Today's episode of the Podcast Therapist comes ad -free. Get faster releases with no delays and minimal to no ads. All while directly supporting the podcast.
Subscribe today at thepodcasttherapist.com slash ad-free or visit the show notes or description of your podcast player to get started. Today on the Podcast Therapist, we're diving into two big topics, how to build a workflow for your video podcasting and why clear objectives are the foundation for podcast growth. Plus, I'll be answering some of the most common tech questions that podcasters have.
When you're one unbalanced piece of audio from losing your shit, this is the Podcast Therapist. That is right. Welcome to the Podcast Therapist, the program helping podcast businesses, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and of course, helping you leverage the tools to attract your ideal listener, your subscriber, and of course, your potential new customer.
I'm your host, Shannon Hernandez, radio broadcaster, podcaster, and a podcast producer, and I'm excited to have you here. Thank you so much for tuning in. It means the world to me that you guys actually pay attention to what I have to say, trying to become a piece of this puzzle for you to help you make the best decisions for your podcast.
I'm so grateful that you guys were able to tune in at least for this episode and tune into the previous episodes that I have gone ahead and produced for all of you, especially for those of you who managed to listen to the episode last week about the YouTube event, the live event that I went ahead and I took notes on, I guess, you know, cheating, I guess, right? I'm cheating for you. I'm giving you my notes on that event, but it really seems to have been an episode where it struck a chord with a lot of you guys. And so many of you gave me different types of feedback on that particular episode.
It seems to start, it's gaining some traction right now on YouTube, mainly because, you know, I've gone in and I've optimized that video, but it seems to have given me some great feedback and we'll share some of that feedback, I guess, a little bit later. But if you haven't had a chance to check out that episode, it's the one right before this. It leads directly right into this episode because the episode that we're talking about today is, you know, it's kind of marrying the two, okay? I don't want to leave you with one episode and then just jumping to a completely different topic.
I want to at least try to continue that conversation and help you make the best decision for your podcast. So I'll leave a link for that episode in the description of this YouTube video or YouTube podcast, or you can find it in the show notes of your Apple podcasts or Spotify app or wherever you are listening to your podcast. Now because it was great to see how many of you guys are really considering and exploring video podcasting as a way to grow your audience.
You realize that it can be a powerful tool and that's why I want to lead into today's topic. We've got two different topics I want to share about, share with you about. I want to share with you workflows and I want to share with you objectives.
These are two very important pieces of the puzzle because when I, when I walk around, I wouldn't say walk around, but if I were, if I were a digital avatar walking around on the internet and I see different posts online, the pain points or the struggles that podcasters have is that they don't know exactly what they're supposed to be doing. They realize they have to publish a podcast. They realize they have to maybe publish show notes or an, I wouldn't say maybe, but they have to publish show notes.
They realize maybe they have to create a blog post, but they don't have a complete roadmap of what we're talking about. All right? So if we're going to continue the conversation from last week about YouTube podcasts, I want to jump into what my workflow looks like for YouTube podcasts leading into audio podcasts as well. So in this segment or today, what we, what I'll cover to you today is a snippet and it's from one of my bonus episodes that I have listed on my own website at the podcasttherapist.com slash ad free and this episode, it dives into the workflow and takes you through my YouTube podcast content and it helps shows you how I transform it into an audio podcast.
It's basically my own system that I've created just through trial and error and it helps you maximize your content to reach. All right? Because you can always have audio podcasts, but you can also have a video podcast as well and why not just get a little bit of extra juice from that if you're putting in the effort. So I'm going to share with you a, about a 10 minute, maybe 15 minute clip today.
If you like what you hear, you can access the full episode by joining my paid podcast, help support this show, helps me come up with a, you know, content and valuable content for you. You can visit it right now at the podcasttherapist.com slash a ad free and you'll get a seven day free trial today and then after that $7 a month. Again, like I said, you're supporting my efforts to help develop better content and relevant content for you for your podcast so you can market it, grow it, hopefully monetize it at some point.
So let's go ahead and jump right into it. I'm going to go ahead and share with you that clip on my own workflow from my paid podcast. Enjoy.
Now let's go ahead and start with, uh, what, what my workflow looks like. All right. Uh, we will start with step number one.
All right. So if you want to get a piece of paper and a pencil ready, you can go ahead and do that. Or if you're out on a walk or maybe you're driving, just, you know, listen, come back to this video or come back to this audio portion and you can go ahead and listen to what I have to say.
So step number one is going to be all about brainstorming ideas. You're a podcaster. You know exactly what you're trying to do.
You're trying to create topics that you can talk about every week that will inspire someone that will educate someone that will do something that will allow them to become a fan of your particular podcast. All right. Now, the way it starts with me is that I got to start with the brainstorming idea and I brainstorm different ways.
All right. The way that I brainstorm ideas is actually throughout the day. I don't dedicate a specific time to brainstorm per se.
What I'm doing is I am dedicating time all day long to looking at different pieces of content, listening to different pieces of content, viewing different pieces of content, and then writing down ideas as I see them and utilizing them later on down the line. So what I'll do is I'll use the notes app or I'll use my rocket book and I'll just write these notes down and I'll have a list of things that I want to talk about because I'll be like, has that been talked about on a podcast? More than likely, yes. But from the perspective of what I'm looking for, I'm looking to be a little more unique with my ideas.
Now my ideas might fall in line with other topics that are out there, but still it's from my, it's from my brain and it's from my perspective. All right. So I'll write these ideas down based on consuming other people's content, whether that be the news, whether it be another podcast, whether that be radio, TV, whatever it may be.
All right. And I try to identify the pain points that my listeners might be, uh, you know, it might be struggling with and things that might help them out. I'll look for trending topics within the space of podcasting and I'll look for trending topics in the space of marketing.
So think about what that looks like for you in your space and how it can help your audience. You're trying to identify their pain points by actually addressing the pain point and then answering that pain point for them, uh, in a solution. Okay.
So write these ideas down, whether that be throughout the day, uh, whether it be on your notes app, however it may be, because what's going to happen is going into step number two is we're going to now do the research. This is key when it comes down to doing YouTube podcasts and YouTube videos is that it really doesn't start with just creating a video. It actually starts with the research.
It starts with the prep. You have to prep your topic first before you go out and you record it. And the reason why you're going to do this is because you want to be able to talk about the topic that is really going to resonate with your viewer or your listener based on the topic that you have researched.
So we go back to our brainstorming topic ideas and maybe I've just written a few sentences down and uh, I use those sentences and I'll go into chat GPT. So utilize the tool chat GPT. This is, this is, this is a great assistant.
Chat GPT doesn't, I wouldn't use it to write your notes. I would use it to assist you with your notes and that's what I use chat GPT for. And what I'll do is I'll take some of those notes in my brainstorming sessions and I'll plug them into chat GPT and I'll ask it, Hey, I'm going to be creating a podcast based around a top 10 equipment ideas for podcasters looking to start a video podcast.
