Welcome back to Podcast Insider. I'm Mackenzie Bennett,
director of marketing here at Blueberry.
And I'm Erin Hope, graphic designer on the
Blueberry team. And today, we're talking about something
every podcaster has, whether they thought about it
or not,
the brand.
When people hear about branding, they usually think
about just their artwork or their logo or
something, but your podcast brand is a lot
bigger than just those two things. It's how
your show looks, how it sounds, how it
feels,
and it's the first impression someone gets when
they see your podcast in an app, and
it plays a huge role in whether they
hit play or keep scrolling.
So today, we're gonna break down what podcast
branding actually means, why it matters, and how
to stand out with purpose and personality,
and all of that without feeling like you
have to copy what everyone else is doing.
You're listening to Podcast Insider hosted by Mike
Dell, Dave Clements, and Mackenzie Bennett from the
Blueberry team,
bringing you weekly insights, advice, and insider tips
and tricks to help you start, grow, and
thrive through podcasting
with all the support of your team here
at Blueberry Podcasting.
Welcome.
Let's dive in.
Your podcast brand is your story that you're
telling before a listener even hears your voice.
It's built through your artwork, your title, your
descriptions,
and the tone you use everywhere your show
shows up.
It's definitely how people perceive you. That is
very true. It's definitely more than just your
artwork. It's the cover art is important. Don't
get me wrong, but it's it's really just
that first piece. Yeah. And as we know,
every company has some sort of branding, some
sort of look and feel, some sort
of experience, or I guess what the kids
are now saying, some sort of vibe Yes.
That you
that you have that makes you stand out
from other people and other company.
This encompasses
your cover art, your show name, the titles
that you make, the descriptions that you write,
how you introduce yourself.
All of that is the overall brand. I
mean, we had a brand redo a couple
years ago. We did this podcast
itself has changed names
numerous times over the years. The people on
the show, the topics, all of it.
But every time, we just do
some changes
to the branding for basically
the same type of podcast
show, but it's it's all of those elements
are working together for what we think the
podcast needs right now. We want it to
feel intentional and still trustworthy from the BluBrary
brand. Right. It is a puzzle and the
cover art is just one piece of the
puzzle. But much much like a puzzle, you're
not gonna have it all figured out when
you dump it out on the table.
Like, you and it really is up to
the person and that's kind of where the
artistry comes in to the brand or the
creativity
of you put these pieces together in a
way that makes you feel like this is
me, this is my show versus
trying to put the pieces together to make
to make your show look like someone else's
show.
So out of all of the elements in
this puzzle, what is the framework? What, like,
what would you deem
the framework? What you finish what you do
first, basically?
I I would put it on the the
cover art for sure, because that is the
thing that's going to show up every single
place your show is no matter
whether when what podcast app,
social media, YouTube.
The first thing people are probably going to
see visually about your show is that cover
art.
Right. If they have found your show and
are listening to you somehow,
not just through speakers that someone else chose,
they're gonna see your artwork one way or
another.
Yeah. And that's why we've seen huge advancements
in things like chapter images
and episode images and just, like, having more
imagery.
And now with TikTok and YouTube becoming such
a asset in the podcasting industry,
that's even need for more visuals and now
videos as well.
Yeah. Do you have any examples you would
wanna share?
Yes. I am, of course, going to shout
out Not Another D and D podcast, one
of my favorites.
What's so great about them is that they
have an artist on their team, like, on
their show, and so all of their stuff
was easily able to be branded
and, like, colorized. Like, they're known for this
red background with, like, more of a gold
kind of symbol for their podcast show. And
you do go to their website, same colors.
You go to their YouTube, same colors. You
go to their Facebook, Instagram, anywhere on social
media, the exact same colors. Once you have
it recognized in your brain and you see
it other places, you're going to know immediately
within seconds,
this is this show, this is what it's
about, and this is what I've been looking
for. Yeah. The consistency really builds that recognition
for you. It's the all of the cues
associated to your brand, but specifically
visual have have a very memorable
way of helping your show. I I mean,
I was even talking to someone earlier this
week. She's starting out her small business.
