Why A Good Podcast Is Like A Great Restaurant - The Podcast Industry Report With Paul Colligan Episode #107

Why a good podcast is like a Great restaurant. It's the Podcast Industry Report, episode 107. Show notes, links, conversation and more@thepodcastreport.com 107 if you don't know where your audience is supposed to come from, you aren't allowed to be surprised when they don't show up. If you start your podcast wrong, you can't complain about your finish. A podcast that generates a million in ads but can't pay the bills is the same as a basement podcast who can't generate enough to pay his his or her bills. Are a lot of us starting podcasts or a lot of us completing podcasts? A lot of us doing podcasts with some really bad paradigms, some really bad approaches? I know paradigm is overused. I know paradigm is a catchphrase, but it's important. It's a way that you view this stuff. It's a way that you view the industry. And this paradigm that we've been using is killing us as an industry and I think it's doing some damage. And that's what I want to chat about in today's show. My name is Paul. I'm a big fan of the podcasting industry. This shows my passion. Been doing it for over a decade. I'm an author of a couple of number one books about podcasting and new media. For the day job, I run a boutique podcasting consultancy for some really big names. You probably heard some of them. This is season three. This is now the podcast industry report. We're looking at not just what we need to do as podcasters, but what we need to do as an industry. Is it the show where I show you the podcast or how to reach more with your message, profit more from your content by understanding the industry you are playing in. So let's chat about this need for a better paradigm. I've heard this so many times. Well, how are you going to market the show? Oh, we're just going to go viral. We're just going to get into new and noteworthy. We're just going to get listed. I mean, once we're in itunes, what else matters? People are going to love my stuff. You see, these are people starting wrong. These are podcasters who have a really bad lens where by which they view the podcasting world and it's getting them into a lot of trouble. And there are reasons for this bad lens, There are reasons for this bad view, there are reasons for this. But the fact of the matter is let's change it. And I've been striking, I'VE been thinking about paradigms, ways to kind of view the podcasting space, and I will offer some overcoming weeks. Last week was pretty heavy. I didn't want to get as heavy this week. But we're going to look at some different paradigms. The paradigm I want to look at today, simply the paradigm of the restaurant. We all know deep in our gut that a restaurant isn't just about making good food. It's about other things. A podcast isn't just about making great audio. It's about other things. See, the first thing it is is there's this whole idea of who's going to listen to my show. You know, the clients who come through, and God bless them, you want to do your homework. But the question is, Paul, how do I know how many people listen to podcasts? And I appreciate that question, but it's the wrong question. It's not who listens to podcasts, it's who listens to audio content. It's who has spent 5, 6, $700 on a device that lets them listen to what they want to, when they want to, where they want to. See, that's the power of podcasting. It's not an RSS enclosure. That's not the power. It's not the wonder of the MP3 codec. That's not the power. The power is that I can listen to audio content when I want, where I want, how I want. It's like restaurants. You see, it's not a question of who goes to restaurants. It's a question of who eats. And then you just provide them a great option for eating, and you're a really good place. If you're in a town that's never had a restaurant before, a little pound town somewhere, it's not that the people can't go to the restaurant, it's just that there isn't one to go to. If the restaurant that was on your block on the way home serves food you didn't like, it isn't that you don't go to restaurants. It's just the food there you don't like. See, it's not who listens to podcasts, it's who listens to audio content. It's not who goes to restaurants, it's who eats. All you have to do is provide a better option. If your audience listens to audio content, provide a better option than what they've got right now. And the majority of them, all they have is drive time radio. So it's really not that hard. Well, Paul, I'm just going to produce Good content. Let the rest of the world sort it out. See, it's not how good the content is. I'm sorry. It's about who wants the content. It's just like a restaurant. It's not how good the food is. It's does the audience want the food In a shopping center near me, And I've chatted about this in past episodes, but I grew up in Europe. My folks work for the US Military. I love European food. And there's this big sign. European deli. Oh, my goodness. The kind of food I love. Comfort food. Exactly what I want. I go over there. Well, it's an Eastern European deli. It's Russian delicacies, It's Polish delicacies, which. There's a market who loves that. Not me. Not the