Study Guide: Alex for Podcasters
Your reference for using Alex in podcast production, growth, and content strategy. Ready-to-run prompts for episodes, guests, show notes, and audience building.
What This Guide Is Not
This is not a habit formation guide (see Self-Study Guide for that). This is a podcaster’s toolkit — the specific ways Alex can accelerate your show, and the prompts that work.
Core Principle for Podcasters
A podcast’s value is the host’s genuine perspective, relationships, and on-air presence. Alex’s highest value is in everything around the recording: research, preparation, distribution, and growth strategy. Alex helps you show up better and reach more people — the chemistry in the conversation is still you.
The key pattern: bring your show’s voice. Share your past episodes, your bio, your niche. The more Alex understands your show, the more valuable its help becomes.
The Seven Use Cases
1. Episode Concept and Series Planning
When to use: Generating episode ideas, planning a series, building a content calendar.
Prompt pattern:
Help me develop episode ideas:
Show focus: [your niche and audience]
Recent episodes: [what you've covered recently]
What's working: [episodes that performed well]
What's coming up: [relevant events, trends, opportunities]
Format: [interview / solo / narrative / panel]
Generate:
1. 10 episode ideas with working titles
2. The central question each episode answers
3. Why each would resonate with your audience
4. How they differentiate from what's out there
5. A 6-episode mini-series concept
Follow-up prompts:
Which of these ideas has the most search potential?
Give me the seasonal content calendar for the next quarter.
I want to do a series on [topic]. Map out 5 episodes.
2. Guest Research and Outreach
When to use: Identifying guests, researching them, writing outreach.
Prompt pattern:
Help me prepare for a guest:
Guest: [who they are, their work]
My show: [niche, audience, tone]
Episode angle: [what I want to explore with them]
What my audience cares about: [their key interests]
Help me:
1. Find the angles in their work that fit my audience
2. Develop questions that go beyond the obvious
3. Research gaps to dig into
4. Write the outreach email
5. Prepare for likely tangents or deflections
Follow-up prompts:
They're promoting a book. How do I make this useful beyond a promo?
Write a guest outreach email that stands out.
What's the question no one has asked them that I should?
3. Pre-Show Research and Preparation
When to use: Deep-dive prep before recording an episode.
Prompt pattern:
Help me prepare for this episode:
Topic: [what you're covering]
Guest (if applicable): [who you're talking to]
Angle: [your unique take]
What my audience already knows: [assumed knowledge level]
What I want them to leave with: [key takeaways]
Create:
1. Background research summary
2. 12-15 questions in conversation order
3. Follow-up probes for likely answers
4. 3 "unexpected" questions to create memorable moments
5. Opening hook and closing question
Follow-up prompts:
What controversy or debate exists in this space?
Find the surprising or counterintuitive angle on this topic.
What would a skeptic say about the premise of this episode?
4. Show Notes and Episode Pages
When to use: Writing episode descriptions, show notes, timestamped chapters.
Prompt pattern:
Help me write show notes for this episode:
Episode title: [working title]
Guest: [if applicable]
What was covered: [key topics and moments]
Key quotes: [best lines from the episode]
Resources mentioned: [links, books, tools]
Target keywords: [what people would search for]
Create:
1. A compelling episode description (50-100 words)
2. Extended show notes with key takeaways
3. Timestamped chapter headings
4. 5 pull quotes for social
5. A "why listen" opener that grabs the right listeners
Follow-up prompts:
Optimize the description for podcast app search.
Write the newsletter teaser for this episode.
Create the tweet thread version of this episode.
5. Cross-Platform Content
When to use: Repurposing episodes across YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, newsletters.
Prompt pattern:
Help me repurpose this episode:
Episode summary: [what was covered]
Best moments: [timestamps or descriptions of highlights]
Platform targets: [where you want to distribute]
Audience on each platform: [how they differ]
Create:
1. YouTube video description and tags
2. LinkedIn post (professional angle)
3. Twitter/X thread (insight-driven)
4. Instagram caption (personal/visual angle)
5. Newsletter excerpt that drives episode listens
Follow-up prompts:
Pull out 5 standalone insights this episode generated.
Write the YouTube thumbnail title options.
Create a short-form video script from the best 60 seconds.
6. Audience Growth and Discoverability
When to use: Building listenership, improving search, developing growth strategy.
Prompt pattern:
Help me grow this show:
Current stats: [downloads, audience size]
Niche: [who the show is for]
Differentiation: [what makes it unique]
Resources: [time and budget available]
Channels tried: [what's worked / what hasn't]
Help me:
1. Identify the underserved audience segment
2. Find the content types most effective for show growth
3. Build a guest strategy that grows audience
4. Develop a cross-promotion approach
5. Identify quick wins vs. long-term plays
Follow-up prompts:
What should my next 5 guest pitches have in common?
My downloads plateau every time at [X]. What's happening?
How do I build a listener community without burning out?
7. Monetization and Business Development
When to use: Sponsorships, listener support, courses, events.
Prompt pattern:
Help me monetize this show:
Audience size/demographics: [who listens]
Niche: [show focus]
Current revenue: [if any]
Time available: [how much you can invest]
Help me:
1. Identify monetization models that fit this show
2. Write a sponsor pitch deck
3. Design the listener support offer
4. Build a premium content strategy
5. Create the rate card logic
Follow-up prompts:
Write the sponsorship prospectus for [type of sponsor].
What should I include in a Patreon tier structure?
Help me pitch a live event to my audience.
Practice Progression
Week 1: Generate a 6-week episode plan using the content planning prompts.
Week 2: Deep-prep for an upcoming episode using the research framework.
Week 3: Write show notes and cross-platform content for a recent episode.
Week 4: Build a guest outreach batch for your next 5 interviews.
What Great Looks Like
After consistent use, you should notice:
- Better-prepared conversations with more insightful questions
- More consistent content distribution without manual effort
- Clearer positioning and audience strategy
- Faster episode production cycle
The goal isn’t for Alex to podcast — it’s for Alex to run everything around the recording so you can focus on the conversation.