As we record this episode in PODFEST Expo, it’s so humbling to look back and appreciate how far we’ve come. Kendra and I started out as online connections on Clubhouse and Instagram. We never even thought we’ll be doing this podcast together! And that’s how amazing podcasting is. It brings people together. It builds a strong community.
In this episode, we discussed the different things you need to know as a new podcaster:
1. It is not that hard to get started. You can start with a mic and your air pods.
2. There are free tools online that you can use.
3. Get atleast 3 episodes ready to go.
4. Don’t try to make it perfect. Overpolished may sound less authentic.
5. What can you talk about? You can repurpose your website, vlogs, social media content, and many others for your podcast.
6. You need to be consistent with your podcast. It doesn’t matter if you do it weekly, bimonthly, or monthly, as long as you’ll be consistent.
7. Just get started. Know what you are capable of doing consistently.
8. Know your audience. Do a test.
9. If you don’t experience the cringe-worthy stuff then you will not be able to get past the “early stages” of podcasting.
Podcasting is an amazing opportunity for you to grow yourself, your community, and your business. So if you’ve been wanting to start your podcast, listen to this month’s episode of Business Bestie’s and learn everything you need to kick-off your podcasting journey.
Visit Kendra’s website: https://girlmeansbusiness.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girlmeansbusiness/
Learn more about Katie and Next Step Social Communications:
Clubhouse: clubhouse.com/@katiebrinkley
https://www.nextstepsocialcommunications.com
https://www.instagram.com/iamkatiebrinkley/
Katie Brinkley 0:02
Welcome back to Rocky Mountain marketing. I am so excited to bring you a new feature of Rocky Mountain marketing. I am going to be sitting down with my business bestie Kendra squalls once a month to bring you some of our insights to running our own businesses and some of the struggles that we’ve faced along the way.
Kendra Swalls 0:25
Hey guys, your business besties are back here for another episode and we are live sitting at the same table together. Oh, goodness pod fest. So excited to welcome my business bestie Katie Brinkley,
Katie Brinkley 0:39
I am so happy to be with you Kendra. I mean, this we normally are doing these episodes through a video camera. And here we are sitting together at a podcasting event in real life able to record a podcast. I’m so excited. So
Kendra Swalls 0:54
fun. It’s so funny to not see you through a screen and like you’re literally right here beside.
Katie Brinkley 0:59
Yeah, now I can just eat right in front of you. I don’t just need to eat something, you know. So typically, whenever we record these episodes, I somehow find some random thing
Kendra Swalls 1:09
to eat bananas pickles. Yeah, and noodles.
Katie Brinkley 1:14
And I guess it’s just because I only feel comfortable eating and then front of Kandra
Kendra Swalls 1:18
always do your best to eat away. You’re good. So yeah, we’re excited to get into this episode. We figured since we’re here at pod fest, and we’re recording this podcast here live, you can probably hear the background. We’re in the Expo Hall currently at the Lipson counter using their little setup here. And we thought we’d talk about like why podcasting is important. And if you’re someone who is thinking about starting a podcast or maybe you have started one and you’re kind of on the fence of do I keep going do I not let’s kind of break down like why and poor Katie over here has got a sore throat.
Katie Brinkley 1:54
I know it does is that the thing is it’s not even sore. It’s just it’s from tone with too much talking.
Kendra Swalls 1:59
So you’re gonna get the real the raw, the coughs the scratchiness, all the things today. So um, yeah. This is the realness of podcasting.
Katie Brinkley 2:07
Well, and the thing is Kendra, you and I met on clubhouse and a social audio room, social audio platform. But we met in a room about podcasting. And for those of you that are regular listeners to the show, you know that I come from radio, I used to be a radio journalist. And with podcasting was something I always wanted to get back into. But I thought it seemed really hard. I didn’t know where to start. And it’s not.
Kendra Swalls 2:31
Yeah, well, and that’s the thing is like, you know, we’re here at pod fest, where there are hundreds 1000s of people here that are all podcasters. And it’s funny, when you walk around, you meet these people that you listen to, in your ear pods, and you listen to you know, in your car, or while you’re working out and you feel like you know them, and then to actually meet them in real life. It’s so incredible. And the people I’ve met through podcasting, not only like Katie meeting you through clubhouse and being on Joe’s podcast, but also just the people I’ve had on my show that have been guests or people that I’ve been a guest on their show. These are people that live in places and do things that I would never have a connection to, if it weren’t for starting conversations with them, and having a conversation on the show. So the connections that it has and the way that it brings people together I think is really really amazing.
