Author: michaelfritzius

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Anatomy of a great podcast

Not every podcast episode is awesome. Let’s talk about the…

Anatomy of a great podcast

Hey this is Fritz. Early when I started podcasting I admit, I fell into the “ego trap” of “all I have to do is make a show and people will come listen to it. Eventually.” Sort of borrowing the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come.”

Fact is: a lot of times they don’t. Not unless you know what makes a good one.

There’s something about a good show that makes it resonate for people. It’s what keeps listeners coming back. It’s been a long road but the lessons I’ve learned have 100% gone into podcastify.me, and now I’d love to share it with you.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is: People have notoriously short attention spans.

It’s no secret that our attention spans have dwindled in the last century. Technology has been training us–whether good or bad–to only have about 15-20 minutes of solid attention that can be devoted to consuming a single piece of content.

That can pose a problem for a podcast episode (which is a single piece of content). What do you do if you have a 30 or 60 minute episode and you want to keep listeners engaged and attentive?

Break up the episode into pieces.

For a 30 minute show, whether audio or video, it’s good to split it around the halfway mark, around the time that the guest is done saying something, and the host is getting ready to start talking again.

Fade out nicely, and then put a midroll segment in, with a different pace, little bit higher volume, and some music in the background. Change up what’s being heard and “cleanse the palate” for 30-60 seconds before diving back into the show. Fade back in and pick up where you left off.

For a longer show, such as a 60 minute episode, you can do this twice, ideally at the 20-minute and 40-minute mark, so you still keep it at that ideal 20-minute length per segment.

For video podcasts, you have more than just audio you can work with. Really good video podcasts will switch camera views between host, guest, and side-by-side. You can also get creative with the midrolls and include short videos or ads right there where they can be seen. It might also be good to tell listeners to, hey, come back to this Youtube tab, because you’re not gonna wanna miss what I’m showing you. You have the freedom to be creative about how to re-engage your listeners and get them to take some kind of action.

Also, for midroll segments, you can change up who is talking. If you’re a man and you have a woman voice over for your midroll segment, it’s a change in expectation and gets people to take notice. And then there’s another change when the next part of the show starts up, so you get to get ’em twice.

There are all kinds of ways to edit shows and experiment to find out what works well and what doesn’t. Most of these are things that our botlets do automatically–and more botlets are being built all the time.

If you’re ready to find out whether you’d be a fit for podcastify.me, and how it can bring more business to you, we’d love to talk! We can start for FREE with you filling out the form by clicking that giant pink button below, and we’ll find out more about you, your business and your goals.

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Have your target clients eavesdrop

Finding your target clientele is hard. What if you could…

Have your target clients eavesdrop

Hey this is Fritz. I was getting lunch with my friend Ben at a Chinese buffet not too long ago, and we got to talking about work stuff. He was needing advice about how to pursue a different role in the manufacturing space, so I shared what I knew.

I’m a fast eater, so when I came back from getting more food, my friend and a total stranger in the booth behind us were having a conversation.

Turns out that our new friend was also in the manufacturing space, worked at a company right up the road from the restaurant, and had keyed in on what Ben was saying about manufacturing. There were some phrases we said that made this guy say to himself, “I should probably take action and introduce myself.”

By the end of the meal, my friend got a business card to reach out to the owner of the company and build some new bridges.

This connection was made by way of eavesdropping. And the same principle works great for podcasting.

Let me explain.

As soon as news of a new episode hits social media, all the algorithms that are designed to capture thumbs and eyeballs will set to work figuring out who should see what posts, and when.

One metric that algorithms use? How similar people are to the original poster.

Both Ben and our eavesdropping acquaintance happen to like Chinese food and be in the manufacturing space. They were both at the right place at the right time.

And with your guests, they likely run in similar circles. If they’re actually a pretty good fit for your services, then there might be near-carbon copies of them in their network, listening to your episode.

But unlike the example at the restaurant, we’re going to be intentional about getting those eavesdroppers to take action. If they just committed the time to listen to the episode, then right after they’ve gotten an awesome earful of expertise from you and your guest, that’s when you present the Call To Action.

