400th Episode of Blubrry’s Podcast – PCI 400

Hey, Blueberry. It's Cindy from S. Just wanted to send you a quick shout out. Congratulations on 400 episodes. Of podcast insider, Keep up the good work, and I can't wait to see where you go from here. You're listening to podcast insider hosted by Mike Dell, Todd Cochran and Mackenzie Bennett from the Blueberry team. Bringing you weekly insights, advice and insider tips and tricks to help you start, grow, and thrive through podcasting. With all the support of your team here

at blueberry podcast podcasting. Welcome. Let's dive in. I'm Mike Dell, the vice president of relations here at Blueberry. I'm Mackenzie Bennett, Marketing specialist here at Blueberry. I'm Cathy But. I'm the communication specialist at Blueberry. And I'm Todd Cochran Ceo and founder of Blueberry. This is episode 400 a podcast insider. Hey everybody. Hey. Sounded like the intro to 60 minutes with all it's on, you know. I'm in a room where there's other people at Jason.

Not didn't wanna of y'all too loud. Yeah. There you go. There you go. Alright. Well, today's episode gonna be a little more laid back than most of them, and we're just gonna talk about how this podcast got to this point and some other things from over 20 years of blueberry and podcasting, but I think first,

Kathy and Todd, you guys went to London for the for the podcast. Show, how how did that go? It was great. It it was. It was absolutely fantastic And it's hard to believe It's only been a couple of weeks. It's just been a whirlwind since we got back, but I guess the best way to describe it was super crater heavy, lots and lots of. We I think we probably talked collectively to about a hundred. Lots of energy in a room. It it definitely was... And is the biggest show in podcasting at this point.

There's no doubt in my mind as it compares to podcast movement significantly larger, and I would say, a a lot more polished. Yeah. It was outstanding. The venue itself was fantastic, and it was adjacent to the hotel, so that was very convenient. And the people in London are super nice. I mean, they are super helpful and super nice. So that was that was really wonderful. I think I'll add to that. It was as if everything I've heard about London was absolutely untrue.

I'd heard about bad food, bad customer service, all these things, and it was just completely the opposite. Again, people super nice, lot a great conversations, very welcoming. People were generally interested in who we were, what we were doing, talking about Blueberry talking about their podcast. It was it was beyond refreshing, it really, really was.

You know, there's obviously some big companies there. But surprisingly, Blueberry and cap debate were the only 2AA podcast host. There were a few other representatives from other companies there, but, you know, we had a beautiful booth design. I... We posted this up on social.

Erin had done, just a knockout job getting the the graphics together, and we were complemented probably 20 times just on the booth design and really, having literally have 20 years of experience a space, and that's knowing what people need to see at trade shows really work to our

advantage. I think some of our neighbors were a little bit in awe, and we they talk to some of our neighbors about, you know, things hey can do to and, you know, help their trade show, they I guess we're better words signage and that kind of stuff. But... Their third game a bit. Yeah. For sure. And You know, it it came in a significant

expense. Don't get me wrong. It's not a cheap shot of to fly to, you know, food and that type of stuff is about normal from any other type of show, but yeah, I was it was really, really good, and we were still following up with the with podcast? Yeah. It sounds like a a neat show. I... And, you know, all I know about London was about 30 years ago. I was there. So it it it probably has changed a lot since Oh, it's dramatically changed and I've already,

trying to negotiate. Our new booth position, but it requires us to be a little bigger. I'm not completely sold on that yet because it's, you know, comes at a much bigger expense, but We're definitely definitely gonna go back to London next year. That's that's for sure. I show that I think is gonna be a banner show that we can't miss. Yeah. Of course, we're gonna be a podcast movement this summer and probably podcast fest in Florida. What is that? January?

