Podcasting 101, The Beginning of a 2024 Series – PCI 379

Speaker 0 00:00:00 I think figuring out a lot of these questions at the beginning is gonna help you figure out what it is that you actually want to do, because people just get wrapped up in moving forward, and which is really good because that motivation that you have is gonna push you to actually get this done. You're gonna question yourself at some point of, why am I doing this? Who am I doing this for? What do I wanna get out of this? And that all changes over time. But if you're thinking about it more so at the beginning, you're able to kind of work through those things just by like writing it down, sitting with it for a couple days, all of that to really, really come up with a more complete look of what you're trying to achieve.

Speaker 2 00:00:46 You're listening to Podcasts Insider, hosted by Mike Dell, Todd Cochrane, 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. All with the support of your team here at Blueberry Podcasting. Welcome. Let's dive in. Are you looking to start your own podcast? You're in luck. Blueberry's podcasting specialists are here to help you get up and running. I'm Todd Cochrane, CEO and co-founder of Blueberry Podcasting.

Speaker 0 00:01:18 And I'm Mackenzie Bennett, marketing specialist here at Blueberry.

Speaker 3 00:01:21 And I'm Mike Dell, the VP of Customer Relations here at Blueberry. Thanks for joining us. Let's get going.

Speaker 2 00:01:31 Today, we are definitely gonna cover a large range of topics that are essential for beginners in podcasting. And really these topics can help you get a comprehensive overview of what it takes to start and run a successful podcast. And we're gonna walk through some of the most important parts. And I guess I'll start with the first one is really defining your podcast. And, and I I will add a little bit of a co statement to this is Defining your podcast and what will be the goal of your podcast. But defining your podcast really is designed to talk about choosing the right content and, and what you are passionate about. A lot of podcasters today are chasing topics and I think that's a really, really, really bad idea. So choose the content, choose a niche or even a broad topic. Be able to define who your audience is going to be and how, what you're basically gonna be addressing them, and then developing your theme and, and the format.

Speaker 2 00:02:40 And as part of that process though, and I think back to when I was getting ready to do my first podcast and really I had no idea because it was so early on and I did it in a whim, I kind of knew what I wanted to do, but the goal defined itself. But I think now today you have the opportunity that has said, okay, is the goal, money is the goal, influence is the goal to drive people to my business. So again, the defining your podcast and, and, and the goal can kind of go, uh, together. And, and I really think it's important to think about that in a deep way because you are setting yourself up for something that you may be doing for many years. So taking the time to thinking about what the show's gonna be about who, what audience you're gonna reach, again, as I talked about, really goes to the heart of, of podcasting and, and, and delivering the content that you wanna deliver.

Speaker 0 00:03:44 I think figuring out a lot of these questions at the beginning is gonna help you figure out what it is that you actually want to do because people just get wrapped up in moving forward and which is really good because that motivation that you have is gonna push you to actually get this done. You're gonna question yourself at some point of why am I doing this? Who am I doing this for? What do I wanna get outta this? And that all changes over time. But if you're thinking about it more so at the beginning, you're able to kind of work through those things just by like writing it down, sitting with it for a couple days, all of that to really, really come up with a more complete look of what you're trying to achieve. I

Speaker 2 00:04:30 I was pretty lucky I already had a website when I knew what the topic was gonna be. So for me it was more about the format, which I think we're gonna talk about next,

Speaker 3 00:04:40 Right? But don't chase the, don't chase a niche just because it's something that's popular right now. You, you wanna do something that you are gonna stay engaged with, whether you know a lot about the subject or not, that's a good way to learn too from your audience and doing your own research. But just make sure that, uh, you're not choosing a niche just because it's the, the popular thing. Any podcast about anything can become the top podcast in its genre. If it's something that you really enjoy doing and that's gonna help you off later too, keeping up with it. 'cause a lot of times people get burned out on a subject and that's okay, but for long term, make sure it's something you enjoy.

Speaker 2 00:05:27 Yeah. And and I think once you've kind of got that defined, then the planning, the content is not as complicated as you may think.

Speaker 0 00:05:36 Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 00:05:37 , and we had this, matter of fact, we still have some laying around in our swag boxes. We have this podcast planning doc. It's a little notepad. And, and really, and when I first started doing my show, all I did is I, I really didn't even use notepad or anything on my computer. I just kind of grabbed a sheet of paper and I was like, okay, introduction, contact information. And then I kinda listed through how the flow of the show was going to go. And, and it really, it, it didn't take too long to get that kind of segmented out. And I think it's important that in this planning for your content creation is that you really do think about that flow of the show. Because what will happen is the first episode, you're gonna flow through it and you're like, okay, that was, whether you did solo or with a guest or with a co-host, you're gonna think, okay, that was okay, but maybe I need to improve.

