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Todd Cochrane of Blubrry Podcasting : 5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Very Successful Podcast

An Interview With Jason Hartman

New podcasters should not try to go for the big fish first — get some interviews under your belt before you do. Booking services are decent at getting you into the pool of folks that want to be interviewed, but be selective in who you interview — make sure they will help you meet the goal of your show.

As part of my series of interviews about "5 things you need to know to create a very successful podcast", I had the pleasure of interviewing Todd Cochrane.

Todd Cochrane, CEO of Blubrry Podcasting, wrote the book on podcasting. Well, at least the first one: "Podcasting: The Do-It-Yourself Guide." The founder of the People's Choice Podcast Awards and the Tech Podcast Network, he's also credited with introducing the first advertisers into podcasting, GoDaddy. Cochrane was inducted into the inaugural class of the Podcast Hall of Fame in 2015. But perhaps his biggest influence on podcasting is Blubrry Podcasting and its parent company RawVoice, which is a full services podcast host, with the №1 podcasting plugin for WordPress, and much more. A United States Navy Veteran who served 25 years and retired with the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer, Cochrane resides in Quincy, Michigan.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit of your "personal backstory? What is your background and what eventually brought you to this particular career path?

I have technically been online before the existence of the modern Internet having run an old school bulletin board. When the modern Internet arrived, I started a blog called Geek News Central. At the same time as serving in the United States Navy of which I retired in 2007 with 25 years of active service. I learned about podcasting very near the inception of the medium and was one of the first 25 podcasters in October of 2004, which lead to a book deal and releasing the first book on Podcasting published by Wiley publishing. "Podcasting The Do it Yourself Guide" ultimately a podcast sponsorship by GoDaddy led to a business idea that resulted in the creation of RawVoice the parent company of Blubrry Podcasting which serves over 100,000 podcasters.

Can you share a story about the most interesting thing that has happened to you since you started podcasting?

The podcasting space was largely a tech geek haven in the early days. Today it has evolved into an incredibly diverse space of creators with women today leading the content creation charge with women of color also embracing the medium. So while I suppose it is not super surprising what I am most happy about is that podcasting has given underrepresented individuals and groups a voice. I feel podcasting is the last bastion of free and open speech.

Can you share a story about the biggest or funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or takeaways you learned from that?

The first two episodes of my show I opened with a music intro by a very popular band that violated copyright. The first two episodes of my show needless to say do not exist anymore as I quickly learned that one cannot play copyrighted music in podcasts.

How long have you been podcasting and how many shows have you aired?

I have been podcasting since October 2004 and have recorded 2,600 episodes across 3 shows and I have nearly 1,600 accompanying video podcasts that are delivered via RSS. I have had a video component to my shows for more than 10 years.

What are the main takeaways, lessons or messages that you want your listeners to walk away with after listening to your show?

With Geek News Central my flagship show, I break down every day tech news so that the non-geek can stay abreast of what is happening in the tech world. So far as The New Media Show, we say that if you listen to the podcast long enough you will walk away with a PhD in Podcasting.

In your opinion what makes your podcast binge-listenable? What do you think makes your podcast unique from the others in your category? What do you think is special about you as a host, your guests, or your content?

My tech show is purposely non binge listenable and like the high majority of podcasts it achieves a high percentage of its lifetime listens in the first 96 hours. The New Media Show on the other hand contains the history of the podcasting space over the past 10 years by two hosts that have been in the space from the beginning. We know that our audience comes to listen to us, and not necessarily our guests as most often our host-only shows do significantly better download/listen-wise than our shows with high profile guests.

Doing something on a consistent basis is not easy. Podcasting every workday, or even every week can be monotonous. What would you recommend to others about how to maintain discipline and consistency? What would you recommend to others about how to avoid burnout?

For new podcasters that are building authority there is no choice but to grind. When I say grind, it means you need to grind out consistent superior content and in order to build audience you need to have a new episode every week. I raised a family, had a full-time job and cranked out two episodes a week for years before taking a very short break. Even today I limit my breaks to a week at most. This may not be easy to hear for podcasters wanting to do season, but I have said if you're doing seasons and you're new, the gap between those seasons should be very short as listeners build you into their lives and if you leave them hanging too long, they will replace you with another show. Staying motivated can be challenging, especially if the show is not growing as fast as you want. So, you always have to visualize your audience sitting in front of you and that changes your perspective even if that audience size is 100, 1000, 10,000 or 100,000.

Podcasters that have partners need to have a discussion with them and have them understand the goals of your show to help keep the peace when you may be taking more time then they care for to reach your goal. I spent around 20 hours a week building my show. It was a sacrifice, but the reward has been significant.

What resources do you get your inspiration for materials from?

For many years I did all my show prep. I scoured over 400 websites for news and information for the show. Today I have an executive producer that was a fan of the show. He does the 2-hour prep for the show. I am lucky to have him. The New Media show is a different animal. We do no prep but at the same time we are live podcasting 24/7 and have the heartbeat of the podcasting space and independent podcast creators. We live and hear their success and challenges every day. So, we talk about what is top of mind. But I have also used booking services to help find guests or be a guest on other shows. If you are passionate about your topic, you should always be on the lookout for pieces that can fit into your show.

Ok fantastic. Let's now shift to the main questions of our discussion. Is there someone in the podcasting world who you think is a great model for how to run a really fantastic podcast?

