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455- Podcast guest interviews — a study

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we review the results of a study that focused on podcast interviews. This study was presented by Tom Schwab (someone whom we have interviewed before in this series since 2015). His platform is called Interview Valet.

This study was prepared by Tom and delivered at various conferences. In fact, from the current emails from the Podcast Movement Virtual conference announcing the speakers, it seems that Tom will be giving his presentation at the virtual event. In the past, he has delivered this topic at the Podfest Global Summit as a keynote.

But for now, the presentation slide deck can be obtained for free at the web site for Interview Valet.

Now, I have known Tom since 2015. I had even interviewed him in an audio episode in this podcast series about his programs. What intrigued me most about him was that he stated that he did NOT want to be a podcaster and create content in that manner; but that he wanted to grow his prospects and leads by being a GUEST on other podcasts. And so he put together his platform for helping other entrepreneurs become guests on podcasts and then create value in this manner.

As you will see in his free pdf document called “The State of Podcast Interviews – 2020”, Tom delivers 16 pages of data from his study to support his programs called “Podcast Guest Profits.” And in this deliverable, Tom presents the DATA as he studied it for podcast interviews, including:

  • The platforms for recording guest interviews and the analytics associated with them;
  • The best days of the week for guest interviews;
  • The duration of the cycle from invitation to the actual recording and from recording to posting the guest interview episode;
  • The breakdown for audio vs. video interviews and even the live interviews; and
  • Some conclusions for future guest interviews in the podosphere.

If you, as a podcaster, wish to include guest interviews, then this data will be a good resource to begin the investigation of the direction you may wish to take in your plans for podcast episodes. And coupled with other podcast resources and information given by others about how to select guests and then prepare for a good interview, you should be able to create good content that will excite your listeners and deliver VALUE to your audience with the topics which they wish to consume and the experts that will be interesting. And this should help to grow your podcast successfully.

As a side note, you yourself may be called upon to be the GUEST and BE INTERVIEWED. And we have a past audio episode from this series that is delivered by Max Flight on the issues and the preparation of being interviewed:

For this podcaster, I had started in 2006 with a podcast guest interview show called The Struggling Entrepreneur, which has unfortunately podfaded after nearly 500 episodes. It has been replaced by a more modern version podcast show called The Struggling Biz. These shows interviewed aspiring entrepreneurs, as well as new entrepreneurs, successful entrepreneurs and those who did not succeed — and each episode presented some lessons learned from multiple angles. We even had interviews with some small business owners that said that they did NOT want to be entrepreneurs, but preferred to stay in their career day-jobs.

So, for myself, guest interviews are helpful for the podcaster — not only in generating interest and delivering quality content, but also in improving your skills as an interviewer, content creator, aspiring journalist and informer (in my case, a Podcast Reporter).

Thus, I wish the best to you in becoming a great interviewer and for creating great episodes in your podcast show with your guests — and in making your podcast show successful.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Tom Schwab of InterviewValet.com. All rights reserved.

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podcast

434A- Podcasting vs Social Media on smart phone

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In this repurposed episode of The Podcast Reporter, we focus on the theme delivered originally by Dave Jackson in his School of Podcasting show earlier which compares the effective communication and better business results between Podcasting vs. the Social Media on a smart phone.

This topic came up previously by Dave Jackson in episode # 640, in which he interviewed Paul Colligan of The Podcast Report show.

As you will hear in this repurposed audio episode, there are main differences that define the environment of each platform — podcasts vs. social media. These include the “quick hit” of social media vs. the “listening and consumption of media with intimacy” to the listener. What is interesting for me is that Paul actually compared the landing-and-staying time of the user for each platform, and what this meant to him in the world of new media.

Another theme is the “hype” from social media vs. the full consumption of media in podcasting. In addition, there is a brief description of the “OTG” topic for those of you who may have been contemplating to get “off the grid” in order to improve your mental health — with a key example of the podcaster who has done this (namely, Adam Curry in his show, No Agenda podcast).

