Exploring An Internal Corporate Podcast For Your Business With Public Relations Expert Erin Smith (Podfaded)

Wish you were one of those influencers with raving fans who binge on your every word, consume all your content, buy everything you have to sell, and demand even more. Then stay tuned while Authority magazine columnist and buzzfeed contributor Tracy Hazzard shares strategies, tips and tactics from top videocasters, podcasters, authors and social influencers on creating that bingeable factor. Now let's join Tracy as she explores how to rise above all noise with the binge factor.

Hey everyone.

Welcome to the Binge Factor. I'm Tracy Hazard. I am always looking for new things to bring you. New podcasters with great ideas, new angles on how things might work. But here's one that came across my media desk. She was applying to be a part of my Authority magazine column and I saw her Q and A and I thought this is so interesting. I need to do a show about it. I need to bring her on. So I'm bringing on Erin Smith. She's the president of Band, a public relations agency in Raleigh, North Carolina. She has more than 15 years of industry experience. She's an authority on all things PR and marketing, especially in North Carolina. And she's helped define the brand and create awareness for companies across multiple industries. Biotech, travel, healthcare. She's an NC State graduate, a North Carolina State University graduate, and she's on the board of the Red Cross Eastern North Carolina region. But why I'm bringing her on and why I'm so excited to have Erin talk to you today is that she has been doing a lot of internships, internal podcasts. So intranet style podcasts, podcasts that are internal at mid to large corporations. So Even some Fortune 500 companies and that they're internally focused on communicating to outside sales, communicating to team. And while we're recording this, we are sequestered. This is going to come out hopefully after we're all released. But I wanted to make you aware of that because this is starting to make a lot of companies of all sizes, myself and my team included think that there is got to be a better way. There's got to be an alternative way to communicate with our remote teams, our remote workers everywhere. And whether our team is a bunch of independent contractors or freelancers put together or it's an entire remote salesforce. And I have a podcast in a corporation that does it for everyone who serves vending machines and for a large drink corporation. So you know, thinking about those things like how can we communicate with them better and is podcasting or video casting which everyone you might choose and we're going to talk about that today, Erin and I, which one might be better choice for you and more acceptable from a corporate level. So I'm really excited to bring this new view on internal podcasting with Erin Smith.

Hey, Erin, thanks for joining me. I'm so glad to have you here.

Yeah, I'm glad to be here. Thanks, Tracy.

You know, it's so exciting to be able to talk about a little bit different side and angle to podcasting. So talking from the corporate and internal podcast angle is so interesting. So how did you get started doing that?

Yeah, I think, you know, it's really. It's evolved over time, I think, you know, as our company has started doing more and more with internal communications, you know, companies are recognizing, you know, how important their employees are as advocates and how important it is to engage them and keep them updated. We just needed to find unique ways to keep them engaged and, you know, get information to them quickly. I think also employees are looking for that touch point with leadership, especially. You know, our world is so connected right now, but it's not connected. Those easy ways that you can connect leadership to employees, especially at a global organization. It's just a really easy and great way to do that.

It's so interesting that you say that, because I have 60 remote employees. And so what we do is once a month, we have this call, and they love it. And it just dawned on me that the ones who were editing my show, they get me all the time. They hear what I'm saying, but the other ones don't. So you're just, like, setting that off in my head that maybe I need to do an internal one, too.

And, you know, I think I. Probably about six or seven years ago, I was working on this event for a global organization, and we were out in California, and this. We had the leader of the company there, and, you know, it was a grand opening, and a facility manager walked up to him and just was so. It was like he was meeting a celebrity. And it was at that moment that I'm just like, wow. Like, you know, people really want to see, you know, who they're working for and have that connection. And, you know, he was just so grateful to have him there. He took, you know, just. It was a brief 30 seconds, couple of minutes, and he just made that man's day. And so I think employees just crave that connection, you know.

Well, in today's world, you know, I look at that, I think our employees are some of our best advocates for hiring new employees.

Yes, we actually work with a talent recruitment company, and they just rolled out an employee referral program. I mean, I can't recall the stat off the top of my head, but, you know, you get better employees through referral, more loyal. They're already aware of the company, your culture, those sorts of things. So, yeah, they can be your best advocates.