general market that lives in Tigard, Oregon. I'm sure the food was fantastic, but this poor gal closed so quickly because the food was fantastic. She just didn't have an audience who wanted it. There are a lot of podcasts with great, fantastic content. They just can't find an audience who wants it. It's not who good. It's not how good the content is. It's who wants the content. Well, Paul, we just need a good marketing campaign. You see, it's not how well it's marketed, it's how attractive is the offer. It's not the marketing of your podcast. It's the value proposition. What do I get out of consuming your podcast that I wouldn't get somewhere else? If it's entertainment, it's a great laugh, it's a great smile, it's a great guffaw. Maybe it's a tear, maybe it's a story. Maybe it's something I wasn't able to get somewhere else. Maybe that's the value proposition. If it's more of a business type of situation, the value proposition is I'm going to show you how to get better. I mean, the value proposition for this show is I'm going to show you, the podcaster, how to reach more with your message and profit more from your content. That's the value proposition. It's not the marketing. It's the fact that podcasters want to know how to reach more with their message and profit more from their content. Now we're there. There's a restaurant near us. Yeah, you could tell I'm recording this near dinner. There's a restaurant near us called Killer Burger, and Killer Burger makes killer burgers. They make fantastic burgers, and the burgers are worth it. And free bacon with every Burger and unlimited fries with every burger and everything's there. We go there on a fairly regular basis. But all of a sudden they opened up happy hour, or happiest hour, whatever they called it. And now a burger and fries is just ridiculously cheap. Ridiculously cheap. We've now planned drives around being at Killer Burger near dinner to bring it home. You know, our family has done things based on, oh, maybe we could run through Killer Burger. Now, we always liked burgers, we always enjoy burgers. But now it's not the marketing. It wasn't that we saw this big sign. It wasn't that on the radio and on television, all these things we heard about the happy hour. It's this value proposition. They said, you know, if you come at this time, you can get this burger for the amazing price. It's not how well your show is marketed, it's how attractive is the offer. It's the value proposition. And it's the same thing with your podcast. What do you bring to your audience? It's not how impressive your website or show is. It never has been. It's how valuable the website or the show is. It's how valuable the content is. You see, and whereas we've always heard, we know that in restaurants, location, location, location. But you see, it's really not location, it's the people eating at it that's important. It's not how impressive your site or podcast is, it's how valuable the content is. People need want the content, not just the value proposition, but the value of it. Is it worth their time? Is it worth their effort? Yes, location might be nice, but it doesn't really matter. Here in Tiger, there's a wonderful little brew pub located between a collision repair shop and the Home Depot. And one of those places where you go to get big, big inflatable devices for partying. And it's a great little bar, brew pub, whatever you want to call it called John Barleycorns. It's a lot of fun. It's not that it's in the best of location. It's not that it's in idealistic real estate. It's not anything other than it's a great little brew pub and it's the people eating in it. You see, people don't care how impressive your site is if you're giving them valuable, wonderful content. People don't care how great the fidelity and the audio of your show is if you're giving them what it is that they need, what it is that they're looking for. Yes, do what you can to be as attractive as you can. But don't think that's what's going to bring people through the door. Don't think that's what's going to bring people back. Don't think that's what's going to keep people consuming your content. And then finally, there's this idea that if I get on New and Notable or if I get in the top 10 podcast or I get on the right list or Entrepreneur magazine does an article about me or something, you see, it's not what list you're on, it's who's clicking play for your show. It's not the reviews for your restaurant. It's the audience that's walking in. And here's the interesting thing. Here's the last food example. Locally, there's a wonderful restaurant here in town. Actually, it's not a restaurant, it's a donut shop. It's called Tiger Donuts. Really creative name. I live in Tigard, Oregon. It's this little couple, and they know exactly how many donuts they need to make a day to make the living they want to make. And they make those donuts and they sell those donuts until they sell out and then they go home. That's the process. You can't order donuts ahead, you know, if you walk in at a certain time, you're not guaranteed to get the donuts you want. See, they know that they need to sell this many donuts, that this many people to reach their goals, and they are there. There's no franchise