Happy Trails with Lesa McDermott and ‘Girl Camper’ – PCI 440

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, all with the support of your team here at Blueberry Podcasting. Welcome. Let's dive in. Hey. Well, welcome to, Podcast Insider.

I guess this will be considered a special interview, and I've got Lisa McDermott from Girl Camper here. How are you doing? Thanks, Mike. I'm doing great. Did I pronounce your last name right? I didn't ask before we started. You did. That one that one's a little harder to screw up than my first name. Yes. There you go. There you go. But, yeah, Lisa's gonna be our, podcaster of the month, I think, for May, is it, or is it April? I don't remember which. I'm hoping May because it's the April.

But, anyway, we met Lisa or I didn't, but, our team did down in, Tucson for TravelCon. Mhmm. Yes. I met the great, Blueberry team down there at TravelCon, and it was nice to speak to them. And you and I have spoke a few times on the phone Oh, yeah. When I've needed some customer support with with the hosting on Blueberry, which has been so simple to use. So Oh, very good. Very good. And speaking of that, how did you get started in podcasting?

Well, I love this question because, it was more of a default.

My our company, Janine or Growcamper has been around for ten years, and it really started with a blog post and a podcast that was is hosting. She's my cohost, Janine Pettit. She's also the founder of Grow Camper. And she kind of entered the podcasting world. Like I said, ten years ago when there really weren't a ton of podcasts out there and there certainly weren't, very many that dealt with camping, at least not in, in our aspect of it and, and really geared towards women.

And so Janine's podcast, the girl camper podcast became really, really popular very quickly, which was awesome and is how I discovered it. I loved listening to it and learning all kinds of things about camping. And then when she decided about five years ago to start bringing on guides and hostesses to do events across the country and help other women learn how to camp and, and provide opportunities to bring,

women who enjoyed the outdoors together. I jumped on that and became the South Dakota guide and was able to host some trips and things like that. Well, then over the years, my job duties have changed drastically. I'm no longer the South Dakota guide. I'm actually the vice president of Grow Camper, and part of that includes being the cohost of the Grow Camper podcast. So how did I get the podcast? I I kind of inherited it. Yeah. Let's say not a bad way to go.

But, so, you know, has podcasting really helped you, get, you know, get some more reach out there for your community?

It has. You know, we put the podcast on hold in 2020 to launch the magazine. And I, for one was one of them that kept by bugging Janine, bring it back, bring it back. I missed that. I missed that weekly, episode. And but, you know, is, you know, podcasting is is takes a lot of work and we just didn't have the the the bandwidth at the time to do it. And then a year ago, it was the right time. We're like, alright,

we're ready. Let's bring it back. She asked if I would co host it and I said, I sure would. And we we brought it back, and we brought it back not as a podcast, but also as a video podcast too. So that's been a different aspect, for us, but we are seeing our numbers, growing again, which is awesome, to get back in there. For the podcasting standpoint, we've got a lot more competition out there. There's a lot camping orientated podcasts. But I think for girl camper, we're still

very unique in our niche. We are female, campers. Not that there isn't useful information for everybody on what we do, but our our target audience really is, women campers. Yeah. I noticed your your last episode, you, were talking to some guy about, toilets. Yes. Yes. It's an important part of, of the

of camping, I'm sure. But, you know, I thought that was funny because, you know, usually, anything goes wrong with a toilet, I'm the guy. Exactly. And for us, you know, for women camping, a lot I mean, it's not a lot of us are married. I'm married. My husband does come camping with me, but we camp by ourselves too. I'm taking off this week to be gone for for a couple of weeks. I'm a new brand ambassador for new camp, and I'm gonna be taking one of their campers on the road and and showing how

to use it. And I gotta show how to use it as a solo woman traveler. Mhmm. So we've gotta be able to educate our our our audience on how you can do different things and make them comfortable, so that that they do wanna go camping and things like that. So yeah. You know, just out of curiosity, I mean, do you you covered RVing and tent camping and and all the above, or is it, just, you know, kinda one niche within camping? We like to say at Crow Camper, there's no wrong way to camp like a girl,

and we absolutely mean that. And I think I'm kind of the epitome of that too, because I, I have a small teardrop. I have a van. I have a fifth wheel, but I also have multiple tents. I love to hammock camp and I, you know, I just I love being outdoors and there's just, you know, whether you wanna car camp, maybe you wanna stay at a cabin. We don't care. It's more about getting out there, getting together, experiencing nature, and camping in some sort of fashion.

