Pod Like a Pro: Episode 1

Pod like a Pro – Episode One

This is a Sound Rebel podcast. To work with us on your podcast, go to soundrebel.co.uk.

Sparky 0:21

This is Pod like a Pro from the Sound Rebel network. All right, I'm Sparky. And why am I here again?

Ben Anderson 0:29

Hi, Sparky. I'm Ben. I am the director here at Sound Rebel. And Sparky, we've worked together for many years. First of all, in the radio industry in the UK, the commercial radio industry. On a breakfast show together. I was your producer – loved every minute. But also your radio Pro, who's now getting into podcasting. We produce a podcast on the Sound Rebel network together called Men Lose Weight. And Sparky, this podcast is all about, you know, why and how to start a podcast. For people who are listening, who are thinking, you know what, I'd love to do that. But I don't know how. And from our many years of working together, you've always got a lot of questions. So, I thought that you'd be a great person to do this with.

Sparky 1:13

Yes, I mean, I'm going to ask why a lot. I'm like that kid that asks why all the time. So, right. We're going to learn how to pod like a pro. And I'm going to ask why (a lot).

Ben Anderson 1:24

I think we should just crack into it.

Sparky 1:26

Okay, let's get on with it. This episode is called an introduction to podcasting. But before we get into podcasting, let's find out a bit about you. And Sound Rebel.

Ben Anderson 1:39

I mean, I started as a breakfast show producer, but ended my career in the commercial radio industry. As a managing editor. I ran three stations for Capital FM. In fact, that's the job that I left you for Spark, I remember sitting talking to you at the time going, I've got this really big promotion, and I'm quite scared, should I take it? And you were like, yes, go for it. But in that job, it was obviously when people think about radio, they think about the kind of entertainment that comes with breakfast shows the music that's played, etc. But when I took the Capital job, I was responsible for integrating commercial content into the station schedule. So, we'd be working with huge brands from Liverpool Football Club to Liverpool Council, for example. You know, it was a really wide range of people that we had on our books.

And integrating commercial content into entertainment content isn't easy, because first of all, you've got to serve the listener. Of course, you've got to serve the brand, but it's got to line up with what the listener expects from that radio station. That’s kind of what I'm doing now. I mean, Sparky, you mentioned that we make podcasts for businesses. Yes, we do. We make podcasts for businesses, brands, personalities, trade associations, social enterprises, schools, online communities, there's literally such a wide range of different organisations who are now using audio to reach the audiences that they want to reach. And that's where the kind of expertise from the radio industry comes in. It's about finding out who you are as a brand, business personality, trade association, whatever you are… Finding out who you want to target, what you want your listener to do, and then creating content that doesn't just serve your purposes, but actually adds value to the life of the listener too, because that's what podcasting is all about. It's all about adding value and putting yourself front of mind for the people who matter to you the most.

Sparky 3:44

Okay, so how easy are podcasts to produce.

Ben Anderson 3:54

Really easy when you know what you're doing. People always say, you know, we are producers by trade. And we work with, as I already mentioned, all sorts of different clients. I think the way to look at it is that a lot of the hard work in a podcast comes at the beginning. It comes in the kind of development, the format the idea, what are you actually going to be talking about.

Sparky 4:16

What, you don't just press record and just, you know, start talking around the microphone? I do think a lot of people think that's what a podcast is.

Ben Anderson 4:23

You know what, you're still on breakfast radio in the East Midlands, hugely successful radio show. People always used to say that about our jobs in radio. Oh, all you do is go in there and sit in the studio and talk. For example, you've done your show this morning. What happens after the show?

Sparky 4:41

We sit down we debrief about the things that you know, we liked or we didn't like in the show, again, what you're saying about we make sure we've ticked off all of our client-based content that we may need to look after, like our show sponsors. And again, we think about the content we can bring tomorrow that will engage our audience and keep them coming back day after day.

Ben Anderson 5:02

Yeah, it's not just a case of going into the studio and throwing the microphone open. You know, there's a lot of thought that goes into a breakfast show. And a lot of listening back as well. That's something that people don't realise that breakfast shows do is that it's the worst thing in the world, you sit in a room with your boss, and they choose sections of the show that they want to go back and listen to it. It’s an awful thing, isn't it? It's a horrible process. But it just shows the amount of legwork that goes into producing audio content. But it isn't just a case of throwing open the mic. It's a well thought through, developed process with professional people who know what they're doing, creating content that serves their listener.

It's the same thing with podcasts, our next episode is called your podcast idea. And we're going to delve into formats development, how that all works. But I suppose for now, in this kind of introduction to podcasting, podcasts are easy to produce, when you're working with someone knows what they're doing.

