165 The Hidden Cost of Content: Why Your Podcast Needs More Than Just Great Gear

[00:00:00] We all know that podcasting does have some upfront costs. There's cost to the microphone, there's cost to gear. But have you ever considered the cost of your content?

[00:00:14] Sound matters. Be heard. Welcome to the podcast where you get exclusive behind-the-scenes tips to make your own show sound truly spectacular. This is Podtastic Audio.

[00:00:28] What's happening? How are you doing today? Thank you so much for being here. I am Chris and this is Podtastic Audio.

[00:00:41] The show which I have designed and created from the ground up to help you make an amazing show for your audience.

[00:00:48] And one amazing tool to help you make sure that happens is Riverside.fm. Today's episode was brought to you by Riverside.

[00:00:56] And if you are a podcaster who loves having guests on your show, but you hate the hassle of recording remote interviews, then you need to check out Riverside.fm.

[00:01:07] Riverside makes it easy to record studio quality interviews with your guests no matter where they are in the world.

[00:01:13] I'm talking crystal clear audio and even HD. Wait, now they're telling me 4K video? Well, check that out.

[00:01:21] This will make your content shine like a pro. Plus, Riverside even records separate audio tracks for each participant.

[00:01:28] So you can edit each one individually and make sure your audio sounds the best it should.

[00:01:33] And guess what? I've got a special deal for you. Check this out. If you use promo code PODtastic at checkout, you will get 15% off your purchase.

[00:01:44] That's right. 15% off. That's going to help you take your podcast to the very next level.

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[00:01:57] When somebody says, I want to start a podcast. Great. What is it going to be about and why are you doing it?

[00:02:04] And what kind of equipment do you have? Do you have any kind of equipment?

[00:02:07] Well, maybe let's figure these things out.

[00:02:09] So there are some basic misconceptions when it comes to creating a podcast.

[00:02:14] Because yes, you can do a podcast for close to nothing.

[00:02:18] You can do a podcast entirely on your phone and record it there.

[00:02:22] I think you even can edit the audio there too on some platforms.

[00:02:26] Maybe not.

[00:02:27] But you can technically do an entire show end-to-end right on your phone.

[00:02:32] Same thing goes for a YouTube channel or obviously with an Instagram account or TikTok.

[00:02:38] Most of those things are all done with smartphones and I get it.

[00:02:41] We all are walking around with this mobile portable device that can do all these cool great things that we already own.

[00:02:49] That is fantastic.

[00:02:50] But sometimes podcasters think when they get into podcasting, they obviously have to cover all the technical stuff.

[00:02:59] Like you got to cover.

[00:03:00] I mean, if you have a microphone, yes, you got to buy that.

[00:03:03] If you have an audio interface like a Zoom PodTrack P4 or perhaps maybe this Rodecaster Pro, you need to pay for that.

[00:03:11] Obviously, the microphone, headphones, perhaps a good camera, like a good webcam.

[00:03:18] I'm using the Elgato FaceCam.

[00:03:20] I have that.

[00:03:21] That's a really good webcam.

[00:03:22] Good lighting.

[00:03:24] All this stuff.

[00:03:25] Not to mention all of the subscriptions you will have to pay for having a podcast.

[00:03:30] The Media Host, that's a subscription you need to pay for.

[00:03:33] The range on that is usually around $20 a month, depending where you go.

[00:03:37] And then if you use any kind of services like Riverside.fm, there's a payment for that.

[00:03:42] If you have any kind of AI tools, there's payments for that.

[00:03:46] This stuff can really add up.

[00:03:48] So you added all this stuff together and you're spending maybe all the money you have on all the gear and all the tech and all the subscriptions and all the platforms.

[00:03:57] It may not leave you with very much money left over for your content.

[00:04:02] What?

[00:04:03] What do you mean, Chris?

[00:04:04] What are the money for my content for?

[00:04:06] Well, did it occur to you that having really good content will drive your podcast forward?

[00:04:13] All the money spent on all the gear and all the equipment and all the best software and all the best stuff means nothing if you have nothing to say.

