Tim Ferriss’ podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, has rules you might want to consider for your podcast.
Three things that I found interesting:
No “book launch” episodes
How he handles famous and “unknown” guests
His “podcast experiment” plan
I’ll go through each, adding a few thoughts …
No “Book Launch” Episodes
Tim is no longer doing book launch episodes, except for close friends and only if the episode airs at least three months before the book's release.
My guess is that this came about from an influx of requests from publishers and authors who were going to him and everybody else, flooding that market with “launch week” podcast episodes (and other media) that were very similar to each other. By setting these boundaries, he maintains a unique offering and avoids the repetitive cycle of promotional episodes.
Famous and “Unknown” Guests
For “general” guests, Ferriss uses what he calls a 90-10 barbell strategy. This means he focuses on guests who are either widely recognized (over 90% of his audience knows them) or relatively unknown (less than 10% of his audience knows them).
I love the concept and it’s something to shoot for, but the world is a big place and the media landscape has changed. No longer are we finding out about new “celebrities” via traditional media sources, like broadcast television, newspapers, and radio—everybody is being fed “micro celebrities” via online algorithms.
How much do guests on a podcast matter? Not as much as most podcasters think—the primary reason most people listen to podcasts is because they connect with the host.
Tim’s “Podcast Experiment” Plan
Tim Ferriss is known for his experiments. For example, things that will help with fat loss, muscle gain, or improved sleep. And he did an entire television series called The Tim Ferriss Experiment, with each episode following him as he tried to achieve certain goals.
So it makes sense that he’d be interested in experimentation with his podcast.
But how much “experimentation” are podcast listeners up for?
While innovation is essential for podcasters to keep moving forward and grow, it's crucial not to alienate listeners by straying too far from familiar elements. Drawing a parallel to music, just as certain tuning and chords are expected from a musician, listeners want a degree of consistency and familiarity in podcast content.
RELATED: If you’re interested in exploring different podcasting techniques and segment or episode formats, I wrote a book on this called 101 Podcast Episode Templates.
Want more rules for your podcast? Here are ten!
This is great! I love his "no book launches" rule - this makes sense. I think its OK to have guests on who want to talk about their book but the focus can't be on just promoting the book - hopefully it would come up naturally and add value to the conversation. I want to hear more about his 90/10 rule.