Podcast Problems That Keep Me Up At Night - The Podcast Report With Paul Colligan Episode #97

Is the podcasting industry presenting the best possible image for the podcasting industry? Or maybe a better title, Podcast Problems that Keep Me up at Night. It's The Podcast Report Episode 97 show notes, links, conversation and more at ThePodcastReport.com 97 this is the Podcast Report, the show where I, Paul Culligan, podcaster, podcast consultant, podcast author, yada yada yada, show you how to reach more with your message, profit more from your content. This is the stuff about the industry that nobody else will cover. Today is probably a really good example of that. In short, the big idea for today's episode is that we as an industry can do better. My goal here this week is not to point fingers, it's not to complain, but it's to just kind of, let's have a heart to heart here. There's some things we got to fix, there's some stuff we got to do, there's some things we have to change. Last week the topic was podcasting has a discovery problem. And it does. But you know what? It's not only a problem we have, we also have an identity problem. A couple things that led to this. Number one, the Hot Pod newsletter. If you haven't looked at Hot Pod, and I'm going to put a link to it here in the show notes thepodcastreport.com 97 I appreciate what Nick is trying to do. I appreciate what he is trying to put together. But the fact of the matter is he's missing the point. You know, he's not telling the entirety of the story of podcasting. And unfortunately it's not just Nick. There are a lot of people who, in telling the story of podcasting, they're not telling the story of podcasting. And it's part of our, our problem. It's part of our identity. I've also got a link to this piece from Collisions, which the link that you'll find over@the PodcastReport.com 97 is a link to an article, the top women in podcasting. And there are some amazing women in podcasting. But that wasn't how the article started. The article started as the top people in podcasting and then there were some complaints that there weren't enough women in it. Now it's entirely a list of women, which is not accurate. But what's funny is this piece, when it came out, it wasn't accurate. You know, they had all these people in podcasting never mentioned Libsyn. And it's not that one person at Libsyn over the other Although, let's face it, Rob Walsh is certainly the COVID boy for Libsyn. Never mentioned Libsyn. And somebody's mentioning the movers and the shakers. And you look at the guys responsible for 25% of all the traffic and the very least should be mentioned. See, the problem is we have an identity problem. We have newsletters that identify the industry. Don't talk about what we're doing here. We got pieces that identify the movers and shakers who don't really identify the movers and shakers. We've got a metrics mess. I've heard so many episodes. I linked to an episode of Back to Work where Dan is attempting to build a platform called Fireside. And you can get the link to this@thepodcastreport.com 97 he's trying to fix it and I kind of appreciate what he's doing. Of course, proof is in the pudding. We'll see what happens when it comes out. But we've got people who are thinking, oh, you know, we're going to fix podcasting by making an app, or we're going to fix podcasting by making a special platform or that type of thing. Well, here's the thing. The power of podcasting is in the fact that it is just MP3's download. The power of podcasting is that it works on all the clients, that you don't have to download a specific client to get a specific show or a specific network. The metrics mess. People think, you know, we got to fix the problem. No, we don't. We don't industry events. We've got podcast movement coming up and I got to move. I got to miss podcast movement this year. I've got a client engagement that just requires that I be in a different state. Not Oregon, but not Illinois. And our industry events, we got to get better. We'll, we'll chat to that. There's no leader in the podcasting space. There are a lot of people who think they are the leader. There are a lot of people who others have heralded as the leader, but we have no leader and we have no group of leaders. And this is part of our identity problem. And then the last thing is just the simplest of concepts. We're decade into this and the simplest of concepts are being ignored and poo pooed and dropped away. I was at a gig speaking with some folk and I don't want to get specific because it's. This is just the example this week. But there was the show that was sort of the centerpiece of what they're doing. And the show that was basically kind of the highlight of what was possible. And I decided to listen to the show on the way home. And the levels of the show, it was a couple of people in the studio, an outside caller, and the caller was literally 10 times louder than the people in the studio. And I'm fine with the do it by hand versus do it by software argument. That's fine. That's craft. That's that type of thing. But oh, my goodness, people, we can do better. We can have a show that doesn't, you know, force us to tear off our earbuds and scream at the pain of the noise or, you know, we can do better. So those are the themes. That's just what's happened to me over the last week. Here are the six issues. Issue number one, suggesting we have a problem is getting people called idiots and liars. That's a whole nother problem. I've got a link@thepodcastreport.com 97 to Tom Webster from Edison Research. I love to love what Tom's done. You know, someone asked Tom a question and the fact of the matter, was Tom able to respond, content to respond, but if you look at his thread, he's like, look, I respond to this, you guys call me an idiot, and I'm just not going to mess with that. And this is a problem with the industry. If someone has an opinion that's wrong, call them out as wrong, but prove it. Don't just say you're wrong. Have proof to do it. We got to stop calling others idiots and liars. We just have to call information for what it is. That's our number one problem. Number two, nobody seems to want to fix the real problems. We've got some real problems in this industry and everybody seems to be fixed with, obsessed with fixing podcasting. You know, different clients to do different things that we never looked for. You know, this week there was a yet another client, yet another, you know, podcast fixing thing that basically went out of business because nobody wanted it, because nobody asked for it, because we're not focusing on fixing the real problems of podcasting, like the fact that the leaders in this space call each other idiots. There's a ton of bad info out there. There is a ton of bad info. And yes, you can blame it on how to podcast courses, you can blame it on consulting, you can blame it on clients, you can blame it on a lot of things, but there is a ton of bad information. This collisions piece that