Yeah. Neat. Yeah. My wife and I went camping once in a tent, and I told her after that, we're never gonna do this again. So we've always had RVs after that, but, in one shape way, shape, or form. Somebody having a little teardrop. Those are cool. They are really fun. They're so adorable. Yeah. But, you know, like, at GrowCamper, we not only do camp I mean, we do camping events, but that can run the gamut of what that is.

We usually do a river trip each year where we're on a we're whitewater rafting some river for a week. So on that, we're sleeping on the beach, you know, whether it's Grand Canyon, the Salmon River, the Green River. This year, I'm super excited. I'm taking 15 women well, 14, because I'm counting 15, counting myself. We are doing a 25 mile through hike in the, backcountry of the Black Hills Of South Dakota. We are backpacking, which means we are all carrying all of our supplies,

our tents. I'm gonna be hammock camping, all of our food, all of our water.

It's gonna be over ten days. My youngest person so far signed up is 46, and I believe I have a handful of women that are in their seventies. They're gonna be doing this. Nice. Yeah. That's I don't know if I'd wanna do that, but, I'm comfortable with my, La Z Boy or whatever, but you know? So as far as the, the podcasting and video, you're you're I assume you're doing a YouTube channel and, and plus on top of that, a video podcast. And, are you doing any video podcasting via RSS?

So, like, to Apple Podcasts or whatnot. The video, we're not you know what? Honestly, Mike, I don't know. That's one of the technical sides I don't know. I know we are on Apple Podcasts as far as our podcast goes. Yeah. Yeah. Your audio. Yeah. Okay. Good. Yeah. Like like I said, there's a lot there there's kind of a controversy going on in the podcast world. What what you can call a podcast, well,

viewers and listeners don't care. So, you know, you can have a podcast on YouTube, I guess, and that's cool. Yeah. That's what I actually suggest to people. You know, video is where you'd you know, YouTube shines, and audio is where podcast shines. You know, podcasting via the RSS feed or, you know, all the technical geekery that we're not talking about. But, anyway But it does bring up a challenge when you are doing something like we're doing where our podcast is also video.

We have to make sure that when we're doing, our podcast, that what we're or when we're as we're videoing, we've gotta make sure that what we're talking about is conveyed to the audio listener. So when we look for a podcast sponsors, I have to explain to them, yes, this is a video ad that I'm looking for, but your audio has to be, think of it as more as video ad. Right. So, you know, it can't be yes. We want a lot of pretty pictures, but there better there better not be a lot of,

quiet time or however you call that. Sure. Sure. Yeah. You know, and that and the thing with and a lot of podcasters that also do video do forget that they have an audio audience. And, you know, hey. Look at this. Well, the person that's listening on their, iPhone or in their car can't look at that. Yeah. So We've we've been guilty of that too, and I think I've usually had to qualify those podcasts by saying, hey. You might wanna go watch the video on this one because

it might be translated. You know, another technique I've found that works pretty well with that is, you know, say, all all these things I'm referencing, we're gonna have on the blog post over at whatever.com, you know, you know, wherever you publish your show, you know, the show notes as as so many people say. But, again, you know, if there is a visual element that the audio listeners are getting not getting in the audio, they can get it, you know, maybe on your blog post or

in the video. You know? It might, you know, help you build the video channel too. So Right. Why not? You know? Again, you know, we don't care where people listen or consume it as long as you do. Exactly. Alright. And as far as technical challenges, I don't remember any of the specifics, of any of the technical challenges, but has it been pretty smooth mostly? Mostly. I mean, for me, it was, you know, I I I had no podcasting experience. And so I had to kinda jump into

this with both feet. And in the past, Janine had hired an outside person to to do the editing and things like that of the podcast. Well, when it was just audio, it was a little easier to edit than it was when you've gotta edit a video. And one of our concerns was hiring someone outside of Go Camper was that they really didn't know our voice or what what we do. And then to have to, in our video, add some images and things like that. We wanted to make sure that

they made sense. So I ended up inheriting the production part of it too.

