Category: <span>Podcast Advice</span>

The first step to make a great podcast…

April 30, 2020April 30, 2020
by Vic

You want to start a podcast? Perhaps you have one, but you’re looking to up your game?

Whoever you are, you want to make a great podcast? Right?

Well, I want to share with you the most important step you need to take to make a great podcast. It’s a part of the podcast-making process that I know lots of people miss out ,or don’t put enough effort into.

Are you ready?

LISTEN TO PODCASTS

I’m totally serious,

LISTEN TO PODCASTS!

As podcast producers (or potential) I want you to consume, devour and fill yourself up on podcasts!

I want you to go out of your comfort zone too, listen to stuff you would never usually make a b-line for (we wrote a blog post about this recently).

I can hear you asking, “Well what’s the point of this Vic, I know what I want to make, it doesn’t really matter what else is out there.”

Let me tell you where I’m coming from with this and it involves cheese. Yes making a great podcast has a cheese connection.

Bear with me.

If I decided that one day I was going to jack all this podcast malarky in and become a cheesemaker, I’d have a good idea of what cheese I’ll make because, I’ve eaten a lot of cheese in my life.

Stay with me here,

Imagine becoming a cheesemaker if I’d not had my FILL of cheese?

I wouldn’t know anything about the ingredients, the production process or indeed of the huge variety of cheese out there like yak cheese from Tibet, the donkey cheese they produce in Serbia or…human cheese.

If I wanted to become a cheesemaker, but I’d not sampled or were aware of lots of cheese, I simply wouldn’t have an opinion on what makes a good cheese or a bad one!

Tell you what as well, there’s some cheesemakers near me who are doing similar things that I want to do with my cheese; well, I’ve tasted their cheese too.

You might be inspired by a cheese and add a bit of that flavouring to your cheese!

Before this analogy gets too cheesy – you can see what I’m getting at, yeah?

Perhaps you don’t like cheese, well swap it for cake! Same goes – gorg on that cake!

Want to make a podcast? EAT ALL THE CHEESE!

“Listen to podcasts” is the biggest bit of advice that I give to people who are looking to start a podcast. If they already do, I ask them to listen to more, especially ones that they wouldn’t normally listen to. If possible, create a podcast listening habit – don’t make this a one-off exercise either!

Put simply, to support your podcasting process, to help make your podcast great, get to know your craft.

LISTEN TO PODCASTS.

I would love to hear what podcasts you’ve discovered, or how listening to podcasts has helped your podcasting process. Drop a comment below or connect with us on twitter or facebook.

MIC media is a podcast production and training company. We make podcasts or show you how to produce your own. Get in touch to see how we can support you.

MIC Thoughts

The perfect podcast length. An Eye-Opening Guide.

March 4, 2020March 4, 2020
by Vic

Here’s why you shouldn’t worry about the length of your podcast.

“What’s the ideal length for a podcast episode?”

Man, if I had a pound every time someone asked me that! But my answer is not straight-forward and I often reply back with,

“As long as it needs to be, no shorter, no longer – it’s up to you.”

A puzzled look ensues, mostly with a head tilt, you know like the kind you see on an inquisitive puppy.

Let me break it down for you,

You’re the boss

This is your podcast. You don’t have a broadcaster or commissioner breathing down your neck to tell you that it has to be 24.59 minutes long. One of your podcasts might be half an hour, the next twenty five minutes.

Why not give yourself a benchmark? I tend to start off planning my podcast with a length in mind and then base my episodes around that. I don’t stress if they’re under or over that length because…

You know your audience and what sounds good

You’re not daft, you’ve got a good ear for a podcast (if not, why are you podcasting? Go and listen to some podcasts!), you know what sounds good.

Use your judgement on length. For example if an interviewee is waffling on, perhaps on a subject that’s unrelated to your podcast – cut it, they haven’t answered the question that well – cut it…your audience isn’t going to find it useful / entertaining…

On the other hand if the interviewee describes a beautifully deep, personal, funny, moving (keep adding all the nice words…) story – don’t cut it!

