Podcast Freq

Mmmm so here is when it gets tough with this and the next post covering W,X,Y and Z. Mmmm tricky but so was learning to edit my first few podcasts:)

W = Women. Another contentious one! However, I feel passionate about how to get more women involved in the podcasting world. Often they lack that bit of self-confidence and sometime fear the technology. There are some excellent female podcasters and I would love to encourage more. As a way of promoting it in the UK I have set up a Women in Podcasting blog to develop a support group for people who want to have a go, with Heather Gorringe, who was an early adopter of podcasting as a way of marketing her company Wiggly Wigglers. I would be interested in your views on why there are not more female podcasters or female attendees at conferences?

X= X Factor. Every podcast needs that point of difference. It could be content, expertise, personality, humour, unique area….but each podcast needs to work out what is their x-factor that will draw people to the show. In many ways, expertise or passion for the subject area can be your point of difference. So what is yours? What will make your show stand out from the crowd? What can people only find on your show, nowhere else? This is where I feel personal branding is vitally important.

My podcast The Engaging Brand has been nominated as a Most Valuable Podcast. Wow, now I am up against the fantastic For Immediate Release so I think the joy will be VERY short term. However, just the fact that I have received a nomination in such great company is just fantastic. As a relatively new podcaster it is great to be even on the list. As I am dieting at the moment I may have to celebrate with a cup of coffee….

Today we will look at thought around U and V.

U= Understanding. Your understanding and the consumer’s understanding is important.
1.Understanding from the podcaster on:_
What is the purpose of your show
How you will measure success
Who is your target audience
What kind of tool is it for you - a marketing, selling, personal branding, hobby tool?
2.From the consumer’s point of view, understanding of
How can I subscribe?
How will this show add value to me?
The level of expertise of the host
How can I interact with the show, if I want to…?

V=Video. Now I know this one will probably cause debate. Video to me is fantastic IF it adds the value of the show. If it is a video of an interview then I don’t see what real value it adds. In fact from my point of view I often listen to it as an audio. The video indeed can cause me pain - longer download times, more space, often they don’t delete off your hard drive and you need to go in and delete again eg The Scoble Show. However, I love the video element of the Scoble Show when it is showing you how to, or a product demo. Video, for me should only be used if it adds to the consumer experience. So for example it could be a way of monetarising your show….audio to discuss a topic, video with a demo or hot element could be the premium for example in learning?

Coming to the end of the series but I have had a great deal of feedback on some of the elements, so I will address these in further posts after the series has finished. Thanks for all the e-mails (anna@theengagingbrand.com), debate and comments you have brought up some great points, as I knew you would….

Gosh we are nearing the end of the series very quickly but there are still major ideas to think about

S= Social Networking like MySpace is being replaced with mobile social networking. Podcasting already has the mobile element - you can listen to a show when and where you want to, but I think that podcasting could have even more social networking power by adding interactivity. Being able to e-mail the show directly from your MP3 player, phone, TV etc….Looking at ways that people can interact with the show to feel that sense of community. Now not every person wants to interact and that is fine, however there are those who love the feeling of building networks, feeling part of something, loving the feeling of making a contribution. Podcasting has mobility now we need to look at how to increase the social interaction.
T= Training and Development/Timeshifting. This area is huge for podcasting. Podcasting is a fun, free way of increasing your knowledge, increasing your skill level for your own success. On The Engaging Brand I produce personalised podcasts to help individuals with leadership coaching, individual podcasts for corporations who want an audio training option. Time is a scarce resource and podcasting allows people to timeshift…..that is a powerful tool. I know listen to the news on the run resulting in less TV time…resulting in more interaction with the family.

Oh dear we have a tricky one today, starting with Q and then R. This series is one that hopefully stimulate some thoughts for you on how to carry on taking your podcast forward…if you think that I am missing something don’t be shy, the more dialogue the better!
Q= Quality. Quality is important and I wrote a post about The Power of Imperfection to discuss how you need to see 2 types of quality, saying “I think that in terms of audio quality, yes that should be good enough so that listeners can enjoy the content but in terms of a few human mistakes within the content - don’t rush to eliminate them all. A laugh, an incorrect word, a forgetful moment…it all adds to the show, as long as it is a small element rather than 99% of the show!”
Quality of the audio has to be good, quality of content has to be great, quality of the spoken words has to be human.

