By Sheelagh Caygill
The podcast currently has 16 episodes available.
In this first Podmotion.co episode of 2022, we talked to James Cridland, publisher and editor of Podnews.net.
James explores how the world of podcasting may evolve in this new year. He digs into concerns about the erosion of podcasting ecosystems, programmatic advertising, why the subscription model may not be a big part of podcasting going forward, independent podcasting, and a whole lot more.
You can find James on LinkedIn and at Podnews.net.
If you like this episode, we'd really appreciate it if you leave us a review at Apple Podcasts. Thanks!
When you daily job involves absorbing specialist information that's valuable to clients, and regularly discussing it with colleagues, you could have the makings of a podcast show!
This episode from Podmotion features Rob Finlay, commercial real estate (CRE) owner, operator, and expert. Rob is a thought leader, podcaster, and CEO of Thirty Capital, a provider of services and solutions to commercial real estate firms.
Rob's podcast, Commercial Real Estate Capital Markets Report, launched in April after he talked to a friend about a regular weekly call he has with his team of senior traders. The friend asked Rob if he could listen in to the call, and that's when Rob realized it might be a good idea to turn the weekly roundtable discussion into a podcast show.
Each roundtable episode discusses treasury rates, short-term rates, and everything related to debt and debt optimization for commercial real estate. Each episode helps CRE professionals determine if it is time to refinance, borrow, or what kind of action they should take to optimize or leverage their debt.
Before the podcast show launched, the weekly call took place and Rob and his team absorbed all the information shared during the roundtable, and shared it with callers if they thought it was relevant or important.
Rob appreciates the diverse opinions that his analysts present in each episode. They are at a senior level, so of course they are opinionated. This discussion makes for a very animated conversation about how the capital markets could evolve in the coming, days, weeks, and months.
Even though the meeting is now a podcast, it still has a informality about it, and listeners feel that they are right there in the meeting with Rob and his team. They've been able to find the sweat spot where the informal collegial chat is absent, but it's not super formal.
Rob encourages podcasters to learn and experiment as they go, and to not be afraid of the ever-evolving process. Feedback is crucial, as is room for growth.
He says the best thing about doing the show is the feedback and suggestions they are receiving from the listener. They are getting questions as well as feedback, and aim to answer them in the show. They questions also play a role in shaping the content of upcoming shows.
In this episode Rob also discusses:
Find Rob on LinkedIn, Twitter, and at Thirty Capital.
Podmotion.co thanks Rob Finlay, host of the CRE Capital Markets Report roundtable podcast, for sponsoring this episode! Find Rob's show here!
Nick DiBartolomeo and Bruno Pierce are started a new podcast this early this year - then thousands of others started podcasts too!
By being focused on community building, experimentation, and mastering social media, Nick and Bruno have achieved a level of success that eludes many new podcasters.
Their show is called Quit The Build, and it's the voice of their gaming community - Quit The Build.
Even if you're not a gamer, we recommend you listen to this episode. Nick is our guest and he gives a masterclass in how to start and grow a podcast. He gives an amazing amount of information and actionable tips on how to start a show and see it grow.
During this conversation Nick and Sheelagh discuss sponsorship techniques and mention a website called Podthreads - this website no longer exists, just in case you decide to Google it!
In this episode Nick shares his number one lesson for new podcasters. Nick and host Sheelagh Caygill explore:
If you have any questions about this episode, or podcasting in general, get in touch with Podmotion at info at podmotion.co.
Thanks for listening and stay safe.
Eli Schwartz released his first book, Product-Led SEO early this year. The release came during the pandemic, so speaking gigs and appearances in book shops were out. Instead, Eli turned to podcasts to promote his book.
'I've met some really bad podcasters'
Eli's experience is a sharp reminder to podcasters: You really have to up your game if you want to be worthy of a listener's time.
Eli says it's too easy for people to buy a mic, sit behind it, and make a show. What's missing is the thought, planning, and preparation that needs to go into a new podcast.
Podcasting is competing with a massive amount of content for people's attention. If you're commuting, running, or or doing stuff at home, you can choose from audio books, radio, or music. And if you're just sitting around, streaming, TV, gaming, and YouTube are options.
In one example, Eli said a podcaster asked him to spend hours writing a script which the host would then read.
"That is ridiculous, and I don't understand why anyone would listen to a podcast like that," he says, adding he refused the request.
"You may have a big name behind it. It may be launched by a big brand, but that low barrier to entry really makes a quality hard to come by."
The Value Trade: A Podcaster Is Getting Something For Free
Eli points out that guests create content, which fulfills the requirement for the podcast host to continually produce content.