And, so having to learn that was, was a bit of a challenge and then finding the right software to do editing. And I'm, I'm, I'm still not sure I have the right software because once in a while there are some video or video audio glitches, things like that. And, and then being able to do things on a budget too, you know, since we're not a big production studio, what can we how can we tweak our audio to make it sound better without breaking the bank?

Sure. Sure. And, you know, the thing with that with a lot of indie podcasters, and I would consider you an indie podcaster, you know, You do have to kinda learn everything. You know? You don't have a program manager. You don't have a a an editor, a producer, a this or a that. You know? You're you're the whole radio station. If you think of it Right. Video terms or TV. Yeah. You're the whole thing, and, you know, learning this stuff takes some time, but, you

know, give yourself some grace on that. You know, the beauty of independent podcasting is people will forgive you for crappy audio once in a while. Don't do it all the time, but, you know, you could have, you know, I had an issue over the one of my episodes the other day, and and, you know, I had just sent it. Sorry about the audio, but, you know, here it is. You know? And Exactly. You know, you're never gonna be perfect. You know? If you want perfect, then you gotta have a team of 10 and

and, you know, all that. And, you know, you just most people don't have the resources for that or the want to manage something like that. Exactly. There's only so much time in the day and, you know, that there's there's plates are very full. Yeah. For sure. And, you know, just just keeping up with the weekly show, just the

recording and the the Mhmm. You know, preplanning and and, you know, if you're gonna have guests, you gotta coordinate with the guests and, you know, it's it it's a it's a it's a slog sometimes and, you know, you but, again, you know, indie podcast listeners and viewers don't care so much as long as they get their content. Yeah. True. And AI has really helped, streamline the process for us.

I'm using ChatGPT quite a bit when I've I know that it's it helps with, narrowing down topics that we haven't done before or that we know that our demographics, would like to hear. And then it helps me, when I have that topic, like, I'm gonna be doing one on traveling with pets. It helped draft the questions for the person.

And then I can put in there, you know, who is the person they're gonna be interviewing, what's a little bit of their background, and it helps write the intro and the outro script for me that I'm gonna use. So, I I really appreciate, how much AI is helping.

Right. And, of course, you know, Blueberry has some AI stuff built into our platform as well. But, you know, I use a lot of chat GBT and, you know, for for things work related. I mean Mhmm. You know, I'll write something, and I say, well, it's technically right, but who would wanna read that? I'll run it through there to, you know, friendly it up or or, you know, detectify it or whatever. And it it really is a a handy tool for just life in general these days.

It really is. And I found, you know, the more that I use it and I don't have a paid version. The more I use it, the more it does pick up on what my voice is. I finally got it to stop using in conclusion and words like that, or the big fluffy words to describe things. I'm like, okay, I don't use I'm a lawyer by by background, so I don't use fluffy adjectives usually. Yep. So, I have to be very, very precise in that that line of work. Exactly. Words matter. Yep. Yep. So very good. So, see.

You said you got quite the community from the looks of it here at girlcamper.com? Yes. In a magazine. Wow. I I was in the magazine business as a graphic artist years and years ago. You know, how are you doing print, or is it just an online magazine, anything like that? We just transitioned from print to digital. As you know, magazines are tough these days. And if you do a dive into what magazines are no longer being printed, it's pretty amazing. You know, oh, magazine and, Playboy. Yeah.