So how long have you been doing this?

Probably about so lifetime. I'm upwards of 15 years, so still young in my career, still learning. I would say it's probably been some of the craziest 15 years in the PR world. I mean, we have evolved.

Yeah, I can say you're absolutely right. Yeah. In marketing in general.

Right.

It's crazy.

Every day is different. Everything's changing. So I'm very blessed to be able to be a part of all that craziness and to continue to learn and grow.

But how long since you added podcasting sort of into the repertoire of things you've been doing?

Yeah, so probably about 10 years ago, we started doing podcasting, mostly for media support. So when we were pitching our clients, it gave us a way outside of the stodgy old press release to get information into the hands of the reporters. And we did it quite frequently with our clients. We probably paused that service for probably about the past five years and have picked it up again recently. I mean, it's just, you know, another fad now. I hope it does not a fad. I hope it stays, but.

Well, I think we're. I think we're past that. I think we're past that into something more sustainable. I think, you know, we've gone through that fad stage, that hype cycle of it, and those of us who've been sticking out for quite, you know, for, I think the last five, seven years have been. Have found it to be sustainably successful. So. Yeah, So I think you're right. I think it's. I think it's here to stay.

Well, and I think that, you know, the upcoming generation, the millennials and those, I think they're driving a lot of it, too. And again, that access and, you know, we're so busy, it gives us a way to listen to things while we're doing other things. And so I think it is a here to stay tactic. For sure. Absolutely. Well, good.

And, you know, this is the thing, though. You know, video is kind of the hypey thing to be doing right now. And while, you know, I get it, the stat say that video has four times more viewers, four times more traction. Right. But in corporate world, podcasting seems to be a little bit more Acceptable.

Yeah, I think it's a price point. I think, you know, videos are very. They are very much about the story and it is a storytelling platform. But I think people get very nervous about putting something out there that's not perfectly polished and perfectly done when it.

Comes to doing, especially in a corporate environment. Right?

Yeah, it has to be, you know, super well done and polished and professional. Whereas with podcasting, there's a little bit of forgiveness there. You know, it's just an audio track. I say just an audio track. It can be so much more. You know, you have all your.

A lot of times it ends up a blog too, right?

You've got your blogs and your, you know, graphics and stuff that can go along with them, but they are much easier to produce and they're more cost efficient. So I can do many more podcasts and I can get many, much more information out there than I can with a video that may cost me $60,000 that has the same exact content in it, you know, so.

Yeah, and I think that they're just a little bit more understanding that, like, the editability of audio seems easier than the edibility of video. And I think that's probably in the back of a lot of corporate minds thinking if we don't like what was said, we're always able to make that cut without people really realizing it. When you cut a video, it's usually, you know, if you don't have multi camera. Yeah, it's bad, right?

Well, and I think people just, you know, even I do, I coach people behind the camera all the time, but when I get in front of the camera, I freeze. And I think a lot of people do that, right? They just.

She's not freezing. Now for you, those of you who are listening, you should check out the video. She's just fine. Don't listen.

But. No, I know exactly what you mean. I remember doing my first corporate video. I was working for Herman Miller Corporation, Herman Miller Inc. Out of Holland, Michigan, and I had to do this video. It was a corporate video, like they needed me. And it was like a tiny little segment that was like not even two minutes of time. And I must have had to re record it like 20 times. And I was getting more and more angry and frustrated with myself for having to like, how can I not memorize this one little dumb line?

Well, and, you know, I think especially a lot of the guests that we work with, you know, I say guests, but they're on the leadership team and they're all over the world sometimes. And so it's easier for us to get ahold of them. You know, I can do this over the phone, you know, like you and I are doing it right now through the computer. So it's so much more accessible and I don't have to book two or three months out to get on their schedule. And so it's just such an easier way to do things than to keep a story going or to keep pushing out content that's relevant to your employees.

Yeah. So let's talk about what some of these kind of internal corporate style podcasts I wouldn't say sound like, some of them look like.

Right.

You know, what is the model that, you know? Because I'm sure there's a lot of differences in what you do.