Yeah Yes. I would... Is the end of January. I would expect those will be the 3 shows that we will, you know, basically be locked in on and But, you know, we'll we'll see we'll see how the responses is from the show and how the follow up goes. Yeah. It always changes what shows we wanna continue going to. They kinda go through ebb and flows. It's also partially just like, we are attending these events, but it means nothing if our potential users or current podcast aren't

going as well. So And that's why we, you know, we're like, okay, This 1, seems to be on the up and up. This 1 isn't doing us so much help at this point, you know, after so many years, so we just kinda go back and forth. I think the thing it really encouraged me was just the number of folks that were new, new content, you know, new pod. Forecasters are people that were looking for home or they're collecting information Very much had the feel of a podcast from that, but on a global scale. You

know? I think that it was more equivalent to pod than it would be to podcast movement. But on the other hand, probably more equivalent from a podcast movement on a vendor standpoint, You know, from the b the high end vendors that were at the event. So kind of AAA good mix of both. Well, it sounds like a good time for sure. And hopefully, it'll we'll we'll gain some more customers because of it. And all that good stuff, which is always the goal. 1 thing for sure. We now we're

on people's radar. People there's was there was a significant number of people, at least 50 percent that had an area clue who Blueberry was. So I think from that actually that point Yeah. Always good waive the flag. Absolutely. Yep.

Alright. Well, this being episode 400. We kinda go over what, you know, how this podcast got here and and some more stuff about blueberry in case you haven't heard it some of this. But episode 400, you know, we we call it 400. It's probably not exactly accurate. But we kinda guessed when we started podcast insider by adding up all the prior episodes of the prior podcast. I mean, we've gone through what 4 different names and several different formats and all that. So we

think it's close enough. So we're gonna celebrate anyway. And I think we've we've rebranded this a couple of times, Blueberry community podcast. And I think that was just kind of on a willy nilly schedule whenever we had time. And was... We did a thing. Here's an episode. And then we did the power podcast, which we had lots of interviews and I think Mackenzie, you are the primary host on that show if I remember correctly.

Yeah. I started that or, you know, reform into that in 20 15 and went until like, 20 18 or 19. I can't remember. And then it turned into what was it? You... Your podcast. Your podcast. Yeah. For a little while we were doing both. Oh. I forgot about that 1. You were doing Mackenzie was doing 1 week and Todd and I were doing the next week, and it was 2 different podcasts. Yep. And then to get this 1, we combine them together. So... And that's when we started numbering the episodes. So.

It's been. It's been a wild ride. You know, just just all the little variations and whatnot, and and sometimes we're not quite prepared, but we've been sticking to a weekly schedule, and, hopefully, it's been quality. But it's, you know, it's a lot of fun doing it, and you know, we're trying to get more voices in that. It's kinda of been in a goal this year. Getting Cathy on here more and maybe, you know, some of the other team members. But you know, the current format been going

a couple years now. Right? Yeah. Yeah and it was kind of interesting was over they I do the new media show with Rob, and I was trying to add up upon me years that show had been going. So it's... I think that's been going, like, 14 years or something like that at this point. And it was kind of interesting because I talk as as much about Blueberry on that show as we do on this show. So it's almost like we get a most likely we get a 2 for, 2 for 1. Well, else so often else.

Yeah. He is a customer. It's kinda of funny. But it it is a... And been a great way to be able to get information about what we do in our ideology and And what we think, and I think if you go all the way back to the beginning and listen to some result... Early shows, you're probably hear, some of the same type of terminology, and ideas as we share today. The the formula that really hasn't changed that much. Yeah Not really. You know, like I said, we

try to... On this show. We try to, you know, educate and, you know, talk about things in in a way that is not too geek. I think last week's episode might have gone over the geek edge, but not too badly. I try to rein it in sometimes. Right.

Yeah. You gotta do that with me sometimes They'll go off on a tangent and so, you know, So it's good to have a c to say, hey. Slow down. But and Cathy, you just started podcast. Oh, yeah. I did. Yep. I did. I started at April fourth with Mike's help, tripping raul 01:01 dot com, but Yeah. It's very early stages. Very rough. But but Cathy, you think about the many years you've worked with us, and been part of the team where.

