Hey guys, I'm really excited for this conversation. Rob Greenlee is a Podcast Hall of Famer. He has podcast, multiple podcasts and now he is partnered with Stream Yard, so check out Stream Yard. I actually am affiliated more with Riverside FM. So if you're interested in using Riverside as your podcasting platform, you know, reach out. Or if you have an interest in Stream Yard, connect with Rob. We will put those links down
below. And you know, we're both also really excited to share what we've learned with video podcasting. And so we're going to use this conversation to try and educate you about all the tricks that you can use and the tools that will help make it easier for you if you're interested in becoming a thought leader through
podcasting. And so just make sure that you're really taking notes and checking the description for those links, cuz I'll also make sure I put a link to some solo content creator equipment and I'll even link my website. It's called On Cam Ready just in case you want to reach out, have a newsletter on LinkedIn and also on sub stack or offer resources to help you become more on camera ready from social media to podcasting to television interviews because
ioffer media training. So check out my website and all the links below. Rob and I have a lot planned for this conversation. We're going to really devote as much attention as possible to the details of what it is to create a podcast, a video podcast. So let me just take two seconds and I'll get ready for this conversation and join you with Rob Greenlee. Hello, everybody and hello, Rob. How are you?
I'm so glad you could join us. Yeah, it's terrific to be here, Jamie. It's it's always good to talk to you. You know, I, I, I'm going to be transparent. I was trying to get this on LinkedIn live for everybody, but I could not get that button to put this out. And guys, that's the reality
some of us face. If you're trying to do it all, and you're doing, you're creating your podcast, you're putting together your videos, cutting your social media clips, posting things on LinkedIn, trying to do your lives, It's a lot to juggle and unfortunately I couldn't figure it out and I'm going to look into it. But yes, I'm really glad Rob could join us. Thank you so much, Rob. I really do appreciate it. Yeah, I'm excited for, you know, the topics we want to talk about today.
I think it they're really important to content creators that are trying to work with all these tools and you know what happened to you today. Is a is a good example of what can happen and will. Oftentimes, if you're a creator, will probably happen. Yeah, exactly. So everybody today we are talking about video podcasting. And again if you're listening on YouTube, I hope you subscribe to this channel and check out Rob Greenlee on YouTube as well.
Subscribe to us both if you can on on your podcasting platforms. Make sure you give us a like and find Rob Greenlee his post. His podcasts are linked below in the description so make sure you check out Rob. Rob, you join. You're joining us after recording your own podcast, right? So why don't you tell us a little bit more about what you have going on these days? Well yeah, I've been a content creator since about 1999.
I was on the radio and then I progressed on my radio show for many years in XML that ran network and just kind of moved up the the ranks and and have been working at this for a long time and worked for a lot of podcast hosting platforms over the years. Microsoft Xbox. I worked on podcasting at Microsoft for seven years and and then yeah, all along I've been doing my own shows to some
degree. Most of them have been shows for the particular platform I was working for at the time, like Spreaker. I did a the Spreaker Live show for many years and and did a lot of content when I worked at Lipson as well. I didn't do the official podcast
there and then. Now that I've left all that and now I'm working with the The Stream Yard folks and helping create podcast related content on their channels and helping you know Youtubers and video creators think a little bit about the podcast medium as a alternative distribution method. So that's that's what I do out there. I'm trying to walk this line trying to learn myself and then help others to maximize their experience of creating content
on the video and audio side. Which podcasting has a deep roots in video and a lot of people don't realize that that are new to the medium. That podcasting really started supporting video and audio and it just the most modern times. It's been seen primarily as an audio only medium and but I think times are changing you know and and short form content, long form content is starting to really take off.
Yeah. And it's helpful to have that video content readily available because I mean if you're scrolling in any social media feed, I mean think about it guys. If you're listening, like how many of you stop when you just see an audio recording? Not, I mean think about it. I when I think about it, I'm like, well, I kind of pass over those, you know, I typically want to see people on camera talking to me over audio lines. I don't know. Rob, have you? When you scroll, what do you stop on?
Yeah, I tend to want to see things too. I think there are people out there that are visually oriented it and want to want to see the people that they're consuming content from and to connect with them at that level. And then there's other folks that are into audiobooks and they're into audio and and that's OK. You know, I think podcasting can embrace all the different levels of consumers out there of the of the content.
