Tag: Marketing

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This 80s movie showed us everything we need to know about growing a podcast | Nov COTG

Read Time - 6 minutes

Are you looking to grow your podcast and increase its reach? In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the powerful framework of high value, high volume, and consistency that can take your podcast to new heights. By implementing this proven strategy, you can attract a larger audience, engage with your listeners, and establish a successful brand in the competitive world of podcast production and content creation. Whether you’re a seasoned podcaster or just starting out, this guide will provide valuable insights and practical tips to help you create compelling content that resonates with your target audience. Get ready to unlock the true potential of your podcast and achieve lasting success!

In this article, you’ll learn;

  • 🏗️How the high value, high volume and consistent framework actually works in growing your podcast
  • 🤖 Eight ChatGPT Prompts to Create  Better Podcast Content
  • 🎙️The Top Mistakes Podcasters & Content Marketers Make
  • 🎚️How to use the “volume negates luck” rule in your own podcast

🏗️ How the high value, high volume, consistent framework actually works in growing your podcast

In the classic 80s movie “The Last Dragon” by Berry Gordy, the main character, “Bruce Leroy” Green, looks to find the ultimate level of martial arts mastery and become the “Last Dragon.” Bruce Leroy is in search of “The Master” throughout the whole movie which will give him the answers to all of his burning questions about life.

He runs to his sensei for magical answers and finds nothing. Then from one fortune cookie-themed scavenger hunt to another for an answer. His journey to greatness is not without its challenges, as Bruce Leroy faces opposition from the villainous Sho’nuff and must overcome his own doubts and fears.

Similarly, in the world of content creation, we often seek out a magical formula that will guarantee success and make us the ultimate Content Master.

The stakes are high for Bruce Leroy and for us as content creators. Failure means settling for mediocrity and never realizing our full potential or worse, your product/service not to be seen by more people which would generate more value for you and them. But by embracing the magical content formula of commitment and consistency, we can overcome any obstacle and achieve greatness. The punchline of “The Last Dragon” is that the true power lies within us all along, and the same is true for content creation. The formula may not be magical, but the results are very real and achievable if we are willing to show up each day and put in the work.

In content creation, I’ve created a new “magical” framework where you can get the output of high-performing content. I’ve named this formula “The Pod Paste Content Universe” or PCU for short.

But the irony is that there is nothing magical about this formula. Not to get woo-woo and self-helpy (it’s what I do best though). The magic really just comes from commitment within you. Yes, it’s INSIDE YOU like the Last Dragon. It’s having the ability to post high value at a high volume consistently.

Get that I didn’t say “High Quality”. As I’ve mistakenly done in the past, value can easily get confused with quality – more on that below.

And now before you go “Daren… that’s a lot of work to do I’ve got a podcast to start, content to make, and a business”. I know that creating content that is all three things can be challenging, but it is essential for building a successful brand.

In the future, I’ll look breakdown “The PCU” to help you, your brand, or your company create high-quality content that resonates with your audience.

But just for a short cheat sheet so you can remember, here are a few quick definitions of what the three tenants of the PCU refer to.

High Value

While all of these three areas are important, if you don’t deliver value to the end consumer it’s all a waste of your time

  • Teach someone how to do something they didn’t know how to do or didn’t know what something meant
  • Solve a problem that people have
  • Entertain them in some way
    Examples:     Memes, Jokes, Inspirational quotes, people in skimpy/tight clothes that are barely appropriate on the beach, etc.

High Volume

  • This is subjective to your needs, industry, resources available, etc.
  • The rule of thumb is turning one long piece of content into multiple pieces
  • Saying the same message throughout and accepting that everyone isn’t seeing your stuff and even if they do, they need to hear the message more than once in different formats (video, audio, written, photos, infographics, quotes, animation, etc)

Consistency

  • Doing this at whatever cadence you can sustain for as long as possible
  • Example 1: For my content and podcast production business it’s a 10-20 minute newsletter, podcast, and video release once a month. Then we publish short-form content to promote the long-form content 3-4 times per week that
  • Example 2: For my personal running brand, I publish 2-3 long-form pieces of content (written, audio, video) per month. Then I publish short-form content 4-6 times per week.
  • All of the above have been tested over time and are sustainable
  • At minimum – I wouldn’t do less than one long-form piece of content and three short-form pieces of content per day
  • At max – I wouldn’t do more than one long form per week and one – two short-form pieces per day.