"Maybe the podcast has a sponsor. So now the guest is helping them to produce that content. And as a result, they can now get that podcast sponsored.
"So from a value trade-off standpoint, a podcaster does have to be putting more work into preparation, and into making sure that the flow of the podcast is good, and high-quality for the listener," continues Eli, noting that the exception is if a podcaster is famous, then it's a privilege to be on their show.
Eli doesn't go onto podcasts expecting that he's going to get a consulting engagement out of it, or sell books.
"I'm going to do podcasts because I think it's interesting. And I like talking with interesting podcasters.
A guest may or may not get value, but it's not guaranteed.
What Does Good Preparation Look Like?
Every podcaster and guest has their own way of preparing. If you're producing a good show and aiming for top-notch guests, be grateful for their time and make guesting as easy as possible.
Hosts should read about an upcoming guest and their recent activities and achievements. Check out some of their recent blog posts. Listen to any previous podcast show appearances. Make an effort to come up with some really interesting questions that a host hasn't asked before.
Making an effort to dig a bit deeper can really pay off. Ask why, or what something might mean. Look for insights and actionable tips. If they've written a book, make an effort to read it.
At Podmotion we usually send through questions ahead of an interview, but that doesn't mean the interview has to be scripted. If there is an interesting digression that's relevant to the audience, we go for it.
For a guest, preparation means understanding the focus of the interview, listening to a show's previous episodes. If a host doesn't send any questions in advance, be sure ask what the focus of the interview will be. Send through your bio or a link to one, as well as any links you want in the show notes.
Find Eli on LinkedIn, at EliSchwartz.co, and ProductLedSEO.com.
Eli's favourite podcast guest appearance on the
Paul Mikhaylenko has a vision for podcasts, podcasters, and listeners. And it's all about real participation in shows, engagement, and community-building.
The industry expert is Founder and CEO of Listen App, and Director of Product at Trend Capital Holdings. Paul is also founder and CEO of Bloom, a CRM platform for freelancers.
Listen App is a place where podcasters can host podcast events and actually get questions and comments from their audience. This can content can be recorded and used as part of an upcoming episode, if the podcast host wants.
Listen App is also a podcast player app. It is available on Apple, with Android coming very soon.
Listen App means that a host can be interviewing a guest, while allowing an audience to listen in. A host can bring in audience members to ask questions. Listeners will have questions a host may not have considered that will actually bring tons of colour and insights.
"Listen App it fosters engagement, where it's not just this monologue that people are listening to, but they feel like the stage is open for engagement and participation, where their voices can be heard.
"We're creating a platform where podcaster can host events, and invite their listeners to join into the conversation like you would on Clubhouse. You'd record those conversations and edit them. Maybe somebody asked the question that you want to share with the rest of the listener group. And on the next episode, you include that interaction in there."
The Difficulty Of Building Podcast Communities
Part of the issue around creating podcasting communities is that it's a different medium from anything else that we've experienced on a mass scale. The only thing in audio that we've done before is radio.
"Even with radio, the most you can have in terms of listener engagement is call-ins, but you wouldn't have necessarily communities built around radio stations," Paul continues. "The thing about audio is that it's tapping into what you might call like the last frontier of human attention available, and it's a multitasking attention."
Most audio listeners are disengaged from their devices, and multitasking. They're receiving content in an input mode, where it's non-interactive versus if you're on a website.
Paul sees podcasting as the frontier of specific and tailored community engagement. "We have to understand all of the pieces of how podcasting is using audio, but also what are the types of content that actually require and would flourish with, you know, a community built around them?"
The Future Of Podcasting
With the power plays between the big tech giants, Paul thinks that many are trying to take advantage of podcasting, because it's under-monetized. A lot of tech companies are seeing opportunities for themselves.
He doesn't know if Facebook's entry into audio will be a good experience for podcast communities or not. With the Apple subscription piece, he notes that Apple still doesn't have an Android app. He advises creators to think twice before using Apple subscriptions. "Unless I knew that 90 percent of my users were Apple-only, because you're cutting off all your Android users from your premium offering that you're putting a lot of time into."
Paul envisions that a year from now the podcasting world will see a lot more exclusive and paid content, along with more monetization models.
"Podcasters need to be compensated for their work, and they need a way to feed their families and fund these projects. Right now, that doesn't exist. Our goal is to be facilitating that for podcasters who want to have communities. Our goal is to become the dominant player for that
Josh Steimle is an entrepreneur, author, and speaker. He is also the founder of Published Author, a business that works with entrepreneurs to help them write a book and get it published.
For Josh, podcasting is key to Published Author's content because the episodes get turned into a lot of content.