Many podcasters goal is commercial monetization where they may be better actually growing support for the show monetarily by doing the value for value model that has been perfected by Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak with the No Agenda show. The model is unique. The show is incredible, and the listener support is astounding. Then there is the Quick and Dirty Tips network that has perfected short format podcast with the best long tail in the podcasting space. They have episodes that were produced 10 years ago that get as many listens in the current month as they will this month. No one does long tail content better. There are many models, but it boils down to the podcaster goal — it may be friends talking about life, business using their podcast as a funnel, etc. So, my advice to podcasters, subscribe to 20 shows in your genre and listen to them. Take the pieces you love from each and incorporate your spin into your own show.

What are the ingredients that make that podcast so successful? If you could break that down into a blueprint, what would that blueprint look like?

No Agenda is a show that breaks down the news in the MSM and does a deep analysis, they also find and cover topics you will never hear anywhere else. They empower their audience to become producers and they get an astounding number of submissions from their audience. The audience is part of the show. They interact with their audience at a level I have never seen on any other show. It's highly produced but not in an editing way, the production is like a live television show but on a whole different level.

The Quick and Dirty Tips network give quick tips on a variety of topics in short 5–8 minute bites. Their flagship show Grammar Girl gives a simple yet educational grammar tip.

You are a very successful podcaster yourself. Can you share with our readers the five things you need to know to create an extremely successful podcast? (Please share a story or example for each, if you can.)

1. You need your own website on your own top level domain — you record for your audience, you write your show notes for Google
2. Sustained superior content
3. Consistent weekly content
4. You need to interact with your audience where they hang out on social
5. Recording your show is not enough — you need to expand your authority and influence by going to events in your genre, consider a book, reach out to the TV and radio whenever you have a milestone or incredible guest. You need to attend podcast trade shows and hang out with other creators to gain ideas and network

https://youtu.be/N-bL_1c2xCw

Can you share some insight from your experience about the best ways to: 1) book great guests; 2) increase listeners; 3) produce it in a professional way; 4) encourage engagement; and 5) the best way to monetize it? (Please share a story or example for each, if you can.)

1. New podcasters should not try to go for the big fish first — get some interviews under your belt before you do. Booking services are decent at getting you into the pool of folks that want to be interviewed, but be selective in who you interview — make sure they will help you meet the goal of your show.
2. The number 1 way to grow your show is still word of mouth — ask your listeners to recommend your show and talk about you on social. The long tail is through discovery. Make sure each episode title is written in an expression that someone will search for. In the end, your content is what will allow you to grow. Be on your A game when recording and produce the best show you can.
3. The only way to become a better podcaster is by finding your voice and that is only done in front of the mic. The better prepared you are for each episode, the less editing you will have to do. While raising a family I did not have time to edit, so I heavily prepared and the shows always sounded like they were produced.
4. Audience engagement is an art — do not hesitate in playing devil's advocate on subjects and directly ask for audience feedback. Remember they are likely listening with ear buds and you're in their head. You need to talk to them not about them when asking for feedback. Be direct and ask or tell your audience what you need.
5. Monetization can be by listener support, programmatic advertising, host endorsement, buy me a cup of coffee, etc. Do not be in a rush to monetize, but plan to monetize. For new podcasters, programmatic advertising is a great way to get some revenue started with no extra work.

For someone looking to start their own podcast, which equipment would you recommend that they start with?

My advice is to start with minimal gear but if you're going to be doing a show with an in-person co-host you will need a way to record the two of you. There are some great USB mics that are great like Audio Technica and others have great USB mics for under $100. I personally use a Shure SMB7 but that is a mic that is in the $300 range. If you are going to have an in-person co-host, the Rodecaster and their mic package is a nice setup. A Rodecaster will also allow you to get the best quality recordings from someone that is calling in remote or on Zoom.

Many podcasters today are using services like Squadcast to record when everyone is in separate locations. This way, you only need a USB microphone for each host.

Ok. We are almost done. :-) Because of your position and work, you are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Podcasting is a medium of diverse voice and we can spread the medium worldwide so that we can all learn from one another. Podcasting is open because of RSS and there are no gatekeepers. We need to remember this as some in the podcasting space would love to become gatekeepers. Let's keep the space open so that anyone with a voice and their story can be heard.

How can our readers follow you online?

todd@blubrry.com
Twitter @geeknews
@blubrry

Instagram Blubrry_Podcasting

Thank you so much for sharing your time and your excellent insights! We wish you continued success.

A bout The Interviewer: Jason Hartman is the Founder and CEO of JasonHartman.com, The Hartman Media Company and The Jason Hartman Foundation. Jason has been involved in several thousand real estate transactions and has owned income properties in 11 states and 17 cities. His company helps people achieve The American Dream of financial freedom by purchasing income property in prudent markets nationwide. Jason's Complete Solution for Real Estate Investors™ is a comprehensive system providing real estate investors with education, research, resources and technology to deal with all areas of their income property investment needs. Through Jason's podcasts, educational events, referrals, mentoring and software to track your investments, investors can easily locate, finance and purchase properties in these exceptional markets with confidence and peace of mind. Jason educates and assists investors in acquiring prudent investments nationwide for their portfolio. Jason's highly sought after educational events, speaking engagements, and his ultra-hot "Creating Wealth Podcast" inspire and empower hundreds of thousands of people in 189 countries worldwide.

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Source: https://medium.com/authority-magazine/todd-cochrane-of-blubrry-podcasting-5-things-you-need-to-know-to-create-a-very-successful-podcast-5db3b11635af

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