194 | Podcast Growth Myths Exposed with Brianna Ansaldo of Bambi Media

[00:00:00] Hey, do you still think that a big-name guest will skyrocket your downloads? Think again. Brianna of Bambi Media is here to expose the biggest myths about podcasting, why solo episodes work better than you think, how to actually grow your audience, and the number one mistake that could be holding your show back. And, oh, check this out, the real shocker is you're probably making it right now.

[00:00:31] 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. Hey, what's happening? How are you doing today? Thank you so much for being here. I am Chris and yeah, this is Podtastic Audio.

[00:00:58] You clicked on the right show at the right time at the right place. I want to say thank you once again for doing that. This show was designed to help you make your amazing podcast. And one amazing tool to help you make that happen is Riverside.fm.

[00:01:15] Today's episode is brought to you by Riverside, the tool that makes podcasting super easy no matter where you are in the world or your guests are at. In fact, the guest on today's episode is joining me all the way from Australia, which is like other side of the world. And thanks to Riverside, it sounds like they're sitting right next to me right here in the studio. You get studio quality audio and video, no lag, no weird delays, just smooth, high-quality conversation.

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[00:02:36] You know, I don't travel nearly enough down to Australia. After all, it's only like an 18-hour plane ride from here. Why not? But when I am down in Australia, I want to know everything about podcasting. In fact, did you know that the Rode company that makes the Rode Podmics, the Rodecaster Pro, that is an Australian company. So Australia has got their hand in the podcasting space.

[00:03:00] So that is why I'm taking the virtual digital plane ride down to Australia to have a conversation with Brianna of Bambi Media. Now, Bambi Media is a media company that does work with podcasters and other content creators, working with the video side of things, the production side of things, the marketing side of things. Today on this episode, we talk all about podcasting.

[00:03:27] So here are the things we cover in this episode. We cover the secret to high-quality podcast audio, even if you do not have a big budget, which is especially true for every single indie podcaster out there. My goodness, most of us indie podcasters are just working with what we got. So we cover that. We also cover why doing a solo episode, not an interview.

[00:03:52] I know today's the interview episode, but those that do more solo episodes are highly underrated and how she shares her five key pillars on how you can build content for your show very easily that are going to serve your audience very well. It's going to make your audience love your show and make it very personal. We talk all about that. And also, we talk about marketing your podcast because everybody wants to know, how do you market a podcast? What's the best way to do it?

[00:04:21] How to do it? We cover those things and more in this interview today. So the very first thing I want to know is because I live here in the United States of America, and Australia is so far away, and they're in podcasting. We're in podcasting. But for some reason, I always feel that the United States has been doing podcasting a little longer. They're bigger. Most of the shows are played here in the United States. But how was podcasting taking off in Australia? It is, yeah.

[00:04:51] It actually took over the US as far as percentage per population. Last year, it had like, I think it was 43%. Maybe it was more than that. Don't quote me on those numbers. But it had an uptake into the market that exceeded the American market, which was the first year that it had done that. And I was really excited because I've been working in this industry for so long.

[00:05:18] And for a long time, I was only working with US clients. And then I've transitioned over the years now to have a lot of Australians. So I can even see it in the work that I do. The queries that I get are a lot more coming from Aussies these days than they were back then. Really? You know, 10 years ago, when you're trying to work with an American podcasting company, how would you do it with the Skype or what were you using? It was always only audio. So audio only.

[00:05:48] And they would just record in whatever, you know, Pro Tools or GarageBand. It depends on how adept they were at using tools. And then they would just upload those things to me, just the raw audio via like a Google Drive. And then I would take it and then I would edit it. It was so clean and easy. Yeah. Because that's all you had. Like, that's all you were playing with. There wasn't all the things right now. It works, though. I think people even today can still use that same process.

[00:06:18] If they're doing any kind of editing for clients, they can have them drop it in a Dropbox or a Google Drive, get the files, and then go to town. The only thing I worry about is that how clean are those files that the clients drop off? Because they could drop you off some garbage that, I mean, what do you do in that situation? Do you tell them to go back and record it? Or do you say, hey, I'll do my best? What do you do? So it depends on the client, depends on their budget, depends on their time constraints.

[00:06:45] I have definitely dealt with a lot of terrible audio in my time. And it's always a fun conversation. I think the thing is, is that when you start working with a client, you have to prep them beforehand to go, this is proper microphone technique. This is where you should be sitting. Avoid cars and dogs and all that sort of stuff. And if you set them upright and they have a microphone, then you can't really lose.

[00:07:10] But it's mostly when you're dealing with guests that don't know what to do or they don't have the equipment. And then you can deal with some horrendous stuff that you have to try and clean up. These days, it's much easier with AI tools. But back then, I was using tricky EQ effects and things in Pro Tools where I was trying to cut out and notch out all the sounds that were annoying.

[00:07:34] And I was using iZotope, RX, like denoise plugins and things to try and get it. You'd get it pretty good. But yeah, it was hard. Yeah, I can imagine. That's why when I record, I also record shows for clients. I edit for a client. And I do all the recording myself. I don't let them touch it because I'm afraid they'll screw it up. And so I even bought them a microphone because at first they were using those god-awful like operator little headset things, you know?

[00:08:04] Oh my God, I hate those things so much. They weren't even like the good broadcaster ones. They were like the ones for like $10 you buy to answer your phone on your computer kind of ones. Oh God. And so they were using those and I was using AI tools and stuff. I still do to like clean it up. But I did buy them a microphone. Here's an SM7B. I mean, here's a Samsung QTU microphone. And I'll mail it to him and he bought another one for his other co-host. And now they sound great.