Yeah, yeah. I think one important thing that we kind of have talked about or learned over the years is that you can't do one podcast for an entire employee base. So if we have 30 minutes to an hour with a leader, how do we create a podcast that can be chopped up into different formats to target different audiences? You have your manufacturing line employees, you have your corporate employees that are in an office setting. You have your field sales teams that are out. Each one of those podcasts has to look a little bit different or need supporting resources around it that may be different based on what they're doing. So each one takes a different form. So, you know, if you want to say how many shows, or, you know, we kind of just. It's more based on the content than it is, you know, we're producing a show for here and here. And here we have lci, which is a. Their mission is to employ the blind and visually impaired. And so the majority of their employees are blind and they can't read newsletters. So we do a newsletter podcast, which is. It may sound boring to you or I, but when, you know, you're accustomed to hearing, you know, audio all the time, you know, it's literally a readout of the newsletter. It sounds like storybook a little bit, you know, where we're just kind of telling a story and just reading what the newsletter states. So it really varies and we have to be nimble and flexible every time we do a podcast. So for us and what we do and this could be different. You know, we have a framework so that the guests that we're talking to, they know what to expect, they know what the plan is, if you will. But we don't have like a set. Here's what the show looks like, here's what the output is going to be Every single time, it's a little bit different. Every single time.

I feel the same way. That, like, every show that we do is different, too. And I like that. That way, I think you have to align it with the goals.

Right.

You have to align it with the organizational structure, too, is what you're telling.

Us, and what's happening at that particular moment in time. You know, there's so many things that pop up in the corporate setting that you have to account for and adjust.

To so well, and that, you know, maybe that's why podcasting is also really appealing, because it's so flexible.

Yes.

Right. If you try to plan a video, if you try to plan all those things, it'd be months before the information would get out there. At least, you know, within a week, you can be producing and getting your podcast back out there.

So. That's right.

Yeah. Yeah, I love that. That's a really great way to look at it. I'm gonna jump into some of our five things, and then we'll get back to some of our conversation. So everyone who's listening out there is used to my five things. You know, these are normally the five things that make a show successful. I switched them up a little bit here because Erin has such broad experience, and I want to cover a couple of. So be listening for the differences here. So now, Erin, you're going out, and you're still getting great guests for a lot of your. Or you're searching internally within a corporation to decide who should be a guest on some of the shows. Not all of them have guests, I'm sure, but when you do that, do you have a criteria for how to determine who's gonna make a great guest?

The criteria is that I talk to them first, and I make sure that they're gonna be entertaining. And, you know, a lot of the companies that we work with have scientists, and scientists are a wealth of information and knowledge for our employees that we work with, but they're not. They don't always make for the best interview. So a lot of times what we do is, you know, we aren't interviewing our guests. We are hooking them up with an employee that they feel very comfortable with. So it's a little bit more like a conversation. So I like to listen in on what that conversation might be, make sure that it's going to work and make sure it's going to be entertaining and not be dry. Subjects. Subject matter. So we, for a lot of it is one client, particularly, we have a newsroom, an internal newsroom, where we Have a team of people that are kind of our boots on the ground. They're listening for what's happening at the manufacturing site out in California. I heard so and so talking about this. I think it would be a great podcast topic. Can you talk to them? So we kind of have a team of people that are out there being our eyes and ears.

So they're looking for people and topics at the same time. I love that.

That's right. Because again, we want it to be relevant if they're experiencing a challenge on the floor, on the manufacturing floor, or if there's something happening in a certain division with regards to, you know, someone came up with a really cool new idea. We want to hear about that as it's happening. So we try to keep it as real time as possible.

That's really interesting, Erin. I'm just going to stop you there because I want people to hear that. You know, so often when you're a host of a show and it's more of an externally focused show, or you're a PR firm working with a client, we push our external idea of what's important and instead you've created a process that pulls it from internal and then you have a filtering system from there. Or you don't want it to come from a top down, as this is what management thinks.

Right.

Because then you won't get anyone listening.