Every podcastify.me package has one of those that’s created specifically for your show, and put at the end. The Call To Action (or “CTA”) is like standing up at the end of the conversation with a bullhorn and saying:

If you enjoyed this conversation between me and my friend Ben, thanks for your listenership. And if what we talked about sounds like something you can help with, stop on by and drop your business card in this fishbowl here, and he’ll get in touch. We appreciate you. Be sure to smash that Follow button.

Just, less awkward of course, but you get the idea.

The end goal of the podcast is to direct your target clientele to do something after hearing the episode. Whether it’s subscribing to the show, picking up a free resource from your site, scheduling a quick 15-minute consult with you, or anything else that would signal to you that they might be a person or company you can help. That’s the power of a great CTA.

But before we figure out what an awesome CTA looks like for your show, let’s find out about your business. If you’re ready to get the ball rolling, we can start for free. Just need to know a bit about your business and your goals, so that we can come back with some ideas about how to craft your show.

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Let others self-market on your podcast

People are guesting on podcasts to get brand awareness quickly. You can…

Let others self-market on your podcast

Hey this is Fritz. When I started podcasting back in July 2019, I knew that some people were using the medium as a way to build their brand.

What I didn’t realize is that a growing number of those people were using other peoples’ podcasts to do that brand-building exercise.

With more hosts hitting the airwaves, and more people listening every day, the prudent “podcastpreneur” will open up their show to attract such guests.

Some of those guests are probably your target clientele. The question is, what can your show format and topic be about, so that those guests can really dig in and create a great episode with you?

That’s where podcastify.me comes in.

A standard part of every package includes a deep dive about you, your company, your past/present/future clientele, and everything that makes the business YOUR business. And by extension, everything that makes people become your clients later.

Plus, setting you up with a free matchmaker.fm account is included, even with the basic package (and with higher level packages, managing the communication with potential guests too).

Really great episodes will resonate with the right kind of guests. And there’s a ton of them out there waiting for an excellent show to get on.

So if you’re ready to get the ball rolling, we can start for free. Just need to know a bit about your business and your goals, so that we can come back with some ideas about how to craft your show.

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Use guests to boost listenership

Most of your guests have a social media presence. You can…

Use guests to boost

listenership

Hey this is Fritz. Not long ago, someone asked: “From what you’ve learned so far, what is the key for a podcast to have traction?” And I said:

“Catering first to the guests and then to the listeners.”

I talk about how to cater to listeners in a different post, but what I mean by catering to guests is, honestly? Catering to their ego.

Ego’s not necessarily bad. Everybody’s got one. It’s that drive that makes us want to be seen. Heard. Recognized. Known for something. And that ego can absolutely be used to pull in more listeners.

Your future guests probably have social media accounts. After the show, they’re going to want to share that they were just on your podcast.

What they’d normally do is paste a link and write a post. But many people would find it difficult to commit 30-60 minutes to listen to something, without knowing the payoff.

But what if they had a small 30-second sample of the show? Some interesting part that’s crafted to make people in their network go, “Dang. That does sound interesting, and I think now that I’ve heard a sample, I’ll go listen to the whole thing.”

Boom. New listener for your show.

Sharing 30-second clips of the show lowers the commitment a prospective listener has to make, before clicking the link to go hear the whole thing. In that short of time, they hear the interaction between you and the guest, the energy you two have, and they decide:

“Yep, these two sound like they know what they’re talking about, and my ego tells me I’ll get something out of listening.”

That’s why every podcastify.me package includes 30-second teaser videos.

We’ve got a particular set of automated “botlets” that pull out key places where the guest is talking for longer than 30 seconds, and turn a part of that segment into a crisp teaser.

Now they’re not smart enough to know what the guest is saying (yet!), but generally if someone’s speaking for longer than that time, they’re pretty foamed up about something. Something that’s probably worth extracting and turning into a nice, square video that’s perfect for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or any other platform that allows your guest to post video.

In experimenting with this between two of my own shows, I found a nearly 500% increase in listenership when using teasers to promote episodes. And this was compared to a show that had already been around for a year, vs. a brand new show where I started sharing on socials with 30-second teasers.

Not only that, but while you can share these same clips on your own social media channels, imagine the exposure you’ll get when each of your guests–each with their own diverse network–each share those teasers.

Wow right?

So if you’re ready to get the ball rolling, we can start for free. Just need to know a bit about your business and your goals, so that we can come back with some ideas about how to craft your show.

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