[00:08:31] But even when they have a guest come on, they will do either the earbuds or they'll do the earphone thing or whatever. And I will use AI tools to clean up that half of the call. But the way I do it is that I actually have them link up with clean feed audio only. And it links into me. I save everything on my end. They don't have to press record or anything on their end. So as it comes in live, I tape it. And then when they're done, they're done. And I'll send it out when I'm ready.

[00:09:00] So I automatically have the files. I automatically go to work on it immediately. But it does take a lot more coordination, especially if you're in Australia and you're dealing with like US stuff and all that kind of stuff. It's kind of hard to pull that off. So when it comes to like audio editing, what have your clients said they kind of request from you when it comes to audio editing side of things? Like what are they expecting? So they're expecting a cleanup. A lot of the time, so to give you context, we have 60 clients globally.

[00:09:28] So we produce a lot of podcasts every week. And so it's, I think over the years, having that many as well, you get really good at knowing what makes a very good conversation versus what makes a boring conversation. So they really trust us to go, especially if it's a guest episode where it's them asking questions to a person.

[00:09:53] They trust us to kind of take creative license a little bit and go, this part's boring. Like this question you asked, no good. This answer didn't really cut it. Really? To try and get it to a point where everyone comes off sounding amazing and sounding like they know what they're talking about because they do. They just sometimes struggle to get the words out or they don't know how to frame a question.

[00:10:17] So it depends on how far along the podcaster is as to how much help you need to give them. But a lot of them, they certainly always request and know that we will cut out anything like the ums and the ahs and all that boring stuff. That's kind of like a basic, that's like a basic, that's almost like an obvious. But sometimes I like to leave that stuff in because it kind of gives a little bit of a more human feel to the conversation when you do that kind of stuff.

[00:10:45] So you're talking more like content editing versus just straight audio editing. Yeah. Like both. And giving them feedback at the end. So like our editors here at Bambi Media, so it's not just me, I've got editors and a team. Especially for the clients who are on like bigger packages, we will obviously edit, listen through, do the creative editing. And then at the end, we give them feedback on how they did in that episode. So, you know, was it a good conversation?

[00:11:14] Is the title they picked any good? You know, was it flowing well? Could they have asked better questions? Could they have framed things differently? To try and help them like just get better every time because every episode is a new opportunity to deliver something better. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, every episode, I always say try to make it better than the last one if possible. I mean, I know you have winners and losers as you go along, but you're always evolving. You're always growing. You're always learning. That's the thing. Try to be learned.

[00:11:43] Don't be stubborn thinking like you know it all when it comes to creating a good podcast because you could learn, you know, new tricks and new things and you just get better at what you do. And I think that, like, I love podcasting. I love audio side of podcasting. Now, you guys just do the audio only or do you video or do you both or what do you do? We do both. And again, it depends on the budget. So we've got like a different degree of packages that people can book. So like a chocolate package and then they're all ice cream flavors all the way up. Why is that?

[00:12:13] Are you like ice cream? I mean, I don't know. It just was fun. And we had these little cool illustrations that my illustrator created with logos. And I just love, I love the feel of it. It just makes, makes you feel good. So yeah, we have. It does, doesn't it? I saw that. I noticed that your website is super cool. That's super unique. I actually saw that. It doesn't look like a boring, regular, you know, price one, two, three tier basic thing. It's kind of a fun, a fun deal. I actually dig that. That's, that's, that's pretty awesome.

[00:12:42] So, but you said you've been in podcasting for 10 years. Did you ever have your very own podcast that you got started? I didn't have my own podcast until probably two years ago, maybe less time than that, actually. Really? Yeah. That whole time I was just editing everyone else's show. But why, why would you do, why would you edit for somebody else if you didn't have your own? Because I didn't need to. I think was the thing is that I felt like I was, I was consuming so much anyway.

[00:13:12] And I knew what I was doing. I did a degree, like I had an audio production degree. And like, I understood it all to the point where I was just delivering for other people and not feeling like I needed to do something of my own. And I also didn't know at the time what market I wanted to fill, like with my own show as well, which is something that is very important. Like I didn't want to just start a show because I was in podcasting. Like it had to make sense for me. So yeah, I just, I did it eventually.

[00:13:41] Yeah. Me, I was just like listening to radio and I was like, I wonder if I can do that. But I could do that. Let's give it a shot. With no like idea what I was doing and like nothing and like no real gear, you know, and an old computer. And, and I mean, I swear the first thing I did, I had MP3 file, the first episode all done. And then I'm like trying to drag and drop that thing into iTunes. Oh yeah. Bypassing the media host altogether. Just dragging it in. Yeah.

[00:14:10] I thought, I thought it was just like, like YouTube, you know. God, yes. Because, because YouTube, that's how you do it. You need to drop, drop a file on the YouTube and boom, there it is. See, I wasn't aware there were other podcast players. I only had an iPhone and I only was aware of Apple iTunes. So I just, I just assumed that an iPod, I mean, Apple, iPod, a podcast was only available on Apple. So that's why I went there thinking it was like that. And they said, you need a media host. I'm like, what the hell is a media host talking about?

[00:14:40] So then I'd like Google that and all this research and stuff. And I think a lot about podcasting is kind of learning how you do this stuff as you kind of go. And being that you've been on the other side of things, been on the creator side, like the editing side of things. But you get your own podcast going, you kind of know what things should sound like, how the flow should go, the conversations, questions, you know, things like that. So I guess it kind of helps you out when you do jump into podcast and you kind of a little more. You kind of know what you're doing a little better, I guess, so to speak.

