Mixing different episode types in your podcast can really expand the benefits you get from your show and elevate how it feels, or it can just confuse everybody who’s listening.
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So if you have different goals for your podcast and different things that you want to achieve with it, then having different episode types that you regularly release can help.
Let’s say, for example, that you’re interested in both relationship building and establishing thought leadership. Well, then you might want to alternate doing solo episodes where you’re getting your own IP out there with guest episodes where you get the chance to network and get to know other people.
Deciding which types you want to have really always does come back to your business goals. What’s important for your business to do and how do you structure the podcast to achieve that.
If that does mean different episode types, then what you’re going to want to do is figure out a pattern for those episode types. Consistency is really important. So if you’re going to be adding variation, you want to have consistency in that variation.
Maybe you want to do 3 episodes a month, guest interviews, and then 1 episode a month solo.
Or maybe you want to usually have a solo show, and then occasionally have a panel discussion where you can meet a whole bunch of people at once.
You want to keep in mind the additional logistics. The more people you add, the more time it’s going to take to schedule and probably the more time it’s going to take to produce.
But once you figure out what you need from your show, if it turns out that different episode types serve those different needs better – it’s your podcast. You can have different episode types.
The thing you want to have is consistency, and if possible, some kind of differentiation. So it’s easy for someone to tell when they’re looking at your list of episodes, what type it’s going to be.
Some strategies for differentiation are to have alternate versions of your podcast title art or the graphics associated for each one, maybe with different colors or slightly different layout, but still using your branding so that it’s really easy to visually see which episode is which.
And you might want to also have different playlists on your website, on YouTube, or on Spotify for the different episode types that you have, so it’s easy for people to find the type that they’re most interested in.
Remember, even in your variety, consistency is key.