Podcasting Momentum

Podcast Pivot Made Simple: The Step-by-Step Rebranding Strategy You Need

• Pedal Stomper Productions - Josh Troche

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Change is the only constant in podcasting. Algorithms shift, platforms evolve, and audiences grow or sometimes disappear. That’s why knowing when and how to make a podcast pivot can mean the difference between fading out and building real momentum. 

Podcasting Momentum is here to guide business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketing managers through every stage of creating, adjusting, and thriving with your podcast.

In each episode, host Josh Troche breaks down the realities of running a podcast in today’s landscape, covering everything from creator burnout and when it’s time for a hard pivot, to building a resilient podcast content strategy that adapts as your business grows. You’ll learn how to read your podcast analytics the right way, how to leverage podcast feedback from listeners, and why a clear podcast guide keeps your show on track.

We’ll also dive into the practical details that make or break your show’s growth: refreshing your podcast cover art, tightening your intro and outro, and crafting a smart rebranding strategy when your vision changes. And because your podcast audience is at the center of it all, we’ll show you how to navigate a smooth podcast transition without losing loyal listeners.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to revitalize an existing show, Podcasting Momentum is your roadmap to building a podcast that lasts, resonates, and drives results for your business.


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Algorithms change. Life changes. Platforms change. Audiences change. Preferences change. All great reasons why you may need to pivot. Your podcast. Plus, there's a ton of other reasons in here, but we're going to talk about how to do that correctly. Stay tuned. I am glad you're here. Thanks for coming along for the ride. As always, we're going to talk about pivoting your podcast because well guess what. That's what we're doing. This is going to be the last episode of The Power of the podcast. We are pivoting to a show called Podcasting Momentum Now. If you're subscribed, thank you. And you don't need to change anything, just the name is going to change the graphics going to look a little different, but that's the only thing that you're going to notice while the show format is going to be different too. But you shouldn't need to change your at your like your subscriptions, your followers, anything like that. We're going to have all of the same stuff, and that's part of what we're going to talk about here in today's episode. Because, look, there are all sorts of reasons why you may need to pivot, maybe what you do and how you talk about things. Maybe it's less relevant than it was when you first started your podcast. Maybe your audience has changed. Maybe there's new information or maybe it's creator burnout that happens a lot. I talk about the stat 84% of podcasts never make it past episode 15, and there are a lot of reasons for that. So let's get into figuring out like first off, why you want to pivot. And I really I want to go through some of the reasons here that we look at. And when we've talked with people about this, it's some of the more common things that we see. First off, I mentioned creator burnout is a reason to pivot. If you should look forward to podcasting, you should look forward to sitting down in front of the microphone and talking. And if you've got guests, you should look forward to working with the guests. There's podcasts out there with thousands of episodes. Those people have not experienced that burnout. They love it and that's awesome. It may not be the path that you're on though, so make sure that you are looking at the right things with that. If you're dreading turning the camera on, if you're dreading turning the microphone on, it's time to make a pivot to maybe something else, maybe a different form of content. It's okay to pivot out of podcasting if you need to. If your personal interests or like your professional interests have shifted. Businesses evolve over time. We largely are talking to businesses and you may shift your marketing message. You may shift your I mean, the things that you're doing. We of course, have evolved in what we do. I mean, we started out as a photo and video company that, I mean, I was doing everything from real estate photos to headshots to whatever to we focused on podcasting. Now, if I had a podcast the whole time through, that messaging would change as our business evolved. So you need to look at those types of things to make sure that you're doing the right thing at the right time. For that. The other thing is, is let's take a look at your analytics. There's you can justify a pivot if you start to see that down and to the left, you want to see up or you want to see down. And if you see down into the right, if you see up into the right in terms of downloads and the number of people that are that are looking at your podcast or followers, that's great. But if you start to see a downward trend, maybe it's time to tweak things. Maybe it's time to pivot. If you have found a better or more passionate audience that you can serve as your podcast, then maybe that's who you should go for. We talk about so many cases, starting your podcast and and having an audience specifically in mind of who your aim for. If you notice that you're resonating better with another audience, make sure that you are pointed at them. So that's the reasoning behind why you want to pivot, why you should pivot. But where are you going with this? So many people, they do and I this is why I always talk about building a podcast guide. You need to have a direction. You need to have a vision. You need to be going in a not necessarily a straight line, but you need to be going in a direction towards something. So many people just wander around, and that's when you get the pod creep and other types of things. So let's define the new vision. And once again you know what I'm going to ask about this. Why are we doing this. That's always the biggest question. So many