[00:04:22] And, hey, before I go any further today, I want to tell you that you can podcast about anything you want, however you want to do it.

[00:04:30] As long as it's not like hate speech or anything like that.

[00:04:33] But other than that, yeah, you can podcast about whatever you want to do it.

[00:04:36] Don't let me or anybody else tell you exactly how you need to do your own show.

[00:04:40] If you are enjoying your own content, if you're enjoying the way that you do your show, then keep on keeping on, man.

[00:04:47] But what I'm talking about is having personal experiences and personal stories because those things drive really good content, especially on a podcast.

[00:04:58] And you know and I know that experiences do cost money.

[00:05:03] So if you were to look up on, like, say, YouTube, Disney-related vacations and Disney-related channels, you'll find a ton of them with millions of followers.

[00:05:13] And they may cover Disney cruises.

[00:05:16] They may cover Disney World, all that stuff over there.

[00:05:19] They may cover Disneyland.

[00:05:21] There's a couple I follow over there.

[00:05:23] And they're constantly showing around the parks.

[00:05:26] They're constantly talking about all the new updates.

[00:05:28] They're talking about all the great new Disney stuff coming out, maybe even Disney movie stuff.

[00:05:33] But mostly it's like Disney parks.

[00:05:35] They've niched down with that.

[00:05:37] And the same thing can go with any kind of topic, any kind of thing.

[00:05:40] But no matter what that thing is, it costs money to actually do it.

[00:05:46] Now, you don't have to do a show exactly like that.

[00:05:49] But their content does take some financial backing to make it happen.

[00:05:55] So if you're trying to create unique and compelling content, well, then it's very important for you to add in your own personal experiences and personal stories.

[00:06:05] Now, I know it can be expensive to go on trips.

[00:06:09] I get it.

[00:06:10] I went on two trips this summer.

[00:06:11] Very expensive.

[00:06:12] Took a lot of time.

[00:06:13] And not everybody can do that.

[00:06:15] But having some kind of experience, no matter what it is, that's related to you, will help with adding to your authenticity and your relatability with your audience.

[00:06:27] And that will definitely help you grow and engage with that audience.

[00:06:31] Because they're going to know, like, and trust you.

[00:06:34] Okay, yeah, I know there is a cost for this engaging content.

[00:06:38] It's not free.

[00:06:39] So you have to really make a decision that only X amount of dollars is going to go towards my gear and all my stuff to create the show.

[00:06:48] But then you should probably set some money aside to have for the content itself.

[00:06:53] I used to follow a lot of these car YouTubers.

[00:06:58] I still do.

[00:06:59] Where they have, like, this project car.

[00:07:01] And the whole YouTube channel would be centered around this one car.

[00:07:05] It would be them, like, working on the car, driving the car.

[00:07:07] Things break.

[00:07:08] They fix it.

[00:07:09] You know, different things about the car.

[00:07:11] And I would love them because I would own that exact same car.

[00:07:15] And I would be like, oh, they did that to the car?

[00:07:17] That's interesting.

[00:07:17] Oh, let me see if I can do that too.

[00:07:19] In fact, I actually bought a couple parts that they bought on the YouTube channel.

[00:07:24] And I watched them install it.

[00:07:25] And I'm like, I think I can do that.

[00:07:27] So I tried it myself on my car.

[00:07:30] I didn't quite work out the way they did to make it look so easy on YouTube.

[00:07:33] But having that car definitely costs money.

[00:07:37] All the parts cost money.

[00:07:38] All the gas that goes in the car obviously costs money.

[00:07:42] All that stuff costs money.

[00:07:43] And we're not even talking about the cameras and the editing and all the software.

[00:07:47] I'm not talking about that stuff.

[00:07:48] I'm talking about the actual content is the car, which costs money.

[00:07:52] So if you're going to create something, whether it's a YouTube channel or hopefully a podcast,

[00:07:57] and you want it to be centered around a single thing,

[00:08:00] that's going to cost some kind of money to do the thing,

[00:08:03] whether it's traveling or maybe you're going to break down different concerts you go to.

