Press Play Podcasts and Chase Smith

If you’re like me, you’re always on the hunt for a new podcast to add to your rotation.

The trouble is that sometimes wading through the options can become overwhelming.

Luckily, there is a way to make the search a little less stressful–podcast networks!

If you are a listener, then podcast networks make finding a new show easy by curating quality content and putting it all in one place for you to find.

If you are a content creator, then being part of a podcast network can help increase your revenue and broaden your listener base. And as the podcasting business continues to grow, more and more podcast networks are launching.

Podcasters now are encountering a similar dilemma that bloggers faced a decade ago: as your show gains respectability and audience, how do you decide when’s the right time to join a podcast network? And what are the questions you should be asking for any suitors that come your way?

Podcast networks are looking for podcasts that are up in the tens of thousands of downloads, multiple times over. This is common among the largest podcast networks. Many won’t consider accepting a show unless it has a minimum of 50,000 downloads per episode. Given that most advertisers are chasing scale and buy ads based on CPM, some networks feel it’s not worth their while to take on smaller shows.

My guest found this approach frustrating; there were many podcasts out there, including his, that had managed to achieve a high degree of quality without meeting the 50,000 download threshold. It seemed like there may be an opportunity for a network to target these mid-tier shows.

Chase Smith – coordinates a podcast network called Press Play Podcasts .

Press Play Podcasts and Chase Smith | Convert audio-to-text with Sonix

Brett Johnson:
Well, if you're like me, you're always on the hunt for a new podcast to add to your rotation. Trouble is that sometimes wading through the options can become quite overwhelming. Luckily, there is a way to make the search a little less stressful – podcast networks.

Brett Johnson:
Networks are helpful for both listeners, and content creators alike. If you're a listener, the podcast networks make finding a new show easy by curating quality content, and putting it all in one place for you to find.

Brett Johnson:
Plus, on the other side, if you're a content creator, then being a part of a podcast network can help increase your revenue, and broaden your listener base. As the podcasting business continues to grow, more, and more podcast networks are launching.

Brett Johnson:
Podcasters now are encountering a similar dilemma that bloggers faced about a decade ago. As your show gains respectability, and audience, how do you decide when is the right time to join a podcast network? What are the questions you should be asking for any suitor that comes your way, or if you're approaching that network, what questions should you be asking, ask well?

Brett Johnson:
Podcast networks are looking for podcasts that are up in the tens of thousands of downloads, multiple times over. It's a common thing among the largest podcast networks – many won't consider accepting a show unless it has a minimum of 50,000 downloads per episode. Given that most advertisers are chasing scale, and buy ads based on CPM, some networks feel it's not worth their while to take on smaller shows.

Brett Johnson:
Well, my guest for this episode found this approach frustrating. There are many podcasts out there, including his, that he managed to achieve a high degree of quality without meeting that "gold standard" of the 50,000-download threshold. It seemed like there may be an opportunity for a network to target these mid-tier shows.

Brett Johnson:
With me is Chase Smith. He coordinates, and owns a podcast network called Press Play Podcasts. Right now, it's a network of five podcasts that's available at pressplaypodcasts.com.

Brett Johnson:
I'm going to read a little bit from you the "About" page: "The Press Play Podcast Network exists to empower hosts and create high quality, professional sounding, engaging content for its listeners. At P3, [I love that!] we pride ourselves in helping bring your vision to reality by providing you with the proper tools and support to make your show a success. Whether you're a podcast veteran or diving into the medium for the first time, we will walk alongside you and help you get your show on the air."

Brett Johnson:
Chase, thanks for being a part of the podcast.

Chase Smith:
Brett, thanks for having me on, brother.

Brett Johnson:
Sure! Let's talk about the beginning of this. How did P3 begin?

Chase Smith:
P3 began with my personal podcast, and the Cleveland Browns podcast that I host. I've been all-in on podcasts since 2006, starting from my love with the Cleveland Browns.

Chase Smith:
I was a freshman at Marshall University, in Huntington, West Virginia, and just was jonesing for Cleveland Browns content. What I was getting online just wasn't good enough. I wanted to listen to fans talk about my favorite NFL team. I got on iTunes, and searched "Browns" and "podcasting." I was, like, "What is this?"

Chase Smith:
I was all-in from the very beginning. Just listened to every – I forget the name of this Browns podcast, but it was fantastic. It actually wouldn't be bad today. Gosh, I gotta figure that out. Since then, I started listening to some my favorite writers. They would have a podcast, and just fell in love with it from the very beginning.

Chase Smith:
A couple years ago, we lived in Chicago, and I took classes at Second City, which is a comedy theater at IO, which is another comedy theater.

Chase Smith:
I kind of used my experience working with audio for 10-plus years, speaking in front of people in the writing training that these other theaters offered, and started my own podcast with some of the people that I knew in my own personal network.

Chase Smith:
It was like, "Oh, I could interview this former SNL writer; I could interview the president of this college; I could interview …" I started pulling people that I would want to listen to, and just started talking to them about leadership, life, ministry, sports, whatever – whatever was going on their life. Really, really was received well.

Chase Smith:
August of '17, I just continued with my podcast, and I wanted to do a Cleveland Browns season preview, partly because the Browns podcasts that were offered at the time weren't whetting my appetite. The quality wasn't great. The episodes were like an hour and 45 minutes long. It was just a lot of nothing for a lot of something.

Chase Smith:
I found one of my friends online who I hadn't met – just online person that we communicate with, Jeremy Powell, @JeremyinAkron on Twitter. I said, "Hey, Jeremy, you want to come on my pod? We'll do a Browns season preview?" He was like, "Yeah, we could do that!" He came on, and it just went like gangbusters. We communicated very, very well together. We had a really great repertoire, or rapport … Sorry, not repertoire, rapport … We're like, "What if we was to do this every week?" Like, "Hey, all right, let's do it!" All of a sudden, I'm [crosstalk]

Brett Johnson:
A lot of arm twisting going on there, yeah, right.

Chase Smith:
Right. Well, it went so well, and everyone loved it. I think sports is a really easy podcast to market because the demographic is so clear. You know who is a die-hard Browns fan, whether they label it on their profile, or they post stuff about it, or they like, or retweet, or comment on stuff. They're very easy targeting/marketing there.

Chase Smith:
We started this Browns pod with this desire to … We wanted really high-quality content that's not hours, and hours long. Now, all of a sudden, I had my hands in two podcasts, and I started dreaming. I'm a dreamer, Brett. I dream. I dream. I just think, "Man, I'm super-optimistic and I'm a dreamer.".

Chase Smith:
I was like, "Hmm …" If I have two that I kind of understood how I was able to grow those networks, and grow those shows, and how I record, and how I edit, what would that look like if I had a couple more shows? Maybe if I opened it up to invite other people along in the process? All of a sudden, this idea of a network started to birth itself, and we launched in October of 2018 with five shows.

Chase Smith:
We have the "The Orange Is Oranger Browns Podcast" which is a podcast about the Cleveland Browns. We have "Cavs on the Break Podcast" with Sam Amico. He used to write for Fox Sports Ohio. He's an author – he's actually just finishing his book, I think, last week. We're supposed to record this week, or next week, to talk about that. That's about the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Chase Smith:
We have a Cleveland Indians podcast, "A Swing and a Tribe," which is all about the Cleveland Indians. We have my personal podcast, "The Chase Smith Podcast." We have a college football podcast called "The Tim and Shipe Show," college football podcast.

Chase Smith:
Right now, our current shows do focus around sports, and a lot of Cleveland sports, but we just started … Honestly, Brett, it was a lot of what I love – what do I want to listen to? What interests me?

Brett Johnson:
Sure, sure.

Chase Smith:
It just kind of went from there.

Brett Johnson:
Right. That makes sense.

Chase Smith:
Official launch was October of '18, and, yeah, it's been a good, I guess, six months has it been [cross talk]

Brett Johnson:
Now it has been. At this recording, we're in April, so yeah, you're right there, exactly. Strategy for growth – obviously, you've put some thought into sports. It's good that we've got all the sports teams covered now in Cleveland … That's good, because there's a cross pollination there. Typically, a Cleveland fan is a Cleveland fan – typically – and I think that's true of most cities, and such. What's the strategy for growth of the network? What's your vision a year from now, five years from now? What's it gonna look like to you?

Chase Smith:
Yeah. Oh, I would love to branch out of sports. I know, right now, a lot of focus is on sports, but, again, Brett. just trying to focus on things that I care about. I love movies, so I can see somewhere down the line having a podcast about movies, or some type of entertainment. I think culture is really important. I think it'd be cool to have a podcast about culture.

Chase Smith:
Actually, Brett, next week we're launching our sixth podcast. It's called "Up Next with Chad and Taylor." This podcast covers all the original content from Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO, Disney Plus, or Apple Plus, whatever … Whatever streaming content is available, and whatever original content they come out- not network, not cable, like original streaming content.

Chase Smith:
Chad, and Taylor are gonna break these shows down. They're gonna help you decide what should be up next in your queue; how to explain these shows to your grandparents; what they liked; what they didn't like – all these things. If you really, really love "Stranger Things," or any new show … Like, "Aww, man, hey, like why is "Homecoming" getting a lot of … People are talking about "Homecoming," What is that?" You can check it out with this podcast. I mean, "I've never heard of "The Marvelous Miss Maisel." It won some Emmys. What's going on?" Well, hey, we'll talk about it on "Up Next," which I think there's a really huge market for there-

Brett Johnson:
Oh, yeah.

Chase Smith:
Once again, love just consuming media. I think it'd be cool to maybe dip our toes in politics. I don't know … I think the growth is gonna be what I enjoy. What do I wanna listen to? What interests me? Then, people'll come on board, and they're able to communicate their idea.