I've got a Link to in the show notes. The most important thing in podcasting is not women. The most important, although they're a great part of the story. The most important thing in podcasting is not New York, although they are a great part of the story. The most important thing in podcasting is not the independent, although they are a great part of the story. It's all this little nichification that this is the most important issue. It's. It's got to be fixed. And let's talk about the events. They have gotten better. But a couple issues about the events that still frustrate me. Number one, the information. You go to an event and the guy, the gal from 9 to 9:45 will tell you one fact, and then the guy or the gal from 10 to 1045 will tell you another fact, and then the gal or the guy from 11 to 1145 will not only tell you a different fact, but will then completely undo what the first person said. And then you don't know what you do. Someone walks in trying to get a picture of the industry, and they just get lost. These events give very, very different bits of information about what's important, what you can track, what you can't track, what you need to do, all these things. It gets confused. The language these events tends to be, you know, we get these keynotes who love to go blue. And I'm all for freedom of speech, I'm all for, you know, a good swearing diatribe, if you will. But the fact of the matter is, when you're representing the industry, maybe the keynotes shouldn't be people known for going blue. Just thinking out loud here. Who would you want to bring someone to? I have clients all the time. Hey, Paul, I want to play in this industry. I want to get in the podcasting space. I hear these great events. Which one should I go to? You know, I take a deep breath. I don't know. I mean, this one might be a bit classier than this one, but, boy, you're going to get opposing views, and they're not presented as opposing views. It's not, Well, I like to do it this way. It's. Well, this is the way it's done. If you do it any other way, you're wrong. It's confusing. I still can't bring, you know, a client to an event yet. And that's all the events. The events aren't for. The newbies aren't completely thought out. It's part of the leadership issue. We got to do something. The language we don't have our language right. And this isn't an issue of podcasting versus Netcasting. This is just an issue that we don't have our language right. And this language is preventing growth. It's simple practical applications. I've dealt with clients who have spent thousands of hours, thousands of dollars internally constructing engines and devices and machines and systems that are available elsewhere for $5 a month, or open source software off the shelf, or this type of thing because they were steered in the wrong direction, because what they needed wasn't explained the way that they wanted it to. I've got associates who are paralyzed because they don't know what to make sense of all this stuff. They don't know what to do with all this stuff. And it's not just an issue of they're not doing their homework again, it's one guy says this, one gal says this, one person says this, what do I do? No leadership. And then finally, the last thing, and this is really what keeps me up at night, is it is really hard to bring clients into this chaos. And I'm not talking the client who says, hey, I'll pay 50 bucks to set up my microphone. And that's a great client, and they're fun. But the client who wants to take a strategy, a client who wants to go into this industry, a client who wants to do great things, it's hard to bring them into this, you know, because, hey, Paul, I read this and it said this, and I heard this and it said this. And you know, weren't you on the stage with this person who said this? And that goes entirely against what you said. And what do I do about that? Well, it's chaos. It's hard to bring people into it. And we got to admit that it's true. So suggesting we have a problem, it's getting people called idiots and liars, which is a whole other problem. And I'm ready to be called an idiot and a liar on this. Nobody seems to want to fix the real problems that are there. We're too obsessed with fixing the issues of podcasting that not only don't need to be fixed, but can't be fixed. There's a ton of bad info out there that's not being called. The events aren't for the newbies. It's hard to bring the outside world to the events. We don't have our language right. We're not explaining this well to the outside world. And then it's just hard to bring clients and it's hard to bring other people into this chaos. These are the things that keep me up at night. Still going to podcast, still having a great time doing it, still seeing great success, still having a blast. But the fact of the matter is this is the stuff that keeps me up at night. So this is the part in the show where I go, now what? Here's the issue. I'm not entirely sure what to do. I don't have a list of things, steps, if you will, to fix this stuff. This is the stuff that keeps me up at night. I would love your thoughts, your comments thepodcastreport.com 97 if you want to make it right on the website, many of you know how to get a hold of me. You can go ahead and do that social. You go to the podcastreport.com Facebook, podcastreport.com Twitter. Those will take you to the big ones. I would love to get your comments on this. I would love to solve it. But the stuff is keeping me up at night. And I think if you're honest, it's keeping you up as well and it needs to change. So how do we do it? I'm asking you. We'll chat next week. Bye. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Podcast Report. I love interaction. Head out to the podcastreport.com and interact with this episode or any other that you might listen to. But don't just visit the website and click play. Subscribe to the podcast report thepodcastreport.com iTunes thepodcastreport.com thepodcastreport.com Google once you subscribe. Once you set it up so that every time a new episode comes out, you are automatically updated, you are experiencing, you experience the power of podcasting. It's not that you have to come out to my website. It's not that you have to go anywhere. It's that the content comes straight to you. Once we understand that power, podcasting will get to a better place for all of us. So please do subscribe. Once you subscribe, let's interact. You can do it at the website or you can do it on social. ThePodcastReport.com Twitter ThePodcastReport.com Facebook Pick the social network of your choice and we are there to interact. The website's great too, but when you do social, the world sees more. Find out about podcasting more. Find out about how to make their podcast better and the world becomes a better place. So go ahead, interact with us on social. This is the Podcast Report. My name is Paul Colligan. I'm thrilled you've been listening. Please subscribe, please interact and I'll chat with you next week. Bye.