This has nothing to do with podcasting, just
branding in general. And she was like, yeah.
I don't know what I'm doing marketing wise.
I was talking to someone the other day
who knows what they're talking about, and she
said
that I have too many different colors and
fonts.
She's I had no idea you could even
overdo that, but
apparently, you can.
Yes. Yes. I would say stick to,
a solid primary color.
It should be your favorite color. It is
the color you're going to see everywhere.
A secondary color that complements that primary color
in a way that they're not clashing, but
they are complementary and helping each other stand
out even more. And then anything beyond that,
you you really need to know what you're
doing. But just having two solid colors
and, like, maybe two one or two solid
fonts, and you already have a pretty good
basis for a brand. So it's just about,
again, adding that personality to those four things
can we know we've seen countless iterations.
Yeah. For sure.
And, I mean, something
like a D and D podcast
is probably gonna look and feel different than,
say, Podcast Insider, a podcast about podcasting.
They're they're just gonna have different personalities.
Even with that crossover
of potential listeners
and even hosts,
they're still different. They just are. So that
branding should really set the expectations,
yeah, from the start, I think. Right. It's
it is about that consistency because it is
this pattern of recognition
that your audience will come to be familiar
with. So using those consistent colors, using those
fonts, using
specific language and tones that your listeners, again,
immediately recognize within seconds, whether they see it
on a podcast app, social media, or even
on your website.
Consistency isn't about being boring. It's about being
memorable. And I believe in advertising,
you need to see an ad three times
in order to remember it. So just imagine
people going to three different
platforms Mhmm. And seeing your brand there. Like,
it should look the same. The color should
be the same. The font should be the
same. And if they get to all three
of those platforms,
you're gonna be more memorable to that listener.
Yeah. If anything, I would say that number
has gone up in years. Just ads have
gotten
out of control.
Mhmm. So, yeah, you need to see and
hear things
more often now
just just based on the amount of content
that we see every single day.
And, you know, that personality is how it's
gonna be remembered.
But but I I wanna emphasize
that
in in 2026
when we have Canva and Pinterest and AI
in all capacities,
I I think there's a lot of value
in in using
those tools
for inspiration.
But,
Erin, that's to put too much pressure on
you, but I think graphic designers don't get
enough credit for
for what they can really pull together.
And and the value that
maybe using one of those tools for inspiration
and saying, this is kinda something, like, along
the lines that I would wanna go with.
Can you put something together for me?
Whether that is like a toolkit,
deciding these are my like, having someone else
decide these are my colors for me, these
are my fonts, this is the type of
thing. Like, having someone
help you with that Mhmm. Can really help
you move forward.
Yeah. I would say definitely get an eye
that is trained in order to see these
things and recognize them because they will bring
an insight that the average person may not
know because they haven't taken design classes, taken
branding classes, branding one zero one, one zero
two, things like that. I always say start
with a Pinterest board Mhmm. Because it's very
easy to just pull things in there, start
to get it all together, and then look
at it like, oh, do you have a
bunch of colors on this Pinterest board? Do
you have a bunch of different tones?
Which ones are you more reactive to? Which
ones do you want your audience to be
more reactive to? And once again, which ones
align with your personality? Stop trying to be
everything to everyone. And it's like, who am
I? What on this board speaks to me?
And once you have a nice solid image
reference board,
then you can really start to be like,
okay. How do I condense all this down
into one cover art, a couple colors, and
things like that? And it's also, what are
you drawn to? That doesn't necessarily mean to
follow a trend. But it's definitely something we
all fall into. Don't get me wrong. And
and trends are fine. Things change over years,
and they go up and down. But no
one wants to immediately just fall into
the void of this is what everything else
looks like.
