Fighting Back At Podcasting's Disinformation Problem

Many podcasting services are too good to be true and are just cleverly disguised scams. But some new services do present leapfrog opportunities to podcasters. The challenge? Knowing the difference.

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Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.

Access to information and the rebuking of disinformation. I had lunch with a colleague earlier this week and they were lamenting those two things specifically. And even more specifically than that, they noted that they're seeing an increase in the shysters and the hucksters, trying just to make a quick buck off of, let's say, less-seasoned and perhaps more eager podcasters.

And this isn't a problem unique to podcasting. It's a problem for all growth industries. It's with us. People are always looking to get a hold of your money with the promise that you can cut in line or accelerate your efforts, all of those things very enticing. Very enticing. And it's hard to ignore that on the receiving end, especially when the conventional wisdom or prevailing wisdom out there podcasting is, "Your second 100 episodes will sound a lot better than your first 100."

Or, "It's a slow burn to build a podcast audience."

Or perhaps, you know, "The top shows all spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on each episode."

Now, all those statements are true. All of those statements really are true and none of them are attractive to brand new people. Also, brand new people can't understand, not even brand new people, oftentimes people who've been doing this for a while at moderate success don't understand why those things need to be true.

"Surely," says everyone, "there's a shortcut."

And you know what? There probably are shortcuts. There very likely are fast-tracked ways to get ahead that didn't exist in years previously. And perhaps they're being developed right now. So maybe some of these things that seem too good to be true are actually true.

Well, the problem is - back to my colleague I had lunch with - is they did not feel, as you may not feel, qualified to judge the quality of those offers because my colleague does not have, like you might not have, the same lived experiences that I have. Not just in podcasting, which mine is long, but also time spent running marketing and advertising agencies and departments. Or even the skills that I've built up as a professional contrarian and a skeptic over the years.

I know I can't make you into me, so here's my offer to help. And that is, let me help. I'm going to make an offer here to let the professionals - actually, let me say that, even if I can't help, let me help you connect with other people who are qualified to judge some of these claims that you encounter.

Now, to do this, I've created a brand new category in the Advancing Podcasting community, which is free to join, by the way, advancingpodcasting.xyz. Yes, you probably heard an ad for it at the beginning of the show. It's free to join that.

I made a new category on the Advancing Podcasting community called Help Requests. And the first channel I created underneath there is called simply Too Good To Be True. So when you encounter something that you think might be too good to be true, and you want expert opinions on that, that's where you can post that information.

I'm going to monitor that channel. I monitor all the channels, but I'm definitely going to monitor that channel much more closely. And I'll be sure to add in my own input because anybody can answer the question to the community, but I promise you, you will get an answer from me if you ask a question. If you post anything in the Too Good To Be True channel, I will have input on that for you.

If I don't have the expertise, I'll say that, and then I will commit myself to finding someone I'm connected with in the podcasting space who is qualified to say whether that thing is likely to be true or not. I will make sure to get them on board. So, advancingpodcasting.xyz, brand new section called Help Requests. I'll be adding more channels to that in the future.

Now, this is the end of the publishing week for me. And I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with - check this out if you're watching on the live video - Copywriting 101: What Was That Number Again?: Crimes Against Advertising and How to Prevent Them - whew, that's a long title - by Neil Hedley of the podcast The Snooze Button. Neil was kind enough to send me that. He and I have been chatting online for awhile and he said, hey, I'm publishing my second edition of the book. Can I send you a copy? And so he did. He sent me a sample chapter and I really liked that chapter. So I said, send me the entire book.

Here's the thing, copywriting is a skill, podcasters. It is a total skill. You need to understand it. I'm moderately good at copywriting, but I got there by doing copywriting and also reading books like this, reading lots of information. So I'll put a link to the episode in the episode notes section, if you hear on the podcast episode itself, as well as on the article.

Now, if you found some value in the episodes I produced for you this week, please go to BuyMeACoffee.com/EvoTerra and show me your support with a virtual coffee - or twelve. Members, like Neil Hedley, are now listed on the website at podcastpontifications.com, as well as on every edition of the email that I send through Podcast Pontifications In Your Inbox, which is a free service that emails you a link to the audio file and the full article so you can read it all inside of your inbox.

Well, guess what? My members who have gone to BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra and signed up for a membership, not just a one-timer, those people are now listed at the bottom of that email missive. Yay. Good. All right.

So that's it. Enjoy the remainder of your week and your weekend. I shall be back on Monday with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Cheers!

Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra. He's on a mission to make podcasting better. Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes section of your podcast listening app. A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a correct, both created by Allie Press. Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. Find out more at Simpler.Media.

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