Chase Smith:
That's the thing, too, with our network, what we wanna do is make it easy for someone who has no idea about podcasts to start a podcast. If they are passionate enough about a topic that they reach out to us, then we wanna be able to come alongside them, and help them with their idea.

Chase Smith:
That's kind of what I guess the next couple of years is gonna look like. You can't predict the future, but I would love to see a podcast about movies, a podcast about culture. We're gonna have a TV 30-minute podcast releasing next week, which is exciting.

Brett Johnson:
When you're looking to expand the network with the different genres that you're talking about, you're talking about podcasts that may exist today, may not exist today, but they will in six months. It could be somebody you know, or it could be someone looking for a network, as well.

Brett Johnson:
Let's say that you found that right one that you wanna bring on. What's your conversation like to them? That they have a podcast that does exist … Then we'll turn it into somebody that doesn't have one yet, and talk to them. Let's go first that have an established podcast. It could be five listeners. I don't care what the number is, but they have one that fits, you like. It's like, "I wanna bring you on." What's that conversation like with them?

Chase Smith:
It's funny, Brett. They're intrigued by the idea of being part of a network. A lot of people don't understand what that is; don't understand what being part of a network can offer. It's kind of like dating. You're just trying to feel the other person out, like, "Well, hey, Chase, tell me about what would happen if I join the network? What does that offer me? What's in it for me, as a podcast, with my show that I've put a bunch of work, and time, and energy, and resources in, like mental capacity, too … What's in it for me?"

Brett Johnson:
They want it to be a two-way street, and so do you, of course; that you get as much benefit from being in the network, as I get from you being part of the network, too.

Chase Smith:
I try to make expectations clear. I don't want them to think that this is gonna be the magic elixir that makes their podcasts number one on the charts, or reach the Top 200, or whatever. I want to make sure the expectations on both of our ends are very clear.

Chase Smith:
I think, being a part of a network – and this is what I would tell them – gives them credibility in their field. I think part of podcasting is what can we do to separate our podcasts from other podcasts?

Chase Smith:
It's kind of like a blog. Anyone can have a blog. Well, anyone, if they know how to use Google, can understand how to start a podcast. The game becomes what can we do to make your show stand out, and unique?

Chase Smith:
Whether it's with the quality of the content, like how it sounds; whether you sound like you're in a tin can, a garbage can, or in a studio? I think that matters. Having an awesome graphic; having a really intentional, and specific roll-in, or intro music that's not 45 seconds long, and it's not two seconds long. Finding that perfect medium.

Chase Smith:
Then, understanding that content does matter, and what you provide does matter. A network gives you credibility. It's telling your listeners that there's a group of people somewhere that deem this podcast awesome, and they want to be associated with it.

Chase Smith:
If there's four podcasts about office printers [crosstalk], I'm just … Random … I would be more likely to see an office printer podcast part of a network. Like, "Okay, maybe the host has some credentials, or this has some weight to it," more than just John Doe's podcast, or whatever [cross talk] To be able to communicate that probably a little more clearly than what I just did here!

Brett Johnson:
No. It makes perfect sense that there are lots of podcasts about printers. We'll go with the same example. The weight comes in that you decided they were good enough that you wanted them to be a part of P3, basically-

Chase Smith:
Yep. Giving the host a stamp of approval, like, "Oh, hey, you do have something to add to this field, and you're a part of this network." If that makes your podcast stand out, being able to use the reach of the current shows in the network, I think, is appealing to other hosts, and they wanna be a part of that.

Chase Smith:
One thing I've seen, Brett, pretty early in these "date" questions is, "How do I earn a sponsorship?" or, "How do I start earning money from my podcast?".

Chase Smith:
The fact that our network has acquired some sponsorships, and partnerships with other respectable businesses, that can be attractive to potential hosts, as well. Whether how we communicate to them what packages we offer, or what that looks like … We would provide those tools, and that kind of skeleton, and that kind of foot in the door with these businesses for a podcast to attract sponsorships.

Brett Johnson:
Sure. Okay. Let's go the other direction. A couple of people wanna put a podcast together; certain genre; makes a lot of sense; it sounds good to you. It's like, "Yeah, I like that topic." What's that conversation like, then? It doesn't exist yet.

Chase Smith:
Yeah, so, as the president, CEO, whatever you want to call it, of the network, [cross talk] I want to just acquire assets. I want the network to grow. My initial goal was to do one new show a month. Here at month six, we have developed two, fully, that when it came to signing a contract, and recording, they just kind of realized it wasn't for them, which is totally fine.

Brett Johnson:
Yeah, you bet. Better to realize then, than six months down the road.

Chase Smith:
Right. We were able to relaunch another one. We had to switch some hosts, and then, like I said, launching our "Up Next" podcast next week. I'm always open to talking, having conversations with hosts, just trying to, one, add to our portfolio, or assets, and also, branch out of sports, too.

Chase Smith:
I'm always willing to have a conversation, but someone who has never spoken in front of a microphone, or understand anything about the process, we would come alongside them, and, as long as their show is with us, walk hand-in-hand, and make sure that every question is answered; that in the mailbox, they receive whatever equipment they need, whatever microphone … We provide training on how to use the equipment.

Chase Smith:
Then, for someone who has never done this, we also provide graphics, and roll-in, and all of that stuff for them. We only want them to focus on content. We take care of all the back-end hosting, all the logistics. We take care of all of that.

Chase Smith:
You just focus on coming up with an outline, and kind of like a seven-episode idea of what you want this to look like. You focus on that. We will take care of all the other logistical, technical stuff of the podcast, and we'll train you on how to do what you want to do. For someone who has, it's a very different conversation for [cross talk]

Brett Johnson:
That's why I wanted to ask, because it is two different pieces. One that's established has gone through that six-month, year, two-year growth of getting it down, put it that way. Those who are looking at it, going, "That sounds fun. I love this TV show, I wanna do this." That's great, but …

Chase Smith:
Right. Where I've found the most success in conversations is not so much, "Hey, bring your show on with us." It's more, "Hey, our network has this idea for a show. Can you come on board with us, and host it for us?" That's where I've seen the most positive two-way conversation, where the most trust is built, and there's this mutual excitement for the idea. That's where this "Up Next," all about these original shows, was able to get to the point where it is today, where they're gonna be released with three episodes, and all this stuff. It's gonna be good.

Brett Johnson:
We'll get back to the interview right after this.

Brett Johnson:
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Brett Johnson:
The question comes up: "What is my podcast worth?" To me, it's a surprisingly hard question to find an answer to – establishing what the real-world value of a podcast is. Should be hugely important to all of us – you, me – as an industry, in developing our shows, pitching to networks, investors, and maybe, one day, exchanging one of our babies for that sweet nectar of big cash, so we can do this full-time-

Chase Smith:
Oh, yeah, all the big cash!

Brett Johnson:
Exactly! There's been a lot of discussion in the media about this for years. There's one piece called The Monocle Model. That is, if your readers, or your listeners are rich enough, it doesn't matter how many you have, and the same applies to podcasts. I think that goes with both with blogs, and podcasts.

Brett Johnson:
If you can demonstrate the industrial lobbying power of your listenership, or that they fulfill certain demographic requirements for purchasers, you'll be able to get in the driver's seat. By and large, though, the equation is, sadly, that 100 listeners on Wall Street will be worth more than 1,000 rural households, usually.

Brett Johnson:
You can take a look at it, too, as: is 250,000 subscribers worth a million dollars, by default? There are newspapers that have a 250,000 weekly circulation that wouldn't hesitate to put a million dollars on it. I'm increasingly obsessed with reminding people that the value of the intellectual property – just as you're putting together – that the product we have in podcasting, it's branding, your shows, your feed, your archive, it's worth something.

Brett Johnson:
Looking at it, and talking about it that way, what's been in the back of your mind, and maybe in the forefront, to the growth of sponsorships? You just mentioned you got a couple of new ones, which is great, congratulations [cross talk] because it's hard work. It's a lot of hard work, and it doesn't stop when the sponsor signs the dotted line. That's actually the beginning, because it's a whole different relationship. What's been your strategy for the growth in sponsorship so far?

Chase Smith:
Well, I think the question, "How much is a podcast worth?" really fascinating-

Brett Johnson:
It is, yeah.

Chase Smith:
-I think it's worth a different amount to different people. Those 100 Wall Street listeners might not give a rip about a podcast about dish-washing soap [cross talk]

Brett Johnson:
But if it's about a yacht, or yachting, a hundred will pay for that podcast.

Chase Smith:
Yes, and a yacht …

Brett Johnson:
Right, exactly! Exactly.

Chase Smith:
I think one of the appeals of a podcast, Brett, is that you can find about anything. I don't have to listen to a 60-minute radio show just for a three-minute segment on the Browns. I could listen to a 60-minute segment about the Browns, and a three-minute spot about this bottle of water – like an advertising spot-

Brett Johnson:
Sure.

Chase Smith:
That is appealing. A Browns podcast is worth infinitely more to a Browns fan than an Arizona Cardinals fan. I think even that question is just really, really interesting. Because podcasts are so pointed, and so one-lane focused, I think it's a blessing, and a curse. With it being so one-lane, you can really target potential sponsors, and really be able to market, and sell your podcast to people, whether …

Chase Smith:
For instance, a Browns podcast. All of our listeners come from Columbus, to Canton, to Cleveland [cross talk] all up, I think, 71 … All through 71, last season, we had a presenting sponsor called The Place. They sold hot tubs, spas, fireplaces, grills. They had this huge lot right on 71, and they were able to move products. It was great because they sell [inaudible] … It just made sense. They're not a new sponsor, I was just using that as an example.

