Hey, everybody got a bit of a bonus episode for you today. It is. The first deep dive episode of my podcast podcast workflows. It's a daily podcast, but every Wednesday I do a deep dive on how a popular podcaster publishes their show or the process for publishing a specific type of show. Like a mini podcast or a daily podcast. I'm really excited that this show is back after a short hiatus until I wanted to share the first deep dive with you, how trailer park got. 10,000 downloads in six weeks.
I hope you enjoy it. If you do, you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts or learn more over at show dot podcast. workflows.com. That's it for the intro now let's get to the episode REO missing Blatt eats, sleeps and breathes podcasts. Her main job is with a podcast company. Her newsletter is all about podcast curation. And she runs a newsletter and podcast community. On discord. She loves podcasts so much that she, along with her cohost, Tim Vegas. Produce a podcast about podcasts.
Well, really it's about podcast trailers specifically. It's called trailer park. And you might think that sounds too niche. But they got 10,000 downloads in just a few weeks. Their outreach process was crucial to achieving this goal and today that's what we're going to talk about on podcast workflows Welcome to podcast workflows, where you get daily tips to improve your process, grow your show, and maybe even make some money. Each week.
I also do a daily dive into the process of the world's most successful podcasters and reveal their tools, processes, and systems to help you simplify the production of your own show and reclaim hours in your day. You can improve your own podcast production process by seeing how the pros do it. I'm your host, Joe Casabona and it's Wednesday, which means we're doing a deep dive. We're going to look at how the trailer park podcast got 10,000 downloads in six weeks.
And specifically we're going to cover these three things. Why a super niche podcast is the path to success. Y spending some time in the edit can greatly enhance your show. And why pitching indirect outreach is still the best way to grow your podcast. Now a couple of quick stats before we get started, it's hosted by Arielle, NIS and black and Tim Viega. Vegas. It launched in February, 2023. At the time of this recording, it has about 14 episodes. There are a few bonus episodes in there.
It is weekly with seasons. The format is host cohost. It takes about 10 hours to produce one episode. The recording tool is squad cast, which is acquired or has been acquired by descript. And the podcast host is all HSA. I hope I said that. Right. So let's dive into it first. What is trailer park about? Well, here's how Arielle describes it. It's a podcast that highlights podcast trailers. In each episode, we feature a trailer for a show that took one of the following paths.
Started off as a seasons long. Show was made as a proof of concept. Was made just for fun. Or a stuck somewhere in the prelaunch phase. But it's not just about highlighting the show. Arielle. And Tim also talk about what worked well offer constructive criticism. And say, if they've listened to the show based on the trailer. As for the goal of the show. Well, let's throw it back to Arielle for this one.
She says to help creators a master the art of the audio teaser and to expose listeners to their next favorite show or creator. This is definitely a podcast for podcasters. So knowing that let's dive in to the production process. First let's talk about how they find trailers. Arielle and Tim's process for finding subjects. Namely trailers to cover is very similar to what I have set up for podcast workflows. Podcasters can submit their chiller and then they listen to see what's a good fit.
Here are some of the questions they ask. Is it interesting? Is it complex? And can we critique the show without hurting the host's feelings? Once they do find a trailer. They like, they reach out to the creator to get a voice clip to use in the episode. Perhaps that's something that I should be doing for future episodes of this show. One important aspect is that as they say in their own trailer, It doesn't have to be for a launched or successful podcast.
It can be for a podcast that never got made. The only requirement. Is that there is a trailer. This is a great move on their part because it makes the show super focused and super niche. Number one, their audience is creators and podcasters who want to create a good teaser for their content. A skill that's increasingly important in the age of clips and short form video.
There potential content pool seems vast over 4 million podcasts, but they don't need to spend time sifting through 4 million shows to find a good episode. They're always looking for one episode, the trailer. And they can start with submissions from their own audience. So your takeaway for this is when you're starting a podcast or looking to improve your workflow, go narrow. This will help you focus on the content that matters most. Now let's talk about their notes on the trailer.
Once the trailer gets elevated to the status of episode, topic, Arielle and Tim get to work on the episode. There's a lot of debate between script outline or off the cuff and on trailer park, they use bullet points to cover the things they want to cover. I think this makes perfect sense for a host co-host format where they're offering critiques of any kind. Uh, script feels too limiting. Because, well, they're trying to have an insightful conversation.