When you’re deciding what to keep or ditch from your episode, ask yourself

“Does it fit my podcast?’

“What is my episode about?’

“Will my audience love it?’

It depends on the frequency

A monthly podcast will probably be longer than a daily podcast – this could be down to your time commitments, the content generated between episodes etc. Put it this way, would you listen to a monthly podcast that’s just four minutes long?

But what about commutes?

You may have read articles that tell you that the length of your podcast should be based around the average commute time. Your listener likes your podcast to start when they set off for work and be done and dusted by the time that they sit down at their desk. Urgh, there’s so much to unpick here. Firstly, this blanket statement can’t possibly be applied to all audiences – you know your audience best – they might not even commute!

Secondly, stats say that people love podcasts because of the flexibility at which they can consume them, for example being able to pause them and pick them up again later. Which leads onto my final point, if your content is engaging your listener they won’t mind having to consume it in a few sittings.

I saw a dead good analogy of this on twitter the other day, from the band Lancashire Hotpots (by the way, if you’re from Northern England have a little listen to these lot – funny as owt!)

It’s @ChartMusicTOTP , the one I’m listening to at the mo is only 3hours long. It’s not commitment for me; you don’t need to read a book in one go, why do the same for a podcast? And if it’s good, you want it to last as long as possible 😀
— Lancashire Hotpots (@thehotpots) February 26, 2020

To be incredibly obvious and cheesy AF, it’s not how big it is, it’s how you use it.

There is no ideal length for a podcast episode but don’t make it longer or shorter than it should be!

This is part of series of Vic’s Podcasting Tips, Vic being our founder! Read what we’ve published so far, right here.

Looking for podcast training for yourself members, team or group? Contact MIC here, let’s have a chat about your coaching or workshops wants and ideas!

MIC Thoughts

This is how often you should release a podcast…

February 25, 2020February 27, 2020
by Vic

This is the first in a series of Vic’s Podcasting Tips to help you make an awesome podcast – the Vic in question is our founder Vic Elizabeth Turnbull.

Instead of asking ‘How often should I release a podcast episode?’, the first question is one to ask yourself, and that is ‘How much time do I have?’.

The frequency of your podcast episodes will depend on how much time you have in your life to fit it in, along with everything else that you’ve got going on – especially if podcasting is not your full-time job.

A podcast is a commitment and you want to do it well right? Consider how much time it will take you; like your pre-production bits, to write your scripts, research content and guests (if you’re having them), booking those guests, then recording and then editing…not to mention promoting it.

Jeez, I feel like I need a lay down just talking about all that!

Sure, a weekly podcast release seems like a great idea to start with, but after week six – will you still feel the same?

What are your reasons for wanting a (insert your ideal frequency) podcast?

It might be that frequency doesn’t actually matter! If audience building is a reason here, it might prove more detrimental for you to have a more regular podcast – as you won’t have the time to properly market each episode.

Urgh Catch 22.

a yellow marker highlights a calendar on a notepad — How often will you release your podcast?

But what about my listeners!

Won’t they want me in their ears every week? How do you know, have you asked them? If they love your content, I’m sure they’ll wait. Odds are that if they’re your fans, they won’t mind that your podcast isn’t landing on their lap weekly.

Podcast Release Frequency tips

How about you start off by releasing episodes monthly or every two weeks to sound out (mind the pun) how long it takes you. Your podcast episodes can then get more regular if you feel that you can handle the workload. This way around can be better for your listener, than starting off more regular and then tailing off. Try to be consistent though and if you do decide to change the frequency, do inform your listeners. They’re the main dudes here right?

One way to manage your time is to work in series’s (aka seasons), this way you can prepare a bank of episodes that you can release regularly. This way you can also dedicate time to marketing each episode, rather than chasing your tail.

In all this, planning is key.