Brett Johnson:
Sure.

Chase Smith:
The ones we just signed this … It's been a great week. It's been a great week! This week was Align Health Center. They work on rehabilitation sports, working with chiropractic of your spine, and body, and all these great things. They were all around … They have two branches in between Cleveland, and Canton. We also work with GV Art and Design. We just signed that today. It's a T-shirt company.

Chase Smith:
We're not signing sponsors that will have no success reaching Browns fans. We wouldn't do that to them. We wouldn't try to just take their money. We want to work with people who do have an appeal to Browns fans, whether it's with Browns T-shirts, or Cleveland T-shirts … If most of our audience is 20- to 35-year-old men, or 30- to 50-year-old men who might want some testosterone injections, or to work on their back, because they pulled it mowing, or whatever, well, check out Aligned Health Center. I think you have to be really strategic in your conversations with sponsors, as well.

Brett Johnson:
I think you have to be cognizant of, and respectful of, as well, your listeners. Is there even a connection with this product, this service that is now coming on board?

Chase Smith:
Yep. One of the things we did that saw the most success is for our live show. Last year, we did a live draft show – we had the number-one pick. We went to a restaurant; they reserved it for us; we blew it out; it was great. We asked our sponsors to come, and have giveaways, and just be a part of that with us, and that was incredible. People loved it. It just was a great way to help the sponsor know, "Hey, we're getting something out of this," and the people feel like, "Oh, I'm getting something free." It was just a win/win/win all around. The restaurant was packed all night; plus, the number-one pick, Baker … It was great. We had the number-four pick last year, as well.

Brett Johnson:
There's nothing like a live show.

Chase Smith:
No, it [cross talk] it was a ton of fun. This year, we don't have a draft pick in the first round, so we actually can't … We wanna do it again. We canceled it, because we traded for OBJ, and that was insane.

Chase Smith:
Yeah, it's been a great week. This is where I think radio is in trouble. Now, I don't have a history in radio, other than listening to it growing up. I haven't listened to it in- I'm not gonna tell you how long-

Brett Johnson:
Right, I know, I know. It's a time factor that I've actually found what I like on my phone, versus in the car-

Chase Smith:
Oh, my gosh, a story …

Brett Johnson:
-yeah, there's that radio in the car, you know?

Chase Smith:
-I know someone's daughter, they were in the car, and they were listening to the radio, and the daughter said, "Oh, Daddy, hey, go back, and play that song again. What was that one? I liked that one." He was like, "Hey, "I can't do that. Sorry. This isn't on my phone. This is the radio." It's like, "What's that? The kids, they're just like, "What is this concept of …? Why can't I control this? What is that?"

Brett Johnson:
Right.

Chase Smith:
What was my story, other than … We got on how the demise of radio, and I got all confused.

Brett Johnson:
No, it's okay … I think radio – I've got a previous episode talking with Steve Palmer, who is the host of "Lawyer Talk," as well as Dino Tripodis, who is a former on-air personality, and has a podcast, "Whiskey Business," talking about how radio is … Again, radio will survive. Our discussion was about have they missed the boat? Are they actually in the boat for podcasts? How are they looking at it, and such.

Brett Johnson:
I think some large conglomerates are probably aggressively doing it well, but their definition of a podcast may be a little bit different than what we are talking about. It's more of a re-purposing Best Of, but they, and I'm talking specifically – iHeart – they do have some original content, and they're putting original content … Whether they're buying the original content, or starting to create their own, I think they're getting it. It's-

Chase Smith:
I remember my thought.

Brett Johnson:
-it depends on what they want to do with it, and if they can monetize it – that's the big thing, for me, in my eyes.

Chase Smith:
A couple of things I want to touch on there, because I think it's really interesting. A live ad-read in a podcast, once that's embedded in an episode, that never goes away. If you buy a live ad-read on the radio, or purchase one, and no one listens in that time, you're outta luck, because you can't go back, and rewind the radio; where, a podcast, it's embedded forever.

Chase Smith:
People go back, and listen to our previous episodes. Those sponsors who bought that episode, even though they're not currently a sponsor, they're still getting bang for their buck. They're still getting a return on investment on the advertisement. In podcasts, ad-reads are evergreen. They are, and I think there's an appeal there that isn't with live radio.

Brett Johnson:
Right.

Chase Smith:
I think that could spell trouble just for some of these radio sponsors. Now, they're never gonna go away, like you said, but I think that there is an appeal, that "Oh, man, this is gonna be embedded in the episode," and as the podcast grows, it's just only gonna get more ears [cross talk]

Brett Johnson:
I think podcasters are really grasping the idea of how to do … It's still a product endorsement, but they're talking to their listeners better than radio personalities do. Number one, because they can do it …

Brett Johnson:
Even though your sponsors bought 60-second commercials, or whatever you sold them, 90 seconds – it's a commercial. Radio is still limited by it's a 60-second commercial, and whether it's a live-read or not, it's 60 seconds.

Brett Johnson:
Where, a podcaster, they wanna talk about that sponsor, and it makes sense for the listener to follow that story line about the product. They'll follow along, because they're either using the product in their own life, or they know somebody that is, and they can tell a story around it. The quicker a podcaster can jump on that storytelling piece about their sponsor-

Chase Smith:
-it's huge.

Brett Johnson:
-that contract will be renewed year, after year, after year.

Chase Smith:
Yep! Now I want to flip this around a little bit, Brett, because the normal podcast isn't the 50,000-download threshold-

Brett Johnson:
It's not.

Chase Smith:
That is-

Brett Johnson:
The top two to three percent of all podcasts are even that kind of number.

Chase Smith:
Right. Most of them, I think, what is the average, 50 or, it's …?

Brett Johnson:
Yeah. The average … Last numbers I'd heard, about 1,000-1,500. It depends if it's the median, or the average. That number varies, as well, but if you're in the hundreds, you're in the ballpark of everybody else.

Chase Smith:
Right, yeah. The other side of this, though, Brett, is if your podcast is 100 subscribers, or listens, and a radio station's like, "Hey, can we use your podcast?" I think most podcast hosts are gonna jump on that and say, "Heck yeah, use my stuff!" Then the host gets to say, "Well, hey, my podcast is on the radio.".

Brett Johnson:
Right.

Chase Smith:
Again, anything you can do to set your podcast apart from someone else who's not on the radio gives you a leg up-

Brett Johnson:
Sure. Even if you're a go-to commentary person [cross talk] once a week, the WTAM sports host gives you a call, and you're cross-promoting your podcast, once a week, just talking about Browns [crosstalk] for five minutes … Exactly.

Chase Smith:
You better believe it. If some college station in Akron is like, "Hey, we have a 2:00 a.m. slot." Sure! I don't care!

Brett Johnson:
Exactly, exactly.

Chase Smith:
I think there's also this appeal that even though radio seems to be- their back's up against the wall a little bit, I still think they have some pretty big guns that they're gonna be able to say, "Well, hey, hold on a second. We're The Radio."

Brett Johnson:
Right. "We still have millions of listeners in every market, that, potentially, if I can get you 5,000 of those to subscribe to your podcast, we both win," right? It's like, "Of course, we do." [cross talk] there's still a win/win there, yeah.

Chase Smith:
I think there is this ask that they can say, "Well, hey, how about you give us some stuff?" I think most podcasts are gonna be ecstatic that they got that [cross talk]

Brett Johnson:
Oh, for sure. Yeah, for sure, cuz most- I think most podcasters are kinda radio wannabe people – kinda. You know, it's the mic thing; it's that tech thing. They've always wanted to talk about their favorite stuff, and they realize they can't buy airtime to do this.

Brett Johnson:
That's a lot of conversion that I have had, with me walking out of radio, that I've had clients, and people that I know; they wanna talk about a certain subject, and topic, about their business, or whatever it might be, but they can't afford the time.

Brett Johnson:
They also realize that "one and done." You buy that 8:00 in the morning on Sundays … Well, if that listener's not listening at 8:00 on Sunday morning, where else are they gonna get it, other than record it, and put it in a podcast. As we talked about previously, the radio thing does come into play, of course. I think there's a piece to it, just strategic, that sorta thing.

Brett Johnson:
How, now six podcasts coming on, how are you supporting each other as a network? I know that varies with all different networks out there, in regards to … There's the cross-promote plugs within the show, where even if it's social … What's your strategy been so far? Where are you looking to take that, in regards to helping each other lift the boat?

Chase Smith:
Yeah. Having hosts on different shows. My Browns co-host, Jeremy, JeremyinAkron, he loves the Indians, and the Cavs, so having him on those shows helps direct traffic; kind of cross-promote there.

Chase Smith:
I already told our host with the "Up Next" podcast, "Hey, I wanna be on when you do this show, and this show, and this show." I think just support each other that way. Obviously, sharing, and retweeting; commenting on our podcasts. Then using our own airtime, and buying our own airtime, and doing a live ad-read for that show.

Chase Smith:
Not only does that give our audience … Like, "Oh, they have this podcast coming up," but it gives my hosts practice in reading live on-air ad-reads, so, whenever they do have a sponsor, then they're not reading an ad for the first time. Then they've done that already with our shows; it gives them practice for that. That's what we're doing now …

Brett Johnson:
Makes sense. No, it makes sense, yeah. I know every network puts a different strategy together to support each other. I think the larger ones have a bit more difficulty in doing it, but I think what they then start to do is slice the pie, going, "Okay, these five can cross-promote each other, because it's the same genre," or, like you said, cross-promote, because they're actually hosting two, or three different podcasts, so they … "If you like me here, you're gonna like me on the other one, too," sorta thing, which is great. It goes right in line with what podcasting is all about, too.

