🪞Vibe Month: Meet Your Podcast Avatar
Avatar… the last… podcaster… no, that’s definitely nothing
It’s Vibe Month here at PMM, and today, we’re going to talk about one of the most important but underrated aspects of podcast marketing: your podcast avatar.
Wait wait wait not like that! Avatar as in an icon, a stand-in, a personification. We’ll get into the nitty gritty soon – I just had to clear this up for the other millennials and zillennials in the room. We can talk about Zuko later. Right now, it’s podcast marketing time.
If you only have time for one thing…
Make your podcast for ONE PERSON, not everyone. If you make it for everyone, you’re really making it for nobody.
🧑🏻🎤It’s like if your audience were one little guy
Your podcast avatar is your target audience, personified. It’s not a personification of your podcast, to be clear. It’s the single distillation of who you hope to be your podcast’s #1 fan. Your podcast avatar is a character for you to keep in the back of your mind when working on every aspect of your podcast: the episode content, the editing, the cover art (more on this soon 😉), and even when you’re feeling stuck in a rut.
I see the avatar of 99% Invisible as your favorite undergrad professor, the kind who speaks to you like a peer and goes to events in cool local bars but is doing their own thing there with their big kid friends. They appreciate vinyl records, but they’re not annoying about it. They have a go-to coffee order that isn’t fussy but also isn’t something you can order in a “venti.”
🙅🏻What your podcast avatar is NOT
Your podcast avatar is not “everyone.” It is also not an extremely generic “everyman” type of character (this is the same as “everyone” and you know it). There is no such thing as art that literally everyone can and will enjoy. To attempt this is to constantly fall flat, to feel dull, and to erase everything that makes your work unique. Do not even @ me that big Hollywood franchises like Marvel and Star Wars are for everyone, because I am literally The Guy who is fully disinterested in them. Meanwhile, I’m literally The Guy who resonates with weird, upsetting, abstract horror. That will always resonate with me more than works made with mass appeal in mind.
Your podcast avatar’s identity is not static. You change and grow; your podcast should do the same, and therefore, your podcast avatar should be the same – even if they’re just getting a year older every year.
And importantly: your podcast avatar is not you. This is not to say that you shouldn’t be making your podcast for yourself. You should! But the level of self-awareness – and self-love – it takes for this to be effective almost always gets in the way of conceptualizing your avatar, especially when you need to keep your morale and motivation high. If you’re not motivated, and your podcast avatar is you… 🤷🏻
🗺️Finding your podcast avatar
To find your podcast avatar, do not start with your listenership demographics. Your podcast avatar is a platonic ideal, not just the current reality – and we’ll talk about factoring those in, too. Instead, start by creating a character who captures the vibe of your show. An easy way to do this is to literally run through a character creation questionnaire (we’re obsessed with this one by audio dramatist Gabriel Urbina). You could choose a friend, a hero of yours, or… I suppose an enemy, if you’re motivated by spite?
Here are some questions to help hone your avatar:
Basic demographic information: gender, age, where they’re from, where they live now,
what they do, how much institutional education they’ve pursued, etc.
Their favorite movies, music, books, TV shows, and other podcasts; what they like to wear, eat, drink, and talk about; how they’re likely to spend a vacation, a weekend, or a day snowed in
Their pet peeves, worries, and anxieties
What makes them excited, what makes them want to speak up, and what makes them want to pay super close attention
What makes your podcast their favorite podcast
I see the avatar of The Kingmaker Histories as your myserious aunt who only shows up for big hoplidays every few years and always has new stories about her wild travels and the people she’s met along the way. She’s funny in a way that makes you specifically feel like you’re in on it, like she actually gets you. She loves an old fashioned, quality velvet in jewel tones, and big antique malls — but she also has an ecyclopedic knowledge of the recurring jokes in Arrested Development.
Now that you have your podcast avatar conceptualized, compare it against your listener data. Do not change your avatar to fit these demographics unless they genuinely do feel more accurate to your vision here. Remember: this is your goal audience, not just who’s listening. Your art should focus on what you want the end goal to be – not what will make your current audience happy. Be real, and it will show.
👯Using your podcast avatar
Your podcast avatar isn’t just for the fun of making a neat little guy. It’s an incredibly useful tool for content, editing, etc. – but here, we’re going to talk about how you can use your podcast avatar to guide your podcast marketing. Here’s some questions to ask them in your mind:
Does your podcast avatar think your cover art looks cool?
Would your podcast avatar get your theme music stuck in their head?
Which social media platforms does your podcast avatar use? Are they a newsletter person?
What are some things your podcast avatar can’t live without – that you might be able to contact for sponsorships?
If you’re feeling like you’re creating into the void, what would your podcast avatar say to remind you why your podcast is worth making? (Emotional sustainability is truly key in marketing!)
I see the podcast avatar of Hello from the Magic Tavern as a… hmm… maybe like, literally my parasocial conceptualization of Drew Gooden plus like five, ten years? THIS IS A COMPLIMENT. it ony a movie
When you think of your podcast’s marketing, ask yourself if it would resonate with your podcast avatar. If they had never heard your podcast, would this get them to listen and subscribe? What would get them to tell their friends about your show? Be playful about it. Go with your gut reactions, and don’t worry about getting the answers “right.” There’s no right here; it’s just a prompt to make sure your vibe is always aligned.
✨ More Magic
❣️❣️❣️A bunch of Tinksters are going to be at The Podcast Show next week! Andreea will be running Connecting Across Borders: Why European Podcasts Need Each Other on the 21st at 4PM🎉; Lauren, Arielle, and Shreya will be running Almost 100 Podcast Growth Tips on the 22nd at 2:10PM🎉; And Anne will be doing sessions in the advice lab on Wednesday and Thursday🎉! You can sign up using the conference’s app. Will we see you there?
Check out this cool upcoming free event all about audio and sound: AirCon25! According to their site, this event “offers you a staggering 63 free live events, including presentations, panels, and interviews, featuring over 100 audio industry professionals from across the globe. Topics include everything from game audio and post production to sound design, music, and dialogue. “
Feel like you don’t have enough listeners to secure sponsors that actually pay? Not true, I promise! Don’t miss out on this Radio Bootcamp course by Danielle Belezal, aka DB from Sex Ed with DB. She’s written about her success in a previous edition of PMM!
🎧 From the Desk of Tink
It’s Mental Health Awareness month, and if you’re already very aware, it can be exhausting hearing the same stories about mental health over and over again. Luckily, Mental Health Rewritten is specifically focused on bringing new perspectives to these conversations. In themed mini-seasons, Mental Health Rewritten talks from both clinical and personal experiences. If someone’s ever asked you (and especially if you’ve ever asked anyone else) “Have you tried yoga?” this podcast is for you.
Up next, I’m back again with more of Vibe Month while Shreya attends The Podcast Show!
– Wil 🦇
Just a little guy
As usual, excellent work