Yeah. I was right to tell people, don't
follow the trends. Have fun, obviously, and that
stuff is fun on on social media, but
you should be the trends.
Like, you should be the one getting your
audience excited. The inside jokes, the cat phrases,
things like that. Like, one thing, like, it
should really have your personality kind of stamped
all over it. And when you are part
of trends, it especially nowadays because we see
them all the time. Mhmm. People who recognize
the patterns would be like, oh, you're just
doing this because it's trendy. You're just doing
this because it's popular versus doing something that
feels authentic
to your show and your voice.
Yeah. Exactly.
You, yourself, and your podcast, the content that
you're creating should be the trend, and trends
come around because people had an original idea
at some point or another.
They live and breathe, and they're always changing,
and and so are people.
Yeah. And we always say consistent authenticity
is always going
to carry your show farther than one viral
moment.
Yeah.
Focusing on that viral moment, potentially gonna be
your downfall. You keep chasing and chasing and
chasing. It means nothing.
But what happens when
you need to refresh your podcast brand? I
mean, we've I've said earlier, we've done that
with the show multiple times. So there's kind
of a list of things that maybe you
should do. I feel like a good time
to to evolve the brand is when the
brand is evolving, basically. Like you like McKenzie
said, if there's a different cast change,
maybe get like a new sponsor or something,
your show is growing and that brand will
grow
with it. And it really is about not
forcing it and because we're like kind of
more going into
video media, video show I mean, TV shows,
they change their brand pretty much every single
season. Yeah. New new headshot, maybe same font,
different colors, things like that. But, you know,
for podcasting, it's in this weird space. At
least for me, I'm like, you need to
be I I go by high school rules,
whereas, like, that freshman that went to that
high school and that senior that comes out
of that high school, they have two completely
different brands. Yeah. Because it's been four four
years of growth, four years of learning, four
years of knowledge.
So once you've kind of reached the point
where you look at your artwork and you're
like, oh, I'm not really this person anymore.
I'm not really this vibe anymore. It's kind
of grown, kind of matured.
Then it might be time to talk about,
okay, how do I make sure the brand
is still reflecting my new kind of outlook,
my new perspective and things like that. So
that's when I think, okay, now it's a
good time to maybe switch up the brand.
And it doesn't even have to be anything
like huge. One of my favorites for 99%
Invisible is articles of interest and it was
just kind of like this side podcast
where they would go into like
different articles of clothing, like how did suits
become popular, how did perfume become popular, like
why is the wedding dress the wedding dress
kind of thing. And it was so popular
that it be kinda became its own show
and then one, it had to make its
own brand
away from 99% invisible. And then as the
show started to grow and they started to
expand what kind of items they talk about,
they just had a nice soft refresh of,
like, just making the cover art a little
bit more bolder, a little bit more eye
catching
versus
the original kind of cover art they had
made for the show intentionally.
Yeah.
I
vaguely remember listening
to those episodes
of that show and hearing them say, people
know what jeans we're gonna be wearing five
years from now
and and those predictions.
And I wonder what podcast artwork is gonna
look like in five years. I feel like
someone probably knows.
I don't. But I feel like things have
been kinda, like, color blocky for a while,
and I'm getting over it. Very similar to
the romcom book covers
that are all, like, animated. Yes. They all
look exactly the same, and they have for
the past, like, six years or so. Don't
get me wrong. I feel like
we needed to get away from what it
was before, but I am so over what
it is right
now. The color block on the left side,
the picture of the host on the right
side,
a brightly colored
name title at the top, something like that.
Like, I'm kinda I'm kinda over that one.
And then the true crime Dateline ish one
Yeah. Where it's like Yeah. The woods
and then a kinda spooky font over it.
Something like that. Like, I have seen I
have seen them all at this point.
