8 Steps To Have A Great Podcast - Harry Morton [550]

Speaker A: I'm much more interested in focusing, um, on quality of the content and the relevance to your audience versus trying to get big names. And when that's the case, the process of getting guests becomes much easier because generally these people don't necessarily have to be super high profile.

Speaker B: Most hosts never achieve the results they hoped for. They're falling short on listenership and monetization, meaning their message isn't being heard and their show ends up costing them money. This podcast was created to help you grow your listenership and make money. While you're at it, get ready to take notes. Here's your host, Adam Adams, and, uh,

Speaker C: we're back with the podcast on Podcasting. I'm, um, your host, Adam AAA Adams, and I'm excited because I have a pro in the house. Well, he's a little virtual kind of far, actually. Harry is in the uk, Southwest England. How's it going, Harry?

Speaker A: I'm good, man. Thanks for having me on.

Speaker C: Nice to have you. Already. Harry has been letting me know that I shouldn't use Zoom to record, or at least that there's things that are better.

Speaker A: Exactly.

Speaker C: Why don't we just start there? What do you use?

Speaker A: Sure.

Speaker C: And why is it that when I go on to the podcast movement, this website, this Facebook, everybody screams at me for using Zoom? So, yeah, what do we need to use instead?

Speaker A: When we're speaking on Zoom? All what's happening is Zoom is using all their insanely clever technology to crunch the enormous amount of data in our video and audio feeds and make it something that can transmit across our Internet connection. Super speedy, which means it's crushing that data into a really small amount of thing, which, which means the audio quality and the video quality suffers as a result. Right. So there are other platforms out there that allow us to record at the maximum kind of quality that we can. There's a ton of them out there. Zencast was one of the first ones to come onto the podcasting scene, and it's still great. Uh, Squadcast is another really great platform. Clean Feed is another one. The one that I recommend and have been really enjoying recently is called Riverside fm. And that allows you to record both high quality audio and video. And, uh, basically what it's doing, instead of doing that data crunch that I talked about, it's recording your audio and video at source and then uploading it to the cloud afterwards, rather than compressing it in real time, if that makes sense. It just results in a much higher quality recording and all your listeners will thank you for it. Nice.

Speaker C: So Harry gave Us four different companies, zencastr, squadcast, Clean Feed, and then the fourth one was Riverside fm. And it sounds like out of all four of them I know you use Riverside and you even have, you know, you like them so much you got an affiliate link with them. But the question that I guess I have is, is, is it better than those other three? I know that all four are better than Zoom, but is it better than the other three?

Speaker A: Well, as far as I'm aware, the audio quality is more or less identical across all three. So it's just a preference on which platform you prefer to use. One of the benefits of Riverside is they've got the high quality video as well as audio. I believe zencastr and squadcast are working on that feature and about to ship it. I believe zencastr I think have that feature. Riverside definitely have that feature and it's live right now. So if there's a video element to your show as, as we are chatting right now, um, then you know, Riverside I think's a good way to go. But that, you know, you can't lose. They're all good platforms really. Okay.

Speaker C: So as far as using that software when you're recording, a lot of what I do is all virtual interviews. So I sit in my office in my little studio that I built in Colorado and I jump on with people all over the world like you from the UK. And what I've noticed with Zoom is usually about 8 out of 10, 9 out of 10 people know a lot about Zoom, they're comfortable with Zoom and so they can jump on like it's no big deal. It's probably already downloaded on their computer and all that.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker C: So I guess the big question is if I was going to be moving to another platform that they hadn't really heard of yet, like Riverside fm. I think this is the first that I've heard of it. If I was going to be moving to a platform like that, would my guests know what it was? Would they be stressed or frustrated or slow to get on or mad that they have to download something new?

Speaker A: No. Basically it's all browser based, so they don't have to download an app. It's not like a Zoom where you download the Zoom app and use that to connect. It's literally in the browser. The only issue is with most of these apps, certainly for Riverside, you do have to be using Chrome for it to work. Well, we have had it work on other browsers, but it tends to be, it can sometimes have issues. So you want to make sure that your guest is using Chrome, but provided they're doing that, it's seamless. You have a link, you, the user clicks the. The interviewee, the guest clicks the link. It, uh, opens right up in their browser and then they're good to go. It's really, really straightforward.

