When Should You Refresh Your Podcast Branding?
Listen to the full episode here:After considering the benefits of refreshing your podcast branding , you need to decide when it's the right time to do so. Here are some suggestions!
A metaphor you could imagine is that podcast branding is like your wardrobe. When do you change what kinds of clothes you wear? You most likely do that based on weather, current styles, fit, and condition. You can think of your podcast branding in the same way!
What is “podcast branding”?
Your “podcast branding” is one or more features that uniquely identify your podcast. It's the first impression for new audiences, and it's how your loyal audience recognizes your podcast distinctly from others.
Podcast branding is more than only your cover art. It could be the logo insideyour cover art (and that logo can be used for all kinds of things)—and a logo isdifference from cover art . It's the audio and video elements you use throughout your episodes. It's your podcast description . It's in your repeated phrases. It's even in howyou communicate and host your podcast.
A “branding refresh” would then be updating any or all of these elements, but keeping the core of your podcast the same. A “rebrand” would be if you change much more of your podcast , including what you talk about and whom you try to reach.
1. When your podcast significantly changes
All podcasts will change and—I hope—mature over time. But you might decide to significantly change your podcast in a short amount of time. For example:
• Niche/focus: instead of talking about cake-decorating, you switch to focusing on the business of cake-baking.
• Subject: instead of being a podcast about dating, you change it into a podcast about marketing and networking.
• People: you add or remove a regular cohost, or you change your target audience (while keeping the rest of your podcast mostly the same).
• Brand: you do more than only a “branding refresh” but a complete rebrand.
These and other significant changes are a good time to refresh your branding to make it match and support the new changes.
2. When your branding stops growing with you
Like with clothing, you might someday outgrow your branding. This isn't the result of an immediate, significant change (like #1 above), but the gradual process of how your podcast changes over time. So you're looking for something that fits better now and with the hopes that it will last for a long time.
Although not podcastbranding, this is a big reason I'm rebuilding My Podcast Reviews and actually rebranding it this year. I currently refer to it by the codename “v2,” and it will be built on all-new code that will grow much better with the service, a new brand that will grow with the features, and lots of all-new features that will grow with youand your podcast! I hope you'll check out My Podcast Reviews and watch for v2 launching in summer 2023!
You might have been an amateur podcaster when you started, but you're now a highly skilled host . Make sure your branding fits how you and your podcast have grown!
3. When you enter new “seasons”
I think “podcast seasons” are a commonly misunderstood thing in podcasting. Listen to my episodes, “Should You Podcast in Seasons? ” and “Should You Include Seasons in Podcast Episode Titles? ” to learn more about effectively using seasons with your podcast.
If your seasons bring new themes, then that can be a great time to do some mildbrand-refreshing. I don't mean a complete redesign that makes your podcast unrecognizable, but something that continues some of the same elements while giving them a fresh look—just like how every new menu item from Taco Bell is the same few ingredients merely in a different form!
If you change the artwork for every podcast season, try to keep the overall look consistent. For example, look at how some TV shows maintain the same look in each season's physical packaging. You can look at any season of the branding and clearly recognize it, but you'll also see obvious differences between each season.
Even if your podcast doesn't publish on a seasonal schedule or have thematic seasons, you might still look for new “seasons” of your podcast. Just like how we talk about different seasons or chapters of life. These “seasons” might not have definite beginnings and endings (but they could), and they're far less rigid than traditional seasons.
For example, I used to say that my former clean-comedy podcast had four “seasons,” based on our approach to the content. The only way our audience knew about those seasons was from our talking about them. Even these pseudo-seasons could have been good times to refresh our branding—and that's exactly what we did with one of those “seasons.”
4. When you can improve the quality
One of my favorite things I've heard my older brother say is, “You don't have to be a rocket scientist—even though I am.” And in podcasting, you don't have to be a graphic designer, professional audio engineer, or ac