Can you give me, can you give me five titles that are optimized for SEO on YouTube so that I can research them using the TubeBuddy app on YouTube? Now this is key. You're going to be using the TubeBuddy app. I highly recommend that you use TubeBuddy.
This is not an ad. This is actually, this is a recommendation because you can't really get any further with your YouTube podcast. If you're not utilizing a tool like TubeBuddy, TubeBuddy is very similar to you, uh, utilizing other Google tools that are free, but TubeBuddy incorporates it inside of the YouTube platform to where it's a little more easy to use.
And of course they have so many different types of tools to where you can, uh, you know, you can research the right type of title that is going to match for what you're trying to target with your audience. All right. So this tool is just incredibly amazing.
I have spent time and time again utilizing TubeBuddy. It is the tool that has allowed me to get some of my videos go to go viral. But while other videos may not perform as well, it still allows me to enhance those videos and go back and try to give them a little more juice in the algorithm.
If I go ahead and I change some of the descriptions or the titles, but that's really what I'm doing is I'm taking those brainstorming ideas. I go into chat GPT and I ask it a question or I tell it, this is what I'm trying to do. Give me five titles optimized for SEO on YouTube.
And what I'll do is I'll pick the best title and I'll take it over to YouTube and I'll utilize the TubeBuddy extension on Chrome. That's important. And that's key.
You got to use the extension on Chrome in order to get the results that you are looking for inside of YouTube. So I do recommend that you go ahead and get TubeBuddy. I personally have an affiliate link that is in the show notes of this particular podcast.
It's also on my website as well for TubeBuddy. You can always go to the podcasttherapist.com slash TubeBuddy to go ahead and check it out for yourself. But that is the tool that I use and I recommend that you do use it as well.
So it sounds like an ad, but it's more of a recommendation than anything else because you don't get any further if you're not using TubeBuddy. Okay. I can't, I can't hammer that home enough.
All right. Now once I find or I go in and I find that title and I've utilized ChatGPT, sometimes the title doesn't really work all that well. And what I need to do is maybe I need to massage that title.
And so I'll look at the search engine results page on YouTube and I'll see who is talking about what. And I'll see this title may not be exactly what I'm trying to talk about, but maybe I can massage it a little bit. Now when you're on that page, you're going to be looking for within the extension itself, you're going to be looking for a tachometer that is on the right-hand side.
And it's going to tell you whether or not the series of keywords that you have plugged into the search bar on YouTube are worth targeting. And there's some key things that you need to look out for whenever you're looking at this tachometer. TubeBuddy is going to tell you whether or not the series of keywords has a high volume or a high competition.
So what we're looking for right now is we're looking for this combination when it comes down to your keywords. You're going to be looking for low competition, high volume. In other words, these series of keywords don't have too many people talking about them.
So there's low competition. However, it does have a high volume. So it has a higher chance of being searched in a search query if people are looking for it.
So your titles must have low competition, high volume when it comes down to doing your research. The research is going to be super, super, super important here. Just refine your title.
If you find a title that works and you see that the tachometer is going to be in the green, I would say go ahead and use that title. Write it down. Put it in a notes app.
Do whatever you need to do. You can research a couple different ways you can create that title and then you can go into the next step, all right? So once you find that title, go into the next step by outlining your actual episode. So you've got a great title.
Now what you need to do is you need to outline the episode. And the way that I do it is that I'm basically just creating a level of importance of bullet points so that I can stay on track. And this is very important when it comes down to YouTube because in order to create a podcast, you want it to be as organized as possible.
I'll admit I'm not the best at organizing some of my podcasts, especially when I deliver them, but I do the best that I can to create organization within my podcast so that it's easier for me to go back and plug in things like chapters or time codes. So I want you to outline everything based under that title that you had researched. Start outlining and creating an actual program for yourself.
Keep in mind, these outlines are going to be great for podcasts that deal in delivering value. They are more business oriented. They're all about assisting and creating more value into the marketplace.
So it's easier for you to go ahead and create. So create that outline. These notes will help for timestamping later down the line.
So that's step number three. Step number four is that we now need to go into recording the podcast. So as you can see right here, I actually have a series of notes that I've written.
For those of you who are listening right now, I'm showing up onto the camera that I have a series of notes that I've written down. This is exactly the process that I have. So now I can go in and I can create my podcast.
I can record the podcast. Now the tools that you might need for recording a video podcast are going to be these tools. All right.
Now again, this is not a podcast episode, a bonus episode of ads. These are just the recommendations that I want to give to you because these are what I use. All right.
So the tools that I use when it comes to recording a video podcast, especially with the system that I'm using, I run a Mac studio. So I am using Ecamm. So Ecamm works only with Mac products.
All right. So I use Ecamm and a Rodecaster Pro for the audio, and I'll tell you the exact reason why here in a minute. All right.
But if you have a PC, you can use other services. You can use things like Riverside.fm. You can use StreamYard, depending on what you're willing to pay for those services. It's going to be up to you.
I use kind of like the, I pay for a middle, a middle tier for Ecamm and that's very helpful for me and it's worth it down the line. So just kind of figure it out for yourself what service you want to use for your software recording program to record the video of yourself. All right.
Now, as I mentioned, I use the Rodecaster Pro 2. Now, I simultaneously record on video. I record on video on Ecamm and Ecamm is capturing also my audio, but I am also recording just the audio onto my Rodecaster Pro. So the Rodecaster Pro 2 is actually a higher quality audio than what you're actually capturing on the computer.
So what I will end up doing is I'll use that Rodecaster Pro 2 audio and link it to the video that I've recorded. So it's higher quality. The elements that I have on my Rodecaster Pro 2, like the, the sounders that I have that you hear at the beginning of the podcast, those are all produced in stereo.
And I like to have a stereotype sound so that when people are listening to it in their headphones, they can hear those swooshes going from, you know, panning from one ear to the next. And that's what I like about having that type of audio. So there is a reason why I'm doing this.
All right. Now, there is an importance in, in, in the processing of this. Once I'm done recording, what I actually do is I take that audio into Adobe Audition and I do process it a little bit.
So I have that audio to where it sounds real nice. It's crisp, it's clean. The audio is matched to where the loudness is, is equal amongst all parts of the audio.
So you're not, the listener is not having to turn the volume up or down when they're listening through the listening experience. It's just one even sound of audio that they can hear without having to play with the volume knobs or the volume, I guess, I don't know what you call it, but not the knobs, but the, you know, I guess the, the volume buttons on the phone. All right.
So I'll do some EQing, even though the Rodecaster Pro 2 does the EQing for me, I don't have to do too much EQing, but I will do a match loudness. Maybe I'll do, I don't know, you know, a hard limiter on it as well. So these are all things that you can find in Adobe Audition.