companies what like we want video. Why? Well because customers. Well why how how. What what are we trying to accomplish with this. So identify why you want the podcast and what you're trying to accomplish with it. Next up, who is your ideal new listener? Is it the same person or are you bringing your current audience over? Or are you going to shed some of the current audience that maybe isn't producing as much for you and and moving into a different area? Think of that. Mark that down. Additionally, once again, what is the unique value proposition of your podcast? What makes it different? What? What makes it so someone wants to tune in every week to listen to you talk. I always talk about this. You have to offer value. If you do not offer value to people, they're not going to tune in. That value should be educational. It could be entertaining. It could be informative, it could be any one of a number of things. But just make sure that you are adding value. Get all of that down on paper. And whether you put it on a sticky note by your microphone, whatever. Those core things you should look at every single time before you hit the button that says record. That will help to make sure you don't creep away, that you aren't getting off of your mission. Next up, let's choose a strategy. Now there's two ways that you can go about this. There is a soft pivot and a hard pivot. A hard pivot is what we're doing. It's a clean break. We are making a sharp turn here. Now we're still talking about podcasting. The subject still the same. The show format is going to change. The name is going to change. And that is going to change from I mean, this is coming out. And then in two weeks, our first episode for the new podcast is coming out. It's a clean break. It's season two, let's call it whatever it is that that is that hard pivot. Now what I want to talk about a little bit more is that soft pivot, because that's probably better for most people. You're going to keep the same podcast feed name you're going to. You're going to slowly introduce new segment styles. You're going to slowly change that show. This can happen over the period of four, six, eight episodes. It's best if this is still related to the old one, like adding a segment or whatever. It's still recognizable. It's not going to be totally different, but I'm going to warn you on this. So many people I have seen and I have worked with, they claim that they're making a soft pivot, but it's really just podcasting pod creep. It's their podcast kind of creeping in a different direction. This is why, especially if you're going to do a soft pivot, you need to have those things written down and you need to have them put on a timeline. This once again, it's your show should always evolve, but this will give you a guided path to be on once again. You may veer off that path a little bit, but once again you see the direction you're trying to go. You know what you're trying to work with. You know where you know where you're headed. You're not just wandering aimlessly around in the woods, because that is exactly what you don't want to do. And that's where you're going to lose your audience is if they they tune in in each week, they're like, where? Where the hell are they going? That's not how you want to do this. Now, whether it's a hard pivot or a soft pivot, both of them, you want to you need to communicate that to your audience. You need to tell them what's going on, not just, hey, we're pod creeping into oblivion. You kind of want to tell them, hey, we're going to try something new. We're going to work with a new segment. We're we're looking in a new direction, get their feedback behind it and explain the why behind it. We've we've heard people ask for more interviews, which we have. So that's why we're going to do that. And then we're going to tell you what you can expect from it. You really need to engage with your audience so they don't get just blindsided by stuff. You guys know I have used the example of the prices, right in the class that I teach in, in the podcast here, two people show up because that is the same show every single day. The people are different. The results of the games, the different the prices are even a little bit different. But overall, excuse me, and it's the same show every single day. What would happen if the prices right suddenly threw in a round of jeopardy in the middle? People would be like, what is going on? That's not to show that they want to watch. So make sure that you warn people what's going on. Make sure you use this opportunity to to market it. Use this opportunity to hype that up and realize when you do that, some are going to leave. I can be like, I don't like this. That's okay. You're never going to I mean, you're never going to change your show and keep your entire audience. What the hope is, is that you have open yourself up to another audience or a new audience that is going to be more engaged and more willing to come along on that ride. If you do a hard pivot, you need to do a bridge episode. Guess what? This is because it's called the pivot. And our notes and all this other stuff. This is our bridge episode. This is me telling you what is going to happen next. So that way when in a couple of weeks you download the podcast and you're like, wait a minute, what is going on? This is totally new. I wasn't expecting this. And you drive off the road and suddenly there's an accident and an 18 Wheeler and all sorts of people are just looking at you like, what happened? And you're like, my podcast changed. And that's that's that's why I was in this accident. Create a specific episode that that serves as that bridge. It's the official transition. This is us announcing once again next week. We've talked about it before next week or for the next episode. It's going to be different. I I've truly loved some of the information that we've been able to talk about in the last episode, and I'm going to bid that often for our farewell, which you should do too. But I'm looking forward to our new format because we're talking with a lot more podcast hosts about why they got into podcasting and the benefits that they're seeing in it. Because what I wanted to do was I want to make sure that