Snuffing Out Podcast Bullsh*t with Lumavate's Stephanie Cox and Michelle Lawrence

Lindsay Tjepkema: Welcome to our new show, the Amplified Marketing Podcast, where we get into the challenges that content marketers face and look through the brands that are already knocking down obstacles and raising the quality of their content with a little something called amplified marketing. It's what we've preached here at Casted, from the very beginning, how to create the most meaningful content and then get the most traction from that content by ringing it out across all the channels. These interviews for our first session were recorded as part of a special event to officially kickstart this new approach to content marketing. We dive in into the components of amplified marketing, strategies that work best, and we reveal just how much of an impact that this new approach can have on your business. But we also explore all the ways that amplified marketing makes life easier and more efficient for the content marketers out there that are struggling to be creative and relevant and cut through all the noise. This is where the real change begins. I'm Lindsay Tjepkema CEO and co- founder of Casted, the first and the only amplified marketing platform made specifically for B2B marketers, and this is our podcast. When we talk about amplified marketing, you're going to hear audio and video content a lot. And for good reason, things like webinars, video series, and yes, even podcasts are all filled with some of the richest expert- driven content that you can find out in the world. This kind of content is truly poised to be re- used, repurposed, rung out across all channels, but when it comes to podcasting specifically, there seems to be a lot of perceptions about what podcasting is, what it isn't. And my guests today are here to put their own cards on the table and discuss the myths and misconceptions about podcasting that they believe might be holding brands back from expanding into this powerful channel. In this special session, from our amplified event, Lumavate's president and host of Real Marketers podcast, which is so good you guys, Stephanie Cox and senior marketing specialist Michelle Lawrence, share their thoughts on how a podcast fits in with the overall marketing strategy. And you probably won't be surprised to learn that they also know from personal experience how a podcast can actually fuel your content strategy and make it easier to amplify your content, to feed all your other channels. So let's jump in, shall we? And learn where Stephanie and Michelle fall on the whole, what podcasting is and isn't debate, and also take away some practical tips that you're really going to love and advice that will help you embrace audio content and get started with amplified marketing. Just really what it's all about, right?

Stephanie Cox: There are literally so many of them and who knows how they even start or why so many marketers just keep following them. Well, we're here to stop the insanity and tell the truth about the five biggest podcast myths. Buckle up, you're about to hear a lot of hot takes. Let's snuff out the biggest myth of them all, that your CEO has to be your podcast host. Where do I even begin? There is an assumption, and I think it's wrong that your CEO has to be your podcast host. And sometimes that's going to make sense for your show. And sometimes it, it just doesn't. So what actually makes a good host? Here's how I recommend thinking about it. There are three simple things to consider when choosing the best host for your show. First, the person has to enjoy talking to people. I know that sounds silly, but it's so important. That doesn't mean they have to be an extrovert, but they need to know how to have an engaging conversation. Second, they need to know how to listen. Especially if you're a show's interview style. The guest should be doing the majority of the tall while the host guides the conversation. And that can be really hard for people who are used to being the center of attention. Your host should not be the center of attention ever. Third, they have to be passionate about the topic of your show. And I mean, really passionate. Your audience can see through the BS. So your host has to be the number one fan of the topic, and last, but definitely not least your host needs high energy. I might even call it cheerleader style, but that doesn't mean they can come across fake. They need to be upbeat when they talk to guests to keep the audience engaged, especially if your show's 10 to 15 minutes or longer, because listeners tend to gravitate towards hosts who have high energy, allow them to walk away, feeling enthused about what they just, heard versus hosts who are more laid back. That's it, four simple criteria for finding the best host for your show. Sometimes it may be the CEO and sometimes it's not, but for your podcast to be successful, it has to be someone who fits these criteria regardless of their title.