So that's why, so that's why I'm replacing the audio that I record on Ecam with the Rodecaster Pro 2 audio. So once I do that, it's all done. All right.
So once I've recorded the podcast after an hour, maybe 40 minutes, I'm done. Now we got to go into the next step is step five. I got to go into the editing phase of my podcast.
All right. So I hope that gave you some idea of what that workflow looks like in terms of my own personalized workflow. A couple of points that I wanted to make on that clip, because I didn't explain them as the best way that I could.
One point that I did want to make was that audio from the Rodecaster Pro 2, now this doesn't always happen. All right. It doesn't all, what I'm talking about is that I don't always use the audio from the Rodecaster Pro 2. Sometimes I get glitches inside of Ecam and so the audio won't match up sometimes.
But the majority of the time, the audio is matching up from Rodecaster Pro 2. And then whenever I take it into Adobe Premiere, I can match that up with the sound on the video itself. So not all the time does it work, but sometimes, or I'm sorry, not all the time does it work, but most of the times it will work. Another thing that I wanted to highlight once again is TubeBuddy.
Now I don't think I explained the high volume, low competition idea good enough for you guys. So I looked it up and I wanted to go ahead and share with you what I'm talking about. So in TubeBuddy, high volume, low competition means that high volume is a lot of people are searching for the topic or keyword and there's a strong demand for the content.
Low competition means not many creators are making videos for this topic or keyword. So there's less content to compete with. So when you combine this idea of optimization for videos, it gives you a better chance to be discovered by viewers on that particular topic.
So just keep that in mind when you're developing your podcast content, okay? And then of course, if you enjoyed that segment, you can always check it out at thepodcasttherapist.com slash ad free. These are all ad free episodes. They don't have the commercials like what we're going to have coming up here very shortly.
You get them just completely ad free, one full episode that just keeps going on and on and on. You'll get earlier releases, also bonus episodes like what I just shared and so much more. And again, you're supporting me developing this content for you.
So coming up next, we're going to be talking about your podcast objectives, the objectives that you need to set so that you can have a podcast that grows and becomes successful. Hopefully you can monetize it. It's all coming up next on The Podcast Therapist.
The Podcast Therapist. If you're trying to grow your YouTube channel, let me tell you about a tool that's made a huge difference in my life. It's called TubeBuddy.
How's it going? It's Shannon. And when I started using TubeBuddy back in 2019, I realized that if I wanted my videos to actually get views, I needed to focus on YouTube SEO. But figuring out what topics would work, which keywords to target and how to optimize my videos, honestly, it felt completely overwhelming.
And that's where TubeBuddy came in and completely changed the game for me. With their Chrome extension, TubeBuddy gives me a dashboard right inside YouTube that shows me which keywords are competitive and which ones are worth targeting. And it's not just for pre-recorded uploads.
I use it for my live video streams too. And after I finish a live stream, I can go back, tweak the title, add better keywords and optimize the video so it has a real shot at getting discovered. And here's one of my favorite features.
I can revamp older videos that didn't perform as well as I had hoped. TubeBuddy gives me the tools to update the keywords, descriptions and even titles so those videos can rank better over time. Now, if you're serious about getting your podcast noticed on YouTube, you got to check out TubeBuddy at thepodcasttherapist.com slash TubeBuddy.
Now that's my affiliate link. So if you decide to give it a try, I may earn a small commission and no extra cost to you. But I'd recommend it if I wasn't an affiliate.
Again, you could check it out at thepodcasttherapist.com slash TubeBuddy or check the link in the show notes of this podcast right now. Launching a podcast can be overwhelming. You've got your equipment, a Zoom account and a few episodes recorded.
But what's next for a successful launch? The biggest mistake podcasters make is not having a proper launch sequence. Just like building a house requires a solid blueprint to ensure it stands strong. Your podcast needs a strategic plan to enter the market successfully.
Introducing the podcast launch checklist developed after helping numerous clients. This guide ensures your podcast launch is smooth and efficient. It's a 12 -step sequence covering pre-launch, mid-launch and post-launch phases with clear instructions to save you time and prevent mistakes.
The checklist provides crucial pre-launch information and includes checklists to ensure nothing is missed. Plus, you'll get access to vetted resources, making your launch more efficient. Don't wander in the dark.
Get the podcast launch checklist today and launch your podcast with confidence. Visit thepodcasttherapist.com to get 25% off this checklist. Hey, what's up, guys? It's Shannon.
And I want to take a moment to share one of my favorite tools for podcasting and live streaming. It's called Ecamm. I've been using it since 2022 and it's completely changed how I create my content.
Now, when I first started, I used Ecamm for just simple videos. Even at a basic level, it saved me so much time letting me record directly to my computer with no need to use SD cards or transferring files to a computer. But as I got more serious about my podcast, I discovered just how powerful Ecamm really is.
I can now stream live to my YouTube and record the entire show at the same time, complete with separate audio and video tracks for editing. I've built custom scenes with animations, graphics and overlays that make my live streams a lot better and a little more professional. Plus, inviting guests is a breeze and I just send them to a private link and they join me in a virtual green room before going live.
Ecamm is hands down the tool that I rely on for every podcast and live stream I do. And if you're ready to take your content to the next level, check it out by using my affiliate link at thepodcasttherapist.com slash Ecamm or check the link in the show notes below. That means if you decide to give it a try, I might earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
But honestly, I wouldn't recommend it if I didn't use it myself. It's time for The Mixdown on The Podcast Therapist. That's right, time for The Mixdown, our chance to go ahead and take a topic and mix it down just for you.
A little hat tip to The Mixdown function in Adobe Audition, but we mix it down and make it a little bit more understandable, hopefully for you. Hopefully I can explain it the best way possible. But The Mixdown really is the section where we break it down for you, give you the step by step solution and then you have to take it and you have to go implement it.
Now, before we get into it and we start talking about objectives, I want to remind you that if you are starting a podcast, maybe you're a business owner, maybe your business or maybe you're just a podcaster, you're trying to start a podcast, you're interested in all these topics and you want to start the podcast, you don't have the equipment, though. I have an essential equipment guide that you can go ahead and download right now at thepodcasttherapist.com slash quick start, I believe is what it is, or I'll leave a link for that in the description below so you can go ahead and grab it. But it has all kinds of recommendations for live video equipment, also audio equipment that you might need.
Also, what else does it have? I think the software, hardware, I mean, you name it, it's all there. Recommendations for launching a podcast as well. So the essential equipment guide can definitely help you out if you're on that starting journey to starting to market your business with your podcast.
Go grab it today. So we're going to talk today about objectives. And this is a topic that is it really needs to be highlighted a lot more with podcasters.
I think it is maybe. I don't know. I think maybe people are talking about this, but it's really more about the mindset shift that you have to have as a podcaster when it comes down to identifying what you want to see as growth.