We hope that you find this topic relevant and interesting for you, as a podcaster — and especially if you are a profitable podcaster. If so, we hope that the value you find in this discussion will help you select the better platform for your own communication and decide to invest your time in generating content, discussion and other areas of communication.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Paul Colligan and Dave Jackson. All rights reserved.

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podcast

434- Dilemma for creativity and innovation in Podcasting

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver our perspective and historical background when related to the ideas from Clayton M Christensen of his book titled The Innovator’s Dilemma (which you can get in hardcopy or kindle from amazon.com).

As a backgrounder and historical point, we see such companies that had the opportunity to take advantage of future technology and innovation and be true leaders in the fields of:

  • Movie rentals — how Netflix stole the market from Blockbuster, even though the latter had the opportunity to buy the former, but declined;
  • Xerography and copiers — how Xerox stole the market of copiers from IBM, even after IBM had the opportunity to buy the technology and firm that was later a key competitor, Xerox;  and
  • PC Operating systems and portable phones — how google and Apple stole the market of smartphones and search engines from Microsoft.

Now, what about podcasting? Has there been new technology that can now upset the apple cart for podcasting?

Well, in several podcast episodes of Grumpy Old Bens and No Agenda and other tech-focused podcast shows, the example of DeScript is given as the possible next technology to turn the podcast industry and podosphere upside down.

So, if you understand the technologies used with DeScript, do you think that being able to change the text of a text transcript will be revolutionary to change the face of podcasting and force the indie podcasters to become extinct?

For this podcaster, my perspective is that the podosphere is still a level playing field for indie podcasters — this is my opinion. And with the growth of podcasting by the new shows (now over 1 million shows in podcasting), the technology of creating audio from text and including it into a podcast or making an entire show from the audio-generated from transcripts will compete with the following areas of the indie podcasters:

  • the perspective and credits and credentials of the indie podcasters who have gained a reputation and a loyal following in the podosphere;
  • the audio of an accepted podcaster’s character, voice, sense of humor and personality that sets the podcaster apart from anyone else;
  • the loyal fans of podcasting who hate to hear any type of robot-like voice, regardless of how “perfect” it may seem to the newer publications creators (like the millennials);
  • Those listeners who still find value in the older methods of publication and reception of audio podcast episodes and shows and refuse to change; and finally
  •  Those podcasters who still want to continue their workflow in creating and publishing outstanding content for the audiences which they have (and have worked so hard to get over the past 15 years).

So, as the above is only my opinion, I suspect that we all have to keep watching the space of technology in podcasting and see what the newer innovations will be. And perhaps we need to focus on the podcasting tech shows to see if innovations like DeScript will grow (and how fast it will be accepted by the podcast community). Please remember that when blab was available several years ago, many podcasters jumped on this technology and predicted that this would be the game-changer in podcasting for the future — and you saw that this was removed after a year or so from the podosphere.

So, we hope that you keep involved in understanding the technologies that are being created, and the innovations that may change the participation of podcasting.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and DeScript.com . All rights reserved.

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podcast

431A- Why should one start a podcast in 2020 — Ben Krueger

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver our perspectives of a podcast episode (#E260) which is also an article written by Dennis Brown of the Growth Experts podcast show that highlights Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com and wonders if you should start a podcast in what is left this year. The title of the article is “Should you start a podcast in 2020?”

Now, Dennis does give us a good table of contents (with time codes from the audio episode) for his podcast interview episode in which he digs into the details of the question about starting a podcast in 2020 from a business perspective:

2:10 – Why did Ben choose Podcasting as a business 8 years ago?

5:26 – Ben shares to us the scale and size of his podcasting business as of today.

6:17 – He also mentioned some clients that he has been currently working with.

8:35 – Ben picked a business superpower he wished he had.

10:17 – The stats and standing of podcasting as of today in the world.

15:50 – How to be a leader in your podcasting niche.

