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No rational podcaster likes spending money needlessly.

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But every day, podcasters make choices on and around their shows without

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understanding the underlying costs to their podcast or themselves.

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Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.

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When you mention a product or a service on your podcast, that act has value - big

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value, small value, doesn't matter.

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It's value, which is why ads and sponsorships cost money.

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But that same action, mentioning something, has a cost.

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And it's a cost that you pay with your reputation.

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Now, this entire episode is not about advertising.

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I want to assuage your fears first off.

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Although I will say, also, it's somewhat about advertising because most rational

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listeners know that when they hear an ad on your podcast, it's a paid-for exchange.

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You're not doing that out of the goodness of your heart.

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So you are kind of required to read a script and say things.

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However, that does not mean that they'll forgive you if you choose to advertise

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a crappy product on your podcast.

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They won't.

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You know that, right?

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And so that's why there's a cost.

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The reality of that cost or the risk of that cost is then offset by the revenue

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the advertiser gives you, the podcaster.

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But again, this is not about advertising.

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That's just where we started thinking about this.

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And we can take that thinking and expand it because this is really about all of

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the other products and services that you mention on your show for free.

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They all come with a cost.

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Now, you might use Patreon the way that I use Buy Me A Coffee - that

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I'll mention here in a little bit.

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We're trying to drive people to that site so that they can

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then lend their support to you.

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Much like people can use by my BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra

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and lend some support to me.

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But there's a cost.

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One reason there's cost is that's a zero sum game placement, right?

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You can't talk about any other service while you're talking about

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whatever it is you are using.

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So that service better work really well.

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It better be really well branded for your show.

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And it needs to be a smooth customer experience because

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it costs you to mention it.

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The same goes for how you drive people to your show, not on your

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show, but perhaps in social media.

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Your reputation is on the line when you send out a link to your

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show that says, "Listen to this."

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What link are you using?

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Does that link make for a good experience for everyone?

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Because, remember, it costs you every single time somebody clicks on it.

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Are you spending that money wisely?

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Are you spending that cost wisely?

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To a lesser degree, the decisions you make on hosting, whether that's

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hosting your podcast episodes and generating your RSS feed, or website

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hosting, all cost you in reputation points as well as real money there.

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But to your listeners, it's reputation points.

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So you can blame the limitations of your inability to get your show episode details

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formatted properly on your website host.

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You can blame the lack of ability to put a link in because your podcast

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hosting company won't allow for that.

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That's fine.

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Keep in mind, though, that your listeners are going to lay the blame at your feet.

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You're the one that made that choice.

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You're the one who is incurring those costs.

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If you promote your guest appearances on other podcasts on your own podcast

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episode, that's costing you something.

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It's costing you something just for them to hear about it, but also

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when they click through and listen.

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Was it your best show?

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Did that host do a good job of representing what you wanted to say?

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If you promote your upcoming speaking engagements on your

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podcast at a conference you're going to, that happens at a cost.

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Does that conference, you know, live up to the values, the

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reputation that you yourself have?

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Because there's a cost when you say, "I'm going here."

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Now, I say all of this, not to tell you to stop saying and

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mentioning things on your podcast.

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That's not it at all.

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This is for you to realize that everything has a cost, whether it physically

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costs money out of your pocket, or whether it costs you reputation points.

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Your job is to make sure that you're getting more value than

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the cost you're actually spending.

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It's important that you really understand the full journey you're

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putting someone through when you mention a product, a service, or anything

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else, really, on your show because, like it or not, you just made with

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that mention a tacit endorsement.

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So make sure it's worth it.

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Now, to that end, you'll notice something new in the article and the newsletter for

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today's episode and what you'll see in all of the episodes I put out this week.

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There's a new section, and it's called currently Supporting Shows Showcase.

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Yeah, I love my alliteration, don't I?

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This is a paid sponsorship opportunity that was conceived of

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actually by a listener, Tom Fox of the Compliance Podcast Network.

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Thank you, Tom.

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Naturally, Tom has acquired one of the spots in that sponsorship section

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to promote a new series he's just releasing called Looking Back on 9/11,

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which you should take a listen to.

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Also in there today, you're going to see a new show hosted by my partner,

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Sam Walker, called American Vigilante, which is going to be a gut punch

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over and over again I really think.

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Looking forward to listening to that today.

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There's also one more, an inclusion by another one of my partners, Mr.

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Bryan Barletta from Sounds Profitable, the podcast ad tech newsletter and podcast.

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You'll have more details about the Supporting Shows Showcase if you go to

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podcastpontifications.com/sponsorship, if you want to get in on some of that action.

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Let's do some Boostagrams!

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Now it's time for the boost-the boost-the boost- Boostagram Corner.

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Boostagram Corner.

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I don't know a thing about crypto.

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Well, just one Boostagram actually today.

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Someone, and I don't know who, used Breez.

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Cool little app.

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But again, I don't know who, and they said in the message, "I'm just

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here for the Boostagram Corner.

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:) " Well, thanks, whoever you happen to be,

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is unfortunate, but thank you very much for the 1000 sats, which sounds like a

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lot of money, but it's not a lot of money because sats are tiny amounts of money.

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Anyhow, if you got value out of today's program and you're using

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one of those fancy new podcast apps like Breez, then feel free to boost

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some sats my way and send a message.

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I'll read it out here on the show.

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If that's too complicated, because wow is that stuff really too complicated, again,

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BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra is where you can go to show your support for the program.

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That's it.

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I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

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Cheers!

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Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra.

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He's on a mission to make podcasting better.

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Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes

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section of your podcast listening app.

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A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at

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podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected

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transcript, both created by Allie Press.

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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.