I mean, for example, they're very quick to turn around. So, we work with a number of clients where they are news lead formats. So we record in the morning, and it has to be out that afternoon. Because if it isn't out the afternoon, then the information could be irrelevant by tomorrow. That doesn't mean that listeners can't pick it up later in the week and listen back. But at the point of release, your information needs to be relevant. So we’re recording the morning, and our producers will turn it around and get it out that afternoon. That's where it is easy in terms of if you're doing a big video production that can take days or weeks to turn around. With podcasts, we can get the audio recorded in the morning, and we can turn it around and get it out by the afternoon. So yes, they are easy to produce at the same time. We'll go into this in later episodes. But you don't just make a podcast you have to produce a podcast. Yeah, I think that's where we come in with Sound Rebel.

Sparky 6:59

All right, then. So, what does the future kind of hold for podcasting, though, Ben, because is it a fad? Like is it just the thing that's happening right now?

Ben Anderson 7:07

Podcasts are very popular right now. The number of people in the UK who listen to podcasts has doubled in the last two years. And it's only growing. I'm not sure if you've seen the news recently, but the major kind of tech players are moving into the podcast space now. So, Apple are making huge developments to Apple podcasts, Spotify have spent a lot of money on the podcast space, buying podcast production companies, but also ad distribution companies. Amazon are going big into podcasts as well. I think when you see these major players moving in, you realise that these aren't just popular now, this is something that is here for the long-term.

And I think the other thing about podcasts, which is sometimes overlooked, is that podcasts are an owned media channel. It's not like an ad campaign where you go in you spend x amount of 1000s of pounds, and you get a great campaign like with radio. I'm not saying that people shouldn't do that. It's not podcasts or radio. Absolutely not saying that. But what I mean is that you can go and spend on a radio campaign, and it costs you a lot of money, and you get a really good response. But it's only for the duration of the campaign. The great thing about podcasts is that it's an owned media channel, you can look at it the same way you look at your email channels, or your social media channels… podcasts never go away. When you've created it, it goes on the channel, and it's there forever. If a listener finds your channel in two, three years’ time from now. And they like what they hear, they can go back and consume all the information you've already provided. It's something that lives there forever. So, when you're buying, let's say, a 10-part series for us, that's admirable, you're investing in something that's going to be there for a really long time. And it's going to benefit you for a really, really long time. It isn't just something that you do. And you'd sign off in quarter one, and you don't benefit from in quarter four. It's there forever.

Sparky 9:02

It's like yeah, it's always there. So, you're buying in. If you do that for two weeks on a radio show, you're only going to feel the impact of that push for two weeks. And there's no way you can sort of go back and listen to that on a radio show in six months’ time. But if you do find a podcast and you go back, all of those adverts all of that information that you've been given there is readily available. I think I've literally just repeated what you've said, Ben.

Ben Anderson 9:29

You said it very well.

Sparky 9:35

Not all podcasts are just to go on Apple podcasts or Spotify. You do private podcasts, don't you Ben?

Ben Anderson 9:41

Yeah. So, I think people do think immediately podcasts for general public consumption. You know, I'm using these to attract new people to my brand-new customers for my business. It's not always about attracting new people. So Private podcasts, for example, we produced a podcast for a big student homes company, they've got their central office, and they've got property managers across the UK. The reason they came to us in the first place is because they couldn't do their normal conference because of the pandemic, but wanted to still get the information out to their property managers, but also really feature the kind of leadership team and really give an insight to who the people are behind the email address and the title. So, we recorded a series of podcasts with the leadership team, about them about how the business started and about where the business is going. And that wasn't for public consumption. There's some confidential information in there. But it was listened to by the property managers. And it was a really easy way because Podcasts can be accessed anywhere, anytime, for them to get the information across. But in a really personable way, they're not reading something, they're hearing the person speak it and tell the story. And that made a real difference for them. We've also done a podcast for a surveyor, a chartered surveying company. The reason was that they were spending loads of time on the phone, explaining the same things to every Enquirer.

Sparky 11:17

That’s brilliant. So, what they created a section of podcasts on the things that they do within the chartered surveying. So, you could almost instead of reading a index or a contents page of oh, well, this is what you can expect from this. It's read exactly, it's presented as a podcast, which is instantly 100% more engaging. I mean, who wants to sit and read emails and paperwork all day long, if you can hear it, that is another brilliant benefit of the podcasting.

Ben Anderson 11:41

Yeah. And what I really liked about that one was that they're a residential surveyor, and they do a number of different types of survey, depending on how old the house you're buying is, how dilapidated it is, etc, etc. And the presenter was say, in inverted commas, was a first-time buyer, asking the boss of the chartered surveying company the questions that she would ask on the phone, and by him talking through it, he was giving her those answers. Basically, every time they get an inquiry now, they either they say, have you listened to our podcast about this? If they say yes, they go, brilliant, okay, therefore, we can move on, and we can start delving into the detail. If they haven't listened, they say, look, I'll send you a link, have a listen to this and come back to us. And just by providing the information in a way that can be consumed whenever they want to consume it. But in terms of having someone asking the questions that the person on the phone is asking, they've saved themselves so much time, actually they're out there, and they're billing more work, because they've got more time to go out there and do the work. Rather than talk to on the phone.

