Share Your Podcasting Brilliance With A New Podcast

Podcasters and podcasting companies build robust media kits, linktrees, and websites to showcase their work. Good ideas! But why not also leverage podcasting to showcase your podcasting work?

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

I am all about pushing against the edges of what podcasting can be. I've done that since '05. So I was quite intrigued when friend of mine and also a quasi-partner Brian Barletta, he had an idea to do this upfront idea in podcasting, which is all over the place, like there's an upfront coming up this week, I'm going to attend. But his idea was to take the upfront idea and turn it into a podcast, which no one weirdly enough had actually done before.

Now, the concept, it's called Up Next and it just went live today. There will obviously be a link in the episode details, if you want to get an experience, an example of what I'm about to talk about, looks like, sounds like, appears like in your app. Because that process of helping Brian think through how the Up Next Up Fronts would work really got me thinking about how we podcasters could use this idea for our own purposes.

Typically, I'm talking about podcasters who do podcasting services for other people. So like me, for example, I own a podcast production company called Simpler Media. I could do something like this. You could do something like this. And the idea is make a reel out of your work, but utilizing a brand new RSS feed. Because if you're doing podcasting, if you do podcast services, I think you should showcase that as a podcast.

Of course, that's not the only thing you should do. Yes, as I mentioned in the opening, you need a website, you need linktrees, you need media kits, all of those things. But maybe also make a podcast. Use that option really to showcase the work you do in the medium it's designed to be listened to and consumed in.

So here's how I think you would do something like that. We'll use this from the point of view of, let's say that you are a podcast producer. Your job is to produce podcasts on behalf of different people who hire you, and you want to showcase the work that you have done to the public. Great. So each one of your shows you've worked on is going to be its own season, if you will. And I'm going to deal with all of this in a minute. So just kind of walk through this with me, right?

You're going to treat each one of the shows you've worked on as a season, even though it's only one episode, that's it. But before that you need to create a trailer for each of those seasons, each of those shows, if you will, that features you explaining what you did. Because the word "producer" can mean a lot of different things. So if you are a producer, it explains what you did on the program. That's the first trailer/episode.

Now, if you're not a producer, maybe you're actually an ad sales rep or someone. What is it that makes this show, this next thing they're about to hear, special? Maybe sponsorship information, who the audience is, how many people are reached on a regular basis, whatever. Your job is to basically pre-sell what they're about to hear. And you'll do it as a trailer episode. That's number one.

The second thing is, as I mentioned, each season as its own show, each show's its own season. So don't upload all twenty-seven episodes of that podcast. No, just one episode.

Now, if the media hosting company you are going to put this new reel RSS feed on will allow it, just go ahead and point back to the original media file, wherever it happens to be hosted. If you can do that. Not all podcasting companies will allow you to do that. So if you have to, just upload another version, copy-paste, you know, just re-upload it to your own service.

So inside of that season there's only two episodes. There's the trailer and then there is the actual thing itself. There is the pre-selling of why this is important, they should listen, and then the next episode down in that season, and the only episode down after that in that season is the episode itself.

Now, some people may say, well, I don't want the entire long episode in there. I just want to pull out the stuff that I did, focusing on that. Sure, if you want to make your own snippet you can. Just edit it down. To me, I think that's extra work. And also, I think you're getting away from the full experience. You're putting too much of a focus on you. Show the whole thing there, pre-sell what you did, but then let the whole thing play, at least that one episode play, is the best way I think you can do that.

Again, each season becomes its own show. Each episode is its own season, if you will. And there's really only two things. One, there's the trailer, and two, there's the actual representative episode from that particular show that you worked on.

Now, when you're doing this in the RSS feed, you gotta be careful. Because, look, you got to be careful with the order in which things appear because most not-Apple-Podcasts podcast players will just present the episodes in the order in which they appear in the feed. They will ignore your trailers. They'll ignore your episode numbering. They'll ignore bonus and all of that. And they just simply dump it out in straight order. Why? Don't even get me started. So you need to be careful. Once you've done this, check your feed, add it to a podcast player, and take a look to make sure it actually looks good to you before you go out and promote that. That's something definitely to think about.

And then over time, because you're a working podcaster, you're producing content on a regular basis, prune the feed, just like you would prune a garden or a tree. Remove the seasons or shows that you're no longer working with, maybe those that you got better at, they're not really showcasing your true talents, who knows. But by all means, remove things that don't need to be in your reel any longer and keep adding things to this reel.

And by all means, yes, you should submit this show to podcast directories. You're not competing with these shows you're highlighting in your reel because you're only putting in one episode from them. You're also not competing with your own show. You just put it out there and you can call it whatever you want to call it. Your fancy podcast feed, I don't know, totally up to you. But again, side load this into your own app, any of the apps, in fact, several apps, I would suggest, prior to submitting it. And certainly before you promote that work.

Oh, one more thing. If the directories like Apple Podcasts and Spotify will allow you to actually designate a trailer for the entire show, do that. Highlight one. Maybe even create one that explains everything someone is about to witness in their ears as they listen to the content. And again, keep it updated. Keep checking to see how it looks in various apps, not just Apple Podcasts, but also Spotify, Google Play, and a variety of others. You need to understand what this actually is going to look like.

So who could use this idea? Producers, as I mentioned, but I also think ad reps. If you're an ad representation firm, and you want to showcase the work that you rep shows on, do that. If you're a network and you're putting new shows on a regular basis, by all means, definitely showcase each one of them. Production houses, prolific podcast hosts, lots of people working in podcasting right now could utilize this.

But I'm curious how you might implement this idea. I'd love to hear about that. Also, I'd love for you to brainstorm with your fellow podcasters and see what shakes out of their heads. Share this episode with someone you would like to collaborate with.

Also, I'll remind you to go to buymeacoffee.com/EvoTerra, if you love this idea. And a big thanks to those many people who've supported me on the Buy Me a Coffee, who've upgraded to a membership, which just means regular virtual coffee contributions, just starting last week. So great for all of you to upgrade. You can all expect an email from me this week that's going to give you some additional details of the season four opportunities, which I have cooking just for you.

And with that, I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Cheers!