And so if you jump online and you start looking at different forums and people will identify their objectives very differently. Some will identify that objective as a download or maybe they'll identify it as a series of downloads on a particular day that they release a podcast. Maybe others identify it as how many followers that they get and maybe they identify how many social media followings or likes that they get.
And it still seems very cloudy whenever you think about it or you talk about it or you even hear about it, read about it on social media because people don't know exactly what they're trying to achieve. I think the general sense is that they are trying to achieve an idea of monetizing a podcast. I think that's what they would like to do.
They want they see these podcasters that are on the podcasting space, depending on the type of podcast that they have or that exists out there. And they want to do something like that. All right.
And it is very possible to do something like that if you put the right systems in place. But we always have to start with the objectives. So if the workflows that I shared with you a little bit earlier or the ideas and the teases of the workflows that I share with you, if they resonate with you or they give you some ideas, they really lead into your objectives.
All right. Now, I want to break down why objectives are so, so important for you. Like they're basically the most crucial part of your podcasting experience.
Right. They're the most crucial part. And I want to share with you how they set you up for success.
So I'm going to share with you six points that I think you need to take with you and that you need to really sit down and think about. You need to mull this over. It's very important.
This doesn't matter if you have a podcast already or you are just starting a podcast. You need to sit down and you have to think about this. I really don't like using that phrasing.
You need. There was at one point in time in my radio career where someone said, you need to do this and you need to do that. Really don't like saying that.
I guess I could say I recommend that you really sit down and you think about this and you write down what your objectives are, objectives is, and what your goals are. And we'll define what those look like in this segment. All right.
Now, the reason why we're talking about this is because last night I was talking with a coworker about building out content and he shared something that I think really kind of hits home for a lot of content creators, especially podcasters themselves. But he, in his particular case, he is building content, right? He's building content for an Instagram channel. And I told him this is really something also podcasters deal with.
But he said to me, you know, I don't want to be the guy that creates content and just to see what sticks to the wall. I mean, how many times have you said to yourself, I'm just going to throw it against the wall and see what sticks. In the early days of me starting a podcast, when I had a like a comedy podcast, my co-host had said the same thing.
We'll just throw it on the wall and we'll see what sticks. And it didn't succeed. It was difficult for us to gain the traction.
I didn't know exactly what traction I was trying to gain, actually. I didn't know the steps for outreach. I didn't know any of that stuff.
So we were really doing what my co-worker was telling me last night, throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. And that's just not an effective use of your time. So his idea or what he was coming up with was that he was saying he doesn't want to be aimless in his decisions and making content.
He didn't want to waste his time. He wanted to have something that resembled more of a purpose. You are likely in the same boat as my co-worker.
You want to have purpose, you want to have a strategy and you want to see the real results of your efforts. So if you're creating a podcast, but you don't have the clear objectives, you might feel the same way. All right.
So that's what we're going to unpack today. In this segment, I'm going to share with you why objectives are critical for you and how they can drive podcast growth. All right.
Now, let's look at what objectives are like. OK, so objectives are like a roadmap when you think about it. So if we were to use an analogy of a journey, OK, you're taking a journey or going somewhere.
So think of your podcast goal as the destination you're trying to reach. All right. And the objectives are the little turn by turn directions that guide you there.
It's like getting on Google Maps and it directing you to each little every every little turn that exists on that map. Think about any time you've ever used Google Maps, there is a turn by turn objective to get to your end goal. So why do the right directions matter for you? So if you have clear objectives, this ensures you're not just creating content randomly, but you're producing episodes that align with your end goals.
Like maybe growing your audience or increasing some type of engagement or maybe even monetizing your podcast. So if we understand that objectives are the turn by turn directions, the goal, the end goal is the destination. Maybe it's monetization.
All right. So let's define what these objectives are. So objectives are actionable, measurable steps that help you achieve a larger goal.
As an example, let's say you are trying to build a business around your podcast. So you're trying to build a profitable business around your podcast. Maybe it's around website building.
Maybe it's about around graphic design. Maybe that is your goal. You want to build a profitable graphic design business.
Your objective, though, is going to be that you want to grow an email list to engage your audience directly. Let me repeat that. Your goal is to build a profitable graphic design business, but the objectives along the way is that you need to grow an email list to engage your audience directly, hopefully to get more business, to get more clients, to get more downloads, to get more people buying your services or products online.
Now, the differences between goals and objectives is that goals are more big picture destinations. I think we've we can be clear about that. And objectives are the roadmaps.
They have more actionable steps. But why are the objectives? Why? Let me rephrase this. Why are objectives? How do I want to say I want to say why measurable objectives? Why do they matter? OK, now, without measurable results, it's hard to know if your strategies are really working.
OK, so as an example, instead of I want more listeners, which I know a lot of people say that I want more listeners, instead of saying that you need to set a measurable objective, like I want to grow downloads by 15 percent over three months. You can see those statistics inside of Apple podcasts. You can see those statistics inside of Spotify.
It's going to be up to you on how you set that measurable objective so you can reach your goal. OK, so why do you need these objectives? I mean, you know, you need to have. But why do you need them? Because it provides clarity and focus.
Objectives ensure that every piece of content that you are going to be creating has a purpose. In the example that I had with my friend last night at work, he that's exactly what he was trying to do. He's like, I'm tired of building content where it only gets a couple of views on Instagram.
What am I doing? What are we doing? And I told him, I go, maybe we need to rethink what your objective is. Maybe you need to rethink what the goal is in order to see better results. So every piece of content that you're going to create must have a purpose.
It doesn't matter if you're doing it in the entertainment niche or you're doing it inside of the education niche. You can do a hybrid of those things inside of your podcast or inside of social media itself. As an example, maybe you create podcast episodes that address your audience specific pain points, like how to monetize with a small audience.
Maybe you need to have a little bit more clarity and focus on how you're trying to do this. All right. You need to have podcast episodes that address your ideal customer's pain points.
Graphic design would be another one. Maybe website design, maybe financial advice. You've got to figure that out.
Maybe you do a true crime podcast. Maybe there's some type of pain point within that niche. Maybe it has to deal with therapy.
Can you provide tips, tricks, whatever it may be, a download of tips that you can provide on your own website that will allow them to come in and be a part of your community? Maybe you do that inside of a podcast episode. A second tip on why you need podcast objectives is that there you always need to have some consistency. So if you keep your efforts aligned so you don't, you have to keep them aligned so you don't feel like you're just creating aimless content that just does absolutely nothing.
You want to make sure that you have efforts aligned. A great example of this, I would say that's a great example of this, but I would think a good example of this is that last week's episode about YouTube podcast really plays well into this podcast episode. Trying to marry the two episodes together is great because if someone listens to this episode on the first listen, they can always go back to that previous episode and listen to how I've married the two ideas or the tips.
So keep that in mind when you're talking about consistency, consistency of developing efforts in your content. All right. Let's let's talk about another way of being consistent.