Speaker C: So, you know, even on this interview, I don't think you heard it, but there's been maybe two or three times so far that you've kind of cut out. Like, I can tell that your zoom is on WI Fi, and it's like all of a sudden I get that weird sound for a second, like it's having an issue. Are you saying that that doesn't happen with Riverside FM because you record straight to your computer? It, uh, gets clean audio, and then after it uploads to the cloud.

Speaker A: Right. So you and I having this conversation, we'd still hear those artifacts because we'd be hearing one another through that version. But the recorded version that you'd use for your edit when you're editing a podcast later would be the raw and, um, unaffected local recording. So, yeah, none of that stuff would.

Speaker C: And so we would get two audio files. We'd get an audio file from your computer and an audio file from my

Speaker A: computer and a video file from both of our computers also.

Speaker C: Okay. And then. So when my team was going to build that together, they'd have to just put all four files in. Is that accurate or no?

Speaker A: Yep.

Speaker D: Okay.

Speaker A: Yeah, they just. They just pull those files straight from Riverside and you can link it up with your Dropbox and they'll automatically update to Dropbox or whatever, so.

Speaker C: Oh, wow, that's awesome.

Speaker A: Uh, I feel like I'm a Riverside salesman.

Speaker C: No, no, it's good because you're spending so much time. We'll make sure we put the affiliate link in in the show notes as well as Riverside FM M and then the rest of your affiliate link. Cause I'm sure that the listener is probably grateful for you going into this, and they know that they're not gonna pay you a dime more by getting the software to using your link, but it'll just support what you're doing. So, yeah, we'll make sure we throw that in. But the big question, or, uh, I guess it's almost a concern that I'd like you to see if you can alleviate for me is here I am when I have it going directly to the cloud. Yes, I might have some compressed files. Yes, they might be a little bit messed up because of your Internet or my Internet, but it's doing it as we speak, and it's doing it right now. And I don't know if I'm going to have a fear or a concern like, oh, no, what if Harry turns off his computer too fast? What if his computer crashes and it doesn't get to the cloud? Like, I don't have any control of that. Could that happen? Or is that just a, uh, bogus concern that I have?

Speaker A: It's not entirely bogus, but it's mostly. These systems have pretty good backups in place so that they do even if the guest kind of. Their Internet drops or they quit before the files uploaded. These things are stored in their browser and there's a retrieve function within it. So you can kind of. You've got that backup there if you really worried. You can also run like a backup recording as well. So I use a tool called Audio Hijack, which is from a company called Rogue Amoeba, and that allows you to basically record any. You can kind of mix up various different audio sources from a computer and record it, which would basically allow you to record yourself and your guest, the compressed version while you're having the discussion live in Riverside. And you've got that as a backup and then you've got the real recording coming from Riverside. But, I mean, we've not had any issues with it to date.

Speaker C: So I want to be clear that I understand it's. If you do that backup, then what would end up happening is it would be on Riverside fm. It's a browser. It's all on the browser, and it records directly to your guest's computer. And at the end, if everything goes right, it automatically uploads to the cloud. If everything goes wrong, there is a chance of you not being able to have it. So you've got this backup and it sounds like the backup is more similar to Zoom, where you'd get the same

Speaker A: audio quality that you get from Zoom.

Speaker C: So simultaneously, while we're recording, it's going directly to the cloud through this other place. Will you share the website again?

Speaker A: Audio Hijack is the tool. Yeah, the company's called Rogue Amoeba Audio Hijack.

Speaker C: It's going to be happening like Zoom, um, recording straight to the cloud, not to the cloud.

Speaker A: It's actually recording to your computer. So it wouldn't involve the guest, the guest wouldn't have to do anything. You just. You as the host, you set it up and you can record it all locally. And it's just a great little backup. And it would sound exactly the same as the quality from your Zoom call.

Speaker C: Got it.

Speaker A: Cool.

Speaker C: Yeah, I've learned a lot already. Thank you so much. And I know that you've got a good handful of clients that you work with for like post production and even it sounds like branding and strategy at the front. I know you've worked with companies like hp, I think it is.

