How to Manage 30+ Podcasts

Speaker A: Descript is an all in one audio and video editing software, and it's been incredibly powerful for me in allowing me to edit video and audio podcasts. So when I first started using it, you know, I was a little overwhelmed with learning the interface. But they do have a great help and support page that I really dug into. So after going through a few of their walkthroughs and tutorials, I was very fairly confident in my abilities within a few days. The real time waveform editing makes cutting, splicing, and rearranging content easy.

Speaker B: This is Recorded Content, a podcast for small scrappy B2B marketing teams who want to get the most out of podcasting. In each episode, we'll explore how podcasting can drive your company's content strategy, build brand awareness, and help you connect with your ideal customers. Let's get to it.

Speaker A: Hey, this is Ben. I'm the managing director of Podcasting at Motion and your host for this episode of Recorded Content. Recorded Content is brought to you by Motion, a done, uh, for you podcast agency for small scrappy B2B tech marketers. It's been about six months since I've been here at Motion as the managing director of podcasting, and today I wanted to talk to you about, you know, how it's gone and how I've learned to go from, you know, really not podcasting at all to being able to manage, you know, 30 plus podcasts. So let me just start by saying podcasting is not easy. I've loved my job, and I get a great deal of satisfaction from, you know, what I do. But it has been a ton of work. There have been many, you know, nights that I've worked through, weekends that I've worked through. And, you, uh, know, I've really had to force myself to, you know, unplug at times so I don't get too carried away. And a lot of those long hours have been by choice, you know, because I'm someone who gets, you know, obsessed over things. So when I commit myself to something, you know, I'll work at it until I figure it out. And I say this because, you know, I'm not trying to sit here and, uh, you know, talk about how Ben is the hardest work in the world. I say it because it's important to understand, you know, the amount of work that actually goes into creating, maintaining, and growing a podcast. So you have to be committed and you have to want to do it. You know, I wanted to learn how to podcast, so I chose to work after hours, you know, and to learn to use the tools I needed to in order to be able to edit, you know, podcasts and produce quality content. So that right there is really, you know, the beauty of it for me, at least, after working in tech sales for, you know, eight plus years and working my tail off to hit quotas each quarter before starting all over, you know, podcasting has been a blessing in that I can do all of this work and then see the improvements and the results and walk away from it with multiple pieces of tangible content that I can be proud of. So that said, the first thing that I want to talk about in terms of being able to manage these podcasts is, you know, having a process in place. It would be impossible to manage a podcast, let alone 30 plus without a clearly defined process that established, you know, not only what is being done, but when. So some of the things that, you know, you need to think about as you were kind of putting a process in place are, you know, when are you recording, when will the files be available for editing? Uh, from that point, you know, when are the full audio or the full, uh, video episode, when is that going to be edited? Uh, when will the show notes be created? When will the video clips, the promo video, quote cards, thumbnail, when is that going to be created? And then when is all of that, all those assets, when are they going to be sent for review? Once that review happens, you know, when will revisions be implemented and, you know, returned? And these are all, you know, steps that need to be assigned to specific dates, but also with specific people who are accountable for them. So at, uh, Motion, our standard turnaround time for an episode is seven business days. During those seven days, it's critical for us to be able to plan out, you know, not only who is doing each step, but, but, you know, on what specific day in order for us to complete a quality check and deliver episodes, you know, to our clients on time. So from there we actually ask our clients for, you know, feedback to be submitted within three business days, and we deliver any revisions, if necessary, within two to three business days from that point. So without this process in place, as you can see, it can really become the wild, wild west pretty quickly. So setting hard deadlines for each step really helps keep us organized and on track, but also allows us to, you know, work on multiple projects at once. So every day our team wakes up, you know, knowing what tasks they have to complete for that day, and then, you know, they get to work, they complete them and move on to the next one. So I really can't stress process enough Here it really is lifeload of producing a podcast at a consistent clip. Let's talk about, you know, some of the tools that have helped me on my journey so far, starting with descript. Descript is an all in one audio and video editing software, and it's been incredibly powerful for me in allowing me to edit video and audio podcasts. So when I first started using it, you know, I was a little overwhelmed with learning the interface. But they do have a great help and support page that I really dug into. So after going through a few of their walkthroughs and tutorials, I was very fairly confident in my abilities within a few days. The real time waveform editing makes cutting, splicing, and rearranging content easy. You know, you can also transcribe audio and video files when you drop them into a project. And if you have multiple files from different speakers, let's say it's a, uh, podcast episode with, you know, multiple hosts or guests on, you can create a multitrack sequence to actually combine all those files together. So the reason that that is important is because it allows you to edit the transcript within Descript, uh, and simultaneously edit the audio and video, which saves an incredible amount of time. Some of the other tools in descript that have been a huge help are things like the Blade, which, you know, makes cuts in the tracks, the range tool to help highlight specific portions that you may have made from those blade cuts and allows you to make clips or rearrange the audio and video for things like, you know, cold openings, for example, and then the Slip tool, which is awesome for adjusting the in and out points of clips without, you know, moving them in, uh, the timeline and messing up the sync files. So there are also, you know, templates that you can create for adding designs to your show. And it's really easy to drop in music for, you know, an intro and an outro, which really helps to, to boost the quality of your content. So it does take some time to get used to, you know, using descript and learning how to use all the tools in order to get your podcast to where you want it. But within a few weeks of consistent use, you'll, you know, you'll be a pro. So after editing the podcast, the next major step for us is, you know, collecting feedback for revisions on the assets that we deliver. Frame IO has been a massive help in that area for us, especially when it comes to managing multiple podcasts. So Frame allows me, my team and our clients to view episodes, you know, video clips, quote cards, and any other pieces of content and provide timestamped feedback so we don't have to go through that whole merry go round of email chains. Collecting feedback from sometimes, you know, multiple people for a single episode, which can really kind of, you know, kick up the number of rounds or revisions you make. So having that centralized place where you get all requests for revisions, you know, clearly and efficiently makes a huge, huge difference. Feedback, you know, it's, it's an incredibly important part of, of managing a podcast. And the reason being is because the faster that you're able to collect that feedback and implement the changes that are needed, the faster that you can actually, you know, take advantage of the content you're creating and publish it and get it out in front of your audience. So there's obviously, you know, a ton that I could expand upon here and you could talk for days, but I think that this is a good place to stop before I get too far into the weeds. In a nutshell, you know, if you create a clearly defined process with deadlines that you or your team are held accountable for, you know, spend some time learning how to use tools like descript to edit and establish a uniform method of collecting feedback for revisions, you know, by something like a, uh, frame IO, you can really learn to manage your own podcasts confidently. And, you know, who knows, maybe even 30 of them. So that's it for today. Thanks for listening to this episode of Recorded Content.

Speaker B: And that's a wrap for this episode of Recorded Content. This show is produced by Motion, a full service podcast agency that's all about working with B2B marketers. Starting a podcast is hard, but it doesn't have to be. Visit MotionAgency IO and get everything you need to launch and grow your customer's favorite show.