One piece of content from someone

🤖 8 ChatGPT Prompts to Create  Better Podcast Content

In this article, Castos delve into the world of ChatGPT, an advanced AI developed by OpenAI, and explore its relevance for podcasters. ChatGPT, short for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer,” is a versatile language model designed to assist with various tasks. It’s essentially like having a smart virtual assistant that excels in synthesizing information, conducting research, and generating content. By leveraging ChatGPT effectively, podcasters can streamline their content creation process, enhance productivity, and produce high-quality content for their audiences.

What is ChatGPT and OpenAI? ChatGPT is a product of OpenAI, an organization dedicated to developing friendly AI for the benefit of humanity. OpenAI conducts research across multiple AI-related fields and provides tools and platforms for developers and researchers to create innovative AI applications. The “GPT” in ChatGPT stands for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer,” a powerful neural network architecture extensively used in natural language processing.

Why is it important? ChatGPT serves as an invaluable resource for podcasters as it can simplify various aspects of content creation. It can generate interview questions, suggest engaging podcast topics, and even help transform episode transcripts into other content forms like summaries, quotes, and social media posts. By harnessing the capabilities of ChatGPT, podcasters can save time, improve the quality of their content, and keep their audience engaged.

How to Implement This for Your Podcast Right Now: To get started with ChatGPT for your podcast, follow these steps:

  1. Research Guests and Generate Interview Questions: Use ChatGPT to create thought-provoking interview questions tailored to your guest. Provide context in your prompts for more insightful responses. Iterate and refine questions to dig deeper into your guest’s expertise.
  2. Generate Topics for Your Show: Combat creator’s block by asking ChatGPT to suggest podcast topics based on your show’s focus. Make sure to explain your podcast’s niche for more relevant ideas. Further, refine your chosen topics for a comprehensive episode outline.
  3. Transform Transcripts into Other Content: To promote your podcast effectively, use ChatGPT to convert episode transcripts into summaries, impactful quotes, and even tweet threads for social media. Remember to give ChatGPT specific instructions on style and content, and don’t forget to proofread the AI-generated content before publishing.

Read the full article here.

One piece of content from me

🎙️The Top Mistakes Podcasters & Content Marketers Make

Are you tired of creating the same old boring content that nobody seems to engage with? Do you want to create content that is fresh, exciting, and actually drives results for your brand? Look no further than video podcasts!

In a panel discussion with Sydney, Australia’s top content creators we cover how to use video podcasts as branded content.

Learn it all here.

What You’ll Learn

  • [00:02:10] Learning from Twitter
  • [00:03:51] TikTok’s growth and marketing.
  • [00:08:49] What’s next?
  • [00:10:35] Chopping content for scalability.
  • [00:15:02] Coming up with ideas.
  • Learning by doing
  • Understanding your platform and the best way to do it
  • The power of non-marketing content
  • How and why your content should stack starting from a podcast
  • Much More

🗣️Quote & Actionable task

“VOLUME NEGATES LUCK”

@Alex Hormozi

This is a perfect three-word summary of how posting consistent, high value and high-volume content will help you beat the algorithms (or make it so that they don’t matter).

Go out there and take off your perfect suit. Just put out content that you know is good (this is not permission to be sloppy and put out trash) and naturally get better at doing the content.

That’s a wrap for Nov 2023!

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Avoid podcast failure with these 8 secrets to grow your brand in 79 minutes

Read Time - 5 minutes

How to get your podcast noticed by the right people now!

This video podcast series is a collaboration between Pod Paste, DLake Create, and Digital Ninjas.

We’re on a mission to supercharge your brand, company or organization and help you change the world through digital strategy, training and insights. In the last eight episodes, we’ve spoken about one specific idea to help you market your business better.

While we usually make these short, this is the full-length panel discussion that we had with four of the best digital content marketers in Sydney, Australia.