"It's not just the audio. We're also doing YouTube videos. The podcast content gets turned into show notes and transcripts. So we're getting blog posts out of it," explains Josh.
"There's not really anything else I can do where I sit down for an hour, I record something, and then I get all these different forms of content out of it that go on all these different channels.
If I write a blog post, it's just a blog post.
"So I'm getting multiple forms of content out of not that much time and not that much work on my behalf. Whereas anything else that I do, I'd have to pay more money, I'd have to spend more time. And I wouldn't get the coverage that I'm getting through the podcast."
Podcasts Provide Information That Helps Josh's Clients
The Published Author podcast is giving Josh an incredible amount of new knowledge and information to help with his client work.
"I'm winning in so many different ways from doing the podcast," Josh notes. "It's not just one thing, it's more like five or six ways that I'm winning, each one of which would be worth doing it by itself. But I'm getting six times the benefit!"
He explains: "When I meet with my clients, and they have a problem, and then I can say, 'I was just interviewing this best selling author for my podcast, and they went through a similar challenge. And here's what they did. And here's how it worked out for them'.
"That makes me look great to my client. My client looks at that and says, 'Wow, Josh knows these bestselling authors. And he gets to meet with all these people in the publishing industry.' So that increases my credibility, right there with that client. And of course, I'm giving the client good advice that I got from the guest. The client's winning because they're getting value that's been passed along to them. And I'm winning, because I look good to the client."
Emerging Trends And Patterns
Speaking to published entrepreneurs and other experts in every aspect of the book writing and publishing industry enables Josh to see trends and patterns.
"I see, oh, everybody seems to say this when I asked this question. And then I can take that to my clients and say, 'Hey, I've spoken to 10 experts. And here's what they all say. And I know that there's credibility behind that because of who the people are that I'm interviewing, in, because I'm getting a sample size to be able to say, 'Yeah, this is the way it works for pretty much everybody'."
Josh also explores:
You can find Josh on LinkedIn, at PublishedAuthor.com, and at JoshSteimle.com
This episode of the Podmotion podcast is brought to you by Podthreads.com, clothing and accessories for the podcast-obsessed and independent podcasters!
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Alain Hunkins published his book Cracking The Leadership Code on March 24, 2020 - the week the world went into lockdown.
A speaker and leadership coach, Alain had no choice but to promote his book virtually, and a key tactic was podcast interviews with shows in the U.S, Canada, and the U.K. In fact, Alain has done more than 130 interviews!
Without doubt, he's learned a great deal about what makes a good podcast show guest and what makes a good show host.
Here's a little preview of Alain's astute insights into the world the podcast show host-guest dynamic.
Alain says: "Some hosts have blown me away. They've read my book. They've had specific questions about things in the book, they've had things they wanted to challenge around that, where it's become a very spirited, lively conversation."
In contrast, some hosts won't go deep or explore, and the questions are very basic, stock questions. "Then I finished answering that question, and they have no follow up question to that. I feel like it's been a tick-box exercise.
"I'll make it work. I can do the best I can. But I look back on those interviews and think 'Really? I mean, is that it? Is that is that all we're doing here?'. Because it's so generic. And again, people want to hear that moment of insight.
"I can bring as much dynamism to my side of the table, but people prefer tennis matches where they're not one sided. We want the sense of we're hitting the ball back and forth over the net. It's much more interesting."
This is why Alain believes preparation is so important. As an example, Alain says when he trains leaders he always says the map is not the territory, so do all your preparation. As a show host, when you show up to interview people, be present, be in the moment, be curious.
In feedback to one host, Alain told them he'd had an amazing interview, and the host replied: "I'm curious, I actually want to interview and learn something in this hour. Otherwise, I feel like I'm wasting my time as a host."
In this conversation with Podmotion's Sheelagh Caygill, Alain discusses:
Find Alain online at AlainHunkins.com, and LinkedIn.
It's not often that podcast show producers open the doors to reveal everything about how they produce their show. Least of all successful entrepreneurs.
But Podmotion is fortunate to get Josh Steimle and Corey Blake to do just that.
Behind The Scenes With The Hope Strategy Podcast is a conversation between the hosts of the Hope Strategy Podcast - Josh and Corey. In this episode you'll hear about their podcasting philosophy, and learn how to produce better episodes.
Josh and Corey tell listeners about their aspirations for the Hope Strategy Podcast - and how they hope that if they can inspire just one person with their show, it'll make it worthwhile.
The two men share their origin story, how they found their grove as co-hosts, what kind of guests they seek, and the equipment they use.
