The Most Important Thing In Podcasting - The Podcast Report Episode #53

What is the most important thing in podcasting? It's the podcast report. Episode 5, three show notes, links, conversation and more at www.thepodcastreport.com 53. It's the podcast Report with Paul Colligan. And here's Paul. So here's the big idea. The message makes the podcast more than the tech ever will. We forget that a lot. Hey, this is Paul. Paul Calligan. I'm a longtime podcaster, author, writer, speaker. Right now, my book how to podcast 2015 is doing well. A number of you have picked it up. Thank you so much for that. But this isn't about the book. This is about podcasting. I have been podcasting since the beginning. I love podcasting. I have loved it since day one. The avatar for this show. You are a podcaster looking to make your podcast a real business or do more business because of your podcast. Podcast Report has never been a massive play. You'll never see this on a big list of the top 10 podcast of any given year. But it's a deep one. You need it, you're using it. Your podcast is getting better as a result of it, and I could not be more thrilled. A quick update about Patreon. A number of you have been following us. The episode about Patreon has been one of the top downloaded, archived, evergreen type of podcasts. And you're going to be seeing the change coming pretty soon. We're going to keep Patreon going, to keep it going for a number of reasons. The deal is still anybody who jumps in before podcast movement 2015 is going to get the big report. After that, we'll keep it going. I've got some ideas, some things that we're going to do. It's been fun, it's been very, very cool and I'm actually looking forward to meeting up with the Patreon people at Podcast Movement 2015. I've been hitting around social and hitting in different places that I've got a big announcement at Movement 2015. I do. We'll speak about it after this show. But if you're going to be at 2015, boy, I'll give you a clue. Come by the booth. Oo. How about that? Did I really say that? All right, let's talk about the topic. Why the topic? Why am I talking about the one thing that matters in podcasting? Well, there's a lot of pundits in the podcasting space right now. It's getting more and more crowded. Isn't the right word. It's getting more and more full. It's getting more and more robust. And that is a good thing. That's a very, very good thing. But, you know, noise and you want to filter through it and you want to know what makes sense. A lot of these lists, a lot of these pundits, a lot of these definitive shows and whatn love to make definitive lists. Focus is good, but, man, you got to focus on the right thing. I've seen people focus really, really hard on the wrong thing, and it gets us into trouble. I don't want that to happen to you. I've been listening to a lot of shows lately, and I know you have as well. And I'm starting to get this feeling that some of the shows are more following a formula than really expanding on a message. There's that what happened in your week this week type of moment seems to start at a lot of the shows. And, well, if you had a really boring week, it makes for a really, really boring pod. Following a formula versus expanding on a message, not necessarily a good idea. Another thing I realized is there's some shows that I subscribe to, there's some shows that I like, there's some shows that I talk about, there's some shows that I recommend. But then there are those ones that I can't miss. I bet you're the same. I bet you have a certain amount of shows. You know, of course, this is one of them. I mean, let's be honest. But there are certain shows that we can't miss. Miss. Why? You know, half the time I believe that if half the time most people spent on the tech and on the audio conditioning and on the hosting and on the WordPress and all that stuff, and they spent that on the message, we'd be better. I think the message is incredibly important. What's the message of your show? What is your show saying? And there's four places where I think messaging gets confused. I wanted to share that with you. Message versus the content. See what you're really saying versus what you're saying are two different things. You could be reporting on anything. You know, let me give you an example. Way, way out there, you could be giving a recipe for Paleo milkshakes. And that's information. And that's kind of funny and that's kind of wacky. But what you're really saying is Paleo is so important and Paleo is so powerful that you can go as far as making milkshakes with it, that kind of thing. So versus the content, what are you really saying in your podcast? This is really Important. The message versus the tech. So many believe, hey, this is my podcast. This is my web show. This is my YouTube show. No, this is your message that you're giving out to the world. This is what you're telling everybody versus the schedule. You know, if your message doesn't deserve. If your message doesn't serve your audience, if your message isn't what your audience needs every week, your message is more important than the schedule that this thing comes out on. Your message is more important. And really, your message is very, very different from the monetization. Now, we'd be hitting. We hit monetization a couple episodes back. We're going to go deeper and do it in future episodes again. But the message, the monetization sometimes can be very, very, very tied into each other. I tend to do that here at the show, and you'll be seeing more and more of that. Or