of Tiger Donuts. There's no long lines of police escorts when the first thing comes out. See, they just know who their audience is. They know what they need to do to serve their audience. They serve an amazing donut. The apple fritter is just transcendent and to die for. But the fact of the matter is they're just meeting the needs. They're not worried about being on lists. They're not worried about being in The Oregonians top 10 places to get a donut. They're not worried about being in the Tigard Chamber of Commerce great donut shops. They just know their audience wants a donut. They want it to taste great. They come by the store, they provide it. No dreams of becoming a donut mogul taking over the donut space. They're just serving their audience. And they're doing it well. It's not who listens to your podcast. It's who listens to audio content. It's not how good your content is. It's who actually wants the content in the first place. It's not what your content is marketed or how great your podcast is marketed. It's really how attractive is the offer. It's not how impressive your site or show is, it's how valuable your content is. And it's not really what list you're on. It's simply on who's clicking play and is that enough? So we need a better paradigm. Let's chat about that. The opportunity of a better paradigm, if we clear away the assumptions, if we view our podcast through a process that makes sense for who we are and what it is that we're doing will be at a better place. The people at Tiger Donuts know exactly what they need to pay the bills. They know exactly what they want to accomplish. They have done that. The people at John Barleycorns have set up the restaurant that people are going to come to knowing if they worry about the beer and they worry about the burgers, and they worry about the environment, they don't necessarily have to worry about the location. So when you know what it is that you're worrying about, you know what it is that you're thinking about, you know what it is that's important. You're in a great place. When you go with what you know, you could produce great results. None of these restaurants just simply hoped, I'm sure, that Tiger Donuts ran a spreadsheet. You know, we can do this if we sell this many donuts, and if we can't sell this many donuts, I mean, these donuts are amazing. We can sell this many. We're not going to sell it every night. Well, actually, they do sell it every night. We're not going to make extended productions. We're not going to do those things. We're just going to do enough. See, when you go with what you know, not with what you hope is going to happen, it's an entirely different game. So the actions for a better paradigm, what do you do? Have you been subject to this idea that I'm just going to do one of these things and it's going to kind of fall into place? What do we do? All right, here's what we do. Audience wants the topic. If you know what the audience is and you know what the topic is that they want, now you're good to go. Stay at home. Moms who need to laugh so hard that they forget about X. Podcasters who want to reach more with their message and profit more from their content. Members of the Tigered community who want a fantastic Donut on the way to work, if you know what your audience is and you know what they want, you're at a good place. If you're just into producing great stuff and hoping that itunes is going to deliver it, it's not going to happen. If you're just making great content, I know the world's going to show up. It's not going to happen. But if an audience that you know wants a topic that you got, that's where it works. Or even simpler, who is asking for the topic? What is your show about? My show's about X. Who's asking for it? So many times I've heard, oh, we're just a show where a couple of guys chat about stuff and life. Who's getting up in the morning going, I want a podcast about stuff and life. Who is asking for your topic? You figure that out, you forget the audience that wants your topic, and then you think about it like a restaurant and. And not some of these crazy ideas for a podcast. And you are going to be in a great place. That's it for this episode. A paradigm that hopefully will do you well. If you head out to the podcastreport.com1:07, you can make a comment. If you go to the podcastreport.com Twitter or Facebook or social media platform of your choice, you can definitely leave a comment. If you want to subscribe to this show and you want to make sure that every time I release a new episode, it comes to the device of your choice. Again, it's not who listens to podcasts, it's who has a device. They like to listen to audio on itunes, slash stitcher, Google slash tunein. Any of those places will get you the show. Subscribe. That's the power of podcasting. Of course, you know that you're a podcaster getting it every week automatically. That's where it counts. That's where these things go. That's it. That's the podcast report. That's episode 107. Think about the industry. Think about the framework, Think about what you're doing with it. Think about what you got to learn from a great little restaurant, and maybe you'll do more with your podcast. Thank you so much. We'll chat next week. Bye.