#82 Tips for Hosting a Successful Podcast

[TRANSCRIPT]

0:00:00 - (Carmen): You. Hi everyone and welcome back to the Committed Creative Podcast. I'm your host, Carmen Allan-Petale and today it's the final episode of season six. It's the final episode of the year. Wow, I can't believe I have made it through to episode 13 of season six. I think I launched this podcast with my husband Dave, who used to be in the business with me. No, we didn't split up, he simply was headhunted for another job. But I think we launched The Committed Creative around about nearly two years ago now.

0:00:42 - (Carmen): So I feel like, wow, it's quite an achievement to be hosting this podcast for so long. But honestly, it is a true privilege because I absolutely love running this podcast. I think it is one of my most favorite things that I do. I get to speak to so many amazing people that just really light me up, who inspire me and who make me realize that there is so much creativity in the world. We simply need to tap into it and we can be inspired by these wonderful thought leaders who are all around us. So it has been an epic year. I've interviewed so many great guests, so many highlights, too many to share.

0:01:26 - (Carmen): And in my own business, personally, I've had a few achievements that I'm quite proud of. I've made 50% more this year than I did last year, which is quite an achievement, especially seeing as my husband stepped out of the business and I was nominated in my first business award, which happened to be the first business award I've ever entered into. And the category was for best business in the owner operator category? And I came runner up in that award for the Oneeria Business Association.

0:01:56 - (Carmen): So that was really a highlight for me. And looking back, I've had a great year. It's gone so fast. I'm sure everyone feels the same and when you've got a young family as well, it seems to go even faster because your kids are just evolving and growing before your eyes, which is also a massive privilege to privilege. So over Christmas, I will be taking two weeks off to enjoy time with my family and I'm looking forward to some exciting things that are happening in 2024.

0:02:27 - (Carmen): I've signed a couple of contracts with some big clients and I'm really looking forward to diving into that work. So, more updates on that in the new year. But today I thought I would talk about podcasting because as I said, I've been podcasting for about two years now. I've really enjoyed what I've been doing and I thought maybe I should share some of those tips with you in case you are thinking of launching a podcast but you don't know where to start.

0:02:55 - (Carmen): Or maybe you've just launched a podcast and you want to know how you can stay on track to keep delivering episodes weekly or monthly or however, whatever frequency you may choose. And the idea for this episode actually stemmed from a strategy call that I did this week with a client who he'd actually come on a strategy call to ask me about content creation. And I didn't actually think he would ask me questions about podcasting, but he did and we spoke about it for a while and I realized I do have some knowledge that I can share on the topic. And I have to say that I must credit a lot of this knowledge to Amanda Kendall who was on the podcast last week. She was my podcast teacher.

0:03:38 - (Carmen): She has been podcasting for something like seven years, which is crazy, I didn't even really know that podcasts were around seven years ago. She's been doing a wonderful job. She now teaches podcasting in universities for small groups, for a whole range of people, even in businesses as well. And she really is the font of all knowledge when it comes to podcasting. So I must credit her for some of my skills because I learned from the best, I've got to say, right, if you're thinking of launching a podcast, the first things you need to think about obviously is what you want to talk about and what theme you're going to have for your podcast.

0:04:19 - (Carmen): And I would recommend that obviously you name the podcast with a name that is both catchy and relevant to the themes and the topics you're going to be talking about. However, you also want to consider SEO considerations and for example, you want people to be able to search relevant keywords in maybe Apple podcasts or wherever they get their podcasts and find your podcasts. So I knew that I wanted this podcast to be all about creativity and people working in the creative field. And I actually think it was my husband David who came up with the name The Committed Creative. But I love it because it truly encapsulates exactly what this podcast is all about.

0:05:06 - (Carmen): It's about people who've left their nine to five to follow their creative pursuits and their passions and they've gone all in in these endeavors. And that is why it's called The Committed Creative because it's people who have truly made the switch and left their corporate roles. Most of the time they've come from corporate roles. So that is why we went with the committed creative. But I think it's a good name because people searching creative or creativity will come across the podcast and hopefully they will be aligned in what we are delivering.