That's right. It's really about the employees and what they're seeing and feeling and to have leadership echo that or support that, I think is the two way street that we're trying to create there. We do have external guests from time to time, especially if it's something where, let's say, for example, we work with a agricultural company and you know, they're constantly faced with conversations about GMOs and pesticides use and things like that. So, you know, it might in this particular case be a good idea to bring an outside resource in from an association or someone that can help us support training for employees. How do you talk when you're in the supermarket and you hear someone say, oh, GMO green beans. How do you have that conversation to say there's not actually GMO green beans? Guys like that's a marketing ploy and how do you feel comfortable doing that? So we do sometimes have external resources that we bring in if it makes sense for the topic that we're talking about.

Oh, that's so interesting. Okay, but now you have a different problem. So normally our second question is about how you increase listeners, but I think you Want to increase listening within your organization. So how do you monitor that and find how you increase that listening happening?

Yeah. So I think, you know, a couple of things is for the clients that we work with on their internal communications, we limit the way content can be received. So, meaning we try to only have an intranet, a newsletter, we try not to overwhelm by the amount of vehicles we're pumping out the same content in. So we want people to expect that I'm going to get this type of content from this podcast or, you know, town halls sometimes are. A lot of times they're done in person and sometimes through a video conference. Some of our employees have gotten used to receiving an audio of a town hall after the fact. They know that that's coming every quarter. So what is the predictability that we can put in place with regards to the podcast? So they know I'm going to get this type of content and this cadence. I think that's what we can do. And then we're directing them, we're forcing them to. If you want to know more about this or if you're looking for tip on how to sell this product, go to our podcast. We have more information here on the podcast. So it's really that expectation and that predictability, that that's where they can get that type of content.

That's wonderful. And. And you're also matching it to some. You've got people in the field, people driving places, they might be doing service or other things like that. So you're also tapping into the method that they can consume it the easiest as well. Yes, like that. That's really great. Now you guys are helping to handle this and you're helping to facilitate that. What do you think are some of the ways that make it produced in the most professional way? How do you control some of that?

Yeah, I think that it's really number one is having internally having that employee or employees that are a great host. You know, I think that's really important. We're the facilitator. We don't do the podcast. So, you know, we're pulling all the pieces together, pulling the list, the logistics together, making sure that our microphones work and everything's hooked up and we're pressing record when we're supposed to. But I think it's really about making sure the host is well spoken and knowledgeable on the topic, engaging. I think that honestly, we work with such a variety. Some of the podcasts we distribute through YouTube because we can control it.

And, you know, it's still Kind of new for some of our clients, so they're not willing to quite invest yet in a lot of big technologies and hosting platforms. So it can still be done professionally. And, you know, we want to make sure that the sound is really good. From our side, the sound is really good, and then the supporting materials that we may put out around it look really good and professional.

So, yeah, you know, I think that ties exactly to what we hear from everyone else. That sound is the most important host excitement levels or host energy.

Right.

Like that goes a second instorm of it seeming professional, even if it's really not recorded in, you know, a studio or anything fancy like that. So just want to ask a little twisted question because we're actually recording this in the middle of sequestering, so, you know, are you having challenges with your recording sessions and other things right now?

No. I think everybody's so flexible right now and so patient. And, you know, when we have had technical glitches, everyone's just like, no, it's okay. I mean, it's happening.

Internet's a little slow today, but we're working on it, right?

That's right. You know, knock on wood. We've been okay. It's not new for us to record in this manner. I think similar to you, you mentioned you guys have a lot of 60 remote employees, so you're somewhat used to it. We're the same. You know, we've had sometimes we've had to catch an exec out, you know, in a different part of the country just because of their schedule. But it doesn't sound as great all the time sometimes. But I think for us in internal communications, it's more about the content and it's more about having that touch point and that consistent touch point between the leader and the employee.

So they're willing to be a little more forgiving if they. From time to time, when they have to, because they want the information.

Yeah, no one's told me different. And when we do our surveys, you know, we do quarterly surveys and things like that. No one has complained yet, so.

Exactly. If it's content's really good, they won't complain. So.

Wonderful.

