7 Surprising Benefits Of The Simple Podcast - The Podcast Report With Paul Colligan Episode #84

The 7 Surprising Benefits of the Simple Podcast it's the podcast report episode 84, show notes, links, conversation and more@thepodcastreport.com 84 hey, this is Paul Calligan. I am podcast author, podcast trainer, podcast consultant. That's not what this show is about. This show is about showing you, the podcaster, how to reach more people with your message and, and profit more from your content. There's a bunch of things that led to this episode. I'm glad I'm doing it now. Should be a lot of fun. I have for you a very cool report. It's called the 7 Surprising Benefits of the Simple Podcast and it is my notes for today. It is everything that we're going over today and you can pick that up@thepodcastreport.com 84 when you do that, you'll be able to print it off. It's a good looking little it's a good looking little worksheet and you can print it off, put it by your side, pin it to your wall, and then think about these things as you ponder what kind of podcast it is that you want to put to place. The big idea for today is very, very simple. The Simple Podcast is a very specific and a very clear strategy. Okay, what does that have to do with anything? Well, last week's episode was the Simple Podcast is the winning podcast and I chatted to that and I definitely recommend that you go back and listen to that episode. We but what's interesting and that episode got a lot of attention. There was some really interesting social interaction with you and some different things that happened there. Today I'm actually recording another bit on simplicity and funny enough is I am recording this live in front of my new how to Podcast course. And those who got in early are able to watch this live. Those who get in after the recording of this will be able to watch the screen recording of this. What's fun is they're able to see how simple it is to record a podcast. And that is very, very, very cool. More information about the PODC course@thepodcastreport.com 84 One more week on this thread of the Simple Podcast and then we're going to go on to some other issues. So why, why the Simple Podcast? There has been a lot of attention this week about more complicated podcasts. Itunes is changing some things. There's a lot of attention that's being out there with the richly produced shows and the big complicated shows. And I appreciate that. But sometimes in podcasting we tend to think the ones that get the focus are the ones that we should emulate. And that's not necessarily the case. Sometimes simple podcasts are a great way to go. Yesterday I did a webinar with Gary Leland and you can find that webinar at the podcast interviewwizard.com Gary is a long time name in the podcasting space. What's interesting about Gary is He has over 700 interviews to his name. He's got probably over a thousand podcast episodes. Gary is killing it. And Gary is making a lot of money from it. And Gary is doing it simply. Gary was looking at the product that we were looking at during that webinar and he goes, man, I really should do that, I really should do that, I really should do that. And even commented that if he does that, it's going to bring him in some more money and it's not going to take him any more work. And that's very, very cool. But the neat thing here, the thing I want to focus on on this episode, is the simple fact that Gary is doing well with a simple podcast. Simple is a great podcast strategy. Right before I went live, I was looking at itunes charts and I'm absolutely amazed. I have a video podcast, my YouTube strategies podcast, that is doing right now better. I've never seen it not do better over the last couple of weeks of tracking over a video podcast out there that has a full time staff with a producer from Hollywood and a studio that cost a half a million dollars and a whole bunch of other things. And my podcast is getting more downloads. Please consider making your podcast simple. The more complex it is, doesn't mean the bigger it is, doesn't mean the better it is, just means the more complex it is. So simple is a great strategy. So what I have for you, I have simply seven surprising benefits of a simple podcast. These are things that you might not have thought of when it comes to making a simple podcast. And I want you to think about them because I think they just might change your way. They might a, make your existing podcast simpler, they might b, get you to launch a simpler podcast. Maybe in addition to what you're doing, launch something simpler, change, reboot, whatever it is. These are the things I want to hit up for you. And again, you can get this entire worksheet@the podcastreport.com 84. So the first surprising benefit, and this one's just math, but we don't think about this a lot. Every minute not spent on production is a minute you can spend on the content or on the marketing. If you Have a thousand things you have to do. You have to do a thousand things. I mean, that's just the math. But the fewer things you do, the better off you're going to be. Everybody who's watching this is going to see when this is done. The editing of this isn't going to take that long. And I can spend more minutes on content, I can spend more minutes on marketing, and I want you to do the same. A lot of podcasters are not doing this as the only thing they're doing. The production of the show is one part and then the editing of the show and then the marketing of the show and then content for the show and all these things. We have a lot of things to do. Every minute not spent on production is a minute you can spend on the content of the marketing, which is huge. Okay, number two, you do a simple podcast. Goodbye, simple production distractions for you and the listener. You ever listen to a show and like, oh, what was that song? Or what was that sound effect? Or what was that transition? Or. Especially if you're a podcaster, we tend to listen to this. Things can distract us. Things do distract us. And if it's simple, let's face it, we're over six minutes of this podcast. There's been a simple little bit of music. That's it. It's just been me monologuing from there. Product production distractions for you and the listener. When those go away, they're more focused, because number three is the fewer elements presented, the better chance they'll take action. I have one action I want you to take in this episode. I want you to go to thepodcastreport.com 84 and fill out the form to get this. Post this up on your wall so you can start producing a simple podcast. If I had 37 different elements and different downloads and different ads and all these things, you wouldn't know what it is that I wanted you to do, and you wouldn't know what the next step was. The fewer elements presented, the better chances they'll take action. The