Month: November 2020

Taking A Break From Your Podcast

by

It’s that time of year when people who work in ‘normal’ jobs talk about the time that they’re taking off - whether it’s for Thanksgiving in the US, or Christmas in many places - or any of the other myriad holidays that occur across the globe.

But does that mean you should take a break from your podcast?

As with almost everything else we talk about on this podcast - it all depends…

First of all, it depends on your availability, your commitment - your time. What are you plans? Are you able to take your setup with you? Do you want to take your setup with you?

Are you co-hosts available, and do they want to take time out of their celebrations? All of these things could help you make your decision.

Secondly, it depends on your content.

If you have what is referred to as a Hobby Podcast - this is generally people talking about their hobbies, likes, lifestyles etc, for the pure joy of talking about them - then you are in a better position to carry on, if you want to.

However, if it’s a business-based podcast, then you should look at resting it over Christmas.

People want to take a break - and SHOULD take a break over the festive season.

Also, from our experience, downloads and listening figures for business-based podcasts take a little dip towards the end of the year.

This is also one of those times when we would say it’s okay to think about yourself.

As you’ll know from other articles on this site, we’ve been very much in favour of thinking of the listeners - and you shouldn’t move too far away from that thinking - but if you are in need of a break, take it.

The listeners shouldn’t be an excuse for you keeping going over the festive period with something that you need a break from. Listeners can pick up on stuff that you're not full committed to - and it doesn't make for a good listen.

It's also worth pointing out that this advice doesn't just apply to the End-Of-Year festivities that occur across the globe - it also applies to things like Summer Holidays and trips away.

The one thing we will say with some sense of the definite is that, if you ARE going to take a break - don’t forget to let the listeners know. Keep them informed.

The penultimate episode before the break, make a brief mention of it then, post about it a couple of times on social media - and mention it in more detail on the final episode before the break.

Whenever you do mention it, keep in mind the fans of the podcast, by giving them a definite return date.

Something like this ‘Okay, the podcast is taking a bit of a rest for the next couple of weeks, but we’ll have a brand new episode on January 9th!’. Of course, that's just an example. Bring your own delivery and personality to it.

If your podcast has got a healthy, loyal following - don’t worry, they’ll still be around when you come back.

Don’t forget to schedule some social media posts whilst there is no new content coming out - reminding people of the great content that you’ve produced in the past.

Finally, keep in mind that so many people will be getting devices for listening to podcasts on for the first time at Christmas, so there’s a whole load of new listeners out there, looking for something to start listening to!

So, schedule those post - remember to include links - and then leave it all to run itself while you take a well-deserved break.

Remember to send us a postcard!

If you want to talk more about how we can help you and your podcast, click here and let's start talking.

Reviving Your Podcast

by

We’ve had a couple of people talk about this to me recently, so we thought that we should do an article about it - because if they’re talking about it, then chances are that a few other people are too!

So, this is the scenario: You started a podcast a few months or even years ago - but you stopped. For whatever reason; you got a cat, Stranger Things started on Netflix or something shiny flew past your window. Whatever it was, you stopped and you’ve only just got round to the idea of starting again.

Now, in the meantime your original podcast is still ‘out there’ in the podcasting void. Still on a podcast platform like Apple or Spotify. Still able to be found and listened to - you’ve just not created any new content for it in months.

So - what’s the plan? Are you thinking of creating new content, or just picking up where you left off? If its new content, could it be considered a brand new podcast? We only offer that as an option because it might be something that the audience you’ve built up with the old podcast might not be into what you’re offering this time around. 

Also, a brand new podcast is the chance to refresh, rebrand, learn from the lessons that you gained from the first podcast. With a new podcast there is no embarrassing early episodes where you were just learning your craft, finding your way…

The flip side to starting a brand new podcast, rather than reviving your old one, is that, with the old one, you’ve got an audience that knows you, had made a connection with you.

Many of those subscribers or followers will STILL be subscribed or following you - so they’ll be pleasantly surprised when a new episode drops on their device. For that reason, then you should just carry on adding episodes to your old podcast.

BUT - and it’s a big butt and we cannot lie - if your new content differs from your old podcast, then you really aren’t looking at a revival, you’re looking at a relaunch. You’ve got to think about starting again from the beginning - new logo, new music etc.

That’s because, and we're going back to something we’ve said a couple of times before - listeners love spontaneity, but they don’t like surprises.

