replied 4 years ago

Hey, Tom – thanks for having me around here today!

That’s such a broad question that could be answered in so many ways: content quality; audio quality; marketing; budget; so much more. But, above all else, none of that will make a difference without consistency.

Creating a publishing schedule that works for you, communicating that and ensuring that it’s easy to listen to your show in the app of the listener’s choice is vital – be there when you say you will, or your listeners will be elsewhere and you’ll really struggle to get them back.

replied 4 years ago

Hey Emma!

Honestly, there is no work/life balance in anything! It’s more of a work/life harmony, each co-existing and understanding that at some time, one will take more from the well than the other.

The goal, though, is to design a set of processes that ensure boundaries – what’s *really* an emergency in your podcast that needs you *now*? Probably not that much…

Focus on designing a process flow out for your show that includes production, marketing, engagement and anything else that you need to do, book time in and get it done and unless it’s vital, don’t work on it outside of those times. But, be sure to design *enough* time to do things properly.

replied 4 years ago

Hey Tony,

Sure, just ask! I’m not being flippant here, either – I ran an interview show as my first ever podcast and landed HUGE names in my space by simply asking.

But, when you do, make sure to set expectations. What I mean here is, ensure the guest knows what will happen, that you’ll do all the “work” (i.e. don’t make them read lots of stuff, answer lots of pre-questions, etc) and also make sure they know exactly how long you’ll need them for.

Also, don’t ask them to share your stuff too much – they won’t. Instead, make sure you do YOUR homework and be a really, really good interviewer – that way, guests are more likely to naturally want to share your content because, well, they enjoyed doing it 🙂

replied 4 years ago

Hey Sham!

Yep, all the time – although actually less so with networks as it’s their *job* – they ain’t paying the mortgage if they’re making too many mistakes!

Overall, the biggest mistake I see podcasters making in general is not spending enough time marketing their show. They’re on a content hamster-wheel that means they produce, kinda-maybe do a little promo for each episode but then get right back on the hamster wheel to produce the next episode, forgetting about the last one.

You have to work harder than that just like you would with any product. You need a multi-threaded marketing strategy to target your “customer” (read: listener) base. I popped some thoughts on a high-level strategic approach down in a blog post, here: http://www.rebelbasemedia.io/discoverability – the bottom line being, you need several strategies that attract different types of potential listener: those who have no idea what podcasting is but who would like your content; those who know about podcasting but not about *you* and a share strategy – how can you make it easy for people to market FOR you.

🙂

replied 4 years ago

Hey JB

I’m not sure too many *new* categories of career will appear, but I do see roles in podcasting where previously the industry wouldn’t have been seen as having a requirement.

Certainly more tech, production roles but I think the biggest growth will come as podcasters become brands and thus, more formal businesses. There’s already a growing requirement for lawyers, accountants etc with experience in podcasting and I think that will continue to grow.

I also think the sales and marketing side will flourish – roles in those two broad categories are likely to grow as more networks crop up, ad sales continue to fly and as producers look to monetise their inventories even further.

replied 4 years ago

Hey Pat – I feel the community aspect and the engagement aspect of podcasting is missing a heck of a lot – that’s a pair of closely-related areas that need a lot of thought and innovation.

I also think analytics and marketing attribution are two areas that we’re seeing nascent innovation in and are two areas that will continue to interest those entering the industry.

replied 4 years ago

Hey, thanks Tash!

That’s such a varied answer – I’ve had a lot of very satisfying moments because I’m lucky to be able to built products so seeing the ideas you’ve held in your head for so long come to life and of course, help people, is amazing – I’m very lucky to be able to do that.

Thre four that spring to mind are:

1. Launching our podcast hosting and analytics platform, Captivate.fm, after so many late nights – and seeing people instantly benefit from it was huge
2. Educating on podcasting at Harvard
3. Delivering my first TEDx where I was able to speak about the influence my grandfather had on me before his passing, something that means so much but that I rarely get to talk about publicly
4. Receiving a personal invitation to demo our Captivate.fm product at Apple, that was a bit of a bucket list item

I’ll continue to work hard so that answer may change by this time next year, who knows!

replied 4 years ago

Great question, Tom!

I think it depends on the type of show. For example, a short-form show like my Podcast Accelerator takes far, far less time than, say, a 60 minute scripted audio drama.

Assuming though a 45 minute, solo presented episode per week I feel that indies should allocate the following:

– 30 minutes prep
– 60 minutes recording
– 60 minutes editing
– 30 minutes show notes writing and publishing
– 90 minutes marketing (minimum)

This assumes no outsourcing, of course 🙂