Everyone who’s been paying attention has at least an inkling of the power of podcasting. As I write this, it was just announced that the #2 most popular podcast on Apple Podcasts, The Joe Rogan Experience, was picked up as an exclusive that will only be available on Spotify. While I haven’t seen any numbers yet, industry analysts think the deal was not in the millions, but tens of millions of dollars. Good job, Joe.
What really interests me about that is that Joe Rogan, a standup comedian whose biggest claim to fame generally was his stint on the TV show Fear Factor, does little more on his podcast than have on guests that pique his interest. Then he asks questions, grows an audience, and then parlays that audience into a whole new career that will probably set him up for life. Are podcasts really as powerful as some say they are? Ask Joe.
But podcasting is hard and expensive.
Actually, it’s not.
If you’re just a listener, you might think creating, producing, and distributing a podcast must take a lot of time, money, energy, and personal bandwidth. I not going to lie and say it’s super simple, but I will say the money part is seriously amazing. Amazing in how little it takes, I mean.
Sure, if you want a professional podcasting studio from Day One, you could drop some major coin on microphones, headsets, boom arms, studio soundproofing, editing systems, custom art for your podcast, hosting fees, original rights-cleared music, etc. But to be honest, you can start today with nothing more than your smart phone.
Quick question: do you know how many professional podcasters record their shows from closets? I’m not kidding. Closets, as in the place where you hang your clothes. For many such podsters, it’s the only place in their home with the kind of super-quiet atmosphere that conducive to great sounding recordings. Add to that the fact that many closets have a door to keep out obnoxious dogs and inquisitive children, and you can see why a good walk-in closet actually makes for a perfect podcasting studio.
Walking you through all the details on how to build a studio, create a podcast concept, schedule personal-brand-boosting guests, recording like a pro, and marketing the show to an increasingly cluttered podcast market would require me to write an entirely different book. Fortunately, I don’t have to, because everything you need to know about podcasting can be learned on YouTube. I can personally guarantee that, because that’s exactly where I learned.
The shelf life of a podcast episode is incredible. If someone finds yours at episode 36, should they like, they’re likely to seek out episodes 1-35 as well. And each time they listen, the closer they get to you. I remember hearing one of my favorite podcasters Scott Galloway of Pivot and The Prof G Show say something like—
“When I meet people, and they wave from across the room, they’ve seen my videos. When they come over for a handshake, they’ve been at one of my presentation, but when they start talking to me like we’re long-lost friends, they’ve been listening to my podcast.”
He’s absolutely right. Podcast listeners turn into friends. You voice lives in their head, and a sense of intimacy develops over time. Listeners learn things about you, the podcaster, that you don’t know you’ve even told them, right down to the names of your dogs. Right Pablo Killian, a NONFICTION BRAND podcast listener from Buenos Aires that I’ve never met in person?
If I haven’t convinced you to consider, really consider, creating a podcast by now, you’re either dead, or I’m an abject failure. Personally, I think it’s the former, so get off your butt and onto the air by unleashing your personal brand voice via the power of podcasting.
What about the ‘their’ part?
For my NONFICTION BRAND podcast, I exclusively approach prospective guests myself, and have not received a lot of ‘can I be on your podcast’ queries. But that’s started to change as the podcast gains more momentum over time. Now I’m getting some inbound queries from people who see being guests on podcasts as a smart, and strategic, part of their personal and small-business brand marketing.
Chris Rudolph, a friend of mine who coaches a variety of small business owners on how to achieve and maintain the proper balance of freedom, business and family, emailed about just such a strategy. He asked about, as a podcaster, how he could advise his clients on approaching podcasters about being a guest. Here’s what I emailed him in reply:
1. Prove that you know what the podcast is actually about, and that you’ve listened to it. Cite a favorite episode, and what you got out of it. It’s amazing how many queries are from people you can just tell have no idea who you are, or even what the podcast is about.
2. Pitch a major idea or concept, based on the podcast’s theme, that you can bring real value for its audience.
3. One big recommendation: have a pro-quality headphones and microphone setup in your home or office, and be sure the podcast host knows what you’ve got, and that you know how to get him/her the best sound quality on your end (even if you’re doing it remotely via Zoom.) I’ve gotten really great Zoom audio from a guest in Australia who has a pro mic setup, and gotten terrible Zoom audio from someone just across town who was relying on their laptop’s internal microphone. Guess which situation I won’t be doing again.
4. Let them know that you’re flexible in terms of date/time/duration of the podcast recording session. You’re asking them for a HUGE favor, so act like it. And if they’re not already begging you to be on their pod, you are at their beck and call.
5. If you’re promoting a book on the podcast topic, send them a copy. But remember, it’s their podcast. They may want to promote your book a little bit, or not at all. BUT if the book is good, don’t be surprised if they use it was the foundation of the entire episode. There’s a reason so many authors LOVE podcasts, and podcasters.
6. Never act like you’re some kind of ‘you’d be lucky to get me’ diva. The biggest names I’ve dealt with have always been the most gracious. Think that’s how they got to be a big name in the first place? You betcha.
7. Look back at #2 again. It’s all about the value you can bring to the podcast’s audience.
8. If you have a community associated with your shared topic (e.g., a Facebook Group, etc.), be sure they know that too. You tell me that you’ll be promoting your specific episode to the 5,000 members of your group? How soon can we get you scheduled?
One final thought: so many people want to get the many benefits of podcasting (through appearances) without doing any of the work. Scheduling, producing, editing, posting, and marketing a podcast can easily take tens of hours (and dollars) per episode, even for a basic one. If you’re going on a podcast for what it can do for you, you need to flip your script. ‘Here’s what I can do for you’ is a great place to start.
Reading those recommendation again, I couldn’t agree more, but I would add this: do not pawn the ask off on an underling. Having your ‘assistant’ ask to get you on a podcast reeks of silver spoon BS. As I type this, I still haven’t gotten back to just such an assistant who’s following up on a first email that I didn’t respond to. Why didn’t I respond to email query #1? Because of the eight recommendations listed above, she (and the duo she represents) did none of them. Is this a petty response from me? Maybe. But perfectly human? You better believe it.
…and there’s much more to come.
BOOKWARD BOUND / Daily Build is just what it says: the writing I did today in order to get my book a little bit closer to its publication. Posted the next day, it is presented here exactly as written and complete with all the misspellings and grammatical errors you’d expect of a rough draft. Don’t worry, it’ll be edited later. The above was written during a livestream video of BOOKWARD BOUND that you can find on my YouTube BOOKWARD BOUND playlist any time you’d like. – DP Knudten
@2020 DP Knudten LLC – all rights reserved.