0:05:40 - (Carmen): So that's the first thing you need to come up with a catchy podcast name. And then there's other considerations like creating a thumbnail that hopefully aligns with your branding if you have a business. So using the same colors, the same fonts. And initially I think Amanda actually recommended not having a photo on your thumbnail for your podcast. But sorry, Amanda, I've got to disagree. I think photos work really well because they kind of personalize that thumbnail.

0:06:11 - (Carmen): They make people connect with it and resonate with it. And some of the bigger names in podcasting certainly have their images on there. And even if you're not a big name yet, perhaps you one day might be. So why not start on the right track and put your image up there? It could be a professional image or everyone's got an iPhone these days and can take a nice profile pick, which you can use. Canva is a great way to create a thumbnail.

0:06:37 - (Carmen): I'm sure there's a million templates you can use. Just make sure it's in your colors, your branding, your font and so on to create this catchy thumbnail. Because this is what people are going to see before they even listen to your podcast. It's going to be that thumbnail. So it really does need to be eye catching, visually appealing, and make people want to click and find out more about what your podcast is all about next.

0:07:05 - (Carmen): When you are thinking of launching a podcast, you need to come up with an intro and an outro. Now, back in the day, David and I had this really long intro, which was really cool, actually. I've got to admit it was fun, but it was basically this voiceover, a guy going, oh, I'm back at work in the office. And it was the sound of an elevator dinging and boring corporate noises. And then there was like a rip noise and then it was like, welcome to the Committed Creative. We're talking about all your creative pursuits. DA DA DA DA DA.

0:07:38 - (Carmen): And it was really great and it was really catchy. But what I realized after a while is that it was quite long. I think it went for like a minute. This introduction went on and on and on, and I thought, Man, I like podcasts these days. That get straight into it. And you don't have to skip through that intro because, sure, the intro is great the first time, but if you love that podcast and you listen to it ten times or more, it does get very repetitive.

0:08:02 - (Carmen): So now I just use the intro music, which is like the same jingle every time, and I just say, hi everyone, welcome back to the Committed Creative Podcast. I'm your host, Carmen Ellen Patali, and I don't really say more than that, so it's up to you what you want to do. But I guess because I'm an avid podcast listener, I realized that the podcasts I like the most are not the ones with the lengthy intros. But it's completely up to you whether you want to have a lengthy intro or not.

0:08:34 - (Carmen): However, I would advise that you keep the outro because obviously, if people have heard the podcast a million times, they can just cut off when the outro begins. But if it's their first time listening, you really want to have some kind of call to action in this outro, even if it's like listen, I'd love for you to leave me a review or go to my website or whatever. It might be just like some kind of call to action at the end that people can follow on and find out more about your podcast or about your business or whatever kind of action you want them to take. So make sure you also record that outro.

0:09:12 - (Carmen): And for consistency and branding purposes, I would also recommend that you use that same jingle that you use at the beginning and you put that in at the end of your podcast just to wrap it up, tied up neatly in a bow. The next thing you probably need to think about is the format of your podcast. So there are many different formats. Amanda does a brilliant job in interviewing multiple guests each episode and doing a great job at editing them all in together.

0:09:48 - (Carmen): So it's more like a radio feature style, I would call that where you have multiple guests. She does a little transition in between the guests, a little voiceover, and it's really almost like a radio documentary and it's awesome. And these podcasts are probably my favorite, but they do take a long time because not only do you need to edit a lengthy podcast with multiple guests, which is very time consuming, but you also obviously need to interview multiple guests as well, so that can be time consuming. However, these podcasts are often engaging riveting. It's the kind of thing that you might listen to on Triple J's Hack program or something like that, where it's multiple people being interviewed with someone, hosting it in between and leading the conversation with prompts.

0:10:38 - (Carmen): That's a great format. Probably my favorite, but also probably the most difficult. Which is why, honestly, that I don't do it because I do not have that much time. As much as I would love to partake in that podcast style, it would just add many more hours to my week and I don't have the capacity, unfortunately, to do that. Obviously the format I use mostly is interview format and I really love this.

