29 Mar 🕵️Busting Podcast Myths!
đź‘‹Hey there Podcaster!
I’m back from vacation, refreshed, and ready to help you with your podcast
Busting Podcast Myths
Check out my Carousel debunking 4 common podcast myths with more info below on how to bust these myths wide open and leverage it for your podcast!
🕵️ Myth #1: If you build it, they will come.
Reality: Having a podcast isn’t enough. You want to actively market & promote your podcast if you expect it to grow.
Leverage it for Your Podcast: It takes time to grow and build an audience. Be consistent in your efforts. Here are some tips:
- Define your target audience and what kind of content they want
- Optimize your podcast for SEO using relevant keywords
- Leverage social media for promotion and engagement
- Be a guest on other podcasts and have guests on your show
- Build an email list of your subscribers and send out updates regularly
- Paid advertising of your podcast through social media or other podcasts
- Attend live events that relate to your podcast content and promote it
- Collaborate with other content creators to cross-promote
🕵️ Myth #2: The podcast market is oversaturated
Reality: Don’t be fooled by the millions of podcasts out there. Only thousands of them are still active. There’s still plenty of room for quality content and niche audiences.
Leverage it for Your Podcast: There is potential for the podcast listening audience to grow and have new types of voices and content emerge. Success doesn’t depend on the competition, it depends on the quality of the content, the marketing strategy, and engagement with your listeners.
🕵️ Myth #3: Starting a podcast costs too much
Reality: You can start with basics and scale up as you grow. Consider a quality, affordable mic like the Samson Q2U or start with your mobile phone in a controlled sound environment.
Leverage it for Your Podcast: Quality equipment is easy to find without breaking the bank. Cheap or low-cost strategies are available to keep increasing quality such as room treatment for better sound. Record in a closet or surrounded by pillows and blankets. Use the free platform Spotify for Podcasters and free audio editing software Audacity. Prioritize the essentials you need now and upgrade as your podcast grows.
🕵️ Myth #4: You need a huge following to monetize a podcast.
Reality: Podcasts can successfully monetize through paid memberships, donations, courses and workshops by leveraging their audience’s loyalty and engagement, making size less crucial for revenue generation.
Leverage it for Your Podcast: Common ways to monetize your podcast include:
- Sell advertising spots on your podcast to sponsors
- Earn a commission with affiliate marketing
- Ask your audience for donations to support the show or have access to exclusive content
- Sell your own merchandise and promote your business
♀️ Women’s History Month Highlight: Every Other Weekend
In March we are celebrating Women’s History Month by highlighting podcasts hosted by women. This week I am highlighting my client’s podcast Every Other Weekend hosted by Jennifer and Allison.
Every Other Weekend is a blended family podcast where Jennifer and Allison learned not only to cooperate gracefully but to become BFFs. Jennifer and Allison have the kids every other weekend and don’t know what to do with all the feelings and challenges that get stirred up when you’re blending your family. They are living it and have figured some things out so you don’t have to. Are they lesbians? Sisters? Nope. Jennifer’s married to Allison’s ex husband, and they became BFFs and are now hosting this podcast. Curious how this works? Follow them and listen in for candid conversations between Allison and Jennifer to learn how to co-parent gracefully without losing your mind. Expect some laughter, tears and new perspectives on old stereotypes. So tune in every week and leave your shit at the door.  Listen in here !
đź“– Narrative Podcasting
While I was out on vacation, Empowered Podcasting group moderators and community members hosted the Podcasting Morning Chats on Clubhouse. One room run by our newest moderator Dominic Lawson covered the topic of Narrative Podcasting, take a listen to the replay  here !
What is narrative podcasting?
A podcast that tells a story over a series of episodes. Unlike interview or discussion-based podcasts, which focus on conversations between hosts and guests, narrative podcasts use storytelling techniques to engage listeners and keep them coming back for more. Some examples include true crime, historical retellings, personal narratives, news, and fictional stories (audio dramas). It is highly produced, usually involving a team of writers, editors, and producers. Some popular examples are Serial, Radiolab, and This American Life.
How is it done?
Techniques for narrative podcasting include music, sound effects, and professional voice actors to create an immersive experience for listeners.
Dominic let us know that it is very time consuming to create such an immersive experience, approximately 2-4 weeks to produce a 30-40 minute episode. Dominic uses his Rodecaster Pro, Artlist.io, and Envato Elements. The most time is spent in sound design clicking through music examples to find the right tone. Dominic knows that while it’s a grind, it’s worth the effort, and the audience is appreciative of the results.
Break it down:
Step #1: Research your topic. Fact check it all (even the AI) and get first hand accounts if possible, interview historians or subject-matter experts. Dominic spends about 30% of his time in this step.
Step #2: Writing. The script for the voice-over narration. Dominic says to make sure the story writing is comprehensive. Start with an outline of the key points, then into full script, with thoughtful transitions between the segments of your story.
Step #3: Record, Edit, and Organize. Record, edit, and gather all the soundbites needed and line them up in the DAW.
Step #4: Sound Design. Dominic’s favorite part. This mixes all the soundbites together to create that immersive experience. It’s an art that takes a lot of time.
Step #5: Marketing. Just like any other podcast, you have to market to grow your audience. As a narrative podcast, break up your segments into social media posts, like commercials for a movie.
Step #6: Engagement. As Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you make them feel.” The narrative podcast will make the listening audience feel more, and be guided more to the podcast’s CTA.
Dominic slayed the room last week with this information. We were captivated! Dominic challenges us to try out narrative podcasting for one episode, like a pair of shoes, to see if it’s a good fit for you and your audience.
NextGen Podcaster Membership Recap
Last week in our NextGen Podcaster Membership:
- I shared helpful ChatGPT prompts for creating show notes, and generating episode series names, description, and titles.
- Ashley shared how she started using NotionAI for a social media content calendar, newsletter, correcting transcripts, and writing show notes. Notion will also have new features coming soon to automate more tasks.
- Nick got beta access to Google’s AI program Bard and will let us know the comparison between Bard and ChatGPT.
- Jon shared some cool new tools for creating AI generated video clips.
This week: Nick will take the lead and discuss workflows in Notion with NotionAI. He will also be sharing how to use Bing chat and why it might be one of the most underrated AI tools out right now.
👉 There is still time to  join the membership if you feel like you are missing out!
I’m so grateful to be connected with you and a part of your podcast journey.
All My Best,
Marc Ronick