I have been spending some time the last couple of weeks with two clients to try to help them become podcasters. One is a filmmaker, the other a leadership coach and consultant. In both cases, they are somewhat computer and Internet-savvy, run their own small businesses and have put up rudimentary Web sites. They both wanted to use podcasts to promote their core business and as another marketing tool in their arsenal. Where they needed me was to help them get over the technical humps of creating and distributing the podcasts.
It has been a fascinating learning experience for me on several levels. Here’s what I have found out.
First, the whole domain management/registrar system isn’t for mere mortals. While it has gotten better since the go-go days of the 1990s, it still needs work to do even the simplest tasks.
In both cases, my clients needed new domains to point to their podcasts that would supplement their existing ones that they started for their businesses. We had to dig around to find their registrar login information. Now, while I still host one of my domains with Network Solutions, I have found that GoDaddy offers better prices and better service, particularly for managing multiple domains. They also don’t hide the additional charges after you purchase the basic domain name. So we first had to set up the domains on GoDaddy and show my clients what was involved in pointing to these new domains at their old servers. In both cases, they had their domains set up by their computer consultant, but I wanted them to take control and become masters of their own podcasting domain.
I think it is very important for branding purposes that you have a domain that matches the name of your podcast, and that you can say the name clearly and have people remember what they are listening to the podcast. The name should also match your email address too.
Next we started creating a couple of sample podcasts. Creating compelling content is hard work, and requires three skills — script blocking, writing and storytelling. It helps to have that Radio Voice too.
First, before you do anything, you need a template or outline or whatever you want to call it that blocks out what you intend to say, how the podcast will flow, and what pieces you will need to put together. I will never forget how I came to write my first published book. I wrote it with Marshall Rose, the originator of the email protocol that we all use today and author of several books by the time he came to me to help him write his next one back in 1998. Marshall taught me how to block out a book and organize ourselves with chapters and sections in such a way that the two of us could complete the manuscript without having to be in the same city, time zone, or even writing portions of the same chapters together. It was a wonderful experience, and the same thing holds true for podcasts, only on a much smaller scale.
For example, here is one template. First is the intro message that names the speaker and a brief five-word description of the podcast. Then, we state the problem or issue that is at hand. Next, tell the story illustrating the meat of the matter. Finally, wrap it up with lessons learned, or the outro mentioning the URL, email and other contact info.
In addition to blocking out your script, you next have to write one that is solid, and then be able to narrate it so it doesn’t sound like you are reading it. The best podcasts are well written ones that have flowing sentences, engaging thoughts that are connected in some coherent fashion. If you aren’t an extemporaneous speaker, you need to write the stuff down first and go over it so that it sounds natural and like you talk. A great example of this is Nemcoff’s Pacific Coast Hellway podcasts that he claims he does from his car, driving down Pacific Coast Highway on his way to work. He told me that he is reading from a script that he polishes in advance. How he can operate his podcasting rig, read from a script, and navigate the twists and turns of PCH is beyond me. (Maybe Intern Guy is doing the actual driving?)
Anyway, back to lessons learned. Why all this trouble with the raw materials, you may ask? Podcasts are personal conversations between the broadcaster and the listener. Because so many of us listen to them on headphones, or in the solitude of our cars, we tend to develop relationships with the podcaster and begin to think that he or she is speaking only to us. It helps to have something to say and to say it in a way that will keep the audience engaged. Too many podcasters take the route of having a couple of guys jabbering away: I have listened to the first ten minutes of many of these and don’t return.
Finally, you have to be a great storyteller and put together a compelling story that will keep the audience’s interest. I listen to some podcasts that last for 20 minutes to an hour — in some cases, the hour-long versions have more compelling stories than the shorter ones. It helps to be a gifted speaker and know how to string along your audience with word pictures, letting them illustrate what you are saying in their minds. The best radio broadcasters take this for granted, and it is a skill that only comes with lots of practice.
Once you have a couple of scripts together, you have to record them in your computer. This is where the hairy edge of the podcasting tools really shows its dark underbelly, and where one of my clients (the leadership coach) had the most trouble. He wasn’t a computer wizard, and he was also using the computer to do something completely different from his normal email/word processing milieu. I had to design a set of tools that were relatively simple, and that he could easily use to get the audio tracks on his computer. We ended up with M-Audio’s Podcast Factory, which is a box that includes Audacity software, a good quality mic, and an USB/audio preamp. The product claims to include everything in the box to do podcasts, but only if you are running Windows, and only if you have Strom or some other computer expert looking over your shoulder to tie up loose ends and download a missing piece here or there.
Both clients reached roadblocks creating the final MP3 file that is the actual podcast, and getting them uploaded to the Internet. With the leadership coach using Audacity, the trouble was the missing LAME encoder that converts the Audacity native files into MP3s. We had to root around on the Internet and download the right version to his Mac. My other client, the filmmaker, was used to using Final Cut Pro (also on her Mac), so we used that to create the audio files. But again, FCP only outputs to .WAV not to MP3s, so we had to find something else to use for that. It would be nice to have something that could do the podcast from beginning to end in a single application, but we aren’t there yet.
Finally, there is the upload step, and the promotional step. These two go hand-in-hand and are perhaps the most important ones in the entire process. They are important because otherwise no one will find — and listen to — your podcasts. Part of having a great podcast is producing enough short promos that can be played on other podcasts, and knowing what those complementary podcasts are and being able to find the hosts or producers of them to get the promos played. At this point, I suggested finding the right 20-something who is familiar with online communities and help both my clients out in getting heard in the right places. You also have to tag the files with the right information so that search engines will find them and that iTunes users can view what they are about before they play them.
Obviously, there is a lot more to this than I have put down here. But what is exciting about doing this is that I can help connect the dots for people that have a lot to say and just need to get the technology out of their way and create their thing.
If you are interested in having me coach you to create a great podcast series, drop me an email and we can chat about what fees and time are involved. And maybe one of these days I will actually have time to write my own podcasts too!