And I think that's the real key message that I'm really focused on now is just trying to create one piece of content and repurpose it into audio and video. Yeah, it's great. And I love what you're doing guys. I actually appeared on his Stream Yard podcast YouTube channel. You were my second guest, I think, on that show, right? Yeah, it was. I was very thankful to be a part of that. You're beginning with Stream Yard, that podcast, and it's on YouTube guys.
I shared a clip on my own YouTube channel, but again, be sure to find Rob Greenlee and Stream Yard. You can also see his podcast listed down below in the videos that YouTube offers, so check it out. He is really great on selecting key guests and that's one thing I want to make sure that we talk about is selecting guests, prepping guests and really building out a show around guesting. So for this conversation today, we're going to be talking about video podcasting with a guest.
We're not going to be focusing on a narrative podcast or any other type of podcast other than a guest podcast. Now what I would really like to do while we have robbed with us is is look at how our thought leaders listening can really start podcasting this week. You know, and I constantly tell people you really need to have a strategy in place before you get
going. But you really you can think it through and start getting your wheels moving this week if that's something you really want to do. So why don't we start from like the basics and kind of take people through a road map of getting a podcast or, you know, a live stream show out there? Does that sound good, Rob? Yeah, I think that's like the beginning stage that you need to really think about is you know, why are you doing this? It would be the first question I would say.
And then also you know, what kind of topics would you like to cover And then you know, kind of dig into that and then start thinking about well what is the type of format that I would want to present that topic in. And that will take you down the path towards coming up with the the show brand and the show, you know, mission and the show purpose and those kind of
things. And then you can come up with your graphics and and your presentation and really have to sell your your show and your content and you need to have a pitch. It's almost like an elevator pitch of sorts for a startup of of sorts about what's the reason for the show, what's the pitch of the show. And that that'll help you kind of drill down and figure out what you're trying to accomplish with the show because there's a lot of goals that can be establish for these things,
right? Yeah. And I think like you know, when you're deciding your concept, you know what what he's saying is your why. You know, figuring out if you're going to be a show that's focused on having a guest, like what is your purpose? What are you hoping to get out of that person every time And then really honing in on those types of conversations. So while we're talking about concepts, you know Rob, you have a Co host show and you have a single individual hosted show.
Why don't you just share a little bit about you know what it's like having a Co host and also hosting something on your own. You know any differences that you've you've come across when it when you're recording with video and audio? Yeah, I think there's huge differences. I I would say that the biggest difference is conversation and and having chemistry with the
person that you have. If you have a long history with that other person, there are things that come out of the conversation that would not come out as much in a conversation with someone that you just met or you've you know you're just doing an interview with or something like that.
Unless you have kind of a a deep understanding of that person and their personality and what drives them and what their motivations are it's hard to kind of extract value for your audience without that kind of context. So that's the advantage of of a Co host situation is that you have that in depth knowledge of that other person and you may
not even have to have guests. I that's that's what I really like about Co host type situations is that you don't there's no requirement you have to book somebody to be there on on Thursday at 7:00 PM eastern. You know it's it's you know you 2 show up every week at the same time and you have an outline and you have goals with the show and things like that and you can just punch the show out and be entertaining.
And I I think the big thing is whether it's live or pre recorded, I think is the big choice that you need to make too. But but the guest format I think it's a little bit trickier. I I think it it requires a lot of contextual understanding of the strengths of your guest and also the strength of yourself to extract value out of the the
guest. That's additive to me, the host because fundamentally the red thread of a podcast is you want to keep that audience coming back every week to the show and what's the common glue in a in a guest hosted podcast it's it's the host, right. So your audience that you're attracting is going to be more reliable based on their loyalty
to the host. That guest coming in is additive to me, not a replacement for me. And I think that's a a way of looking at it that makes a lot of sense that this person needs to be additive to my views as a host of the show and what my goal is. And I'm increasingly hearing people say that if you're going to do an interview show, you should do occasional episodes that are solo, because then what you're doing is you're establishing your your firm hold
or your firm grasp on your audience, connecting with you as the host primarily. Yeah. So there's kind of some controversy around that, but that's kind of my my current view on that. Yeah, I would agree. I've I have done a couple solo episodes and it I felt I had to be very scripted because it's hard for me to come on here and just improvise right, without a
plan. So I would have to write out a long script and then you know I I don't read it word for word but that's what I would need to do for a solo. Now I we can talk about you know developing each episode, you know as we go along this road to your your podcast guys. But that's a little teaser I guess about what you're going to do when you start that podcast and you need to start fleshing out the details. But I mean you know what he has basically saying is you can either do a solo.