Time Stamps of What You Will Learn

  • 00:03:49 Build relationships with micro-influencers.
  • 00:10:25 Trustworthy transparency and authenticity.
  • 00:13:46 Do things that don’t scale.
  • 00:17:39 Find your balance between automation and authenticity.
  • 00:22:45 Quality matters more than quantity.
  • 00:28:29 Focus on quality, not quantity.
  • 00:34:43 Talk to customers directly.
  • 00:40:34 Add value without expecting returns.
  • 00:42:44 Learn by doing.
  • 00:49:05 Automate content creation process.
  • 00:54:41 Plan ahead for less stress.
  • 00:59:10 Delegate creativity to experts.
  • 01:03:49 Practice and persist for success.
  • 01:08:51 Humans and AI must collaborate.
  • 01:10:41 Adapt to new mediums.
  • 01:18:57 Take care of your waste.
  • 01:19:34 Connect with leading marketers.

Build strong relationships with users.

The key to success in any business is building strong relationships with users. This is especially true in the digital world, where customers are often more likely to be swayed by personal connections than by flashy advertising campaigns. In order to build strong relationships with users, companies must understand who their target audience is, how to reach them, and how to create an engaging and meaningful connection with them.

One of the best strategies for building strong relationships with users is to focus on micro influencers. These individuals have an audience that looks like the company’s target audience. By reaching out to micro influencers and creating content tailored to their audience, companies can create an authentic connection with their users. This can be done through short form video content, blogs, podcasts, and other content types tailored to the micro influencer’s audience.

Another effective strategy for building strong relationships with users is to focus on user feedback and user interviews. By engaging with users and understanding their needs, companies can create products and services that are tailored to their needs. This will help to create a strong connection between the company and its users, as users will feel that their needs are being taken into account.

Finally, companies should also focus on repurposing content. By repurposing content from micro-influencers and other sources, companies can create an engaging and meaningful connection with their users. This can be done by removing watermarks, creating short form video content, and other techniques that will help to create a strong connection between the company and its users.

Create content like a comedian.

One of the key pieces of advice provided by the podcast is to create content like a comedian. As the podcast explains, comedians have to be creative and willing to take risks with their jokes. Companies should take a similar approach when creating content for their marketing campaigns. They should be willing to try different pieces of content, such as animations or videos, and experiment with different styles. Companies should also be willing to put out content that is unpolished and imperfect, as this is often more engaging than perfect content.

In addition, companies should not be afraid to take risks with their content. As the podcast explains, even big brands are often stressed about what content will work and what won’t. Companies should be willing to take risks and experiment with different pieces of content to see what works and what doesn’t. They should also be willing to use AI to generate content, as this can help them create more engaging content faster.

Plan now for less stress later.

However, it’s important to remember that content creation takes time and effort. If you don’t plan ahead, you may end up feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. That’s why it’s important to plan now for less stress later.

When planning content, it’s important to think about the end goal. What do you want to achieve? Is it to educate people about a product or service or to engage people in a conversation? Once you know what you want to achieve, you can start breaking down the content into smaller pieces. This will make it easier to manage and will help you stay organized.

You should also think about how you’re going to deliver the content. Will it be in the form of a podcast, blog post, video, or infographic? Each medium has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to choose the one that best fits your needs.

Once you have the content broken down into smaller pieces, it’s time to start creating. This is where you can get creative and experiment with different ideas. You should also think about how you’re going to promote the content. Social media is a great way to get the word out, but you should also consider email newsletters, press releases, and other methods.

Adapt using new technology.

As technology advances, it is important for businesses to adapt to new technologies in order to remain competitive. This is especially true in the age of AI and machine learning, which are rapidly transforming the way businesses operate. AI and machine learning can be used to automate processes, create more efficient customer journeys, and generate content more quickly. This can help businesses to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and gain a competitive edge.

One way businesses can adapt to new technologies is by understanding the platforms and technologies available. For example, if a business wants to play in the metaverse, they should understand platforms like Unity and blockchain technology. This will help them to better position their business and take advantage of the opportunities that new technologies offer.