Speaker A: Yep.

Speaker C: And some other, you know, big companies that require really good audio, really good post production as well. Could you share with us? What I'm going to do is I'm going to probably ask you a couple of questions on the front end, a couple of questions in the middle, and a couple questions on the back end of the process. And so in the beginning, number one, when you're working with these companies, because most of them are international or some of the companies that you've mentioned to me are like international companies, are you flying out to them and like buying gear and setting up gear and hooking it up or how does that look?

Speaker A: Uh, well, certainly not these days, not in Covid times, but no. Generally we've been remote since the beginning when it was literally just me in my home office here and I've kind of built a fully remote team around me. So a lot of us are actually based here in the uk, but we also have team members out in the US and Canada, Asia, um, in Europe as well. So we're fully spread out and our client base is equally spread out. And, um, I think about probably 80% of our clients are in America. But we don't spend time going on location too. Sometimes I have done that here in the UK when it's literally like a drive away for me. But for the most part we get everyone set up virtually and that's been working really well for us. So we just have like, because we've done it so many times, we know exactly what gear to recommend, we know how to coach them online on how to get it set up and what plug goes in which socket and how to make sure that your environment sounds good, like yourself there. You've got all your beautiful kind of, uh, sound absorption stuff going on and not all of our clients get to use stuff like that, but we can help them kind of make sure that their room sounds not too reverberant and echoey and, and all that kind of stuff. So no, we do it all totally virtually and it's been working out pretty well.

Speaker C: So what goes into, you know, the first meeting or two with you? Kind of trying to get that branding put together for them, get the vision put together, get all the processes. What are some of the big key points that you're doing with your clients.

Speaker A: The process is quite simple. We start with a kickoff call, which is really the beginning of the whole strategy. And at that stage we're just. My team is trying to grab as much information as we can get from the client to allow us to go away and do, uh, our strategy and planning work. And really, very simply comes down to two main questions that we're most interested in answering when we're trying to develop a new show. The first one is, why do you have this podcast? What are your goals? Like, what does success look like? And uh, the second question is, who's the ideal listener? I always like to ask, if you could only have a hundred people listen to this show, who would they be? The reason those questions are important is that the kind of show that you make? It's very easy. I suppose I should explain why those questions are the ones we ask. We should look at the alternative. I think a lot of times people come to us and they say, harry, I've got this amazing idea for a podcast. We're going to interview, you know, founders of, I don't know, cryptocurrency startups, and we're going to push this out and it's going to kind of grow our audience and it's going to be fantastic. Can you help us produce it? And how are we going to find an audience? Well, that's fine and we can do that, but the problem is you're approaching it from the wrong angle. If you say, I've got this idea and now I've got to find people to listen to it. It's much better to say, who are the people you're seeking to serve? Why are you seeking to serve them? And how can we make a show that they actually need and want in their lives? So that's a much more healthy approach. So what we then want to do is try to figure out who that audience is. Like, are they super senior C suite folks that are really busy and maybe actually a 15 minute, like a super short form show is going to be much more impactful for them because they've got limited time and they just want like really great info. Or maybe, you know, they might be totally different group who just love Joe Rogan. And actually the, the ideal show for them is like a two hour chat a thon. Do you know what I mean? And so we don't want to just kind of assume and make cookie cutter shows. We want to go, okay, cool. What kind of show does your audience need and how do we make sure that delivers for you? Because again, I should say we're not just producing podcasts for anybody. We produce podcasts for brands specifically. We're really interested in working with businesses to help them start podcasts. So it's really important to kind of be making it for a reason. And so that's what we try to do. So that's where we start in the kickoff process is understanding those things and that all of that information and those ideas that we generate there lead in to what does the show look like, sound like, what's the artwork, what music do we use? All these kinds of things.

