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Making it simpler to tell your stories with the world. Isn't it about time someone made podcasting simpler? There are ways to to do it. I can help.
05/12/2022
Really good thinking from here on the struggles podcasters face beyond "discovery".
Podcasting's Biggest Challenge is Listener Retention — Amplifi Media Finding an audience can be like throwing golf balls into the Grand Canyon and hoping someone spots yours
01/31/2022
Spotify has long faced criticism while buying its way into having a larger slice of the podcasting pie. At all levels. But that criticism is reaching a crescendo and podcasters are taking action. Should you?
If you need a catchup on the Spotify-Neil Young-Joe Rogan spat, I recommend Podnews' excellent primmer before you continue. https://buff.ly/346dHsm
Also: As with any Podcast Pontifications episode, I'm giving you things to think about, not telling you what to think. Groovy? Groovy.
For The "I'm A Podcaster And I'm Very Angry About Spotify" campers: I hear and accept your anger. I'm right there with you. Spotify doesn't have a lot of grey areas to stand in when they pay Rogan's salary. But remember Spotify really is only in it for the money.
If you remove your show from Spotify's directory, will it financially matter to them?
Switching to a different host will have a financial impact on Spotify. Albeit a small one.
You can also ditch Spotify's monetization options, like premium subscriptions or their dynamic ad server. But can you? Or are you under contract?
If the podcast(s) you make are Spotify-exclusive, you have a lot more powerful levers to pull. But only if you can pull them without getting in legal hot water.
Before you take any action, take some time to think about the impact your actions will have on your listeners. Not everyone has the same strength as your convictions, and they may decide it's easier to stop listening to you than to switch.
But not every podcaster is pi**ed. Some even pro-Spotify camp. If either describes you, I'll repeat what I said earlier. I'm not telling you what to think.
This situation is very fluid. It's evolving by the day (or faster), and I'm reticent to predict any sort of outcome or how this looks when the dust settles. If the dust settles. There are too many things in flux with lots of outside pressure.
It's possible that all this is a precursor to something larger that becomes too much for Spotify to bear and they cut their losses. I'm not predicting that. I'm not saying it's likely. But it is a potentiality. And we should at least be aware of potential outcomes and prepared to act if we have to.
So do what you're going to do. My only request is that you do so with your eyes wide open. Choose wisely.
But this is just a summary. I dig into this a little deeper on the article and episode of the show, which you can find at . And feel free to share with people in either camp.
Should Your Podcast Get Drawn Into The Spotifight? Spotify has long faced criticism while buying its way into having a larger slice of the podcasting pie. At all levels. But that criticism is reaching a crescendo and podcasters are taking action. Should you?
Business-minded podcasters often have a binary concept of a listener: A person is either a listener, or they are not. It's how many businesses think about their customers; Someone either is a customer, or they're not.
But taking this simplistic view of a podcast's audience often leads to poor podcast planning and implementation. A better approach is to create three different podcast audience buckets, not just two.
Group 1: The Never-Have-Listened
If someone has never listened to your podcast, you're probably not going to win them over with fantastic podcast episodes. This group needs content that lets them know your podcast exists and makes it easy to sample and get more of.
And that content has to be supported with the marketing budget that it deserves.
Group 2: The Dedicated Listener
Yes, make excellent podcast episodes. But go further, creating content designed to live where your listeners live as they enjoy your podcast.
And that content has to be supported with a community building and engagement budget that it deserves.
Group 3: The Dippers & Dabblers
Most of your audience doesn't listen to everything you put out. So this group needs a compelling reason to listen. Content from you that's fit for their purpose, not just fit for yours.
And decisions on which content to make needs to be supported by a budget for research and measurement tools.
That’s three very different groups with very different wants and needs, so a single audience engagement strategy just won't work.
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Links
* Getting more than 10K downloads per episode? Talk to Gumball.fm! - evoterra.link/gumball
* Over 100K active podcasters trust Buzzsprout. - evoterra.link/buzz
* Serious about podcasting? Join the Advancing Podcasting Community today! - AdvancingPodcasting.xyz
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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. New episodes are released four times a week, providing ideas and questions every serious podcaster should be thinking about.
It's created and hosted by Evo Terra. Follow him on Twitter (twitter.com/evoterra) for more podcasting insights as they come. Allie Press (alliepress.net) assists with the production and transcription of the show.
If you received value from today's episode of Podcast Pontifications, return some of that! We call it value-for-value, and there are many ways to show your support. - podcastpontifications.com/support
Everybody loves a problem-solver! So what problems are you solving with your podcast?
Problems, broadly speaking, fall into one of two camps: acute problems and chronic problems.