Another way businesses can adapt to new technologies is by understanding the audience and what resonates with them. For example, some customers may prefer a more traditional approach, while others may be more open to new technologies. It is important to understand the preferences of the customer in order to ensure that the content is of a high enough quality to be engaging and effective.

AI and machine learning can also be used to help businesses create content more quickly and efficiently. AI can be used to generate content, while machine learning can be used to process imagery and automate tasks. This can help to reduce the time and effort required to create content, while still ensuring that it is of a high enough quality.

In Conclusion

There are many things we can take away from this episode, so I’ll try to make it nice and concise for you with actionable tasks.

Firstly, it is important to do things that don’t scale in the early stages of a business, such as getting out of the building and talking to customers directly. This helps in understanding their needs and building strong connections.

Secondly, finding your first 1,000 true fans is crucial for long-term success. This can be achieved by going where your target audience is, engaging with them authentically, and providing value. Additionally, leveraging communities and influencers can help build a loyal customer base.

Lastly, it is essential to have clear goals and expectations for your audience and to focus on quality over quantity when creating content.

All the best with your podcast journey and if you have any questions contact our team at “t a l k at p o d p a s t e dot com”

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Shake Up Your Content Marketing Education with These Surprising Tips

Read Time - 4 minutes

The Top Mistakes Podcasters & Content Marketers Make

Are you tired of creating the same old boring content that nobody seems to engage with? Do you want to create content that is fresh, exciting, and actually drives results for your brand? Look no further than video podcasts!

In this blog post, we’ll explore a panel discussion that covers how to use video podcasts as branded content. We’ll cover everything from learning by doing to understanding your platform and creating non-marketing content that engages your audience. Let’s Go!

What You’ll Learn

  • [00:02:10] Learning from Twitter
  • [00:03:51] TikTok’s growth and marketing.
  • [00:08:49] What’s next?
  • [00:10:35] Chopping content for scalability.
  • [00:15:02] Coming up with ideas.
  • Learning by doing
  • Understanding your platform and the best way to do it
  • The power of non-marketing content
  • How and why your content should stack starting from a podcast
  • Much More

Learning by Doing

One of the best ways to create engaging content is to learn by doing. This means creating content and analyzing the results to see what works and what doesn’t. By doing this, you’ll be able to fine-tune your content creation process and create more effective content in the future.

Daren Lake, a fitness content creator, emphasized the importance of learning by doing in the panel discussion. He highlighted the value of creating content that is both valuable and engaging to the audience. He shared his experience of creating a podcast series collaboration between Digital Ninjas, DLake Creative, and Pod Paste. The series aims to supercharge your brand, company, or organization, and help you change the world through digital strategy, training, and insights. Each episode, they answer questions and talk about one specific idea to help you market and run your business better. He emphasized that they make the content easy to digest, short, and concise because they know that we’ve all got a business to run.

Understanding Your Platform

When it comes to creating engaging content, it’s important to understand your platform and the best way to use it. This means understanding the unique features and capabilities of the platform and creating content that takes advantage of them.

Nathalie Rafeh, the founder and CEO of SplashUp, spoke about the importance of understanding your platform during the panel discussion. She said that it is important to tailor your content to the specific platform. For example, if you are creating content for TikTok, you need to make sure that it is short and engaging. On the other hand, if you are creating content for YouTube, you can get away with longer-form content.

The Power of Non-Marketing Content

Creating non-marketing content is a powerful way to engage your audience. This means creating content that isn’t focused on selling your product or service but instead provides value to your audience. By doing this, you’ll build trust and loyalty with your audience, which will ultimately lead to more sales in the long run.

Brendan Hill, a content wizard and venture capitalist investor, spoke about the importance of non-marketing content during the panel discussion. He said that the best way to create engaging content is to provide value to your audience. This means creating content that is entertaining, educational, or informative. By doing this, you’ll build trust with your audience, which will ultimately lead to more sales in the long run.

How and Why Your Content Should Stack Starting from a Podcast

Creating a podcast is a great way to start your content creation journey. By doing this, you’ll be able to create a foundation for your content that you can build on over time. This means using your podcast as a launching point for other types of content, such as videos, blog posts, and social media content.

