What If Podcasting Was A Sport? Have You Been To Training Camp?
Because of My Podcast: AVeteran Got a Home
Robert Kerns produces the Livingthe Vet life. He had a mortgage specialist on his show. He wascontacted by someone in another state (again, podcasting is global)and the mortgage specialist was able to get the listener in contactwith another specialist and the veteran was able to get his loanwith a special VA Home Loan rate. None of this would have happened,but it did because of hist podcast. Check out Rob at livingthevetlife.com
If Podcasting Was ASport.
I live in Cleveland. A fairlyfamous sports town. Famous, for not quite being goodenough.
We were 1 pitch away from winningthe world series.
Two yards away from going to theSuper Bowl.
Over the years the ClevelandBrowns Football team has taken over leading the pack of bad sportsteams in Cleveland. Every few years we fire our coaches and theirstaffs. Our players get suspended. Our coaches stink when they arehere, we fire them, and they win mutliple super bowls.
What does this have to do withpodcasting? Stick with me.
In 2014 after having a miserableyear the owners of the Cleveland Browns decided to work on thestadium. They installed:
Massive, uniquely shaped videoboards,
Escalators that helped eliminatecongestion
and a cranked-up audiosystem
The quote was they hoped theseitems "Improved the fan experience."
The next year they added moreconcessions and better lighting. The cost over two years? $125million
Again they stated they wanted an"improved fan experience."
The best way to improve the fanexperience is to put a WINNING FOOTBALL TEAM TOGETHER. The last twoyears our combined record is 11-21.
HOW DOES THIS APPLY TOPODCASTING?
At the core of the stadium is theteam. A team we come to root for, and a team we expect to win. Whenthey win, the fans brave insane temperatures to pack the stadium inthe winter. Everyone is talking about the game on Monday morning.When the team stinks, they don't. I don't care if I can take anescalator to my seat. If the team has no shot at winning, I'm notgoing. I'm not watching from home, and nobody is talking about itat work, because it is horrible.
Well, we see people investing ina better microphone (when their original microphone was fine). Theyinvest in a new theme for their website (that most of theiraudience never visits). They switch email list providers. Theyswitch media hosting companies. They get a new player for theirwebsite. In a sense they are sprucing up the stadium of a losingteam.
They need to put a winning teamon the field. They need to create content that will impact theiraudience. We need to focus on our audience, that leads to greatcontent, and the finally we need to promote that content (andhopefully get our audience to promote it as well).
How Do Sports Teams GetBetter?
Theyprepare.
They watch film of both theiropponent as well as watch tapes of their own games and look formistakes they made to help avoid them.
TheyListen
Good players are open tofeedback. They listen to their coaches. They listen to their fellowplayers. They have a mindset of constant improvement. They mighttake a week off when the season is over, but then it is back to thegym to prepare for next season
They Trade Players ThatDidn't Work
When a player doesn't meetexpectations (Johnny Manzel in my case) and you gave him a chance,you cut your losses.
They Bring in A NewSet of Eyes
Tiger Woods has had numerouscoaches over the years. The Browns hired a guy from BASEBALL whohas a completely new perspective and strategy on choosingplayers.
How Do Podcasters GetBetter?
TheyPrepare
They Prepare. They think aboutwhat they want to say before they hit record. I am writing thesenotes way before I press record (it's the way I do it, and I find Iget better content). They listen to other podcasts. Not to rip offthe content, examine why a show works (and what they can learn fromit) and what doesn't work (and how they can avoid it). Realize thisis all subjective, but if you don't improve, and your show'scontent does not inspire people to come back and listen again, yourshow will die.
TheyListen
They form a "Focus group" oflisteners who are not afraid to give constructive feedback, or theytake the time to think through a negative comment to see if thereis any Merritt to it.
