Welcome to Podcast Insider. This is Mackenzie Bennett,
and Mike is joining me.
Hello. This is Mike Dell.
Yeah. We,
unfortunately,
have to,
do a little intro for this episode because
this is Todd Cochran's
last
recording that we know of.
As far as I am aware, this was
the last podcast that he recorded.
We did this on
Thursday,
the you know, something like September 2 or
whatever, third, something like that. And it was
supposed to go out Monday, September 8. Given
the circumstances, we have
held off on releasing this, but it's a
good one. And we're just considering what we
wanna do with Podcast Insider,
in the future. Yeah. You know, the tentative
plan is sometime mid October, we'll, start up.
We'll probably have some new voices in here
periodically
from the rest of the Blueberry team and
maybe some from outside the Blueberry team. You
never know. But we will be back with
our regular
weekly episodes,
and,
we're gonna press on. Here here at Blueberry,
we're, in, you know, in the process of
figuring out how everything's gonna work going forward,
but, I think we're making pretty good progress.
We're, we're really coming together and figuring out
what is appropriate at what times.
I think that's kind of the most important
thing for us right now, but we we
are not
stopping anything by by any means. We we
really just wanna reiterate that sometimes that, you
know, services are still happening. Blueberry is holding
strong. We're gonna be alright, and we're just
figuring out moving forward. Yeah. And like I
said, it was quite the shocker as as,
you know, you all know.
The last episode was a a replay of,
the new media show that,
a bunch of us did for,
for Todd's memorial.
But, yeah, like I said, going forward, we'll,
we'll keep on keeping on, and
we'll see what this all looks like, in
a month or so.
We appreciate each and every one of you
listeners and hope to see you around soon.
Well, on with the show.
Hey, everyone. I'm Todd Cochran, founder and CEO
here at Blueberry Podcasting.
And I'm Mackenzie Bennett, marketing specialist here at
Blueberry. Welcome to Podcast Insider.
And today, we're helping you go from that
first spark of an idea to a fully
planned podcast
season.
Whether you're launching your very first season or
refreshing an existing show, a little strategy upfront
can make your entire production smoother and more
sustainable.
You're listening to Podcast Insider, a weekly podcast
bringing insights, advice, and insider tips and tricks
to help you start, grow, and thrive through
podcasting
with the support of your team here at
Blueberry Podcasting.
Welcome. Let's dive in.
I had to laugh. I was a little
squeaky there saying season, and maybe it's because,
I've got a
a long time saying that I say about
seasons. I I you know, if you're a
brand new podcaster,
you know, you really,
really, really need to consider,
very carefully how you run your seasons. And
jokingly, I'd always say, hey. Season
one let's say you do 10, you know,
10 episodes in a season or 13 or
whatever the number is. And,
that first season, I always say, yeah. Season
one one ends on Friday, and then season
two begins Monday.
And,
you know, and really what it's the reason
I say that
is, you know, I I understand that for
many podcasts, their seasons can provide structure, can
do give you relief,
you can stay creatively focused, and, you know,
it it has its advantages.
But, also,
there's this losing momentum,
situation, especially when you're brand new,
that I think you have to really consider.
I I've always said someone that's doing just
regular episodes,
as hardcore as it sound, probably doesn't should
not take a break for, like, the first
two years. And
and I mean by a break, you know,
break should not be longer than, like, ten
days.
Everyone's gonna take off for Christmas or, you
know, some people will and some people won't
or a holiday or an anniversary or wedding
or whatever that may be. But going away
from
a podcast for two or three months
after season
might not be as beneficial to a new
podcaster as someone that's
established. But, again,
some people, it just fits their,
I guess, for better words, their work their
work
planning to do, to do seasons, and I
get it. So there's some things here we
should we should consider
if you're gonna be doing season seasons.
Yeah. Absolutely. I
I feel like I was raised on the
television schedule
of
starting the fall,
go through,
you know,
until Thanksgiving, a little bit a little bit
of a break, a little break around Christmas,
and New Year's come around
back in January,
go strong until, quote, unquote,
the end of the school year.
Right. And then take summer off.
That I think is kinda how I got
used
to watching programming, and then there was, like,
the special programming during the summer. Yeah.
So so I definitely do still somewhat adhere
to
content watching,
and listening and just consuming in general,
in seasons. Like, I have no problem with
that. But you are absolutely right in that
don't take too long.
There there's specifically a show that I've listened
to that started with seasons.
