In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we ask ourselves the perpetual question of: “When do we approach the ‘twilight years’ of podcasting?” or “Have we reached our twilight years of podcasting?”
This theme was approached once before in 2018, but it is certainly an important issue for those of us who have been podcasting for the last 15 years, as I have. In fact, I started my first podcast when I was in my mid-50s, and I am still continuing to produce podcast episodes for my two main podcast shows, PodcastReporter.com and 2030Podcast.com — as well as adding a newer podcast series called The Struggling Biz.
As you will hear in this audio episode, although there is a lot of personal perspectives and my own history in this episode, it is important for us to reflect that we owe the benefits of podcasting to those who did pioneer the path for us today from the beginning of the podosphere in 2004. Their names are mentioned in this audio episode.
But, as for the senior podcasters involved, the question that has to be answered is: “Are you in your own twilight years for any type of reason?” and “Are you approaching your own twilight years for podcasting?” I hope this provides some food for thought.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.
As you will hear in this audio episode, there is a short summary for each of the 8 reasons, and we explain the graphs, charts and images that accompany this article.
“As the podcasting market continues to expand across the globe, here are eight ideas and implications shaping podcasting continued ascendancy: “
1. Podcasts can offer advertisers flexibility in an uncertain world
2. Seamless integration with content can help
3. Ad Spend is becoming more strategic
4. We’re seeing growth in programmatic audio ad buys
5. Investment in original content is growing
6. Major audio platforms are expanding overseas
7. Podcasts offer opportunities to drive membership and subscriptions
8. Podcasting and Audio remain growing markets
We recommend that you peruse this article and see if you can either create a strategy for your own podcast show, or try to see if your show does fit into one of these reasons, so that you can exploit the cause and have an effect that will provide a path for success of your show.
Perhaps one of the ways you can put to use a tactic for implementing one of these reasons would be to attend or participate in some of the podcast conferences (like Podcast Movement, either in person or virtually online). You can get to know the players that can be most influential in these areas of interest and see if you can result with either a joint venture or a marketing/sales plan for your show — or even just a growth plan for your audience strategies. If so, then you may have come upon a small golden nugget for your podcast show, podcast business and podcast episodes.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and whatsnewinpublishing.com . All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver a BONUS episode with news that the community that was announced a while back — Podcast Movement University — is now free. This came from the Podcast Business Journal. The podcastmovement.com team saw that they were not getting much of a response with their unfair pricing, and so they have decided to make it no charge (i.e., free) to join and participate.
And so I have joined and participated in some of the discussions. I also plan to participate in some of the webinars and discussions on line and live audio and video.
You can also sign up for free for this community (I highly recommend this as a free resource — but advise you to cancel if they start to charge for their site):
Thus, as I do suggest for new and aspiring podcasters, this seems to be a good idea to join a community of podcasters that can be of benefit to you and your plans for improving your show and becoming a better podcaster.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.
In this episode of the Podcast Reporter, we REPURPOSE a prior podcast episode about the differences for the podcaster of:
Live inbound in-person conferences in a venue with others;
Live virtual podcast conferences;
Live telesummit podcast conferences;
Live “unconferences” that implement the barcamp-style meeting; and
Virtual tickets for podcast events.
As you will hear in this 20-minute audio episode, each one of these types of podcast conferences/events is discussed, along with some examples of each from my own past experience.
Please note: since this is a REPURPOSED episode from an earlier podcast show, we deal with some of the events that may have shut down or may have been put on “hold” due to the travel restrictions of the 2020 virus crisis.
We hope that for new and aspiring podcasters, this episode may be helpful — so that the podcaster can decide which event will be worth the effort and time and money in which to participate, so that the event can help the podcaster’s show become a success.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2019-2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss and list for you some of the most common myths about podcasting. This was an article that was written recently, and it should help the new and aspiring podcasters understand what is magic-vs-myth-vs-reality.
In this article by M.R. Brown at medium.com, we see that the author reminds us of the Villanova study that presents the theory that if you consume by audio or video a meme or theme multiple times, then you may start to believe it to be real.
“Repetition of podcast myths is not helpful. And it sure won’t make you a better podcaster. You’ll fumble along, finding out what’s true and what’s not throughout your years. Well, let me save you some time.”