They Lose Segments ThatDon't Resonate.I once had a segment where I wouldask the audience to listen to three episodes before unsubscribing.Not a bad idea (I borrowed it from radio talk show host Jim Rome).I made a jingle for it, and it really annoyed a listener. I alsostarted branding myself as an "Acquired taste." In the end, Ididn't want to be someone you had to force down to consume. Idropped the segment. I also at one point started spotlighting myback catalog with a "This day in School of Podcasting History."There was only one problem. It bored me.
You Bring in a New Set ofEars
I get hired by people to consulton their show. Why? Because I have a fresh set of ears, and I alsohave an experienced set of ears. I also want you help to bring outthe best parts of your show, and tweak those parts that aren'tworking. Now there are times when I'm not your target audience, butI can still spot things that you are missing because you're tooclose to see it. See podcastreviewshow.com
Focus and Dedication isKey to a Long Career in Podcasting
Johnny Manzel had talent, but nofocus or discipline> Johnny focused on the money. Not servinghis audience (the fans).
Josh Gordon was suspended in hisCollege Days for Marijuana, and that continues as a pro. He's beensuspended three times (at least) He doesn't get the bigpicture.
Wide Receiver for the PittsburghSteelers was suspended without pay because of a failed drug test.His second suspension for the same problem.
You have to stay focused makinggreat content, and looking for smart opportunities to promote yourshow and create strategic partners.
A Key Point About Makingit Into the Pros
According to a Googlesearch:
NCAA senior players drafted by anNFL team: About one in 50, or 2.0 percent. High school seniorplayers eventually drafted by an NFL team: About nine in 10,000, or0.09 percent.
NCAA senior players drafted by anNBA team: Less than one in 75, or 1.3 percent. -- High schoolsenior players eventually drafted by an NBA team: About three in10,000, or 0.03 percent
Less than eleven in 100, or about10.5 percent, of NCAA senior male baseball players will get draftedby a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Approximately one in 200, orapproximately 0.5 percent of high school senior boys playinginterscholastic baseball will eventually be drafted by an MLBteam.
only 132 out of those 22,000 madeit into the top feeder leagues for the NHL (.6%). Of those 132players, only 7 played in the NHL. .0312%
Those are astonishingnumbers.
These are people who have beenplaying the game all their life.
Number of podcasters who getenough downloads to get a "big" advertiser: 8% (source Rob fromLibsyn.com). (You can make a good living with smaller sponsors seeGlenn Hebert Interview)
SpecialThanks
Thanks to Kim for playing thepart of the female reporter in the skit today. Kim does theToastmasters 101 podcast at toastmasters101.net
Podcast Conferences WhereI Will Be Speaking
PodcastMovement – Chicago – July 6-8 Use coupon (sop40)
Podcast Success Summit – Online May 16th June9th
PodcastMidAtltantic – NJ – September 9 -10th
Great Notes From TimFerris
His goal is to not make money,but build his relationship with his audience. In this article he says:
"I want to convert casuallisteners into die-hard, fervent listeners, and I want to convertcasual sponsors into die-hard, fervent sponsors. This requires twothings: 1) Playing the long game, and 2) Strategically leaving somechips on the table. As a mentor once told me, “You can shear asheep many times, but you can skin him only once.”"
Later he added:
Novice podcasters (which Iwas) and bloggers get too distracted in nascent stages withmonetization. In the first 3-9 months, you should be honing yourcraft and putting out increasingly better work.
The recording gear is betterand cheaper every year. It’s extremely easy for me to travel with asmall recording studio in my backpack. If you’re on a budget, evenan iPhone will do, but–bang for the buck–the ATR-2100 is hard tobeat.
My mantra for gear isborrowed from my podcast with Morgan Spurlock: “Once you get fancy,fancy gets broken.” Keep it simple.
Simple Can beAstounding
Here are some songs that areincredibly simple.
Who Made Who by AC/DC The first15 seconds are one note, and one chord.
Lick it Up by Kiss- Most of thisconsists of two chords and one note on the bass.
Turn Me Loose - Loverboy - Thebeginning of this song is one chord and some hi-hat hits
And yet, when I was a young boy,people would run -not walk - to the dance floor to "get their jamon."
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