Oh, you know, the glamour, I think. And Sports Illustrated even almost stopped printing, last year. So bringing the print market is was super, super tough, and we were finding that our advertisers didn't wanna do print. It's hard for them to track their return on investment. Yeah. So we recently just decided to go all digital. We always had our magazine as a digital option, but now we're a % digital. But what's exciting with this is that we can

really focus now on offering interactive content. And when I say interactive content, it's imagine an advertisement for Curt Manufacturing who makes weight distribution hitch does for campers. So you can picture, an ad, a typical ad that you see in a paper magazine. But maybe in one of the picture boxes, there's still a picture. But now there's also a video that will play that shows you how to hook up this, their weight distribution pitch nice and easy in thirty seconds.

So I'm excited about that opportunity or like in our DIY or a cooking, story in the magazine. The summer issue that's gonna be coming out, there's gonna be an article on shaved ice. This is a Japanese type dessert. It's called Kikagori. So yummy. It's not snow cones, completely different. And, there's gonna be a video in there on how to actually make a shaved ice dessert in addition to the the written article with instructions and pictures. So one thing we couldn't do on paper for sure.

Right. Exactly. Of trailer hitches, I know it's this is way off topic. But, I remember an ad, this this will age me, but back when the Oldsmobile Toronado was a thing with a big front wheel drive v eight car, and Reese did a a weight distribution hitch ad where they took the rear wheels off of the old Toronado and told a kid tow the camper around because it took all the weight off of the back wheels. Oh my gosh. Anyway, ironic. Oh, it is. Yeah. But, yeah, the print print thing is

kind of going away. There are certain magazines that are, you know, still print, and and they're really focused on that, and and that's fine. Mhmm. I have some print. You know? My but, you know, as far as books, I mean, I had a joke, that that I put online when I built my office out here. I brought in the bookcase be that go that's behind me, and I put my Kindle on it and said, oh, I got all my books all, moved to the bookcase.

Yep. Yeah. And I fight for camping of of Kindle, the the old style e ink Kindle, you know, is really a great thing to bring along because you can have all your books with you. You can read it in the sun. It's, it's pretty cool. Anyway, and Yep. No. That's that's what I do too. I'm I'm an ebook. That's how yeah. And I loved books. I grew up low. I still love to read.

I love books and there is something about holding them, but, yeah, we live tiny, you know, where my house is less than 900 square feet, so I don't have room for four books. So Right. Yeah. And like I said, most of mine are in, bins out in the garage. You know, I Yeah. You know, I get a book or a physical book now and again, and but for the most part, if it's not available on Kindle, I'm not reading it.

Yeah. And same with magazines. You know? I, you know, I've subscribed to several magazines that do send print copies, but I have already read it by the time I get the print copy in the mail, because it's available online. And, you know, that's not a bad way to go. And I like the interactive ads that's you know, that really helps the advertiser, you know, showcase their their thing, whatever that thing is. And Mhmm. Yeah. Our advertisers are really excited about it.

So this, our summer issue will come out in June, and I'm excited to see what, what what they submit and how that all looks like. Nice. Nice. Do you do you have do you design that, or do you have somebody that does that, the the layouts and all that? We have somebody that designs it. But I have a feeling that as far as the interactive ads, that might be something I might have to show them how to do because, I'm the one that discovered that our our software was capable of doing it. Okay. So

yeah. I I guess, anything we didn't cover that you'd like to cover? I can't think of anything other than, you know,

podcasting is great. There's a lot of great resources out there, in the you know, social media groups. Like, for us, RV Content Creators is a nice group on, Facebook that is a wealth of information. I know when I was getting started, it was a great source for me to go to say, okay. What mics what what what microphone should I look at? What software editing software is good? Of course, we've always been with Blueberry. So that that was And we're happy to have you.

Well, congratulations on being the podcasters of the month, here at Poolebury. And, we'll, we'll get this, into one of our episodes and, probably on YouTube. So Fantastic. Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it. Thanks for joining us. Come back next week. And in the meantime, head to podcastinsider.com for more information. To subscribe, share, and read our show notes, check out the latest suite of services and learn how Blueberry can help you leverage your podcast, visit blueberry.com.

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