Because of My Podcast: A
Veteran Got a Home
Robert Kerns produces the Living
the Vet life. He had a mortgage specialist on his show. He was
contacted by someone in another state (again, podcasting is global)
and the mortgage specialist was able to get the listener in contact
with another specialist and the veteran was able to get his loan
with a special VA Home Loan rate. None of this would have happened,
but it did because of hist podcast. Check out Rob at livingthevetlife.com
If Podcasting Was A
Sport.
I live in Cleveland. A fairly
famous sports town. Famous, for not quite being good
enough.
We were 1 pitch away from winning
the world series.
Two yards away from going to the
Super Bowl.
Over the years the Cleveland
Browns Football team has taken over leading the pack of bad sports
teams in Cleveland. Every few years we fire our coaches and their
staffs. Our players get suspended. Our coaches stink when they are
here, we fire them, and they win mutliple super bowls.
What does this have to do with
podcasting? Stick with me.
In 2014 after having a miserable
year the owners of the Cleveland Browns decided to work on the
stadium. They installed:
Massive, uniquely shaped video
boards,
Escalators that helped eliminate
congestion
and a cranked-up audio
system
The quote was they hoped these
items "Improved the fan experience."
The next year they added more
concessions and better lighting. The cost over two years? $125
million
Again they stated they wanted an
"improved fan experience."
The best way to improve the fan
experience is to put a WINNING FOOTBALL TEAM TOGETHER. The last two
years our combined record is 11-21.
HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO
PODCASTING?
At the core of the stadium is the
team. A team we come to root for, and a team we expect to win. When
they win, the fans brave insane temperatures to pack the stadium in
the winter. Everyone is talking about the game on Monday morning.
When the team stinks, they don't. I don't care if I can take an
escalator to my seat. If the team has no shot at winning, I'm not
going. I'm not watching from home, and nobody is talking about it
at work, because it is horrible.
Well, we see people investing in
a better microphone (when their original microphone was fine). They
invest in a new theme for their website (that most of their
audience never visits). They switch email list providers. They
switch media hosting companies. They get a new player for their
website. In a sense they are sprucing up the stadium of a losing
team.
They need to put a winning team
on the field. They need to create content that will impact their
audience. We need to focus on our audience, that leads to great
content, and the finally we need to promote that content (and
hopefully get our audience to promote it as well).
How Do Sports Teams Get
Better?
They
prepare.
They watch film of both their
opponent as well as watch tapes of their own games and look for
mistakes they made to help avoid them.
They
Listen
Good players are open to
feedback. They listen to their coaches. They listen to their fellow
players. They have a mindset of constant improvement. They might
take a week off when the season is over, but then it is back to the
gym to prepare for next season
They Trade Players That
Didn't Work
When a player doesn't meet
expectations (Johnny Manzel in my case) and you gave him a chance,
you cut your losses.
They Bring in A New
Set of Eyes
Tiger Woods has had numerous
coaches over the years. The Browns hired a guy from BASEBALL who
has a completely new perspective and strategy on choosing
players.
How Do Podcasters Get
Better?
They
Prepare
They Prepare. They think about
what they want to say before they hit record. I am writing these
notes way before I press record (it's the way I do it, and I find I
get better content). They listen to other podcasts. Not to rip off
the content, examine why a show works (and what they can learn from
it) and what doesn't work (and how they can avoid it). Realize this
is all subjective, but if you don't improve, and your show's
content does not inspire people to come back and listen again, your
show will die.
They
Listen
They form a "Focus group" of
listeners who are not afraid to give constructive feedback, or they
take the time to think through a negative comment to see if there
is any Merritt to it.
They Lose Segments That
Don't Resonate.
I once had a segment where I would
ask the audience to listen to three episodes before unsubscribing.
Not a bad idea (I borrowed it from radio talk show host Jim Rome).
I made a jingle for it, and it really annoyed a listener. I also
started branding myself as an "Acquired taste." In the end, I
didn't want to be someone you had to force down to consume. I
dropped the segment. I also at one point started spotlighting my
back catalog with a "This day in School of Podcasting History."
