The entire process usually takes me about two to four hours per episode. The hardest part is just finding people or brands that genuinely make me curious. Sometimes it starts with the person. Other times, I wake up curious about a topic and look around until I find someone who can scratch the itch.

Which leads to yet another tip. Become inquisitive when reading articles, watching TV, and talking to friends. Great reporters have an ear for a story; you need to exercise that muscle.

I started this with an iPhone headset. I’ve graduated to a $99 Blue Yeti Nano but honestly, use a quiet room, a normal headset, and you’re golden. That’s it!

When it comes to editing, the best way I’ve ever learned to edit video or audio is by watching someone while they were doing it. Call it a five-hour apprenticeship. It’s worth it.

While working on Marketers in Capes, I learned some things the hard way. And because it’s ultimately just a side project, there are some things I’ve learned and still haven’t fixed. Let’s start with what does work.

1. Just ship it. For the love of content, put it out there. Hit publish. Do it. Do it again. The most perfect unpublished episode is worthless compared to an imperfect published episode.
2. Content quality over audio quality. Get the right interviewee or story. Very little else matters (listen to the audio quality in the “I Have A Dream” recording). In one of my favorite episodes, I interviewed Eric Kallman, the genius behind Old Spice’s “Smell Like A Man, Man” ad. We had to revert to my cellphone, complete with crappy reception. The quality was ATROCIOUS. But I’ve never gotten more positive feedback from an episode. Some people gave me a little crap for the quality, but I promise you this — they listened to every second.

1. Ask questions. People answer. The best form of outbound marketing is still a personalized email that generates engagement. When I want to learn something new, I find the three best people in the world doing it, use Clearbit to get their emails, and cold email them. I’m batting over 70% on response rates. This strategy also got me my job at Freightos. Trust me, you can ask anyone anything. You’ll be shocked by how many Fortune 500 CMOs will answer. My first interview was with David Cancel, the CEO at Drift. My second was with Rand Fishkin, the legend from Moz and SparkToro. I had no previous episodes to reference and no connections — just personalized outreach. It worked.
2. Lower the ask. At the same time, be super-specific and realistic. The main reason I was able to get answers is that the full investment I was going for was ten minutes or so, at the subjects’ own convenience. Be clear about what you want and remember that the cost/benefit for the interviewee is not just a function of what benefit you drive for them. For example, here’s the email I used for reaching out to David Cancel of Drift:

David,

Huge fan of Drift (especially how you’ve built and communicate the brand).

I was intrigued by the launch of the Drift Inner Circle. It exudes a passion for customer success, not just selling, and it’s rare for a CEO to be so hands-on.

I’m recording a podcast about it (yea, I liked it that much) and was hoping that you might have 60 seconds to record a quick audio soundbite about why you chose to launch Inner Circle and the importance you assign to helping customers succeed.

I know it’s a big ask — just want to show some of my Drift 💗.

Eytan

4. Set a high listening bar. Be your own worst critic. I have invested hours in an episode and then trashed it. There are mountains of crappy content online; don’t create more. And don’t disrespect your hard-earned audience with it. It’s a lot easier to lose fans than to gain them.

5. Evoke emotions. Help your audience evolve from A to B. Don’t promise features (Marketing insights in two minutes…). Promise a marketing evolution. After realizing that one morning when waking up, I changed the name of the podcast to something that I felt communicated the role of marketing superheroes. It made a big difference.

6. Tell a story. I used to try to cram as many insights as possible into each episode. Until I remembered that people don’t consume content that way. One of my best episodes ever, which even killed it with Reddit users, the most picky users in the world, was a story of how a budget-strapped Volvo destroyed a major competitor with a subversive social media campaign. It was a legit story, with a struggle, a hero, a villain, and a win. Story: 1; Laundry list of tips: 0.

7. Persistence. It’s not easy. With Superhuman, it took half a year of outreach to get the interview. But I genuinely wanted to know the backstory. So I stuck with it.

8. Get out of the echo chamber. While I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to interview Reid Hoffman or Bill Gates, their insights are out there. The most gratifying episodes are not the ones you’ll come across in other podcasts. They’re stories about how to brand a fertility clinic or newsjack with soybeans.

9. Get comfortable with the technical. For me, as a marketer, I find technical comfort liberating. I’m not a professional video or audio editor. I can’t consult on technical SEO. I can’t code a (functional) product. And I can’t create a comprehensive business model by myself. But I feel comfortable trying and definitely know enough to be either an educated consumer or someone who can experiment enough until I get there myself. If you’re a marketer, get your hands dirty. It will break the shackles.

10. Put yourself out there. Every episode I publish is scary. Partially because sharing on my social network is still a core distribution channel, but also because, by definition, I reach out to MY marketing heroes. Which means that they’ll hear me making an idiot of myself — or worse — making idiots of them. But nothing ventured, nothing gained.

So yeah, twenty-some odd episodes in, I’m feeling pretty good about this. My daughter isn’t crying herself to sleep anymore and, while I’m busy, Marketers in Capes is still a great escape. And there’s still more to learn.

1. Cadence. I still publish the episodes on a random schedule. I know that the lag lowers my user base. It’s hard to build up excitement when you’re waiting for a month between each episode.
2. Effective cross-platform distribution. My core distribution channels are personal social media accounts, the email list I’ve built up for this (low four digits), my partnership with G-CMO, and the person I’m interviewing. Since this is a low-time investment, I haven’t done enough about pulling together the right creatives for each channel. And content without distribution is barely worth the bits it’s recorded on.
3. Reviews. I haven’t cracked the code on how to get more reviews, which I’m sure is keeping me low on most podcast platforms. I’ve tried begging, but that only got the knees of my pants dirty.
4. Defined target audience. This is probably the most glaring weakness. It’s hard for me to nail down exactly who my target audience is. I’m mostly inspired by Tim Urban (Wait But Why), who says that he writes as if he’s talking to a stadium full of himself. I record my podcasts as if I’m trying to talk to myself. This is either a huge advantage or huge weakness. Time will tell.
5. Flow. One of the biggest drawbacks of my recording method is that sometimes the flow for an asynchronous interview just doesn’t work. Recently, I’ve been conducting real interviews and then chopping them up using the same editing process.

As a content and messaging delivery channel, podcasts can be an incredible differentiator.

But only if you have something different to say.

Of course, if you’re approaching this for your business, follow the same rules you would follow for any content:

1. Do you have something unique to say? The world does not need yet another derivative podcast in your space.
2. Do you have a unique angle?
3. Hardware isn’t a real impediment; time is. Do you have the time and bandwidth to invest in maintaining a podcast?
4. What distribution channels do you have?
5. Catalog the existing relationships that you have for interviews. Who can you tap in order to drive fresh insights?

Enjoyed this? Awesome. I’d love it if you could give me a good old 👏 👏👏.

Catch other marketing thoughts or listen to Marketers in Capes at my website, buchman.co.il

Source: https://aleph.vc/lessons-in-launching-a-global-marketing-podcast-de76f92862d0?source=rss—-3b91dc47c6f3—4