Speaker 0 00:00:00 Welcome back to audience. A Casto original experience broadcasting from the center of your audio universe, where the most creative podcasters find their
[email protected]. Press play right here in your podcast player every week. It's like a cheat sheet for marketing monetizing and growing your podcast. So good. You'll want to share casto.com/audience with your closest friends. Okay. Audience starts. Now today's episode is about, well, me dissecting a recent podcast, Tim Ferris published on his show. The Tim Ferris show titled how I built the Tim Ferris show to 700 plus million downloads in immersive explanation of all aspects and key decisions featuring guest interviewer, Chris Hutchins. Now, look, I know some of you hearing yet another example from Tim Ferris is like, I can't believe they bulldozed that 200 year old building and put up about dunking donuts, but I'm willing to put, pull a few pointers from someone that should be hitting a billion downloads in the not so distant future.
Speaker 0 00:00:55 And look, the episode was more than three hours long, and if you want to save some time, I pulled out the 10 best tips that I think will resonate with you most, if you do fancy listen to the whole thing, he does have the guest interviewer, Chris Hutchins. So there's some solace. If you do decide to hit play, okay, here's how it'll work. I'll play 10 clips, one at a time which will set the context and then I'll provide some additional color for what I think you should take away from that tip. All right, tip number one, podcasting is not dead.
Speaker 1 00:01:22 So when I launched in 2014, I should also say there were people who said to me, that ship is sailed. It's too late. There's no point doing a podcast in 2014. So I think they were wrong then. And the people who say that now, I also think are wrong.
Speaker 0 00:01:39 I wanted to lead with this clip for any doubters in the audience and my bias. Sure. This is a podcast from a podcast hosting company after all, but this industry is still booming. Podcasting. Isn't the flashiest of content technologies. But as you heard Tim say, there's still a massive amount of opportunity here where folks get discouraged in podcasting is the sheer amount of podcast available 4 million. Plus if you're
[email protected], but a few things to remember, number one, there aren't 4 million active podcasts. In fact, there's less than 1,000,002. When people say we don't need another podcast. What they're really saying is we don't need another of the same type of podcast. This is where the opportunity lies for your podcast to be different. An art not cover art that is unique to you and your style. Okay. Tip two. Podcasting is a full body. Check-in
Speaker 1 00:02:26 Like you could have on paper the best investment of all time, but if you're waking up anxious and having trouble going to sleep, it's probably not a good investment for you. <laugh> and this is true for podcasting too. How do you feel when you look at your calendar and you see that you have a podcast at 10:00 AM or 2:00 PM, or whenever it is, what happens internally? Is it a whole body? Yes. I mean, how do you feel mentally? How do you feel kind of in your chest? How do you feel in your gut and, and really paying attention to that? It's a full body. Check-in for me.
Speaker 0 00:02:58 So I'm glad Tim brought this up. It's certainly understated throughout the industry. If you care about the content you're putting out pouring effort and energy into a conversation or storyline can be mentally and physically draining. If I run two podcasts in a day, chances are, I feel like I need a nap. The tip here is to manage your energy, especially for interview shows. I know some advice is to bucket two months worth of podcast interviews into a single day. And that would just crush someone like me. I could muscle through the first few episodes, but I'd be dragging through the rest that would result in poor content, poor shows and overall a bad experience for everyone. You, your guest and your listeners manage your podcast, energy efficiently, okay. Tip three mics and other hardware and software.
Speaker 1 00:03:39 We will use Amazon prime to buy an audio Technica 2100 mic and ship it to them. And it's very easy to do. It's 80 to a hundred bucks.
Speaker 0 00:03:50 What microphone should I buy? Holds the trophy as the most common question I get while simultaneously being the least important. Tim does spend a lot of time talking about his hardware and software setup, but at the end of the day, he's using a hundred dollars microphone that plugs in via USB. He even sends the guests the same microphone and these are celebrities and other industry experts. A big takeaway from this conversation is that he spends more money and thought process on putting backups in place. Thinking more about the continuity of his production than the actual quality of the microphone. He realizes that he only has a small window of time to record with his guests. Something that he's not willing to let fall victim to a bad microphone connection or a faulty SD card, especially for in-person interviews. Think about continuity more than you think about the expensive microphone going on to tip number four, data. Isn't all that important.
Speaker 1 00:04:39 I don't pay a lot of attention to data, but I will look at trend lines over time. And if there's some type of catalyzing event or concern, especially due to technical problems or new policies on platforms, then I'll take a quick look at that. But the fact of the matter is I wouldn't pay too much attention to data or specific data sets until you've asked yourself, what action will I take or not take, or what behavioral will change based on looking at this data set. And if the answer is none and none do something else, <laugh>,
Speaker 0 00:05:12 This might be my favorite tip out of the bunch, because so many of us get hung up on the analytics or the download count. It's easy to get caught up in the hamster wheel race of growing an audience. What does that even mean? What value is in seeing a number go up. If the audience you have, doesn't take action on what you want them to do. And on the flip side, when you only care about downloads, are you sacrificing on the quality of content for your audience? Well, then there's also the stress factor. Tim challenges this with will I be able to take action with this data? Are you just staring at the charts and hitting refresh five times a day? What will you do differently when you see that number, change, change the show format or topics work on more promotion. If you can't take action, which by the way, podcasting data is really hard to take action on stop stressing out about the data. We have a twofer coming up, tip five and tip six, be a guest, start a newsletter.