And the author then will go on to list the most common myths from his point of view. But he also warns that there is a cause-and-effect environment: “All these myths affect you. Of course. But they also have a direct line to your listeners, too. You don’t want to turn them off to your show. Because without an audience, there’s not much of a reason for your podcast.”
And so the list of myths to be “busted” are:
Buy a Blue Yeti or a Snowball microphone (instead, the author suggests “What to do instead? Buy a Shure SM58 microphone, an xlr cable, and a simple recorder. If you’re looking to splurge a bit more, tac on a Focusrite Scarlett Solo and record directly into your software. Cut out the recorder middleman.”
Podcasts are expensive — and so, a budget should be made;
Podcasts have a low barrier to entry;
“If you make it, they will come…”
We can be like “the Daily” or “How I built this…”
One producer is enough;
Minimal editing on interview recording;
Blog posts can be podcast episodes;
Now, for this podcaster, a large part of these “myths” do reside in the hopeful mind of the aspiring or new podcaster. Perhaps you should read the article in detail, as the author does at least try to provide you with an alternative of what you should do instead of acting on the myth.
Hopefully, this content may be a good “lessons learned” from the personal experience of the author and help you to avoid what others have tried to reach for in the world of possible podcast myths.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and M.R. Brown of medium.com. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss an earlier blog post that is a no charge site which allows a podcaster to access many categories and listings of podcast resources — from hardware to services, etc. The site is delivered and promoted by Chris Krimitsos at podcastingresourcesguide.com.
Now, being offered for free, this site seems to be a good idea for the new and aspiring podcasters. So what used to be an arduous task of searching for — and rarely finding — an ideal resource for any part of podcasting now can be more organized and can be presented in a more logical manner to the podcaster. The sub-title of this site is “Find the tools + guidance you need” and as of the date of this post, it is available free (at no charge) for anyone to come and peruse and search the site for any podcast resource, software, hardware, service — i.e., anything related to podcasting.
Adverstisements in newsletters and blogposts call this site “The FREE SUMMARIZED Resource Guide EVERY Podcaster/Vidcaster Needs.”
For the past 16 years, I have seen so many sites try to advertise themselves as the “one-stop-shop” or “one-all-and-be-all” of podcasting resources (very much like the wealth of podcast newsletters that have sprung up in the last 5 years, stating that they are the most comprehensive and necessary newsletter for the podcaster).
But, however, this site caught my eyes by the various categories that were delivered. Over 23 categories allow the podcaster to choose from the landing page what tools or resources would be of interest. And if you land on there without planning for your search, there is even a GUIDE ME button that can help a new podcaster, or an experienced podcaster, or perhaps take a question from you.
In my quick search and test of the site for hardware and software tools and devices and programs, I found a number of resources in the double-digits. But this can be a good start for creating a rich library of resources that can be used very efficiently by the podcaster.
However, like so many sites before them, the efficiency and durability of a site like this is the contribution of the podcasting audience who attends this site for searching, as well as the number of resources that can grow with the help of other podcasters in the podosphere — but without having to pay for it.
So while the resource listing is free, I heartily recommend that you go to this site and check out the podcasting resources that are available to you — perhaps not as many as you would like now, but maybe you can help out by recommending a resource or two to be included. Then the site can really help all the podcasters out there.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Chris Krimitsos and podcastingresourcesguide.com and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.
In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we reflect on a recent brief episode from buzzsprout.com in the form of a six-minute video. The subject was how to collaborate with other podcasters — and what was covered was how to get on other podcasters’ shows and how to get other podcasters to come to your show(s).
You can watch this six-minute video at this link:
This video suggests the following ways for podcaster collaborations (that is, by bringing influential guests on your podcast show and being a guest on others’ podcast shows):
Make your dream list of those podcasters or guests with somewhat similar relation that would be a good fit for your audience;
Pitch each person on your dream list to collaborate with you (including suggestions for initially getting in contact with them);
Decide which of 3 main ways to collaborate:
Guest star appearance;
Podcast “takeover” — i.e., dropping one of your episodes into the guest’s podcast feed to share the episode;
Record a podcast segment for the other podcaster’s show.