sometimes the message can be completely independent of the monetization. You could have a show that has a very clear message to the audience, and then they're just sponsors who like that message. You don't necessarily profit from that message or do better from that message. But the message is not the content. The message is not the tech. The message is not the schedule. The message is not the monetization. And this is really, really, really important. Now, Paul, what about just those entertainment podcasts? What about, you know, those, you know, I'm just here to make the world, you know, laugh a little bit kind of things. That's great. Life is funny is a message. And sometimes it's good to laugh at life. I remember when I first got married, there was this show called Mad about yout. And my wife and I, we were so sure that we had all these problems and we had all these things that were unique to us. And then we'd watch this show, Mad about yout, that was just hilarious and it was just funny. But the thing was, the message was we're kind of all in the same place. And these things that Heidi and I thought were unique to us were so broad range and were so generic isn't the right word, but I guess maybe it is that you could make a sitcom out of it. We're all not that different. Is an entertainment message. Take a minute and laugh. Is an entertainment message. When it's just entertainment and it's fine to have just an entertaining podcast. But the ones with the message I will always listen to. The ones that are entertainment, I can skip those. And I know many of you are the same way. Now, both is good there's no reason why you can't entertain with your message. I like to do that. This show doesn't have as much entertainment as it has message. I'm going to start working on some more things that are more the inter messaging tame and however it is that you want to call it. But entertainment versus message, you can do both, but don't get them confused. Now, the market to the message. Here's what's interesting. I hear these people, I see them on the boards, I get email from them. You know, I see you on social. Oh, my podcast is pretty much for everybody. Well, if your podcast is for everybody, you've heard me say this before, your podcast is nobody. But if your podcast is for everybody, what is the universal message you have for everybody? You see, until you understand who your market is. My market for this show is you, podcaster, trying to do better, making the show better, seeing more revenues from it, seeing more business from it. That's exactly what I want. And I'm able to build the show around it. You know, really, the tighter the market, the bigger the message. The tighter the market, the bigger the message. I know that wasn't necessarily the big idea of this week's episode, but you can go ahead and tweet that one out as if you want. Message is going to bring them back. The more refined the message, the more you're going to serve. The more you serve, the better the monetization options. Please entertain in the process and please entertain as you're doing all these things. But gosh darn it, figure out what your message is. That's the most important part. Now I'm going to chat to a couple of podcasts, the ones that I won't miss and why. And I've got links to these in the show notes. If you go to the podcastreport.com 53. Right? Yes. This is episode 53. Episode five three. If you go ahead and go to that, you can link out to any of these podcasts. You probably know most of them, but I wanted to share a couple. Back to work. Dan Benjamin, Merlin Mann. It's funny, you can laugh at the idea of an hour and a half podcast every week about getting back to work, an hour and a half podcast, 90 minutes every week about productivity, that type of thing. But really the message about back to work and their last episode was really good about this was basically the message of back to work is it is worth the time to work it out. Now, that's my phrasing of their message. That's not necessarily Theirs. I know the guys aren't listening. They got better things to do with their lives. But if anybody happens to know Dan or Merlin, let me know if I got that somewhat right. Because really, if you go through the show, they take the time to work it out. And sometimes the time they take to work it out is just the episode right then and there. And you'll hear Dan and Merlin, fans of each other working life out. But it's pretty good stuff. This Week in Tech. It's funny. This Week in Tech is extremely entertaining. Is extremely. Does not go for the evergreen thing that I recommend. But there is a message at this Week in Tech, and this is why not Merlin. This is why he's done so incredibly well. This is why Leo Laporte has launched this entire network. Because basically, the message at this Week in Tech is that your passions are worth covering, right? If you're any type of computer enthusiast or nerd or whatever it is you want to call it. And then you hear the way the news covers it or you hear the way somebody covers it, like, oh, my goodness, that was just wretched. Leon Team is basically your passions are worth covering, right? And. And there are people passionate, deeply loving the topics that Leo hits. And they listen every week to hear somebody go, yeah, you're worth it. Your passions, we're going to cover them with the dignity and the process they deserve. And Leo and everybody else there does an Amazing job. 10x talk. Dan Sullivan, Joe Polish. Now, full disclosure, they are a client, but the fact of the matter is, is their