And you... I think you had some moments epiphany moments when you did your your first couple of episodes, Didn't? Oh, absolutely. And that's why I I did it. And, so that I could learn the intricacies of podcasting because really, you can talk about it all you want, but until you've done it, it really doesn't make sense if you're a right brain like me. Well, that's why Todd you had me start doing the podcast

when I started. All those years ago, you were, like, there's no better way to learn about podcasting than to actually do this yourself. You know, and the company was founded by podcast. You know, everyone except for 1 of the team members, actually, when we started, there was 3 of the team members had podcast and the other 2 were podcast ent. And then over the years, I think almost every team member, at least on the marketing side, not necessarily on the development side, have

had a podcast. And this is why we've always said that you know, we're we're a company that podcast creators, we're we're down in the trenches doing what our customers are doing, you know, every week, you know, drinking our own Ko aid here because I... I've always maintained that we will not fully understand the challenges and pain points of our customers unless we are actively doing this ourselves and So many of our competitors do not have

a podcast. Now some do. Yeah. And... I think I think of 1 company that has pretty high participation from multiple team members. But they're... I think they're 1 of 1 in that instance, there some other podcast companies that have a show done by a single member of 18, but, you know, we've we've we basically try to bring in as many people as we can into the fold as often as we can. You know, Have their voices heard and for our listeners to get to know the team

members. Yeah. You know, On on the staff here, you started no 4, and we have at least 5 people that were podcasting in in 2005. So, you know, we're we're coming up on the 20 year mark for for the rest of us. You you've already passed it. Well, October will be officially 20 years. But, yeah, it's it's amazing really, really is. But I, you know, I think back, you know, I'm just

kinda reflecting a little bit here. I think back to when I wrote my book on podcasting, which by the way, was the first book on podcasting, and there's so many elements that are true today that, you know, stood the test of time. Of course, things have changed. Usually, we've got social media now, and we've got at, you know, all this new stuff with Ai and and just, you know, just different ways of promoting or shows, you know, that's just a dream come true for me because...

In the early days all we had was our dot com. We didn't have anything else. There was no Twitter, Facebook. None of that existed. And today, we have the ability to to get the word out. It's almost like information overload. Yeah. You know, we... We all started before Apple even got into it, which it was a big boost in the in the podcast world. And, you know, and now, you know, we got Spotify and a whole bunch of other

bigger places that are distributing podcast podcasts. Of course, we got the podcast 2 apps, which are, you know, kind of the new guys in town, and it you know, it's it it's still exciting. That's the thing. You know, it kind of feels like we're still blazing the trail with with podcast 2 anyway, but

you know, still, the beauty of it now is the listeners can listen easily. There's a hundred different ways to listen to a podcast, and it's not nearly as hard as it was when we first started. Right. Cathy, do you think now having started your show. Are you having Aha moments when you're going through documentation and copy? And looking back on past things we've written and say, oh, we need to change that because of this. Absolutely. And, you know, 1 of the things

out podcasting. It's it's evolving so quickly that... Yeah, I'm always coming across things that are like, well, okay. That was ballot and 2015, but it's not anymore. So it is a constant project that we work on. And, yes, having started a podcast, it all makes a lot more sense, and I'm more confident in knowing what I'm doing and what needs to be changed and updated. Yeah. I think we all take this for

granted. You know, We... You know... You you guys put some show notes together today, and we we're kind of walking through that a little bit, but at the same time, it's almost like, you know, we just pick a topic and we can strap a microphone on and rock and roll it it it... But I think we've become more regiment over the years in the format of the

show. Not today today's is a little Lucy Goose compared to some of our regular episodes, but you know, Mackenzie, if you think back when you first started doing the doing the show, do I I think the show's become more... I guess, for a better words is it more tight than it used to be? Absolutely. When I first started, it was it was all me doing the show, which was which was fine. But I think it got more fun when I started doing it with other people.