Now, for this podcaster, I have had experience in podcaster collaboration in both getting interviewees for my podcast shows (especially both The Struggling Entrepreneur/ The Struggling Biz, as well as Podcast Reporter). And I also used what I learned from these collaborations for my other podcast interviews, such as the ones for veterans’ service organizations and podcast meetups. And I have, indeed, used all these strategies from this video at one time or another — and in one way or another — in my collaborations.
And I had developed a type of structured approach and workflow for doing this — from the idea stage, the planning stage, the preparation stage, the communication stage with the other podcaster, as well as the timing and synchronizing stage, the recording stage, the post-production and editing stage, the other podcaster’s reviews-and-approval stage, the posting of the episode stage, the publication stage and the promotion stage (with follow-up).
While the video goes into just 6-minutes of an overview, there is a lot more work to doing the collaboration correctly. In fact, I would compare the 6-minute video to the tip of an iceberg — that is, what was suggested is merely 5 per cent of the work involved to do it right.
I sincerely hope that you have all the right pieces in your project plan and project workflow to do podcaster collaboration correctly, so that you can have a successful interview, collaboration and episode — and thus, make your podcast successful.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and buzzsprout.com. All rights reserved.
This came as a promotion in an email note from podcastguests.com. And the summary of this very short pdf document (just seven pages) is as described:
“In this completely free guide from PodcastGuests.com, you’ll learn:
1. The value of being a guest expert on podcasts 2. How to put your best foot forward to get booked as a guest 3. How to find and pitch podcasters 4. What you need to do to prepare as a guest 5. How to leverage your podcast guest appearances for maximum impact
No email address is required to download this guide — just click here to view the guide in PDF format! (Or right click and select “save as” to download it.)”
Now, after downloading and reviewing this guide, I feel that this could be of value to new or aspiring podcasters. As you step through this pdf document, the words of wisdom for preparation and to present the best of yourself are key.
For example, the ONE SHEET concept is a great one — it almost resembles the one-page resume that was so popular in the early 2000s for those who wanted to seek new employment. Yes, the podcastguests.com site offers a resource to create a one-sheet document. And they suggest that you can send a prospective podcaster your own one-sheet resource for that individual to consider you and your qualifications to be a guest on a specific show.
In fact, the podcastguests.com site also has not only a newsletter that has a listing of podcasts seeking guest for which you can enroll, but they also have a directory (where you can list yourself as a potential guest) in which you can have the podcasters seeking guests come to you.
Then the document gives some suggestions for preparation — both technically and for substantive subject matter content for an interview as a guest. By the way, for the right preparation for recording or joining a recording as a guest, you can refer to the checklist that is provided for free from The Audacity to Podcast from Daniel J Lewis. You can get a free copy of this “Pre-flight checklist” for recording in podcasting. The better prepared you are, then the better your chances of having a great interview as a guest.
And, of course, one of the most important steps in being a guest or “being interviewed” is the follow-up — something that is covered and emphasized toward the end of the pdf document.
And speaking of follow-up, this is a good lead-in to bring to your attention what is said as a key step in a past podcast episode that discusses how to get the most out of “being interviewed.” In fact, you should be aware of some advice given in an evergreen podcast by Max Flight that deals with another side of a podcast guest — that of “Being Interviewed.” It describes the other aspects of being an interviewee that you should also consider:
In addition to these two resources, I also recommend an episode from the back-catalogue and archives of Daniel J Lewis from his show, The Audacity to Podcast, where he discusses being an interviewee, as well. These go farther and deeper into the action steps needed to be both a good interviewer and an excellent interviewee.
With these resources that we present, we hope that your skills as a podcaster can improve and that they will help you to succeed as a professional podcaster and a great guest for other shows in which you can be interviewed.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and podcastguests.com and Max Flight and Daniel J Lewis and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.
In this episode of the Podcast Reporter, we discuss aspects of listener surveys for those who listen to podcasts, as well as others. We refer you to a post and article to discuss this for podcasters in order to get the value you need to grow your audience and deliver value to your listeners. The article is at https://tomwebster.substack.com/p/what-do-listeners-wantpart-one
Many feel that surveys may not be useful or that they are a waste of time and resources from your podcast and business. However, as stated in the article, there is a disagreement to this meme: “ I’ll say this—I don’t think there is such a thing as a useless survey. All surveys have value. Where they fall flat is often in how they are characterized or reported.”