Brett Johnson:
Biggest challenges … What are your challenges with this?

Chase Smith:
Biggest challenge for me is finding time to work on this. I have a full-time job, and then, another part-time job at a college in Circleville. All the time I've devoted to the network is either over my "lunch breaks," in air quotes – you can't see over podcasts, or late at night, when my wife is working on counseling stuff, and my daughter's asleep.

Chase Smith:
There are some days, Brett, when I just want to work on this all the time. It's really a challenge to stay disciplined. and to … "Oh, hey, I gotta get this done," or, "Oh, hey, I gotta work on my lecture for …" That's been the biggest challenge for me is just carving that time out. Actually, I'm waiting to hear back from Podcast Movement. Is that the big Orlando …?

Brett Johnson:
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Chase Smith:
I submitted a breakout speaking request about how to do this.

Brett Johnson:
Cool.

Chase Smith:
The initial cutoff was, "We'll let all the speakers know by April 1st," and they emailed back, "Oh, we'll let everyone know [crosstalk]

Brett Johnson:
They did that last year, too, because they have so many. It just took … I'd rather them do that, rather than just say, "Well, you know, we didn't get to the last 500." No, no, no, no, no … The next 500 could be- you got a gem in there, so that's a good sign.

Chase Smith:
I don't want to use it as an excuse, because I can't stand the "I'm just too busy" excuse. At the end of the day, Brett, you make time for what's important. You make time for your family; you make time for your faith; you make time to watch March Madness.

Chase Smith:
You make time for things that you wanna do, and that includes video games; that includes eating. You make time for what you wanna do. For me to say I don't make time for this … I'm not gonna say "I'm too busy," because you make time for what's important. I just wish I had more time for this in a day-

Brett Johnson:
Right. Understandable.

Chase Smith:
Sometimes, less time when other things …

Brett Johnson:
Sure; oh, yeah.

Chase Smith:
It's just a matter of carving that time out, and keeping a healthy balance of family, and faith, and just yourself … It's important for you to do things that give you life, and to rest, and [crosstalk]

Brett Johnson:
If you're down, you can't support the other podcasters in the network.

Chase Smith:
Yes. Right now, working on the network stuff, it does bring me energy, and life, and it is a weird way to rest, and relax, and have fun. Sometimes, I just love lounging on the couch, and eating a bowl of Captain Crunch with Crunchberries, and [crosstalk] just watching SNL, or whatever. I need that. too.

Brett Johnson:
Your brain needs it, though, too, because all of a sudden, inspiration will come at moments you didn't realize – walking the dog, or watching SNL, and you see something, or hear something, going, "That's it!" Your brain works that way. You gotta give it that time.

Chase Smith:
Yeah. That's a big challenge, as well. Also, I don't know if we … We talked; we had a great conversation before we recorded. I don't know if this was … I think it was in the recording. I said I'm a dreamer, and I'm optimistic.

Brett Johnson:
Yeah, yeah, we have, sure.

Chase Smith:
I have all of these goals, all these dreams. Another challenge is just understanding it's a marathon, and just to be patient, and just to look at the bigger perspective. If I were to zoom out now, and say, "Man, in six months, we've been able to do this, and in a year from the conception of this idea, this is how far we've come, and this is what we've been able to do.".

Chase Smith:
You can get encouraged that way, but if you just get stuck in the minutiae of every day, like "Oh, man, I'm gonna get this done; I'm gonna get this done. I'm gonna get this, this …" then you can get pretty discouraged.

Brett Johnson:
Right.

Chase Smith:
It's a challenge to keep a proper perspective, too, sometimes.

Brett Johnson:
Sure.

Chase Smith:
Just because I can be pretty impatient. I see the steps that need to be taken. I just want them to be done now, but that's fun about it, too.

Brett Johnson:
Yeah. I like that you're not- you have not mentioned one thing about competing against other networks, or concerned about other networks that are being developed, and such. I think it's healthy, because that's probably where this whole space is gonna go to, anyway, is a lot of networks are gonna be created on their own, organically, like you're doing.

Brett Johnson:
Independents are gonna come on board to help lift the boat of this small network. It's maybe, again, a Cleveland-based network that have a bunch of Cleveland- whether they're there, or not, but it's focused around Cleveland, and Columbus, or Cincinnati, or Ohio, or Midwest.

Brett Johnson:
That's where it's going to come into play, because, again, the cross-promote, as well as helping independent podcasters get more exposure a little easier than on their own shoulders. I think that's where it's gonna start to develop, and I think not looking in the rear-view mirror, not looking on the sides. Just do your thing, and not worry about everybody else. A marathon. You will be okay.

Chase Smith:
Yep, and part of that – I don't wanna waste the time I do have comparing myself to other networks, or other shows. That's not healthy. I'm really competitive in nature, so then I would just get like, "Well, why did they get so many downloads? They sound like…" I would just get really nasty, really quick.

Chase Smith:
Funny, ironically enough, our Browns podcast started off of just this disgruntled, unhappy feeling of, "Man, the Browns podcasts we have here are junk." It was kind of birthed from that. I do think I have a responsibility to have my finger on the pulse of the Browns podcasts, other Cavs podcasts.

Brett Johnson:
Sure.

Chase Smith:
I think I need to understand what they're doing, what they sound like, what that looks like, but I don't get lost. I don't devote all my time to that. I have my ear to the ground. I kinda know what's going on-.

Brett Johnson:
Sure. As long as you're different, and you're offering something different to the listeners, you're never going to lose them to the other podcast. They're doing the same thing.

Chase Smith:
Yeah. As you were mentioning about the Columbus … I think there's a market for a Blue Jackets podcast, a Clippers podcast. Two of my best friends, they love soccer, and I wanna do a podcast called "Corner Kick."

Chase Smith:
I think that's just … I see it. I would love to get in on that, cuz I think soccer fans are very passionate, like crazy-passionate, and I think it's only gonna grow, especially if the Clippers are back- the Crew [cross talk] I'm sorry, did I say "Clippers" both times?

Brett Johnson:
I'm not sure. I was thinking of my next … Where I'm gonna go with sports in my mind, too. I think our listener knows exactly what you're talking about, though, yeah.

Chase Smith:
A Crew, soccer … Again, that's kinda still in the sports realm, but I would-

Brett Johnson:
You've got a lane of sports. You kinda know where you need to go with that, and that's a good thing. That's a good thing, because I think the topic of – whether it's a TV show, movie show, or, like you said, "Up next," – is somewhat already self-designed, because you're gonna be talking about that show.

Chase Smith:
Yes.

Brett Johnson:
Of course, then it opens up the gateway: okay, how do we talk about it? But it is about the show. Sports has its own rhythm; what you need to talk about [cross talk] TV shows, and movies have the same type of rhythm. This is how you need to do this. Not formula, but don't go there with it; go here with it, because that's the … Most listeners are really tuning in for this type of thing, when they're trying to find this type of podcast.

Chase Smith:
Yep.

Brett Johnson:
Yeah, exactly.

Chase Smith:
It really gives the host an opportunity to kind of stay in their lane, and, again, just make these shows super-honed-in, and focused on. "Well, hey, the Oscars are coming up; we're gonna have an Oscar preview show," or, "Hey, instant reactions about who won, or who got left out of the Oscars; who was snubbed," or "Hey, let's talk about the Crew. They just missed the playoffs." I don't know. I don't know anything about soccer [cross talk] when does the season start? I don't even know. I know they saved the team.

Brett Johnson:
Yeah, exactly.

Chase Smith:
Sports, especially, really lends itself to these weekly shows, or seasonal podcasts. Answers some of those questions for the host, right? "Well, hey, who's my audience?" Well, fans of your team. "How often do I record?" Well, probably after every game. "Is there an off season?" Well, yeah … You know what I mean? Some of these-

Brett Johnson:
You can address every episode differently. Right.

Chase Smith:
-very, very simple. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brett Johnson:
Exactly. Okay, contacting you – what's the best way, if they have a podcast already, or if they have an idea, now listening to this podcast, going "I gotta get a hold of him. I have this great idea. I know he's gonna love it!" What's the best way to contact you?

Chase Smith:
PressPlayPodcasts.com. Another way to set your podcast apart, I know we're kind of jumping around here … Being part of a network, and having a website, having your picture up there, a little bio. Again, just makes you feel good, and sets you apart.

Brett Johnson:
It's going to sell you, as well as it being approached. It's like, "Okay, what have you got already?"

Chase Smith:
Yeah. PressPlayPodcasts.com. You can check out our existing shows, and you can reach out to us there. You can find me on Twitter, @TheChaseSmith. You can follow the network on Twitter, @PressPlayPods, and that's probably the best way. I love Twitter. I'm on Twitter all the time, so Twitter might be the easiest direct way to my phone, right now.

Brett Johnson:
Cool. Good, good. Well, again, if you've got one, or you're thinking about a podcast, get a hold of Chase. Throw him the idea, at least, and see where it might land, but, I think, again, if you're a podcaster, and not part of a network, it's probably something that needs to be on your radar.

Brett Johnson:
Well, thanks for being a guest on "Note to Future Me," I really appreciate it. This has been really insightful. I've not delved into networks and talked about that, so this has been a really fresh topic.

Brett Johnson:
Again, I think, as I mentioned earlier, it's something independent podcasters need to be really taking a look at. Be prepared. It's probably a really good road to look at. Choose wisely, but do some investigation into it. Who's developing up, and entrance strategy, exit strategy, and can it help you get to where you want to be as a podcaster maybe a little bit quicker?

Chase Smith:
Sure. Let me just say one more thing. All of the hosts on our network, they have other full-time jobs, and families. I know that this is a hobby; that maybe you're looking to be a little more than a hobby, but I never want to put on our hosts this expectation of, "You have to record, or you're gonna let me down, or let whatever down."