[00:15:09] Versus me when I jumped in, didn't know anything about nothing. But that's kind of cool as well. I like the idea of having that naivety too, because it just means that you're unencumbered. You just start it and you just see what happens and it doesn't matter. And you're not chasing anything in particular. You're just giving it a go. And I think especially for hobby podcasters, that's a big deal. Like that's the whole thing. That's why you do it. Go and have fun with it. Go and explore it. See if you like it.

[00:15:39] It kind of trips me out as you mentioning that is that I've heard some shows, especially you're in 2020, COVID shows, the COVID avalanche of shows, I guess, that some of those podcasters, I swear, said they never listened to a podcast before in their life. Yet they're going to start a podcast. You know, like I think you at least seem to like listen to stuff, like at least be aware of what a podcast is before you jump into trying to create one just because everybody else is doing it and jump into it. You know, I mean, what if you are, what if you're a vegetarian and then you open a barbecue

[00:16:08] restaurant, you know, what is popular? I feel like I disagree there because I can't, we definitely had people come to us that had, they wanted to start a podcast, but they never listened to a podcast. And those were some of the most interesting ones because they weren't, they didn't have preconceived notions as to what a podcast should be. And so, and the whole medium is kind of like everyone can do whatever they want. There's, there's no rules really.

[00:16:37] So it kind of made it, I mean, to a point you sort of had to at some point go, okay, I get that you haven't listened to any, but you might need to now that you've been going for a while so that you understand what I'm saying here. You know, like there comes a point where you really enter the market, but if you're starting one and you haven't listened to any, it's kind of fun in the same way. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think with, within, with me, for example, like my first like experiences with audio,

[00:17:06] like even with the podcasting side was like from radio and morning radio and those morning radio, like morning zoo type shows, you know, the bells and whistles and the gags and all that stuff. And so I kind of came into podcasting thinking it had to be like that a little bit, you know, but, but it doesn't have to be like that. So I think a lot of maybe new podcasters come in thinking it's just like radio. So they have that radio voice and they have the whole bells and whistles and the, you know, and all this kind of, kind of fluff and stuff thinking has to be like that. And I think some of them burn out really quickly.

[00:17:36] I mean, for many reasons, I mean, one could be not making any money with it, you know, on day one and which doesn't happen very often, but, and then of course, you know, downloads are low and things like that. Have you had any clients come to you early on in their podcasting career and get kind of like frustrated that the thing isn't like taking off immediately? I always try and frame it when we have our initial, so we have like a conversation of how to get started consultation before we get going, before we do anything.

[00:18:03] And I always frame it there in that initial chat to go, this isn't going to be the big thing that's going to go really fast and, you know, grow really fast. You're going to get all these things and you're going to get a heap of downloads. It's not going to be that thing. It's going to be like growing a social media channel where you have to, you know, plug at it, keep going, be consistent, and it will grow over time.

[00:18:28] And I try and give it like a bit of a timeline for them because they always ask that, like, well, how long do you think it's going to take? And, you know, that's like, that's like asking how long do you think I'm going to live? Like it's, it's, it's not really a conversation that you can have an answer to, but try and give them a little bit of a frame. And I can also kind of tell depending on how active they are on other channels as to how

[00:18:53] that show, like the podcast will grow in relation to what else they have going on. So if they're really fresh and they've got nothing, like no socials, that's a very different conversation. It's a different, a very different hike based on that. Whereas someone that has bigger social media following or some other thing going on, big newsletter or whatever, they're going to grow in a different way. Right.

[00:19:18] But I also did hear that there are some people that say are massive, maybe they're a celebrity, who knows what, they've got like a million followers on Instagram and whatever. And then they start their first podcast and they don't get the same million on the podcast, maybe a fraction of that. And they get mad. They're like, well, podcasting is stupid because obviously no one's listening. Have you seen those that happen with anybody you've worked with? That happens with pretty much everyone.

[00:19:45] You're not going to have, it's not like one for one, like at all. But you can see that the growth is like the trajectory. If it's a good show and if it's good content and they have good ideas and all that, it grows quicker than the ones that start from like nothing. But just because you have a really big base somewhere, it doesn't mean that when you start a podcast, you're going to have a huge audience that's going to match what's happening on socials or your other things as well.

[00:20:13] Because it's a completely different audience. The person that follows you on TikTok or Instagram or whatever is not the same person necessarily that's then going to listen to you on podcast platforms. Your super fans will, but not everyone will. Yeah, that's good advice. That's really good to be aware of because I've heard and I've seen people think like, well, I've got a million followers here. I should have at least half of that or maybe more or whatever. Follow me on my podcast and that sort of thing.

[00:20:42] So in your mind and your travels, what do you think overall makes a good podcast? Personality. Personality, I think is probably one of the main things. And I think it's the thing that people kind of forget a little bit when they start a show that they're trying to be a certain thing or they're trying to give certain information. The ones that go better are the ones that have more of the flavor of the person in it.

[00:21:11] So if you're having a conversation with someone, let's say it's an interview style podcast, you need to be presenting yourself in a way that the person listening gets a good sense of who you are from the conversation. Those ones go better than the ones that are, here's my tactics, here's my tips, here's my tools, here's my blah. But don't frame it or don't share anything about themselves in the podcast as well.

[00:21:41] Yeah, well, I've seen a lot of interview-only shows that have their list of questions. And you know they're pre-listed because on every episode, it's the same damn 10 questions. They ask and maybe they change the order around, but it's pretty much the same thing. And so you're like, I'm not hearing anything much about this person. I know nothing about the host. The interviews are kind of dry. They kind of feel like a job interview or something, you know, kind of like that. But I don't know who wants to listen to that. I mean, there's an audience for everything.