Like, in, I would get interviews on the show, but a lot of the time I just, you know, we're was kinda scrambling to figure out the next person and the next person after that, and I imagine, like, doing this on your own outside of doing it for your job. Per s. I understand why people kind of fizz out, and they're like, I just... I can't do this all by myself.

So I think as we've become, like, a bigger team and we have more dedication to you know, evolving the content of what people are really interested in. I think that's kinda where we found our best stride is we all offer something to the table that we're that we are good at, and I think it's it's in its best form right now. But you you bring up a good point

and something that I've... You know, I don't been doing a lot of thinking about lately is I'm looking at everything that we offer and provide to, you know, the customer listening to the show. And I'm thinking, you know, what are we missing? Where where can we plug some holes to help. You know, in the instance, like you said, you're having challenges booking guest and just the logistics of that was a challenge.

And, you know, these are things that we're all looking at is, you know, where are there challenges. And if you're a podcast or listening to this, and you're saying, oh, my god. I... This is something I stressed about every day.

Let us know where your stress points are because I think it's important that we know that And guess for a better works I think we know or we think we know where your stress points are, but oftentimes people listeners who or customers will bring to us say, hey, You know, I'm this is my pain point, and we're like, oh, yeah. You know, we just kinda took that for granted.

But, you know, I've really been thinking hard in the last, probably month to month and a half of, you know, where where can we help content creators that are struggling and don't have time and don't have a team and and doing this solo, and, you

know, I I... I've done a solo show for many, many years and until probably 5 years ago, I I was doing everything, and then I was able to fortunately, afford someone to come in and help me with some pre planning and save me an hour hour and a half on my show preparation. Twice week, and that was a Gods sent for me because I got that time back. And I think now it's the same type of thing. What can we do to help

the content creators you know, get their time back and and it's part of the reason why we've done some of this stuff with Ai as well. If I my output to be a lot lot better than they used to be. We also say you do write Rich show notes while I'd write a paragraph or 2 and you know, and, you know, spray and pray. Now, we've got very rich show notes and largely because you know, the Ai takes care of 80 percent of it. And I have to do

a little editing and on we move. So... A lot of the podcast that, you know, that our our customers are kinda doing everything on their own, You know, they're booking the gas, they're... If they're have... If they have guests, they're doing their recording, they're doing editing. They're doing everything. And if we can take some of that workload off of them with some new services yeah, again, let us know for sure. And also for this podcast, it would really, you

know, be cool. If you if you have a topic you want us to to try and cover please let us know. Because, you know, we're we're always looking for for new things to put on the show here. In that same vein, if you wanna join us on an episode to talk about a topic that you are you know, ent with or has been your pain point or something like that. We would love to have a firsthand experience voiced on the episodes. It's going back to what I was saying about my experience starting

the podcast. First time was, I felt like I couldn't be present when I was recording because my mind was still just, like, full of I have to do this next and then I have to do this. And then this person has to do this. And then this, and there was just, like, a running list at all times. So I think, like, over the years as we've introduced new tools and services on how to get it all out there.

I think that's really helped and especially, I think our our new Ai, the functions that that is providing is gonna help people in that in that realm of, I'm doing this all by myself as my hobby that I am just, you know, love so much, and we want you to continue loving it. We don't want you to. We want you to love what your content is, and we want you to love the podcast process well. That's all that we're really trying to get people to

have. You know, honestly, I mean, I'm finding now that I'm getting into it more that podcasting is actually very fun. Of course, I have the benefit of having this team. I just hit my back and call if something goes wrong, but fortunately, so do all of our podcast. So, yeah, It's actually kind of fun. It it is technical, but I'm really enjoying it. Well, we try it... We try our best to make the the tech goal away. That's the that's the goal. You know, we want, you know, set it and forget it.