Michelle: So this next myth, I think is one of the most commonly believed myths out there around podcasting. And it's that there's a podcast for everything and you'll never be able to cut through the noise. So it is true, there's a ton of podcasts out there. I think we're up to around two million shows at this point, which that's a lot of content, but if you something different with your show, the right audience will find you. But this doesn't mean you have to come up with something radically different. This doesn't mean you have to come up with a new format that no one's ever done before. In fact, some of the best marketing is iterations on things already done. The reason why they're memorable is because they take a different spin on them. I mean, just look at how many true crime podcasts are out there in the world. The reason why those shows make the top 10, or the top 20 lists each week is because their hosts do something different with their content. So when you first start a show, you need to ask yourself a couple questions before you press record on your first episode. The first one is, who is your show for? Spoiler alert, your show isn't going to be for everyone. Even if you are targeting a really broad audience, you have to get very specific on things like the first personality traits of your audience. If you have a B2B show, it's maybe looking at different job titles that are associated with your audience, it's maybe looking at things that they're interested in, in their career, or things they want to learn about. So things like that. The next one that you have to ask yourself is why will your audience care? Why is your audience going to sit down 30, 40 minutes each week and listen to your content? What unique perspective are you bringing to the table with your show? Finally, you have to ask yourself, why do you care? Why are you starting a show? If your answer is well, everyone else is doing it, you need a better reason to start a podcast. So this is kind of how we thought about our show Real Marketers. It was in the very beginning of the pandemic. Everyone had a webinar, or everyone had a fireside chat. And quite frankly, we were feeling kind of burnt out from it, but we were still seeking that sense of community associated with these type of events. So we took a look at our podcast and then thought about what we could change up there. We took a look at the type of marketers that we were. We took a look at what things were important to us, what we would want to get out of a show personally. And that's where this idea of Real Marketers kind of blossomed. So we rebranded the show to Real Marketers. After we launched our first episode, we saw an influx of our listeners writing into us, telling us how much the show's theme really resonated with us, or with them. And I think it's because at the time, no one was really talking about how hard marketing was social media. No one was really talking about their failures so others could learn. And the show was really all about getting stuff done, which I think resonated with a lot of folks. And so finally, if you don't want your show to kind of fall into the background noise, you have to switch things up. And in fact, we actually recommend it. So a few ways you can switch up and freshen up your show is introducing different segments, bringing in a guest host, testing out the length of different episodes. Maybe try testing out if a shorter episode, since we all know things, thanks to things like TikTok, that our attention spans are decreasing by the day. Another thing you can do is switch up the questions you ask guests, or freshen up your intro, or outro. So whether that's testing out new intro music, or new outro music, whether it's kind of adding a little recap from the host at the end of each episode, trying new things like that might make your content feel a little bit fresher.

Stephanie Cox: This is one of my favorite myths to bust, podcasting takes time and effort, but I wouldn't really say it's hard. Now don't get me wrong having a podcast takes a lot of work, a lot of work, but I wouldn't call it hard. Anyone can put together a killer podcast if they have the right strategy and put forth a time and effort. Let me explain. First, you need to have an actual purpose for your show. There are more than two million podcasts, which means you've got to do your homework. You need to take the topic you've initially identified for the show and start researching what else is out there? There are podcasts that already exist on that topic. Once you've found them, you need to start listening to their episodes. What's the flavor of their show? What's their show flow? What guests do they have on? All of those things are really important. From there think about how your show can be different and focus on creating a show that isn't like anything else out there, because guess what? If it already exists, why create something new? Number two, spend time on your show flow. Now I'll admit this one, I had no idea what a show flow was when I first started the podcast journey, and it wasn't until I actually got into the production of my own show that I realized how important it was. Show flow can make or break your podcast. Think about your own experiences as a consumer. Have you ever stopped listening to a podcast episode, or stopped watching a TV show because there's been a weird lull in it. You're 10 to 15 minutes in and all of a sudden you're bored. Well, that can happen in a podcast. And that's why structure and flow of your content matter a lot. And you need to spend the time up front to get it right. Number three, make the ask. This one will feel uncomfortable, it did for me at first, but it works, trust me. Create a list of your dream podcast hosts, guests. The people that you would love to have on as a host, the ones that would just be so great to have, then reach out to them and ask. It's really that simple. It's how I got leaders from brands such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Crayola, Campbell Soup, MGM Resorts, and more to be on our show. I just reached out and I asked. Four, promote like crazy. Promote all the time, using different channels and different pieces of content from your episode, Michelle's going to talk about this in more detail. And I can't emphasize enough how important promoting the content from your show is.