16:53 – We talked about one of the huge indicators in whether or not podcasting is for you and Dennis’s personal opinion.

19:11 – Why a business podcast is a great channel for the right time and the right type of business.

21:49 – Dennis answered why did he not start a LinkedIn and social selling podcast.

23:36 – The right personality if you want to pursue podcasting as your medium.

26:15 – We talked about podcast types and how long is the duration of a podcast.

We mention this now, as we are about to close the third quarter of 2020 and enter into the last quarter. For many entrepreneurs, they may feel as if it is too late to begin one this year, and they may want to start a podcast in 2021 at the beginning of the year. In this way, the planning will be better, and the economy should pick up after the elections, and the virus crisis should calm down — thus, the outlook may be better for success in a podcast.

Ben Krueger

Ben is an experienced business podcaster, author and consultant. I have known him since 2014 (when I met him at the initial Podcast Movement conference).

Now, you can listen to the audio episode interview from the links given already, and there is a download button for you to download the episode, if you wish. It is a 30MB file, but the audio quality is good.

One interesting item is the “superpower” skill set that is described during the interview. Another one is Ben’s perspective of how to become a leader in a podcasting niche as a starter podcaster.

For this podcaster, I recommend this interview for any aspiring or new podcasters that want to go and be successful in a niche. I feel that the benefit for you could be the generation of ideas and the direction of your niche.

We hope that your podcast niche will be a successful one — and the year 2020 still offers opportunities for the newcomers, even though there are a million different shows available in the podosphere today.

Thank you for your attentions.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Ben Krueger and Dennis Brown. All rights reserved.

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433- Red Zone strategy for Podcasting

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we focus on the theme of strategies that can make or break the success for a profitable podcaster. And this theme was targeted for creative individuals and entrepreneurs. It was taken from a podcast episode by Todd Henry from his podcast show, The Accidental Creative. And the title of the podcast episode was “Do You Know Your Red Zone Activities?”

As you may well know, in American professional football (i.e., NFL), the Red Zone is an area for 20 yards that can either make or break the success of a team in scoring — and usually, the team who can score within this area usually can win, whereas the teams who struggle to score touchdowns from this area is exposed and may not win.

As you will hear in Todd’s audio podcast, there are several qualities that can mark your own red zone activities; and you need to address to make sure that your podcast show can be sustaining the revenue streams and remain profitable:

  1. Activities that you can uniquely do or add value to because of your position or expertise.
  2. Activities that increase your personal capacity to generate ideas, such as study, purposeful ideation, or intelligence gathering. These are typically the first to go during a busy or stressful season. Are you taking the time to sharpen your mind and your creative intuition?
  3. Activities that provide cohesion or creative traction for your team and increase future capacity. 
  4. Activities that feed your energy, such as adequate sleep, exercise, or spiritual practice. These are most often neglected during busy or stressful times, but you will need these to be prepared to be profitable.

And Todd does explain with examples what he means in each of these qualities.

Now, do you yourself have what it takes to be a profitable podcaster and execute successful strategies for your own “red zone?” According to Todd, it does not take a super-hero to be successful, but rather someone who can place the proper emphasis at the right time: “The most accomplished people aren’t always the smartest or the most talented. Rather, they are the ones who do small, important things every single day for long periods of time. They succeed in the red zone.”

So for this podcaster, my suggestions would stem around the productivity areas where you can plan effectively and execute your plans and strategies effectively, with the proper importance to tasks.

We hope that you can include all 4 of these qualities in your own life and then execute your strategies that can help make your podcast successful and profitable.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Todd Henry. All rights reserved.

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podcast

432- Getting sponsors for Podcasting

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we review some suggestions delivered by several well-known podcasters on the theme of acquiring sponsors for your podcast. These suggestions were delivered in a July, 2020, post specified in email delivered to a distributiion list that was titled “4 Industry Experts On How to Get Podcast Sponsors.” And it was published by Captivate.com. From M. Asquith, “Captivate is a Rebel Base Media platform, made with  in the U.K.”

