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- Podcasts Don't Work
I’ve personally recorded over 200 podcast episodes for Tech Nest, I’ve been a guest on other podcasts more than a dozen times, and I’ve booked founders of startups I’ve worked at on over 150 podcasts—all in the last few years. So you’d think I’m a believer in podcasts—I am. But at the same time, I have something I need you to know. Podcasts don’t work.
That’s kind of a weird thing for me to say. But now that I have your attention, let’s dive in further as to what I mean when I say, “Podcasts don’t work.”
Benefits of Podcasts
To start, here are a few benefits of podcasting:
Share your product to an engaged audience
Talk with your customers & create close relationships
Listen to customers tell you their pains, problems, and desires
Process and articulate product ideas
Create an audio & video archive of your company’s history, progress, and culture
Develop content to drive in-house training
Raise awareness of your product roadmap & future developments
Receive feedback from listeners of your show or interview
Create a sense of being the thing people are talking about
Further develop brand positioning, messaging, and relevance
Generate traffic, leads, and sales
“How can you say podcasts don’t work if you can get all of those benefits from doing podcasts?”
I thought you’d never ask…
You Have to Work Podcasts
Podcasts are an active activity. Shows are written. Hosts and guests are researched. Sharable clips are created. Transcripts are used to write internal training documents, extract customer insights, and publish long-form written content.
Podcasts are a medium you must be prepared to put in work, consistently, if you want to generate and extract value from them.
Too often the value is missed or under-realized.
I know this because I see the different treatments my interviews receive from companies. Now I want to preface—I can not offer a genuine criticism of any one company and how they treat the interviews I conduct because I don’t know their objectives, capacity, and resources.
What I can say, however, is some companies and founders get far more out of the show I produce than others. Some take the audio and make sharable clips. I’ve seen a few post their own blog posts following an appearance on Tech Nest. Almost all at least share the interview to their social profiles.
But this is all just the tip.
How I’d Run Your Podcast Efforts
Without knowing your exact business needs at this moment, I can’t possibly create the perfect podcast plan for you. However, I’m going to lay out an example podcast plan you can use exactly or you can modify to fit your needs and capacity.
For the sake of this exercise, we’ll assume you’re wanting to do a podcast tour. The purpose of your tour is to get influential people within relevant circles talking about your product—making it part of the conversation amongst industry incumbents. You’re also looking to generate traffic and marketing leads from this tour. Finally, this effort should help you build out your affiliate program for ongoing marketing benefit.
Documents needed
Founder media package
Bio
Headshots (horizontal, square, vertical)
Prepared quotes on the why of your business
Founder social media links
Company media package
Logos (dark, light, full-color, svg, png)
Product mockup images (square, horizontal, vertical, svg, png)
Company description
Brief company founding story
Key talking points to help guide any conversation
KPIs, case studies, testimonials, benchmarks to be included
List of strategic or notable investors and partnerships
Company social media links
Website
Key articles, news announcements, or other relevant links
Pre-recording notes & research document
Background on the host
Background on the show
Example recent episodes of the show to listen to (2-3)
During-recording plan
Talking points for you
Questions for host
Responses to potential questions from host
Script for thanking host with three requests (in this order)
Who do they know that podcasts that you should do an episode with?
Is there anything you can do for the host?
Inquire to their interest in your affiliate program and/or future sponsorship opportunities
Post-recording promotion plan
Audio & video content creation
Social media content creation
Blog content creation
Gift & follow up plan
Type of gift to send host
Specify time to send
Podcast research & market sheet
List of at least 100 podcasts
Categorized
Links to relevant social
Email of host
Host name
Link to website
Status
Pitched, rejected, scheduled, recorded, published, canceled
Link to published episode
Outreach plan
3 sample pitches
Sharable links to relevant info & media packages for hosts
Calendly link (incase host doesn’t use one)
Recording equipment checklist
Headphones
External mic
Lighting
Support needed
Note: Similar to how The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It would advise you to list all the necessary roles, that’s what I’m doing here. You won’t need this many unique people, but these are some of the roles you’ll need to fill:
Campaign manager
Outreach coordinator
Show researcher
Scheduling coordinator
Show follow-up coordinator
Content creator
Blog content writer
Social media writer
Media creation
Content scheduler
Blog & social posts
Social re-posts
Company communications
Pre-show SOP
Listen to 2-3 episodes of the show
Using the Pre-recording notes & research document:
Prep notes about the host
Prep talking points important to you
Prep talking points specific to the show
Prep questions for the host
Prep answers to likely questions during show
Have post-record script ready
Have your recording set up prepped
Review equipment checklist
Lighting works
Headphones work
If Bluetooth, they are fully charged
External mic works
If Bluetooth, it’s fully charged
Internet is stable & high-speed
During-recording SOP
Have a glass of water handy
Turn all devices to ‘Do not disturb’ mode
Stick to your notes
Be prepared to steer questions back to relevant talking points
Be in a quiet place
Be in a location with high-speed, stable internet
Use headphones & external microphone when possible
Be in a setting with good lighting for when video is recorded
Execute your 3 requests immediately after recording as detailed in your During-recording plan
Post-recording SOP
Update your podcast research sheet
Note the episode was recorded
Add the published link when episode goes live
Send a follow-up email thanking the host
Request estimated publish date & a heads up notice
Offer to send a gift and request their address
Gift can be branded swag, a treat, or something small to create a more memorable experience & build a relationship
Execute promotion plan
Create all media & content
Blog, social, email, & video
Schedule for posting once episode goes live
Blog, social, email, & video
Tag host & show
Repost host & show original posts
Share relevant links internally & encourage engagement
If relevant, add podcast interview to internal onboarding or training regiments
It’s All Active
Generally, most marketing is very active. I hope you can see how much goes into a podcast plan and how the podcast recording (where most people place the majority of the focus) is only a small piece of the whole puzzle.
You must WORK podcasts—they won’t do the work for you.
With everything, there are exceptions (go be a guest on My First Million and you can probably skip a lot of this and see results). However, for most podcasts out there that reach modest, but engaged audiences, you’ll need to do the work to get the full value out of your podcast tour efforts.
Podcasts can be a powerful channel to add to your mix. If you want to discuss this more, shoot me a reply—I’d love to hear your thoughts.
BREAKING NEWS
“WeWork said Monday it will shed $4 billion in debt and get $450 million in new financing to get out of bankruptcy without being sold to its co-founder and former CEO…the architect of its spectacular rise and fall.
The deal must still be approved by WeWork’s creditors, Bloomberg reported.
Of the new money, $337 million will come from tech company Yardi Systems and $112 million from bondholders. Yardi has been working with WeWork for a while.”
Read in full on TheRealDeal
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I promise you, discussing security deposits isn't as boring as it may seem. This week, I'm joined by Conor Brennan, Co-founder of Rentable, a security deposit management platform for residential real estate. He shares about the pain points of security deposits, including the legal challenges and outdated processes. We dig into the importance of integrations and Rentable's focus on cash deposits.
Conor shares how Rentable offers flexible payment options for deposits and highlights the ideal customers for their platform. You'll hear Conor explain further more about the inefficiencies of traditional security deposit processes and the time and cost savings that can be achieved through improved technology. He highlights the importance of educating property managers on these benefits and addressing pain points such as returned checks and new legislation. We also get into Rentable's go-to-market strategy of targeting the mid-market for adoption and the key value props of using Rentable.
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