All right. If you're going to keep your efforts aligned, maybe your objective is to grow your email lists. So in every episode, you need to include a call to action to a lead magnet.
That's consistency just as well. So you need to layer in your objectives in your podcast episode. I talked with someone earlier this week on LinkedIn.
It was a brief comment exchange that we had. Her name is Jenny. I think her name is Jenny Bellinger, I think is her last name.
Hi, Jenny, if you hear this. But we were talking about calls to actions and she had made a compliment on a newsletter that I had written on my LinkedIn. I'll leave a link to my LinkedIn if you want to check out that newsletter.
But she made a comment basically saying this is how you you create calls to actions in pieces of content like this. So pay me the compliment. Thank you so much, Jenny.
I'm not sure that it was the most original thing that I had done, but this really translates or plays well into what you're trying to do. If your objective is to grow an email list in every episode, include a call to action to a lead magnet. I am not telling you to pump that lead magnet all the time.
What I'm telling you to do is you need to pump it a couple of times in the podcast episode. The objective is to try to get people to get that lead magnet. All right.
And another tip on why you need objectives is because it's just straight accountability. Clear objectives allow you to track the progress and refine strategies as needed. So as an example, you can check your analytics to see if your lead magnet downloads align with your goal.
I discovered this when I was building out YouTube videos and when I aligned my efforts so that I knew what I was trying to achieve with my objective, I was layering in calls to action within the videos for people to download an essential equipment guide, which eventually resulted in people getting on my list. And the accountability aspect was that I was layering those things in so that I was delivering on a promise on the back end. A lot of people get very, very frightened by the fact that they are building something and they're like, oh, my God, I'm afraid that someone's not going to like this guide.
That's completely OK. Just like podcast recordings, if a podcast recording doesn't go the way that I wanted it to, I said too many filler words, I went off on tangents too much. That's OK.
Because I can always refine that in the future. I can always refine my delivery of my podcast in the future. The same way that I can refine what that lead magnet is all about.
If you put a lead magnet on your website that is not converting, well, maybe that you give it a couple of weeks, it's not converting, you change it. Maybe you need to refocus, drill down, hyper focus on what your ideal listener is trying to achieve, how you can help them out. Like I said, this works not just for business podcasts, it can work for branding podcasts, it can work for entertainment podcasts.
All you have to figure out to do if you want to have that clear objective of monetizing in a smart way is to create that lead magnet that will allow them to get on your list. OK, let's move on. Next point I have right here.
Now, I want to give you some examples of what some key podcast objectives will look like. I've given you a couple. So if I repeat myself, apologize.
I certainly understand. You can always fast forward. All right.
So examples would be obviously growing an email list. Why does this matter? Well, you're building a direct line to your audience that you can control. This isn't in my notes, but I do want to cover this because as of this recording, TikTok is on the verge of going dark in the next couple of days.
And all these creators, I mean, there's some creators are like, oh, I don't give a shit. It can go away. I'm on YouTube or I'm on I'm on Instagram or whatever.
Some are not even getting on Instagram at all. But there are the creators that are freaking out about this and they're saying to themselves, what am I going to do? How am I going to continue to earn my income? Well, if they started in the beginning when they were building out that audience and then eventually driving them to an email list so that they can have a line, a direct line of communication to their audience, they could pretty much sell just whatever they wanted. If that person, if those, if those fans are so dead set on that creator, they buy, I would say they would buy.
So if you're going to grow your email list and build a direct line to your audience, one that you control. Some of these strategies or tactics that you can implement is that you create a lead magnet, a free guide, a free checklist, a free how to something like that, and you promote it consistently on your episode. We've talked about this.
Another example is that if you want to increase a podcast subscribers, why does this matter to you as the podcaster? Well, subscribers help improve visibility and create audience loyalty. So if you aren't doing the call to action for the email list, maybe you're trying to get more people to subscribe so you can have the visibility in these platforms. Use clear calls to actions in your episode, make sure you're following this episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
If you're on YouTube listening to this or watching, make sure you hit that subscribe button and leave me a comment. Always leave these calls to actions, create visually engaging SEO thumbnails. If you're on YouTube, that also helps out as well.
So remember, you always want to give that call to action. Don't forget to follow the podcast and give them the destinations of where they can find it. Link is in the show notes.
Link is in the description. Your common things, right? Another example of key podcast objectives is that you're trying to drive website traffic. All right.
So why does this matter? Your website should be the central hub. Actually, it is the central hub of your monetization efforts and your engagement. So as you hear me in every podcast episode, I'm always pushing some type of link, right? A link to go to the podcast therapist dot com, a link to go to get Ecam, a link to the blog post.
I mean, I haven't done that quite yet, but a link to the blog post. I'm trying to drive traffic to my website. And by giving those clear calls to action, it allows you to drive the traffic, build more authority online and build more loyalty.
So share share links to blog posts, resources, exclusive bonuses that are in your episode. And you can also share this stuff on social media as well as you start doing and creating more of a marketing effort. All right.
One thing that I do want you to do if you don't have this set up is that I want you to embed your podcast on your site to help increase SEO rankings. So if you have a website and you say have let's say you have captivate, captivate dot FM as your podcast host, make sure that you're creating that blog post and you're embedding that player from captivate above the fold on that blog post. All right.
So I would typically have maybe the first paragraph of my blog post that, you know, it's about that episode. Right. Or maybe it's a related topic to that episode.
I would have the first paragraph and then I would embed the episode or maybe the first two paragraphs, depending on the length of those sentences. I would embed it above the fold so they can see it and they can click play. That's what I would do to increase not only search rankings, but also you can get more downloads that way.
All right. So another thing that you can do for an objective is that you maybe want to prepare for monetization. Now, why does this matter? Well, I mean, why doesn't it matter? Right.
Why doesn't it matter? I mean, who doesn't want to monetize monetization? It depends on delivering consistent value and building trust over time. OK, so if you have an objective of maybe in the podcast. If you have the objective that you want to push people to a small, smaller product with a smaller, what would you call it? A lower barrier of entry maybe doesn't have to be free.
Maybe it's a three dollar download. You can still do that. You can test it out.
You can create a monthly campaign or maybe a two month campaign based around trying to push people to that low ticket offer, which I would say low ticket product. Three dollars, four dollars. I mean, think about you can go buy.
I hate using this analogy. Go buy Starbucks for five bucks. But it's true.
We all do it right. We'll we'll pay five bucks for a Starbucks. So if it's something of value that they would want, then, yeah, definitely, I would definitely lean into that and see about pushing people with that objective and see if it works.
Now, my last point here is like, how do objectives drive the growth? We might have talked about some of these in the segment, but let's take it. Let's let's go about it this way. All right.
Align your content and promotional efforts with your end goal. I think you get the idea. So every podcast episode, every email, every social media post, they all serve as a purpose that is tied to your objective.
