[Upbeat Music]
Trent: Well, welcome back to this The Homage Podcast Playground.
Today, we’re gonna start climbing the ladder. We’re gonna start taking those big steps up to that big centerpiece of the playground. And what I mean by that is we’re gonna start taking a look at what really doesn’t mean to have a podcast, what is a podcast and what isn’t a podcast. Because I feel like that becomes more and more blurred every day and I might have some interesting takes on that. So we’re gonna really dive around that, what is, what isn’t a podcast and start taking what are some of those first steps you can do if you have some ideas or you wanna start your own podcast.
What is a podcast? Last episode, we defined it. It’s this audio format, it goes out via RSS feed, kind of like a broadcast, but you get it on your devices, you can hit play, you can hit pause, you can rewind, you can fast forward, do all sorts of different stuff with it. It’s a very technical definition of a podcast. In theory, I could be putting out beluga sounds through an RSS feed and that could be considered quote unquote a podcast by that standard. And that’s not necessarily what we think of when we really think of modern podcasts, right? A lot of them are two people talking to each other or more people talking to each other, really breaking down and diving into topics. So let’s first start off in kind of the different categories of podcasts that are generally accepted. There’s so many variations on this, depending who you talk to, they’ll probably give you a different answer. But I just wanna go over kind of the common ones that I think of. You have the one that’s really popular right now, which is the interview podcast. So these are your Joe Rogan’s, your Amy Poehler, your all of these big ones where they’re just sitting there kind of talking to each other like that. You have your monologues. This was a monologue one. We were just sitting here talking to you, telling a story or informing you about what is going on. You also have co-host one. So these are some like the Um, Sir podcast, which is part of the Snohomish Podcast Network, as well as a little bit of the Snohomish Storytellers. It’s where you have multiple hosts kind of working together, talking to each other, going through information, not necessarily always not interviewing each other necessarily, but really just breaking down and talking about things that are going on in the world. And sometimes they take on different forms too. You have your narrative. So a lot of your fictional narrative and stuff like that.
So there are some great podcasts out there where it’s actually fictional characters, fictional stories, and they really immerse you. It’s almost like you’re listening to a book, but this book actually hasn’t been written. And then there’s repurposed podcasts as well, which is very similar and kind of dabbles in with a lot of the hosts and co-host ones that you see, where they will actually bring up content that’s already out there and talk more about it. Some of those true crime podcasts that are very popular right now kind of fit in that category, right? They are taking content, story, history that already is out there and just telling it in a new format, maybe adding some new information, new perspectives to it. So those are your kind of general podcast formats. And really when you look at most podcasts today, all of them have kind of a mashup of them, right? You don’t have to stick just to one. It helps to kind of start thinking you’re gonna go one. And then as it evolves, as you learn more, as you figure out more what you want your podcast to be, makes perfect sense to switch it up. So maybe it starts out as the co-host, and then you’re like, I really wanna have interviews or we have great people on. So it’ll develop more into an interview style podcast as well. And that’s okay, right? I think that’s one of the cool things about podcasts is we’ve created these general buckets and there’s still so much more that it can be. And we always keep getting more creative with the industry. So who knows what it could look like next. So that’s the generalization of podcasts. Usually if you can listen to something and it fits into one of those categories, I would consider it a podcast. And yes, that is still a very wide range because there is so much that we can do with podcasts
and a lot fits into it. Again, the whale noises might not be a podcast. Still very useful, very soothing, but might not be considered a podcast in the sense as of how I just defined it. Next question really comes to, all right, now that we’re understanding what a podcast is, you’re like, I wanna have one. We’ve all been there. We’ve all talked with our friends. We’ve all been sitting around wherever
and just be like, you know what? We should do a podcast about this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve personally been in that conversation, but I’ve had very few actual podcasts come out of it. But in this playground, let’s talk about how do you create that playground? How do you create that idea of like, you know what? This would be cool and actually turn that into reality. First off, think about why you wanna have a podcast. Cause I think that’s something a lot of people don’t consider is they’re like, oh, it’d be so cool to do this. It’s so popular. There’s so much you can do about it. It’s great on social media. So many of these variations. And yes, those are all great reasons to have a podcast. You wanna grow your brand. You want to get social media clips. You wanna have influence. You want to share your insight and knowledge with people. Great reasons I have a podcast. And make sure you have a reason like that before you keep going. A lot of people, I do think like, oh, we have these great conversations together and it’d be great to like record it and get it out there. And then if you record it and you listen back to it and you’re like, wow, this actually wasn’t as insightful as I thought, or wasn’t as funny as it was in the moment, or have other people listen to it to get that insight, right? A lot of the times just straight up going without working with someone or developing it, it’s gonna be really hard to have a successful podcast. And when I say successful, I’m talking about having a large number of downloads, having a large following. Yes, if you already have several hundred thousand followers on Instagram and your social media channels, you could probably put a podcast out about several things, almost anything, and