[00:22:11] I like to have a little more of a conversation with a narrative of hitting certain points and knowing who your audience is. That's probably a big one too. I think a lot of podcasters have no idea who their audience is or who they should even their audience be. Do you have that conversation with a new podcast? You're like, who is this for? Yes, 100%. I think that's question number two. Oh, really? Yeah, it's like, firstly, who are you? And then secondly, who is this podcast actually for? And that can stump people. Really?

[00:22:41] Yeah, because they're like, oh, I don't really know yet. I'm just going to maybe see, you know, my business is this, because we work with a lot of founders of businesses growing their personal brands through podcasting. And so they often come like, I'll just see, you know, like, and it's like, well, no, that's not really how to do it. You need to have at least a couple of avatars. I hate the word avatar, but you need to have those people in mind and you need to have a

[00:23:11] reason for doing the show. So what do you ultimately want to get out of it? Because yes, it's for the people. Yes, it's for giving information. But what are you trying to get from this? And a lot of the times it's, you know, more business for themselves, or it's a product that they have, or, you know, they're trying to sell merchandise or they're trying to get sponsors. Like there's always something. It's not altruistic most of the time. It's just there is a reason.

[00:23:39] So if you know who it's for and then what your actual purpose is, like why you're delivering it, that makes the whole conversation and starting a podcast a lot easier and getting content that you think is going to work as well. Right, right. Exactly. You got to know who you are and you got to know who you are and who your podcast is for. And I think also like why you're doing it, you know, like, like if you're doing it to have fun, great. If you're doing it to sell your book, great. If you're doing it to sell whatever, great.

[00:24:07] As long as you have a reason why you're doing it, then I think everything is kind of falls into place. So I want to talk to you about marketing because you're a big marketing company, marketing a podcast is different than marketing, say, a YouTube channel or Instagram and things like that. So when people want to market a podcast, especially as an indie hobby podcaster side, who doesn't have like a million dollar budget? Marketing, you know, globally on an expensive level. Where would you tell them to start and any tips or tricks?

[00:24:32] So the biggest thing here is to remember that not your whole audience is going to be on podcast platforms. So if you're trying to reach as many people as possible, then you need to meet those people where they are. And the best way to do that is repurpose. Like from a marketing perspective, there is no better way than repurposing your podcast.

[00:25:01] You don't have to have video to repurpose your podcast. It definitely helps. But you need to have ways where you can meet people where they are. So that can be having a email newsletter. That can be having a presence on one of the social platforms. That could be like LinkedIn. If you're on LinkedIn, that could be medium. What you need to do and what I suggest and what we do for our bigger clients is taking

[00:25:28] that audio that you've done and then creating firstly three or two versions of your show notes. So you have a version of your show notes that is for podcast platforms and that's like three paragraphs and some chapter markers and some links. And then you do a full article version of that podcast episode. You'll see me do that on LinkedIn. Every week we do that. It's a big article.

[00:25:56] From that article, you can then post that on your website and on LinkedIn as an article and on Medium. Medium is a place where journalists go to find stories and writers go to write and writers go to read other stories as well. You've now got an audio. So someone that's engaging with you on audio. And then you're also reaching other people because they probably aren't listening to podcasts on other places.

[00:26:24] So like LinkedIn and Medium. And if there's a newsletter that you could start, then you can put a transcript, a link to your transcript. There was some statistics, like some research that was done on even just newsletters where if you say you have a podcast and then you click, there's like a link on the newsletter that allows them to go and listen to it on Apple, listen to it on Spotify or read the transcript.

[00:26:51] There was some massive amount of clicks that would go to the transcript more than the Apple or the Spotify. Because what you have to remember there is a person has come to read your newsletter. They probably, the bias is read. They don't have time to listen. They want to click on the transcript and they want to get the information that way.

[00:27:11] So think about that, like from a marketing perspective, what can I do with my audio that's above audio, that's to reach more people in the space that they're actually in? Once they understand, once they've like engaged with you on the platform where they actually exist, then you're much more likely to convert them into actual listeners.

[00:27:40] Maybe you won't, but they will then follow you on that platform and enjoy the articles that you write. And it doesn't really matter if they're listening to you or not because you're still reaching that person. So that's the first thing I would say about marketing there. Nice. Yeah, I kind of follow that strategy. I take my podcast and break it into audio chunks, whether it's an article on LinkedIn, like you said, or whatever, things like that.

[00:28:06] And just start putting it out in written content form or other places, newsletter and things like that. So I think people see things first before they listen. So if it's a written content, whether even if it's a graphic or something like that, you know, they'll see it first before they press play on anything. And if it's in some kind of written text, they'll probably see that first too. So I think you see it before you listen. That's something to really keep in mind.

[00:28:32] So as far as like getting an actual podcast, get more subscribers to the podcast, where do we go from there? Then it's a matter of, again, meeting those people where they are. So if you're trying to increase your subscribers, your followers, your downloads, then it's one of those conversations which you've probably heard before is trying to get yourself on other people's shows and then showcasing your personality and showcasing what you do and, you know,

[00:29:01] talking a little bit about your show perhaps if it comes up. Because the person that's listening to a podcast is more likely to go and listen to another podcast because they already enjoy the medium. You have to sell yourself in your interview enough for someone to feel engaged enough to then go and listen to your content. I mean, I have a show, Pump Up Your Pod, which you could go and listen to. It's actually not the purpose of this conversation like here. It helps.