Genson Glier, a growth hacker extraordinaire, spoke about the value of starting with a podcast during the panel discussion. He said that a podcast is a great way to create a foundation for your content because it allows you to explore different topics in depth. Once you create a podcast episode, you can use that episode as a launching point for other types of content. For example, you can create a blog post that summarizes the main points of the episode or create a video that visually demonstrates some of the ideas discussed in the episode.

Conclusion

In conclusion, creating engaging content doesn’t have to be a struggle. By using video podcasts as branded content, you can create fresh, exciting content that engages your audience and drives results for your brand. The experts on the panel discussion emphasized the importance of learning by doing, understanding your platform, creating non-marketing content, and using your podcast as a launching point for other types of content. So what are you waiting for? Get started on your video podcast journey today!

Panel Discussion Speakers

  • Nathalie Rafeh – founder and CEO and Splashup. An e-commerce sass platform that creates shopping experiences shoppers won’t forget
  • Genson Glier – growth hacker extraordinaire
  • Brendon Hill – content wiz and be investor
  • Daren Lake – Founder & Chief Content Creator at DLake Media/DLake Creates with a focus on fitness, health and wellness

Links & Resources

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I use this CONTRARIAN method to grow my podcast on 11x social media – here’s how

Read Time - 6 minutes

The rethinking of how I promote my podcast on social media

This newsletter has 3 parts to keep things “Going”;

  • Part 1 – The framework of how I grew my podcast on social 11x
  • Part 2 – The Magic of AI plus real humans in Content Creation
  • Part 3 – Proof of someone using methods to help grow their brand through podcasts (and/or content marketing in general)
  • Part 4 – An insightful thought

Part 1 | The framework of how I grew my podcast on social 11x

[Start storytime chimes] Once upon a time, at a feast celebrating the harvest, people brought cheap, quick dishes that lacked substance and flavor. A great chef arrived and brought a slow-cooked steak that left a lasting impression on the people. He explained that his dish was not just about filling one’s stomach, but about nourishing the body and the mind. The people began to focus on creating dishes that were slow-cooked, full of flavor, and made with care and attention. This feast became a celebration of the art of cooking and the joy of sharing a meal with others. [/End storytime chimes]

We can learn the value of long-form content, which provides sustenance, nourishment, and a deeper understanding of a topic or idea, just like a slow-cooked steak. So, just like this long-form newsletter, let’s take the time to savor the content we consume and create, and let’s remember that sometimes, the best things in life are worth the wait.

The Framework & Marriage Involving Long v Short Form Content

In our attention-starved world, we’re constantly pummelled with quick, bite-sized videos that are easy to consume and share. From TikTok to Instagram Reels, to YouTube shorts; short-form video content is everywhere. And while these videos can be entertaining and even addictive, they lack substance and cannot sustain us in the long run. They’re like candy – sweet and enjoyable in the moment, but ultimately empty calories that do not provide us with the nourishment we need.

On the other hand, long-form video content is still highly sought after (movies, books, tv shows, and podcasts are not dying) because it allows for more in-depth exploration of a topic or idea. It can provide a deeper understanding of a subject that simply cannot be achieved in that golden 7 to 15 seconds. By taking the time to create long-form content, you are able to give your viewers a more comprehensive look at your subject matter. And trust me, that’s what viewers are seeking and demanding.

Before we start let’s define long content vs short content with my personal definitions;

Short Content

Anything that takes 3 mins or less to consume. You know the short video platforms; TikTok, IG/FB reels, YT shorts. But… a microblog post carousel of photos and a 90-second podcast (do those exist?!) are also short-form content.

Long Content

Well, the opposite of short content taking you 3 or more minutes to consume. The usual suspects are long YouTube videos, movies, books, podcasts, and blog posts longer than 500 words.

Let’s keep it real – creating long-form content is not easier than short content. In today’s world where attention spans are shrinking faster than a melting ice cream cone (let’s stay with this food theme) it can be difficult to keep our beloved content consumers engaged for more than a few minutes. However, if you can create content that is really damn good… hell-satiating, you may be able to keep viewers engaged for much longer than you might expect.

So, how can you create long-form content that’s truly compelling?

Well in a future five-part series, I’ll be showing you how I did that and how you can to.

