Preventing Podfade
Episode Show Notes
Welcome to PodOn, the podcast where we share stories from other podcasters and talk with them about the challenges we all face when beginning the podcasting journey. If you are a podcaster, we would love to hear your story and your feedback. If you love this podcast, please subscribe and share it with your friends.
On this PodOn episode, Julian and TJ talk about a feared yet common phenomenon in the podcasting community, the podfade. Every new podcaster makes the mistake of underestimating the immense amounts of work and time that it takes to really take a podcast to the next level. The podfade doesn’t discriminate, no matter if it’s an indie production or part of a corporate project, it doesn’t take much for even the best podcasts to fade away. Learn TJ and Julian’s tips and tricks to own your time back and focus on your creativity to stay ahead of the curve, not behind it.
Jump straight into:
(00:56) - What does podfading stand for? - “The average podcaster, when they get started, lasts about four to seven episodes before they fade away”.
(01:59) - Quick tactics to prevent the podfade - “What I wish I had done was start to plan and then do all my recordings then I can worry about all the post production work”.
(03:36) - How batch recording and hiring editors can help you stay focused - “When I first got started I definitely underestimated the amount of time an energy it would take to produce a podcast”.
(05:22) - The key is your content: do your research and remember your passion! - “If I was spending all my time recording then I wasn't spending time on relationships”.
(06:55) - Why your podcast won’t thrive unless you are consistent and build your rhythm - “Once you start falling behind it’s going to be harder and harder to catch up and eventually that fade is going to happen”.
PodOn is hosted by TJ Bonaventura and Julian Lewis, founders of the full-service podcast company based in San Francisco, StudioPod. If you want more details on how to fully record and produce your podcast with our services, you can reach us at http://studiopodsf.com, send us an email at info@studiopodsf.com or contact us through our social media channels as @studiopodmedia. Music by GaryOAKland.
Episode Transcript (via Rev.com)
Julian Lewis:
TJ, did you know that there are over one million podcasts?
TJ Bonaventura:
Stop it.
Julian Lewis:
It's crazy. In 2018, though, Todd Cochrane, CEO of RawVoice and Blubrry, he stated that 75% of podcasts are no longer in production. This is the PodOn podcast.
TJ Bonaventura:
We're your hosts, TJ Bonaventura, that's me, and Julian Lewis.
Julian Lewis:
That's me. As founders of a podcast media company, we had to start a podcast.
TJ Bonaventura:
So join us each episode as we and our guests drop knowledge on podcasting for you, the curious and scrappy podcaster.
TJ Bonaventura:
Today, we're going to be talking about the pod fade, what it is and how we can prevent it. Julian, when I say pod fade, what comes to mind?
Julian Lewis:
When you say pod fade, I think about when somebody starts something and they just don't finish it.
TJ Bonaventura:
In relation to a podcast, of course.
Julian Lewis:
Yeah, of course.
TJ Bonaventura:
I am really excited to talk about this topic because I have experienced pod fade and pod fade is in the fabric of StudioPod, our all purpose podcasting company here in San Francisco. I started it with the goal to help people prevent the pod fade, which is what you described as stopping your podcast. Now, I believe, current stats say, that the average podcast last about four to seven episodes, depending on who you ask. We've seen that on the shorter end here at StudioPod. What we want to do on this episode is give you some quick tips and tricks to prevent the pod fade and that'll allow you to go forward with your podcast.
Julian Lewis:
That sounds great. I had a little bit of pod fade as well. And I think honestly StudioPod is what got me to keep rocking. But yeah, I'm excited to talk about this topic.
TJ Bonaventura:
Let's talk about quick tactics and what you can do to prevent the pod fade, the ever disastrous pod fade. I think ultimately the first thing you can do is realize how energetic you are about starting a podcast. Use that energy and start to form a plan. I think naturally when you're getting into the pod space and you're starting new or net new, you just want to start recording, which is great. Everyone has that energy. I had it. You had it when you started Couple Collective, your podcast. One thing that I wish that I had done was start to plan out what each episode was going to be about, who I wanted to talk to, and when I wanted to record it, and when I wanted to release that. How did you feel when you got started with Couple Collective when you were starting to plan out your podcast?
Julian Lewis:
Honestly, in the beginning, I was just shooting from the hip. I would essentially record on my little handheld device and I was like, oh, this is going to be pretty easy. I'll record during the week. And then on the weekend I would edit and I realized how cumbersome the editing was. And so it became more of a to-do than an actual something that I was enjoying. And I think that's what led me to almost fall into the chap of pod fade.