Speaker C: So I'm thinking of like eight steps, like the brand being maybe the first step and the brand being part of this kickoff call where you're figuring out like, why are you even having this show and, and who is it serve and you know, just coming up with that brand. And then number two would be the equipment that you need. Number three, probably be the guests that you need to have on the show, if they have guests or if they're going to be doing it on their own. Four would be the recording, like how the recording process, what to use. And we've kind of talked a little bit about that. A little bit. The next would be post production, then the show notes, then the publishing, then the marketing, whether it's paid or organic. So I want to jump in. So we've talked a little bit about the brand and what you got to be thinking about. You mentioned that you work for several clients and you've pretty much got it nailed down for the equipment that they're going to need. Can you recommend to us some mics and lighting or soundproofing or something that you use a lot with your clients? Kind of like most of your clients end up using that.

Speaker A: Yeah. So the kind of catch all recommendation is a microphone called an ATR2100. It's uh, a USB microphone, plugs right into your computer. Super easy to use and set up.

Speaker C: Is that $100? I'm trying to remember, is that like a $100?

Speaker A: Yeah, I believe it's under 100 bucks. Yeah. They're not pricey. So that's the microphone that we recommend in terms of treatment in the room. It really comes down to just a discussion with the client, like where are they going to record? Are they going to be recording this in the office? Are they going to be recording it at home? I'm a big fan of recording in your spare bedroom or a closet, if that's kind of a possible Thing we actually don't do really any video with our clients. It's something that we're beginning to offer in some cases, but really we're focused pretty heavily on audio podcasting. And so it doesn't really matter what environment they're in. They could just literally be in their closet. And that's incredible. Podcasts out there that are literally, especially through lockdown have been produced out of closets rather than recording studios. And, um, by that same token, we're not recommending lighting or cameras or anything like that. That's not kind of something that we get involved in typically.

Speaker C: Okay, so as far as the ATR 2100, and I know audio Teca makes a few mics, and I think that Rode has a podmic as well. That's, I think, pretty similar. But my big question about the one that you suggested is because I looked it up while we were talking and I have seen it before, and it doesn't have really much of a filter on it, and it doesn't have a pop filter either. Are those going to be important for a, uh, new podcaster to invest in, in having, like, putting some type of foam over top of the mic or having a pop filter in front of the mic? And the second question, based on that mic that you recommended, how close do we need to be to our microphone? Do we need to be 4 inches away? 2 inches away? 6, 10, 12, 14 inches away? I know a lot of people that take a mic like that and they get one of those, you know, less expensive microphone stands that sit on their desk. And I personally have a problem with the mic stands on the desk because I don't think that everybody realizes how much of the tapping of the desk comes through right to the mic. So if you want to make that mic sing, what are the three things you need to do for it?

Speaker A: So, yeah, you're right. A, uh, pop filter is really important. If you don't have a pop filter, you'll get a lot of the, kind of the bursts of air when you do your P's and B's, so that's really important. And they're literally a couple of bucks. Proximity to the mic is really, really important thing. You want to be kind of a fist's distance away from your microphone, kind of 6ish inches, because the further away you are from the mic, the more of the room you'll start to pick up and the more kind of echo and reverberation you'll hear. Whereas if you're up close, you'll get that Nice. You know, Smoot, NPR sounds. That's what we want to try and shoot for. Well, I think that's it. I think those are the most important things. I think a boom arm, um, like I've got here. So you can see that my microphone is kind of floating in midair here, as is yours, because it's attached to an, um, arm. Uh, if you do that, versus having it stand on your desk, like you say, you don't pick up the vibrations. If you move around a lot like I do, then it's going to pick up all of that. So this is much more kind of forgiving.

Speaker C: So which boom arm should we get? I've seen a few good ones online, and I think I ordered well. You'd start telling me, and I'll.

Speaker A: The honest answer is, I don't know. Like, a boom arm is a boom arm as far as I'm concerned.

Speaker C: Okay. Okay.

Speaker A: I have a. I want to say it's a road one, but I literally don't know. Yeah, it's a road. It's a road.

Speaker C: Okay. I've heard really, really good things about the road, honestly.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker A: I prefer the ones without the big sp. Like, see, I can see on yours the kind of external springs, and that leaves stuff to get caught on, and you can kind of. If you tap them, then they kind of jangle around and stuff like that. So I like the ones with, like, hidden internal stuff. But, I mean, it doesn't matter so long as it's. Keep holding your mic up or like, it's. You know, it's good.