You can have a Co host with a guest without a guest. If we're looking at that type of concept, that's what you know you really need to think about, right. You can even have three people and if it's virtual it makes it a heck of a lot easier. However, when he's talking about you know that that chemistry, you may see that the chemistry is better in person than it is virtually. I mean so you, you and your Co host are virtual and I mean you
guys have good chemistry. So it just depends on the type of people, right. And so that's really helping you determine like your style but before you launch it. Helps to have contrast. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, yeah. It helps to have contrast and personalities and and the the tonal voice too.
So if you're doing audio what you want to have is a Co host that has a distinctive voice from you but also has A at times maybe a contrarian view to you as the host or because usually there's a primary host even in a Co host situation.
So the host needs to kind of like lead on the intros and the exits and things like that where the Co host is kind of like is you know the kind of in depth analysis person is kind of what that role sometimes looks like It can be, it can be equal to the host in its presence, but ultimately somebody has to lead this. Yeah, right. Somebody's got to right? Right, right. Also, it's going to go all sorts of directions, right? It's like, you know, you don't know what you're going to get.
I mean, but that's why it's important, like on this road to developing your own podcast, to do that comparative research right? You need to make sure you're putting together a product that A isn't already out there. And if it is already out there, how you can make it different? And what he's saying by having different voices, different opinions, that's a way to make it different. Sometimes it doesn't have to be, you know, extremely different than other podcasts, right? You know.
But if you have different voices, that really adds that uniqueness. I mean, what do you say about the comparative research element, Rob? Well, I think to really kind of tap into what you're saying about different voices, it's not so much the different voices of the context of what they're saying which is important. It's more the tonality of the of the Co hosts or or the guest's voice too. So when a person is listening on audio, they're they're clear on who they're listening to.
You know, I think that people may make a mistake of having a Co host that the two people sound alike and that can be confusing to the audience and it can't happen. That's why in some ways, you know, the the male and female Co host, Co host situation works pretty well too, because women tend to speak differently than men do. So you have this contrast that's out there too. But contextually, from the standpoint of the content of that, of what's being being communicated, that's very
important too. Attitude, opinions, thoughts, increasingly political positions, you know, experience, life experience, those are all factors that you have to think about with a Co host. Yeah. And you know, when we're talking about comparative research, you know, you really want to kind of maybe put together an Excel spreadsheet of all the different podcasts that are out there that are in your genre, your niche, and then listen to them and get a better sense of how can you add value to that.
So if you're a thought leader and you want to start a podcast, start listening to as many podcasts as you can. Yeah, I agree with that. I think that's very helpful for you to learn what the, what the popular shows in your genre are actually doing. And then you can kind of draft off of that to some degree and then maybe do a little bit of a unique twist on some of those strategies that appear to be working and kind of make them your own a little bit.
You know innovate, try new things, feel like you're you're really kind of do something different than everyone else is doing. I think that is kind of the bigger key to success is that you do need to be seen as a little bit unique as much as you can. You can't just be a Me Too show. It's like the aspiration that people have out there for wanting to be just like Joe Rogan is probably a a fool's errand to try and take on because nobody's gonna be Joe Rogan.
So yeah, you might as well just be you and. That really brings us to, like, the planning. So if you're listening to this, you're a thought leader and you wanna start up a video podcast, you know, you've already thought about your concept, You've determined your style, you started your comparative research. Then you have to start planning. You know, Rob, he uses Stream Yard. So there's all these different platforms out there that you can consider to put together your
video podcast. You know, why don't you just tell people a little bit about what makes Stream Yard so great as an option for people who are starting to navigate? Yeah, I think specifically the power of Stream Yard is really around live distribution and live production.