So if your goal is to monetize. Create content that educates, it educates your audience, it educates your audience on your paid products, it educates your audience on your services. Going back to Jenny, she has services where she builds out websites and she has a podcast that educates her audience on what people need to put on their website.
But Jenny offers her services through her podcast. She does a really good job of this. Objectives also drive growth by staying consistent.
You avoid wasted effort. So if we're just recapping, this makes you focus on fewer. Well, let me see.
It makes you I'm reading my notes here, so I'm getting it all backwards, but objectives help you focus on fewer high impact strategies instead of spreading yourself thin. You don't want to spread yourself thin. All right.
So focus on creating episodes that directly address an audience's pain points and lead them to action. There is nothing worse than creating an episode where you didn't do the prep on it and you published it and people are like, this sucks. You know, I'm going to unsubscribe to this podcast.
I'm not following it anymore. Provide value. Give the value.
I mean, I hope I give you value every week, but provide the value because it will come in handy. All right. And lastly, you want to create a system to measure your success.
All right. So the analytics are going to be huge on this particular portion. You want to check your analytics and that's how you refine your strategies.
Like I told you before, if you are creating a lead magnet and it's not getting downloaded, look at that. Look at the opt in. See if people are opting in.
And then if you're layering in other areas where you can create other measurable metrics, do it, see what works, but you're going to have to monitor these. I wouldn't say obsess over them, but I would say you would want to monitor them, monitor which episodes drive the most email signups. That's a huge one.
Look at your past episodes, which ones are performing the highest. If you have a service like say Buzzsprout, you should have the ability to create mid -rolls and pre-rolls in there. And within those pre-rolls, you can drive people using those pre-rolls.
You can drive people to your landing page for your free opt-in or your offer or whatever that objective may be. My opinion is that you need to be growing that email list at some point all the time. Hyper-focus on that.
All right. So just monitor all of that. So I hope these tips have really helped you out.
I hope that getting clear on your objective really makes an impact on how you see your podcast growing, how you see your podcast becoming a part of your business. What impact do you want to make with your ideal customer, your ideal listener? Go back, listen to this, figure out what your objectives are, write them down. Likely they're very similar to what we have explained right here in this particular episode.
So I hope this has helped you out so much. If you have questions, you're always welcome to reach out to me. Like I said, you can reach out to me on LinkedIn.
I think I'm going to start using LinkedIn more because I really want to focus on the people who are serious about creating a business around their podcast and that's where you can find me. No fluff there. I do some, I do create a, well I just started creating a newsletter over on LinkedIn as well.
So you can check that out as well for your pleasure, for your leisure. All right, coming up after the break, we are going to be talking about and answering common tech and hosting questions within podcasting. That's all coming up next on the Podcast Therapist.
Hey, what's up? It's Shannon. And if you're tired of spending too much time and money on podcast transcriptions, let me tell you about Descript. Now before Descript, I spent a fortune on other services to transcribe my 40 minute to hour long podcasts and even some of my YouTube videos.
But now I just upload my audio to Descript and it handles the rest. The transcriptions are super accurate and they capture every word. The app even lets me remove the filler words so my transcriptions can look clean and professional on my website for the transcription section.
And Descript is also a game changer for video content. After recording, Descript provides a transcript of your audio and then you can edit your audio just by editing the text. Simple cut, copy and paste just to make precise edits.
I'll take it. You don't even need advanced audio editing skills for this. Plus Descript has all kinds of other amazing features like eye correction for video, creating audio grounds for social media, the overdub feature for making corrections and real time collaboration if you have a team.
So stop wasting time and money on other services. Check out Descript at my affiliate link at thepodcasttherapist.com slash get Descript. Or if you can't remember the address, check the link in the show notes of your podcast player for this episode.
Give it a try. You'll see how Descript will change the way you create podcasts and videos. Are you ready to master the art of podcast interviews? Introducing Mastering Podcast Interviews by Shannon Hernandez, a comprehensive ebook designed to help you conduct exceptional interviews from preparation to promotion.
Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your skills, this ebook provides practical advice, tips and techniques to enhance your interviewing prowess. Learn how to set clear objectives, research your guests and craft engaging questions that resonate with your audience. With over 20 years of experience in the radio industry, Shannon Hernandez shares his insights on building rapport, maintaining conversation flow and ensuring a smooth post-production process.
This ebook also includes essential checklists and reflective prompts to help you continuously improve. Don't leave your interviews to chance. Use Mastering Podcast Interviews to elevate your podcasting game and create compelling content that stands out.
Get your copy today and it will be delivered to your inbox immediately. Visit thepodcasttherapist.com slash interviews to get your copy now and start mastering your podcast interviews. Hey guys, it's Shannon.
And when I decided I wanted to go ahead and start creating content all those years ago, I knew I needed a trusted website platform. I was managing multiple services, setting up API keys and tracking all the costs became super overwhelming. Then I discovered Kajabi.
Kajabi started helping out content creators like me and you sell courses, but they've grown into so much more than that. They're an all in one platform that lets you build a website, manage your email marketing, set up sales funnels, and of course host all of your courses in one place. But they also allow you to host your podcasts, including paid or hidden ones for members who want to be a part of your own community.
Plus Kajabi offers an integrated community, just like Facebook groups, but within your own website, they give you detailed analytics and even a branded app. Using Kajabi has simplified my workflow and it's boosted my own productivity. If you want to learn more, you can use my affiliate link at thepodcasttherapist .com slash Kajabi, or you can find the link in the show notes of your podcast player for this episode to go ahead and get started.
Kajabi, it's the perfect tool to elevate your content creation and reach more people who are passionate about your work. A few years ago, I got a gift from my sister that honestly I wasn't sure I'd ever use. It was called a Rocketbook.
And at first I thought it's just a notebook, right? But once I started using it, I realized how wrong I was. Now, as a podcaster, staying organized is everything, you know, this and Rocketbook, it's been the game changer for me. It's a reusable notebook that works with special friction pens.
You write in it like you would with regular paper, but here's where it gets really cool. With the Rocketbook app, you can scan your notes and send them straight to your cloud storage, Google drive or Dropbox and share them with people that you trust. I've used a Rocketbook to map out podcast episodes, organize meeting notes and even keep track of tasks.
And thanks to the icons at the bottom of each page, I can instantly send my notes to the right folder without lifting a finger just using the app. And I know you might be asking yourself, what happens when the notebook is full? Well, you're able to just go ahead and wipe it clean and start fresh. Rocketbook has been a huge part of rebooting the podcast therapist and it keeps me organized without wasting paper or losing track of ideas.
So if you want to stay on top of your projects and keep everything in one place, check out Rocketbook at the podcast, therapist.com slash Rocketbook or you can find the link in the show notes of this particular episode today. And just to note that is my affiliate link. So I may earn a small commission if you go ahead and decide to try it.
Hey there, podcast lovers. Do you ever find yourself at a crossroads struggling with life's big decisions? I'm Adam and I know exactly how you feel. I've been there faced with overwhelming choices and uncertainty, not knowing where to turn or who to trust.