And some of the best points will come up organically. On the other hand, you don't really want to go in completely cold fumbling for words or grasping at straws. You want to be prepared when you're critiquing someone else's work. Bullet points help the two hosts, get a heads up on the general topics. While offering enough flexibility to go off the cuff when they need. And again, here it's Arielle and Tim are playing off of each other.
So it's important that they have good chemistry, which they do since they're. Working with each other's points and adding to an ongoing conversation. If these were just a single host show, the script might be a better way to tell a better story. But that's also an entirely different format where you'll need to add some dynamic element. To the show without another person there to help. Again, these notes are also for me as I continue to.
Read these deep dives that you can find over@podcastworkflows.com. With that out of the way, let's talk about the recording and editing. Well, volley we'll I'll say, uh, after their notes, Arielle and Tim record together using squad cast naturally since Arielle works for a squad cast. Now descript. Using the bullet points, which they create using a template, they run through everything they want to hit in the show.
This includes any promos recaps of previous episodes, what to expect sponsors, which they feature prominently. But in my opinion, not intrusively. And of course the trailer. And while they could just call it a day right there. Export the recording and call it finished. They spend a bunch of time editing the show. Remember in a previous daily tip, I told you not just to record and release. I've seen this statistic that for every one hour of finished content, it takes four hours of work.
But trailer parks episodes are nine to 12 minutes with the full trailer that they're covering and it takes 10 hours of work. That's about four times longer. Which got me asking the question. Why. If I were to guess, I'd say finding entry, critiquing the podcasts. Take around two hours at absolute most. The combination of Arielle's encyclopedic knowledge of podcasts. And the fact that trailers are innately short means that it's not a huge time commitment.
Even at three minutes, five listens is 15 minutes. Then let's say about 45 to organize their thoughts into bullet points. My guess is the lion's share of production time goes to editing. So here's how it works again. According to Arielle. Tim handles the initial cuts. Then Arielle goes through with a fine tooth comb, hands it back to Tim, and he adds the music and sound effects. Then they go through a few more rounds before settling on a final draft.
The edit is important for any podcast, for sure. But when you're trying to create a show that's as punchy and informative as the content you're critiquing, you want to spend a lot of time in the edit to make it rock solid. For example in the show, crucial fusion. They move quickly between the recap promos, actual trailer and notes before moving to what to expect next. Without audio cues and proper editing. It would be easy to get lost or even worse. Bored.
So your takeaway here editing is more than just removing ums and barking dogs. You can change the feel and pacing of the show. As long as the content is there, editing can greatly enhance your podcast. I mean, just look what it did for star wars. Am I right? Now let's talk publishing and the call to action. Once the episode is done, Arielle and Tim upload the episode themselves to Asha their podcast. Host. For episode notes, Arielle says they use a template.
They share a bit about the trailer, include links and make sure to highlight their sponsors prominently. And they write all of that within their podcast. Host. The use of a template is crucial here, especially since the show has several sponsors, any season long giveaway. At least in season one. You can use a simple Google doc that you make copies of, or you can use a tool like text expander, if like Arielle. You prefer to write directly in the podcast, hosts editor.
Another important aspect of a template for notes is the call to action. On the trailer park podcast, the CTA is to submit your trailer. They make sure to include this link as well as mentioned how to do it on the show. Your call to action should be prominent and obvious. If I had one critique for this show, it would be that there are several CTS. But that's not necessarily unique to this podcast. In fact, you've probably heard me give multiple CTS. On podcast workflows.
Plus they benefit here from the main CTA being precisely what the show is about. Okay. Now let's get to the main event to reaching 10,000 downloads in 10 episodes or fewer. One of the most interesting aspects of trailer park, the trailer park show. Is that even though it's so niche, it grew pretty quickly. During an interview on the grow, your show podcast with It came up that they reached 10,000 downloads in just a few weeks. Let's look at what is, and what's not a factor in that growth.
Video is something more podcasters are recording and releasing. So Arielle and Tim record with Scott squad cast. And they have the option to record with video. So they do. However, they're not doing anything with that video at the moment. Instead they're making use of tools like recast studio, one of their sponsors to create audio grams. They share this content on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, but social media. Isn't where I think the magic happens.