[00:29:29] Yeah, for me to try and for me to even do that, you know. But it's something to be aware of is that, and I think a lot of people make a mistake as well if you're having like an interview-based show where they try and get good guests, like really good high-level guests onto their show thinking that those guests are going to bring a lot of extra listeners to their show. But in fact, that doesn't really happen. I've seen that over a decade worth of doing that, you know. Why does it not happen?

[00:29:58] Why do people think it does happen? Yeah, I think it doesn't happen because the person that's listening, okay, like for example, we have a client that had Gary Vee on their show. Okay. A huge guy. But it didn't transfer into a lot of extra listens. A little bump in that week, but not overall, not for the lifetime of the show. I think because what you're going to remember is, let's say Gary Vee is the example, is on

[00:30:25] so many shows, has such a big following of his own, produces all his own content. You could say that about almost anyone that's big. They are already doing all their things and they already are engaging with people on their own platforms. Why would a person that's following Gary Vee then go to a random show they've never heard about and then listen to that show going, oh man, yeah, cool. You know, like it actually doesn't really happen that way.

[00:30:55] It's, it's, yeah, it's the mistake that people think. I don't think Gary's going to share, Gary Vee's not going to share that episode anyways. No. Why would he? No. And it's, and again, like that's fine. Having those people in your show shouldn't be on the basis of like trying to get more followers. That's, that's a different, what you're trying to do there is actually open a conversation, open a network, open a door for yourself to get to know that person and potentially, you know, communicate with them, work with them, whatever. That makes sense.

[00:31:24] But having them on your show to try and get subscribers doesn't really work. Yeah. Having everyday people, having people with other shows, community that's built around this kind of thing that we're doing right now is a lot more sustainable and better in the long term for the hobbyist to actually increase the subscriber count there. So try and be on as many shows as you can.

[00:31:50] I like to aim for like with our clients that have this be part of their package as well. Try and aim for like at least 30 in the year. It's not heaps. If you can do more, that's great. Yeah. It's like, yeah. It all depends. So if you're in Australia like that and you're trying to schedule people with New York City, it's probably a little trickier and things like that. So I get it. Yeah. You know, it depends where you're located. I know if you're like maybe center country and you're available at night, maybe you can do either side fairly easily, things like that.

[00:32:20] So with my schedule, it's kind of tricky to even schedule interviews as it is. Yeah. So that's why I kind of don't do a ton. But when it comes to interviews, I know some shows, a lot of shows are deathly afraid of doing solo content versus interviews. What are you clapping for? You think it's amazing? I love solo content. It's my favorite. Oh, well, there you go. That's what I do mostly. So I think from my perspective with solo content is that it's easier to do. I can do whatever I want.

[00:32:49] I can edit how I want. I can, you know, do whatever I want because it's my thing. You don't have to rely on a guest or co-host or time zones and questions and all kinds of stuff. But I think people do fall into the interview, everyone show because it's easy. It's just have a conversation. You get the guests to say whatever they want to say, get the ball rolling. Hit record and sit back, relax. Let them do the show. Yeah, exactly. And I think it's what happens.

[00:33:14] But I think, my perspective here, I think that the audience prefers solo episodes. But what do you think? Yeah. So again, we have a lot of clients that come to us that have had shows for quite a while and they've been just interviewing people. And then pretty much the first thing I say is, where's your solo content? Like, I don't know who you are. I have no concept of who you are, what you deliver, like anything because you're not giving me anything. And they're so scared.

[00:33:43] They're so scared to just be solo because it's all on them. And they think they're going to stuff up and, you know, they do. And that's fine. Like, it's fine. That's why we edit. You know, we can clean up things if you repeat the same sentence a bunch of times. Like, it's so important and so much fun once you get used to solo content, because I feel like you're more connected. I certainly feel this way when I'm doing it.

[00:34:10] You feel more connected to your listener because it's just you and that person. And that makes it much more enjoyable because you feel like you're delivering conversation that's just for them. So solo content is something you absolutely should do. Now, the trap that people come into with solo content is then it becoming boring because they haven't done good research. They don't, they haven't really thought about what they're going to record that week.

[00:34:39] And then they're like, oh crap, Bambi Media needs something. Let's just record anything, you know, and just get it out there. Like, it's not just our clients, but this is a, this is a thing that people do everywhere. And so they record something that could be better. But if they'd done a little bit more prep, if it was just an extra 30 minutes or a day that they were thinking about it beforehand, then the content would be so much better. And then sometimes that's why you don't grow.

[00:35:07] Because if you're just delivering solo content and you start to not really plan and you don't have a good content calendar and you don't really know what you need to be delivering, you can start to just repeat the same message over and over and package it in different, slightly different ways. That's the trap for solo content. Maybe I'm in that trap right now. I don't know. Yeah. So, but I think too, like you're saying, don't be boring, obviously, when you're trying to do a

[00:35:36] solo episode, it's probably tricky. And I know some solo episodes are way, way shorter than interview content, of course, typically, but I've seen some solos go pretty long too. So I have not, as a solo person doing a solo episode, I think the longest I've gone is maybe 45 minutes, maybe. That's pretty long for a solo, I think. Most solos are in the 10 to 20 minute range, 20 on the high end for the most part. But what do you tell somebody that, that, I mean, that's like, I don't know if I can do a solo. Like, I don't know about it. I don't know. I don't know.