Chase Smith:
I understand priorities, and I want you to have a healthy balance, too. Part of my job is, yes, to help you take your idea, or to help you help our idea get somewhere. I also want to make sure that you have proper boundaries, and you don't get burned out in the first month, because you're all excited, and that your family doesn't hate you, or hate me because you're doing this.

Chase Smith:
That's been a lot of fun on my end, just to kind of help our hosts hear my heart, and that, "Hey, I love what you're doing. I love this, but here …" I just told [Brent], and Mike, "Find a week the next couple weeks to take off," because part of our launch strategy, we have all these things to do, and they've been at it pretty hard. Helping them understand that I get the grind. I get the challenge of balancing family, and your full-time job, and then this podcast thing that no one in your family understands, and you have to like, "No, it's a real thing, I promise, I promise." That's been a lot of fun, too. Yeah, I'd love to hear from you if you're interested. Check us out!

Brett Johnson:
Good. Thank you, appreciate it.

Chase Smith:
Brett, thank you so much, man.

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January 2, 2019March 9, 2019

BBB SparkCast

BBB Sparkcast (transcribed by Sonix)

Download the “BBB Sparkcast” audio file directly from here. It was automatically transcribed by Sonix.ai below:

Brett Johnson: Before we get into the business piece of this podcast, I think it’s nice to counter it with nonprofit. Tell me about your favorite nonprofit that you give talent/time/treasure to.

Jessica Kapcar: My favorite, I would have to say, and I think it’s probably a big one for a lot of people, but I have a very soft place in my heart for Children’s Hospital. I actually, in a previous lifetime, worked for Children’s Hospital doing fundraising, so I have a lot of experience kind of just knowing, on the back end, what it takes to give the care to the children that they need. Went through a personal situation, where my child was being treated there-

Brett Johnson: Whose children have not been through there, though?

Jessica Kapcar: Right? I mean-

Brett Johnson: I don’t know of anybody.

Jessica Kapcar: I can remember my parents were like, “Oh, we’re taking a trip to Children’s; we’re running down to Children’s.” It’s just so … I’m so thankful that we have it, and it’s so close to … It’s right in our backyard, and it’s just a great resource. I think they do a lot of really wonderful things there. They’re starting all sorts of new initiatives. That is the one that really sticks out for me, in terms of my personal …

Brett Johnson: What are the volunteer opportunities there that you take advantage, or you know of people that do?

Jessica Kapcar: Sure, yeah. I think there’s a variety of opportunities to volunteer. It just kind of depends on what level. I think one of the things that my sister, and my parents, and my whole family has said … They’re like, “Oh, we just love to go down, and rock the babies, or help with that.” There are opportunities to do that, but there are also opportunities right in your neighborhood to take advantage of supporting the hospital.

Jessica Kapcar: We have had experience – and I say we, when I was working there – of just kids saying, “Hey, instead of bringing me a gift for my birthday, I want you to buy a gift for a kid at the hospital,” or, “I want to take up a collection at school, and donate the money to the hospital.” Things like that, anything that’s really grassroots … Lemonade stands. You’d be surprised how far that goes.

Jessica Kapcar: One of the things that I think is a really great resource for the hospital, as well, is the Ronald McDonald House. It’s right across the street. It’s one of the largest in the country.

Brett Johnson: That’s what I thought.

Jessica Kapcar: At one point, it was the largest, but then, I think I just heard that somebody built another one that’s a little bit bigger. Corporations, companies, individuals – you can volunteer there. I know that some companies have taken the time to help clean the Ronald McDonald House; supplied supplies for the Ronald McDonald House, food, anything like that.

Jessica Kapcar: I would just say that reaching out … The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Foundation is a great resource for figuring out where they kind of need time, talents, or treasures. That’s the fundraising arm of the hospital, so they’re a great resource to say, “Hey, I’m looking to help. Where can I put my time to use?”

Brett Johnson: Exactly, yeah. Good, well, I’ll put some links in the podcast show notes. Let’s talk about your professional background, where you were before the BBB, and what you’re doing now with the BBB, as well.

Jessica Kapcar: Sure, yeah, absolutely. As I mentioned, my first, as I call it, big-girl job out of college, I worked for Children’s Hospital in Columbus, and I worked for the Foundation, which is the fundraising arm of the hospital. I was kind of a go-between with the volunteers, and the community, and the hospital, so, I was able to just get out, and meet all sorts of fabulous people.

Jessica Kapcar: Part of what I did was I worked on our team that was involved with the Children’s Miracle Network charities, and the companies across the state who were raising money. I got to go out to the Speedway locations, and say, “Thank you so much for collecting money, and selling the little balloons, and putting them on the windows,” that sort of thing.

Jessica Kapcar: I was also able to experience a fundraising effort through Ohio State. They do a dance marathon called BuckeyeThon. I was the point person for the hospital to say to these students who were amazing, “Here are some patient families that would be willing to come to the event.” That just really was a great way to tie our mission in with what they were trying to do.

Jessica Kapcar: I worked there for about three years, and almost nine years ago, started with the BBB of Central Ohio. My role, when I first started, is vastly different than what it is now, but really not so different at all [cross talk] I was originally brought in to fill a role that they hadn’t really solidified yet. They knew that they wanted someone to come on … At that time, our Vice President of Marketing and PR was doing everything by herself, so they knew that she needed a lot of help. I kind of came in to help fill that role with her.

Jessica Kapcar: Then, they also wanted someone who could be a touchpoint for our accredited businesses; someone who they could call, and say, “I don’t know where my logo is. I’m looking for this. I want to put this on my website. Tell me about the benefits that go along with my accreditation.” I also filled that role.

Jessica Kapcar: It’s morphed, and changed, and our team has grown a lot over the past almost nine years. Now, I’m kind of in a similar role, but my title is technically Communications Manager. We cover a little bit of everything for our BBB. We do all of our social media. We do all of our website maintenance. We put out all the content for BBB, in our 21-county service area in central Ohio. We do our blog; we do our podcast. We do all of the video creation that the BBB does. It’s a little bit of everything, but it’s all good stuff, and it’s just grown, and changed [cross talk]

Brett Johnson: I was just gonna say, the last nine years have been a huge evolution for the BBB-

Jessica Kapcar: Huge evolution.

Brett Johnson: -and that leads into the podcast of why you’re even doing that. Exactly.

Jessica Kapcar: Yes, yeah. I think, when I started, I don’t even … There may have been one podcast that I knew about, and it was something that was so far out of the realm of relating to what we were doing. Now, it’s almost a no-brainer. It seems natural for us to have a podcast, and to have gone down that avenue. If you’d asked us, two or three years ago, if that was gonna be the case, we would have laughed, and said no way.

Brett Johnson: Right, yeah.

Jessica Kapcar: It seemed so far out of reach.

Brett Johnson: How did that process begin? That first discussion of, “Okay, there’s podcasts. We should … Why should we think about that?”

Jessica Kapcar: Right, absolutely. Part of what I think is interesting for the BBB is taking our message, and our mission, and translating that across the board for businesses, and consumers. We really kind of are trying to figure out is it a space that we can occupy, and do it well, and be successful in giving the information that we feel is beneficial to the audience that we’re looking for?

Jessica Kapcar: One of the things that really kind of helped solidify the fact that we thought we had a message, and a niche to get in, was the creation of our Spark Awards, which was really targeting our entrepreneurial businesses. Businesses that were kind of in the space of maybe they were on the newer end of the spectrum, hadn’t been in business for very long, but, just had a solid foundation, and were committed to those tenets of character, culture, and community. Those are the three criteria that we look at.

Jessica Kapcar: We thought, “What a great resource for us to provide,” giving those entrepreneurs some of that … “Okay, well, here’s a company who’s been doing it for 15 years. Here’s how they did it when they started off. Here are some of the resources that they utilized. Here’s a nonprofit that doesn’t have a huge budget to work with, but, here’s what they’re doing, and you can actually make it a very successful thing.”.

Jessica Kapcar: Whatever that topic, or subject might be, we just really thought that we could help connect businesses who have been doing it for a long time, and doing it well, to somebody who wants to do something, or wants to do it well, but doesn’t quite have the road map to get there yet.

Brett Johnson: Who was all involved in that initial discussion?

Jessica Kapcar: Like I said, when I first started it was just myself, and one other person, our VP of Marketing and PR. Over the course of the past four-ish years, we have added to our team. We added two people – our content communications coordinator, who really is kind of the role that was instrumental in helping push our podcast forward.

Jessica Kapcar: Then, we also added our director of visual communications. She was the person who was able to say, “Okay, here’s the technology that we need … I have the ability to edit the audio, because I knew where I wanted it to go. I knew that we wanted it to happen, and be successful, but it’s all about pulling together the people, or the resources to actually be able to do it.

Jessica Kapcar: I knew I did not have the talent to edit audio, so once she came on board, and then, like I said, the person who is in the role of our content coordinator, Jordan, she really kind of just took it to the next level. She was able to say, “Here’s a resource for where we can house it; here’s a resource …” You are a great resource to us.

Brett Johnson: Thank you.

Jessica Kapcar: Just kind of answering any … I feel like, at first, we were like, “Okay, podcast. Where do we start?”

Brett Johnson: Right.

Jessica Kapcar: You were just such a great resource to say, “Here are the four or five things to look at, to decide on what you wanna do with them; how you wanna house it. Here are some resources to do that.” Yeah, it really kind of … I would say, in the last two years, we were able to take off with it, because we did say, “Okay, now we’ve got the team in place; we’ve got the resources in place; let’s get going with it.”