It's got a lot of what I consider to be kind of like television capable kind of overlays graphics, being able to bring in comments from Facebook and YouTube into the program, add that contextual layer of interactivity that's so
compelling. But also being able to present videos, produce stuff in advance of the live program to play it during the show and and have overlays that represent the branding and the graphics and and have motion backgrounds and things like that which is which may be considered to be some to be somewhat of a gimmick with with video. And I think that there is a movement out there now around simplicity of your of your video productions.
And I think that is an interesting trend line that I'm starting to see a little bit where where people don't have a lot of overlay graphics on their screen. They go full screen, maybe a little half transparent logo in the bottom corner of the of the screen and stuff like that. But Streamer gives you the ability to do all that stuff too and to transition up to 10 people bringing into a show.
If you want to have that many guests on screen, which is a lot of guests, I think the the maximum I'd be willing to do is probably like maybe 4 on any kind of live experience. Right. Well that's a whole other element too, is trying to manage the chat plus monitor the conversation and keep up with all the transitions and you know, going from one screenshot to the other screenshot. Trying to manage all that plus have a in depth conversation with someone is mentally challenging.
There's no question it takes a little practice, but. That's when you know, that's where producers like myself come in handy, like having someone who can help produce it up. You know, I'm a one man band. I can't. I don't really have the time. So simplicity has become my best friend, you know. And I would love to dress it up and have animations and graphics and do all the, you know, have all the bells and whistles. But yeah, I mean it's hard when
you have to put it in edit. So it's great that Stream Stream Yard allows you to do that ahead of time, right? But you do have to be able to play it all out during. In your live production. So I think that's the. That's what's different too. Instead of what a lot of people do, if they they record, they'll actually Add all these elements in post production, where if you're doing it live, you kind of need to do it in the pre production stage so you can use
it in the live production. And that's the ability that that Stream Yard has, is to be able to fully produce your show in advance, have all the visual elements there, have all the links and the screen shares that you want to offer during the context of the program, and you just randomly bring them up when they're appropriate in the conversation. Mm hmm. And it it is easy to to do once you get used to it. I've tried it out.
I think it's great. You know, for me, I just haven't had the time to put together the elements to make everything ahead of time. You know the animation I played at the start? I did that in maybe 15 minutes like before. You know before like Canva or something like that, you do it in the Canva or or something like that. And here's a good topic. You know, it's all about planning it out and identifying the platforms. And you know, when I'm creating content I use the following apps.
I use Canva, Cap Cut, and occasionally Lightroom and Lightroom's. Great for photos. But also, you know, if I'm using an image in a Canva it gives me the opportunity to maybe brighten it up, make it look a little better before I go to Canva. I don't really like using filters, so that's why I those are like my 3 go to's. How about yourself? What? What other programs do you love? Yeah, I have a whole bunch. I use Canva. I use. I use the script. I use Paint with Windows. Nice.
And there's a bunch of other kind of like audio optimization tools that I'll use. One's called in sounds and one's called Nomano, which I do more audio recording productions in the in those two platforms to be able to optimize the audio, audio recordings. But the primary tools that I use is Stream Yard and a Wave editor as well as Canva and the script. I think, and I do do a lot of post production editing in in the script to pull out filler words and word gaps and things
like that. I don't use it to record any video or do anything like that. I just use it for the post post production benefits and then transcripts is another one that I use. But, but Stream Yard is increasingly adding some of this capability to creating like shorts and transcripts and and being able to do those kinds of
things too. Yeah, I mean you know the platform I use it has the transcripts and it has AI and it writes my show notes and it does all my chapters so that like helps me. But I have Descript. I I haven't used it as much as you know. I basically bought it and barely used it. I need to use it this year, guys. I'm gonna use Descript. But I will add, if you're into the Adobe products, Adobe Audition is also great for audio. So let's talk about names.
You know how do you come up with a podcast name? Rob, how do you, what do you tell people when they're like, you know, what do I name my show? How did? You. Yeah, yeah. It's a hard question to ask. Remember the first thing to do is go out and search for in your genre to try and find other shows. You know it's it's simple as doing maybe a Google search.
So if you have an idea of what genre that you want to create a show about, whether it's you know if it's about podcasting or if it's about video creation or if it's about some something else. Let's say you're an accountant and you want to do a show about accounting or something like that. Just do a search for accounting podcasts and see what comes up and and also do it in Apple Podcasts and Spotify and just see what's out there is what would be kind of the first stage.