[00:36:07] I always help them through that first bit where we then create three months worth of content that's solo. So you try and establish five pillars on things that you want to talk about. So, you know, let's say in your case, the pillars could be podcast marketing, podcast editing,

[00:36:31] podcast growth, you know, solo, like as in a personal content, like life updates and all that sort of thing. And then well-being, maybe. So you've got three pillars that about your core, like what it is that you are delivering in your solo content. And then you've got something that's more lifestyle because everyone likes to sticky beak. And then you've got well-being, which everyone wants to hear about as far as what you're

[00:36:58] struggling with, what you're not struggling with, what your day-to-day looks like, what your practices are for keeping yourself healthy. Okay. Let's just say that's it. Once you have five pillars, then do think about maybe use AI tools or whatever to help you pick five topics within that pillar and do that for everyone.

[00:37:23] Then you've got five, 10, 15, 20, 25 episodes for your podcast. That's all solo content. And it's so much easier when you bucket them into pillars because then you're more strategic and you're not feeling like, oh, I could talk about anything. Put them into pillars and then it makes it easier. That's great. That's fantastic advice. I never thought of it like that. I'm usually like off the cuff. Like, yeah, this week we'll figure it out. Well, for me too, it's like something happens during the week. I'll try to like, well, that's an interesting story.

[00:37:53] Yeah, that's good to do too. Weave into podcasting. Like, here's how I got ran over by a truck today. And we released our podcast. Jeez. No, but I'm saying like, for example, though, like I'm saying like something like that. And one thing that I started doing on this podcast, I wasn't doing before at the beginning, was I started doing a hook. And I didn't start doing a hook until recently. Well, not recently, probably like a hundred episodes ago. But at first I didn't do a hook. It's kind of like a cold open or wasn't even open or whatever.

[00:38:21] But now what I try to do now is, is I kind of learned this from the other podcast. When I started the other podcast, my experience with podcasting was more like a radio. And then of course, with like, like YouTube videos and the YouTube videos I was watching back then were kind of like these car videos and these kind of funny videos. And this guy would like start off the episode with like an action shot or something about they can crash your car or something like that. And then it goes into their logo and it kind of warms up to the video. You're like, what was that about? They kind of get you hooked.

[00:38:50] So I kind of thinking that, that the very first or the other, other show I did was that what if we took a clip in the middle of the episode and like move it to the front? It could be any clip at all. And I started doing that for a while, but then I'm thinking like, even with that little clip, it still doesn't really tell you what the episode's about. So, so then I started for this show, I didn't do either of that. And then eventually I started just doing cold opens, doing like a hook open at the beginning. So after I record the episode at the tail end of the episode, as I think, well, what was I thinking about the episode? What was the episode about?

[00:39:19] What would be a good hook? And then I'll record that part at the very end, then move that to the front editing flip flop. No big deal. It's very easy to do. And that's what I started doing, thinking that I think when people click on an episode, they should hear your voice. Should be the first thing they hear on the podcast episode, not an ad, not a drawn out intro, but right. I've heard these ones now, they're like these long music beds that run for a minute solid

[00:39:49] before you hear anything about anything. You're like, what is going on here? I'm checked out already. So do you tell clients that? Give them advice on how to hook a good podcast intro? Yeah, I definitely, it used to be the case where an intro at the front with music and them explaining what it was and themselves and all that for like 30 seconds was something I recommended because it created good sonic branding.

[00:40:15] So you had a really good idea as to what show you were tuning into. But the problem is, is that people are so savvy with podcasts now. How everyone's so used to hearing these things at the front that it's just like fodder. That's no one's really listening to what that intro was saying anyway. So you may as well not have it. Definitely. And I like to also switch it up. So sometimes there'll be a hook. Sometimes there'll be, you know, a voice at the beginning and then some music and then the actual episode. Sometimes they won't.

[00:40:44] Like just keep people on their toes a little bit more so that it doesn't feel like you have a format that you have to follow every time. If you switch things up, especially if it's solo, it just creates something that's a little bit more interesting and feels like a little bit more off the cuff. So I love the hook, but I don't use it every time as well. Yeah. Well, I mean, I've done the music thing. I've done a lot of different varieties of different things, create my own little cool intro, things like that. It's always fun.

[00:41:12] It's always fun to get creative with audio and things of that sort of. And I love playing with different audio. That's the first thing I figured I'd do was play with audio and then just mix things around. And I was playing. I use Audacity to this day. I love Audacity. And I know there's other tools, but I love Audacity. And the first thing I learned on Audacity was just how to mix audio. How to like, well, I can fade this one out. I can do this. Oh, look at this. Share this cool stuff out. I can like overlap different tracks. Things that sound super simple today, but back then I'm sure, or even for new podcasters,

[00:41:41] they probably don't even know how to do that stuff. I do know some tools like Descript. I don't know if you even can do that in Descript. Yeah, you can. You can. You can, you? Yeah. We have a whole series. It's actually a DIY podcaster series. It's a completely free thing that shows you how to do all of that in Descript where you can do all your fades and your automation and put all those things in. And Descript is a tool that I used to avoid like the plague because it just was so buggy and it just wasn't there yet.

[00:42:11] And, you know, me being like a bit of an audio snob, to be honest, like before that, because of my background. And I was like a touring musician for 10 years before I got into podcasting. And I have all this like knowledge, you know, that I was like, oh, I have to use Pro Tools. Like I have to use these fancy tools. Right. And so I would poo par and be like, nah, these things can't be as good, you know, because I'm these tools are the ones that I use. And this is there's a lot of people like that that think like that.

[00:42:41] And then so then when like tools like Audacity and even Riverside came along, not Audacity, sorry, Descript came along. I was like this. Come on. Like this can't compete with these things. I mean, they really can like they couldn't to begin with. But now we use Descript for most of our client editing because of the tools that you can actually use within it. It's not just about the audio editing. You can do that. You can do video editing.

