The information you’ve gathered so far during the planning phase allows you to formulate reasonable goals and objectives for your podcast. Goals and objectives help guide your effort and actions.
Goals provide a more general framework for what you want to achieve with your podcast. They outline – often in more abstract terms – a desired end state. They largely determine the focus and content of your podcast. For example, the goal of opening a conversation with young people about a difficult topic requires a very different podcast from the goal of sharing best practices with professionals about having difficult conversations.
Objectives describe the concrete results you want to achieve and can help you determine if you have achieved the intended goals. A good objective is clear and specific as to what is to be achieved. They contain criteria that can help you determine whether you are making progress within the desired period. Of course, it is also important that objectives are achievable. Therefore, when drawing up an objective, take a second look at your target audience, what you want to discuss, and what means you have available to do so.
Finally, it is important that both you and other people involved agree with the objectives (and in a broader sense: the podcast plans). If there is also support within the target group for what you want to achieve, this can form a fertile basis for entering into a discussion.
In short, ideally objectives should be formulated in SMART terms. That means Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic and Time-bound. 10
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