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Hello friends,

I launched a podcast 8 months ago called Infinite Machine Learning. It now has listeners across 75 countries. People reached out to me to ask for suggestions on how to launch and grow a podcast. I decided to share my 9 key learnings in this post. And I asked DALL-E to generate an image of a podcast host. Let’s dive in.

1. Pick a specific niche

You can't do a podcast about random generic topics because it won't appeal to anyone. If you're a well known personality, then maybe you can do it. Assume you don't have that luxury. In the early days, you need to get a small group of people interested in your podcast. They will form your core listener group. They will provide feedback and help spread the word.

2. Host-content fit

Just like product-market fit, you need to have host-content fit. Your podcast needs to be about a topic you know well. If you are a marketing professional, your podcast should be related to marketing. Because you'll be able to talk intelligently about this topic and provide value to the listeners. If a marketing professional does a podcast about cybersecurity, people are less likely to tune in. Because it's difficult for the host to make it interesting.

3. You need to do outbound

You need to proactively reach out to your guests and convince them to appear on the podcast. Those guests don't know you exist. So the only way to get interesting guests to appear on your podcast is to do cold outreach. You need to develop a thick skin for it.

4. Don't mind the rejections

Many people are not comfortable appearing on a podcast. That's just how it is. Maybe their schedule is tight. Or maybe they don't want to spend time thinking about interesting things to say. Don't overanalyze why someone said no. Get comfortable with it and don't let it slow you down.

5. Build a good tech stack for yourself

You need tools to record, edit, and publish your episodes. You don't need to reinvent the wheel on anything. But you do need to learn how to use those tools because they're going to make your life much easier. The audio is your product and that's the only way your listeners interact with your podcast. You need to make sure the product quality is good.

6. Keep an eye on the data

You should develop a habit of looking at the analytics report after you publish an episode. What is the audience telling you? What episodes are they listening to? What are they are not listening to? It will help you create content that's useful and relevant.

7. Develop a unique style

You need to develop a style. Give a reason for people to tune in. What's your angle? And you need to keep it consistent so that it becomes a familiar format for the listeners. Within this format, you can innovate all you want on the content side to make sure your podcast stays interesting.

8. Be enthusiastic during the recording

As the host, you need to sound enthusiastic. If you're not excited, why will your listeners be? This means that you need to be upbeat during the recording. Keep the energy level high during the episode. This doesn't mean you have to keep talking frantically. It just means that your excitement should be contagious.

9. Keep reinventing yourself as a host

Don't settle into a routine. You need to keep getting better at this craft as time goes by. If not, your podcast will become stale. Today's episode should be better than last month's episode. You should be a better host today as compared to what you were last month. Define the metrics for yourself and keep driving those metrics up.

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Infinite Curiosity

Lessons From Growing A Machine Learning…