are hovering above and you see their problems, you see their pain points, you see their need for transformation, and you are like just speaking into their lives and disappearing and speaking into their lives and not really having any personal connection, contact, or anything. You are the inspector you are above, they are below or far away. There’s a distance between you.

Or are you going to be the Advisor expert? 

Are you going to be the expert that comes at them by the front door knocking on their home saying, “Hey, you need to open up because you need to hear what I have to say because it will help you and change your life”?

Or are you going to be the Mentor expert? 

The mentor expert is the person that will come alongside the person that needs the transformation, hold their hand and walk them through. Walk them through where they are right now and walk them to the point of where they need to be for that transformation to be had and say, “yes, we have arrived. We are here, you are done. You do not need me anymore.”

And these are the three things that I just wanted to quickly walkthrough because this is a way of transformation actually in marketing.

We used to be talked to and just told what to do. The inspector, you are told what to do – go and do it right.

Then we moved on through the last couple of decades into the advisor expert. The one that is kind of untouchable, but they’re there. They’re telling you, and they’re just advising, advising, advising. 

Now we’re at the point where we need to be, I believe, the mentor expert. We need to walk alongside our people. Hold their hand empathetically through what they are doing right now. But also be the coach and hold the line. Coach them through what they need to go through to get to the transformation at the end of what you are teaching them – what they need and want to improve in their life or change in their life. You’re going to be there with them the entire time. 

That’s, I think, where we are at right now. And that’s what I think we need to do to draw people to us in order to draw our tribe to us. Right? 

So if we know who we are talking to, we know who our podcast target audience is, we know how to be that friend. We know how to be the mentor expert. We know exactly the words to say because, most of the time, it’s who you were five years ago. It’s who you were two years ago. You’ve been in their shoes. You know what they’re going through. Or you’re just an expert in your field and have lots of education behind what you do and lots of years of experience and that is fine too. 

But a lot of the time, as an expert in your field of genius, you’ve gone through what they have. You’ve gone through the whole thing. Usually, that’s how this goes, you know exactly what they have gone through. So you can approach this as a mentor expert with them. 

So these are our “Why’s”. This is why we need to dig deep and spend the time. Because it is going to take a little bit of time, and that is okay. It’s something to think about a mull over and just let it kind of simmer there, like a pot of chili that just gets better as it just gets older in the fridge. Maybe that’s a bad analogy, but you get where I’m going with that. 

So to recap, our “Why’s”

Why do we need to know who our podcast target audience is? It gives you direction. It gives you direction with your conversation and it gives you direction on how you’re going to approach that conversation. Whether it’s through teaching or inspiration, it also gives you direction on what you’re going to say on social media and how you’re going to market yourself on emails.

And also when you know who you are talking to and why it is so important, it gives you a clear focus of their pain point and how you are going to solve it. It gives you a clear focus on their transformation and how you are going to try to help them. 

You will do your best to be their mentor expert friend walking along beside them, not as an inspector, not as an advisor, but you are their mentor, their friend, and their coach. And you can act like it because you know exactly who you are talking to

2nd – How Do You Identify Your Podcast Target Audience?

So now let’s dig into the “How’s”. How are we going to do this? And I love, love, love how simple this can be. 

What NOT To Do

I know a lot of people will preach it. “Let’s get into the hair color. Let’s get into the eye color. Find a picture on the internet. Let’s put a face to that lady. Let’s give her a name. What’s her a fake family. Let’s go five levels deeper and give her a van and the van make number. And the model number for her van.”

No, no, no, no, no, no. Hold the phone. Hold it, hold it. I really don’t think we need to do all that. 

I’ve done that exercise a couple of times before, wrote down all my details, found the picture. I put it away and I never thought about it again. 

Why? Because it doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter what her hair color is. Just grab a picture, smack it on your computer, call it your podcast target audience. But what does matter is knowing who you’re serving and what their pain point is. And why. Why do they have that pain point?

1| So Ask Yourself “What Do You Do?”

So let’s back this up. Back it right up to the beginning. Let’s do a bit of an exercise, a fill in the blank. So I’m going to say a sentence, there’s going to be some blanks in there, and I want you to jump in your mind, and fill in the blanks. 

I help ______ by _____ so they can _____. 

• So you help______? Who do you help? Who’s that blank. Don’t just say ladies, don’t just say dads. Give me a specific person that you help. “I help busy moms with young kids.”

• By _____? How do you help them? How do you help the person that you just said, how do you help that person in their transformation? 

• And the transformation is: So that they can _____? I help “who?” by “how?” so that they can have “What transformation?”

So an example of this would be:

“I help busy moms with young kids by teaching them time management strategies so that they can become more peaceful moms.” 

So if you followed along and you’ve got that part of the exercise done. Awesome. That is great. You’re on your way to identifying your podcast target audience. If you’re having a little bit of trouble with that still, and haven’t thought about it, or it’s been a long time since you’ve thought about it, that is totally fine.

If you could even just sum up in one sentence, what is it you do? What is the transformation, the promise that you have that you are giving to your people? What is it that you will help them do then you can just put it into a quick sentence? Don’t add fluffy words, now is not the time to get fancy. Just say plain and simple what it is you do. 

3| Ask Yourself “Why Do They Need That?”

And because you know what it is you do, and the transformation you’re trying to get people to. Why do people need that? Why do people need what you have to give?

Let’s use the example of a financial advisor or financial expert that is going to help people get out of credit card debt. 