Katie Brinkley 3:21
Well, there’s something there’s something authentic about hearing someone speak when you hear someone speak it, it really moves the relationship along at at lightning speed and where I know that you have fully embraced Instagram reels. You are the queen of Instagram reels for as much as I don’t like reels Kendra’s, the queen of reels and so, but that’s the thing is in a world of you know, so much video and you know, beautifully curated posts and you know, these staged photos. Podcasting is real. Yeah, you can hear the passion behind someone’s voice, you can tell if someone’s reading a page off of Google. Yes. Whereas with podcasting and social all these platforms, the voice has such an incredible power of moving relationships along, doing business faster than ever and making relationships go from, Hey, I heard you on a podcast to all of a sudden, they’re your closest friend, you’re wandering around a conference together with
Kendra Swalls 4:17
them well, and to be perfectly honest, like I we’re sitting here right now recording this, I have Cindy on the other side of the screen, taking video and photos. So she’s a client of mine, she, I’m her business coach, we worked together for about six months now. And she found me by listening to me on a podcast as a guest, heard my name, went listen to my podcast, and then reached out to me to work with me. So it’s not just about meeting other creators, other podcasters it’s about meeting your ideal audience and connecting with your ideal ideal audience. And we’ve heard that a lot here at pod fest just about the communities that you create through this audio piece and it’s so All Powerful. So I want for people listening, let’s kind of give a couple of hours sort of, if I was starting over again, tips of like, what would I want to know, as a new podcaster?
Katie Brinkley 5:10
The most important thing is is not that hard to get started, I think that everyone thinks it’s going to be super duper hard. And it’s not I mean, if you want to take it to that next level with your podcast, yeah, you’re gonna need to buy, you know, a legit microphone. Yes, you’re gonna need to get more equipment. But really, if you have a pair of, of Apple, you know, air pods or like the microphone, that’s all you need. That’s all you need to get started. And if you if you don’t have GarageBand, or whatever, on your, on your computer, you can go through different tools, like anchor, you can record it right from your phone. Yeah, it’s not that hard. I think that I think that the biggest thing that the biggest tip that I like to have is, is that you want to have at least three episodes ready to go. So one of the episodes can be a trailer. Yeah. Hey, this is Katie Brinkley, and this is Rocky Mountain marketing, you’re gonna be listening to. This is where I talked about this a little bit me. That can be one episode, it doesn’t need
Kendra Swalls 6:08
to bar what your show is about why people should listen. Exactly.
Katie Brinkley 6:11
And that can be one episode. The next two, again, they can be just solo episodes. Or if you have a guest in mind, you can have them in there. But have those three ready to go when you start your podcast? And honestly, that’s what sets you up for success because you’re never scrambling to stay consistent. Yeah.
Kendra Swalls 6:30
So I agree with the tech piece. Because I mean, if you listen to that Mike Robbins business positive, you’ve heard me say this. I have recorded my first couple of episodes on my iPhone and the Notes app, using my apple plug into my phone microphone headphones. I don’t even have air pods at the time. It was just that’s all I did. I’m sitting in my bedroom closet recording. And then I finally
Katie Brinkley 6:51
I want you them to know why you were in the closet. It wasn’t because it wasn’t like trying to hide from the kid. That was
Kendra Swalls 6:57
part of it. But no. So when you record you want to record this space, it’s going to be the unlike where we are right now in a big giant open room with a lot of noise. So the closet is nice because all your clothes absorb the sound. So I would go in there and the first time I recorded it took me I think like an hour and a half. Because I kept overthinking the content and overthinking the editing, I would stop and rerecord pieces. But I sat on the floor of my closet where I could close the door. It was a small room. It was kind of insulated by the clothing and I recorded. Now one of the things I would say my tip would be besides that is don’t try to make it perfect. No, no, think about what you like to listen to one of the things I hear a lot is people say now like I don’t want the overly polished, overly produced over I mean, there are some cases where that’s really necessary. But have that ground noise. Like I’ve had episodes where like my kids come running in the room and tell you something or the dog barks the doorbell rings or whatever. And I’ve never had somebody complain and be like Hamas stop watching listening to your show? Because your dog barked in that one episode like, Okay, if that’s the reason you leave then by Yeah, but it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Katie Brinkley 8:02
Well, and that’s the thing, like, back to what I was saying before, the voice is so authentic. Yeah, you know, and if you are over polished, I do think that it’s not to say that you shouldn’t have an editor or anything. But I mean, like, if you are over polished, it definitely makes it feel maybe not quite as, you know, authentic as it could be. And I definitely feel like when I listen to those episodes where someone does have the ahhs and the arms and then there’s the awkward pauses like that, yeah. You know that that’s what makes people want to stay tuned. And you’re building that know like and trust factor and you feel like you’re listening to a friend.
