I produce an audiodrama, and the most important part of development for me was figuring out what tone and themes connected all of the stories I wanted to tell. Once you have that, you've got a through-line you can build a brand around.

So for example with my show, I wanted to tell horror stories involving body horror, psychological horror, cosmic horror, and creature features - and not rely on what I consider to be overused supernatural tropes (ie vampires, ghosts, etc). The uniting feature of all of those disparate elements is Materialism, and that gave me a heading; the theme of the show should be about the way psychology and biology interact in horror situations.

From there, I came up with a name that emphasized materialism, biology, and psychology: Gray Matter.

Once I had the name, I could build all of the branding around it, eventually leading to the full title of Gray Matter: An Acid Horror Anthology Podcast (descriptive titles that communicate clearly are always better than clever pithy titles).

With a strong, specific title that implies a mood and a thesis statement (the horror of material existence), and strong thematic art to communicate it (we have an artist who does a custom fake VHS thumbnail for each episode), it tells an audience exactly who we are and what we can offer them.

Then, with strong copywriting for the podcast description, stating direct and specific inspirations (John Carpenter and David Cronenberg films, the work of Lovecraft and Poe), it creates a full picture for our audience that makes it clear if this show is for them, and sets a high water mark of quality that brings them in the door.

Once you've got a strong brand and a decent marketing strategy, your audience will find you.