Start by mapping out how long you think the podcasting process will take you. Use some project planning techniques like a gantt chart or sketch it out on paper. Then be realistic with yourself.

If you have your heart set on a weekly or even daily podcast and just don’t have the time to do all of the bits yourself consider getting some help, like a team member, a buddy or a podcast production company to help you. Like here at MIC Media, we support podcasters from doing the whole production to bits of it, like sorting out your editing.

I bet you’re reading this thinking ‘she bloody hates weekly podcasts’ – I don’t! What I do hate is bloody good podcasts and podcast hosts stopping production because of them burning out (aka pod burn). Look, I’m talking from experience here, I’ve been there. I’ve also seen loads of other people struggle with unrealistic schedules – that they’ve set for themselves!

So, when you’re thinking about how often you should release episodes, consider yourself not what you ‘should’ do!

Looking for podcast training for yourself members, team or group? Contact MIC here, let’s have a chat about your coaching or workshops wants and ideas!

MIC Thoughts

You want to start a podcast but don’t know…

November 11, 2019February 27, 2020
by Vic

We get it, you want to start a podcast, but have zero idea where to begin. We’ve likened the situation to…baking. Yep, we did this…

Imagine really wanting to bake a pie, you have a great idea for tasty new filling combination. You’ve got a pal making the crust. It’s going to be amazing.

You’re excited.

Loads of people have been telling you that you should just bake this pie – “you are bloody brilliant at cakes”, they keep saying,

So baking pies is just seems the next natural step for you in your quest for world domination.

You also think that adding a pie to your repertoire will help you to stand out. Your competitors are currently pie-less. Ha losers! They’re still all over cupcakes – thing is, these cupcakes are adding zero value, they’re expensive and so 2015.

The problem is, you have no idea how to make pie.

You’ve made a few cupcakes in the past (2015), dabbled in cake making – but this pie malarkey? It just seems scary – there’s so many things to consider – what flan dish do I use, is it even called a flan dish, or is that strictly for flan?

Also, you think to yourself, how do I share my pie? – I want other people to have some and enjoy it! So it’s not just me, sat there scoffing my own pie and then crying myself to sleep because I’m a fat little piggy.

You’re also not sure about how often you should put the oven on. Should I bake this new pie every week? Bloody hell you think, this pie things has escalated. It was really simple idea and now I need a paper bag to breathe in.

“Oh my god calm down it’s only pie!” you say to yourself – exasperated as the excited’ness you originally had for your new pie idea is dwindling and fast.

And when you do google the best way to make your pie, there’s SO much information out there. It seems that every fucker’s got a pie and everyone’s making them wildly differently. They also like to talk A LOT about how brilliant their pie is.

You think, ‘bloody hell this complicated I can’t be arsed and whatever I quite like cupcakes anyway, I’m used to cupcakes, I’m just going to stick with cupcakes.”

You abandon your pie dreams, stuff the crust and go back to normal, ‘pie-less’ life.

A few weeks later you smell a fresh pie and a wave of sadness flows through you. You think about your cracking new pie idea, but realise that your pie dreams are never going to come true.

If only there was someone who could work with you to show you how to make your dream pie. Simply show you exactly what ingredients you need and where to buy them from. Then guide you in the process of putting all of the ingredients together and then sharing your new pie.

What might be lovely, you think, is if there was someone out there you could just tell your pie idea to and they’d make it for you.

Ahhhh, you lean back in your chair and close your eyes and think “ahhh if only those two scenarios would be possible, because I’m far to busy to learn how to make this bloody pie and I might also need someone to do it for me.”

Let MIC be your baker!

What we’re basically saying is let us help you to make your pie…

Or show you how to make your pie, or a make a pie for you.

This pie analogy worked great on paper…😂 🥧

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MIC Thoughts

How To Listen To Podcasts

July 16, 2019March 22, 2022
by Vic

“I don’t even know how to listen to a podcast!” Oh my, if we had a quid for every time we hear that – we’d certainly be typing this from a tropical beach, whilst sipping pina coladas.