Michelle: This next myth is one of my favorite ones to debunk around podcasting. And it's that you can only market podcast content a couple weeks after that episode is released. Raise your hand if your to- do list is a million miles long. In the past year and a half or so, our work day has actually increased about two and a half hours. Since a lot of us are still working from home. You tackle that on top of our already busy personal lives, and it can be hard to get to everything on your to- do list. As much as we wake up each day with the best intentions of getting to everything on our to- do list, even the things that we want to do, we know that doesn't always happen. We actually ran a poll on LinkedIn the other day, asking people when they sneak in time to listen to their favorite podcast episodes. Before a year and a half ago, I would've told you that during my commute, would've been the top answer because it's when I used to listen to podcasts but as many of us are still not commuting to work, we're having to find times in our day to sneak in our favorite episodes, which can be a challenge. So keep promoting your older episodes. There's always going to be someone who hasn't had the chance to fit it into their days yet. Promoting older podcast episodes goes beyond posting a link to LinkedIn, or Twitter. One of my favorite ways to promote older pieces of content is through the use of an ebook. We actually did this recently with Real Marketers, we actually hit our 100th episode a few months ago. And so we compiled our favorite lessons that we've learned along the way into a giant ebook. And to give you an idea of the results that we've seen from this ebook since only launching in a couple months ago, one episode actually had a 200% increase in listens when compared to the three months period prior. And there are a ton of ways to promote older pieces of content besides an ebook. One of my favorite ways to do it is also through our tried and true blog posts. So this can mean either creating a summary of each episode, or it could be compiling multiple episodes and doing kind of a themed blog post. You can create highly visual to post on Twitter or Instagram and get your team members to share too. Or this could be creating a little mini video series, where you either take flips of a part particular episode and make it a little video, or you can get the host, or another team member to compile their favorite parts of an episode, almost like a highlight reel. So unless you're talking about the news, or another time sensitive topic, your content is most likely going to be evergreen to your audience. There's always going to be someone who hasn't had the chance to listen to an episode yet. So keep promoting older pieces of content.

Stephanie Cox: No, absolutely not. Let's talk about why this is the biggest myth of them all. Where do I even begin? How about the most obvious place? Can someone please explain to me where the lead capture is for podcasts? Spoiler alert, there isn't one. You can't think of podcasts as a typical demand gen channel because it's not. This doesn't mean it can't influence pipeline or revenue, it just means that you have to think about it differently. And that starts with how you position it internally. Your podcast should be about growing and building your brand and positioning your company and the host of your show as an expert on the topic it's about. It's about putting your company name... especially if your company that's in growth mode, next to other large brands, by having them on as guess of your show. It's about generating buzz in the industry for the show and you'll know that happens when well known leaders start reaching out to you about being a guest on your show versus the other way around. But here's the thing, that is an opinion that show up on a dashboard. All of these things are intangibles. I'm not saying that you shouldn't measure your podcast by metrics. You, should. You should look at podcast metrics, but they don't tell the whole story about the value you get from having the show. It's so much bigger than just the metrics and it's important that you position it that way from the start. So everyone internally understands what your podcast is really about, and doesn't ask you where the leads are from it.

Lindsay Tjepkema: And that's our show. Thanks so much for listening and for watching and to hear more of the content marketing discussions that Stephanie and Michelle are having, with all the time with their guests, make sure to visit lumavate. com and check out their show, Real Marketers so good. And to learn more about Casted and how we can help you, visit casted. us and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter, to be the first, to get information about all things, amplified marketing, audio and video podcasting and everything in between.