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82. How to Create a Year of Podcast Content Without Starting From Scratch Every Week · Podcast Growth, Podcast SEO, and Podcast Launch Strategies for Mom Entrepreneurs | Podcasting for Moms

• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's nine on a Sunday night.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: The kids are finally down.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: There's a load of laundry in the washer that has been sitting there since Friday, and you're choosing to ignore it.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: You have your laptop open, a blank Google Doc in front of you, and you're trying, and you're trying to remember what on earth you were going to talk about in this week's episode.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you think, I have no idea what to record.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: I have been there more times than I want to admit out loud on a podcast, especially as someone who does this for a living.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: So here's what I want you to hear before we even get into this.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: That feeling is not a creativity problem.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: You're not out of ideas, you're not a bad podcaster, and you do not need a better brainstorming, a better brainstorming worksheet.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: You have a system problem.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: You're making the same decision from scratch 52 times a year, and no human brain is built to do that well.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Especially, especially not one that is also running a business and remembering who needs a red shirt for Spirit Day.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: So today I'm going to show you how to build a full year of podcast content without starting over every single week.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And no, this is not a batch record 12 episodes in one weekend type episode.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: That is crazy, and I would not do that to you.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get into it.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Podcasting for Moms, the show for moms in business ready to start, grow, and scale a podcast that turns your listeners into buyers.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Jenny Summson, a podcast strategist and fellow mom entrepreneur.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're in the right place if you want to learn how to start and grow a podcast that attracts your ideal clients and really does the heavy lifting for you when it comes to selling your offers, all while balancing life as a busy mom.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Are you ready to create a podcast that grows your income, impact, and influence?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Let's make podcasting work for you.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because as moms, we know how to get things done.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, let's jump into the episode.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, hey, and welcome back to Podcasting for Moms.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: I am so glad that you're here.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Real quick, before we dive in, I want to name something.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you're listening to this episode while folding laundry or in the carpool line or hiding in your pantry for four extra minutes of peace, I see you.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: This episode is for exactly that version of you.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: The one who wants a podcast that grows her business but does not have another 12 hours a week to give it.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're talking about content planning, specifically how to build a year's worth of podcast content that you're not reinventing every Sunday night.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to be really clear about what this episode is not.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: This episode's not about turning out more content.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about posting five times a week or adding a bonus episode or squeezing more out of yourself.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is about making fewer decisions so that the content that you already make works harder for you.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because here's the truth that I keep coming back to.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: A podcast alone is not a business strategy.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: A podcast connected to a system is.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And your content calendar is one of the biggest pieces of that system.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: So let me tell you about a conversation that I have basically every month.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: A mom shows up with a podcast that is on paper, doing just fine.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: She's been publishing for a year, maybe two, her episodes are good, the audio is clean, she has a handful of listeners who message her, who message her and say things like, This episode was exactly what I need today.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: But she is exhausted.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Not because recording is hard, she actually likes the recording part.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: She is exhausted because every single week she has to decide what to say, figure out how to say it, find a story that fits, remember what she already covered, and then somehow tie it to whatever she's currently selling every single week from zero.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And by month eight, she's not making strategic decisions anymore.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: She is making whatever decision she can make at 9 p.m.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: on a Sunday, and the show starts to drift.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: The episodes are still good, but they stop pointing anywhere.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: They're just episodes.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Then she looks at her numbers and then she thinks the problem is her downloads.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's not her downloads.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: It is that her show has no spine.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so here is where the listen method comes in.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been around here for a minute, you know that the listen method is the framework that I use to audit and rebuild shows so that they can actually convert listeners into buyers.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's what I run every single client through before we touch a single episode.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the biggest things that it surfaces over and over is this most podcasters are not underperforming because of the content itself.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: They are underperforming because the content was never planned to do a job.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: So today we're gonna be pulling out the content planning piece of that framework and building it with you.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: So the first thing you want to do is build the spine before you create the calendar.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: So before you plan a single episode, you build your spine.