This is the number 1 reason people don’t listen to podcasts – they don’t know how!

So, here’s a dead simple guide – no jargon, just simple instructions for busy humans.

First things first…what is a podcast

A ‘Podcast’ is a nugget of audio, that anyone can make, that anyone can listen to, anytime that they want – over the internet.

These nuggets of audio live on the internet and can be heard using ‘Podcast Players’ (also known as ‘podcast catchers’, ‘podcast apps’…) and sometimes they also live on the websites of the people who have made that podcast.

There’s lots of different Podcast Players, but for the purposes of keeping it totally simple and straightforward, we’re going to focus on the big boys. It’s then up to you if you fancy exploring more.

Most podcasts will be on all Podcast Players, so don’t feel like you’re missing out by choosing one over another!

Importantly, all of these COST NOTHING – PODCASTS ARE FREE TO LISTEN TO – REPEAT ALL OF THESE ARE FREE

Whilst there’s starting to be more ‘paid for’ content in podcast land, for the most part, podcasts cost nothing to listen to.

First, choose what you’ll be listening on

iPhone, iPad, mac

Search your device’s app for an app called ‘Podcasts’ – many IOS devices already have this built-in. If not, head to the apple store and download it (for free!)

Android phone / tablet
If your device is a Google Pixel, Samsung, HTC, Moto, Huawei, Sony, odds are your operating system is Android. This means you’ll need to download the ‘Google Podcasts’ app from the Play Store (for free!)

Alexa
There’s a great article here on how to listen to podcasts on your Amazon Smart Speaker. It’s dead, dead easy.

Google Home
It’s as easy as asking it to play a podcast. Detailed instruction here.Again, super simple.

Smart TV
The best app we’ve found to listen to podcasts on a smart TV is TuneIn.

PC Desktop / Laptop
Head to a Podcast Players that have websites that you can play podcasts on like Stitcher or TuneIn

You can listen via the podcast’s website if they have that option too – like we do for our Strong Manchester Women Podcast.

Mac Desktop / Laptop
Listen via itunes

Spotify
Ok, so not strictly a device, but if you have Spotify on any of the above, you can listen to podcasts on there too

Now you have a Podcast Player lined up, you now have the means to listen to podcasts

HOW EXCITING! You have at your fingertips a WEALTH of amazingness. Literally, thousands of podcasts.

To discover podcasts, take advantage of the search function that the Podcast Players have, most also have suggested podcasts and lists of categories too for you to target your exploration.

Why not start by searching for some MIC media podcasts such as Strong Manchester Women or Tourist podcast?

As this is a quick and dirty guide, we’ve more than likely left stuff out, so if you have any other podcast player suggestions or tips for listening, please leave them in the comments, it’d be great to hear from you.

Enjoy!

MIC Thoughts

Get experimental with your ears – Listen to new…

April 6, 2019October 7, 2021
by Vic

If you think podcasts are just true-crime, BBC radio re-runs, dad porno, or ‘not for you’, then think again!

There’s over half a million podcasts out there, from documentary style and interviews to panel discussions and one man shows. I want to show you in this article, that there’s something out there to suit every need, want, hobby and erm, fetish.

So, I want to challenge you to listen to 1 episode of 1 podcast that haven’t heard before. Embrace the bizarre, dip outside of your comfort zone, go beyond your norm. You don’t have to like what you find, just give it a try!

Birds!

For example, a few months ago I discovered The Casual Birder Podcast through the Brit Pod Scene network of British-made podcasts (that you can search to discover new stuff too!). I like birds, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve never taken a great deal of interest of what’s flying above my head. To be really honest with you, the closest I’ve got to bird-watching, is scooping up the presents that my cat leaves me.

I listened to the first episode of Casual Birder and was I hooked. It’s dead easy to listen to, it’s really interesting, well-produced and Suzie the presenter, is a delight. I enjoyed it so much, that it’s now part of me and the cat’s morning routine. We listen whilst we’re brushing our teeth and having our coffee. Also, weirdly he’s not brought another bird kill back since (touch wood).