I I'm not kidding. Maybe four years ago,
and I think there's been two seasons. And
if they have had a third, I don't
know about it You know? Which is exactly
the problem. You know? But in on the
other hand, there's, like, television seasons, like, go
back to when Lost was big or
Mhmm. Yellowstone or you know, there's some seasons.
It gets the it gets to the thirteenth
episode and you're like,
crap. Yeah. You know? And then and then
sometimes you have to wait a year before
the next season, and,
it always drove me absolutely insane. And
staff and
you know? So they're probably recording those 13
or 12 or 13
episodes over the course of, like,
you know, probably two or three months, and
then people need a break. Gotcha. So, yeah,
I get it. But podcasting,
yeah, it's a little bit but let's start
with the big picture
here and talk about some of the things
that you should think about
and and ask yourself.
Absolutely.
First things first. What is the theme or
the goal of this specific season?
And I think that's really important from a
podcasting standpoint overall, whether it's seasons or not.
You know, what is what is the goal?
What are you gonna impair? And
I think the follow on
season should be thought about as well. Are
you gonna change topics completely? Because if you
think about cereal, which was the most
famous and most successful
Mhmm. Cereal,
you know, they came in with season two,
and it was not as impactful as season
one. That was hard to beat. No.
But, again, who is the season four? And
and, you know, what are you what are
you creating
for your audience that they they want to
hear?
I I think that's really,
the the kicker here is, you know, what's
the goal? What from point a to point
z, what what are we gonna do to
get there and get this this season? Because
there has to be a close
or a cliffhanger, one of the two.
Yes. You know, who is the season four?
What what exactly did they wanna hear, and
how many episodes do you need to commit
to and that you can realistically commit to
to achieve
that goal for that season. You know? If
you're setting out this goal of this is
what I wanna tell
and and you're saying it for this set
of specific people,
then set up a number of episodes
to actually achieve that properly.
I've actually seen,
as you mentioned,
it can be a small number of episodes.
I've seen shows that applied for the podcast
awards that we basically have a seven show
minimum. Mhmm. But some folks don't do seven
seven episodes. They do
four or three,
and it's maybe a documentary
or,
some sort of, you know, some sort of
short story.
So they may only have four episodes. And
what we did was we said, yep. That
qualifies. You've you've completed a project.
You didn't have to meet the seven episode
minimum because you basically did this
you know, did a season, and this was
the season. So,
again, seasons don't have to be 10 or
12 episodes. They again, like you said, they
could be three to six. And, again, choose
that structure you can stick with and that
your audience will appreciate. And more importantly,
what are you coming back to, and how
long
between seasons are you gonna wait?
Yeah. And when you're kinda checking in on,
are people listening,
you know, post
new episodes coming out? Am I still gaining
an audience?
Have people completely and utterly dropped off? Does
this, like, does this season have any long
tail,
essentially? Did they enjoy this format? All those
types of questions, that is something that your
blueberry stats can help you figure out.
And I think too,
doing season does require a significant amount of
planning, and, we're kinda calling this the batch
plan. Mhmm. You know, once you've locked in
your season theme, you know, start focusing on
topics. Don't overthink it. Write everything
that fits. You know,
brainstorm that out on a piece of paper
and,
you know, write the 20 things that you
wanna accomplish, and then rack and stack it
and organize your ideas.
And, really, it should have a flow,
you know, and you can even consider coming
up with,
your titles and talking points or guest ideas.
But also things that are critical is,
is it time sensitive?
You know, the stuff that, is happening today
that relates, that needs to go in episode
one or two,
even though it may not exactly flow, but
the timing of it will be good. I
really hate those types of situations where you're
you're trying to
stay with the times. And then if you
but the problem with it is is once
that episode's out and it was time
critical because of something going on in the
world, you're then kind of
your your long tail value of that content
is not as good.
That's a risk you take with doing
whatever the topic is in a season format.
So, yeah, I think I think planning those
things out, whether you are jotting them down
on paper, on,
you know, your notes app in your phone,
just put them all together
at one point or another,
and then you can organize it out. And
and this isn't to say that
you you have to batch
the entire season. You can batch the first
two episodes. You can break it up into
different sections of the season. You know, that's
that's, pretty typical or normal thing to do
of, like, hey. There's a part one and
a part two to these episodes, but they're,
like, the last,
you know, wrap up episodes of the season,
something like that.
But
building that out and drafting these things and
then being able to schedule them,
generally helps with staying consistent.