TJ Bonaventura:
That was the same for me when I started mine. When I was living in New York and I had a buddy here in San Francisco and we tried to start it, I was finding myself getting less and less excited about the recording, because I knew all the technical or technicalities that had to come afterwards. What it is I had to edit, how I was going to publish it, where I was going to host it. What I wish I had done was start to plan and then do all my recordings first and foremost, then I can worry about all the remainder of the post-production work after the recordings were done and keep that momentum, which is a nice little segue into batch recording. Julian, I know this has been a critical part for you.
Julian Lewis:
My jam.
TJ Bonaventura:
Your jam. Exactly. Talk to me about batch recording, the benefits, why our audience should really, really consider this.
Julian Lewis:
Money in the bank. That's what I think about when I think about batch recording. If you want to have any frequency, whether it's weekly, biweekly, in terms of the way in which you release your podcast, especially if you're going to be doing the editing yourselves, having a batch of recordings that can allow for you to buy time for the next three, four, even five weeks is money in terms of setting you up for success and being able to focus on other things beyond just the editing.
TJ Bonaventura:
It's honestly just basic math if you think about it, right? Typical podcasts come out once a week, at least for our clients. If you are able to do four to five episodes, hopefully at a time, obviously if these are hour long, that's going to vary a little bit, but if you're doing four to five episode recordings in a one to three day period or week period, you've just bought yourself a month worth of content, which then you can focus on what the next month is going to be. One of our clients, Hailey and Ronnie Lott from the Mind Game podcast, they do this really, really well. They actually are now, I think, six months ahead of when they actually release their podcast. Now the caveat here is current events.
Julian Lewis:
And I think for me, because my content is more evergreen. I'm talking to couples about the relationships, it's fine if I don't release an episode for a few months down the line. But if you do have content that's evergreen that you're trying to release on a more consistent basis, then you just have to be on top of it. And if editing or something is blocking you from releasing those episodes, you might have to start thinking about offloading those responsibilities, so you can focus on the content and making sure that remains strong.
TJ Bonaventura:
Smart man. Good segue there as well. Other than batch recording, which is always the number one thing we offer to our clients, the second thing is start to figure out what you want to offload or outsource to somebody like StudioPod or another editing or another production service that will allow you to free up your creative mind to focus on what got you excited about the podcast in the first place. For Julian, I know that you talked about editing. There's other folks who wanted to be able to just do the recording at StudioPod that way they don't have to worry about buying the equipment. We've had other clients who want us just to write the show notes. Tell us about your experience and what you did with your free time because I know at a personal level you were allowed to not only just think about what you're supposed to do with Couple Collective, but also you got time to spend with your significant other.
Julian Lewis:
Yeah. I have a podcast about relationships and if I was spending all my time recording it, then I wasn't spending time on my relationship. And so editing is just one thing in which I was able to offload to StudioPod to help, but really I would just walk into StudioPod, record, and walk out. And then from there, once I got the final version and I got the show notes, I was then able to focus on the content aspect of it. And so social post, as well as highlighting things in the show notes to make sure that it came to life and even being able to in the future potentially write blogs to pump up that content a little bit more because a podcast, yes, it is an audio medium, but in all reality, if you want people to find it and discover it, you have to be able to create social post, have written content, and have a lot of things to compliment that recording.
TJ Bonaventura:
And we want to be cognizant, we understand that outsourcing this will cost a little bit of money. I think what we recommend is doing the cost benefit of your time being spent editing or publishing or hosting versus having someone else do that and what you could be doing with their time. And this is going to be the same for individuals and corporations, right? Our organizational partners, what we find is that while they have the resources monetarily to outsource it, they can't necessarily afford the time of taking someone from the engineering team or someone from the marketing team to focus on the editing purposes of their podcast. Now, they can use those collective heads that would be working on the editing to again, to influence the creative process and making sure that each content or each episode is going to be content worthy of listening internally.
Julian Lewis:
Yeah, most definitely. And I think when you're talking about those internal podcasts, just because it's internal doesn't mean that it doesn't have to be interesting. It definitely does have to be interesting because the whole point of making it an audio form versus having people sit in a classroom style and learn is that they can listen to it when they're commuting into the office or when working out or when they're doing chores around the house. And you want to make sure that content is still interesting, but you don't necessarily want to use your company resources that could be applied to growing your business on something that's internal. Definitely look to offload that to a company like StudioPod or others that are out there.
TJ Bonaventura:
The three key takeaways here, plan your episodes, no matter type of podcast you are running or what type of podcast you're creating, always find out how you're going to get the recordings done. If it's a current event focused. So it's timely, then make sure that you're recording on a cadence that is appropriate for you and you can get it published in time, so your content doesn't go stale. Two, batch recording. Making sure that if you're not doing a current event focused or something that is timely, that you can do 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, whatever episodes in one sitting and then being able to release them at your cadence. And three, consider outsourcing this to a production or editing team that will be able to handle the nitty gritty work that you don't want to do or have time to do.