There was only one problem. It bored me.
You Bring in a New Set of
Ears
I get hired by people to consult
on their show. Why? Because I have a fresh set of ears, and I also
have an experienced set of ears. I also want you help to bring out
the best parts of your show, and tweak those parts that aren't
working. Now there are times when I'm not your target audience, but
I can still spot things that you are missing because you're too
close to see it. See podcastreviewshow.com
Focus and Dedication is
Key to a Long Career in Podcasting
Johnny Manzel had talent, but no
focus or discipline> Johnny focused on the money. Not serving
his audience (the fans).
Josh Gordon was suspended in his
College Days for Marijuana, and that continues as a pro. He's been
suspended three times (at least) He doesn't get the big
picture.
Wide Receiver for the Pittsburgh
Steelers was suspended without pay because of a failed drug test.
His second suspension for the same problem.
You have to stay focused making
great content, and looking for smart opportunities to promote your
show and create strategic partners.
A Key Point About Making
it Into the Pros
According to a Google
search:
NCAA senior players drafted by an
NFL team: About one in 50, or 2.0 percent. High school senior
players eventually drafted by an NFL team: About nine in 10,000, or
0.09 percent.
NCAA senior players drafted by an
NBA team: Less than one in 75, or 1.3 percent. -- High school
senior players eventually drafted by an NBA team: About three in
10,000, or 0.03 percent
Less than eleven in 100, or about
10.5 percent, of NCAA senior male baseball players will get drafted
by a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Approximately one in 200, or
approximately 0.5 percent of high school senior boys playing
interscholastic baseball will eventually be drafted by an MLB
team.
only 132 out of those 22,000 made
it into the top feeder leagues for the NHL (.6%). Of those 132
players, only 7 played in the NHL. .0312%
Those are astonishing
numbers.
These are people who have been
playing the game all their life.
Number of podcasters who get
enough downloads to get a "big" advertiser: 8% (source Rob from
Libsyn.com). (You can make a good living with smaller sponsors see
Glenn Hebert Interview)
Special
Thanks
Thanks to Kim for playing the
part of the female reporter in the skit today. Kim does the
Toastmasters 101 podcast at toastmasters101.net
Podcast Conferences Where
I Will Be Speaking
Podcast
Movement – Chicago – July 6-8 Use coupon (sop40)
Podcast Success Summit – Online May 16th June
9th
Podcast
MidAtltantic – NJ – September 9 -10th
Great Notes From Tim
Ferris
His goal is to not make money,
but build his relationship with his audience. In this article he says:
"I want to convert casual
listeners into die-hard, fervent listeners, and I want to convert
casual sponsors into die-hard, fervent sponsors. This requires two
things: 1) Playing the long game, and 2) Strategically leaving some
chips on the table. As a mentor once told me, “You can shear a
sheep many times, but you can skin him only once.”"
Later he added:
Novice podcasters (which I
was) and bloggers get too distracted in nascent stages with
monetization. In the first 3-9 months, you should be honing your
craft and putting out increasingly better work.
The recording gear is better
and cheaper every year. It’s extremely easy for me to travel with a
small recording studio in my backpack. If you’re on a budget, even
an iPhone will do, but–bang for the buck–the ATR-2100 is hard to
beat.
My mantra for gear is
borrowed from my podcast with Morgan Spurlock: “Once you get fancy,
fancy gets broken.” Keep it simple.
Simple Can be
Astounding
Here are some songs that are
incredibly simple.
Who Made Who by AC/DC The first
15 seconds are one note, and one chord.
Lick it Up by Kiss- Most of this
consists of two chords and one note on the bass.
Turn Me Loose - Loverboy - The
beginning of this song is one chord and some hi-hat hits
And yet, when I was a young boy,
people would run -not walk - to the dance floor to "get their jam
on."
Ready to Start
Podcasting?
Check out www.planningyourpodcast.com
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