The four experts cited are:

This article was quite long in its explanation. But for me, hearing from both Evo Terra and Daniel J Lewis interested me. Not only are they long-time associates of mine and podcasters whom I have interviewed over the past 15 years, but their sincerity and their expertise is always acclaimed by myself in promoting them forward.

In fact, sponsorship is a theme for monetization for which they have been dealing and in which they have much experience. But I feel that they left out a key expert in this field from the Blubrry network, namely Todd Cochrane of the New Media Show podcast.

So this article answers the key question of  “How do you get Podcast Sponsors for your show?” as presented to these four individuals.

And so here is a brief list of their responses (and there are a few paragraphs to explain each response):

1. Do… Think About If Podcast Sponsorship Is Right For You
2. Don’t… Forget About Your Listeners
3. Do… Use Social Proof
4. Don’t… Be Afraid To Ask!
5. Do… Prepare Your Podcast Sponsorship Pitch
[Note:  according to the author, this may sound easy, and he says it actually is — with the following items being addressed in his “sponsor kit” — and his final message:
6. Putting It All Together: How to Find
Podcast Sponsors:
“Getting there is simple: keep it relevant, keep it entertaining, and most of all:
be confident that your podcast and audience is valuable.”

Now, Mark Asquith has been a relevant speaker at the Podcast Movement conferences and different events — and I myself saw his presentation at the last inbound Podcast Movement 2020 Evolutions conference. He has had success in gaining notoriety.

And so, from some of the top experts with experience in the field of sponsorship, I would suggest that you consume the content of this post. And if your marketing and sales plans for your business contain the element of sponsorship for monetizing your podcasts, then this may be a gem waiting for your to create elements in your checklist for marketing tactics. And we hope that this will help your podcast become more successful.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Mark Asquith . All rights reserved.

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podcast

431- Podcasting book teaches monetization — an update

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we repurpose an episode from another podcast (episode #68) called The Struggling Biz, in which we announce the upcoming arrival of an update to a book by Dave Jackson of The School of Podcasting.

As you will hear in this brief episode, this is a completely updated revision of the prior book called More Podcast Money. In fact, Dave is giving away for FREE the episodes of the podcast called More Podcast Money until the update on Amazon arrives in September.

I myself have been listening to it, and getting a good review of monetization strategies — for there are numerous ways in which you can create revenue streams in podcasting.

The name of the updated version of the book is:

Profit from Your Podcast: Proven Strategies to Turn Listeners into a Livelihood

Thus, although the content of this brief episode serves only as an announcement mainly for entrepreneurs of the release date of the book. I myself will highly recommend that podcasters should read this and consume the content, for it may help you in your podcasting and moneetization efforts. It certainly did for me.

And, by the way, I am NOT getting compensated in any way, shape or form for my recommendation of this content. For Dave has been my mentor in the past, and I have been a member of his podcast membership site, and I have also been a client of his podcasting consulting services. But I believe greatly in what he does and the benefits which he has delivered to me and to his listeners in his podcasts.

I will re-announce the availability of the book when it does become a reality, and if you wish to pre-order the book, you may do so. I hope you can get the benefit of the experience from Dave’s 15 years as a podcaster and podcast consultant, and I wish you the best in becoming a successful profitable podcaster.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Dave Jackson. All rights reserved.

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podcast

430- Podcasting lessons learned after 100 episodes

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we focus on an article published recently and authored by Denis Murphy called “11 Lessons from 100 Podcast Episodes.”

The link given in the published article is from medium.com.

Now, as I have been podcasting for 15 years, this article interested me, for I have had over 18 podcast shows, and I have had nearly 2 million downloads. And I wanted to compare my lessons learned after some shows that have had nearly 500 episodes (both The Struggling Entrepreneur, as well as my current podcast show of The Podcast Reporter with over 430 episodes).