Acute problems for podcast listeners might be things like needing just the right information to file their taxes this year. Or that their facing an 8-hour flight and need to be entertained or informed. Or maybe they need your help finding the new laptop that fits their needs best.
Your listeners will appreciate great titles, excellent packaging, and getting right to the point as you're helping them solve an acute problem.
But each of those has similar chronic problems. It's not filing taxes this year; it's solid financial planning or money management. Maybe that's a flight your listener takes every week? Or they aren't buying a laptop but are responsible for the tech needs for a large organization.
To service chronic problems like those, you'll need higher-concept episodes, not just "how-to." You'll need a deep catalog of content. And you'll need to brand yourself as a trusted source as much as your podcast.
And I know you'll be shocked by this, but the reality is your audience is made up of people with both chronic and acute problems. How do you solve for that?
But you're not alone, and you don't have your audience's undivided attention.
You compete for your audience's attention as they turn to YouTube, books, and more to solve their acute problems or stay on top of their chronic issues.
The best you can do is make the best podcast content that you possibly can and accept that a good swath of your audience will dip in and out of your content.
You can't solve every single problem for every single member of your audience. But you can work to make sure you've covered as much of the problem landscape as makes sense for you and your podcast.
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Links
* Getting more than 10K downloads per episode? Talk to Gumball.fm! - evoterra.link/gumball
* Over 100K active podcasters trust Buzzsprout. - evoterra.link/buzz
* Serious about podcasting? Join the Advancing Podcasting Community today! - AdvancingPodcasting.xyz
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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. New episodes are released four times a week, providing ideas and questions every serious podcaster should be thinking about.
It's created and hosted by Evo Terra. Follow him on Twitter (twitter.com/evoterra) for more podcasting insights as they come. Allie Press (alliepress.net) assists with the production and transcription of the show.
If you received value from today's episode of Podcast Pontifications, return some of that! We call it value-for-value, and there are many ways to show your support. - podcastpontifications.com/support
Believe it or not, dear podcaster, you are a storyteller.
One of the most crucial skills a podcaster must possess is the ability to tell stories. Your ability to tell stories is more important than the timbre of voice, your equipment stack, and your marketing efforts.
Fortunately, storytelling is a skill that can be acquired, with many practitioners offering workshops, classes, and one-on-one training. One of those practitioners is Dawn Fraser. I learned a clever mnemonic device from her that will you can tell better stories on your podcast—S-T-O-R-Y.
S is for stakes. Not the why of the episode, but the want of the episode. It's the hunger. It's the expectation you set for your audience that keeps you on track and keeps your audience locked in place.
T is for theme. The main through-line or meat of the story. It's your topic, angle, and where you're taking the story. If you know your theme, you can trim away the excess bits so that only the best parts make it into your episode.
O is for organization. Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. But sometimes, starting in the middle and guiding your listeners through a less obvious path makes for a better episode.
R is for recreating. Your audience wasn't there when the thing happened. They're here now, relying on you to summarize points and recreate scenes to make your story work as a podcast episode.
Finally, the Y is for you. You are an integral part of every single story. You are our proxy. You get us deeper into the stories you tell on your podcasting episodes. We want some of your personality and even biases in the episode.
With some odd edge cases aside, every podcaster is a storyteller. 200,000 years have shaped the human brain into a story-receiving vessel. Podcasters will do well to remember that.
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Links
* Getting more than 10K downloads per episode? Talk to Gumball.fm! - evoterra.link/gumball
* Storyteller Dawn Fraser - https://www.dawnjfraser.com/
* Over 100K active podcasters trust Buzzsprout. - evoterra.link/buzz
* Serious about podcasting? Join the Advancing Podcasting Community today! - AdvancingPodcasting.xyz
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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. New episodes are released four times a week, providing ideas and questions every serious podcaster should be thinking about.
It's created and hosted by Evo Terra. Follow him on Twitter (twitter.com/evoterra) for more podcasting insights as they come. Allie Press (alliepress.net) assists with the production and transcription of the show.
If you received value from today's episode of Podcast Pontifications, return some of that! We call it value-for-value, and there are many ways to show your support. - podcastpontifications.com/support
Sometimes it's alright to be selfish. Afterall, it is YOUR podcast.
01/17/2022
Want some insight on how a legit and prolific podcast pro makes such compelling, well-crafted, and please-don't-stop episodes? Check out this conversation I had with Avery Trufelman on today's episode of 3 Clips! https://bit.ly/33Ln0xr
What is it that you get out of experiencing your own show as a listener?