Speaker 2 00:06:39 You don't necessarily have to change the flow that you have come up with, but what you can do is you can improve upon the flow and the way you present it and the way you transition. And then as you get your, find your voice and you kinda get your battle rhythm down in recording, you're, you're, believe me, you're going to come back and thank us for saying, okay, thank you for writing, having me write out how the flow of the show's gonna be executed. And I've always said too, it's once you kinda get that flow down, then what happens is, is your audience becomes creatures of habit because you're gonna be publishing, we're gonna talk about consistency at some point. But what you're gonna be doing here is your audience is gonna know the flow of the show and they're gonna know what to expect ne next. We're all kind of creatures of habit. And and I think it's important to really kind of build that into the process here.

Speaker 3 00:07:35 Yeah, we, we've changed this show up little bits at a time. The subject matter is kind of the same, but over time, you, you evolve and you may want to take away a segment that you used to do or, or add a segment that you haven't done yet. Do do things may maybe a little different, but don't, don't shockingly change the show completely. . I mean, it's your show. You can do whatever you want, but that doesn't lend itself to keeping an audience sometimes. 'cause if they're used to one thing and then you completely switch it up on 'em, they may drop off.

Speaker 0 00:08:10 There's also so many shows that start from something that's going on in the world, whether that's something as simple as a really relevant TV show right now or something on the news. But a lot of the time people start that show that they're gonna do like after, after the first episode or in prep for something that's being released. Like I'm sure that there's probably some Hollywood shows going on right now for award season, that type of stuff. Like they'll do it for sports throughout the year and it's like, yeah, you're gonna change this because you're kind of doing it on the fly. But just like you have, you have a much shorter time period to figure all of this out. But we're just encouraging you to take literally like one evening and just write out your thoughts so that when you are recording on the fly and you are having those like very, very fast and real reactions to whatever happened last night that you're recording the next morning, like just gather your thoughts a little bit. That's all.

Speaker 2 00:09:18 Uh, you know, I, I just opened it up on my computer, but I have my flow right in front of me and it's basically opening story. Remind people what show they're listening to, what episode number, what the date is, thank you to the sponsor, shout out to the listeners reminding them where new listeners can come and follow and subscribe to the show. I remind them where the website is of course. And of course then I tell 'em how to contact me via email or on X or Facebook. And then I do my sponsorship spot and then I get into just a little bit of, Hey, this is what's been going on and boom into the content. Yeah,

Speaker 0 00:10:03 You get your housekeeping out of the way. Yeah. You know

Speaker 2 00:10:05 That how, and that is like three minutes. Yeah. But that first intro was the thing that I am using to capture them for a reason to listen so that the new listener that's coming in don't hear that, Hey, you're listening to Geekness Center episode number, blah, blah, blah. They're okay, why should I continue? Instead I open with, hey, open AI is trying to reach, raise a hundred billion dollars. And that's the catcher for me to get people to say, okay, I'll listen. I'll listen to this little intro and then I'm gonna hear his housekeeping and then he is gonna get into the content. And I cover that first story as my first story even though I do 20 others. But that's the one that kind of leads right after I do the housekeeping. So it, every show is different, but I've had the same doc and you might both laugh, but this doc has changed. The only thing has changed on it in literally 19 years is the, now that I do a little, that little intro part talking about a lead story, the teaser, that's the only thing I've added and I've done that in the last year as as the teaser. So that work that you're talking about, McKenzie and doing that one night could be the same flow documents you're using 20 years from now.

Speaker 0 00:11:24 Yeah, exactly. A little organization goes a long way.

Speaker 3 00:11:28 One of the big things that messes people up when they're getting ready to start a podcast are these next three items on our list. They kind of all go together, but technical essentials, what type of microphone do you need? What other equipment do you need? What recording platform or software are you gonna use? And then there's techniques about recording high quality audio and then editing. So how much editing are you gonna do? A lot of, lot of podcasters, including myself, like to do the almost no editing if possible, but I try to get a really good recording. So if I'm recording by myself, I've got this set up here with a road caster and a decent mic and all that. But you don't have to spend a ton of money to get decent audio. I know people that do their podcast 100% on their phone and they go crawl into a closet somewhere with a bunch of clothes on it so they don't get echoes and they talk into their phone and it sounds every bit as good as what I'm doing here. But then you can, you can spend crap loads of money on your podcast gear. I mean, Todd, you should know about that.