Social media is notoriously hard to grow your podcast on because you are asking people to fully switch contacts. They're scrolling through Twitter or threads or Facebook or LinkedIn. And now you're asking them to stop what they're doing to listen to a podcast, which is something totally different. Instead, here's what Arielle shared about their efforts to promote the show.
Social media pitching themselves as guests on other podcasts, writing blog posts for other outlets that link back to the show. Pitching their show to podcasts newsletters. This is how I discovered the show. And pitching themselves to be featured in apps. You can see that there's a lot of pitching and direct outreach. In fact, I heard about the show because Arielle who has subscribed to my newsletter, asked if I'd mention it to my audience, which I gladly did.
So your takeaway social media shares are fine. But they aren't a growth strategy. Instead identify other podcasters, blogs, YouTube channels, and newsletters that align with your show's mission. And ask them to share it with their audience. Now where they can improve because podcasts are a constant work in progress. And they should be iterative. And improve based on feedback. The trailer park podcast is no different. So when asked Arielle said we could always spend more time. On promotion.
This is almost assuredly true for every podcast or at least most podcasts. If you like Arielle. And Tim has spent a lot of time creating the content. The last thing you likely want to do is think about promotion. Likely they have the tent poles in place to be able to do this well, though. They're recording video, which they can repurpose for Instagram and YouTube. Their sponsor. And one of the tools at their disposal is cap show. Also owned and run by the aforementioned DJ Shen.
So this will transcribe episodes and create Twitter threads, LinkedIn posts, and a newsletter draft. They can use that as a starting point for written content. Plus they're helping creators who are often willing to share content that they're a part of. But going back to their playbook, direct outreach is a fantastic way to promote the show. Talking to creators in their network, the creators they cover, the tools they cover and doing podcast swaps are ways to expand their reach.
Now as they gear up for a new season, they can also make another big launch. This is one of the benefits of seasonality. Reach out to the previous outlets, as well as new ones for coverage and mention that the show is coming back. As an aside, they also mentioned that they're behind on publishing some bonus episodes. Another benefit of seasonality is that bonuses can be dropped when they're ready. So, how can you use the trailer park podcast to improve your podcast workflows?
What are the biggest and best takeaways from Arielle and Tim and how they produce, publish and promote the trailer park show. Number one, pick a narrow niche, go narrow on the niche of your podcast. It will help you focus on the content that matters most. You can always expand or change based on feedback. Instead of choosing to interview business owners, make your show conversations with solo preneur parents who are building a business around family life.
Your podcast, mission statement can inform and assist in the direction of your content here and keep you focused. Number two, make editing a priority. Editing is more than just removing ums and barking dogs. You can change the feel and pacing of the show. Arielle and Tim record their conversation, but bring in plenty of other elements like interstitial music, sound effects, sound bites, and commentary from the podcaster.
If you're going to spend a lot of time on your podcast, do it here and leverage automation and delegation to do the rest. What are some small incremental changes that you can make for the next episode of your podcast? Figure out two to three things that can turn your show from a meandering conversation. Into a punchy attention grabbing story. And number three, ask for the share social media. Isn't a growth strategy. Direct outreach is a tried and true method for growing your podcast.
Reach out to a similarly aligned websites, podcasts, newsletters, and YouTube channels to see if they're willing to help you promote the show. You can also do podcast swaps or other trades. That's why it's important to find outlets that align with your goals and mission. You could also experiment with paid placement. Either way, remember that most people aren't just going to share your podcast, reaching out and asking for the share can help you grow more quickly.
Offering to create unique content also works well. It's more work for you, but it allows you to stand out more than just a back linker. I mentioned. You have the opportunity to give a new audience, a taste of what they can get from your show. The simplest way to get started with this is to use Google sheets notion or my personal favorite air table.
To keep a list of people in places to reach out, to track when you reached out, when you need to follow up, if they accept and what your promo article or mention is. And when it goes live, So there you go. That's it for this deep dive into the workflow. Of the trailer park podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. And the top takeaways you can read the full article. At the link in the description or over@podcastworkflows.com. Let me know what you thought of this episode.
You can find me on X and threads as at J Casabona. And if you want to connect on LinkedIn, um, Joe, Casabona over there. I hope you enjoyed that deep dive as much as I enjoyed making it again. If you like this show, subscribe in the app or you're listening right now, or learn more over at show dot podcast, workflows.com. Thanks so much for listening and until next time get out there and build something