Well, now, I think you probably had the challenge though, of that. That sort of engagement problem that almost everyone has on their podcast show. So you need to get everyone to engage back at you. You need a feedback loop from those topics and other things like what do you want to hear more of? So how do you increase that engagement on behalf and helping and in conjunction with your clients?

Yeah, I think that the big thing is the surveys and the touch points. We find ways to do quick little surveys. So if we're delivering a podcast through a newsletter, for example, we'll add just a quick, you know, was this content relevant, yes or no? I think it's important for us to get real time feedback so we can switch and we can pivot as we go. The bigger, larger surveys that we do with regards to internal communications that sometimes happen once a year, you know, we do ask specific questions about the content, the format, if it's still a relevant platform for people, are they listening to it? Obviously, numbers go up and down, right, Based on what's happening in the world, you know, what that topic of that particular podcast might be. But we like to have like little mini, you know, did you like this? Yes or no?

Keep it short.

And then also we look at, you know, if we do a podcast and we do an Internet article or an internal, you know, article to supplement it, we are able to look at how many views did we have on the article on the Internet as well. So we, we're not just looking at, you know, engagement to the podcast itself or on the platform that we're hosting it on. It's more about, again, it's more about the content for us. And are we getting engagement on that content or that topic across the board.

Wonderful. So the last thing that we normally ask everybody in our five questions is about profitability, but in this case, I think probably corporations are not looking at this being a profit center more as it has being a return on investment in time and, you know, and some money. Right. So what types of criteria do they use to look at it and what do they think as successful?

Yeah, I think for us, one of the biggest things that we hear whenever we roll out something new is what is the roi? What is the cost that it's going to take me to get it up and running, how do I know it's working? And then what's the roi? And you know, we talked a little bit about video before. We know from employee engagement, employee advocacy culture, all of those things that people are talking about right now. The connection between leadership and the employee is so important and it's not always easy to measure. You can do surveys, you can do focus groups internally, you can ask those questions. But sometimes I think people are reserved in what they're willing to give with talking about how they feel about leadership and that sort of thing. So that's a hard question internally for me, especially because we're an outside agency. I can sit Here and tell you there's all these kinds of metrics that we can put in place. But I prefer that each company look at and set a metric that they want to measure that's important to them. And then you're checking back, you know, every six months to a year. Did we reach that metric? Is it being successful? Then we can determine, you know, if the ROI is there or not. Everyone is different. Every company is different.

I could see someone setting up, like, a employee retention or something like that. Is that actually their goal? And let's see if we improve that over a given time or something like that. Yeah. Interesting.

You know, it's hard, too, because sometimes in corporate, not all the departments are talking to each other, so we talk about employee retention. That's an hr, you know, metric. Right. But we may be doing podcasting for, you know, the marcom team, and the marcom team may be paying us, and so sometimes those don't want to talk to each other.

So for those of you who don't know what that means, I always like to explain. Marketing communications team. Right. We have a lot of entrepreneurs out there listening who are like, I don't. What is a marcom and do I need one?

Right. Yeah. But, you know, okay, I think that's a really good takeaway. Yeah. If you are a CEO or an entrepreneur or a business owner that's listening, make sure your teams are talking, and make sure that if you're investing in something like a podcast or video or other, you know, tool internally, that you're getting the most use of it across all your departments, or else the ROI is just not going to be there.

Before we got into our five things, we were starting to touch on this a little bit. And you kind of keep mentioning. And I want to come back and circle back to this, this idea of segmenting.

Yeah.

I think it's so critical. So you're really talking about the fact that you might actually be creating multiple podcasts within a corporation because they're going to different types of people.