Speaker 1 00:06:02 People who listen to podcasts probably listen to more than one podcast. So I do think that there is a fair amount of transference when you're on other podcasts and it makes you a better podcaster to be on other well run podcasts. So you can take notes on process, how they prep you, what technology they use, what did they do or not do that you could adapt or not adapt? What are you doing that you might wanna discard? So there is an educational part also to being on other podcasts that you might not get from pursuing growth through other channels. I think that newsletters are also very powerful email and newsletters. They're powerful for everything because they are one link click away from whatever the desired action is.
Speaker 0 00:06:47 Speaking of growing your audience and being able to take action, be a guest, start yourself a newsletter. Let's explore showing up as a guest on another podcast is still the number one way to reach new ears, literally, and get the word out about your show. Just like building links and SEO is the best way to grow more traffic to your website. Same goes for your podcast. This time, the link is with an actual human that you're talking to. And maybe your kneejerk reaction is I do a true crime podcast who wants to hear me, um, other true crime producers. I can almost guarantee that out of 4 million podcast, someone is talking to another true crime producer. If not directly, there are plenty of podcasts about podcasting that would love to talk to you. This podcast onto the newsletter. This is my number one recommendation. When someone comes to me with no goal in mind for their first podcast, sure. They might be into entertainment, fashion, getting sponsors, what they're really after, but that's going to take some time, start with converting visitors onto your newsletter and focusing on raising that data point. Not just your listener account. Remember we want an audience that can take action. That's something you can measure and create a plan for tip number seven. There is no magic bullet.
Speaker 1 00:07:55 I will say, you know that I suspect a lot of people are gonna be very disappointed with my answers on growth here. And I will say, and this is such an old man thing to say, but I'll say it anyway. There is no magic bullet for growth and the tools change.
Speaker 0 00:08:12 Don't get mad at me for burying this too deep down the list. I didn't want to get you discouraged. Think back to a few other areas we've already discussed. Podcasts takes a lot of energy and analytics are fleeting for good reason. If there's one sure thing in podcasting, it's that there are no rules. You have the freedom to work, your show, your content, your promotion. However you see fit to build that valuable audience can also tell you that none of the major distribution platforms are going to help you here. If there was a short fire way to hit massive success, then everyone would be doing it. So for this section, let me rephrase or summarize what I've been saying. All along, create content you love creating that others will find valuable, have an actionable goal in mind for both you and the audience. Enjoy the craft and the pursuit to be a better show maker, engage with people who have decided to put you in their ears for 45 minutes a week. Great things will come tips. Number eight and number nine, giving your guest final edit, plus asking them for the home run.
Speaker 1 00:09:08 Well talk in the beginning. I will first say you like all of my guests have final cut. You can see a transcript beforehand. You can listen to the audio, any edits you wanna make, we can make. This is not a show about gotchas. So number one, there's that? And I will say I've been screwed by journalists before I've been had my trust betrayed. I've had things cherry picked I've been misquoted. It sucks. I'm not gonna do that. And you have final cut, which by the way, is what inside the actors studio always did. And what you might have seen on TV for those episodes. 45 minutes an hour was actually several hours of recording. They would cut down substantially. So I'll, I'll do that first. And in the say warmup calisthenics, I will always ask someone what would make this interview, a home run. When you look back three, six months from now, what would make this an absolute home run? Where when people ask you, what are your favorite two or three interviews? This is one of those two or three. And people are always, almost always surprised when I ask that because it's, it's never asked <laugh> and I'll tell them because that can inform how I try to steer the conversation. It will also inform how we promote the episode.
Speaker 0 00:10:18 Another two tipper first, Tim gives his guest final edit before the show is aired. He cites that he's been burned in the past and he doesn't want his guest to feel the same thing could happen to them. Putting your guests at ease is the important takeaway. Here might not be interviewing celebrities with publicists, breathing down your neck, but letting them know that they could pull something from the show could make all the difference to them. Next up is asking your guests what would make this a home run for you? It's awesome. It's something I've been doing for a while now in my pre-interviews, we're only gonna have a great interview. If both parties feel comfortable and energized, knowing that most interview shows both parties want to get something out of the deal, great content and great exposure, pulling out a win for your guest will signal to them that this moment is for them working together to create the best story and lesson for the listeners. Ultimately the best content possible final tip tip, number 10, you learn a lot about yourself,
Speaker 1 00:11:10 But it's a fun game. I encourage everyone to try it. You'll learn a lot about yourself at the very least. So yeah, I definitely have. And with that, my friend, yeah, I think we can bring this to a close.
Speaker 0 00:11:23 You certainly do learn a lot about yourself after nearly three hours of conversation. This ends up being almost a throwaway line in the final minutes of the show, listen closely to the guest interviewer. Chris confirm Tim's thoughts met with a heavy sigh of agreement. I've been podcasting for 10 years. Podcasting is something you're dedicated to improving year over year and only do you grow your audience. You grow as a creator. There's so much opportunity in podcasting. That goes well beyond the charts and advertisers. I hosted my own podcast about WordPress for eight years, which led me to my role here today at Casto relationships, friends, business opportunities, all from podcasting, stick with it. You'll like it. I promise you. Okay, that's it for today's episode. You'll love this episode. Go ahead and share it on social media, wherever you spend your time, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, the metaverse follow us. casto.com/audience. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast every week right here in your podcast player, you're gonna hear me, Stewart, Craig, Sam, other voices. We help you enjoy audience as much as we enjoy creating it. Okay. We'll see you in the next episode.