But even to get to that stage, you kind of have to have a an idea about what genre of show that you want to create. And then just do it like like you were saying earlier, just do some research and try and find kind of like a little hole in a gap. And then probably what you'll wind up doing is having to look for a domain name or something like that as well. And who owns certain trademarks and things that that would be the natural next thing.
And then you just come up with a list of ideas that you have and compare that with what you've seen online of other people doing that may have a trademark or something like that. And and just come up with a list of ideas and then go look to see if the domain names are available for that. And it can be a derivative like show or podcast or something like that that may be more likely to be available.
So. So that's kind of the process that I would go through is just make sure that you're not duplicating somebody else's show. Exactly. And when it comes to, you know, coming up with a name, I always say you know, once you have that list, run it past your friends, your family, maybe have people vote, do some research on your industry.
You know, are there any terms that people use specifically to your audience that might be worth weaving into your own intro or into your own I'm sorry logo and and your title of your show? And really try to hone in on who your audience is and make sure your, your logo and your name are are kind of connecting with them through whatever terms or images that might be specific to your niche. You know, logos are hard to come up with but it's always going to
bounce off your name. So you want to try to think about it all together and come up with your branding colours and try to stick with them. That's always hard to I know you have your green and black with Stream yard. I mean that's not easy to stick with a green. I mean, I would, I would not do well with green or video. You know I have to do more of a jewel tone where green looks
great on you. Good. I'm glad it does because I didn't have any option of picking it. The Stream Yard team picked it for me, so I think they saw my name. Green Lee. Oh, that's green. There you go. I see. I see. So so guys, what? Have we? Gone through, Yeah. So guys, what have we gone through? We have your concept, your style, your comparative research, planning, identifying your show name, starting your logo, ideas, you know, choosing your podcasting platforms, your
editing. You know, when it comes to editing though, Rob, have you ever hired an editor? No, I haven't. But I've had a partner that did a bunch of editing before, but I haven't hired them per SE. But I certainly know plenty of podcasters that have hired outsourced through fiber or through, you know, the various networks out there of podcast editors. And it's, you know, there's plenty of people out there that are looking for work right now to do that kind of stuff.
So that's that's one thing too. If you do need help, there's plenty of people out there that can help you. And one place to search is always LinkedIn guys. Because anytime I need help, you go there, you say, hey, I'm looking for an editor, you'll get like 10. OK, so definitely go there and then, you know, let's get into the the the context, right. So you've decided your niche, you've decided, OK, I'm going to have a guest or you know, a Co
host and I need to plan it out. So Rob, how do you plan out your podcast episodes and with video in mind? It's a complicated question to answer because there are so many variables that go into it and it's it never starts out exactly the way it winds up ending out or ending up to. Because what you're going to find is that you're going to evolve the show and change it over time based on your experiences, your your process of actually producing it.
Especially a live show, there's fluctuation. I'm always tweaking my show every week so you don't have to start out with one format or one way of doing your content and
stick with it forever. You can just pick something that you feel like makes sense to you to start with and then just start doing it. And as you do it, you're going to learn where the pain points are and if you can streamline this or adjust that or do it a little different, this aspect of it, but just kind of document it to some degree in like a text
outline of some sort, right? Or you can kind of lay things out of what, you know you want to accomplish in a particular episode and just kind of lay it out from a contextual standpoint in a in a content perspective, too. Like what you want to say at the beginning of the show, what you want to say in the middle. You know, when do you want to bring in the guests? When do you want to do this or that? You know, how do you want to start the show? And there's a lot of creative
energy that goes into that. It's almost like a blank canvas that you can paint, right? So you're trying to paint a full color spectrum of what this painting will look like. And you have to start out with, like outlines or whatever before
you actually fill in the color. So just come up with your kind of structure of what you want to do in your episode and just know that you can change it. Because if you create it in like a Google Docs or something like that, you can always adjust things and change things in the future.
If you have a a different guest opportunity or you know you want to bring in multiple guests or if you want to just do a solo show, you can just adjust that outline to to reflect that and put stuff, you know take stuff out and put them in when you want to adjust the show. But I think that's the big thing is just kind of come up with a like a like a skeleton of what you want to do with your show. I think it's the first thing.