And I think that dispatch dispatch planning will
give you a head start so you're not
scrambling
week to week. And,
you know, with build in, you know, this
is something Py can help you a little
bit with with our episode planner is if
you're struggling,
you maybe have got the idea for the
episodes, but, you know, then or the theme,
but use the, or use chat GPT, either
one.
All of our hosting customers now get blueberry
pie for free,
or included in their hosting plan. So, you
know, play around with that episode planner
and see if it helps you,
ID or what's the word I wanna use
here? Give you idea iteration. Is that the
Yeah. Word? But Yeah.
Yeah. And, you know, that kinda leads to
okay.
Now we need to get if it's an
interview show, we need to get people on,
get get them scheduled.
That's a big one because that is something
that can 100%
push you back. So book your guests
early.
If you know that you want them involved
and that you're on some sort of timeline,
whether that is, you know, not set by
you or set by you, the earlier you
try to book someone out, the better, especially
if they
are a person that
is,
what would you say, busy.
Right. If they, you know, if they have
a set schedule, and this isn't just like,
hey. I can hop on on a Wednesday
anytime you want.
Yeah. The the doing that is gonna be
for your benefit. If you're doing solo,
still, I would highly recommend blocking out time
to record multiple episodes at once when you
are
in the zone.
And this is this is gonna be helpful
for staying on track. It's always easier to
edit things later
than record and edit back to back,
in a season, I think. So
something something's good for that. And, also, we
just came out with something amazing for helping
you find a guest.
Yes. You can go over to guestmatch.pro
and get, get a create a counter of
a creator or a guest account.
And,
basically, it allows you to connect with, with
guests. And a matter of fact, if you've
interviewed someone already,
a referral for them to to, be on
other shows,
can earn you some money down the road.
So definitely check out,
guest match problem. Now one thing I did
wanna say on the recording multiple episodes at
once,
you should plan this when you know there's
not gonna be interruption from kids, partner, life.
You know, you wanna make sure this is
a block of time that you've got scheduled.
And I also have followed the rule now
for many, many years is is an example.
I know it I do my show at
a certain time on certain days, and if
I'm not feeling good or my power's low,
sometimes I skip an episode
because or not skip, but I don't record
then because I know it's just not gonna
come out
good for the audience. Don't die on the
vine here and say, oh, I gotta record
today and I feel like crap.
Feel free to shift that, but, you know,
try to plan for a specific date. Especially
if you're doing interviews, you're kinda locked in.
You know, I've I I book interviews now
as far as a month out
and,
to make sure I get in the type
of,
time slot I want when I know I
am at the best energy.
But this publishing schedule is really, really important,
film then, on when you do have those
episodes
ready to rock and roll, what they do
next.
Yes. Absolutely.
Especially when you have decided on when your
season will launch and how often you want
those episodes to drop. That could be weekly,
biweekly, and biweekly is twice a week or
twice a month. That's up to you.
You know, I wouldn't recommend going
too too long in between episodes. I'd say
every other week is
as far as I would extend it. Yeah.
I mean, we've seen that with any type
of content, but specifically podcasting, I think. And
then share that audience share that schedule with
your audience. That's super important. I think there's
a reason
every single YouTuber and podcaster says new episodes
are available on such and such day. We
are available on Thursdays. It's been that way
for a long time. And they usually try
to tell the approximate time.
Mhmm. There's a show that I watch on
YouTube that drops every Saturday morning, and it's
usually my Saturday morning coffee show. And if
it's not there, I'm like,
Yep. So,
people people build
you into their lives, and guess what happens
when I have that moment on a Saturday
morning and that show's not there, I find
something else. Yeah. And,
then I catch that specific episode when I
can. Same thing with some podcasts I listen
to. I know Friday at 04:00 it's gonna
be available or
specific time, and I know when I'm gonna
listen and what I'm gonna be doing when
I'm listening. And I think most folks that
listen to podcasts on a regular basis probably
understand
the importance of the of the scheduling. Now
we can help you with that.
Even if you're using WordPress PowerPress, you can
schedule your post.
Make sure you do a test one. Make
sure the first one you actually around at
the time the thing clicks over to make
sure your WordPress website's
publishing. But on, Blueberry dashboard, you can schedule
that, and then we kick the episode loose
at the at the specific time you designate
so that it comes out and it's available
for for your audience. I always say if
it's gonna be as an example, you tell
them it's gonna drop at 7AM,
I would, probably have that episode ready to
rock and roll by, like, 5AM
and so that it can be picked up
and and, and distributed. But, you know, how
do you handle
or getting to let's say it's gonna be
a twelve
twelve episode series.
You know, what do we do to prepare
the audience for the absence of an episode?