From this article, the 11 lessons learned are:

  1. Solo episodes;
  2. Reach out to potential guests more than once;
  3. Most podcasts don’t even get past 7 episodes;
  4. Most days you feel like an idiot;
  5. You reconnect with your real voice;
  6. Discover your why;
  7. Other people’s assumptions and experiences;
  8. Treat social media as an ongoing experiment;
  9. You don’t need to earn money;
  10. You don’t need a huge audience;
  11. A personal development vehicle.

And each section contains a couple of paragraphs to explain just what the learned lessons provided as value to Denis Murphy as the podcaster.

However, for this podcaster, I have learned many lessons since 2006 — and I keep on learning lessons from my involvement and participation in the podosphere still today, as well as the future.

In addition, I do take issue from my own experience with several of Murphy’s lessons — in particular, numbers 4, 9 and 10. That is,

  • I have NEVER felt like an idiot when I participated as a podcaster in the podosphere;
  • I have tried to earn money, and I have been successful as a profitable podcaster; and
  • I have grown a large audience in the podosphere, with nearly 2 million downloads.

Thus, if you, as a new or aspiring podcaster, want to get some best practices, I would go to another source to see what some of them are, in spite of Mr. Murphy’s personal lessons learned. One such podcast show that gives a lot of best practices is The Audacity to Podcast from Daniel J Lewis; another is The School of Podcasting from Dave Jackson; and one last show is The New Media Show from Todd Cochrane.

As a matter of fact, this episode is giving me some impetus to prepare and publish an episode in this show for the future that will deliver to my audience MY OWN lessons learned after over 1500 podcast episodes from all my shows. Keep watching this space for any news of this upcoming episode later this year.

We do suggest that you read this article from Mr.  Muphy, but then we recommend that you put together YOUR OWN list of lessons which you yourself have learned in any number of key podcast episodes which can mean value and importance to you.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.

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podcast

429- Podcasting 10 commandments — then and now

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver to you the announcement of publications on podcasting that dealt with the metaphor of the “ten commandments” of podcasting.

This theme of 10 commandments for podcasting is not new — it dates back to 2006, in the now-podfaded audio podcast that was called Marketing Online Live with Paul Colligan and Alex Mandossian, episodes # 38 and 39. This was published from years earlier in the sections titled the  Business Podcasting 10 Commandments in a previous book called The Business Podcasting Bible.

And then we list the current 10 commandments of podcasting, as espoused by Baruch Labunski in an article from Entrepreneur.com.

For example, the first  Business Podcasting Commandments  stated in the early book by Paul Colligan are (and we use “shall” instead of “shalt”):

  • Thou shall ask thy audience what they want;
  • Thou shall know thy audience;
  • Thou shall match message to market;
  • Thou shall repurpose when possible;
  • Thou shall separate channel from medium (where Channel is technology and medium is format);
  • Thou shall go in with a strategy;
  • Thou shall teach consumption;
  • Thou shall have a monetization strategy;
  • Thou shall consume the best; and
  • Thou shall live the freedom lifestyle.

Now, in 2020, we get an updated point of view of this metaphor in the podosphere in the article published in July of 2020 in the Entrepreneur.com site by Baruch Labunski called “The 10 Commandments of Podcasting
How to build your brand and cultivate a loyal following through a podcast.”

And these 10 commandments are the following:

1. Thou shall not do it for the money
.
2. Thou shall be a consumer
.
3. Thou shall reflect well on your brand
.
4. Thou shall be useful
.
5. Thou shall not be a salesperson
.
6. Thou shall get personal
.
7. Thou shall create a consistent format
.
8. Thou shall release episodes regularly
.
9. Thou shall be professional
.
10. Thou shall be sociable

Now, for this podcaster, the viewpoint is very much different, thanks to social media and the social justice warrior frameworks of the younger podcasters. I highly encourage you to consume both to get a critical thinking opinion.