Julian Lewis:
And, TJ, if I could throw in a fourth in there that we didn't necessarily talk about, but maybe find a friend or a buddy that's going to hold you accountable. I know that for you, in terms of getting StudioPod set up, you had your buddy Rob check in with you.
TJ Bonaventura:
Shout out Rob.
Julian Lewis:
Yeah. Shout out to Rob on a frequent basis to make sure you're staying on top of your task. And so that might be another way to help people.
TJ Bonaventura:
Accountability. Absolutely. I think that is a little known thing that we don't often recommend enough here at StudioPod, but I think it's a good motivating factor to ensure that you're going to keep your podcast running. With that, remember over a million podcast exists today. 750,000 won't exist when that's all said and done. Hold on.
TJ Bonaventura:
Every episode of the PodOn podcast is produced and edited by StudioPod Media. For more information about our work and our clients, go to studiopodsf.com.
Julian Lewis:
Shout out to Gary Oakland for the fire track.
TJ Bonaventura:
Gary O.
TJ, did you know that there are over one million podcasts?
TJ Bonaventura:
Stop it.
Julian Lewis:
It's crazy. In 2018, though, Todd Cochrane, CEO of RawVoice and Blubrry, he stated that 75% of podcasts are no longer in production. This is the PodOn podcast.
TJ Bonaventura:
We're your hosts, TJ Bonaventura, that's me, and Julian Lewis.
Julian Lewis:
That's me. As founders of a podcast media company, we had to start a podcast.
TJ Bonaventura:
So join us each episode as we and our guests drop knowledge on podcasting for you, the curious and scrappy podcaster.
TJ Bonaventura:
Today, we're going to be talking about the pod fade, what it is and how we can prevent it. Julian, when I say pod fade, what comes to mind?
Julian Lewis:
When you say pod fade, I think about when somebody starts something and they just don't finish it.
TJ Bonaventura:
In relation to a podcast, of course.
Julian Lewis:
Yeah, of course.
TJ Bonaventura:
I am really excited to talk about this topic because I have experienced pod fade and pod fade is in the fabric of StudioPod, our all purpose podcasting company here in San Francisco. I started it with the goal to help people prevent the pod fade, which is what you described as stopping your podcast. Now, I believe, current stats say, that the average podcast last about four to seven episodes, depending on who you ask. We've seen that on the shorter end here at StudioPod. What we want to do on this episode is give you some quick tips and tricks to prevent the pod fade and that'll allow you to go forward with your podcast.
Julian Lewis:
That sounds great. I had a little bit of pod fade as well. And I think honestly StudioPod is what got me to keep rocking. But yeah, I'm excited to talk about this topic.
TJ Bonaventura:
Let's talk about quick tactics and what you can do to prevent the pod fade, the ever disastrous pod fade. I think ultimately the first thing you can do is realize how energetic you are about starting a podcast. Use that energy and start to form a plan. I think naturally when you're getting into the pod space and you're starting new or net new, you just want to start recording, which is great. Everyone has that energy. I had it. You had it when you started Couple Collective, your podcast. One thing that I wish that I had done was start to plan out what each episode was going to be about, who I wanted to talk to, and when I wanted to record it, and when I wanted to release that. How did you feel when you got started with Couple Collective when you were starting to plan out your podcast?
Julian Lewis:
Honestly, in the beginning, I was just shooting from the hip. I would essentially record on my little handheld device and I was like, oh, this is going to be pretty easy. I'll record during the week. And then on the weekend I would edit and I realized how cumbersome the editing was. And so it became more of a to-do than an actual something that I was enjoying. And I think that's what led me to almost fall into the chap of pod fade.
TJ Bonaventura:
That was the same for me when I started mine. When I was living in New York and I had a buddy here in San Francisco and we tried to start it, I was finding myself getting less and less excited about the recording, because I knew all the technical or technicalities that had to come afterwards. What it is I had to edit, how I was going to publish it, where I was going to host it. What I wish I had done was start to plan and then do all my recordings first and foremost, then I can worry about all the remainder of the post-production work after the recordings were done and keep that momentum, which is a nice little segue into batch recording. Julian, I know this has been a critical part for you.
Julian Lewis:
My jam.
TJ Bonaventura:
Your jam. Exactly. Talk to me about batch recording, the benefits, why our audience should really, really consider this.
Julian Lewis:
Money in the bank. That's what I think about when I think about batch recording. If you want to have any frequency, whether it's weekly, biweekly, in terms of the way in which you release your podcast, especially if you're going to be doing the editing yourselves, having a batch of recordings that can allow for you to buy time for the next three, four, even five weeks is money in terms of setting you up for success and being able to focus on other things beyond just the editing.