Speaker 2 00:12:37 , I I always say today is different than yesteryear because it's amazing you got these USB mics now that are just incredible and sub $100 that are fantastic. And I think that if you're doing a solo show, that's all you should spend. You know, usually either use a good mic on your, your mobile or invest in a very inexpensive USB mic. Again, sub $100. Now if you're gonna be having a co-host, then you have, there's other decisions you have to make, okay? Is, is the co-host gonna be with you? And if they're not, if they're, if your co-host is in another location, then Zoom or a variety of other platforms are available for you to use to be able to, each of you have a sub $100 mic and then you come into an online platform like we're using today because all three of us are in different locations to record on a single track.

Speaker 2 00:13:36 And so again, we'll probably have some links to some articles that we've written on blueberry about some of this equipment and services. But I think it's important that you don't get too wrapped around the axle and you're hosting with us or decide to host with us. Definitely drop us a line and say, Hey, can I, can I do a call and can you gimme some tips on some of this gear maybe I need to have? 'cause every situation's a little different. Again, if you're gonna have a co-host that's gonna be with you, and then you're gonna have a guest that's actually calling in, then that changes the whole make the makeup of the equipment. But don't panic. And none of this is overly complicated. And I think the most simple solution really, to be honest with you, is if you're going to be solo, you just need a simple recording application. If you're gonna have a co-host and it's just gonna be you and that other person, then you can use one of about four or five services that you both log into to record. And then if you're gonna have a guest, the same situation applies. The guest can come into that same platform the two of you are already in, or if it's just you and a guest, the same type of situation. So again, spend as little amount of money as possible when you start.

Speaker 3 00:14:52 Yeah, the, like the recording and editing software. If it's, if you're just doing solo, there's lots of free or inexpensive ways to record. When I think I think of Audacity, that's a free recording software and editing software that works on pretty much any computer. If you have a Mac, you have access to, uh, was it GarageBand? Yeah. That's not just for musicians. You can use GarageBand. Just make sure you put out an MP three file. Um,

Speaker 2 00:15:21 I kinda shutter when you say that though, Mike, even though though I'm a Mac

Speaker 3 00:15:24 User, it's actually decent software. I I've played with it a bit , so yeah, I'm, I'm kind of kind of happy with it as a beginning thing. That's not a bad deal. It comes with your Mac.

Speaker 0 00:15:34 They've also released numerous new products and services in the past five to 10 years. Just the creator space online absolutely blew up from people doing this within their own homes. And podcasting is included in that. And it's, it's very different. Like, like you guys said earlier than it was yesterday year. It's you, you don't have to sweat it. You can start very basic. That's what we want people to know.

Speaker 3 00:16:02 Just don't buy a Yeti . That's a microphone. That's seems to be popular, but it takes technique to make that microphone sound good. There are people out there that can do it, but I suggest like a, what is it, Samsung Q2 U or what's that other popular one?

Speaker 2 00:16:22 Audio technique at a TR 2200. I think those are good, good mics.

Speaker 3 00:16:27 Yep, those are very good. And they're, you can do USB and then later on if you do end up getting a mixer, a road caster or something like that, it also does the, the professional plug too has to both plugs.

Speaker 2 00:16:40 One thing I would also say is you, let's, let's say you're starting out with that basic equipment. You're gonna start off with a couple of the mics that Mike and I have mentioned. Don't be afraid to practice on that mic and figure out where it should be positioned in front of your mouth and figure out how far away you can get from it. And, and practice to see what your background noise is. Just do a little pre-recording and listen to that. Now we all kind of cringe when we listen to our own voices, but I think it's critical for you to understand how dramatic of a change it can be if you turn your head away from the microphone. So I, I think these types of things are critical and just kind of practice a little bit before you get that first guest on there, because you're gonna have to coach the guest as well if you can't hear them real well to make sure that whatever mic they're using, and if you're dealing with a guest, then sometimes your guests may be on wifi and not a wired connection. They may be on earbuds. You, you have, you lose all total control when it comes to guests. So practice with some of this stuff and then you'll have the ability to kind of give tips as people are coming into to record with you.