Yes. So we have the same content, and, you know, it might be an update on a new product. So if a new product is rolling out, we'll take that most knowledgeable person on that new product rollout and we'll ask them a series of questions, and then we'll chunk those questions up based on what's going to be most relevant to the employee segment that we're pushing that out to. So, for example, those that are in the corporate office may want different information than someone that's on you know, the manufacturing floor that's manufacturing the product. If there's questions about, you know, safety, for example, and how it's going to be manufactured, that may only apply to the manufacturing floor. The sales team may need different information and they're going to want to hear it differently. So they want to know what are the key messages that I'm, you know, key sales messages that I'm taking to my client. And that's all they care about. They may not care about what, you know, if we have a program from a community relations standpoint and we're partnering with an organization that, you know, there's a cross tie there, a STEM education or something like that program, they might not care that we're doing that. They only want to know these are the talking points for this product that I'm going to sell. So we like to chunk everything up a little bit so that it's the most relevant content first to that group. Then we like to house them all together in one place. I mentioned the intranet, the internal Internet or, you know, some people use. There's all other kinds of tools like yammer and things like that that people can use to house this type of stuff. But we house them all together. So we're not leaving anyone out. They can go back and find the information if they want it. But we're just trying to deliver the most relevant content to the group first to make sure that it takes priority to other things that they may want to know.

Interesting. And we jo here a little bit is that the marketing teams and the marketers have like the attention span of a gnat. They need their information really quick and short. And there are other people who want the deep details so that you have different types of listeners within an organization anyway.

Yes, I mean, we have a lot of the companies we work with, we have scientists and they want all the information and the details. And then, you know, we do have, you know, blue collar line worker, manufacturing line workers that don't want that. They just want to know how it's going to affect my job today, what's relevant to me. Right.

I got to get home to my kids. I'll listen to it in my 10 minutes minute drive home or whatever that is.

Yeah, that's right. So, you know, I think the audience segmentation piece is really important for internal communications and the podcast piece. But we still have one shot with one interview, right? One shot with that person. And we have to make the most of our time with them. So.

So you're not overcomplicating it by like making each one do multiple interviews and, you know, doing it that way, you're still trying to capture it all the time. It's how you edit it and chunk it down and reorder it.

I'm making it more complicated on the back end for me.

Yeah, it's your team who has to do more work, not the team that's recording, which is good for the corporation. That's what they're looking for. That's what they're paying you for. So very, very interesting. Well, do you have any advice for those that those corporations that are thinking about starting a podcast, anything that you would advise them about that?

I think that probably going to say this and a lot of people might disagree with me, but it doesn't have to be perfect for us. It's about the story, it's about the content. And I think, you know, sometimes we get so, especially in the corporate, we get so wrapped up in how are you going to do it, what's the technology that you're going to use, how are we going to deliver it, you know, what are the steps that we may miss the opportunity. And so sometimes we just need to jump in and do it again. For us, it's about the content and the story, and that's more important than anything else. So don't be afraid, don't be afraid to make a mistake. Just get started. It's so easy.

You know, for those of you regular listeners of this show, have you not heard that pretty much from every podcaster that's come on, whether they're talking about it on an entrepreneurial like solopreneur level or all the way now up to Aaron talking about corporations. It is the idea get started because you don't really realize the return on investment that you're going to have from this. And the effect of doing it is going to help you learn so much about both the way your company wants to receive information and the value to that information and communication.

That's right. Practice makes perfect. Isn't that the saying?

There you go. Absolutely. Well, you know, Erin, I am so glad you came on and I'm so glad we got to look at this view of it. I would love for you to just touch a little bit about on your company itself, on what Baron does and really just, you know, how has being offering these services and other things helped your company be competitive?

Yeah, you know, for Bering, we've been in the RTP, the Research Triangle region of Raleigh, North Carolina for, you know, 14 plus years and, you know, our market is very B2B focused. So a lot of what we do is business to business communications. And we don't. I say it is fun for me, I enjoy it. But we don't always get to do the fun, sexy, flashy stuff that, you know, happens with consumer brands. And so we have to look for fun ways to get our message out. And podcasting has been one of them, I think, for our company. We're very lean and nimble and, you know, I said it, just get it, get started. I think that, you know, we really work to deliver. That's really important to us. Our clients range in size from mid market to Fortune 500. It doesn't matter if they're Mid Market or Fortune 500. They all want to see action. And that's where we've seen the most success is, you know, we get in, we dig in, we get it done, and we do strategy, we think strategically. That's all important. Right. Those are table stakes, I guess, if you will. But we've got to deliver. And so we dig in and we move forward. So that's a little bit about us, I think, over the years. We were talking about this earlier with just over the past 15 years, how much communications and marketing has changed. And, you know, I feel like I'm in school all the time because I'm learning, you know, what's the next thing that's come up or come out and, you know, what's the new TikTok or, you know, Instagram. What is it right and is it.