TJ Bonaventura:
It's honestly just basic math if you think about it, right? Typical podcasts come out once a week, at least for our clients. If you are able to do four to five episodes, hopefully at a time, obviously if these are hour long, that's going to vary a little bit, but if you're doing four to five episode recordings in a one to three day period or week period, you've just bought yourself a month worth of content, which then you can focus on what the next month is going to be. One of our clients, Hailey and Ronnie Lott from the Mind Game podcast, they do this really, really well. They actually are now, I think, six months ahead of when they actually release their podcast. Now the caveat here is current events.
Julian Lewis:
And I think for me, because my content is more evergreen. I'm talking to couples about the relationships, it's fine if I don't release an episode for a few months down the line. But if you do have content that's evergreen that you're trying to release on a more consistent basis, then you just have to be on top of it. And if editing or something is blocking you from releasing those episodes, you might have to start thinking about offloading those responsibilities, so you can focus on the content and making sure that remains strong.
TJ Bonaventura:
Smart man. Good segue there as well. Other than batch recording, which is always the number one thing we offer to our clients, the second thing is start to figure out what you want to offload or outsource to somebody like StudioPod or another editing or another production service that will allow you to free up your creative mind to focus on what got you excited about the podcast in the first place. For Julian, I know that you talked about editing. There's other folks who wanted to be able to just do the recording at StudioPod that way they don't have to worry about buying the equipment. We've had other clients who want us just to write the show notes. Tell us about your experience and what you did with your free time because I know at a personal level you were allowed to not only just think about what you're supposed to do with Couple Collective, but also you got time to spend with your significant other.
Julian Lewis:
Yeah. I have a podcast about relationships and if I was spending all my time recording it, then I wasn't spending time on my relationship. And so editing is just one thing in which I was able to offload to StudioPod to help, but really I would just walk into StudioPod, record, and walk out. And then from there, once I got the final version and I got the show notes, I was then able to focus on the content aspect of it. And so social post, as well as highlighting things in the show notes to make sure that it came to life and even being able to in the future potentially write blogs to pump up that content a little bit more because a podcast, yes, it is an audio medium, but in all reality, if you want people to find it and discover it, you have to be able to create social post, have written content, and have a lot of things to compliment that recording.
TJ Bonaventura:
And we want to be cognizant, we understand that outsourcing this will cost a little bit of money. I think what we recommend is doing the cost benefit of your time being spent editing or publishing or hosting versus having someone else do that and what you could be doing with their time. And this is going to be the same for individuals and corporations, right? Our organizational partners, what we find is that while they have the resources monetarily to outsource it, they can't necessarily afford the time of taking someone from the engineering team or someone from the marketing team to focus on the editing purposes of their podcast. Now, they can use those collective heads that would be working on the editing to again, to influence the creative process and making sure that each content or each episode is going to be content worthy of listening internally.
Julian Lewis:
Yeah, most definitely. And I think when you're talking about those internal podcasts, just because it's internal doesn't mean that it doesn't have to be interesting. It definitely does have to be interesting because the whole point of making it an audio form versus having people sit in a classroom style and learn is that they can listen to it when they're commuting into the office or when working out or when they're doing chores around the house. And you want to make sure that content is still interesting, but you don't necessarily want to use your company resources that could be applied to growing your business on something that's internal. Definitely look to offload that to a company like StudioPod or others that are out there.
TJ Bonaventura:
The three key takeaways here, plan your episodes, no matter type of podcast you are running or what type of podcast you're creating, always find out how you're going to get the recordings done. If it's a current event focused. So it's timely, then make sure that you're recording on a cadence that is appropriate for you and you can get it published in time, so your content doesn't go stale. Two, batch recording. Making sure that if you're not doing a current event focused or something that is timely, that you can do 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, whatever episodes in one sitting and then being able to release them at your cadence. And three, consider outsourcing this to a production or editing team that will be able to handle the nitty gritty work that you don't want to do or have time to do.
Julian Lewis:
And, TJ, if I could throw in a fourth in there that we didn't necessarily talk about, but maybe find a friend or a buddy that's going to hold you accountable. I know that for you, in terms of getting StudioPod set up, you had your buddy Rob check in with you.
TJ Bonaventura:
Shout out Rob.
Julian Lewis:
Yeah. Shout out to Rob on a frequent basis to make sure you're staying on top of your task. And so that might be another way to help people.
TJ Bonaventura:
Accountability. Absolutely. I think that is a little known thing that we don't often recommend enough here at StudioPod, but I think it's a good motivating factor to ensure that you're going to keep your podcast running. With that, remember over a million podcast exists today. 750,000 won't exist when that's all said and done. Hold on.
TJ Bonaventura:
Every episode of the PodOn podcast is produced and edited by StudioPod Media. For more information about our work and our clients, go to studiopodsf.com.
Julian Lewis:
Shout out to Gary Oakland for the fire track.
TJ Bonaventura:
Gary O.