Speaker C: So I got the Gator 3000s coming, and a lot of people like it. Some people don't, but I think I was really interested in that rode boom arm, so I think there's a lot of people that really like it. I just found whatever was on Amazon this time, so.

Speaker A: Right. Yeah.

Speaker C: Thank you. All right, so those are three big takeaways that can make that mic sound better. Let's jump through the rest of these pretty fast, but I'd like to be able to hit on a few of them. So number one, again, was building the brand. You not need to know why you're doing it and who you're going for. Number two was the equipment. And you mentioned that you don't do a lot of the lighting and webcam stuff. It's more because you're trying to get really good sound. And you mentioned the microphone that you recommend to most of your clients is the ATR 2100 that you need to be about a fist away from it and that you can buy a pop filter for pretty inexpensively. And third, that you might want to be in a room. And I think you also said to use a boom arm so you don't get that sound. I want to ask you about getting guests, if that applies. Are you coaching some of the people that you work with to get better guests on their show? Or maybe even like more high profile guests which don't. Aren't always better guests, but sometimes they make you feel good inside when you have a big name on your show.

Speaker D: Hey, my friend, as you know, this episode is sponsored by my company, growyourshow.com we want you to be able to have the best tools tools at your disposal without costing you a whole arm and a leg. So right now you can get a free list of vetted equipment like mics, mixers, webcams, sound treatment, editing software, everything that you need. I created the whole PDF with direct purchase links just to save you time and money to help it be more convenient for you. So this free PDF will help you

Speaker C: skip all the guesswork.

Speaker D: If it's on there, it's vetted and

Speaker C: approved by yours truly.

Speaker D: And if it's not on there, it's probably not worth the money. So go ahead and get yours@growyourshow.com PDF.

Speaker C: Let's get back into the show.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think so. Firstly, I guess the short answer to your question is that we don't get involved in that side of things actively. It's something that our clients generally handle. But I think that it really comes down to, again, that conversation at the beginning. Why does the podcast exist? I think we tend to focus more on can we get the guests that are really contributing to this topic and to this target listener, rather than chasing big names. Because rarely will a big name make or break a podcast. Yeah, um, it's not going to kind of make a difference to the number of downloads you get, because let's face it, if you get Jordan Harbinger on your show, Jordan Harbinger has been on every show. So, like, that's not a selling point. That's not a USP for you. A usp, uh, for you could be just covering topics in a way that is unique to you, that is highlighting something that your audience needs help with, you know. So I'm much more interested in focusing on quality of the content and the relevance to your audience versus trying to get big names. And when that's the case, the process of getting guests becomes much easier because generally these people don't necessarily have to be super high profile. And a lot of folks are actually stoked to be asked to be on podcasts and we see a really kind of high acceptance rate. The other thing that I think is worth mentioning on the guest side of things is that a number of the shows that we work with, so we produce a lot of podcasts for agencies and consultants and in these groups, a lot of times the real value to them is using podcasting as a business development tool. So it's like an account based marketing tool. And so what they'll do is instead of saying, hey, I want to grow like this big audience of people that will hopefully one day be my clients, they say, no, what we want is for this podcast to be the means by which we reach out to folks we want to work with. So we're going to target our, uh, top 20 accounts this year and we're going to say, hey, will you come be on our podcast? We respect and value your story, your opinion. We'd love to share that with the audience. They come on the show, you have this wonderful, you've started that relationship. You've led it with value. You've not said, hey, can I buy, uh, you a coffee? Or hey, can I pitch you my services? You've said, hey, do you want to come speak to my audience? And that's been a super effective. So we have one client that we work with who started his podcast not so long ago. The people that he's had on his show, just one, like a handful of the folks that he's interviewed, has resulted in enough business to fund the podcast for another two years. So for him, it's like the podcast is suddenly a complete no brainer and the ROI is incredible. And so of course he's building an audience and of course he's getting that value. In terms of the reason all of us want a podcast is to have listeners to listen to our show and hopefully follow what we're doing. But you're getting value on the front end by having these folks on your show. And again, the kind of target clients that you want to work with, generally speaking, are going to be folks that probably aren't Jordan Harminger or Seth Godin or Tim Ferriss. They're probably going to be the CEO of some firm, um, that you might not have heard of. But they're really high value to your business. And so the acceptance rate again, of people kind of coming on your show is really high. So that's some of the things I would think about with guests.