Yeah and like you know with on Cam ready, I always have a quick little 10 second intro to a sound bite from the guest and then an intro right. And within that intro I try to plug or mention someone that might have you know sponsored or contributed to the to the podcast right. And try to get all that in and then introduce the guest.
And I always like to have the guest really tell us more about who they are because as ATV producer we were always, you know, introducing the guest and saying you know, here's that's it, you know, 15 second intro and that's all they are. And it's like, well, there's more to a person. And it's important for, in my opinion, the guest in a podcast situation to really give you more about who they are so that people listening have a better understanding of why this guest
was chosen, right. So that's when I'm looking at podcasting, I'm thinking this is an opportunity for the guest to really, like, bring it. We're on TV. They don't really have that chance all the time, right? That's right, because there's such a short sound bite. Usually it's. Short little. So I mean, some of the things that I would say, you know, just coming from ATV Producer's standpoint is, you know, he mentioned having a Google document.
What I like to do is write out everything I want to say within my intro and even a placeholder for my sound bite. A sound bite is going to be like 30 seconds to maybe a minute from the guest that I'm going to cut and add to my edit later on. So that's what I mean by a sound bite, right? Sometimes I'll have vow or B roll that I add to my intro. Those codes are universal across pad casting and TV editors.
So you're going to want to have like a queue for AD VO or AD B roll here so that they know what they're doing when it comes to your intro, when you're incorporating video elements to the edit versus where Rob, you know he's going live. So Rob, I wanted to ask, do you kind of have those cues that you've kind of marked like, oh, I have a graphic for this. I need to play this in like your Google Doc?
Yeah, Yeah. You've got the reminder placements of where I want to be in the show as much as I can. I don't always 100% stick to it and it's easy. I mean, I'll create more of an outline that I actually ever use that's very common. It's just because the conversation kind of goes in a different direction than maybe what I thought it would. And and I'm not really wanting to control the conversation that much.
I mean to some degree if I can flow the conversation into my my outline points, that's best, right. So I can make sure I'm tapping. I'm not missing anything on the the guest is kind of setting up for me that I didn't anticipate right, which which may be opportunities, right. So I I need to constantly be able to jump on threads of conversation that are opportunities, right? To clarify something that maybe wasn't clarified in the outline.
And so that's where being mentally kind of agile is really important. But that comes with practice and experience about how to listen and listen for things, threads that you can pull on right to unravel and and I think that that's a great way of looking at it but yet the outline is still fundamental to every production that I do. So I I know especially at the beginning that I'm triggering certain things. I still forget things and that
was a problem. Like I'll I'll bring in a comment, a live comment and I'll leave it up on the screen too long because I'm I'm talking too long and that that that's up on the screen. I can't really get deep into a conversation and be managing the the chat at the same time. So it's it. So you make little mistakes like that and I'm really going to work hard on that this week to kind of section those live comments to a part of the show. That's the change I'm going to do this week.
So I can. I don't get caught up in those that trying to manage my thoughts and manage people's comments at the same time. Yeah, that's hard. I mean, you know what he's saying about an outline, just in case you don't even know what that is, right? Like you're you're laying out maybe the points that you want to bring up, the direction you might want to go. You're listing it out right in your Google Doc or in another type of document that works for you when you're beginning out.
I would say like you're a new thought leader. This is all new to you. I would seriously write out every single question if you have a guess like that you want to ask and then put them in an order that makes sense to you so that you have a flow and I would limit it to like 10 to 15 questions. Always have like extra questions so that if in case you do find yourself going faster than you expected, you have additional thoughts to bring up and I think that'll help you really shape it.
You know, an outline is a great resource as you get more experienced in this. But you know, I just think if you're starting out and you want to start in like a week or so, write it all out and maybe even share the document with your guest and say, hey, are there any points that you wanna add or is there anything I should include outside of this? If it's not a controversial conversation, what do you think about sharing the talking points and prepping the guests?
Like what advice do you have for guest prep? I'm actually OK with doing it in general. I I typically don't do it, but I do share with the guests kind of what I'm looking to discuss in the episode so they have a mental idea coming into it, what to expect. The actual details of my my list of potential questions I I don't share with them because I don't want them to feel like they have
to cover all those. So so it's more about giving them the idea of what the theme of the show is and what what I would like to cover. The individual detailed questions are kind of left to me to extract because there is kind of like the potential that if I give them all the questions they could answer all my half my questions in their first comment and I'm basically cooked right. So.