[00:08:08] All that stuff costs money.

[00:08:10] There are tickets involved.

[00:08:11] There's travel expenses involved.

[00:08:13] But if you do that, it will definitely lead to richer content for your audience.

[00:08:19] And I know this stuff's not cheap.

[00:08:21] It's expensive to do things.

[00:08:22] I get it.

[00:08:23] When we were on the Chris and Christine show, somewhere on episode three or five,

[00:08:27] I think it was, we were talking about our trip to the iHeart Radio Music Festival in Las Vegas.

[00:08:32] We were talking about everything we saw as it happened, talking about our experience going there.

[00:08:38] All that kind of stuff makes for really good content.

[00:08:42] And yeah, I know it's not cheap to go there.

[00:08:44] The tickets are not cheap.

[00:08:45] Yes, I paid for it out of my own pocket.

[00:08:47] Yes, I get all that.

[00:08:49] But it makes for really good content because people who did not have a chance to go to the festival or go to Vegas get to hear what it's like from me who has been there.

[00:09:00] And I know what you're thinking.

[00:09:02] Hey, Chris, I can't afford all this stuff.

[00:09:04] I can't afford to take a trip to Las Vegas.

[00:09:06] I can't afford to fly to Paris.

[00:09:07] I can't afford that stuff.

[00:09:09] That's okay.

[00:09:10] You don't have to.

[00:09:12] You can balance out your budget for things and experiences that you can manage.

[00:09:17] And you also do not have to spend $10,000 on equipment and gear.

[00:09:22] You can tame that down a little bit.

[00:09:24] You can balance it out.

[00:09:25] If you spent $10,000 on your podcasting rig, first off, why would you spend that?

[00:09:32] You probably can get that price point down to maybe $1,000, maybe $3,000 if you want to have some fancy stuff.

[00:09:38] That leaves you with extra money to do experiences, to go do things, to have something to talk about.

[00:09:45] But I get it.

[00:09:46] If money is extremely tight for you, if you can't do both, you can't have all the gear and all the experiences, something's got to give, right?

[00:09:53] So you can get your gear down to a minimum.

[00:09:55] It doesn't have to be expensive.

[00:09:57] You can get a simple Samsung Q2U microphone, which ranges around $50 to $70.

[00:10:03] You can plug that into any computer you are currently using right now, assuming you have a computer.

[00:10:09] Probably do.

[00:10:11] And then you can record on free software like Audacity, which I'm using right now.

[00:10:16] It looks great.

[00:10:17] Sounds great.

[00:10:18] And it's free.

[00:10:19] So you can get your costs down to a minimum.

[00:10:22] In fact, on the Chris Christine Show, when we first got started, we were using $20 microphones, two of them.

[00:10:29] They were USB, and I don't know how this happened, but I was able to trick the computer to put them both into the computer.

[00:10:35] And with Audacity, I don't know how I did this, but I was recording everybody into a single mono track.

[00:10:42] Horrible advice.

[00:10:43] I don't recommend doing that.

[00:10:44] If possible, keep everybody on a separate audio track.

[00:10:47] It makes editing so much easier, and it makes sure you can balance everybody out.

[00:10:52] But I didn't know any better when I got started.

[00:10:54] I just knew that I can physically plug in these two cheap microphones into my old computer, and somehow it got recorded, and somehow it put it into Audacity, and somehow I was able to save it and make it as a podcast.

[00:11:06] Bada bing, bada boom.

[00:11:08] Which allowed us to free up money to do these other trips, like the trip to Hawaii, like the trip to the iHeartRadio Festival.

[00:11:15] Things like that we were able to talk about on our channel because we didn't spend $1,000 or $10,000 on equipment.

[00:11:23] We only spent like $40.

[00:11:25] And yeah, this show is not a financial planning show, and I've had my ups and downs in the financial space.

[00:11:33] Trust me.

[00:11:33] You know, I don't know if I'm quite the one to give advice on financial stuff, but if you figure out what's important to you, and you can balance everything out.

[00:11:42] You know, somebody once told me that a crackhead who really wants their fix on drugs, they will find a way to get the money for the fix.