How to get exploring

So, whether you’ve not delved into the world of podcasts yet or you only have a few core ones that you listen to regularly, let me inspire your ears today – and who knows, you might find your new favourite! Thank me later guys.

As a starter and to help you get to grips with the wide range of podcasts available to you, right at your fingertips, here’s a list of the current podcast categories on iTunes. Other podcast platforms such as Google Podcasts, Player.fm or Stitcher will have the same or similar. You can search directly in any of these podcast platforms to find your niche.

Here’s just a small selection that I found today. Click on the links to be taken to a list of podcasts that are available for each of these categories.

Children’s stories, Sheffield Wednesday,Game of Thrones, Freelancer life, Vaping, Baking, Hiking, Farming, Business, Flat Earthists, Brewing, Ghost Stories, Charity, Blockchain UK Politics, Social Good

So go on, delve in, dig deeper! Tell me below what podcast you have discovered and how you now feel about being a bit more experimental with your ears. Remember, just 1 episode from 1 podcast.

Do you have an idea for a podcast but not sure how to get cracking – well whatever your subject, theme or category, let MIC give you a hand. Drop us a line and let’s have a chat about your podcast idea.

MIC Thoughts

You’ll want to start a podcast right away after…

April 6, 2019October 7, 2021
by Vic

Do you want to start a podcast? Or are you thinking about it, but not quite ready (let’s be honest, are you ever going to be ready?).

Well, as long as you or your company have something to say that is (more on that in a future blog post!), I don’t think there’s much stopping you.

Let me convince you why…

You don’t need to be fancy

All you need to start a podcast is 3 things,

1. A microphone to pick your voice into a recording 2. Something to store that recording 3. An internet connection to share that recording

Now, you might not believe me when I tell you this, but 1 and 2 you’ll probably already have. Actually, I bet you have at least 2 of each! Yes, Really!

There’s microphones built into pretty much every smartphone, tablet and laptop, which all, (more often than not), connect to the internet.

…And Voilà! That is your basic podcasting set-up! You don’t need the very best, expensive professional, broadcast-standard equipment and you certainly don’t need it right at the start of your podcasting journey.

This simple set-up, can also be a great way for you to practice.

They’re Accessible

They’ll be very few barriers for people to listen to your podcast.

All your potential listener needs is a device that connects to the internet and a speaker. This covers a wide of things such as phones, laptops, desktop computer, cars smart speaker, smart tv…the list goes on.

That’s it; you don’t need to be in the same country as the podcast that you’re listening to, or have an expensive subscription, you don’t even need a licence and it’s all on-demand – so you can listen when and where you want.

Imagine that potential for your podcast? You could have a listener who is anywhere in the world, doing anything – engaged with your message or your story.

And whilst we’re at it, just to make you ‘wow’ a little bit more, they’re also mostly free to listen to.

Guys, I’m just bashing down these barriers, right in front of your very eyes.

They’re dead Personable

You know those people we talked about under the ‘Accessibility’ bit above? They’ll be mostly consuming podcasts on their own. Think about it, how often do you sit and listen to a podcast with someone else – it’s a rarity isn’t?

a lady wearing a ponytail hairstyle earphones in her ears, holding a looking at her phone — Photo – Siddharth Bhogra via unsplash

Whether you’re in the car, at the gym, on the commute, cooking tea or gardening – podcasts are a very personal experience.

What other form of communication gets you right inside someone’s lughole, where you can really hook their attention and capture their imagination?

Again, think of that potential for you to share your message and values to a huge audience, but on a very intimate-level.

If at the start of this article you were around 35% ‘oh I’m still not sure whether to start a podcast’, I bet you’ll be at a firm 99% now?

If you need more convincing or would like a hand with your podcast production, let MIC guide you in the right direction.

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