So what they need to do is is kind of like be prompted by me to answer specific questions at the beginning of the program. So I don't run the risk of them just running ahead and answering all the questions in the 1st 5 minutes of the show. So. Right. I guess it depends on how you're prepping your guests.
You know, when I well, you know, I would say if you're gonna share your questions with them and you're you're trying to get started and you're like, hey, this is where I'm planning to go. Like, I wanna make sure I ask all these questions, so have answers, you know, that could be a great way. Or to his point, like I will actually send guests, like, here's a list of all the talking points you know, with Rob. I didn't. I'm like, Rob, you want to talk video podcasting.
OK, great. But with other guests, I will list out, like these are the potential topics. And here's what I would love you to provide when I ask questions like maybe 3 tips, maybe advice here. Would love a personal story on this, You know, so that they come to the conversation really prepared. And I always tell every guest that I bring on to kind of think about their sound bite. So again, the sound bite is really, it's a 32nd clip of the interview that would go on
social media, right? So like a 32nd, 45, maybe a minute. And I tell them to really think about that because if they're going to come to the conversation and start listing out like the top 10 reasons why to do something, the guest is going to get lost in all of this. I have seen it so many times. So, like, OK, And now to the 8th. No way are we on the 7th. It's like, Oh my gosh, I'm lost.
So I think it's always wise to tell them at the top of this list them all out if you're going to have multiple tips and have it written down next to your screen so you remember what your top ten points are and kind of just tick through them. Like Rob, here we go, we're on a road map to podcasting. Here are the top five things to do. You know, decide on your concept, determine your style, comparative research plan, come up with a name, you know those.
That's what I would say to do off the top before you start listing and going into details. So I kind of will walk through guest, I'll kind of walk through the conversation with the guest ahead of time in an e-mail and just detail out some thoughts and that could help you guys if you're structuring them out. I know we're running. We're really running tight on time, so I just want to wrap this up with more of like the
video hurdles. So when you before it was like more audio, now you're into video. Outside of having to play live elements, what do you see are some of the video hurdles that people have been facing as they start to integrate video into their podcasting plans? Yeah, it's just more work and and and challenges for content creators because you know those that have gotten used to just producing audio had it, had it pretty easy actually.
Even though I mean a lot of audio creators felt like they're they're overwhelmed. But it is true. You add another layer of medium to this and it it may almost double your your work that you have to do to get an episode out. So it's it doesn't have to because I I do think you can repurpose the same you know let's say description, titles, metadata to be used for the video or the audio. I tend to with the the live shows that I'm doing I tend to have to create all my content up
front before the episode. So when I I stage it, even in like a YouTube or LinkedIn or whatever, I I already have the episode description already written. That goes live with the with the artwork and with everything there. There isn't much post production to do with the show. I'm doing everything in pre production. So that's the that's the real
difference. If you want to do this convergence strategy, which means that you're producing a live show that is then repurposed into an on demand video and audio program is that you kind of tend to have to prepare that in advance if you really want to take advantage of the opportunity because people want, if you're going to want people to engage this as live content, you're going to have to sell the opportunity to engage in that content as a live
program. And so you have to do that in in advance of the program, not at the end of the program. It's a very good point and it's great preparation. Like, if you're going to go live, you have to think about everything ahead of time, guys. So this is wise, you know? But it's also before we go, like you have to be thinking about your marketing strategy, your SEO. There's a lot that goes into this and you can't overlook it because if you do, you will get no listeners.
Guys, I I talk to people often and they're like, I had one person listen, Oh, wow, OK, You need to think about what's my strategy. So if you're a thought leader and you're going to be podcasting, start showing up on social media, LinkedIn, you know, maybe do some YouTube shorts before you start posting your podcast there. Be on Tiktok if that's something you prefer.