[00:11:52] Same thing goes with your content or your podcast.

[00:11:55] If you really have to have that podcast and you really, really have to go on that trip, you'll figure out a way to do it.

[00:12:02] But if all else fails, as a current content creator, what you can do is you can explore possibly having other options to fund your fun for the podcast.

[00:12:15] I'm talking like maybe a GoFundMe or a Patreon or a donation page or some kind of crowdfunding something or other.

[00:12:23] That way you can fund your personal experiences that you can share with your audience on your podcast.

[00:12:30] Something like, hey, we're going to go on a trip to fill in the blank place to talk about our podcast or even better yet, as I record this episode right now,

[00:12:39] Podcast Movement in Washington, D.C. is going on this week as I record this show.

[00:12:44] And Podcast Movement is a fantastic place to get amazing content for your podcast.

[00:12:51] It's a great place to learn about podcasting.

[00:12:54] It's a great place to network with other content creators in the space, meet them face-to-face, meet all of the tech gear people that are there.

[00:13:03] Riverside is there.

[00:13:05] All of them are all right there.

[00:13:06] And you get to meet everybody.

[00:13:08] It's a fantastic place to go to.

[00:13:10] But unfortunately for me, I did not have a chance to make it out there for this event.

[00:13:16] Almost did.

[00:13:17] I had a few conflicts of scheduling and it didn't quite work out for me.

[00:13:22] But if you did go to Podcast Movement, that is amazing.

[00:13:25] That gave you amazing content for your podcast.

[00:13:28] Stories that you can share with your audience that I don't have because I wasn't there.

[00:13:34] But if you need help getting out there, out to that event, try asking your audience for a donation.

[00:13:40] Now I know you may hear crickets and hear nothing really happening at all.

[00:13:45] Because we all know that when you ask your audience to do anything, usually you'll see somewhere around a 3% return on that.

[00:13:54] So if you have 100 listeners to your show, three of them may chip in to do something.

[00:14:00] But you don't have to ask listeners.

[00:14:02] You might be able to ask family members, friends, people, colleagues, whoever you may know.

[00:14:07] Say, hey, I really want to go out to this big event.

[00:14:10] But I'm short on cash and I need to get out there because this will give us amazing content for our podcast and for our listeners.

[00:14:18] But if none of that works, you always can try to maybe do collaborations with other content creators in your niche.

[00:14:27] They may be able to help you out.

[00:14:28] They may be able to pull you into their world and do the experience that they were going to do anyways and have you tag along.

[00:14:36] It's possible.

[00:14:37] I'm not saying it's impossible, but anything is possible.

[00:14:40] The moral of the story is you want to make sure that you can have amazing experiences that will become that amazing content for your podcast.

[00:14:49] Now, some of you out there might be thinking, hey, Chris, we don't do any kind of shows like that.

[00:14:54] We don't have a car show.

[00:14:56] We don't do travel shows.

[00:14:58] We don't travel much.

[00:14:59] We do movie reviews and movie type stuff.

[00:15:02] Well, great.

[00:15:04] Last I checked, it costs money to go to the movie theater.

[00:15:07] And last I checked, it costs money to rent a movie, to buy a movie, to own a TV to watch the movie on.

[00:15:14] All those things cost money.

[00:15:16] It's all the same.

[00:15:17] And if that is what your content is, then you are physically paying for your content to go onto your podcast.

[00:15:25] And yes, I know that a Disney Plus subscription is much, much cheaper than going on a Disney cruise.

[00:15:32] Yes, that's obvious.

[00:15:33] But let me ask you this.

[00:15:35] What kind of show would you rather listen to?

[00:15:37] The guy who went on the Disney cruise or the person who saw the guy who went on the Disney cruise?

[00:15:44] Having really good podcast content, content you can't get anywhere else, really comes with really good storytelling.

[00:15:53] And how do you have really good storytelling?

[00:15:55] And that is having really good stories to tell.

[00:15:57] And one really great way to do that is to make sure that you invest in having some kind of personal experiences of any kind that you can share on your podcast with your audience.