Kendra Swalls 8:41
Yes. And that’s the key is like you want people to listen to your podcast and feel like they’re in the room with you. And I remember when I first started listening to podcast as a, you know, a consumer, there were certain ones I listened to it. I was like, I feel like they’re reading from a script. Yeah, there’s no emotion. There’s no any of that. And I listened to one and it was a very, like, highly produced celebrity podcast. And they were recording from like, their dining room table. And I remember them saying like, it was right during the COVID. They’re like, we don’t have all of our equipment were just to record from our, you know, headphones. I didn’t stop me from listening. In fact, it made me want to listen more. I’m like, here’s these people who have access and money to buy the best quality stuff and they’re recording on their air pods. Yeah. And I was like, I love that I it makes it feel more relatable. Yeah, so be relatable. Now obviously, you need it to match your brand. If your brand is going to be very professional. And you know, if you’re an attorney and you’re doing a legal podcast, then you might want to make it a little bit more polished. But for the most part, just get started. That would be my biggest just get started. Because if you keep waiting until you have the right equipment, the right timing, the right whatever, you’re going to wait forever and you’re never going to actually start
Katie Brinkley 9:55
Yeah, and I think that two people another big hurdle that I hear a lot of people have is They don’t, I don’t know what I’m gonna say, I don’t know, I don’t know what all how I can have enough episodes. And just for the record, the average podcast length like lifetime is six episodes. And that’s heartbreaking. I do think that’s where if if you have those three episodes already made, that you’re always in advance, and so you can never there’s no excuses to get fall behind.
Kendra Swalls 10:23
Well, real quick, I went through a set. So I was in a room today where they were talking about consistency and in promoting your podcast and being consistent with creating your content. And it was on Apple podcast, there are over 2 million podcasts listed. But the only 500,000 of those are actually active podcast. Yeah. So when people throw out the number of oh, there’s 2 million podcasts out there? Well, yeah, there are 2 million listed. Yeah, but there’s a fraction of that is actually people who have consistently put out content. Yes.
Katie Brinkley 10:55
And then I think i i in the same room as you. We didn’t even realize. I mean, like there’s so many people here at pod fest. It’s incredible. But and then of that 500,000 Only I think 143,000 had a new episode within the last seven days. Oh, I don’t remember seeing that. Yeah, that’s interesting, too. I mean, like, Yeah, but that’s like that comes into monthly podcasts and daily podcast. Yeah. But I mean, that’s something to consider. So know what your consistent strategy, what you’re capable of being consistent in this too, because, you know, it’s the same with social media. And you and I talk about this a lot, you know, everyone has a different amount of consistency that they can stick with it. For social media. For me, it is three posts a week, that’s all I have time for, you know, but, and one reel a week, that’s all I have time for, but know what you are capable of staying consistent with. So if you’re like, you know what, I really want to have a podcast, I don’t know if I could do a weekly, I don’t know if I could do that. That’s fine, then do every other week to do a monthly, but just try and create a schedule that you can remain consistent with because if you stop, your listeners are going to stop tuning in, you have to build that routine for your listeners as well.
Kendra Swalls 12:02
Well, and it’s just like with our podcast, you know, the with this business besties. It’s not sustainable for us to sit down and go, we’re gonna create something in addition to what we’re already doing every single week, which is why we do them once a month. Yeah. And who knows what the future will hold. You can always pivot that’s the other thing is you can always pivot, like how my podcast looks now. 170 Something episodes in is not what it looks like on Episode Five. It’s just not. Same thing. Again, same thing with social media. But I want to talk for a minute about the content piece you brought up? Yeah, I do think that is something that people get stuck on. And I want you to think about one if podcasting is right for you. Because for me, it was a matter of I don’t like to blog. I’m not a natural writer. And so for me to put all of my thoughts and ideas on paper just wasn’t wasn’t me. But I can sit here and talk to you all day long. And I can talk to strangers all day. Let me we’ve seen it walking around here. We just randomly start talking to people. Hence my voice. Yeah, exactly. But that’s why podcasting felt like a natural fit for me. Now you may be listening to this, you may be thinking, I would rather write my thoughts out and put it on a blog, or I would rather post you know, videos on YouTube, that’s totally fine. But if you feel like podcasting is something that you could get into, I don’t want the content piece to be what stops you either. Go back and look at all the content you’ve already created for your business. Whether that is social media posts, blog posts, video content on your website, or
Katie Brinkley 13:29
you’re just gonna say your website. I mean, like think about just think about your basic website. It typically there’s four tabs, yeah, each of those tabs could be an episode.