we are we're we're figuring out like, what benefits you can see in doing your podcast. And I've already got some great, great guests, some very unique ones lined up that we're going to get to learn from. But that telling people that, hey, that fanfare. Well, and here's what you can expect. That's what helps kind of soften that pivot. So that way no one feels like I said, like they need to wear a helmet. We have also stated the why for the pivot. That is it's literally you guys have requested this and we know we're going to get some better information out of this. I am really enthusiastic about stuff like this. So it it's the next step that we have here is enthusiastically introduce the new vision. Enthusiastically is not much of a problem for me. I want to make sure that you use an appropriate level of excitement for what you've got going on. I'm. I mean, we've got like I said, we've already got some great guests lined up and I know there's more to come. So this is the type of stuff that doesn't take much for me to add some enthusiasm to it. What I want to say about this episode, though, is like your pivot episode. That is a marker in your in your feed. If someone in a year from now goes back and says, hey, I really like that, that, podcasting, podcasting momentum podcast and they go start to go back to the beginning. Eventually they're going to be like, oh, this is where it changes. So once again, it's it's like a bookmark. It lets people know that, hey, I'm done with this chapter and I'm moving on to another chapter. And that rests in your podcast platform permanently. That way, anyone that listens isn't going to be surprised. As you get ready to launch that first new episode, this new baby that you're just excited to deliver into the world. There's a number of things that you want to make sure you have in line. First off, podcast cover. We talk about this whether you're starting a new one or just rebranding your current one. Make sure you've got that in line. Make sure you've got both the square versions and the 16 by nine versions, like the television screen up there. Make sure you've got both of those versions ready. Are you changing your intro and outro? Any voiceovers? Things of that nature? If you are. Once again, have those ready far far, far in advance. That way, once again you can do this full rebrand all at one time if you want that. So that that intro can make a great social media post. Hey, here's what you can expect coming up. Be ready the day that the podcast release. Change the channel. Banners, social media, YouTube, RSV, all of those. Make sure that all of those get changed. Same thing for your podcast show description. Double check it and Apple Podcast. Double check it and Spotify. Double check in all those areas just to make sure that that new information came over. If you change the social media, you should probably be looking at a change in the website to make sure that is up to date. Once again, you've changed a lot of things. Inconsistency is going to be the enemy of that successful pivot. You want to make sure that once again, you you're you've made a big change, but you want to be consistent in changing that all the way across the board. The last thing when you go to launch this thing, the first 3 to 5 episodes, make sure you're getting feedback from people. Ask them if they like the new format. Your pivot may have been a bit hard. You may have gone 90 degrees when you needed to go 45 degrees. You may have gone 180 degrees when you needed to go ten degrees. Ask for that feedback. Make sure that you're getting that honest feedback from people. You can do it. I mean, hey, leave us a review. Simply ask for emails. If you send em, you should have an email list. Send emails out to people saying hey, new it, new episode, new format. We would love to hear what you think. Just give me a quick reply and send me one sentence. I'd love it, hate it what you do, like, what you don't like, etc. be prepared to make those small adjustments to that new format. And this to me is why it's such a key to have that other stuff written down. I mean, like a Google Docs sheet is amazing because what you can do is you can allow it to you can go in, you can edit that, you can comment on it. You can you can strikethrough things. That gives you that ability to go back and look at it and constantly change that it you're your podcast guide should be a living, breathing document. It shouldn't just be. We printed this and this is what we're going to do for the next 20 years. It should be something that you're going to look at. Now, the one thing I'm going to warn you with that if one person comes back and says, oh, the new format sucks. Guess what? They don't like it and that's fine. You need to be okay with that. Do not change everything because one person said something. Look for multiple bits of feedback. If you get a chunk of your audience saying, hey, we kind of like this section, we don't like that section. Then guess what? That's something that's actionable. If one person writes back and says the entire thing sucked. Guess what? I would probably just let that go. It may cause you some sleepless nights, but learn to be okay with it. To me, this that these are the steps that we have gone through and are going through. We've worked with others on helping them pivot their podcast in the same way, and have found once again, you get an initial dip. Some people are just not going to like it and that's okay. But realize once again, like everything else in podcasting, you are doing this for long term. You are doing this looking into the future. You are doing this looking forward. So make sure that you don't take 1 or 2 bad things and totally throw everything out the window. Because of that. With all that, I would love to hear your questions. I would really love to get your feedback once we make the pivot. So do me a favor. Send me an email on that. As always, take care of yourself. If you can't take care of someone else too. I will see you very, very soon. And with some new logos and information and all the other stuff and guests.

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Josh Troche

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