[00:16:11] Because really great podcasts have amazing stories.

[00:16:15] And how do they get that story?

[00:16:17] By physically having amazing experiences.

[00:16:20] And New York Times bestselling author, Michael Lewis, said it best.

[00:16:25] He said, and I quote, unless you have a story, you don't have a way to persuade people.

[00:16:30] Wow, that is really good stuff.

[00:16:33] Think about that.

[00:16:34] If you don't have a story, you have no way to persuade anybody to do anything, especially on your podcast.

[00:16:41] So if your podcast is literally about nothing and you're talking about literally nothing,

[00:16:47] then how is anybody listening to that thing going to take any kind of action at all?

[00:16:53] Whether you try to offer them a Patreon subscription or maybe buy some merch or even subscribe to your show, why would they do that?

[00:17:02] Sharing personal stories and personal experiences will definitely move the needle.

[00:17:07] And I know that sometimes that you may think that you don't have anything really important to talk about.

[00:17:13] Your trip to the local grocery store isn't all that exciting.

[00:17:17] But I bet you can pull off a story somewhere in there.

[00:17:21] Everything we do, every single day, whether it's a trip or not, there's a story involved with almost everything.

[00:17:28] Now, I know that some things are a little more exciting than others.

[00:17:31] Yeah, I get that.

[00:17:32] And I do know that spending a little cash to go through those experiences will definitely help you out with creating amazing content.

[00:17:41] And having really good content, there is a slight cost to do that.

[00:17:45] But if you're looking to build your audience, to make them see you as a thought leader,

[00:17:50] to make them appreciate the things you say because you are the expert in that one topic because you have gone through that topic.

[00:17:59] You're not just talking about it from afar.

[00:18:01] You physically are there.

[00:18:03] You can share things that I wouldn't know about because you are there.

[00:18:07] And on that note, thank you so much for listening all the way to the very end of this podcast episode today.

[00:18:14] I make these episodes for you so you can make an amazing show for your audience.

[00:18:20] I love podcasting.

[00:18:22] I love talking about podcasting.

[00:18:23] I love everything podcasting related.

[00:18:25] It's kind of an obsession, really.

[00:18:26] It's kind of weird.

[00:18:27] I don't know how.

[00:18:27] But just tonight, I was talking with an old friend and she was saying that she was considering creating a podcast because she knows I do podcasting and all that stuff.

[00:18:37] And I said, yeah, I would absolutely love to help you make a podcast.

[00:18:40] Although she's not quite ready there.

[00:18:42] She's in the early infant stages of thinking about doing a podcast.

[00:18:46] We've all been there.

[00:18:47] It goes from like concept to maybe we'll do it to maybe to concept again to maybe we'll do it to let me buy a microphone and get this thing going.

[00:18:55] I know some people will sit around on a podcast idea for years.

[00:19:00] I mean years.

[00:19:01] The best way to get good at podcasting is to physically do it.

[00:19:05] It's just like riding a bike.

[00:19:06] Did you ever think that you could ride a bike by looking at the bike, by sitting there watching other people ride the bike?

[00:19:12] No, you physically have to get on the bike, start pedaling and see how you can do it.

[00:19:16] Because when you first get on, you're not doing tricks right away.

[00:19:19] And the same thing with podcasting.

[00:19:21] Your first episode is never going to be amazing.

[00:19:23] But over time, you grow, you get better, and so on and so forth.

[00:19:28] So I'm here to help you out and everybody out.

[00:19:30] So if this episode delivered any value to you, can you do me just a small favor?

[00:19:36] Down in the show notes of this very episode, there is a podcast survey which I've put together.

[00:19:42] Link in the show notes.

[00:19:44] Click the link.

[00:19:44] It'll take you to a new survey page.

[00:19:46] It's very short.

[00:19:47] It's very easy.

[00:19:48] Could you please fill that out and give me your honest feedback about this show so I know ways I can improve?

[00:19:55] Things that you want me to talk about, let me know.

[00:19:58] It's all right there in the survey.

[00:20:00] And until next time, happy podcasting.