Speaker C: Perfect. Well, that's step one through three. And then we've already talked a lot about step four, so I don't want to beat that dead horse. Step four was recording and you know how to record and you gave us tons of really good tips for that. So what we'll do is we'll just take a quick break for our, uh, sponsor.

Speaker D: Hey, my friend. As you know, this episode is sponsored by my company, growyourshow.com we want you

Speaker C: to be able to have the best

Speaker D: tools at your disposal without costing you

Speaker C: a whole arm and a leg.

Speaker D: So right now you can get a free list of vetted equipment that like mics, mixers, webcams, sound treatment, editing software, everything that you need.

Speaker C: I, uh, created the whole PDF with

Speaker D: direct purchase links just to save you time and money to help it be more convenient for you.

Speaker C: So this free PDF will help you skip all the guesswork.

Speaker D: If it's on there, it's vetted and

Speaker C: approved by yours truly.

Speaker D: And if it's not on there, it's probably not worth the money. So go ahead and get yours@growyourshow.com PDF.

Speaker C: Let's get back into the show. And we're back with the Harry Morton. Harry, we've been getting a lot of value from you so far. I really, really appreciate that. So we talked about steps one through four on being able to have a really good show and, and I want to go into more of like a rapid fire with you. Now. Number five, step five is the post production. Talking about the pops, the P's that are popping. We're talking about post production. And as far as post production is going, what is like the one big tip that you think most people are missing that you're doing in your company?

Speaker A: Well, I think a lot of the discussion around podcast editing focuses on removing ums and ers and crutch words and stuff like that. I much prefer listening to podcasts that sound like a natural conversation that haven't had every crutch word edited out of it. I think it's kind of a not something to get focused on. So I think the best podcast editing focuses more on which topics were interesting in this episode and which ones were not. So which avenues of conversation don't need to make it into it. Which kind of sections of dialog can just be cut entirely. And so taking, let's say a 45 minute interview down to a 30 minute episode, those big chunks that you're removing are much more valuable than removing every little. And, uh, so that's my thoughts on

Speaker C: that, that was huge. Thank you. Step six is the show notes. Mhm. What do you feel is important to put in the show notes? Do you have a special sauce for writing yours?

Speaker A: I wouldn't say there's a special source as such, but uh, really SEO is the focus. The real value in show notes in my view are uh, kind of twofold. One is providing the resource to your audience. So you know every kind of. If you mentioned resources in the show, you want to make it easy for them to find it. The second thing is search. You want people when they're looking inside of Apple Podcasts to find your show because of it. And the description is one of the core ways that people find that show. So really making sure that you've got the keywords that uh, are relevant to the topics that you're covering are in those show notes. And frankly just keeping them brief because really nobody reads them unless they're short and sweet.

Speaker C: Based on your feedback, talking about the SEO is pretty important. What about the SEO through the title? And so a, ah, genuine question that I've been trying to get to the bottom of is understanding why most people, including me generally like to put the episode number in the title and why I keep hearing that that's supposed to hold you back for Apple's algorithms or something like that.

Speaker A: It's not holding you back from Apple's algorithms, it's just a waste of characters basically because the apps already order the episodes for you. That's done. They number the episodes for you right there in the app. So like it's kind of, it's like podcasters that put the word podcast in the show title. It doesn't need to be there because it's a, uh, podcast. It's in the Apple Podcasts app. So saying in this particular show, this is the podcast on podcasting, that makes sense, right? Because it's like, that's what it's about. So that totally makes sense. But in, you know, let's say the dentistry podcast, I don't know if that show exists. It probably does. The Dentistry podcast, you don't need to have the word podcast in that title because when you're searching for an Apple, you're not going to be searching for, you know, an Apple podcast, you're not gonna be searching for Dentistry podcast, you're gonna be searching for Dentistry. So it's kind of a waste of characters. And the same goes for your episode numbers. If you put episode 122, well then you've just used up a bunch of characters that you could be using to grab attention with some content like how I built my million dollar business or whatever that might be.