0:11:04 - (Carmen): I love interviewing people. I think it harks back from my days as a journalist. I'm super curious about people. I love learning about people's stories. I mean, that's what drives me in business. So this style completely suits me and what I'm trying to achieve. And I love sharing these stories. And the brilliant thing about it is I have got good at vetting guests now where I have great guests onto the podcast who speak really well, they speak clearly, they normally don't need multiple edits.

0:11:42 - (Carmen): I can normally just finish up the conversation, top and tail it, add in my intro and outro and Bob's your uncle. Occasionally we might have a few tech issues where I've got to edit and make the audio better. Or perhaps like I had one guest on the podcast once who had COVID and she coughed a lot, so I had to edit those coughs out. Sometimes it can take a little bit more in terms of editing, but in general, normally these podcasts like that podcast style is great for me and it doesn't take too much editing progress, so that's great.

0:12:16 - (Carmen): I know a lot of business coaches who host podcasts that I listen to just talk like I'm doing now. Obviously that's probably the easiest podcast to do, podcast format, because you have complete control over the recording. It's not on Zoom or anything. You can record directly into your computer. You probably don't need to edit it all that much. You can refer to notes as you're reading and it's very simple.

0:12:41 - (Carmen): And if you're just starting out, perhaps that is the style for you. If you feel you have a lot to say, a lot to offer and you're not just waffling. I think what I would advise with this style of podcast is that you're a good public speaker, perhaps that you always have notes that you refer to, that you speak clearly. Yes, I know I probably speak a little bit too fast sometimes, but you like public speaking.

0:13:10 - (Carmen): You don't say too many UMS and r's and awkward pauses. Although pauses sometimes are great in a podcast, I think. There's a podcast that I love called The Diary of a CEO and I feel he interviews really famous guests on his podcast. People like Buster Rhimes and Will Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, I forgot her name for a know really famous guests. And the conversations are very raw and when people cry or have long pauses, sometimes I think, oh, has my podcast stopped? Do I need to check it still playing?

0:13:54 - (Carmen): But no, it's just the pauses in the podcast and it actually makes a show because it feels very genuine and authentic. So keep that in mind. You don't really want to edit it to the Nth degree, but you also don't want to be saying too many UMS, r's and coughing or having those awkward pauses. I would say that kind of disrupt the podcast itself. Which brings me to vetting guests. When I first started out on the Committed Creative podcast, I had a lot of people, I still do have a lot of people approach me and ask to be on the podcast.

0:14:29 - (Carmen): And I was so excited, I just said yes to everyone. And unfortunately, I had some guests who I would say a little bit dull on the podcast because I didn't vet them properly, I didn't approach them, they approached me. They were perhaps a little bit too promotey, promoting themselves a little bit too hard and they weren't really the right fit for the Committed Creative. And I've become more strict with who I have on the show because I want to ensure that it remains a high quality podcast.

0:15:06 - (Carmen): So, for example, I had someone approach me recently and say, look, my friend's got this great side hustle where they're making earrings, could they come on the show? And I have to say no, because we're not about side hustles at the committed creative, it's about people who've left their nine to five and are making a full go at their creative pursuit and are making good money. It's not just a side hustle. So yes, I have become more stringent with the guests, the quality of the guests I have on the show. And when you're starting out, it can be hard because you just want everyone to be on the show, because you're struggling to get guests and so forth.

0:15:44 - (Carmen): But I would advise from the get go that you do your research and make sure that they're the right fit so that you continue to have a strong audience because people love every episode. In terms of guests, I would also recommend that you book them in advance and you have a plan. I've had lots of guests cancel on me in the past. In fact, just yesterday I had another one reschedule and sometimes it can really leave you in the lurch when you're literally recording and posting that day, which I have done many times before.

0:16:17 - (Carmen): I've got to admit, when I started the podcast, I launched the podcast with about eight or ten episodes, I think, in the bank. And my goodness, I have never been so organized in my life, so I didn't even have to think about the podcast for like a number of weeks because we had so many episodes ready to go. And that was great advice from Amanda was to be prepared and to plan in advance so that you're not stressed hunting around for guests. And I must admit, there have been a few episodes where I have failed to find a guest in time and so I have just done a podcast episode like this and obviously if you don't have guests on the show, great.