As you can see from the Paul Colligan book, the focus is monetization and profitable podcasting, with very little viewpoints on ideals. However, even though some of the ideas may seem similar, the tendency with today’s viewpoints revolves around a world that could be filled with “unicorns and rainbows” (so to speak). And the statement that reveals this is the first of the 10 commandments from the 2020 article, which is not to do it for the money — whereas profitable podcasting has an emphasis in making a podcast with great revenue streams for your business. And that is why they call the book the BUSINESS Podcasting Bible.

So, even though many credit themselves to be the first with the 10 commandments of podcasting, they are 14 years behind. And the key difference is the emphasis on revenue generation and profitable podcasting.

Now, you can read the 2020 article in detail, and then you may want to compare it to the precepts delivered in the earlier book by Paul Colligan. You can then make up your own mind and see which is more practical for the aspiring or new podcaster that can help to make the podcast show a success, as well as more profitable. For myself, I tend to side with the older and proven commandments from Paul Colligan (as I myself have lived by them years ago when I had published podcasts for profit — and, yes, I was successful).

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Paul Colligan and Baruch Labunski on greenwichtime.com and entrepreneur.com. All rights reserved.

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podcast

428- More info on best podcast equipment

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver yet info on another article that describes for the new and experienced podcaster  “Best equipment for Beginners and Pros.”

It seems that in the podosphere now, every month will have a self-proclaimed pundit publishing another article or delivering another audio episode or video that describes the “best” for podcasters.

So, although this never stops being renewed (and sometimes annoying), we bring you the summary of information that is given in this article in komando.com. And they specify that they are trying to show the reader some “beginner-friendly” options to purchase if you want to start going into podcasting. And note that you will be interspersed with pop-up ads and other calls-to-action to subscribe to their pages. But they continue:

  • The right computer for the right price;
  • The right microphone (and they present the AT2020 mic and the Snoball mic — which were popular and promoted back in 2007);
  • Audio interfaces for your microphone;
  • Audio-mixing and editing software options;
  • Windscreens (with no mention of pop-filters);
  • Headphones and amplifiers;
  • Microphone stands;

Now, for this podcaster who has been creating and publishing podcast content for the past 15 years, I would look at this list and immediately see that many key options are missing. This could be (for the neophyte) a bit confusing — especially if the new and aspiring podcaster has been consuming podcast episodes from shows of more experienced and knowledgeable podcasters (e.g., Dave Jackson in The School of Podcasting or Daniel J Lewis of The Audacity to Podcast, etc.).

For if you go and peruse the site of Schoolofpodcasting.com (as an example), Dave Jackson actually gives you an updated version of different courses for the aspiring podcaster, such as:

  • Planning your podcast
  • Content is king
  • Podcasting Equipment
  • Skype 101 and recording remote interviews
  • Your Podcast Website
  • The mechanics of podcasting
  • Podcasting with Audacity
  • Adobe Audition Basics
  • Podcasting with Hindenburg journalist
  • Using the PowerPress plugin
  • Podcasting with Gargeband
  • Publishing your podcast (Libsyn, Blubrry and more)
  • Communicating With Your audience
  • Submitting your show to Apple and other directories
  • Growing your audience
  • Monetizing your podcast

Notice that podcasting equipment is just one of the courses offered. In addition, if you have any questions, you can get them addressed for FREE in a weekly live Saturday morning podcast called ASK THE PODCAST COACH. So free consulting for basic questions can be answered live by Dave and his co-host, Jim Collison of theaverageguy.tv.

So I, myself, as an experienced podcaster and podcast consultant would recommend Dave’s course and his podcast shows to help you get the most out of considering the “best” equipment and other issues in beginning your podcasts. And, of course, what is “best” for you is unique, because your show and your situation is unique — it all depends on your objectives, your audience targeted, your themes and your time and effort that you wish to put into podcasting.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Dave Jackson of schoolofpodcasting.com. All rights reserved.