Brett Johnson: Were you discussing any success factors at the very beginning about measurement, marks, and time?

Jessica Kapcar: Yes. I don’t know that we really kind of had a good handle on what measurements we wanted to talk about. I think we knew that we needed to have a solid base of content, and if that was there, that I feel like we … Again, we kind of had a road map that was a little less defined than some.

Brett Johnson: But you had a road map.

Jessica Kapcar: We did. We had a road map.

Brett Johnson: That’s huge to have-

Jessica Kapcar: We did have a plan, and it changed; it morphed, which I think has to happen with any plan for any project, or new endeavor. We kind of just said, “Let’s give it a six-month goal, and a year goal, and see … Let’s make it very realistic for ourselves, and see how we do.”.

Jessica Kapcar: I think that because we were able to utilize some of the resources, and talents on our team, and we were able to do a little bit more of it internally, we didn’t have … We didn’t feel the pressure to set some of the loftier goals, maybe, for the ROI, right out of the gate. Maybe we had a little bit of an advantage to say, “Well, let’s … We can take our time; see how it goes; work through some of it.”.

Jessica Kapcar: Like I said, we also knew that we had some great talent, and content that we were gonna be able to utilize. Our podcast is made up of external participants. We utilize our accredited businesses; we utilize our partners; we utilize our nonprofits. We know that they have the expertise, the knowledge, the content that is gonna be such a great resource for the people who are listening to it, that we weren’t at all concerned about that aspect of it, as well.

Brett Johnson: That content piece, the interview style, is really what drew you into it, because of the opportunity to talk to so many businesses.

Jessica Kapcar: Yeah, and we knew we wanted to make it very casual, conversational … We wanted to make sure that we made it friendly, and approachable. We knew that having somebody come in, and being able to have a conversation with them, utilizing their expertise, was gonna be just a great way to kind of get things started, and it’s worked well for us.

Brett Johnson: Good.

Jessica Kapcar: Yeah.

Brett Johnson: How long do you think it took, from the very first discussion, whether it was around the water cooler, to the first publishing date?

Jessica Kapcar: I’d say every bit of two years.

Brett Johnson: Two years.

Jessica Kapcar: Yeah. Once we figured out here’s where the responsibility of the podcast is gonna lie; here’s how … Got all of the logistics set up, and then we did … Again, because we could take our time with it, we did populate a little bit more of the content. We knew we could utilize our Spark Award companies. We knew we could utilize our Torch Award companies.

Jessica Kapcar: We built out, I’d say, probably a solid six months of content, prior to that first podcast interview. Actually, the first one, technically, was with Kip Morse, who’s our president and CEO. That was just a way for us to kick it off, and have him introduce it. I’d say it was probably every bit of two years before we really were recording the podcast, itself.

Brett Johnson: With an interview style, that has its ups and downs, especially the scheduling piece of it. Talk about your interviewing, scheduling, your strategy, and the process of how you go about doing that.

Jessica Kapcar: Like I said, we had that content generally built out for the first six months, and what we did was we really just knew that we were gonna pick the Spark Award companies. There were three recipient companies that we had that we wanted to utilize right away. When they found out they were the Spark Award recipient, we said, “Oh, by the way, we’re gonna be contacting you for the podcast, so be ready. We need to get you in the door.” We kind of gave them a heads up, so that was a little bit easier to draw them back in on.

Jessica Kapcar: Our Torch Awards have been going on for … We just had our 24th Torch Award event. We had a pretty big pool of companies to choose from for that, but what we did was we utilized the three recipient companies that we had honored the year prior. Again, gave them a heads up, like, “Hey, we’re probably gonna be tapping you for interviews, so stay tuned.”

Jessica Kapcar: We found that … The way we did it, in terms of the interview conversation, we picked a very specific topic, and one we felt that the company could speak very comfortably to. We scripted out some questions ahead of time, just to give them a road map of, “Hey, here’s where we’re thinking we wanna go. Here’s the topic that we think we wanna talk about. You’re the expert. You fill in the blank. If you think there’s another direction we should take, or more we should add in, please give us your feedback.”.

Brett Johnson: How’s that been received, doing it …?

Jessica Kapcar: You know what? We’ve had some really … Everybody has given us feedback that it was a very easy way to do it. Now, we, by no means, felt like we needed to stick with it, but we try to keep ours to about a 15-minute conversation time. It helped, in terms of making sure that we kept things narrowed down a little bit.

Brett Johnson: Do you think that the podcast, itself, is helping you showcase the BBB’s expertise?

Jessica Kapcar: I do. I really feel that it’s been a great resource for us. Our mission is to educate businesses, and consumers about how to either be a better business, or how to find a business who is gonna be a trustworthy business, or nonprofit. I shouldn’t just say business. The nonprofit side of that is a really big aspect, as well, because we do have accredited charities, especially local ones. It’s been a really great resource for them to say, “Here’s what we do; here is our mission in the community. Here’s how we can help, or how you can maybe start a nonprofit of your own.”

Jessica Kapcar: I think that it’s been a great way for us to just further our mission by utilizing the experts in whatever topic we’re trying to get out there. Because we do have an entrepreneurial focus, I think that’s been a really great way for … Columbus is growing so much. We’ve got Startup Week; we’ve got all of these great young businesses that are coming in, and they’re thirsty for information, and they’re looking for resources to do things the right way. I think that’s been a really great addition to the BBB mission. We can say, “Here’s how to do it, and here’s how to do it right.”

Brett Johnson: That’s not the first thing you’d really think about it from a BBB is to showcase something like that, which is great-

Jessica Kapcar: Right.

Brett Johnson: You’re breaking new ground [cross talk] like that.

Jessica Kapcar: Yeah, and traditionally, it’s always kind of been, “Oh, the BBB. You guys handle complaints, right?”

Brett Johnson: Take complaints, right. Scams, and such, yeah, right.

Jessica Kapcar: Absolutely. We do still do all of that, but we do a lot more, as well. That’s one of the things that my team has kind of been really focused on, especially in the past, I’d say, five or six years, just getting that message out that we’re not just a place to go for complaints. We’re a resource to utilize on the front end of things, for businesses, consumers, nonprofits..

Jessica Kapcar: As a consumer, we always say, “Check with us first, before you commit to doing business with any company, because you may find that there’s information that you didn’t have prior to looking at our website.” For businesses, we say, “We’re a resource for you to start with that foundation of trust. That really is what will translate to a consumer that you’re looking for, or a donor that you’re looking to solicit.”.

Jessica Kapcar: We just actually found out that we are a number four, behind Facebook, Google, and Yelp, in terms of review sites. We do customer reviews, as well. It’s just kind of one of those things where we’re trying to get that message out there, and I think this has been a huge resource to do that. The podcast has been instrumental in that.

Brett Johnson: How is the podcast and your blogs coexisting?

Jessica Kapcar: What we found is we actually have some really great crossover in terms of content that we could utilize for our blog, because, again, the blog was one of those things that we were like, “We really wanna do it. We just need to have someone who has the expertise, and time to get it done.”

Brett Johnson: Somebody to feed the machine.

Jessica Kapcar: Yeah. It just so happened that that same person was who was doing the podcast, so it was kind of this perfect marriage. What our model is, is we have our own BBB content, but we open it up to guest blogs, as well. We reach out to our accredited businesses, our nonprofits, our partners, and say, “Give us your expertise. We’ll get that message out to our audience.”

Jessica Kapcar: There’s been some great tie-in with the podcast, and blog. There’s been some crossover. We’ve been able to take content that we originally thought might be a podcast, and get a blog post from it. The flip has also been the case, as well. It’s just been kind of been … I think that anytime you can utilize content across all of your channels, it’s a great way to do that.

Brett Johnson: It’s a time-saver, as well, too.

Jessica Kapcar: It’s a time-saver, yeah, for sure [cross talk] especially when you have a smaller team that’s doing it all.

Brett Johnson: Adding content to your website, have you seen any uptick in the site’s performance, in regards to search?

Jessica Kapcar: We just actually went through a whole website redesign. Because we are one of about 110-ish BBBs across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, it’s been an overhaul of combining our website, but also building out our local content a little bit more. We really have seen some great results by embedding our podcasts into our website; pushing people straight there from our social media channels, from our blog. We added a little footer at the bottom of our blog posts about the podcast, and vice versa on the podcast.

Jessica Kapcar: I don’t know that I have the numbers, necessarily, to back that up, but it climbs every month, and we see more, and more listeners. We’ve kind of compared to podcasts similar to ours. There aren’t a lot of BBBs who have podcasts. I think I know of one other BBB, a local BBB, that has one, and then, our Council of Better Business Bureaus has one for businesses, and consumers. It’s a little bit difficult to compare in our industry, but I-

Brett Johnson: You become the standard, then.

Jessica Kapcar: Yeah.

Brett Johnson: There you go.

Jessica Kapcar: We’re kinda like, “Well …”

Brett Johnson: Everybody compares to you.

Jessica Kapcar: “… maybe it’s better to not have to compare ourselves to anybody else, just yet …”.

Brett Johnson: I think that makes sense.

Jessica Kapcar: “… they can compare to us.”

Brett Johnson: Sure, sure. Exactly. It’s the logical way to look at it, I think.

Jessica Kapcar: I can honestly say that there’s never been … We’ve never said, “Well, maybe it’s not worth doing this, because the time given isn’t being …” We feel like it’s being rewarded, for sure.

Brett Johnson: Right, right. Staying on that same topic of marketing, what was your publishing schedule strategy, and what is it right now? How do you begin those talks in regards to, “Well, how many do we put out per month, per week? Every day? Every hour?” I can be extremely stupid.

Jessica Kapcar: No-

Brett Johnson: What was that discussion like, and how did you firm up what you wanted to do?

