Concluding the series on fixing common podcasting problems, here are ways others have creatively solved problems they faced with their podcasts.
[powerpress]
Making interesting openings
Colleen Mullen from Coaching through Chaos and Shrink 2 Shrink.
- Avoid saying the same thing in your episode openings.
- Engage your audience right away.
Getting sponsors
Maurice Cherry from Revision Path.
- Only go after sponsors you actually use.
- Convince sponsors on the value of your show and that it matches their value.
Appearing on TV and interviewing popular guests
Stephan Spencer from Marketing Speak and Optimized Geek
- Call TV producers with a timely proposal (ideally with local relevance).
- Incorporate props into your segment.
- Create a media page with your TV appearances.
Learn more about “Becoming a Celebrity through TV Appearances” from Stephan’s podcast. Plus, download and learn from Stephan’s TV segment proposal (PDF).
Reducing reverb
- Use a mirror to find the places that reflect directly into your mic.
- Reduce flat surfaces.
- Hang multiple layers of blankets or towels.
- Build your own acoustic panels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8C4mcleE5U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa5l5LRwl3w
Telling stories
Alex Blumberg from Startup and Gimlet Media.
- Practice.
- Experiment.
- Test on others to see how it works.
[reviews]
General Snobbery said, “This is a podcast that demonstrates podcasts at their best. Podcasts, above all, are here to help us. Here’s a podcast geared entirely toward helping others. No ivory tower, no ego – simply a kind, intelligent man spreading quality information. Thank you, Mr. Lewis!”
[/reviews]
Announcements
- Join me and Gordon Firemark in our free webinar, “What You Must Know about the Law and Your Podcast” this Thursday, August 25, at 3:00 pm (EDT/GMT-4).
[shownotes_close]
Hi Daniel, fantastic episode today! Really enjoyed the Podcast Movement snippets, and the information was fantastic. Especially the tip about a long intro. Made me reconsider my own intro, even though it’s not 3-5 minutes long like the person in the interview. Then I came to your site to look up the information for the webinar, spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to get to the show-notes for today’s episode, couldn’t find it, gave up, closed the window, then came back a bit later to see if maybe I could send you a question via your contact-us form, then saw the “Comments” link, and then clicked on it. And actually fully typed up the question, only to realize, that I was already at the bottom of the show-notes page. So it was quite hard to find your show-notes for the episode, even for a highly motivated fan. Just thought you may want to know, as there may be others as clueless as me 🙂 and you may be losing visitors. Here’s what I see on your home page: http://screencast.com/t/uvFt5FiFDXU None of those links give any indication about the show-notes or details page for the episode. Just FYI. Cheers!
– Ravi Jayagopal
Podcast Host, http://SubscribeMe.fm
Thanks, Ravi! I mentioned the show notes URL throughout the episode, and I think people are familiar with clicking on headlines from a homepage.