message is think exponentially. It's not just, how do you do it, but better, how do you 2x how do you 3x? But how do you 10x? You know, the stuff that Dan Sullivan brings up on the show and the responses that Joe have should lead people to do amazing things with their business and the basic things with their entrepreneurial lives. And that podcast is just absolutely one of my favorite. I never miss an episode because the message of thinking exponentially is extremely, extremely important. Now, Startup Podcast, this is one. And Startup Podcast is extremely entertaining, extremely storytelling. I've chatted with it, you know, the past. I just finished the last episode of season two before I recorded this. Fact of the matter is, I kind of believe their message really is that the journey is worth it. You know, there's ups and downs and there's all this stuff, but that American dream of getting a show. I'm sorry. That American dream of getting a business completed and a business done, you know, startup has sort of been, you Know it's worth it. Here's the journey. But do it, it's worth it. Another podcast that I love is Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield. And one of the things that Amy has done tremendously well is just simply, well, what's the show about? Kind of easy with the topic. Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield. If there's any message that's just not as hard as others out there are making it to be, a lot of people are going to Amy for direction and understanding, and her show has the numbers and the support, and she just does an incredible job. Last show that I can't miss is Tim Ferriss. And this one, I'm going to steal somebody else's line for Tim Ferriss show. But you know, basically Tim is about high performance. And basically his message is success leaves clues. You know, there are patterns. These people do a lot of things, and he brings that up, man, 75% of my show is doing this. 80% of the people I'm interviewing are doing this. And he's beginning to get the patterns. And if you follow those patterns, you might be able to do some really, really, really interesting things. So those are some shows, some messages that I think behind them, of course, makes me think, what's the message to my show? And something I've been working on. And as the show matures, the message matures. But here's my message for you. Your podcast is worth doing right? And you've got what it takes to do just that. Like I've had any message. That's been it. That's been where I'm going and what I want to share with you. And I'm so glad that I can every week. Thank you so much for listening. What you can do. Well, the first thing you can do simply is, I know as a podcaster you have a bunch of podcasts that you're subscribed to, but what are the ones that you couldn't miss this week? That's the ones you want to look at. What do they have in common? And I bet you it's their message. And I bet you could probably define the message of each one of these shows. And I bet you that you could make your refine your message and do better as a result of just that simple little experiment. I'd ask you, what's the message of your podcast? If you don't know for sure, take a little time, work on that. And I'll tell you this, you take a week, miss an episode, get that done, your show will be better. Take a month, get that done right, your show will be better. And then once you figure out your message, of course, the next question that comes automatically from it is, of course. Well, does this change anything? If I've been telling what's up this week in my life because I felt I was supposed to, but the fact of the matter is what I did this week in my life has no part of my message, well, then, gosh darn it, maybe that part of the podcast needs to go. I'll tell you, one of the reviews I get all the time for this show from you. Thank you. Is that thank you Paul, for not boring us with your week. Thank you, Paul, for getting right to the topic. Thank you, Paul, for staying within the 15 to 16 minute range, which I think this episode will do. What are the podcasts that you have that you listen, that you can't miss? What do they have in common? What is the message of your podcast and does that change anything? Okay, show notes thepodcastreport.com5:3 A link to my book how to Podcast 2015. Is there a link to our Patreon option? Is there a link to the podcast Back to Work Entrepreneur on Fire this Week in Tech, TEDx Talk startup podcast Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield. They're all there. We've got links to all of those for you if you want to. If you have gotten this far, you want to, you need to. You must subscribe to the show. I don't care if you listen on itunes or Stitcher or Tunein, just subscribe, follow, do whatever your platform recommends. You can head out to the podcastreport.com iTunes stitcher/pocketcastle speaker iheartradio overcast. They're all there. Not yet on SoundCloud, which I know seems to be a running joke, but don't worry, something's happening very soon. If you want to follow me on Twitter, the podcastreport.com Twitter, Facebook, Facebook, it's all there. If you'd like to drop an email, it's the podcastreportoutlook.com Finally, I love reviews at itunes. The debate as to whether or not they have anything to do with your rankings or your downloads are there. But I'd just love to know what you think and I'd love if you could take a couple of minutes to leave a review either at itunes or Stitcher. Thank you so much. Have a great week. Talk to you soon. Bye.