Really Knowing Your Audience
Quit wondering and start meeting your audience.
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Wow, I’ve missed talking to you. It’s been a few fun weeks. I started my new gig at Podpage (loving it!) and last week, my water heater broke (which I discovered at 1 AM and finished cleaning at 4 am). So I’ve had some priorities shift. I did a great rendition of “Sleep Deprivation Theater” at my church (hear the message) and you keep on keeping on.
So Much Fun at Podpage
It is a different experience when you know a company (Libsyn, where I worked for 8 years) and then come to a new one. As much as I love it as a user, I realized I needed to work on my sales pitch in the event someone asks about it (and I’m on the road the next two weeks). So, I’m spending lots of time studying Podpage inside and out.
Can you describe the benefits of listening if someone asks you about your show?
We are preparing to release an update to the dashboard. One of the things that makes me know I’m in the right place at Podpage is that Brenden Mulligan and I share a desire to always improve. We can take constructive feedback if it leads to better serving our audience/customers. So we spent a large amount of time this week meeting face-to-face with our customers, letting them log in to a new version of the dashboard, and clicking around.
Instant Feedback
We were happy, in a weird way, when people tripped over the same hurdle that we didn’t see as a hurdle. Brenden would head off to his room, make adjustments, and the next day we would see people navigating better with less tripping.
I’ve said it before: when you can tell me your audience's eye color, you’re in the right place. This gave us invaluable feedback and built a stronger relationship with your audience. Your audience goes from “audience member 27” to friend.
I know SO MANY podcasters who put the capital “I” in introvert, but I’m telling you, I’ve done this a few times, and I need to find a way to do it ongoing. Get a Zoom account, buy Tidycal for scheduling, and meet your audience. They are dying to meet you.
It’s Like a Hallway at a Podcast Event
click for more information.
This month, we will have a demo of the Castmagic software, which is pretty cool.
My Latest Episodes
Feeding My Faith (Follow)
Recreational Outrage: The Opening Ceremony of the 2024 France Olympics -
School of Podcasting (Follow)
Because of My Podcast: Dave Edition
Unraveling the Power of Word-of-Mouth in Podcast Recommendations
Ask the Podcast Coach (Follow)
Podcasting Lessons From Bon Jovi
Effective Podcast Swag and audience engagement
Your Podcast Website (Follow)
Why Keyword Stuffing Fails: Effective SEO Tips for Podcasters
Your Podcast Consultant (Follow)
How to Become the McDonald's of Your Podcast Genre
The Audience Is Listening: A Little Guide to Building a Big Podcast Book
This is such a good book from Tom Webster. I’ve finished listening to the book (and I’m going to buy the Kindle version to mark up with a highlighter and a physical version to put it behind my back in my videos). This is filled with SO MANY great one-liners. When he was talking about the “Discoverability Problem” in podcasting, he said, “Most podcasts are like Delaware. I can point to it on a map, but nobody has given me a reason to go there.” Amen, brother Tom. I will be recommending this book for a very long time. Check it out at https://geni.us/tomwebsterbook (aff)
I Want To Hear the Rest of This Story
My friend Kevin Schmidland had Chris Hutchins (who I met last year) on the Grow the Show podcast. Chris is getting a boatload of downloads. He also explained how he was doing an episode about bank accounts (his show is All the Hacks), and Chris talked about opening twenty bank accounts to talk about on his show. This seems a bit extreme, but if you want to deliver information you can’t get anywhere else, you must do the work (and maybe take the foot off the Chat GPT pedal). Check it out.
Let Your Audience Submit Ideas and Vote on Them
There is a product at AppSumo called Product Logz, which is meant for companies where your customers can suggest new features and then your community can vote on them. When I saw this, I thought, “Podcasters could use this for your audience to suggest topics and vote on them.” There currently is a lifetime deal for $59.
What’s Coming In The Future
Podcaster Happy Hour
I started this during COVID-19, and we later returned to normal. This will be monthly meetings (typically the last Monday of the month) where I will bring in a podcast service to do a demo; then we will follow that up with a networking and Q&A. Get on this list to be notified. This month we are getting a demo of the Castmagic (an AI tool that will do just about everything but your laundry.
Rode Interview Pro Mic Review
I’m going to Podcast Movement next month, and the Rode Interview Pro Mic seems like a great-sounding, super-easy way to catch quick interviews on the fly. I’ll be doing a full review soon.
Next School of Podcasting (I think…)
As I’ve typed this up, my brain is going, “You should talk about this on your show,” so you heard it here first. I also plan on getting Tom Webster on the show.
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Need Help With Your Podcast?
Whether you’re just starting or a seasoned podcaster, the School of Podcasting can help. Helping podcasters is what I do, and I’ve been doing it since 2005
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