[00:43:11] You can do you can get show notes. You can do a whole bunch of AI stuff in there. You can like there's so many things. And that tool Descript was created by musicians. So that I love that. Audacity also like because it's free. It's it's it's not complicated. You know, you can do the things you need to do simply. And it's just that is a great tool. Same as GarageBand is a great tool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Those are great tools. I think people sometimes they get in. They're confused.

[00:43:39] Like, well, how do I like like I mean, when I started, I didn't know where to even tape the audio. Yeah. Like I'm like, I mean, regardless of editing the thing, how do I tape the thing in the first place? You know? And and so that's like step one. I think they said now, but there's so many like even with Zoom or things even with Riverside, I guess, but Zoom and things like that, they have features where things can get recorded directly into their platform. So now you have the audio and the video kind of taped for you.

[00:44:06] And now once you have that, if you can get it onto your computer and you can move things around, maybe you can move the audio and audacity or the video, whatever things you can kind of play with stuff. Once you have all that. But I think some podcasters go video first because it's because this is an easier. I think it's an easier thing for most people because they have either their phone or they're used to doing Zoom chats and things like that. So they kind of go that direction.

[00:44:31] And and then so then they then they take the audio and and then they just throw it directly like into Spotify or whatever as is and with no editing. I think you need to do some editing. I mean, but I mean, it doesn't have to be NPR style. It doesn't have to be crazy like that unless you really want to. But I think that's you better than nothing, you know, at least make that sound good. I mean, because audio goes, you say you like audio. I love audio too.

[00:44:59] But I think I like to have my podcast a little louder than than normal or what I've heard from other shows just because I'm at work. It's noisy truck. I drive at work. It's kind of a it's hard to hear and things like that. So I like to keep it at 16 loves for mono. But I mean, I know that some people like seem like their podcast seems a lot lower than that only because I have to crank it louder and things. And I know there are some apps. I think that will automatically adjust.

[00:45:28] You've heard about those some podcast apps that will they will adjust the audio. But that's only because the podcaster creating the podcast didn't create it right. Yeah. You know, that's why they made those tools, you know. So but I like to have the audio loud and clear. I mean, it doesn't sound to be pristine, but just listenable, I guess, in almost any environment. Like no matter where the listener is listening to the show, whether it's on their laptop, their phone or whatever, they can hear it clear on every single device that it can be played on.

[00:45:58] That's how I create the podcast. That's how I view audio editing for a podcast. That's my perspective. I think it's important what you just said there. Editing is necessary, in my opinion, because I mean, I will say that we have a podcast production editing company, but that's what sets you apart from all the people that don't do that.

[00:46:24] Because there are a lot of podcasts out there that are just, as you say, like maybe it's video first and then they just put the audio version on their podcast platforms. Sometimes that works. But after a while, like you're not, I feel, you're not really respecting the listener because they can't hear, they can't see. And so if you're saying something and you're showcasing something and that sort of stuff

[00:46:51] and it's on audio and that person feels like they're getting gypped a little bit. So I like to definitely go through if it is video first and pump up your pod, like the stuff that we create for Bambi Media is video first these days. It was audio and now it's video first. But with every episode, I'll do an audio edit of that episode. I'll go back with no video attached to it.

[00:47:18] So all I'm doing is listening to it and just make sure that it makes sense, that it works. And if it doesn't, I won't run it as audio. I will record something different that's still on the topic that's just audio only. It's more work to do that. But then you're respecting the audio person because they're very different to the video person. Editing, I think, is key to keep it happy for everybody. What makes a good audio edit, in your opinion? Quality of audio is king.

[00:47:48] So yeah, the microphone that you're using, the environment that you're working within, the way you speak. These are the things that are the first things that people subconsciously will get a handle on. So if you have good quality audio and you have a nice voice, like your tone is nice. And I like to say as well, if you smile when you talk, that if someone is hearing you and

[00:48:14] they can't see you, they will be able to tell that you're enjoying yourself just because you have that smile on your face. That's actually a lot of it. That's kind of most of it to begin with is that makes a good audio only. Make sure your audio quality is good, your location is good, and that you are smiling when you're talking. Unless the content is really, you know, you're talking about grief or something. Like a true crime podcast.

[00:48:43] But that is key. And then from an editing perspective, once you have those things nailed, your job is much easier. Then it's just about in that EQ phase, finding those little sparkly points in your EQ where you can really highlight those areas of someone's voice that make them stand out. And when you're talking about trucking as well, like you're in trucks and you've got

[00:49:08] this, you're like this hum, this low kind of drone with like in a truck or in a car on a freeway or highway or whatever. That experience is annoying for people listening in trucks and in cars and those things as well. So getting your EQ right to know that you have to try and notch out some of those deeper, lower hums so that you push above the car noise as well. Those little things to me make a difference in the audio edit.

[00:49:37] Yeah, nice. Yeah, I like a good audio sound. A lot of the podcasts is recorded and it sounded great. And unfortunately, it's not, it's something that people miss and they just, they just assume that it's, it's, I can hear it on the, I can hear right now. Yeah. I can sound, you'll hear, I can hear you, you can hear me. Yeah, it's done. I mean, what else is there? You know, it's, it's audio is audio, whatever, whatever. And they throw it up there and then they expect it to go, go bonkers and go crazy.