0:16:56 - (Carmen): I would highly recommend that you bulk create those podcasts. So bulk record perhaps like four to six podcasts in a day and then you're set for the next four to six weeks, which is awesome. And I think that's another thing as to why the flexibility of just recording yourself is so great is that you can bulk record and you don't have to rely on guests pulling out at the last minute. Another tidbit of advice I would give for podcasting is to record in seasons. So obviously we're up to season six now and I have normally between twelve to 14 episodes per season, depending on the time of year, my commitments and so forth. But the great thing about having seasons is that you can go on a season break where you can have two weeks off. Or for me, over Christmas, I'm probably going to have four weeks off.

0:17:50 - (Carmen): But it allows you that little bit of a flexibility that you could put in there where you can actually have a break, have a holiday, don't have to worry about the podcast for a couple of weeks. And honestly, that is really great to have that kind of flexibility. Right, let's talk a little bit about podcast tools because there are so many tools out there now, so many different types of software that you can use for your podcast that can make it great and reduce the time it takes to produce, publish and promote your podcast. So let's dive into that now.

0:18:32 - (Carmen): Firstly, recording your podcast now. I swear by Rode mics R-O-D-E-I think they're brilliant. They're not super duper duper expensive, they are a little bit expensive, maybe a couple hundred dollars. But if you're going to be recording weekly, highly recommend you invest in a good mic. Because if there's one thing that's going to turn someone off your podcast, it's going to be the sound. The sound quality needs to be really good and that all stems from having a great microphone.

0:19:06 - (Carmen): I try and record a lot of my episodes in person. Obviously that is not possible a lot of the time. If it's not, I like to record on Zoom. I used to also use a tool called Squadcast, which you pay for. I pay for Zoom anyway, but Squadcast has a great functionality where it records on both ends separately, so it will record on your end and it will record on your guests end and send you different audio files. So in general, the sound quality is very good.

0:19:42 - (Carmen): However, I stopped using it because I found there were a couple of episodes where the quality was lacking for some reason. I think perhaps it's improved since then. But it kind of turned me off and I went to Zoom. Zoom mostly works really well as long as we both have good internet connections. I think the only issue that I face is a lot of my guests don't often have their own podcast mics and that is a shame sometimes because the quality might not be so great on their end because perhaps they're recording straight into their computer.

0:20:15 - (Carmen): But I have some tools for editing that and normally I can get the sound sounding reasonably good. However, if they have their own podcast mic, and I often ask them to use it if they have it, a lot of them have their own podcasts anyway. It makes the sound so much better. It really does. Booking podcasts. So booking guests, I just send them to a Calendly page, which is like an automatic calendar function where you can set up your own meetings and people can look at your calendar, compare it to their own and book in a time with you. This saves me a lot of admin, a lot of toing and froing.

0:20:52 - (Carmen): And then when they book that podcast recording with me, they're sent a Zoom link which is created automatically. And this is a great process, it saves me heaps of time. And then Calendly will also send them a reminder the day before. I also like it because Calendly sends them an email that says what they need to do ahead of the podcast, what they need to do to prepare, what they can expect to wear in ear headphones, which I often ask them to do so that the sound quality is better and there's not an echo to use a podcast mic if they have one, and so on.

0:21:30 - (Carmen): So this is all automated, it's so easy, and once they book, it's straight into my calendar and it's straight into theirs. So it's great for organization of podcast guests. I was also linking this through a Zap Zapier tool which goes to my project management system, and then it would list out the podcast guests, put them into a column, so all my podcast guests are listed to my project management tool as well. So that's one extra step you can do if you want to keep all your guests organized.

0:22:06 - (Carmen): So that's another great tool that I use for organization. What else? I use buzzsprout. So Buzsprout is for publishing the podcast. So once you've edited it, and I will get into editing in a moment, you export the file as an MP3 and then you can upload this to Buzsprout where you can put in your show notes and your transcript and all the other details that you need to fill in to publish your podcast, including a thumbnail. I do a new thumbnail for every episode which has the episode title on it, and normally a photo of the guest who I've got. So I always ask the guest for a photo and then I simply hit publish or I schedule it for Thursday mornings at 05:00 a.m..