you will get a half decent following out of it. However, if you are not one of those few that have a massive following, just trying to create a podcast that’s not really about whatever, not really developing, not thinking about it, those quote unquote benefits or results of more listeners, more viewers, or people following and seeing you as an influencer isn’t probably going to help you. So just keep that in mind. And the reason I say to think about this and talk about this before we get very far, before you ever record anything, before you do anything, is because people don’t realize how much work it can be. There are a lot of tools out there with podcasting to help you now to make it easier. And at the end of the day, you still have to take that time, right? It’s not something that just, you snap your finger and it’s done, or you can let your computer do it on its own. Or if you don’t have time to do that, you have to pay for it. And that’s one thing that I do tell everyone is podcast is going to cost you, whether it costs you your time or your money, you have to decide. So that’s the other thing you really have to think about is, do you have time to really edit this and make this what you want it to be? Or do you have the income and the finances available to be able to pay someone to do it well for you? Again, this is assuming you want to get it to some sort of audience and get it out there. If you just want to play around, to learn the skill, to get things going, by all means, just start. That’s one of the biggest things too, is once you know why you’re doing it and you have that set up, just start. I’m rambling a lot about what you need to do. And I’m probably scaring a few people off from starting podcasts. And I just want to be honest and frank with everyone that’s going, but that might be interested in this, right? I don’t want you to think this is a sit down, instantly do it. You can have all these AI chat bots do it for me. No, even if you have bots that can whatever, take a transcript and edit it and whatnot, you still physically have to be the one that goes, makes those changes, makes those edits and get them out there. There are programs out there that can make the social media clips automatically for you. And again, that’s going to cost you money if you don’t have the time. Once you get going, once you have that first recording, that’s where it really begins, right? That’s where the fun begins. Because that’s when you can start listening and figuring out, okay, is this really what I want to be? Is this really what I want to talk about? Yada, yada, yada, yada. And after you do that first recording, kind of getting it out of there, there are so many other components to consider, right? I do this full time as my business. I work with multiple professionals out in the world. And we have long discussions about it. Like between when I first start working with a client till you will actually hear it on whatever platform you listen to, it’s usually about three months at the minimum. Because there’s so much that needs to happen between us talking and agreeing, yes, we want to do this, to being able to figure out who are they talking to? What’s the audience? How are we going to create this? What’s the structure? Doing a couple recordings, getting a couple recordings edited, figuring out your cover art, figuring out your description, figuring out music.
So now that everyone’s scared to start a podcast, let me remind you, this is called the Snohomish Podcast Playground. So as you have those ideas and you’re like, I don’t want to put together all of this. I don’t know if this idea will work. I don’t know if it’s worth my investment. Let’s talk, reach out to me. Let’s collaborate on seeing how we can get you testing out part of your podcast, talk about part of your episode. Come on here and have the conversation with me. And I’ll actually, we’ll talk through and we can show real time what it’s like to kind of develop a podcast, look at your structure, your audience, all of the details and important factors that go into it. And I will go into more of this in future episodes. I will go through kind of a standard packet I use and talk about more in-depth of the different components that I work with my clients on before we ever hit record. And if you have a podcast idea that you want to get going or want to try out, or you just need someone to talk to, we can come on and talk about it, help show people what it’s like, and even do a pilot episode on this podcast.
So that’s really what I want this to be, right? As we start going through this, people that are reaching out uncertain want to learn about what’s going on or test out, is this a good idea? We’ll have you on this podcast. Hear the process so that others can learn from it too. And then we’ll even let you do a trial episode that we will help you produce, put together, and we’ll share it on here. And then we can get all that awesome feedback. So remember, if you’re talking with your friends saying, “Hey, you know, it would be really cool if we did a podcast,” just hit record. Hit record on your phone on something, record those first bits to capture those thoughts, put it together, share it with friends, and get going, right? This is the playground. That’s what this is meant to be. Yes, before you put the investment into software, hardware,
everything that you might need to do it, or looking at how much you might need to pay somebody to do all of it, just hit record and play.
Podcasts are meant to be accessible, right? They’re local broadcasts that you can put together with very minimal effort and minimal structure compared to trying to broadcast over radio or TV. So this is your chance to really broadcast what your message is and what you wanna do. To reach those goals, that’s a bigger discussion about what you need to do to be successful and reach those goals. And to get started, just hit record. Go out there, play with it, and see where it develops. And remember, we’re here to help. You need someone else in your playground to help get things kicked off and moving in the right direction, don’t be afraid to reach out.
Well, thank you for joining me this week on the Snohomish Podcast Playground. Really think about that, about what you wanna do, start thinking about your goals for your podcast. And remember, at the end of the day, just hit record. Though until next time, go have fun playing around with your ideas.
Go full force into that playground and we’ll talk to you again soon.
[Upbeat Music]