That's why I created the decision hour, a podcast designed to guide you through life's toughest choices. In the decision hour, we dive deep into real life stories, offering expert advice and practical tips to help you make those tough choices with confidence. But that's not all.
We also feature interviews with inspiring individuals who have faced similar challenges and have come out stronger. Plus you get to access our exclusive community where you can share your experiences, get support and connect with like-minded people. So if you're ready to take control of your life and make decisions that truly matter, tune in to the decision hour, visit our website at the decision hour.com to start your journey today.
Remember the power to make great decisions is just one click away. Welcome back to the podcast therapist. I hope you guys have found this episode extremely valuable when it comes down to your efforts to build a better podcast.
And I wouldn't be researching these all week long. I wouldn't be scouring LinkedIn. Um, I'm not really, I was playing on threads for quite a bit, but, um, I just kind of stopped all of a sudden.
I found more value over in LinkedIn, found a richer content inside of LinkedIn, but really it's for me, it's about scouring the internet to find the solutions for you. Looking for how I can create solutions for you and your podcast. So I want to thank you so much for listening.
Don't forget following my own advice. Don't forget if you enjoy this podcast, make sure that you are following it on Apple podcasts and Spotify. Hit that follow button and leave it a review.
If you find this episode valuable, great. I'd love you to go ahead and do that. If you're, if you want to go ahead and watch this on YouTube, make sure you leave a comment, leave it a thumbs up and a like, or a thumbs up, I guess is a like, right? And of course subscribe as well.
Comment. I always get back to my comments on YouTube as well. So closing out today's show, I want to answer some common tech and podcast hosting questions.
I wouldn't say it's hosting questions in terms of like Libsyn, you know, Libsyn, Captivate, Megaphone, things like that. I'm talking about becoming a better host. So I want to answer some of these common tech and hosting questions.
These come from forums, whether they be on Facebook or they are on YouTube, Reddit, whatever. And I did not include names on this because I wanted to, I just wanted to be respectful of that person. But if they, if this is their question, they can reach out to me and let me know.
And then I can give them a shout out on the next episode. All right. And of course, if you want a little shout out, you can, you're more than welcome to reach out to me and I'll give you a little shout out on the podcast.
I have no problem doing that. Okay. So let's go ahead and get to some of these questions and then we'll close out the show.
And I think this is really more of a segment for those podcasters who love listening to this type of stuff, or maybe people are trying to start a podcast or they're interested in the podcast and they don't know, but they want to go ahead and get some of these common questions answered. I mean, they're all over the internet, but I want to answer them here because it may spur something inside of your mind and be like, Oh yeah, maybe I do need to do that. I forgot about that.
So I want to be able to answer some of these questions and of course give my own take on some of these things as well. All right. So hopefully this really will help you out.
Um, when it comes down to things like equipment, I can't stress it enough. And this just as a happenstance, me promoting the essential equipment guide to starting a podcast. I have all this in that, that guide as well, found at the podcasttherapist.com slash quickstart.
Okay. So first question is, uh, it came from Facebook, I do believe, and protecting that person's name. But I mean, and I will give them credit if they, if they come across this podcast, um, they asked or they said, I'm launching a pop in my podcast.
First episode tomorrow, I need to improve my noise reduction editing, but you can't do, but you can't do something for the 100th time without doing it for the first time. So let me reread that question over again. Launching my podcast first episode tomorrow, I need to improve my noise reduction editing, but you can't do something for the hundredth time without doing it for the first time.
So the problem here is that this person is experiencing whatever noise is happening in the background. And this really all comes down to a couple of different things when it comes down to the noise. First of all, in my opinion, as a podcaster or someone who's serious about their business, you're not terribly worried about what noise is in the background.
If, uh, it's like a low hum, you're not terribly worried about that. Does that make me lazy? No, it just makes me realistic in understanding and knowing that podcasts are recorded from home for a lot of people. You're going to have echoes bouncing off the wall.
Sometimes, maybe you don't have the money to get soundproofing for your room. Maybe you're someone like me who has block walls. And even if you do put soundproofing on it, it deadens it just slightly.
So when it comes down to noise reduction on your podcast, here are a couple of things that you can do when it comes down to reducing that noise. We'll talk about a software solution and we'll talk about a physical solution. Okay? So a software solution would be that you could use something like Adobe.
Adobe Audition does this. I think Audacity does it and Descript does it, but you don't need to purchase Adobe Audition to reduce the noise in your podcast. In fact, Adobe has a free tool online for noise reduction that you can find at podcast.adobe.com. And you have to sign up for an account in order to get access to it.
You don't necessarily need an Adobe account for it. You don't need to subscribe to any of the Adobe products. You can just get in on your own and test it out for yourself.
How long they're going to keep this in beta form remains to be seen, but you can use that online noise reduction tool in there and that will get rid of some of those low hums. Sometimes it'll get, it will get rid of some of the the echoes in the room. Descript does something very similar as well.
So if you want kind of an all in one solution, you can utilize Descript. I'll leave a link for that in the description below. That's an affiliate link that you can go ahead and check out.
My friend Jeff uses this on the first pass of the podcast that we edit for Guy Kawasaki. He uses it on the first pass on occasion when he gets a guest who has terrible, terrible noise that is in the background, but it's also an audio enhancer, meaning that a lot of these episodes or a lot of these interviews that we do as podcasters, they're all recorded. Either the host is recording on an awesome microphone and the guest is on the other side of the camera that is recording through a webcam and that webcam audio always sounds distant and it sounds weird.
And this tool for Adobe Audition, I'm sorry, not Adobe Audition, for Adobe, it will make those pieces of audio sound as though they are in a studio. And Descript has the same feature as well. I forget what he calls it.
I don't use that feature in Descript, but you can do that if that's something that is very important to you. All right. As far as noise reduction is concerned from a physical standpoint, you can record in a smaller room, a quiet space.
I mean, for years I was recording, I mean, I was I had the closet door closed and I would go into the closet and I would, I mean, you have all your clothes in there. I mean, there's no better soundproofing than recording in a closet. So you can do it that way.
Or maybe you can get a blanket and you can hang it over you. You, I mean, there's many different solutions that exist for this. I don't have these solutions in my essential equipment guide because I've just gotten to the point as a podcaster that I'm recording from home.
And if I get soundproofing it, it will, you know, maybe it'll make a difference, but it's not something that I absolutely need. The content is something that I want to go ahead and share first. All right.
The other thing is that you need to invest in a quality microphone, budget friendly upgrade for yourself that might help out as well. I have right here, I have the Shure SM7B. Now the microphone isn't going to do all the work for you.
The what does the work for me is the Rodecaster Pro that exists on my console or my desk right here. And I've set it up to where I can have noise or a noise gate on it as well. I still have some refining to do.