Start to build a community wherever you want to have your audience or where your audience already is, so that when you are starting your podcast you have maybe a built in audience. Rob, what are your thoughts on marketing and SEO and all the things that people have to think about when they're podcasting? Yeah, I think it's a it is a steep hill to climb these days. I do think that they're the noise level that's out there in
the market is pretty high. There's a lot of content being produced on a lot of different platforms that is taking people's attention and that's really what you're battling for is people's attention and and and reaching attention is really based on relevance and connection and and so we're seeing an interest on podcasters and online content creators starting to really focus on creating what is being called which has been called forever as communities of engaged audiences
and increasingly making connections with people. That's why live is such an important piece of this is because it it does create this interactive connection with an audience that can't be duplicated really in the same way in a podcast. So it's it's really taking a whole other element and adding it to that and and trying to and
then build upon that right. So you're you're basically trying to outreach to your potential listener base based on you know the goals of the of the show that you had originally and and then just get involved and you're also building your personal brand too That's the other side of this too is that your reputation will will precede your success to some degree and how people perceive is what your influence is in a particular industry or a particular niche or influence
with a particular group or community. So you know, however you navigate that and then working with lots of consumption platforms is really the key now and it's and it's challenging. Yeah, it is. It's a lot of work and it's a lot to think about. So if you're looking to start a podcast, you can do it and you can get it going in a week. But you need to really think through a lot of what we're talking about.
You know, outside of everything we've discussed, you also need to potentially think about cost and the time it's gonna take you to put this together every week. Can you fit it into your workflow? How much money do you have? If you need to hire someone, you know, finding a sponsor isn't easy, guys. Everyone thinks, oh, I'll find a sponsor. No, no, I have podcasts and they don't have sponsors and it's hard to find them. Yeah, and ads don't really pay much.
So there's a lot of things that you need to think about. And if this is something that you're using to make money, don't don't go down this road. If you're looking at this as a way to create content and thought leadership in your industry, go for it. And I wish you all the best luck. Rob, any final thoughts? Well, on the the monetization part, I, yeah, I, I I would agree with you. It is a challenging thing to do.
And you just have to decide in your mind as part of your strategy what is your monetization strategy that you're would like to build or create for yourself.
And then try and learn from others and see what others are doing and and try and pick up as many tips as you can from people that are out there that are sharing ideas about options on ways, whether it's Patreon or whether if it's doing a a private community or if it's doing a a paid subscription on X or Twitter or something like that other than publishing
content into those platforms. Now that may be for for those that already have a community to some degree, but but those are all things that you can put in your plan. Advertising is a difficult road to go. Now programmatic advertising on the audio side is an option for just about anybody. If you even look at like a spreaker platform for podcast hosting. Every plan that you create on Spreaker has the option of
programmatic advertising. So you can have automatic advertising in your show and make a little bit of money from that. But it's all based on audience, right? So you have to be able to create a show that is growing and its audience reach and and that is the the epitome of the challenge, right, Is this, the more you can grow the reach, the more influence that you have with brands, the more image that you have with brands as well.
I think your professional image is just as important as your podcast reach in building a relationship with a brand. And it's all possible. It's just you just have to start creating content and build a reputation for yourself and that can take multiple months to accomplish. Yes, I would agree speaking on that. I have an Amazon storefront, guys. If you need equipment, click on my links. This is also there. I got this from one of the Amazon brands guys. That's how I help monetize.
For me it's, it is affiliate marketing. It is looking at ways to sell my services, right? So as I said, you know I I do offer producer services, media training that all I think to myself as a way to to fund my own projects. And I look at this as a way to market and help and educate people because I'm passionate about it. I don't look at this as a way to make money. I look at this as a way to build on my thought leadership and my personal brand.
And so I hope that this conversation was useful for everyone listening. Rob, I really enjoy having you. Thank you so much for being here. Yeah, well, thank you for having me too. And I wish you the most luck with what you're doing. And and I speak with people all day long that are striving to be content creators and wanting to, you know, build a career for themselves, contributing content to the Internet and on a global scale. It's it's really an interesting
time. You know, you see what's happening with YouTube right now translating all the content that they have into all the languages of the world, and you can kind of see how this content ecosystem is becoming truly global. Now, yes, truly. Well, thank you so much guys. I'll see you online. Be sure you check out the description for links to everything Rob has going on right now, as well as to my website and a few of the things that we've mentioned during this
conversation. And check out our YouTube if you're listening on a podcasting platform, and vice versa if you're listening on YouTube. All right, guys. Thank you and see you online.