What the author of the article mentions is the purpose of decision support and the possibility of bias in the way that surveys are created. The article then discusses THE THREE BIASES, followed by some suggestions to fix the problem that is mentioned in detail:
” Who wouldn’t take that survey?
– Question: those who would and those who would not take this survey?”
“In the case of a podcast, it is less about who couldn’t take a survey, and more about who can take it easily. If you put a link to an online survey in your show notes, you will get a differentially larger response from people who read your show notes.”
The author then talks about what he calls “The Virtuous Circle.”
“For a podcast, that might be access to some content of value, but you do have to be careful here—if it’s just an exclusive episode of your show, you will get a response from the people for whom more of you is desirable—in other words, you biggest fans. … And regardless of the size of your audience, if you are going to make an audio solicitation in the show itself for listeners to fill out a survey—make it host-read and engaging. It makes a HUGE difference.
So many marketers have this received wisdom about online surveys being a great alternative because they are fast and cheap. But there is an enormous benefit to doing online surveys the right way, making an investment in all segments of your customer base, and creating a virtuous circle between the desire to share information with your brand, and the desire to spread information about your brand with others.”
So if you are an aspiring or new podcaster that has been contemplating creating and executing surveys for your listeners for your podcast, we recommend that you peruse this post. Also, you may get some feedback from one of the podcast veterans about surveys — i.e., Daniel J Lewis of The Audacity to Podcastshow (you can search the backlog archives to listen to he episode about surveys).
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and tomwebster.substack.com . All rights reserved.
This post seems to be a good resource so that you, as a podcaster, can use this to spawn different ideas for shows and episodes and topics. Obviously, this can be a good resource for planning and preparing the future (especially at the end of the year or your period of publishing) to ensure that your topics can be resilient, fresh, new and interesting — so that you can provide VALUE to your listeners.
So, in this post, the following is discussed, with some detail for each heading:
How to choose a good podcast topic — and here, there is a chart that is presented with 16 different podcast genres, so that you can decide if your podcast should fall into one of those categories;
#1 Pick a subject you want to talk about
#2 Play to your strength
Appeal to a specific demographic or target audience
Speak to a subset of people with unique opinions or experiences
Focus on specific topics within your primary genre (ex:The podcast Help Me Be Me is “self-help for people who hate self-help.”)
#3 Make it niche;
And the article then presents a few ways to make a podcast topic niche, with several tables expressing different podcast FORMATS.
And then the article talks about 15 different untapped podcast ideas, among which are some of them:
The outdoors
Sailing
Welding, metalworking, woodworking;
Animals;
Crafting and do-it-yourself;
Musical instruments;
House flipping;
Podcasting;
Wedding and event planning; and here, the article asks you questions about your WHY, your purpose, your targeted audience, your skillset — so you can see what sets you apart;
3D printing;
Storm chasing;
Caving, rock climbing, rappelling;
Tiny Homes
Urban farming;
Book summaries and reviews.
Now, for this podcaster, I have listed many different podcast topics that can serve as genres for ideas and for the creation of new and different podcast shows. I would highly recommend that you hold a planning session with YOURSELF, so that you can record your ideas separately. And then, at a later time, you can determine the viability and the possibility of creating a new podcast. In this way, you can generate more and new enthusiasm and passion in creating a newer podcast show — even though you do not have to delete or remove your current or past podcast shows.
From my own experience, I have had at one time in 2011 (five years after I started podcasting) over 16 podcast shows. And one by one, I had to podfade them. Why? Because I feel that all podcast shows need to be retired once the amount of passion diminishes and the amount of content is reduced to a point where it makes sense to terminate a show.
So, we hope that you, as a podcaster, can plan for your own planning session to examine not only these mentioned 15 topics for podcasting, but for YOUR OWN themes that need to be contemplated. Who knows? You may resurrect the passion for podcasting with great ideas that will spawn new shows and great content to provide VALUE for your audience in the near future. We hope that this passion continues for you and that your podcast shows grow and become successful.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.