And we're really lucky on this show. We have Kate and her team that edit this stuff down and and make us sound smarter, I always say, but Not everybody gets that advantage. So... Yeah. You know, Cathy, for years, I've told my audience as soon as it's not fun anymore. And it feels like work, that's when I'm gonna punch my ticket and do something else. So so far, you know, knock on wood here. I'm I'm still having fun.

I think that's the key. You know, is is if if you get wrapped around the axle and be too serious about it. You know, here we are. We're just kinda r today, and we, you know, we we're saying stuff that comes to us ad hoc. I think that's what makes a lot of podcasts really, really good. You know, I've listened to a lot of podcasts recently because I've been sitting on airplanes, and, I'll be honest with you. Some of them are so over produced and so heavily edited. It's like, they're kinda soul. So

for me, I'm... I've never really believed in too much editing. I know that goes against the grain here, but I think if you are editing, you know, don't worry about leaving some of those human mistakes I guess, in in the content because that's what we all are here We're we're not robots and we're not Ai voices either. Yeah. There's a place for the over produced things too. You know, certain types of shows do really well when they're, you know, heavily produced like, you know, a true crime.

That kind of stuff, you know, where it's more documentary type rather than than, you know, the person sitting next to the water heater in the basement recording their podcast. You know, It's... So they're... And and, you know, the listeners have a preference. Some of them like the produced stuff, some of them like the, you know, the individual just talking about whatever. And in this case, you know, we hope you enjoy the

information that we try to bring you. You know, each to their own, and that's the beauty of podcasting. There's no real rules. There's you know, some some best practices, but hard fast rules really don't apply here. When I was doing my presentation in London, there was 1 slide that I had in there that basically said, remember there's no rules in pod casting and 1 of the gals in the audience scenes She just basically almost did back flips. She said, thank you.

Thank you. I've been been being told all day, how regiment you need to be, and and she says, I'm glad someone finally was brave enough to say there's no rules and I can do it my way. So I. I think we get wrapped on the sometimes on, form and fit. I think the thing to remember is it's your show you do with the way you wanna do it. So is there anything that we are looking forward to

the rest of the year for this podcast? I mean, we kinda had an epiphany a week or 2 ago in a meeting where we realized. Oh, it's 20 years of podcasting this year. You know, it's halfway through the year. 20 years. So is there anything that I... That we can kinda think of for the future of fund? Yeah. I I would say you don't have to do video. Don't be pressured

into doing video. And but I will say this, having done video for many years, if you do decide to add a video component to your show, planning is key to having a show that goes off without a hitch, because it's very, very hard to edit video as you would audio. It's real easy to cut out something in audio and maybe even replace it, re record something, but very, very difficult to do that in video and very time consuming. So I what to look forward to is don't...

You do not have to have a video podcast. People still have a lot more time to listen than to watch. But I understand, you know, it's kind of the shiny object right now, and and I think you should go into it with caution. If you decide to add a video component to your podcast. Yeah. And if you do decide to do video, remember that most of your audience is still gonna be just listening. So

try not to make it too visual. You know, Don't don't hold something and say, hey, check this out, you know, without explaining what you're holding up because So many videos they don't pay any attention to the audio only listeners. Anything else that we wanna 4 2, Mackenzie or Cathy, you have something in mind. I'm always curious how the podcasting 2 stuff is gonna evolve.

As more people start to use it as more companies, such as ours start to implement some of the features that like, how the how the podcast users will actually pick up on it. You know, what's gonna what's gonna succeed and what's gonna fail? Kinda what's gonna flop, you know, of right Like, this has really cool potential, but are we gonna get that across properly to users and And even if we do get a, you know, properly promote and, like, people understand, they still just might not care.

That's always something interesting and that, like, we're like, oh, okay. So this is a big pain point for us. We've been doing this for so long. This is how we could fix it. And then sometimes it just doesn't correlate with what people Are really trying to do too. So I... I look forward to seeing how that pans out. I think some of the podcasting 2 stuff as a said and forget it. You don't have to do it more than once. Oh, yeah.