Speaker C: All right, thank you. I think we're on number seven, which is the publishing and I've been using a few different platforms. I used Zencast and you mentioned earlier Zencast, er, I'm not sure if they're like related or affiliated, but anyway, I used Zencast at the beginning and it was pretty good for a while. It had good stats and everything like that. But all of my friends were using something called Libsyn, so I ended up switching. By the way, when I switched from Zencast to Libsyn, I had 400,000 plus downloads and I went back down to zero. So as soon as I moved platforms, it doesn't show me and I'm egotistical of course, and I want to see those big numbers and it would be at Ah, like 600 plus thousand now, but it's only showing me 200 and I hate that. It makes me sad. But additionally, what makes me sad sometimes is that people have told me that Libsyn's not as good as Buzzsprout or Libsyn is not as good as this other platform for you. When you're suggesting one of these hosting platforms that are out there for you to launch the show on, to put the show notes in and everything. And then it syndicates out to like all these other platforms like Apple and iHeartradio and Stitcher and everything else. Based on your experience working with the clients that you've worked on and being in the industry as long as you have, what do you feel are, you know, the top one, two or three hosting platforms?

Speaker A: I guess the first important thing to mention is from the listener's perspective, it makes no difference. Like the listener doesn't care where it's hosted and so it doesn't actually make a huge amount of difference. You know, obviously each host has the set of features that they have, which and so really comes down to personal preference to use the podcast. The service we recommend is called Transistor fm. Really great company, Bootstrap team, small team. And they just really care about what they're doing. So I'm a big fan of them.

Speaker C: Is that Transistor, er, or I believe I'll search for it.

Speaker D: Perfect.

Speaker A: So they're really great. But really it comes down to the, the kind of backend experience. There are some platforms, like for example Megaphone and Pippa, although I don't know if Piper still exists, that have additional features. In fact, Buzzsprout now has this dynamic content insertion. So if, for example, you have sponsors and you want to be able to dynamically change the sponsor read. So, for example, you could say, hey, we're just going to take a break for our sponsor. And then you would just have a blank space. And then you could use the hosting platform to insert a fresh ad in that every week, every month, or whatever, rather than having to change your entire audio edit, if that makes sense.

Speaker C: So, uh, here's what I think I'm hearing, just to be clear. What I think I'm hearing is that anywhere that you stop, whether it's at 12 minutes or 15 minutes or 25 minutes, as long as you have that blank spot there, I don't know if you have to mark it or what. Later on when you get a new sponsor, you can wipe out the old sponsors ads from episodes, you know, 1 through 112, and you can get that new sponsor who, uh, started at episode 113 to be showing up even at episode one, regardless of the timestamp where the ad was going. Is that accurate?

Speaker A: Okay, that's right. So you have to mark it in there where you want this ad to go. It's not just going to drop it into a patch of silence. You have to say, this is where the ad goes. But that's a really useful feature for people that are monetizing their show with advertisers. But those, uh, are the kinds of features that might make a difference to the host. You go with otherwise. And I'm sure the people behind the hosting companies, you know, would be screaming at me right now if they heard me say this. But otherwise, the, you know, the differences are largely in the looks of the platform and how you like using it and the way that the player looks and all that kind of stuff. Libsyn has been around for a long time. They're a very safe pair of hands. But I think there are other companies innovating faster than them. But that's just my opinion. I think they're good people and it's a great company. So there's no reason to not host what Libsyn.

Speaker C: So I feel a little bit better now. Thank you. As far as, like after you've published it once that happens. I know that in the pre interview you talked about doing more like show growth, growing some of your podcast clients shows, and I do that as well for our clients. We do marketing and things like that. But I wanted to find out from you just on step eight, you know, the marketing, whether it's paid Traffic or organic traffic or both. What are you suggesting to clients? What do you do yourself for your shows, which we haven't mentioned yet? You have a show called Work from Home Daily, which you started during the pandemic in March of uh, during the pandemic. And it was a daily show doing seven days a week. And I'd love to have you back on the show and talk about, uh,

Speaker A: five days a week. We didn't do weekends, luckily.