Yes. And I would say that definitely is,
like, a good place to start is looking
within your genre
of your podcast and just seeing, like, what
all the other shows are doing. And it's,
oh, okay. There there might be some patterns
of commonality, which makes sense you guys are
going after the same audience. But how do
you make sure you stand out? Because in
a lot of these podcast apps, like, it's
a grid and it's your show
with, like, six, seven, eight other shows all
at once. And it's, like, how do you
how can you make sure your show stands
out just a little bit more than all
these other shows?
Yeah. Exactly.
It's how do you how do you keep
yourself happy,
but also
stick out in the podcast industry.
Yeah. And I think it really goes out
to what's the one thing that your show
has that these other shows do not have,
your
personality.
So if I use the example of take
GoodHang with Amy Poehler Mhmm. And take Call
Her Daddy with Alex whose last name is
I'm blanking on right now. But, anyway, Amy
and Alex, two blonde women. They have a
show. They have guests come in. They talk
and chat with the guests. Mhmm. Amy's show
feels more like a, oh, I just ran
into Amy at the coffee shop. We ran
lines together. We started chit chatting, catching up.
Oh, let's go sit down on a bench
outside the coffee shop because it's a little
bit loud in here. And we really wanna
catch up. I'm like, what's been going on?
How are you? How are the kids? X
y z. Very wholesome,
very family friendly,
and even her cover art kind of exemplifies
that. Oh, she's just, like, in this nice
sitting
sitting position,
smiling at the person she's talking to next
to her, nice cozy sweater,
nice
exciting background of triangles kind of at least
at this point, nice background of triangles, like,
behind her. So it's just very, very nice,
very wholesome, very warming. Then you get someone
that call her daddy.
We're at a bar.
Yeah. We've maybe had one too many cocktails
and we're really getting into the nitty you
know what grinds my gears? You know what
I you know what I wanna go off
about? You know what I really wanna talk
about? We're really getting into the real versus
like the nice fulsome conversation I'm having with
Amy. I'm really dishing with Alex. So here's
really
he wants a couple of drinks, the filter's
a little bit skewed. So it's like I'm
really letting a little bit more out then.
And sure it may get a little risque,
but, you know, we're at a bar. Like,
we're chilling. We're just having a chat, like,
with two grown adults around other adults. So
That's the listener. Conversation. Yeah. Exactly.
Yeah. I think those are two great examples
of these Once again.
Could be the same people, but they are
very different.
Yeah. Very different brands, very different personalities.
Yeah.
Alright. We will have if anyone wants to
see
these examples, they will be in the show
notes.
But we want you to know that
your podcast brand should be intentional and not
accidental.
That's the main goal that we have with
this episode today.
Yes. When your your visuals, your messaging,
your tone, it all points in the same
direction. It all
feels like you.
It becomes easier for the right listeners to
find you, trust you, and then stick around.
And that's how that audience, especially that loyal
audience,
will really start to build.
Yeah. For sure. You don't have to spend
a whole bunch of money on this. You
don't have to do a full rebrand. You
can go as far
as you want with this, but
we hope that all of this
helps you come up with a brand that
truly reflects your purpose and personality.
Yes. And if you always need help bringing
that all together, the Blu ray team is
always here to support you. We are podcasters
or podcast listeners, so we always are
seeing our work, seeing brands, new shows,
huge shows, small shows. Like, we
yeah. We've seen it all. I also love
to critique.
If you ask me my opinion, I'll give
it to you. So if you're looking
for a very real opinion, I'm happy to
give that.
I come from the design world, so you
ask my opinion. It it will be
it's not brutal, but, like, you're
we're not sugar coating it here. This is
the sugar we left the sugar at the
door. Yes. Like, we're here to really get
into you want me to tell you how
I feel about this? Let me tell you
how I feel about this.
Alright. Thanks, everyone. This is Podcast Insider. We'll
see you next week. Thanks for joining us.
Come back next week. And in the meantime,
head to podcastinsider.com
for more information,
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and learn how Blueberry can help you leverage
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