You know, what what what what do we
do when we're we're trying to educate the
audience? Hey. I'm not gonna be here for
three months.
I I think you have to
really educate the audience
how long you're gonna be up and when
you will be back, a specific date. I
think it's super critical. That's when you use
your social media presence to your to your
advantage.
That is how you
keep up with
your audience during the off times. That, I
think, is critical
to keeping people coming back so that they
know when new episodes are gonna drop.
They are not just, you know, feeling left
behind,
I guess. There's there's entire people who are
responsible
for
promoting
shows during the off season. And there there
is a reason why, and it's so that
they come back to an audience. You know,
you're you're like,
you can't afford to not have this and
this to not have that audience,
you know, back to back. You can't afford
to take that much time off. And I
think one of the ways
to kinda combat that a little bit
is social media, is sending is scheduling old
episodes, like, once a month saying, hey.
Catch up.
Maybe listen to this one again. It's super
popular or it's, like, critical to the next
season, something like that.
That's all very helpful in keeping their interest.
I think a personalized
episode that may not be on content was
was like, hey, folks.
Just wanna let you know we're working hard
on season two, three, four, whatever it may
be. It's coming along.
I think you're gonna be excited because we're
gonna be, you know, covering x y z,
maybe even highlight who's gonna be a guest
on an upcoming show. Sneaky never never hurts.
Yeah. And I think you just do a
little
a little teasing
because they go, oh, what's this? You know,
they find it in their
their their app of choice,
and I think it works good. Now another
thing you can do is
if you haven't been publishing to
YouTube or Instagram or wherever your audience is,
we've got a great tool called vid pod
two vid, and a lot of people don't
even know that this exists,
in in the Blueberry dashboard.
And what it does is it would allow
you to go back
and,
create a video using, images that maybe you've
collected while you've done the interviews
and with through chapters to tell that story
in a video without actually being AKA a
video.
So,
Pod2Vid will help you with that.
And,
this really is a is a cool tool,
and, you know, maybe didn't have time during
the season
to to publish
this way.
And it might be just a way to
to reach a new audience,
on your, quote, unquote, social media platform of
choice.
A good thing to also consider during this,
downtime
is
it might seem like downtime to the audience,
but this is probably the time that you're
spending the most effort.
And this is a great time to update
your website.
You can you know, whatever type of website
it is that you have, Blueberry gives you
a free one with WordPress if you would
like. You have a podcast directory listening with
us overall.
But, essentially, this is a great way to
keep things updated. This is you know, make
sure that they are still able to reach
you properly,
put out some new blog posts, change up
the graphics. This is all the type of
stuff that
will keep your website looking fresh
in that downtime.
And I think it really just does help
with
keeping the keeping the latest season in people's
minds and getting them excited for the next.
And I think with the you know, I
am I can draw stick figures. So, you
know, I have no graphics ability at all.
So thank goodness for Sora and ChatGPT
now. The image creation and those tools are
actually pretty good.
So, you know, it might be a situation
where,
you know, every couple of weeks,
you can kinda change up your
your, your program art to let people know,
yep. This is alive. It's well.
You know, coming soon, you know, season two.
You know, you can really get people to
and this is going to attract new listeners
that says, oh, coming season number two. I
wonder what season one was about. You know,
actually give people the ability to say and
it's it's amazing. Just updating your
program art will trigger people that are looking
through their apps to say,
they may have looked over you before and
they say, oh, there's something new where it's
really not new. It's just the art that's
new.
It may give someone a trigger to, to
check you out.
I think these are all helpful
ways to help plan out your season,
but I think that's a wrap on this
episode. Thanks for tuning in. Yeah. Planning your
season really doesn't need to be complicated. The
more structure you put in the beginning, the
more flexibility
you're gonna really have as as you go
to market with that show.
And we mean that whether it's your first
season or your fifteenth.
Remember,
prep leads to consistency and consistency
leads to growth.
And as always, Blueberry gives you the tools
to support every step of the journey from
launch to growth to monetization. If there's something
we don't have, we definitely wanna hear from
you in that regard. Be sure to follow
and subscribe to Podcast Insider for more tips,
tools, and insights to help you make the
most of your podcasting season. Thanks, everyone.
Thanks for joining us. Come back next week.
And in the meantime, head to podcastinsider.com
for more information,
to subscribe,
share, and read our show notes. To check
out the latest suite of services and learn
how Blueberry can help you leverage your podcast,
visit blueberry.com.
That's Blueberry without the e's because we can't
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