Sparky 12:52

And answering questions which just get repeated, repeated. It's like the classic, it's like giving them a meeting that they can listen to. And you know, aren’t you always told, wait till the end, if you've got any questions? Well, you're getting the answers to your questions within that. So, it's a brilliant pack of information that you're giving out. And like you say, you're opening up every other area of the business. So that people can use their time more sensibly.

And as you say, I love the idea as well of the presenter, because it's not just about presenting an entertainment podcast, that's a setup for the client, the presenter is now the role of me the listener as a new first time buyer, and therefore, I engage so much better. And I don't feel like a fool for asking questions, because I'm hearing the answers within that podcast. Yeah. And she was a

Ben Anderson 13:37

Yeah, and she was a genuine first-time buyer. And so therefore we didn’t have to do much prep for it, it's just, what do you need to know here? Yeah.

Sparky 13:44

What are your concerns as being a first-time buyer and it's natural.

Ben Anderson 13:47

I mean, this podcast is an example. We are releasing this on Apple podcasts, Google, Spotify, Amazon music, everywhere you get your podcasts, blah, blah, blah. But this podcast is actually being sent directly to people who inquire about Sound Rebel. So, in an email back is great. We get loads of inquiries from all over the place. We put ads in our original formats. We obviously rank pretty well on Google for podcast, production company, etc.

When we get an inquiry, this podcast is sent to people, because that's what we do. We're an audio company. I did think why am I spending all this time, writing things? Right? You know, just, here you go, you're listening to this now, which hopefully is giving you an insight into us as a company, but also more generally showing our expertise that we know what we're talking about when it comes to podcasts. Use a podcast and integrate it into your sales funnel. Audio is absolutely booming. And yes, podcasts are at the forefront of that. And yes, the traditional notion of a podcast is something that is released onto other podcast apps that people then discover themselves. No, it doesn't have to be that way. There's so much you can do with audio. You know, lots of people send out pitch decks. Why don't you send out a pod deck? If you're listening to this now, is it working?

Sparky 15:03

I might want to sign up for a podcast, but I've got an idea. I just need you to tell me if it's right or not. But no, it really shows off the benefits of podcasts. If you if you think a podcast is just a source of entertainment to pass half an hour whilst you're doing the washing up, you are wrong.

Ben Anderson 15:20

Come on Sparky. When you're a breakfast radio presenter, we know you don't do the washing up.

Sparky 15:27

Aye I’ve got a dishwasher now guys. Honestly, it's only taken me to 34 to get a dishwasher guys.

Right, so that was an introduction to podcasting. I hope you learned something there. And hopefully you'll join us throughout the season to learn more in how to build a podcast. Ben, what else can we expect later on this series?

Ben Anderson 15:49

So next episode is called your podcast idea. And that's all about kind of what we've already touched on a little bit. But going into more detail about the development process behind how a podcast should be positioned, who you're targeting, etc. We'll be talking to people from Sound Rebel as well. So we've got an episode coming up the basics of presenting with Ed Nell. Now he's a radio presenter, who does a lot of media training. We're going to be talking to our music producer, Tom about just general podcast production values, talking to one of our producers Gem, about recording your podcast, especially remotely, because that's something obviously after the pandemic we've been doing all the way through the last year. And actually, it's such a great way to just record in general, we get a brilliant sound quality now from our remote recordings. And actually, we never really want to do on site stuff ever again.

Sparky 16:37

Yeah, I don’t ever want to be in a room with you, Ben, I only like doing these on Zoom. But that is what you say a great thing that's been created by the pandemic that's allowed a nice sort of direction change in podcasting.

Ben Anderson 16:47

Yeah. And it's I'm not saying that we're not lazy, you know, we're not a lazy production company. But it's because we can get guest contributors on from anywhere in the world now at any time. And that just it just broadens your horizons to the kind of content that you can create. So we'll be delving more into that later on this series. And also, the kind of key questions that everyone always asks, how do I distribute my podcast? How do I market it? How do I monetize it? Because a lot of brands want to do it for kind of marketing benefit, build loads of customers, etc. Some people do want to see sponsors attached, or different ways of generating revenue from podcasts. And actually, we're going to be talking to Sharon, who is the presenter on podcasts we produce called Over the Influence, which is about giving up alcohol, because that podcast is monetized in a really interesting self-sustaining way, which means they never ever need a sponsor. And that's really interesting, but those are the kinds of things we're going to cover in Pod like a Pro. But Sparky, thank you. Yeah, I've enjoyed it. Hope I didn't talk too much.

Sparky 17:44

You certainly didn't. I learned a lot. Thank you, Ben. So that's what you can expect from Pod like a Pro. Hopefully you learned something today. Make sure you subscribe. So, the next episode just drops into your podcast app. Thanks for listening.