• So who are you talking to? You were talking to people with credit card debt. 
• Well, why do they have credit card debt? They have credit card debt because they do not know how to manage their money. 
• Well, why do they not know how to manage their money? Because they do not regularly check into their bank account. They do not log on. They do not check. So they do not know where they are in their finances. 
• Why do they not log on? Because every time they think of logging on, they feel guilty about the out-of-controlness in their credit cards and their debt and all the things they owe and they’re paycheck to paycheck. 
• Well, why do they feel guilty about their credit card debt and not opening it and everything else that we just said, why do they feel guilt? They feel guilt because they feel ashamed. Ashamed that they have all this credit card debt. They feel ashamed that they’re grown adults and they cannot manage their money properly. They feel ashamed because they should’ve learned this all in high school and they should have known better whenever they signed onto the credit card in their early twenties. They’re thinking they should have known they should have been more responsible with their money.
• And why do they feel shame? Because….

So you just keep backing it up. You just keep going on down the rabbit hole of why. So I hope you followed along. That was a long example. I hope you heard that you can just keep asking why. 

So don’t just say “because they want to get out of credit card debt” or “they want to be financially free.” No, it’s not really. You keep digging down the layers, right? 

It’s not just about that. It’s also a layer deeper. It’s because they don’t log on, they don’t want to know. A layer deeper: because they don’t budget. A layer deeper: because they feel guilt. That’s why they don’t want to budget. They don’t want to check-in. They’re in denial. Why are they in denial? Because a layer deeper they feel shame. They feel embarrassed. They feel like nobody should have to look at this because it is terrible and it is awful.

So that is the place they are in. That is their pain points. That is who you are talking to. This is your podcast target audience. You are talking to the person that feels exactly like that. That’s six layers deep of credit card debt. That is the person you are talking to. All those why’s you listed.

That is exactly who you are talking to.

How Do You Use These Pain Points?

And in our later episodes, we’re going to talk about how we’re going to put together our podcast show description. But you can literally take all those “Why’s” that are listed out. 

You know, grab a scrap piece of paper and start asking yourself those questions and go layers and layers deeper. Sometimes when you start out and you are chugging along in your podcast creation, you maybe don’t have the words that people say about the pain points they have. Maybe you haven’t taken the time to survey your podcast target audience. Maybe you haven’t taken the time to ask some questions on Instagram and get engagement so that you know exactly what their pain points are and exactly the transformation they’re looking for.

So if you haven’t done that, you can start by using this copy. These words of why they’re doing what they’re doing, their pain points. And you can put that in your podcast show description notes. You can put that on your website, on your podcast, in your titles. This is like the starting point. It’s like the birthplace of everything that you create.

The content creation can start from here. You can start addressing the core “Why’s”. The core pain points that your person has. When you start from here you know how to put it into your email titles, you know how to put it into your email body. You can word it in a way that you are their friend, their mentor, their coach that will come alongside them in this pain. Because you understand it, you know what they’re going through because you dug through it. So this is something that you can do step by step, dig through those whys.

I would strongly recommend… In fact, don’t do this unless you’re ready to write it down. (Like you can, if you’re driving the car, just keep thinking through those whys. Because when you get to your pen and paper, it will be super easy just to write it out and just it’ll free flow.)

But if you just only ever think about this and you never write it down, then you are going to forget. You’re going to forget your layers. You’re going to be in the moment and you’re like, “Ah, what is it? That thing again?” 

This is the part you want to write down. Not her blue eyes, blonde hair, whatever name she has.

And the picture of the model that you picked from some random website. That’s not the important piece. If that all makes you feel better. Sure. Go do it. 

But I would just focus on this piece: get into the head of your person, get into their pain points, get into what they’re looking for to change in their life. And then ask why, and then ask why again and just keep digging. Keep going through and dig deep. 

That way, whenever you talk, your person’s going to be like, “Oh my goodness. She is in my head. She knows exactly what I’m talking about.” or “She knows what I’m thinking.”

That’s what they’re going to be thinking. This is what they’re going to be feeling, and that’s going to have them like you, know you, and trust you all the faster. That’s your podcast target audience. And they will be coming back to hear more of your message.

To Sum Up

I hope you found this really helpful today. I want to just encourage you. Take the time to do a fill in the blank. 

I help ______ by _____ so they can _____. 

That is your promise of transformation. That’s who you serve, what you do, and how you help them. This is your podcast target audience and that is what that sentence is for.

So you can fill that out. And then once you get that started, it’ll get your brain rolling thinking about what their pain point is, what transformation it is that they are looking for. And then you are going to start asking your why’s. This is their pain point. Awesome! Now ask why and why again, and you’re going to write this out on a piece of paper.

Then have that paper super handy when you are creating your email titles, your emails, your social media copy, your website, your sales page copy, your tripwire copy, your product page copy, your podcast show description, your podcasts episode’s descriptions. They can have pieces of these “Why’s” in all of these different places. 

And whenever someone lands on your site in those three seconds that they look at you and look through what you have and see if you are for them or not, they’re going to say yes, this person is in my head. They know exactly what I’m talking about. I am sticking around.

~Or~

You’re going to do a service to everybody else that is not your person and send them away as fast as you can. They can look and say, no, she is not for me. And they’ll be running away. Which is a really good thing, and we want that.

I hope you found this helpful, and I’ll see you again next week. 

Thanks for reading today. I hope you found it helpful. You may also like the backlist of episodes, as well as my FREE PODCAST PROCESS CHECKLIST, all the things you need to do to bring your podcast episode from idea to published. It has all the steps laid out for you of how to bring each of your podcast episodes from ideas to life.

So print it off. Check off each step as you go through and create your weekly show. That way you’re going to know at a glance what’s left to do and where you left off.

So until next week, Just keep podcasting.