0:22:56 - (Carmen): And when that time comes around, that podcast is sent to all the channels because this tool, Buzsprout, allows you to connect up to all the channels. So Apple podcasts. Spotify. Where else? Amazon. All the places that people listen to podcasts, it connects with all of them. And really, Buzzsprout is the leading tool for doing this. And it's just so easy. A click of a button and you'll be everywhere. So highly recommend you should 100% use that tool to get out onto the airwaves.

0:23:33 - (Carmen): Now, let's talk a little bit about podcast editing. Now, I love Adobe Premiere Pro, which I know is a little bit expensive. Luckily I have a discount because one of my clients works at a university and I have a university email address. But you use Adobe Premiere Pro in general to edit video. However, it's also great for sound editing. And because I have a lot of experience in using Adobe Premiere Pro, I just find it so easy. And to be honest, I've tried other tools and I just keep coming back to Adobe Premiere Pro.

0:24:09 - (Carmen): Yes, it might be more expensive, but because I know how to use it, I don't need to faff around and it saves me time. So I'm always jumping on Adobe Premiere Pro for editing. You can also edit in other cheaper and free software tools like GarageBand, which I think comes free with Mac. I've heard of Descript and Podcastle as well, which are two online software programs that you can use. I think you have to pay for them. Perhaps there is a free version.

0:24:38 - (Carmen): However, I've heard good things, so perhaps check those out. You can also outsource your podcast editing if you find it is taking up too much of your time. There are so many different podcast editors out there. You can probably find them on Fiver. You can probably find them in your local hometown. As a VA specializing in podcast editing, they're a dime a dozen and worth their weight and gold because they will save you a lot of time.

0:25:05 - (Carmen): They will make sure the audio quality is good, that you've got your intro, you've got your outro, you've deleted all those UMS and R's and the awkward pauses. And honestly, if you are time poor, it will possibly be worth the investment. I have a couple of recommendations. If you want to know who they are, just send me email or a DM and I can hook you up with my recommendations for podcast editors. Now, another tool I want to tell you about, and possibly the best tool of all is called Decipher.

0:25:38 - (Carmen): D-E-C-I-P-H-R. Decipher is freaking amazing and it is an AI tool that costs me about $44 Australian a month, which is, yes, a little bit dear, but however, it is so worth it because how does it work? Basically, I edit my podcasts, I download my podcast and then I upload it to Decipher and it will scan the recording, it will create podcast, show notes, the transcript, it will even generate a blog post out of the audio recording and I can just copy and paste that transcript directly into Buzsprout.

0:26:23 - (Carmen): I can use the blog post if I want. Normally I heavily edit it if I put it on my website. I've kind of stopped doing that now, but it's great to know that that's there. I use the show notes, I often edit them a lot as well, but it's a great starting point. It saves me so much time and I really love this tool. It also gives you social media post like Captions you can use for sharing that podcast, which is absolutely brilliant.

0:26:51 - (Carmen): So I think those are the main tools that I use. I would love to know if you use any others, please share them with me, send me an email, drop me a DM, I'm all ears. If you would like to learn more about podcasting or about social media and social media tools, AI that you can use, or about copywriting in general, website content creation, whatever it might be in terms of online marketing, I'm your girl.

0:27:18 - (Carmen): So hit me a DM or email me, and we can book in a time to have a strategy call. And I can help you get prepared for the year ahead, making sure that your content creation is seamless, that the content you're creating is engaging and that you're speaking directly to the right target market so that ultimately you can make more sales in your creative pursuits. Because although we love being creative, it's so much better when we're making good bank from it.

0:27:50 - (Carmen): So thanks for listening. I have loved having you along for the ride in my 6th season. Have a wonderful Christmas, all the best, stay safe and I'll see you in 2024. Thank you for listening to the committee creative podcast. I would be ever so appreciative if you could head on over and subscribe to the Pod or leave me a review, or if you're so inclined, head on over to my website, Redplatypuscreative.com,

0:28:18 - (Carmen): and send me an email with some feedback. I'm all ears. Until next time, here's to going all in on your creative pursuits.