Maybe you've heard some of it in my previous podcast, but I still have some refining to do there. So use Adobe's online free online tool for noise reduction and enhancing studio sound. Descript will do the same thing.
Record in a smaller, maybe a quieter space and maybe have some clothes around you that will help out. And of course, maybe you need to get a new microphone, upgrade your microphone, and maybe get into something. You don't have to get a Rodecaster Pro too, but maybe you get a Rodecaster Duo.
It's the same technology and software as the Pro. It's just less faders. So just keep that in mind.
All right. Question number two, what's your favorite resource for getting better as a podcast host? This person says they've been going a while and think they're okay, but they feel they have plateaued. All right.
So here are some things after doing radio for 25 years, I would say that the key and the most important thing here is that you have to practice. You have to keep recording podcast episodes, practice, practice, practice. And when I say practice, that means keep publishing episodes, practice, practice, practice.
All right. Other things that you can do is that you can listen to how other podcasters are doing it. You can listen to how radio broadcasters do it, study how these people are presenting, and then you can take little tips and cues from them and turn it into something of your own.
All right. So you can look for things like pacing. You can look for things about how they develop maybe a segment, things like that.
All right. And then of course you can try and go and learn, uh, on something like LinkedIn learning. Uh, they have courses on LinkedIn learning where you can go ahead and learn about this.
But I will tell you this right now as a podcast host, as a radio broadcast host of 25 years, it's all about practice and listening or having someone else model it for you and then you turning it into yourself into your own. Okay. Making it your own.
All right. And when you make it your own, maybe being a better podcast host means that you need to be a better preparer. Maybe you need to do better prep work so that you know what you're talking about so that you do sound knowledgeable and confident on the microphone.
I'll tell you that right now. Once you prepare, your confidence will boost and go through the roof if you prepare better instead of just kind of trying to wing it. All right.
So that's a great question right there. Question number three, uh, this is related to merchandising. So they asked, uh, they're trying to get shirts and a small order.
They want to create a small order of shirts, maybe about six to 10 shirts to start off. Is there any advice that you want to do this? Okay. So if you're a podcaster that's looking to create some type of merchandising for yourself, this can, you can fall down an entire rabbit hole for this.
Cause I did, I fell down a rabbit hole. It's actually a lot of fun to do, but it's time consuming. And unless you don't have a graphic designer to create this type of stuff, uh, you know, it becomes a little bit of a challenge.
Now I do talk about this in my, uh, my audio book for, uh, for monetizing a podcast. I taught, it's called podcasting payouts. And so I talk about merchandising in that particular, uh, that particular audio book.
If you want to check it out, I'll leave a link for that in the description. Uh, and of course, show notes for today, but it can become a lot of fun, but very time consuming. And the reason why I'll tell you is because you have to come up with a design.
If you don't know how to do designs in Adobe illustrator or Canva or anything like that, you don't know anything about transparent backgrounds and you don't know anything about that. It can become a little bit cumbersome. And then of course creating, if you want to create a Shopify store, it becomes cumbersome.
But if I were to simply give it to you, if you want to start some type of merchandising for yourself, you got to look more towards the print on demand services, platforms like Printful. I think there's a Printify is what it is. Um, Teespring is another one that you can use.
So these are more on demand. So you don't have to order in bulk. You can just order on demand.
All right. And how that typically works is that you're, you're just, you're, you're paying for the t-shirt and then it's being shipped as is. All right.
There are strategies around this process of how you can sell merchandise, but if you're just trying to do it where you just need a small amount of shirts, I would go with Printful or Printify or even if I were to rank them, I would say Printful then Printify and then Teespring. All right. You can look out for, you can go to like a local, I guess a local shop and see if they'll do something.
Uh, they might be able to do something with you and work with you, but typically they're looking for something that's bulk, or maybe you can try to reach out to someone on Etsy that might, that might work or maybe you do pre-orders and then that way you can get a pre-order of a 20, maybe the minimum is 20. That's when you go to a local supplier to help you out. Okay.
So if you have questions on that, again, reach out to me on LinkedIn and I'll be happy to answer that for you. All right. Question number four, and this is going to be the last one for the day.
Okay. What do you suggest for minimal equipment to switch to video podcasts? Do I need a high end camera? Now, this is a question that came directly off of my YouTube, uh, my YouTube video from last week that I talked to where I talked about YouTubes. All right.
And so YouTube podcasts and how to develop those. All right. So if I were to tell someone right now, let's, let's set the scenario right now.
In this particular case, this person has gone all out and purchased all the audio equipment for themselves in the past and then gave up on podcasting. But what they want to know is what they need to do to transition or create an addition to a video podcast. And what I told him, I said, if you already have the audio, if you already have everything that you need, all you really need is a camera and you need software.
That's it. All right. He asked about which cameras do I need a high end camera? Absolutely not.
You don't need a high end camera. As you can see right here on this particular podcast episode on YouTube, I'm using just a Logitech Brio. That's it.
A Logitech Brio does it. This is listed in my essential equipment guide that you can go ahead and check out for yourself. Um, you also want to get some lighting too.
I didn't mention this to him before, but you want to get some lighting as well. I got some Lume Cube, uh, lights that are on my desk that allow me to create the light or shine the light on my face. So I don't look all dark, even though here I'm wearing a cap today, a dirty old hat and a cap, but still it's shining light on my face and to give, it shines light on the subject.
All right. And then when it comes down to software, you can use tools like Ecamm, you can use OBS, you can use StreamYard. I mean, I've talked about these before.
I mentioned it in that first segment. These are just ways you can do that. And I would say that it's just a little bit more in the budget of saying, okay, I just need to get that camera.
I think that camera is like 120 bucks, something like that. And then you need to get the software, which will be recurring over time. So that's really what you need to look for if you're trying to start a video podcast.
So that's going to go and do it for today. I really hope that you guys had a wonderful time staying with me today. If you fast forwarded to some of these different parts of the podcast, I hope it brought some value to you.
I just want to recap real quick for you about your goals. Define your goals, align them with your objectives and build workflows that make your podcasting experience much, much easier. I know that it's going to feel like it's difficult in the beginning, but as you continue to build it and you start getting used to building that content, it becomes a lot easier.
Start exploring tech tools that we talked about so that you can level up on your situation and on your setup. I want to thank you once again for listening to the podcast therapist. Don't forget, you can listen to this podcast ad free at the podcast, therapist.com slash ad free for seven days.
And of course, after that $7 a month and you're helping support the development of this particular podcast and the content that I develop just for you, it's a small price to pay for all the work that I get to do for you. So in the meantime, I'll be back next week. I got a really cool topic next week that I want to share with you.
Hopefully it's the cool topic. Do I tell you about it right now? I don't know. I feel like I should tell you, but I think I'll leave you on it.
It's got, it ties in with your objectives. Ah, whatever. We'll talk about it next week.
Have a great week and we'll see you next time.