Jessica Kapcar: Originally, we took a look at the time that our team had to dedicate to it. We wanted to be very realistic, and say … We didn’t wanna say we’re gonna do one every other week, because then, we were like, “If we don’t do one every other week, are we gonna be disappointed in ourselves?” Our goal was to do at least one a month to start. We found that we could do one about every three weeks, which is what our standard has really been. We’ve been able to maintain that. We’ve been able to get the scheduling where it has worked.

Jessica Kapcar: The benefit for ours is that we can back-schedule a lot of content, and we did that. We knew that summertime is gonna be hard for people to maneuver their schedules, with vacations, so we stockpiled a little bit in the spring, and had some content.

Jessica Kapcar: The other thing that we really looked at was, because we’re utilizing some of our nonprofits, is the time of year. We wanted to be mindful of, in the holiday season, a lot of people are more interested in looking for local charities, and nonprofits that they can support. We wanted to be able to showcase, and highlight some of those in the time of year that was maybe a little bit more beneficial to them. We just hit a year for our podcast in August. This time last year, around Christmas time last year, we really tried to utilize some of our nonprofit, and charity content.

Jessica Kapcar: The other part of it is really just who we can get in the door, when. We don’t want anything to get stale. We did utilize some of our Spark Award content right around when we were gonna be doing the Spark Awards, last year. It really just depends on the topic, and what’s relevant to your audience. For our audience, it’s pretty open, wo we have a little bit more flexibility in terms of that. Did that answer …?

Brett Johnson: Oh, yeah. For sure, yeah. Tied into that, what is the social media strategy on when you publish, and what do you do to support that?

Jessica Kapcar: Our social media strategy, we didn’t really … At first, we were like, “Oh, we’ll just blitz it out everywhere,” and then we pulled back a little bit, and we’re like, “Let’s just do …” We’ve taken more of a staggered approach. A lot of times, what we’ll do is we will … What we do first is when the podcast episode is ready, we send it to the person that we recorded with. We just say, “Hey, thank you so much. Here’s the podcast episode. It’s gonna be live this date. We’re gonna send it out through social media on this date. Please feel free to share it on your channels,” which we’ve always gotten good support from anybody who’s recorded a podcast.

Jessica Kapcar: Some of it is we’ll push it through our channels, and then, some of it is we are a little bit more reactionary, and we’ll share it, share the post that the company, or organization has done, because we really wanna promote them, as well. It’s a partnership at that point in time. We wanna make sure that we’re saying, “Here’s some great information, but, oh, also, here’s the actual … Here’s how you can connect with this business, or organization.”.

Jessica Kapcar: What we typically do is, I think, the first post will be on Facebook. Then, maybe three days later, we’ll shoot something out through LinkedIn. We share it on Twitter, and we share it on … We usually try to do something a little bit on our Instagram. For Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, every so often, we’ll put some money behind it, and boost the post, or promote it. Minimal; maybe $10. Nothing over the top, because, again, nonprofits, and resources, and-

Brett Johnson: Well, and the conversion rate is questionable. Let’s put it that way, unless you have a very good tracking system.

Jessica Kapcar: Yes, and an algorithm changes every day, so who knows. That has seemed to work really well for us, the staggered approach; not pushing it out all at once, because people go to different channels, and sites with different frequency. That’s been a really effective way for us to get that out there.

Brett Johnson: You have some great artwork – thumbnail artwork, everything-.

Jessica Kapcar: Thank you.

Brett Johnson: Who’s doing that for you? How did you start that whole process? Because I know, again, that’s another piece to this, going, “Yeah, okay, we have somebody that can record it. We know what we’re gonna do. Oh, we have to have artwork. We have to create this new … Or whether to incorporate our logo into it, or create something new …” Talk about that process, how you … It looks really good.

Jessica Kapcar: Well, thank you. I cannot take any credit for that. That is all Courtney, who is our digital communications manager. She does all of the design work for us. Part of what we have to work through, as well, is that BBB, as a brand, has a national brand that we have to maintain, but we wanna make sure that we’re creating something new, and fresh, and clean, and fun to engage people. She has just done a great job taking our brand guidelines, and morphing those into something that is brand new, really.

Brett Johnson: It’s a natural extension. It looks perfect [cross talk]

Jessica Kapcar: Thank you. Yeah, and she works really closely … She tries to tie it into the topic of the podcast, as well. She is the person who’s sitting there listening, and we always take some video clips, as well. She’s got a good idea of what the content is, so she does a really great job of translating that into the artwork for the specific episodes. She created the logo for us. She’s a great resource, and I don’t know that we’d be able to do it without her [cross talk] I do know that we probably wouldn’t be able to do it without her.

Brett Johnson: It’s important, because the visual piece of it is pretty vital. When you want to direct listeners back to your dot.com, or your dot.org, it has to look nice.

Jessica Kapcar: Absolutely, yeah, and it has to be … Especially for us, because BBB is such a brand with longevity, we wanted to make sure that it looked unique, but not so unique that people didn’t realize, “Oh, this is BBB.” It’s that fine line. It’s really helped in our marketing of it, I think, too, just having that clean, fresh look.

Brett Johnson: Let’s get into some technical weed stuff. It’s important, but, at the same time, it can be overwhelming. Deer in headlight, kind of, “Wow, what do I do here?” When we talked, now, a couple years ago, I mentioned lots of different hosting platform options, but also dug a little bit deeper in regards to, “Okay, here’s the pros and cons for them all.”

Brett Johnson: Really, they all are kinda the same, it just comes down to what you choose to do. There are some nuances to some that are better than others. For example, one company may have a better embed player look than others, and that could be something vital for the website. You decided to go with Blubrry. What were some decision processes that you went with Blubrry?

Jessica Kapcar: We went with Blubrry. They are actually a local company, and they’re an accredited business. Those were two of the really great touchpoints for us. Beyond that, we knew that the capabilities that they had for us … Again, because we were so new at it, we were, again, as you mentioned, deer in the headlights. We were like, “We don’t know what we’re doing. We don’t know what we need to do.”.

Jessica Kapcar: They actually came in; they talked us through it; they explained the platform to us. I felt like they were also a great resource just in terms of like, “Okay, here are the four things that you need to have to get it up, and running,” just to get the lights turned on, and everything ready to go.

Jessica Kapcar: From there, because it is an easy platform … Well, for me, at least, because I don’t do all of the technical aspects of it. We enjoyed it. We were able to create the way … Make it look the way we wanted to; create what we wanted to. We were able to embed it into our website. It was just a great choice for us. Anytime that we are looking for a partner, or a company to do business with, we hope that they’re an accredited business.

Brett Johnson: That was one reason I did suggest them. I think, again, this is not a Blubrry commercial, but, at the same time, every company has its pros and cons.

Jessica Kapcar: Absolutely.

Brett Johnson: You have to make your own choice. For you, that made sense.

Jessica Kapcar: It absolutely did, yeah.

Brett Johnson: Obviously, it’s worked out very well.

Jessica Kapcar: It has. I’m sure that there are great resources out there, at any capacity. We knew what our capacity was, and this was a great fit for us. It’s worked well.

Brett Johnson: The equipment you’re using … What is your setup? I know that was kind of a building process, as well, too-

Jessica Kapcar: It was a building process-.

Brett Johnson: -because one thing couldn’t happen, till another thing happened, till another thing happened. How do you do your recordings?

Jessica Kapcar: It was a building process, for sure. We finally now have what we call our media room. We redesigned our office two years ago, almost three; two and a half. With the redesign, we were able to have a space completely dedicated to the video and content creation. It used to be that we’d have to go into the conference room, move tables, turn off music, move lights. It was a process. Now we have everything set up in there. We have two just Lavalier mics that attach to our point-and-shoot camera. It’s a little bit more than point-and-shoot, I guess, but …

Jessica Kapcar: We have someone on staff who just is able to capture all the audio. She edits it in-house. I think she uses Final Cut. It’s very straightforward. You don’t really need a lot of equipment, which is the great, I think, and easy part of the podcast. Like I said, we have to Lavalier mics. They plug into the camera. We do take video, just, again, for posterity’s sake, but you don’t have to.

Jessica Kapcar: It’s a really straightforward process for us, and we’ve never had … Well, shouldn’t say never. One of the biggest issues that we’ve run into is if the memory card fills up, and that does happen. It’s got one of those things where we just take a pause, and refill, and go from there.

Brett Johnson: I know; I’ve been a guest on an episode-

Jessica Kapcar: Yes you have.

Brett Johnson: It’s really a comfortable setting, honestly-

Jessica Kapcar: Thank you.

Brett Johnson: -because it’s a much different feel. I was impressed, because I’ve always been: table, microphone, and something physically in front of you.

Jessica Kapcar: Yes.

Brett Johnson: Where, in your situation, you’re sitting on a couple of chairs; Lavalier on; nothing in front of you.

Jessica Kapcar: No.

Brett Johnson: It’s almost you’re at a restaurant feel to it, almost, or going to a coffee shop, that it’s … Really, you’re open.

Jessica Kapcar: Yeah, we’ve got a little bistro table in there. Again, we wanted to make it very comfortable, casual, conversational. We’ve actually had one person walk out of the- almost walk out with the mic on. You kinda forget that it’s there. We’re like, “Oh, wait! Hold on! Hot mic. Don’t leave!” That was one of the goals that we had.

Jessica Kapcar: It might not be the most elaborate setup, but it works for us, and we hope that it’s a comfortable situation for people to come into. I think sometimes it can be … Because we reach out to people, and say, “Hey, we want your talent; please come in,” there are some times that people are like, “Oh, no, I’m not good at that.” We’re like, “You’ll be fine. We’ll coach you through it. It’s gonna be Okay.” I think maybe, hopefully, that’s contributed to putting some people at ease that may not have been otherwise.