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And what that means is your spine is a small set of core themes that your entire show orbits.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, like content pillars.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: So not topics, but themes.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: And here is the part that changes everything.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Each theme is tied to an offer in your business.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: So let me say that again.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Your content calendar is an offer calendar wearing a disguise.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Most people build a content calendar by asking, what do I want to talk about?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And while that question may feel productive, it's actually the reason that you're stuck because there are infinite answers and none of them connect to money.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: The better question to ask yourself is what does someone need to believe, understand, or stop doing before she is ready to buy from me?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Those answers become your themes or content pillars.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say that you have a group program that helps women build a strength training habit after having kids.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Your themes are not fitness tips.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Your themes are things like why the workouts you did before kids are not working now, how to train with a body that is still healing, what consistency actually looks like when your schedule is chaos, and how to stop starting over every single January.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Four themes.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Every one of them handles a real objection or a belief gap.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Every one of them leads to the same door.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: For most of you, four to six themes is the sweet spot.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Fewer than four, and your show gets repetitive fast.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: More than six, and you're back to being scattered, which is the exact problem we're solving.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: So here is the test.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Look at each theme and ask yourself this question.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: If someone binge five episodes under this theme, would she be closer to buying from me?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: If the answer is no, that theme is just a hobby.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: And listen, you're totally allowed to have hobbies.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: You're just not allowed to build your business podcast out of those hobbies.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so the second pillar, and this is my favorite because it's where the math starts working in your favor.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: So once you have your themes or content pillars, you do not sit down and try to come up with 52 episode ideas.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: That is where everyone gets overwhelmed and just quits.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: That is the content planning equivalent of deciding to organize your entire house on a random Tuesday.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: So instead, I want you to build a rotation.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: So you take your themes and you run each one through a set of angles.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Same theme, different lens.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the rotation I use.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Angle one is the teaching episode.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: This episode is straight value.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing, here's how to do it.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Then we have the second angle, which is the myth or the mistake.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: So what everyone tells you to do that is actually keeping you stuck.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Then we have angle three, which is the story, a client, a moment from your own business, a before and after.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is where trust gets built, not in the teaching.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Then we have angle four, which is the behind the scenes type episode.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: What you actually did, what it cost you, what you would do differently, etc.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's vulnerable but strategic.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have angle five, and that is the answer episode.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: A real question from a listener unpacked properly.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: So five themes times five angles is 25 episodes.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that means you didn't have to brainstorm 25 ideas.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: You made two decisions and let this whole thing do the rest.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now run that twice with fresh examples and updated stories, and you have covered your entire year with room left for launches, guests, and the weeks where life happens and you just need to do a rerun.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to give you full permission on something.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Repeating a theme is not lazy.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: It is how people actually learn.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Your listener probably didn't hear that episode that you put out in March.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe she heard it, but she was distracted in the school pickup line with a toddler screaming in the backseat.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: The idea that you can only say something once is a story that we tell ourselves, and it's costing you the ability to plan ahead.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: The best shows in your niche say the same handful of things over and over from slightly different angles.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: That is positioning.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Then we have the third pillar, which is batch the decisions, not just the recording.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like this one is rarely talked about.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So everyone obviously tells you to batch record, block out a day, knock out six episodes, and feel like a productivity queen.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Cool, except most of you can't batch record all the time.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: You have naps to work around, you have a house that's never quiet, and a nervous system that is not doing six episodes in one sitting.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: So here's what I want you to batch instead.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to batch the decisions.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: The recording is not the expensive part.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: The deciding is.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Every week you are burning energy on four separate decisions.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: What is this episode about?