They explain why research before an interview is so important, and how video recording an interview really helps hosts with responses to non-verbal cues - even if you don't plan to release the video.
And to weary podcasters who sometimes feel like all the hard work is in vain, hang in there! Josh notes that most podcasters don't make it past the first dozen or so episodes. So if you keep going, you'll be in a kind of elite group of podcasters!
If you haven't listened to the Hope Strategy Podcast yet, we highly recommend it. It features some amazing guests and very insightful interviews. Some of our favourites are include Kara Goldin, author of Undaunted, and Peter Kozodoy, author of Honest to Greatness, as well as the interviews with Josh and Corey.
Thanks to Josh and Corey for doing this interview for Podmotion!
If you want to share your Podcasting story in an episode of the Podmotion podcast, get in touch with us at podmotion.co.
Thanks for listening, and if you enjoy this episode, be sure to share it with a friend!
Links:
Follow the Hope Strategy Podcast on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Josh Steimle
Corey Blake
If you're a podcast host or do a lot of vocal work, it's always a good idea to warm-up your vocal cords, tongue, and muscles around the mouth.
In fact, professional announcers and narrators always warm-up before speaking to ensure their voice is ready and relaxed before recording.
In this week's Podmotion.co Podcast episode, we get some expert tips on vocal warm-up exercises from Podmotion team member Liam Morrison.
Liam is not only an audio and video editor, he's a professional narrator, voice over pro, singer, and actor.
Key tips from Liam include:
All these exercises are designed to ensure your voice is ready and has the right energy level to speak or record. And Liam explores the techniques fully in this episode.
Your discount and our Referral Program
Podmotion offers you a five percent discount on your first project with Podmotion. Simply mention that you are a newsletter subscriber to receive this offer when you are ready to use one of our services.
Podmotion has a Referral Program which gives referrers to Podmotion a kick-back. If you're interested in joining the Referral Program, contact us at [email protected] for details.
In this episode of the Podcast Production and Promotion Podcast we speak with Tyler McCune, a professional email newsletter writer in California.
Tyler owns Copy By McCune. He has an impressive roster of clients for whom he writes newsletters, and is also a content strategist and copywriter
Tyler and host Sheelagh Caygill speak about how to use email newsletters to help grow a smaller, independent podcast.
Tyler recommends beginning marketing with writing email newsletters, rather than focusing on long sales letters, which can be more complicated to develop.
Grow your brand
With email newsletters, it’s probably best not to start one off with the sole intention of growing your audience. For existing listeners, a newsletter can really activate those listeners and take them from being someone who simply listens to your show to someone who becomes a real fan of you and your brand.
Use a show to really engage to really engage your existing fans and overtime you will be positioning yourself as a thought leader. And of course, in each newsletter, you can ask your readers to share it with anyone who will be interested.
Getting email newsletter sign-ups
Heard of the ethical bribe? You want people to sign up to your e-mail newsletter list, right? this is where the ethical bride comes in. You give the potential newsletter to read something that they want. Here are some examples: a hidden podcast that only newsletter subscribers have access to, a free template, or an e-book. Choose the right lead magnet for your your listener. But for podcast fans, an audio file is a good choice, given that they already like podcasts.
You could use something that you once sold as a lead magnet. That allows you to put a value figure on the lead magnet.
Writing style
Your writing style will depend on your audience. Your style should come out of your personality, and usually most email newsletter writers tend to write a newsletter as though they are writing to a friend. However, this does take time, and for some writers it can take years to nail their persona.
Of course, this style doesn’t lend itself to every podcaster who gets into newsletter writing. It’s important to think to think about the persona you want. For some podcasters, they will want to be seen as thought leaders, an so that can mean including things like industry updates, as well as your own news.
Remember, it’s hard to compete with well-established thought leaders or marketers, so don’t try to compete with them. Go off script and focus on building a bond with your listeners. If you go along with the storytelling format, be sure to infuse your stories with meaning.
Promoting your newsletter on social media
Before you begin promoting your newsletter on social media, think about what you want in terms of the end result. Go back to your opt in or ethical bride and ensure it aligns with your end goal. Sell the benefit of subscribing - what’s in it for them?
To this end, Tyler recommends the book How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie - which gets readers to focus on thinking from another person’s perspective, and thinking about what makes them happy.
At the end of the day, if you keep the experience of writing fairly simple. Talk to your email newsletter readers as you would to a friend, or the way you talk to your podcast audience. If you do this, over time you will improve and people will like what you do.
Show notes:
Tyler's first interview with Sheelagh.
Marketing Bullets - by Gary Bencivenga.
Swiped - for control and test copy.
Find Tyler at
The podcast currently has 16 episodes available.