Brett Johnson: With businesses deciding to go with podcasts … I think this can be true of any social media planning, blogging, whatever it is, there’s potentially of the transition. That one person leaving that was key to doing it.

Jessica Kapcar: Yes.

Brett Johnson: Now, you’re walking into that situation that-.

Jessica Kapcar: We are.

Brett Johnson: That Jordan has been hosting the podcast, now, from the get-go; transitioning to you, which actually is an easy transition, because you’ve been a piece of the party all the time.

Jessica Kapcar: Sure, yeah.

What were those discussions like, to where to go with this, now that she said, “I’ve gotta go”?

Jessica Kapcar: Right. Yeah, so, we’re in it. We are just on the tip of the iceberg in that. There’s always a little bit of transition in our team, especially when she’s got a new adventure going on. I just came back in after maternity leave. It’s kinda that, “Okay, let’s catch up with each other; where are we? What do I do?” That’s always a process.

Jessica Kapcar: The really great thing about our team, and the thing that we knew going in was we’re going to have changes come about. That’s why we kind of laid out that plan ahead of time. We really made sure that we had a plan in place, in terms of what did we want the podcast to be? What do we want it to be about? What do we want the topic to be? We honed in on that, and then we built out that content part of it, as well. Here are the 10 people that we think might be potentials for interviews for this year. Here are the topics that may work for them. Here’s maybe some of the conversation starters that we have.

Jessica Kapcar: We did that, because we knew, if, for some reason, someone left, or somebody was outta the office, or somebody had to pick up where somebody else left off, at least we have a little bit of a plan in place, and it documented-.

Brett Johnson: Right, breathing room, as well, too.

Jessica Kapcar: Right. Jordan did a great job with just taking things, and running with it. I have stepped into a very comfortable position, in terms of what it could have been like.

Brett Johnson: Right. Sure.

Jessica Kapcar: I feel very confident that we’ll be okay, and because our team was so collaborative at the beginning, and we were all there to talk through those things, and instrumental in making the decisions about what platform are we gonna use, what’s our look gonna be like, the rest of the team is still kind of in the know. I just have to get my interview skills brushed up, and hopefully, we’ll be able to soldier on.

Brett Johnson: Let’s talk about that. With a transition, it can actually be an opening for maybe tweaking some plans.

Jessica Kapcar: Yes.

Brett Johnson: Nothing negative about a previous host, it just comes down to a little fresh start. Maybe we can go in this direction; just tweaking. Let’s go into future plans for the podcast. What’s to be expected?

Jessica Kapcar: Yeah, absolutely. Going forward, obviously, we still know that we wanna utilize the resources that our businesses, nonprofits, charities have. I think what we might try to take a look at is do we need to focus in a little bit more? Do we need to be more laser-focused? Do we need to open it up a little bit more? Do we need to take a look at the process that we’re using, in terms of here’s the content that we wanna talk about; let’s find someone to fill it in, or do we wanna say, “Here’s the person that we wanna have; let’s let them say, ‘This is what I need to be talking about with you guys right now'”?

Jessica Kapcar: We’re pretty flexible, in terms of that. We’ve never really tried to pigeonhole ourselves, necessarily, but I do think there is something to be said for having a plan, and sticking with it. The plan is changing, so that’s gotta change-.

Brett Johnson: Especially if it’s not broke.

Jessica Kapcar: Exactly, right.

Brett Johnson: It’s not broke, so …

Jessica Kapcar: It’s working. I think that Jordan did an amazing job.

Brett Johnson: Oh, yeah.

Jessica Kapcar: However, now that I’m the one that’s gonna have to be doing the interviews, maybe there’s gonna be some benefit to bringing someone else in, and saying … For example, Kip. “You know this person, why don’t you … Here’s kind of what we’re thinking. Why don’t you do the interview with them? I think it would be just a great …” Because I think there’s something to having a person sit down with another person that they have a relationship with, and having that conversation. Things come out of that, that maybe wouldn’t have come out of that, if the person was just the interviewer.

Brett Johnson: Right.

Jessica Kapcar: I don’t ever wanna limit ourselves to saying I’m the host of the podcast. Believe me, I am more than happy to share that. Just kinda taking a look at that, and saying, “Who on our staff, or on our team, may be a great resource to tap into, or who is a partner, or in our community, would be a great resource to maybe have a guest host for …?” Maybe you? You never know.

Brett Johnson: Sure. You never know. Exactly, yes. Always up for conversation. You know I’ll always help in any way that I can, of course.

Jessica Kapcar: Absolutely.

Brett Johnson: Let’s end on this: advice for business owners who are considering podcasting as a marketing tool. What would you advise?

Jessica Kapcar: I think the biggest thing that … I was having this conversation with Jordan, actually, before she left, because I was picking her brain about everything, but especially this. I said, “What do you think that you would tell people, in terms of starting a podcast?” She was like, “I don’t think I would just do it, to do it. I think I would decide what you wanna say, and stick with the message.”.

Jessica Kapcar: Having a plan … Again, doesn’t mean you’re gonna follow it to the tee. It doesn’t mean it’s not gonna change every month that you do it, but having something planned – whether that’s your message, whether that’s your audience, whether it’s the people that you wanna have on it – and just sticking with that.

Jessica Kapcar: That was one of the things that we both decided … That probably is why our podcast didn’t feel like a burden, and, I think, maybe has worked the way it has, because we said, “Okay, here’s what we know we wanna do. Here’s who we know we wanna reach. Here’s who we know we can utilize as experts.” Ours is a little bit different, because we’re not the people who are saying, “Here’s what you …” We’re not imparting, necessarily, our wisdom. We know what we know; we know what we’re good at, and we know what we don’t. We’re gonna pull in the people who do know what they’re good at. Our model’s a little bit different than maybe some people’s model might be.

Jessica Kapcar: The other thing that I would say is don’t let not knowing how to do something, or maybe not having a very specific road map hold you back from getting your content out there, because you never know. You could do one podcast, and then a light bulb will go off, and a whole door will open up, and there you have it. If you have the drive, and you have the time, and you have outstanding resources in the community, like you, go for it.

Jessica Kapcar: It took us two years to get it up and running, probably because we were a little gun shy, but now we know that we probably could have done it maybe a little sooner. Not to shy away from it just because it seems like it might be daunting, or you might not have exactly what- exactly the plan in place that you wanna have in place. You can always mold it.

Brett Johnson: Oh, yeah, exactly. It’s the BBB Sparkcast. Let’s talk about everywhere they can find it.

Jessica Kapcar: You can go to our website, BBB.org, and then you just have to look for the Central Ohio website. There’s a little hamburger menu up at the top. You can click right on it. You could also go to BBBSparkcast.com. It’s on all of our social media channels – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram. We have a presence on all of those. If you happen to follow our BBB blog, you can also find it there.

Jessica Kapcar: You can always reach out to us, if you have a question about it, or wanna subscribe to it. It’s on all of the podcasting channels. You can get it through iTunes, Android … Anywhere you listen to a podcast, you can find it; just search for BBB Sparkcast. You can always reach out to us locally, at our office. We’re right here in central Ohio. We cover the 21 counties in central Ohio. That’s how you can find.

Brett Johnson: That’s good. We’ll be looking forward to hearing what you’re going to do with the podcast moving forward. Again, Jordan has done a fantastic job in the previous episodes.

Jessica Kapcar: She has.

Brett Johnson: I would encourage bingeing-

Jessica Kapcar: Absolutely.

Brett Johnson: -listening to them; listening to each, depending on your interest, the business is there, but you’ve covered a wide variety of businesses. It’s a really good way of getting a feel for the interview style, especially if you’re instead being interviewed by BBB Sparkcast.

Jessica Kapcar: Absolutely.

Brett Johnson: Take a listen. This is the style it’s going to be, and give some extra listens to you guys, as well, too-

Jessica Kapcar: Thank you.

Brett Johnson: We encourage that. Exactly, exactly.

Jessica Kapcar: Absolutely. They’re quick, about 15 minutes, so it doesn’t take a lot of time.

Brett Johnson: Right. That’s good. Well, thanks for being a guest. I appreciate it, Jessica.

Jessica Kapcar: Thank you so much.

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Thanks to Jessica Kapcar, BBB of Central Ohio Communications Director, and host of the BBB SparkCast, for being my guest on this episode of Note To Future Me.

Recorded in Studio C at the 511 Studios, located in the Brewery District in downtown Columbus, OH!

Brett Johnson is the owner and lead consultant at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants. The podcast consultants at Circle270Media have over 30+ years of experience in Marketing, Content Creation, Audio Production/Recording, and Broadcasting. We strategically bring these worlds together with Podcasting.

You can email Brett at podcasts@circle270media.com to talk more about your new or established business podcast. www.circle270media.com

October 17, 2018November 11, 2018

5 Tips For Podcasting Success

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Tips for podcasting success are a dime a dozen. Each podcaster has their own success tips, and are specific to their podcast. But there are some very good tips that cover all categories of podcasts. And to bring in another aspect of the ones I have chosen, I chat with Marty Daniels, long-time friend and media veteran in his own right, owner of Podovox Professional Podcast Services.

Our 5 tips we cover include:

1) Clarify and write down your “why”
2) Just get in there and do it
3) Energy management over time
4) Don’t worry about the stats
5) If you think you need help, you do need help.

Recorded in Studio C at the 511 Studios, located in the Brewery District in downtown Columbus, OH!

You can email Brett at podcasts@circle270media.com to talk more about your new or established business podcast. www.circle270media.com