The five parts;

  1. The role of storytelling in long-form video content
  2. The impact of long-form video content on SEO
  3. The benefits of combining short-form and long-form video content:
  4. Case studies of effective long-form video content:
  5. The role of data and analytics in creating effective long-form video content:

But before we get into those 5 parts we first need to understand our audience.

Ask them the usual marketing questions like;

  • What are they interested in?
  • What are their pain points?
  • What are their needs and desires?

And… once you have a good understanding of your audience, you can start to craft your content in a way that speaks directly to them and gives them value (I define value as either informative, educational, interesting, entertaining, or a combo of those in whatever way)

But that’s not all. You also need to be creative in the way you present your content. Whether it’s through storytelling, humor, or simply providing valuable insights and information, you need to find a way to make your content stand out from the crowd.

And of course, you need to keep your content engaging and interesting throughout. This means using a variety of techniques such as visuals, animations, and interactive elements to keep your viewers hooked.

But here’s the thing, creating long-form content is not just about keeping your viewers engaged. It’s also about providing value and building trust with your audience. I personally think this is where that whole education aspect comes from with a layer of vulnerability and transparency.

By providing viewers with a deeper understanding of a topic to foster engaging and enjoyable experiences that fully immerse the consumer.

Closing Thoughts

So… let’s start to be serious about our content game and remember – Short-form video content is like a bag of Skittles – tasty at first, but ultimately leaves you feeling unsatisfied 20 minutes later.

Long-form video content is our steak. It’s filling, satisfying, and gives you the sustenance you need.

Don’t know where to start? Well stay tuned for parts 1-5 and I’ll attempt to be your chef on this culinary journey of content.

(Insert cheesy obvious pun) Let’s get cooking. (double pun!)

Feeling this? Why not share Content On The Go With Someone That Is As Cool As You!

Part 2 – The Magic of AI plus real humans in Content Creation

Artificial intelligence/AI is literally everywhere. Some people are terrified, while others are excited. Which side are you on? Does it help content creation and marketers or does it hurt us? Stay tuned as we answer that and figure out how to Harness the Power of AI for Next-Level Content Creation on this episode of Content On the Go.

What You’ll Learn

  • Why we aren’t there yet
  • How AI compliments our natural human element
  • A Unique Case study of AI’s unique transition into Social Media
  • Why it depends on your audience
  • and more!

Listen, watch, and read it all here.

Part 3 – Alex Hormozi Might Be The Next Content G.O.A.T.

Proof of someone using methods to help grow their brand through podcasts (content marketing)

Alex Hormozi wrote an amazing book 2 years ago called “$100 million offers”. While it sounds like a 1998 infomercial, it was one of the easiest and most valuable reads I read in 2022.

Over the last 2 years, he’s been content cascading his whole new book $100 Million Leads”.

Content cascading is Pod Paste’s method of chopping up one long-form video podcast and publishing it across the internet for maximum leverage and consumption.

No rock is unturned in this method and to be honest, you spent all the time making the original long-form piece of content, so why not spend an extra 5-10% effort to make it available in as many formats as your target audience would like?

  • Video (Youtube, TikTok, IG, Facebook, Linkedin) – check.
  • Audio – check.
  • Written – check.

Alex Hormozi is living proof that this works and he only makes content 2 days a month.

Part 4 – On the “Vanishing” Nature of Short-form Content

A random thought I found online

The content you create isn’t the compounding asset – the audience is.

Even though the content goes away on all of the short-form platforms (even Linkedin has this problem!) the audience doesn’t go away. The audience keeps growing as long as you post consistent high-value content.

Revised from Alex Hormozi’s $100 Million Leads Book.

Thanks for your time and reading/watching/listening! That’s 3 months in a row. Let’s see if we can keep this up!

🔑 Consistency is key.

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Why Doing Things That Scale Is Killing Your Podcast Growth

Read Time - 2 minutes

Focus on one thing and everything falls into place

Ah, the world of business. So many misconceptions out there. One of the biggest? That scaling up quickly is the key to success. You know what actually is crucial for long-term success? Doing things that don’t scale.