R= RSS. This always makes me smile, as I get asked a lot about what is RSS? The explanation is far from “really simple”. However, RSS has been a huge enabler, it is a fantastic tool that allows listeners to receive your shows automatically. The key point is that the majority of people DO NOT UNDERSTAND RSS. If we are going to get more people into podcasting we need to find a way of making subscribing easier…even the word subscribe infers money when the reality is that 99% of the time there is no fee. We need to find a way of demystifying the word and making it friendly to non geeks. One thing that I always do is The Engaging Brand show notes say it is free….say that you don’t need an iPod etc

Like I said any comments or your thoughts on the quality or how we can explore RSS further at the same time as making it easier would be great.

Today we continue to look at the world of podcasting with a look at O and P.

O= Opinion. People want YOUR opinion on your podcast. They are subscribing because they value your ideas, value your opinion. Now often people will not agree….don’t fear that as it will create comments, create dialogue to build further shows around.
p= Premium content. Podcasting is free but as time goes by people are looking for ways of moneterising their work. The investment of time is large and although there are significant intangible benefits, people are looking for ways to earn money directly from podcasting. I believe there are models that work but they have to be content rich - after all listeners can find most content for free. So here is how I see a premium model working:-
1) Personalised or individualised podcasts - maybe for groups of people eg corporate development
2) Summaries. As podcasts continue to grow it is hard to keep up with all the great content. There is the opportunity for people to buy summaries of a specific areas of the best of the weeks podcasts.

Podcasting is exciting, how many people have you told recently about the power of podcasting? How many people have you brought to the podcasting world?
3) Unique. The obvious here is for entertainment. You can buy unique shows that you cannot find anywhere else eg Ricky Gervais
4) Expertise. People may buy into your personal brand IF you are considered an expert in your area.
5) How to Series. A step by step guide to ….. Especially if you have had success in this area.

So today we will look at M and N as we explore the world of podcasting.

M= Media. As a podcaster you are part of the media. You may be niche or a small unknown player but you are creating public content. For me we should be looking at how old media can help this area of new media. New media is fantastic and I no longer read papers or even watch much television, that does not mean however that old media cannot help podcasters. If you want to grow think about how you can use the key factors of the old to help the new - volume of consumers. By partnering with old media via specialist podcasts, reviewing, pr releases, writing articles etc you can tap into their database of consumers. Thereby bringing new customers to podcasting.

N= Niche. One of the major powers and benefits of podcasting as a new communication tool, is the creation of niche shows and the ability to target niche areas. For example, Heather Gorringe and I run a podcast called Middle Age Shed which is the journey of 2 fat women struggling to lose weight. It is not aimed at acheiving 100,000 daily downloads, it is just a fun podcast that we hope will appeal to other women who yo-you diet. This is not a money venture but just imagine if we did advertise on the show - every listener is wanting to lose weight, every listener is looking for that secret of being slim - they are a captive audience to a marketer. Niche is great for advertisers but also the listener….they can find shows that are exactly on the topic of their interest…..don’t have to listen to areas that are not of interest….they are in control of “listen”. Niche is a benefit, to both podcasters - to find a loyal listening base, advertisers - to find the exact consumers that they want and finally THE LISTENER - to listen to exactly what they want.

Continuing our look at all things podcasting, today we will look at K-L. I am trying to look at areas not necessarily obvious and also cover some basic tips for people new to podcasting.

K= Karaoke! No I decided not to go with kit…but a strange so stay with me. I feel podcasting is like karaoke. The nerves before doing it but then the thrill of getting on with it, the worst bit is taking the first steps after that the adrenaline kicks in. From a different angle, podcasting is about participation…inviting others in to your party. If you were the host of the karoake, introduced it and then left the mic there in the hope someone would pick it up, you would not get the same atmosphere or as many singers. People need inviting into your podcast, they need encouragement to give feedback, to find their voice on your topic. So don’t see yourself as the host who tells, see yourself as the one that sells and encourages listener participation. Give them different ways to contact you, give them competitions, give them the chance to come on the show,give them intrigue for the next show….and see your listeners rise in confidence and their feedback levels grow.

L= Levelator. This is a fab tool for anyone using Audacity, taking away the painful need to go through the audio and adjust the levels so that you don’t at one moment blast the listeners eardrums, and then go so quiet that they cannot hear it. Levelator is a easy to use, non geek program that levels out the audio automatically. Wow, I love tools like this that cut down the time to produce a podcast.

As I said not the norm in terms of podcasting tips this time but I want this series to inspire your thoughts on what podcasting is or even could be….