Kendra Swalls 13:38
Well, and if one of those tabs is frequently asked questions, you probably have even more than that content. Exactly. Exactly. You know, I mean, I think about like, photographers, again, I know I bring these up a lot, but that’s what I who I kind of the world I came from. And so I was helping a photographer create her new website for a while and I was doing her frequently asked questions. She had about eight questions on her frequently. That’s a different episodes of contents. And they don’t have to be half hour episodes. They can be 10 minute by 15 minute. But that’s that’s
Katie Brinkley 14:05
a great point, too. And I think that, you know, for me, my podcast is around 26 to 32 minutes, roughly about marketing’s and I know that grill means business typically runs around 40 minute episodes. But the reason that we have the episode links that we do is that that’s the average amount of time for the for the average commuter. Yeah. So So I mean, that’s keep that in mind. And if you’re like, I don’t really want to listen to a 30 minute podcast, you could do a 15 minute podcast, or 10 minute podcast, somebody will have 10 minutes when they think about it. If they do find a 10 minute podcast, that’s how long it typically takes to sit in the line at Starbucks.
Kendra Swalls 14:43
Yes. Or sitting in Carline to pick up your kids from school or whatever, you know, like Yeah, well, and I think there’s a place this is where you get to know your audience, too. There’s a place for each type. There are some podcasts I listened to that are hour and a half two hour podcast. Oh man. Now I don’t listen to them all at one time, but the content is good enough that I’m willing to listen to 30 minutes here, 20 minutes there, sometimes I’ll be in a long drive in the car, and I’ll have more time or doing things around the house, I can put my earbuds in and listen. But if I want to just get a quick bit of information, I do look for those ones that are around 20 minutes, because sometimes I feel like 10 is too quick. I’m like, there’s a whole lot of value there. But 15 to 20 is usually pretty good. But know your audience, if your audience are busy moms, busy entrepreneurs, busy corporate people, like they may not have 45 minutes, or maybe your audience or people who spend a lot of time in their car. You know, like if your audience is realtors, and they are in their car a lot. They might be a listen to a 45 minute episode and be fine with that. So know your audience and kind of figure out like, what is it good, and then do a test to test these things out? Do a couple episodes that are 10 minutes, do a couple there 30 minutes, and then see what your audience listens to the most. And then continue with that. So do some testing again, it doesn’t have to be day one, you have it all figured out. Yeah, see what your audience responds to which content they like, what how long they like, and then do more of those things.
Katie Brinkley 16:08
Exactly. Well, and so I think that, you know, we’ve overcome the the thought of needing to have all the equipment, right, we’ve overcome, you know, thinking that needs to be an hour long, you know, book, what works for you, we’ve overcome, like, how do we come up with the content? What other tips would you recommend for somebody that’s like, Alright, maybe I’ll start upon because maybe Kendra, I would
Kendra Swalls 16:27
say, practice, I would say just get you a microphone, or your air pods or whatever. And just start by like opening the Notes app on your phone and just get comfortable listening to yourself talk. Because I do think that that is something that you know, we like to overthink our process. And the more we hear our voice, the more we hear ourselves, talk to ourselves or talk because it’s essentially what you’re doing. You’re sitting there talking, unless you’re right now like this is rare, you’re talking to yourself into a microphone, which is uncomfortable in the beginning. So get used to it. And then like I said, just start creating a library of content that you can then put out into the world.
Katie Brinkley 17:06
Yeah, and I think that too, you know, like I said, before I come from radio, it was uncomfortable for me just to sit and talk for 15 minutes straight to myself. So think about the format of the show. Do you want to do interviews? Do you want to have a co host? Do you want are you comfortable, you know, talking by yourself for 10 minutes, figure out the format of your show that you’d like to do and just create that list. And when I’m when I’m making my episodes, I always whether it’s solo, whether it’s with a co host, or whether it’s with a guest, I want to have three key takeaways for the listener from every single episode. And so before every episode, I write them down like okay, takeaway one is blank, takeaway two is blank. So that way I make sure as the conversation flows, I make sure I hit those three talking points. And it does give me a little bit of an outline a little bit of a way to stay on track. Otherwise, I could just end up derailing and talking about platypus or something.
Kendra Swalls 18:02
Oh my gosh. So yeah, I agree. And I Yeah, the more prepared and depends on your personality style to know what you’re what you’re capable of doing. But I think having an outline, do you don’t have scripted out unless you plan on being a scripted show, but don’t I would know, I mean, like it’s double the work now. And
Katie Brinkley 18:19
I may say it doesn’t even need to be an ally. Three key takeaways from this episode, the three enemies honestly makes it easier for when you upload it. The three key takeaways are to listen Yeah, episode.