Speaker 0 00:17:55 But after you're done recording, that's when you go into editing and post-production and however fancy you wanna make it, however much effort you wanna put into this, it can be done. Whether you are paying for a software or just using something that's free, like Audacity or GarageBand, one of the things that you're also probably going to learn is how to add the bumpers, the adding music in between segments behind your audio or behind your recorded audio. The intro and outro. It's, it's all there.

Speaker 2 00:18:29 I would, I would caution you in the beginning not to go too heavy on effects. I would keep it simple at the beginning. And one thing's for sure, the fastest way for you to want to hate and to give up and to quit podcasting is spending five hours editing a 30 minute recording.

Speaker 0 00:18:50 That is very true.

Speaker 2 00:18:52 So don't get wrapped up around the axle on this, on this editing piece. If you wanna remove the uhs and hums, that's fine. But for me, I've learned over the years, the more prepared you are in the beginning, the more prepared you are for recording an episode, the less ums and ahs there will be. So spend that extra time in prep, then your recording is gonna come out much better and you'll have to spend less time editing. So I think don't kill yourself in the editing piece. I I, I'll say this, and this is, I'm not recommending this, but I don't edit episodes, never have, never will. This episode is being edited by our editing team, our pro, our pro team, and we're very blessed to have them to do that. And matter of fact, we have a great protein that can help you with editing and launching your show.

Speaker 3 00:19:42 They can help you with the recording as well.

Speaker 2 00:19:44 Yeah, absolutely. So again, don't get too wrapped around the axle on that pro production initially and adding all the bumpers and music and build that in slowly. And I know we all wanna sound good off the bat. If we do then hire our pro team to help you get that format down.

Speaker 3 00:20:01 Yeah. And of course that brings us to what do you do with it after it's recorded hosting and distribution. There's lots of platforms out there. We like to think blueberry is the best. We have hosting plans for any podcaster, no matter how often you're gonna do it. And you can get your first month free. I think, what is it, blueberry oh oh five is the current code,

Speaker 2 00:20:22 Or actually they just clicked on the getting started@blueberry.com. That gets some 30 days free right there. Automatic.

Speaker 3 00:20:28 Yeah. So to distribute your podcast, really all it's required is an RSS feed. And that sounds complicated and we talk it to death and all that, but it's not really super complicated. And if you're with a, a platform like Blueberry, we show you how to do it or we have tutorials and whatever, but once you get that feed, you just submit that feed to wherever you want it to go. Apple, Spotify, iHeart used to be Google, but they're going away and a few other places.

Speaker 2 00:20:59 I think the main thing is, is you take that audio file and this is the simplicity of it. You've got this audio file edited and if you've ever wrote a blog post or a Facebook post or any, any place where you posted something on social, but only the real difference is, is you're gonna come into whatever distribution, whatever you decide you're gonna have a website or if you're just going to use our dashboard, you write the title to your episode, you write show notes and as rich as possible, in other words, lots of good data in there. You upload the audio file and you hit publish. And once that is done within a podcast hosting platform, the RSS feed that Mike is talking about is autogenerated.

Speaker 3 00:21:42 Yes, you

Speaker 2 00:21:43 Provide, you

Speaker 3 00:21:44 Don't have to do it anything after it's done, after, after you get it set up in whatever platform you're in, you make a blog post, upload a file, hit publish. And that works pretty much across the board on any, any host but definitely on blueberry.

Speaker 2 00:21:58 And once you've submitted your show to the variety of directories, like Mike said, up a podcast, Spotify, our Heart and so forth, that's a one time deal. You just do that once and then from that point forward, once they have picked up your show for syndication, they will start updating their websites every time you publish an episode and they'll reach out and grab that, that file, that RSS feed and they'll use the data within it to update their directory and so that your listeners can get access to that media. And again, our team can help you with that if you kinda get stuck in that process. We have great tutorials, but don't, don't forget, we're always here to help at blueberry.com/support.

Speaker 0 00:22:40 Something I always suggest to people when they're getting their podcast just started is if they have a specific launch date that they want to meet or if they're really trying to drum up an audience for this and doing heavy promotion beforehand, do a trailer episode. Like it's good for any show to have this just for, for new listeners to be able to listen to this 92nd clip that you have that like shows as an episode. It shows as a trailer, uh, for people to listen to for the show because you can submit that, get your show approved, and then release your, your first quote unquote pilot episode or your first episode whenever you want. So it just puts you in a lot more control of getting things out there.

Speaker 3 00:23:29 Let you get on all the platforms prior to your official first episode.

