600- Podcasting and misinformation in the podosphere

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the recent article written by Dave Jackson of The School of Podcasting show that is titled “It’s enough to want to make me quit podcasting.”

Dave Jackson — podcast consultant and podcaster

And we focus on one key element that Dave discusses — and that is, on the concept of giving poor information in various communication methods (like social media, etc.) to aspiring or new podcasters. And this is compounded by the fact that many of the givers or such information dub themselves as “masters” when they do not even have a podcast themselves. And as Dave observes in his article, much of the info can be downright wrong or erroneous, especially for the type that charges money for the novice what wants to learn and jumps into the podosphere without really planning for it or without doing due diligence in researching the elements that will deliver the best information for that type of individual.

As Dave states in the article:

So many people just jump into podcasting. If you’re doing a hobby podcast and could care less then “Just jumping in” works for you. If you are just putting this “out there” to have it “out there” then go right ahead.
If you are taking this serious (even as a “hobby”) you need to know:

Why you are starting the podcast
Who is your target audience
Is this a hobby or a business?
What do you want your listener to do with your content? How should they feel and what should they do at the end of the episode?
How will you gauge your success? This doesn’t have to be a download.”

But, as we know, many people do not plan in any way — they want to have a podcast show that is “genuine” (to them, this would be improvisational and mostly with a guest. And when you consider the audience intended by these who venture into podcasting quickly with just a microphone and do a “genuine” episode that they publish, then you may find that they do not even realize what “success” would mean to them when they publish their episodes and find that their “genuine” audience does not react. This is disappointing to the intended podcaster, especially if there is a desire to monetize the podcast show.

And Dave continues with the results of such a disappointing desire for those who fail to plan by even considering a target audience:

“So when your podcast that has “everybody” as a target audience isn’t growing even though you are consistently putting out interviews with unvetted guests who deliver no value – you might want to consider who is giving you this advice?

Then ask them how this strategy is working for them?
Start asking WHY you should do this strategy.
Start questioning WHO is giving the advice and what credentials they have.

After all, would you hire a mechanic that doesn’t drive a car?”

And in my experience, the non-podcaster who wants to sell a course or intellectual property or something that promises to deliver success in podcasting is actually doing a disservice to the novice, new or aspiring podcaster — they are providing what Dave had described as “misinformation”.

Now, although the term of “misinformation” has been thrown around by the lame-stream media in the area of the virus crisis, here the term would mean that inexperienced promoters are selling you “the sleeves out of your vest.” And many aspiring podcasters may be listening or consuming the advice from those who possibly are misinforming them on what really is the formula for podcast success.

Thus, I would suggest that you, as a podcaster, consume the article from Dave Jackson and see if you can detect the erroneous journey described by those who practice such promotion. If you can, then a good planning session with yourself can answer all the questions that should be asked in the article before jumping into the podospher feet-first and with a budget that may later have to be written off as “bad advice” taken from those who misinform the innocent newbies.

In order to see where advice may be lurking for the aspiring podcaster, I would highly recommend that you consume Dave’s article and then set a plan for action for your own podcast show that targets the right audience and fulfills the desire to have TRUE VALUE in your content for your right audience.

If you do, then you have gone more than half way in the road to success — the other half is creating great content with value and delivering a quality show with great episodes to your audience. And then you can develop a promotion plan and marketing plan and sales plan, if you with to enlarge your audience or monetize your show.

Thank you for your attention.