Kendra Swalls 18:28
Well, and one last thing I’ll say too, is that we’ve covered the tech of like the, you know, the microphone and all the GarageBand and stuff. But don’t even worry about the computer type of like, where do I upload? How do I get here, just start recording content. And then once you have the content, then you can ask questions or go online and find somebody to help you figure out how to get it onto the internet and out there for the world to see.
Katie Brinkley 18:55
Yeah, exactly. And, you know, there’s there’s a number of different hosting platforms out there. You know, as you can for those of you that are watching us on YouTube, you can see we are sitting at the Lipson
Kendra Swalls 19:05
when the right direction, I should not be Vanna White. I don’t even know where I’m pointing it behind. There we
Katie Brinkley 19:09
go. We were I told me, whether it be Lipson or Spreaker, or Buzzsprout or anchor. Yeah, there’s a number of hosting platforms out there. And let us know reach out to us. You know, we’re on social media, you know, click tap Connect with us. I’m happy to answer any questions about podcasting, because I really think that one that with a podcast, some of the biggest things that it’s helped me with is my confidence. It’s helped me make some amazing connections. Yeah. And it’s given me a lot more opportunities, because I speak on a regular basis about things that I know and like it. Like I said, it comes to the conference, but I mean, the more you talk about something, it’s like, yeah, I know what I’m talking about here. I’m happy to lend my expertise to this. So I think it’s given me more opportunities and I think that we podcasting, regardless of what your goal is, it’s going to open up a whole new
Kendra Swalls 20:06
world. Yes, it is. Yeah. And I’ve said this when it comes to like reels and video content, kind of like what you just said, you don’t have to have it all figured out and you don’t have to have the competence going into it. That will come with time. And be okay with being a beginner at this. Yes. And just know I mean, how many episodes in Are you on your Rocky?
Katie Brinkley 20:28
Over? I’m over 115 episodes.
Kendra Swalls 20:31
Okay. So if you were to go back and listen to episode one, oh
Katie Brinkley 20:33
my God, nobody got nobody. Listen, episode one, please. Nobody was anything
Kendra Swalls 20:37
episode, one of my podcasts exists anymore on the internet. I think it’s been archived. But man, I mean, I went back one time and listened. And it’s cringe worthy. But if you if you don’t ever jump in and do the cringe worthy stuff, then you don’t ever grow to the episode to where we are. I mean, we still have way more growth to have. But we’re on this journey. And we couldn’t have gotten where we are now if we didn’t start with the cringe worthy stuff at the beginning. So be willing to embrace being new at something learning as you go asking questions, reaching out to Katie and I, or anyone else, you know, that has a podcast, you know, or even like, just see if you can be a guest on a podcast and see how somebody else does the guessing parts. He asked them questions, you know, be okay with being a student of something for a while. Well, and
Katie Brinkley 21:21
I think that Kendra, too, that’s I know, we’re gonna wrap this up here. But that is one of the biggest things is that I have learned from the podcasting community. That’s what we are. We are a community it is yeah. And there’s no competition. I mean, what a perfect shirt for me to be wearing for this episode. I know my elaboration over competition. Yeah, more of my shirt. I had the shirt made collaboration over competition. And that is exactly what I have found with the podcasting community. There’s, there’s enough room for all of us to succeed. There’s enough help. But you know what one thing that might work for me could help elevate somebody else. And so, you know, it’s a great community to be a part of,
Kendra Swalls 21:59
yeah, and it’s a great way to help your business reach a larger audience, to set up yourself as an expert in an area. I mean, there’s so many key things about it. Again, this is not something that I’m saying everybody needs to have in their business. But if it’s something you’ve been thinking about something that you have wondered about, or you think you might enjoy doing, it’s one of my favorite parts of my business. It really is. I know. And if that’s something that you are, hopefully this episode has helped to give you a little bit of energy and boost behind that giving you some tips. Just know that like, and we’ve been here what a full two days now. And it’s been so much fun to meet all these other people who are like the ones standing right in front of us right now like watching us do this. Yeah, like people that I would never have met in real life or had a reason to meet and hurt, you know, if it wasn’t for this community that we have around us. So yeah, it’s been amazing.
Katie Brinkley 22:48
And biggest takeaway, biggest number one takeaway from today’s episode, just start
Kendra Swalls 22:53
just start, just do the damn thing.
Katie Brinkley 22:56
Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Rocky Mountain marketing. As always, I’d love to hear from you. You can visit my website at www.nextstepsocialcommunications.com. Connect with me on LinkedIn or check me out on Instagram. Let’s keep taking your marketing to new heights.