Smart, Sustainable Podcasting Tips to Keep You Going Through Christmas
The holidays can be magical, but also a little overwhelming. If you’re trying to grow your podcast while juggling school events, end-of-year projects, and wrapping gifts, you’re not alone. In this episode, I share five stress-free strategies to help you create and market your podcast during the Christmas season (and beyond). These are the same tips I use to keep things running without losing my joy, or my voice.
Topics covered in this podcast episode:
- How to grow a podcast without social media
- Why Pinterest is a powerful tool for podcast growth
- Creating shorter, seasonal podcast episodes
- Batching content to free up your December
- Holiday and New Year themed episode ideas
- Replaying old episodes the smart way
- Taking a seasonal break without ghosting your audience
Links
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Unedited transcript of the episode:
Quick reminder, Christmas is a month from today, if I’m being completely honest. That realization made me feel excited, but also had some dread mixed in there. As a mom podcaster and business owner, the holiday season is magical, but also a lot, which is why I decided to give you some tips on how to create and market your podcast during the holidays without burning out.
Hi, I am Andy Smiley, your friendly podcast guide and the podcast coach For women who want to grow their podcast without burning out. I share practical podcast tips, stories from my own journey and wisdom from some of the smartest podcasters out there. Today I’m giving you five tips for creating and marketing your podcast.
During the holidays, you can implement all five or just pick your favorite one. You do what’s best for you. But first I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about my favorite podcast marketing method, Pinterest. I don’t have time to chase algorithms between driving kids everywhere, running my business and reading fantasy books way past my bedtime, I needed a marketing strategy that didn’t depend on posting every day, so I went Instagram optional and put my energy into Pinterest.
Now my pins keep working for me for months. One has more than 7,000 views still brings in new listeners every week. If you wanna see if Pinterest could do the same for your show, grab my free two minute is Pinterest right for me? Checklist, you’ll know in just a couple minutes if Pinterest is worth your time. The link is in the show notes.
I know it can feel impossible to keep your show going during school holiday parties gift wrapping and with end of year projects looming, but I’ve learned you don’t have to give up on your podcast during the holidays. You just need to shift how you approach it. Here are five podcasting tips you can use during the holidays.
The last tip is my favorite of them all, and it’s the one I will for sure be doing this holiday season.
Tip number one is to plan for the craziness that can be this season. You’ve got a lot going, so now isn’t the time for elaborate episodes marketing pushes instead of stressing about your episode. Plan on creating shorter, more relaxed and personal episodes. These are usually easier to create and are always fan favorites.
You can even call them bite-sized holiday listens if you want to. Tip number two is to batch your content. I know that batching during the holiday season sounds stressful, but if you set aside a couple of hours at the beginning of December to batch record your episodes, or to create all of your Pinterest pins for the month, you’ll be so grateful when you can snuggle with your family and enjoy watching your favorite Christmas movie instead of sneaking off to finish one last episode or one last post. My favorite Christmas movie is Klaus. I cry every year when we watch it. Tip number three is to lean into the holiday season.
Do episodes and posts that have a holiday or New Year’s twist. These are usually compilation episodes, so they’re easier to create and people love to listen to a holiday themed episode during this time of year. Here are some suggestions to help you get the ideas flowing.
You could do, uh, the year in review episode holiday survival tips for fill in the blank with your niche, what I learned this year as a podcaster slash creator slash however you relate to your listeners. Um, three ways to prep your business for the New Year, or maybe just a cozy reflection episode about your favorite holiday tradition.
Tip number four is to reuse and reshare past content. Now is a great time to look through your past episodes and see which ones could be a replay episode. You’ve made some great content and many of your listeners probably haven’t heard some of your earlier episodes. Pull one of them from the archive and do a quick little intro explaining that you’re replaying an episode from the archive.
Here’s what your episode could sound like. Hey, everyone. This week I’m pulling out one of our most popular episodes from the archive all about fill in the blank with whatever the topic is. When I was listening to this episode to make sure it was up to snuff, I was taking notes.
There is so much goodness in there. I know you’re gonna love it too. I’ll be back next week with a new episode, all about what I learned this year as a podcaster. Now onto the episode.
This helps your listeners know why you chose this episode and helps you connect with them even if it is a replay Episode. And last, but certainly not least, tip number five is to just take a break. No one says you have to create episodes and market your show during the holidays.
I’m the biggest fan of taking intentional breaks, which is why I choose to take a seasonal break starting in December. I don’t disappear completely, but I don’t put out regular episodes and I mainly just show up on Pinterest and Instagram stories.
And what’s so great about Pinterest is that I will be continuing to put new pins out, but I already have a bunch of those pins scheduled, and I’ll probably pick a day in the next week or two to make enough pins and schedule them out to take me through the new year. But other than that, I’m gonna take a break and this is me giving you permission to take a break too, if that’s what you want slash need.
Just make sure to let your listeners know that you’ll be taking a break and when they can expect you to be back. Here’s an example of what you could say. I’m taking a little holiday break to recharge and enjoy time with my family, but I’ll be back in, fill in the blank with the month or the day or the season that you plan on coming back with some exciting new episodes.
In the meantime, feel free to re-listen to any and all of your favorite past episodes
When you say something like this, this helps your listeners know that you still care about them and that you aren’t abandoning them. You’re just taking a little break. Now, as a recap, here are the five tips for how to create and market your podcast during the holidays. First plan for the craziness that is this season.
Second, batch your content. Third, lean into the holiday season. Fourth, reuse and reshare evergreen content. And fifth, just take a break. You can pick and choose whichever of these feel best for you. If you have a podcaster friend who’s been stressing about podcasting during the holidays, will you send her this episode?
This is my last episode of season four, and I am so grateful for all of you. Thank you so much for listening and replying to my emails and just being part of this community. It means so much to me. I hope you have a fabulous holiday season, and I’ll see you in the spring.
