Small Business Saturday Blog

Podcasting - The Ultimate How-To Guide - Part 2

Wednesday, April 11, 2018 at 16:18

Welcome back! This is part2 of the Ultimate Guide to Podcasting (part one can be found below from lastweek).
Let’s pick up from lastweek – you are going in with your eyes open and you have prepped well. Now itis not a bad idea to be aware of the competition….
There is a good chanceyou’ve listened to Gimlet Media’s excellent series StartUp, so you’ll know that podcasting is so popular now that it’s gettingVC-backing.
Do bare that in mind – the competition nowincludes venture capitalists! As for the "niches to riches" the easyniches all already taken (and are often boring). Make sure you are not justrepeating what the competition have already done – if your interviewee hasalready been on lots of podcasts, it is probably not going to be that superinteresting for your listeners. Being aware of the competition will help youstay fresh and original. You may be aiming for JLDon EoFire or MindPump – but do see them as stimulation andsomething to learn from rather than becoming their serious competition.
Now let us talk "jobs"
Pre-interviews: Doneeither by email or phone, this helps determine whether your podcast and thepotential guest are a good fit. 
Production:Guests do not always show up on time (or at all), and even if you have aproblem-free interview, " Can you hear me?" will become the most usedexpression in your arsenal. You will still need to do post-production work tolevel out the noise and ensure that, as much as possible, the sound quality isexcellent. People want good quality or they will stop listening. You can’tfully control what is happening on your guest’s end, which is why I strive sooften to do interviews in person
Editing: Noteverything we record makes it onto a podcast. Sometimes fascinating (ordreadful) tangents that don’t fit within our normal show time parameters haveto go. It takes time to carefully slice those segments out so your listeningexperience isn’t interrupted. Again, Thank you Bret (my editor – see last week’sblog!) 
Libsync: They show, stats, and you will need to find out which episodes are doingwell and which ones aren’t. In your earliest days, you may find that releasingon one day versus another makes a significant difference. I prefer Mondays andWednesdays. 
Push: So you’verecorded and posted your podcast. The world isn’t going to beat a path to yourstudio door. You’ll need to promote on all the relevant social media platformsand your email newsletter list. You’ll need to pay to advertise it. You’ll needto have it featured in news and media. You’ll need to create and promote itconsistently and professionally.
The Guestlist Podcast was built by the hardwork of my two partners, Bret Farmer and my wife, SamanthaWhite ( who also does all my social media pushing and guestsgetting). Even if you wanted to do something similar to what I did, I suggestyou find a partner as you build a world-class product/service to feed into yourworld-class podcast and vice versa.
Although Lipsync is great, you will still notknow the following information from the largest syndicators of podcasts (thisincludes iTunes):
Whoexactly is listening
Howmuch of the show they listened to
Howthe ranking system works
Everything we tell advertisers is built offthe back of downloads, but downloads don’t tell us any of that informationabove.
You can’t even “buy” yourway to the top without having built another (easier) business first. 
Let’s look at a great example, someone whowent about building a great podcast:
JLDand E-Ofire. Check out his story on how he did it and how long it took, here. 
So, here is what I would start doing if I wasstarting from scratch today:
Going to get a podcast, speak to myman, Bret Farmer - let him walk you throughoptions, create your avatar (he will explain) talk equipment and costs - tellhim Jason from Small Biz send you and you are ready and know thepitfalls. 
If podcasting sounds like a bit too muchright now, why not try a book or a blog first? 
Anyonecan start one
Thereare fewer moving parts.
Moreincome possibilities.
Moreflexibility — people don’t expect books or blogs as regularly as they expectpodcasts.
Themore likely path to success — more people read books and blogs than listen topodcasts, which means it’s a less crowded space and hence offers you more of anopportunity to get your "true fans". 
But no matter what you do, build things ofvalue, you can also still be on a podcast, be on someone else's and start toappear as a guest on other podcasts. And do not forget you can always reach outto me to be on my show! 
Whatever you decide to do, good luck – and dospeak to me first, I will be waiting. 
Jas
The host of “The Guestlist Podcast" 

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