surprising benefit number four is huge. No one walks away overwhelmed with your podcast and therefore your message. This is really important. I've listened to many podcasts where when I'm done with the podcast, I'm like, wow, that was intense, and that's good. And I love intense and I love interaction. But the fact of the matter is that's not necessarily the job of a podcast. I believe the job of a podcast is to get you to move to action, get you to take the Next action. If you have this overwhelming high intensity multimedia extravaganza, people are not going to walk away going, okay. The next step, they're going to walk away going, wow. They're going to walk away going, okay, I see what we're doing, I see where we're going. Nobody ever walks away overwhelmed with your podcast and therefore your message will. When it's a simple, simple podcast. Number five is again part of the math. But basically the simpler the show, the less people involved. And this is key. A lot of people forget that you gotta bring a bunch of folk to make a complex production. You don't need to bring a bunch of folk to make a complex production. If it is a simple production. See how this is the simpler the show, the less people involved. I mentioned earlier, you know, I am beating in the charts. A guy with a huge budget, a half a million dollar studio, a producer from TV land, and I'm doing it all just with screencasting. And the fact of the matter is, you know, well, gosh darn it, I'm doing a simpler show, I'm spending less money, I'm seeing better results, you know, and by, see, by spending less money, I can spend a little bit more time on marketing, I could spend a little bit more time on content, I could spend a little bit more time on the things that matter. Number six is huge. Simple podcasts make better transcripts and make better books. I love podcast transcripts going out in books, I think it's fantastic. It's a way to serve your audience better. Some people love audio, some people. Right now somebody's going, wait a minute, Paul, there's a transcript of this somewhere. A lot of podcasters will do transcripts, but the fact of the matter is you make a transcript to Kindle book, you make it a printed book, you go from there. You can do even better. When you have a show that's 90% special effects and transitions and all these things that simply don't work on text, then the transcript doesn't have value and the books don't have value. Things to think about. The last element, the last surprising benefit of the simple podcast is simplicity. For forces purpose. If all you're going to do is monologue for 10 minutes like I'm doing right now, you have to have a reason. And my reason for this episode is I want the podcaster to consider doing a very simple show. I want the podcaster to consider, I want you to contemplate what can I do to make it easier. And if I make it easier is the show going to get better. So those are the seven surprising benefits of the simple podcast. Let's hit those again. Every minute not spent on production is a minute you can spend on content or marketing or something of more value. Goodbye production distractions for you and the listener. They go right to the content. The fewer elements presented, the better chances they'll take action on what it is you wanted them to do. Nobody walks away overwhelmed with your podcast and therefore your message. And you win, your podcast becomes effective. The simpler the show, the less people involved, the less money spent. You know, it's funny. If I spend $5,000 making an episode, I have to make $5,000 to get my money back. If I spend $50 to make an episode and I make $5,000, I've made a great profit from it. Simple podcasts that are just content, they make better transcripts, they make better books, which is the multicasting and is all the things I recommend in the world. And then finally, just plain simple and easy. Simplicity forces purpose. If you just have a simple show that you are trying to teach folk something simple, something action, you have to be focused, your information has to be solid, and anyone listening you know this far into the podcast knows exactly what it is that I'm talking about. So what do you do with these seven steps? Well, number one, I want you to consider what would happen if you spent your time and money on simplicity. What would happen if your podcast was simpler? How much more money would be made? How many more actions would be taken? How much better would your audience be? What could you do with transcripts and books and all these things? I want you to consider this. I want you to download the worksheet. It's thepodcastreport.com 84. I've got a link to the howtopodcasttraining.com on there as well. If you want a course on simple podcast training, you could take a look at that. Is it for everyone? No, it's for people looking to do this, simply looking to make this easy. That's who you are. Take a look there. Season two, we're trying some things. I would love some input on season two, what you think of the show so far. Over@the podcastreport.com 84, there's a place to interact, a place to make a comment. Tell me what you think about this new format and some of these new focuses. Other things I've got at that episode is the link to last week's episode, which was also about simple podcasting. I've got a link to the podcast interviewwizard.com which is a very very cool tool. But we've also got a 90 minute webinar with Gary Leland that will knock your socks off. I've got a link to the seven point sheet. I've got the latest version of the how to Podcast book. I've got the two apps, the how to Podcast app and of course the app for the Podcast Report. I've got a link to how to Podcast training and of course that link to the Podcast Interview Wizard. All that and more@the podcastreport.com 84 Now a couple things we love to interact here on the Podcast Report Twitter podcast the podcastreport.com Twitter Facebook is thepodcastreport.com Facebook one of the big powerful things about podcasting is the subscription. The fact that you could subscribe once, follow once, do this once, and then every time a new episode comes out you are automatically updated. I would love it if you subscribe to the show. Your podcast would be better if you subscribe to the show. You can do that@thepodcastreport.com iTunes if you are an iPhone user thepodcastreport.com Stitcher that is how you roll overcast whatever you want. Any podcast development platform. You are able to get this show subscribed just by going there and it's a good and strong and great thing to do. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Podcast report. Again this the worksheet that we spoke to and all the links are@the podcastreport.com 84 we'd love to hear from you on social. Love to have a subscribe, but other than that, thank you so much. Chat with you next week. Bye.