And I think if Yeah content creators take the time and go through and kinda set it and forget it, some of that stuff. The other stuff that they have to add you know, some that stuff is a little more challenging. You know, we tried to make it little easier for chapters and some of the other functions, But you're right. Some of the stuff is definitely on the leading edge, and the way I've kinda looked at it were 6 months or so into probably a 2 to 2 and a half year education process

to get content creators diff number 1. Understand the value. And then number 2, and make it part of their workflow. And and again, when people already challenge with their workflow of having too much to do already. We have to simplify that as much as possible so that they really don't have to think about it. It just kinda happens. Oh just just like, you know, when podcasting

first started, there there's some growing pains. And, you know, podcast 2 is expanding the functionality of rs ss, which, you know, really hadn't been done a whole lot over the, you know, the 15 or so years, between Apple getting in and and now.

And I I really think that, you know, as more people look at, especially app developers that's really what it to, you know, some of these new features requires the app developers to add the that functionality to their apps and some omar now, you know, pocket cast is now adding transcripts. Okay? We got our foot in the door. Apple added transcripts. So, you know, just gonna take a while.

You know, I added documentation today for a 20 seventh feature, and That's a lot of features for a podcast to get their head wrapped around. Yeah. You know, for those of you that are small. No. All... In it's alternate enclosure 1 that I had basically said we wouldn't implement until there was a feature added. I said, okay, this has value. Each company and developers got a, you know, figure it out on their own time. You

know, sometimes it's... They they poo poo a feature, and then, you know, a couple months later, they re look at it. They go, oh, hey. That would be kinda cool. And then the... And some stuff is actually evolving, and we're, you know, we're gonna have to go back and revise some of our settings because they're, you know, the the the features being enhanced, Like guess for a better word, because we're all kinda learning as we go to here. Anyway, the podcasting 2

to 0 stuff is fun. They call that running with Scissors. Yeah. I I don't advise running with scissors I could end and very, very bad, but Yeah. That's what Podcasting 2 is for sure. But I think too, we have some interesting stuff coming down the pipeline as well, and 1 very, very big project. That's gonna take a while to implement Them... Well, we'll see how we're gonna need a whole whole lot of work to get that ready

to launch. But we're trying to get our our Ai piece finished for our clip creation, still have a little challenge with a prompt. It's technically working, But... Close. And it's getting closer. So maybe 2 or 3 weeks we'll be able to cut that loose. I don't know we'll see. You know, and coming up on this podcast, You know, we're gonna continue our blueberry slash podcasting 01:01 series, you know, it'd be between other episodes. And so those of you that are just

beginning your journey. You don't have to go t through the back episodes. We're gonna revisit some of those topics again, and, you know, of course, we revise because, you know, everything's evolving. Yeah. Whenever something changes, we We gotta let people know. So any other thoughts as we get ready to wrap up episode for hundred. I'm gonna have to remember to hit the 4 instead of the 3. So Yeah. Build knocks. So first world. It's like the year change. Yeah. Whenever the year changes

remembering to put 24 versus 23, etcetera. Yeah. I don't write checks anymore. So that's not been a problem. III number my shows with the year in it. So it's always fun. I. I always mess up a few at the beginning of the year. Made it to episode 400. Have 1 will be next week just like clockwork, we'll we'll get these things out. Thanks for being with us. If you've been here since the beginning. If you have, we wanna hear from you. Who's been here since the

beginning. And if you haven't been here for since the beginning. Thanks for being a subscriber.

And following the show. Happy podcasting. Thanks for joining us. Come back next week, And in the meantime, head to cast insider dot com for more information to subscribe, share and read our show notes. To check out our latest suite of services and learn how blueberry can help you leverage your podcast, visit blueberry dot com. That's blueberry without the ease. We couldn't afford the ease.