I just released this piece of content (aka video/podcast) the other day featuring Natalie Raefa, Jensen Gleer, and Brendan Hill, and they were all talking about their own experiences with this.

TLDR/Wrapping it up (yes I give value from the start!)

  • Doing things that don’t scale in the early stages of a business is essential for long-term success.
  • But as a business grows, you need to start thinking about scaling up in an efficient and effective manner.
  • Just don’t forget about the importance of understanding the user base and providing value.
  • Trust me, they’ll love you for it.

Connecting with potential users, finding micro-influencers, and understanding the needs of retailers may seem like grunt work, but they provide some serious product validation and a deep understanding of the user base. I know this all too well!

Without a clear understanding of the user base and their needs, scaling up quickly can actually be detrimental. You need to connect with users and receive product validation before moving forward with any major changes.

But here’s the thing: as a business grows, there are opportunities to scale up in a more efficient and effective manner. You can start utilizing platforms that automate tasks such as copywriting or image generation. But don’t just do it for the sake of doing it. Think about the use case and whether or not the audience will resonate with the content generated by these platforms.

And please, for the love of all things (insert your belief or nonbelief thing here), avoid the mindset of scaling for scaling’s sake.

People come to a business for connection, value, and brand, not just for the sheer size of the company. It’s important to understand where a business is in its life cycle and to focus on scaling in the areas that will provide the most value to the user base.

Watch, listen, and read on to why doing things that don’t scale can help your business and more in this episode.

What You’ll Learn

  • The things that don’t scale
  • Tools to use to get to scale
  • Whether you should scale for scale’s sake
  • How being lazy and just putting stuff out of better than nothing

And much more

Panel Discussion Speakers

  • Nathalie Rafeh – founder and CEO and Splashup. An e-commerce sass platform that creates shopping experiences shoppers won’t forget
  • Genson Glier – growth hacker extraordinaire
  • Brendon Hill – content wiz and be an investor
  • Daren Lake – Founder & Chief Content Creator at DLake Media/DLake Creates with a focus on fitness, health and wellness

Links & Resources

Posted on

Do this to 10x your content reach, volume, value and consistency

Read Time - 3 minutes

Bridging the Gap Between Your Brand, Content, and Customers

Subscribe to the newsletter here to keep up to date on content marketing trends around the video podcast (and save yourself/your business hundreds of hours!)

In Greek mythology, the God Janice is often depicted with two faces looking at opposite directions, one towards the past and one towards the future. And in content marketing, you need to be able to look both ways. It’s important to look at the past and what’s worked before, but also attempt to look at the future and adapt accordingly.

As the famous Wayne Gretzky quote goes, “I skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.”

And like the great one, I learned the importance of anticipating where the future is headed and not just sticking to what has worked in the past.

For years, I struggled to grow my podcast and social media brand by doing what everyone else was doing.

But then I took a risk (kinda?!) and entered the video content world. I was early, and it paid off. I validated that in order to succeed, I needed to adapt, take action and move forward.

Now, I have a brand that focuses on running, endurance sports, health, and fitness.

And while many of you may not care about that, I want to show you that by anticipating where the puck is going,

I was able to bridge the gap between my fitness brand and my podcast production business.

Now you might be asking yourself “Why is this important to me?”

Well… the way I content market my brand might be of interest to you because with a whole bunch of trial (and mostly error)

I was able to 11x my total content reach (podcast, socials, newsletter and website visits).

And as I put this together I realised the framework is applicable to pretty much any company or brand in any industry.

I really believe the biggest opportunity with content and in particular social media should be used to educate.

Most people on social media aren’t ready to buy or even know if they have a problem, so building trust is key.

If you’re familiar with the 5 stages of customer awareness, as outlined by Eugene Schwartz;

The first 3 stages that should be focused on

  1. Unaware
  2. Problem Aware
  3. Solution Aware
  4. Product Aware
  5. Most Aware

But… unfortunately most companies and brands (especially in the endurance sports/health/fitness industry) focus on stage 4 and 5.

Back to education

Well my rebranded company does this and more with our content packages so you can 10x your return, get new customers, not worry about creating sticky content, free up valuable resources in marketing and get back to running (maybe pun intended?!) your business instead of creating content.