[00:50:03] But I think, I think good audio makes a good difference, a big difference. And I think it doesn't have to take a million dollar studio. People, I think, think that, that way they think you have to have like those big giant mixer boards they have at the recording studio. You need one of those to make your podcast sound great. In fact, I mean, I'll, I'll sell the client that. Yeah. I use that all the time. Yeah. Yeah. I'll get a commission from that. Yeah. Let's do it. Right. Right. That's why, that's why I charge so much. Cause I had to bring in the, you know, the, the 80 channel, you know, mixing board. Yeah.

[00:50:33] But, but no, it doesn't have to be that way. And like I said, when I first got started, I had an old, a 10 year old computer and a USB microphone, you know, and using Audacity for the first time. Yeah. A couple hundred bucks. Right. And I figured there's some free tools out there. And now with AI, there's lots more free, you know, free tools, free tools, but there are some tools that they cost a little bit, you know, some are free versions of things, but so many ways to make your audio sound great. So I think now in today's world, there's no excuse for bad, bad audio.

[00:51:02] Like you even can take a phone, whatever you just a phone, you know, and running through somebody's AI tools. Now it's like, I said, like a microphone, but it's not pretty close. Yeah. It's not better, better than a, just a phone call would. And, and so I think there's no excuse to get good audio. And I think that you respect your listener by having good audio. I mean, you should respect your listener, you know, I mean, who doesn't do that? I'm sure some shows might not, I don't know.

[00:51:32] So, but. People get busy, you know, like they don't mean to not respect their listener. Like it's not something they're actively thinking like, oh, stuff them, you know, but it just happens. It's, it's like, it's a long list of things you have to do when you have a podcast. And so. Right. My skips getting bigger and bigger. And I think my production, like when I first started doing this show, my production was literally like out the door in 20 minutes, you know, like boom, boom, bam, then we're done.

[00:51:59] And, and now that I've kind of advanced it, I've gotten like more in depth with show notes and more in depth with like chapter markers. I'd never used chapter markers before. Now I use chapter markers now. And I think that's a great tool, especially for like a long podcast. Many different, many different points of, you know, topic have chapter markers. I hate it when they don't. I'm like, my gosh, guys, get with it. And so it is, it's not that hard to do really, but things like that, I didn't know how to do that stuff. So I kind of, everything kind of has evolved where I'm at now.

[00:52:28] And I think that adding these little, little things, it does add time to your production. So, so for me to create this episode, it does take much longer than it did in, in past episodes. I mean, I literally like the whole episode out, like this episode right here, I would have this whole thing done by the time I left to work in a couple minutes, like boom, boom, done out the door. And now it takes me a lot longer, but I also respect the listener. And I do know that, that I want to make sure I make the best thing I can for them. And deliver the best value I can for the audience.

[00:52:58] And that's what this, you know, the show is all about. It's delivering amazing value and content I can for the Indie Hobby Podcaster. And the one thing I'll say on that is when you're creating your show and your, let's say it's your solo content, make sure that like, this is kind of a little hack that people don't do enough is instead of them, instead of addressing an audience or say like, welcome

[00:53:25] back to the show, they, or like putting it in plural, talk to a person specifically, because you've got to remember that that person is probably listening to that show by themselves. And so if you can, in your solo content, this is where your personality kind of comes in. If you can start or reference some at some point through your solo content, like, hey, how are you doing today? Like, I hope that you're having a good morning, or I hope, you know, if you're out on your walk, what are you seeing right now?

[00:53:55] You know, something that makes them feel like you're talking directly to them will make your solo content hit a lot harder and make a bigger impact then as well. Yeah. Nobody says welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the show. Exactly. Yeah. Nobody does that. Yeah. They do that. Lots of people do reference. Yeah. They reference like the masses because they're thinking about all the people that listen to their show instead of the individual that's listening in that moment. That's great advice. That's amazing.

[00:54:26] Well, Brianna, that is so amazing having you on the show today and I appreciate you stopping by and Bambi Media is amazing. Once again, can you tell everybody where they can find out about you and your company and all your amazing stuff? Yeah. You can go to BambiMedia.com. That's Bambi with a Y so that we don't get sued by Disney. So BambiMedia.com. I forgot about that. Yeah. And you can also, I do a lot on YouTube. I'm growing our YouTube channel at the moment, having a fabulous time doing that.

[00:54:53] And a lot of the content is on the audio platforms as well. So however you want to get there, go for it. And YouTube and website is where to go. Wow. Wow. That was fantastic. Or should I say pod-tastic. Wow. Thank you once again, Brianna, for stopping by today. That was great. We learned some amazing things like how to sound more professional, how to build a stronger audience connection through solo content. Grow your podcast the right way with repurposing and collaborations.

[00:55:22] Avoid the common mistakes like chasing those big name guests that will probably never be on your show in the first place. And if they are, well, good luck and they'll probably never promote it. And we also learned about how to improve your podcast editing and sound quality. We learned so many things today. That was such a great interview. I enjoyed my trip digitally to Australia to have this conversation.

[00:55:45] So don't forget that right now I'm giving away my free book, the pod-tastic playbook. You can get yourself a free copy by heading over to my website, pod-tasticaudio.com. Shoot me an email through my contact form and you'll be put in the running to win a free copy of the pod-tastic playbook. All the links to Bambi Media and to pod-tastic playbook and all that stuff is down below in

[00:56:14] the show notes of this very episode. I want to say thank you once again for sticking around to the very end of this episode. I do these shows for you. I do this whole entire podcast for you so you can make an amazing podcast of your very own. And I hope you're enjoying podcasting as much as I'm enjoying podcasting. And I will see you on the very next episode. And until then, happy podcasting.