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: What am I actually teaching?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: What's the point of it?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: And what am I asking people to do at the end?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Four decisions times 52 weeks is over 200 decisions a year, all made in your lowest capacity moment of the week.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And let's not talk about all the other decisions on our play as moms and entrepreneurs.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: So once a quarter, I want you to sit down for 90 minutes with the rotation grid that you just built.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: In each episode, you write down, and for each episode, you write down three things and only three things.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: One, the first thing is the working title.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: The second is the job of this episode.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: What shift does it create in the listener's head?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the third thing is the call to action.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: What are you sending her to at the end?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And does that call to action actually flow from what you just taught?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: You're not writing full outlines, you're not researching, you're making these strategic calls while your brain is fresh and your business hat is on.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Then on recording day, the work is execution.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: You open the dock, you see episode 47, the myth that more downloads equals more clients, job is to break the download obsession and CTA is the podcast audit, and you just go.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: The difference between a podcaster who burns out and one who is still going strong at episode 200 is almost never talent.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's whether her Sunday night self has to be strategic or just has to press record.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so I'm gonna get a tiny bit bossy for a second.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: There are three things I want you to stop doing.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the first thing is stop picking your episode topic based on your mood.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: I know sometimes you have a thought in the shower and it feels like lightning and you are ready to record it immediately.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to keep a running list for these.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Genuinely, keep the list, but do not let the shower thought bump the strategic episode.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Put it in the rotation where it belongs.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: The second thing I want you to do is stop treating every episode like it has to be a brand new idea.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: You're not a content factor.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: You are a business owner with a point of view.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: A point of view is, by definition, a small number of things you believe repeated with conviction.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And if you feel sick of saying anything, and if you feel sick of saying something, that's usually the exact moment that your audience is finally starting to hear it.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And lastly, number three, and this is the big one, stop planning content without planning the call to action.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you decide what the episode is about and then you figure out the call to action afterwards, the CTA will always feel bolted on.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: And your listener can feel that.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like a commercial break in the middle of a conversation.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: But when you plan the but when you plan the call to action the same time you plan the topic, something better happens.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: You start choosing topics that naturally lead somewhere.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: The ass stops being an interruption and it starts being the obvious next step.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: That single shift is a difference between a podcast that pay between a podcast that people enjoy and a podcast that people buy from.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so let's pull it all together.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: One, build your spine first, four to six themes or content pillars, and every theme is tied to an offer.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: If a theme does not move someone closer to buying, it's a hobby.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Two, build a rotation, not a list.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Themes times angles.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Five and five get you 25 episodes from two decisions instead of 25 different brainstorms.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Three, batch the decisions, not the recording.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: 90 minutes a quarter, you figure out the title, job, and call to action for each episode in that quarter.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Then your weekly self only has to press record.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And underneath all three of those is the same idea, which is the thing I will keep saying until I lose my voice.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Your podcast is not a content machine, it is a business asset, and assets get planned on purpose.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the thing I know is gonna happen for you.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the thing I know is gonna happen for some of you.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna sit down to build your spine and you're gonna realize that you're not actually sure what your theme should be, or you will look at your last 20 episodes and think, I have no idea if any of these are pointing anywhere.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: That is totally normal.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: It is genuinely hard to diagnose your own show because you are so close to it.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what the podcast audit is for.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: I go through your show using the listen method, and I tell you exactly what's working, what is quietly costing you listeners, and where the gap is between your content and your offers.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Not a vague vibe check, but a real diagnosis with a plan attached.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you want me to look at yours, you can head to podcasting for mobs.co slash audit.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: The link will also be in the show notes as well.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not ready for that, do the free version of that this week.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Pull up your last 10 episodes and write the call to action next to each one.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: If more than half of them don't have a clear call to action or the CTAs are all over the place, then you've just found your bottleneck.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need more episodes, you need your existing ones to point somewhere.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: And one more thing before you go.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: I know the pool here is to just wing it.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: I know the version of this where you tell yourself you're gonna plan next quarter, right after the launch, right after school starts, right after things calm down.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: But things are not gonna calm down.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know this, you're a mom running a business.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Calm is just not usually feasible.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: So take the 90 minutes, not because you should be more organized, but because you deserve to spend your creative energy on the actual thing that you love, which is talking to your people instead of instead of on deciding what to talk about.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Your Sunday night self is gonna be so grateful.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: And if this episode helped, would you send it to one friend who's also staring at a blank doc right now?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: That is how the show grows.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: All right, thanks so much for tuning in.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: I will see you next week.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for tuning in to Podcasting for Moms.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: I hope today's episode gave you the tools and inspiration you need to make your podcast work smarter, not harder.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you love what you heard, be sure to subscribe and leave a review.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: It means the world and helps other moms in business find the show.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: For more tips, resources, and support, head to podcastingformoms.co.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, you're not just building a podcast, you're building your legacy.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, friends.