Speaker C: Yeah, well, anyway, I'd love to have you back on to talk about that, just having, you know, that many per week. Because a lot of people that come to me, they don't even seem to want to do a weekly show. And I'm like, are, uh, you kidding me? You got to do at least weekly? Or like, that's my opinion. I think there's a lot of reasons why. And you also have a show because you've been serving attorneys, because they do the consulting. They make a lot of money when they bring in the clients. You even talked about how they're supposed to interview their ideal client to really get that value. And that's a three day a week podcast that just recently published as well. So what I'm asking is based on your two podcasts that you have launched as well as the shows that you manage, what are some paid and organic marketing strategies that a new podcaster could implement in their show?

Speaker A: So yeah, the most important thing is podcasting is all about partnership. It's all about networking, basically, in my view, because podcasting is still very much word of mouth led. The place that most people find the new shows that they want to listen to is on the shows that they already listen to. Podcasting is not a viral medium. I always say this to clients. It's not like a social media campaign or a video campaign. It's not going to kind of blow up overnight. I mean, it can, it happens. The way that we like to advertise podcasts is on other podcasts. So that we know that folks listening to shows that uh, are similar to the kind of topics that you talk about are much more likely to come and listen to your show than anyone else. We've tried, you know, social media campaigns, paid social, all this kind of stuff, and it just doesn't translate in the same way. The reason I say that it's all about partnerships is that there's a bunch of ways that you can work with other podcasters that don't cost you a dime. So you can set up, uh, cross promotion partnerships where you'll reach out to other shows in your niche or other shows that have a similar audience profile, they might be on totally different topics. So a great example would be, I don't know, you've got a baseball podcast and you reach out to basketball podcasts and say, hey, there's probably a good portion of your listenership that likes baseball podcasts. We should promote each other's shows. And I think it's important to remember that podcasting isn't a zero sum game. You know, the average listener subscribes to seven podcasts. So if you're giving them information about another great show that they'll genuinely enjoy, the listeners generally really grateful for that. And you certainly aren't losing a listener as a result. You're just giving another show, a, uh, listener to their show. And so what we can do is create cross promotional partnerships where you shout out one another shows. That's a really great channel. Another one is podcast guesting. So going out and being a guest on other podcasts is a really great way to share your message and also promote your podcast. And then there's a bunch of like pay to play versions of that as well. So you can literally sponsor other podcasts. We do this with clients all the time that will kind of reach out to hosts of shows and say, hey, can we pay for you to promote our, uh, podcast? That's a really effective channel also. So there is tons of other stuff we could go into and tons of other channels to look at, but those are the ones. If we're talking about like the 8020 principle of like the 20% of your actions that produce 80% of results, that's going to be it for podcasters.

Speaker C: Love it, love it. And I completely agree with going on other people's shows. One thing that I've noticed and clearly noticed is that if I'm on your show and you're on my show, then for some reason, if a few listeners move to both of our podcasts, they show up next to each other for now on. So I've seen that time and time again and everything that you shared was awesome. Let's just end with this. What's the best way for the listener to find you or get a hold of you? Harry?

Speaker A: Oh, sure. Well, the best place is probably Twitter. That's where I hang out the most. So I'm Odcast Harry on Twitter. I hang out a lot on Clubhouse recently too, so I don't know if anyone's on Clubhouse then look me up. But yeah, Twitter is my main hangout and our, uh, website for our company is Lowestreet Co.

Speaker C: I encourage you to go check out lowerstreet Co or at Harry Podcast on Twitter odcast.

Speaker A: Uh, Harry.

Speaker C: But yes, Podcast Harry, I'm glad you fixed that. Perfect. Well, that's in the show notes now so the listener can just scroll down and click. Thanks Harry. I appreciate you. And go and have fun with your family and I'll talk to you soon.

Speaker A: Awesome. Thanks. Adam.

Speaker C: If you're glad that you checked out

Speaker D: the podcast today, if you got some value out of this episode, some actionable

Speaker C: takeaways, I invite you to do one of three things.

Speaker D: A, you could do a written review on Apple.

Speaker C: Let us know what you think. Just an honest written review. B, you could share the podcast with a friend of yours who needs it. Or C, at the very least, implement what you've learned to take your business

Speaker D: and your podcast to the next level

Speaker C: and I'll see you on the next episode. Sam.