Speaker 0 00:23:33 Exactly.

Speaker 2 00:23:34 And your trailer is nothing more than an advertisement for your show. Yeah. And the beauty about the trailer is it can be replaced at any time by posting a new trailer. So it's not complicated. You don't have to go back and take the old one down. You just update and post another trailer episode and it'll get picked up as the latest and greatest. And that will be what would be presented to people when they say, Hey, what's they kinda like the preview on Netflix. Mm-Hmm. , that's, it's exactly that. It's what it is. It's the preview of your show.

Speaker 3 00:24:04 Of course, McKenzie, this is right up here. Ally, the next one there.

Speaker 0 00:24:07 Yeah. So once you get your show into the directory of your choice, then you have to market your podcast. So there's a numerous strategies for promoting your podcast, whether traditional or new media you can leverage social media, build your audience online, word of mouth, the list never ends. But that is something that you're going to have to constantly work on little by little depending on what you want. But that would really be your next step here.

Speaker 2 00:24:38 And I always say friends and families first, and then anyone that does listen and make sure you tell them when you're recording your show, please share the podcast with your friends and people that you know, because the number way one podcasts are grown is by word of mouth. So don't, and the listeners don't know that. So you have to remind them to share your show with the people that they love and people that think may be interested in your content. It's the most powerful thing in podcasting. And believe it or not, if your friends have a someone in a good position, just sharing to the right person could end up helping grow your show leaps and bounds. Because if someone that has a, a big social following loves your podcast, they'll share it with their audience as well. So it's, it's just kind of the six degrees of separation almost in reverse. And you can grow your show and in a big, big way by this, this word of mouth sharing.

Speaker 3 00:25:38 Yeah. And reach out to other podcasters in your genre. Most podcasters, we don't think of this as competition, it's, it's more collaborative. 'cause if you have somebody interested in your podcast and somebody else in the same genre is interested, you could promote that podcast. Say, Hey, this one's really good. He had a cool episode, whatever. Share the wealth a little bit. 'cause people that listen to podcasts about a certain topic, listen to more than one.

Speaker 2 00:26:08 The number one thing I get asked when I talk to all of you is, Todd, how do I grow my show? And the number one thing that I always say is, sustain superior content. Number one, you have to be focused on creating great content. Number two, it needs to be super discoverable by having great titles, searchable titles, and great show notes. That's number two. But at the same time, like Mike said, networking with other podcasters, being out there on social media, really it's, it's a grind. It's, it's something if you're not a famous person, when I started podcasting, I was just some dude that had a blog and how did I grow my show is really grinding and putting out great content and word of mouth and, and ask your audience to help. If you're overwhelmed with, with the ability to market your show, then what I found is super fans have been become my most, well my super fans end up being the board of directors for blueberry podcasting. You never know what is gonna come from your audience. So there is leverage in, in asking people to help you grow and help you scale and do things for your podcasts that are gonna be done with early fans of your show that are super fans.

Speaker 0 00:27:31 Yeah. And as you're growing and marketing your show, and then when you eventually start to monetize it, if you choose to do that as well, you have to understand that the shows that a lot of the time you see as very, very successful have have been that way because they have like a network behind them. Or like Todd said, we're a celebrity before that. Take that with a grain of salt.

Speaker 2 00:27:55 And, and I think what you should do is if you're thinking about monetization, just kinda wait a little bit. Get get some episodes underneath you before you think about monetization. And of course one thing that we should mention and, and we'll we're gonna kind of move on here because we've got lots more stuff we can talk about on this topic, is please, please, please do not use copyright music in your content.

Speaker 0 00:28:20 The nightmare for you, for your hosting company, for your bank, everything. Yeah.

Speaker 2 00:28:25 And there's other legal considerations, but music is the thing that catches most of the people. We hope this episode is gonna help you get started and I'm sure there's a thousand questions that you have already, but we we're happy to answer those with the team here. Thanks for listening to this episode. We'll be back with another edition of the podcast Insider.

Speaker 3 00:28:47 Yeah, we just wanted to start out 20, kind of going back to the basics, so the next few episodes at least, we'll include that. So catch us next week.

Speaker 2 00:28:56 Thanks for joining us. Come back next week and in the meantime, head to podcast insider.com for more information to subscribe, share, and read our show notes. Check out the latest suite of services and learn how blueberry can help you leverage your podcast. Visit blueberry.com. That's blueberry without the ease because we can't afford the ease.