Right for my clients? Right. I've got to evaluate it. I got to be, you know, in some ways that's, you know, we have a rule here at my company, Potatoes, that my partner and I have to start a new podcast every single year because we have to be in it with our clients to understand how hard it is. Are you doing something similar? Are you doing a podcast for your clients? Are you, you know, I mean, I know you're in the middle of it because you're recording with your clients, so you're seeing the difficulty there.

But no, not regarding podcasts, but I. My husband and my kids all the time are like, mommy, you're always on social media. I'm like, it's work I have to be on.

I swear I have to do this.

Yeah, but I mean, that's very true. We have to practice it in order to be able to, you know, I think advise and take our clients through the process. And, you know, I think that's why I jump in and do things so quickly too is because I feel more comfortable doing them if I've done them myself. So, you know, if I don't want ever a client to, you know, if I go in and set up the equipment, the podcasting equipment and stuff like that, I don't want them to see me fumbling with stuff. So, you know, we're constantly practicing and, you know, looking for, you know, ways to do things differently and more efficiently. But we stay so busy with client work that, I mean, we're about an eight person team, so we stay pretty busy with our client work. Our clients are very gracious in that they let us. A lot of times they do let us practice new things on them and we have a great group of clients, so.

Well, good. Well, Erin Smith, it's been such a pleasure talking with you today. You've given us such great insights and I really appreciate it it and I'm so glad we connected so that I could learn some more.

Yes, thank you.

I hope you enjoyed that. And that was as enlightening for you as it was for me. I mean, I've got a page of notes about all ideas about how I might be able to structure an internal podcast for my team. And you know, I'm always looking for what my new podcast is this year. And as you know, the binge factor was a reframe, a rebrand because I wanted to try how difficult it was to rebrand a podcast. So we move from feed your brand to the binge factor. One of the things that I'm going to do here for this particular episode is I'm going to publish it in both feeds. I'm going to publish it in feed you'd brand and I'm going to publish it in the binge factor. And the reason I'm going to do that is because this show has broader application in its thought to my feed your brand audience and to my binge factor, all of you out there listening to it, my audience as well, because my feeder brand is focused on advanced tactics and techniques for podcasters and the binge factor is focused on advice from great, successful podcaster. So we have a little bit of both going on in this episode. So I'm taking Aaron's advice and I'm going to be multipurposing and multi using the same content in that same way as well. But as I mentioned, you know, the binge factor was a rebrand from the it was a spin off really of feature brand and we did all that and there were lots of complications and lots of issues with how we did that and that I learned about this year. But now I'm ready to start thinking about as we head into a second half of the year and we're, you know, just coming out of the end of the or sort of the middle of the second quarter here, I'm thinking about what that next show that I'm going to create this year is, because I like to start up a new one every year, make sure that I'm relevant with what's going on. And so I'm thinking maybe we'll start up an internal podcast and see what that's like. Erin's really inspired me today, and I hope that she's inspired you. As you know, you're always able to find all kinds of information about our fabulous podcasters that we're featuring on our show, and in this case, our fabulous PR and marketing genius that is Aaron Smith and her company Behring. You'll be able to find all of that information in the blog post for this episode@thebingefactor.com you'll also be able to connect with her. She's got a connection on LinkedIn too, so you'll be able to connect with her directly as well. So I look forward to reaching out to her, asking her questions because this is such an unusual style show, especially if it might be right for you. So thanks everyone for listening. And don't forget, you can apply to be a featured podcaster on the Binge Factor and all you have to do is go to thebingefactor.com and I look forward to featuring you in the near future. Thanks everyone for listening. I'm Tracey Hazzard on the Binge Factor.

You've been listening to the Binge Factor Podcast. For more information on podcasting and videocasting success tips and tactics, please go to thebingefactor.com and be sure to listen to our other show for podcasters called Feed you'd brand. If you'd like to be interviewed on this show as well as feature to in Tracy's column, please go to thebingefactor.com guest and apply.