Am I Responsible For My Show's Success?
This seems a little harsh
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Is the Scapegoat in the Mirror?
A while back I came up with what I called, “The Equation for Downloads.” It is
Contact X Smart Marketing = Total Downloads
One on hand, I thought, “That’s about right. If your content isn’t good, no amount of marketing will help. If your content is good, but your marketing is off, your downloads will be slow in rising.
There is one problem with this equation. I’m responsible for my content, and I’m responsible for the marketing. If the downloads are not where I expect them to be that means the person to blame is me and I don’t like that. It can lead to self-loathing, and other depressing thoughts.
It’s Not My Fault
I had a client this week who wanted to blame Podpage for not feeding stats back to their media host (Podpage doesn’t don’t do that, your media host does, and also they didn’t have Google analytics installed so they could have stats on their website - although I prefer Fathom website stats).
They expected the website to help grow the show, but their show notes were short, and when I pressed play I waited two seconds for sound to come out of their player (which is a long time to wait - I thought something was wrong) . Behind the scenes the system was figuring out where I lived so it could give me not one but TWO ads that I didn’t care about.
The ads were followed by what I call “Music for the sake of nothing” that ABRUPTLY stopped and the voice of the host finally came into my ears.
But its the websites fault, right?
I’ve been married twice. I’ve also been divorced twice (not something I’m proud of). But the one thing I’ve done in both cases was to sit back and not blame the other person, but to ask, “What could I have done better in this marriage.
I almost don’t want to say this as some will use it as a scapegoat, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say luck often (but not always) has spurred some creator’s shows faster than others. Just keep in mind “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
Don’t stop tweaking. Don’t stop trying. Don’t stop pushing yourself out of your comfort zone (where the learning lives), and always enjoy the journey. You’re not done yet.
Podcast Hot Seat Black Friday Deal Still Going
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P.S. It comes with a free month at the School of Podcasting
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Stuff That Caught My Eye
Utter Podcast Nonsense
You’re allowed to disagree with your friends. I respect Steve’s Goldstein’s history, but he was one of the guys who helped introduce “YouTube is a Podcast” and now has come back with “Podcasting is no longer a one-size-fits-all medium. It has become an ecosystem. A podcast can be a YouTube show, vertical clips, newsletters, short episodes, livestreams, or even a live event.” Source.
So a newsletter is a podcast? Yeah, I’ll be writing about this in the future. I’m just two flushed to write something without using naughty words.
12 Days of Tella Video Creator/Editor
We all know Loom.com, but I discovered Tella for not only making and hosting videos, but they enable me to make BETTER videos FASTER. Case in point I do “Lunch with Dave” ever Friday where members of the School of Podcasting get to hang out, exchange strategies, ask questions, and more. I take the video from Zoom, upload it to Tella, cut off the 5 minutes of chit chat, let it make chapters via AI, and have it posted in less than 15 minutes once the meeting is over. Here is one I did for Podpage.
They are doing a 12 Days of Tella where each day they announce a new feature, and I’m pretty sure tomorrow they will announce that Tell will do your laundry. This is a great marketing strategy, and it worked (I’m excited about the software enough to share it with you). Check out their 12 Days of Tella
What’s Coming In The Future
I can’t lie, the Steve Goldstein article has me on my soapbox. I’m also working on a “Podcast Soup” episode which is a bunch of “mini topics” not long enough for an episode, but important enough to mention. I’m always open to your suggestions
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That two-second silence before audio starts is such a perfect example of how small UX issues compound into audience loss. The marriage analogy works well here because blaming external factors (hosting platform, website builder, algorithms) is way easier than admitting the intro is bloated or the show notes are lazzy. I run into this all the time with creators who want to tweak distribution strategy before fixing foundational content issues. The equation is useful but maybe oversimplified - sometimes great content languishes because the creator is in a niche where discovery mechanisms genuinely don't work well yet. Still, you're right that starting with "what can I control" beats playing the victim. The luck + preparation formula is real, but preparaton has to come first.