What that means is they love it when you bring on an unexpected guest, or something similar - but they don’t like it when you change the format without warning, or just stop creating new episodes…

So if the idea of “reviving your podcast” is actually based around a lot of new content - then we'd ask you to think about NOT reviving, but relaunching.

If you do go ahead and revive, so add new episodes onto your old podcast - explain what’s been going on.

Don’t just start your new episode as though nothing has happened. 

You wouldn’t treat your friends and family with that level of disrespect would you? So, why do it to a group of people that you want to respect you?

We're not saying that you have to go into every little detail as to why you stopped creating content, and why you’re starting again now - just don’t pretend that nothing has happened.

Something that we were asked the other day in a network meeting was whether or not there is some kind of time limit on reviving your podcast - we honestly don’t think that there is. 

The only thing we will say is that the longer it has been since your last episode, the more you’re going to have to shout about any new content you create.

And that loops back to the earlier point that there is a tipping point where launching a brand new podcast is probably going to be the better option. If the amount of effort you’re having to put in to revive your podcast is more than it would take to launch a brand new one - you might as well launch a brand new one.

If you'd like to talk more about your podcast - whether it's a revive or a relaunch, then you can book in for a chat here

Recording Your Podcast Remotely

by

Because of what is going on in the world at the moment, podcasters - well, everyone really - have had to find new ways of doing that they were doing before, or some version of it.

Now, we realise that restrictions are different in different parts of the world, so we're working on the assumption that you can’t close to people, and that being in the same place indoors just isn’t an option.

Okay - so how do we go about it? What should we use? What is out there for us?

Well, there’s a lot. You’ve got zoom - obviously, you’ve got Microsoft Teams, Skype, Zencastr, Camflare….. there’s almost too many to list here.

So, let’s start at the beginning. What is it you need?

Well, before we get to the actual physical side of what you need, we should look at just what it is you’re after from your episode.

We're guessing that you’re looking at maintaining the same level of quality that you’ve had over the previous episodes. You don’t want to have to explain to the listeners why the quality has dropped significantly, even though podcast listeners have been more forgiving during the pandemic. 

They understand that not everyone can afford a couple of podcast setups - one for them, and one for their remote guest.

So - you want to make it sound just as good, or as near as dammit, to what you do originally.

You’ll have your microphone - if you don’t, go and read this piece about choosing a microphone - so now it’s all about your guest.

Do they have a microphone? Ideally, you don’t want them to use any kind of built-in microphone, whether it’s the one in their tablet, laptop or - shudder - their phone. That’s just not going to sound good. 

Ideally, they should have an external microphone. That means that they will sound better, which will make your podcast sound better.

We do know some podcasters that have a spare microphone that they post - or drive if it’s close enough - to the guest so that they will sound in quality.

So, what about the programs that we mentioned earlier - Zoom, Teams etc - are they the best things to use?

If you want to record your podcast on Zoom or Teams, then you can - there’s no problem with that. 

The difference is WHERE things are recorded.

That’s because if you record everything at your end, you’ll get your voice in quality, but your guest will be recorded over the internet - and we all know how reliable that can be!

So, you could have an episode where you sound great, but your guest is buffering….

The safest way to record remotely is to have all points recording remotely too. So, this is the setup that we use for a couple of my clients podcasts. 

The host AND the guest are recording on their own devices. If it’s a Mac, then you can use GarageBand, but ideally we'd want everyone to be using Audacity. Then, they can talk over zoom, Teams, Sky - even the phone if you want! 

That’s because the SOURCE recording will be in quality. Of course, any conscientious podcast producer would ALSO be recording the phone recording too - just in case.

You will also have to produce some instructions to give to your guests, so that they know what they need to do to record, how they can check everything and, more importantly, how they will get the recording to you after the interview has finished.

Of course, this also applies if you only have a podcast with your co-host, or co-hostS - everyone should try and record the podcast at source.

Some of the websites that are out there at the moment - Zencastr and CamFlare are two that we've used in the past, do just that - they record everyone at source - but then there is a cost involved in that, when the process that we've listed above is completely free.

Then, once the recording is done, you just get them to either send you the file using something like WeTransfer, or you get them to put their recording into DropBox or whatever.

Is it more work? Yes. Is it complicated? It can be for some - but if you want a good quality product, isn’t it worth going that little extra mile to achieve it?