If your answer is "I don't listen to my own show like a listener, just as I produce the episode, and that's enough.", then I'm afraid we can't be friends.
For those that do: why do you do it? What itch does it scratch for you? I've got a few possibilities to consider:
Listening Back Can Make You A Better Podcaster
The craft of podcasting is one of continual improvement. And while I'm sure you listen to other podcasts to learn other techniques, you can't know why certain decisions were made by those other podcasters.
But you do know the what and the why of your own specific choices made during your own production process. Listening back to your episode when you're not in production-mode lets you evaluate whether or not those choices worked out in situ.
Listening Back Can Reassure You Are A Good Podcaster
Podcasting, like any creative endeavor, can leave you feeling quite vulnerable. Listening back to the way listeners listen can boost your self-confidence, give you the self-affirmation you need, and give you proof that, yeah, you are good enough to keep going!
Listening Back Can Keep You Humble
Podcasting is often done in isolation, where it's easy to become a bit too full of yourself. This problem is compounded if you're not getting much or any feedback from your audience. It's up to you to keep yourself in check!
Listening For Defensive Reasons
Someone is listening to your show. It might be your peers. It might be your competition. It might be your prospects. All groups of people you want to make a good impression upon. Listening back gives you confidence that you're putting your best foot forward.
Listening Back Can Keep You On Mission
Everyone has their own reasons why they podcast. What True North they're trying to reach. What greater purpose their podcast serves. You need to check the final product to make sure you are producing a show that is the perfect fit for who it is for and is, in fact, why they are there.
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Links
* Getting more than 10K downloads per episode? Talk to Gumball.fm! - evoterra.link/gumball
* 3 Clips - 3clipspodcast.com/
* Email me! - [email protected]
* Over 100K active podcasters trust Buzzsprout. - evoterra.link/buzz
* Serious about podcasting? Join the Advancing Podcasting Community today! - AdvancingPodcasting.xyz
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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. New episodes are released four times a week, providing ideas and questions every serious podcaster should be thinking about.
It's created and hosted by Evo Terra. Follow him on Twitter (twitter.com/evoterra) for more podcasting insights as they come. Allie Press (alliepress.net) assists with the production and transcription of the show.
If you received value from today's episode of Podcast Pontifications, return some of that! We call it value-for-value, and there are many ways to show your support. - podcastpontifications.com/support
How would the podcast industry change if podcasting better embraced transparency, making currently-private information public?
Let's start with the obvious: audience size.
Imagine a world where the size of a podcast—every podcast—was a matter of public record. A world where you could size up the competition or see how many other fans are loving a show because audience size data would be attached to each and every show.
Social media already does this with p***c follower counts. And any podcast that has advertising representation publishes how many people they reach on a monthly basis.
There's nothing special about podcasting that requires us to keep the information about audience size a secret. Other than how we'd count it. That and pride.
Let's go further, maybe to financials? The money-in / money-out of a show? A lot more controversial. But not without precedence. Publicly-traded companies publish their financial information. So do some long-running podcasters like John Lee Dumas and Pat Flynn. It's purely hypothetical for all podcasters to do this. But it would promote a much healthier view of the realities of building a profitable podcast.
We can also make crediting people more public. Services like Podchaser and the tag can be leveraged to show just how connected and interwoven podcasting is beyond the pretty voice behind the microphone.
But remember, this is a thought exercise. There are terrible people in the world who prey on others, so I am in no way suggesting that anyone should drop their guard from any real threat they face every day.
But with all deference to that reality, I do think that some data points from podcasting could be made more public for the betterment of all podcasting.
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Links
* Getting more than 10K downloads per episode? Talk to Gumball.fm! - evoterra.link/gumball
* Giving Your Podcast's Listeners A Public Voice With PodInbox - podcastpontifications.com/episode/giving-your-podcasts-listeners-a-public-voice-with-podinbox
* John Lee Dumas' income reports - eofire.com/income/
* Pat Flynn's income reports - smartpassiveincome.com/blog/category/income-reports/
* Podchaser.com
* tag from Podcast 2.0 namespace - github.com/Podcastindex-org/podcast-namespace/blob/main/docs/1.0.md
* Serious about podcasting? Join the Advancing Podcasting Community today! - evoterra.link/app
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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. New episodes are released four times a week, providing ideas and questions every serious podcaster should be thinking about.
It's created and hosted by Evo Terra. Follow him on Twitter (twitter.com/evoterra) for more podcasting insights as they come. Allie Press (alliepress.net) assists with the production and transcription of the show.
If you received value from today's episode of Podcast Pontifications, return some of that! We call it value-for-value, and there are many ways to show your support. - podcastpontifications.com/support
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