The title of this is just that; CONTENT ON THE GO.

I’ve proven that as a content creator with a focus on a podcast, you can be more than just audio.

It’s hard for a brand to just put out a podcast and see thousands of listens and convert hundreds and thousands of listeners to paying customers and clients.

People’s attention is everywhere, so let’s use that to our advantage.

By video recording all podcasts, I’ve been able to 10x who and where people consume the value of the podcast.

From one 20-30 min episode, you can touch 10x more people with 10-20+ pieces of content.

We call this content stacking (ripped and remixed from Gary Vee’s 64 pieces of content in a day and The Podcast Host)

Oh hey – you’ve gotten this far

Moving forward with every piece of content I want to present interesting thoughts, ideas, and questions in a casual way.

I believe that marketing is way more art than it is science.

I’m always learning new stuff that renders my old stuff wrong or obsolete, and I want to talk about that and fail in public.

Let’s see where this takes us; I might get all deep and meaningful or I might insert some funny/bad jokes, memes, and random humorous bits along the way.

Either way let’s do this once a month for a quarter and re-assess from there.

See you in the inbox.

PS- if you’re into running, health or fitness, feel free to subscribe to my running focused newsletter — One Percent Better.

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When Spotify gets the Market Share, Apple Podcasts should wake up

daren interviewing a man
Read Time - < 1 minute

Cool Story: I remember in 2018 when Spotify finally let indie podcasters (aka everyone) get on Spotify and I was so excited.

A lot of people kinda didn’t care and were like “meh”.

I was like “Yo, do you understand how hard it is to get people to listen to a podcast!! This will make it so much easier”

I yelled and yelled and then not even 4 years later, Spotify now trumps Apple as far as market share in the USA goes. HUGE!

While I’m not pro Spotify or anti Apple, I am all about getting more people to listen to podcasts in the easiest way. The biggest blocker of podcasts is that there aren’t enough people listening to them.

Content on Youtube, Instagram and even a blog or newsletter have a 5-10x or more chance of reaching the intended audience. Building a podcast on the other hand… GRIND TIME!

I’ll end it there, but yeah lessons learned are;

1- More ear balls in as many places for your podcast = Win (yes… I call them ear balls, haha)
2- If you have controlled an industry for decades, don’t sleep because the person/company with less money will come out from nowhere and take what you were sitting on right out from under you (looking at you Apple Podcasts)

Did I miss something? Disagree? Comment below.

PS – If you have a podcast/are looking to start one and struggling with growth – HIT UP US UP!  We specialise in bespoke storytelling (the good type of podcasting) and podcast promotion.

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Publishing & Promotion | The Pod Paste Process Part 6

Read Time - 6 minutes

Photo by Greyson Joralemon

The publishing and promotion phase is Step 5 of The Pod Paste Production Process. Please go back to the introductory overview here to familiarise yourself with the full process.

Alternatively, you can dive right into this part and figure it out as you go. We don’t mind either way as long as you get something out of this!

Mistakes can often be avoided if you double-check your perceptions

“Carpenters and builders have learned to avoid making mistakes the hard way, thereby ruining valuable and costly material. Cut the wood improperly, and the piece is unusable. The saying measure twice cut once plays in their heads every time they are about to rip into a new sheet of plywood or to position their saw on a 2×4. 

It is a constant reminder that they have one shot at getting it right, or it will cost time, money, and even reputation. Measuring twice means making sure that one has thought of all the things that could go wrong before acting or making a decision. That maxim applies to human resource professionals as well.”
— Taken from Dale James Dwyer PhD

You’ve done all the planning and pre-production. You booked those hard to reach guests for interviews. You recorded in an excellent sounding studio space that was well treated and soundproofed. You even had a professional engineer come in to mix, master, and audio sweeten your episode. Now it’s time to send it to the world.  

Did you do your due diligence and double or even triple-check that everything is in its right place? When the world hears your podcast, will your audio waves make the biggest splash they can?

Below I’ll share a few tips and tricks that should help you with the last step of the Pod Paste Production process – Publishing and Promotion. The areas we will cover are;

Continue reading “Publishing & Promotion | The Pod Paste Process Part 6”