Shownotes
In this insightful episode of Money Talk with Tiff, host Tiffany Grant is joined by podcast expert Virginia Elder. They dive deep into what it takes to start and maintain a successful podcast, especially for business owners contemplating entering the podcast space. From deciding if podcasting is the right medium to understanding the commitment it entails, Tiffany and Virginia cover all you need to know to make informed decisions.
About Our Guest
Virginia Elder is a dynamic and driven individual with a strong foundation in project management, client service, and strategic organization. With over 15 years of experience under her belt, she has honed her skills and is now known for her ability to make things happen. Whether it's behind-the-scenes support or content marketing strategies, Virginia shines brightest when helping entrepreneurs expand their reach and boost their revenue.
Her journey into podcast editing began with a simple 'yes' to a friend's project in 2019. Since then, she has taken on numerous copywriting and audio editing endeavors, which have led to her leaving her 9-5 job to forge her own business path. This move has not only allowed her to pursue her passion but also live her dream of walking her kids to and from school each day.
When you entrust your raw audio and video recordings, web copy dreams, weekly newsletter musings, and blog post aspirations to Virginia, you are giving yourself the gift of freedom. She takes care of the entire content creation process - from editing to publishing - so you can focus on serving your clients and growing your business.
Editing audio, video, and copy may be daunting for some, but for Virginia, it's second nature. With a dedicated content production team by her side, they work together to turn visions into reality. Don't let content creation hold you back any longer; let Virginia and her team handle it with their expertise so you can concentrate on what you do best.
Connect with Virginia
Website: PodcastAbundance.com
Instagram: @PodcastAbundance
Facebook: @PodcastAbundance
Connect with Tiffany
Website: https://www.moneytalkwitht.com
Facebook: Money Talk With Tiff
Twitter: @moneytalkwitht
Instagram: @moneytalkwitht
LinkedIn: Tiffany Grant
YouTube: Money Talk With Tiff
Pinterest: @moneytalkwitht
TikTok: @moneytalkwitht
Timestamps
[00:00] Consider comfort, goals, time, and integration.
[05:55] Podcasting is a long-term marketing strategy.
[09:40] Identify ideal client, structure episodes, purposeful content.
[13:35] Set clear expectations, plan and follow through.
[15:30] Consistency in releasing content is crucial.
[21:18] Efficient batching helps release podcasts consistently.
[22:17] Virginia shared valuable podcasting advice for sustainability.
Key Themes
- Deciding If Podcasting Is Right For You: Virginia discusses how to assess if podcasting suits your strengths and business needs.
- Time Commitment in Podcasting: Insight into the real time investments required and how many potential podcasters experience 'pod fade.'
- The Importance of Structure: The significance of having a clear purpose and defined structure for your podcast episodes.
- Consistency and Scheduling: Tips on maintaining a consistent release schedule and the role of batch recording in managing podcast demands.
- Understanding Your Audience: The importance of having a well-defined target audience to enhance the focus and reach of your podcast.
- Different Podcast Types: Exploration of various podcast formats, including seasonal and capsule podcasts, to suit different content creation styles.
Memorable Quote
Virginia Elder: "Podcasting is a long game. If you're stepping into this space, commit with the intention of going the distance."
Special Mention
Shoutout to the Retirement Answer Man
Retirement Talk with Roger Whitney | Ep. 76
Call to Action
Visit MoneyTalkWithT.com for more resources, and follow Tiffany on social media at @moneytalkwitht for daily updates and tips.
Remember, consistency is key! Whether you are considering starting a podcast or any other venture, regularity and clear communication with your audience are crucial to success.
Reminder
If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a rating and review on your preferred podcast platform. It helps us reach more listeners just like you!
Copyright 2024 Tiffany Grant
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Transcripts
You know what it is. That's right. It's time to talk money with your money,
Speaker:nerd and financial coach. Now tighten those purse strings
Speaker:and open those ears. It's the money talk with Tiff
Speaker:podcast.
Speaker:Hey, everyone. I am so excited because I have Virginia elder on the
Speaker:line now. I wanted Virginia on the show. We just
Speaker:spoke at Fincon together on the same stage for a panel about
Speaker:podcasting, and she is awesome. Awesome. When it comes
Speaker:to helping people figure out if they need a podcast, want a
Speaker:podcast, and then stepping in to help them with the production. So, hey, Virginia,
Speaker:how are you? Hey, thank you. I am good. Excited to be
Speaker:here. Yes, I'm excited to have you. So let's jump
Speaker:right in. When people, let's say, for instance,
Speaker:somebody's listening, they're a business owner, and they hear everybody
Speaker:starting podcasts, and they're like, oh, I need to start a podcast. What
Speaker:are some things that they should think about before they start? Or how do they
Speaker:figure out if podcasts is the right medium for their business when it
Speaker:comes to marketing? Okay, awesome. Yes. Okay. I know that
Speaker:was loaded. Let's address
Speaker:whether it's the right medium first, and then I
Speaker:will talk about how to make sure it's going to work for
Speaker:you. So, first up, if
Speaker:writing isn't your forte, then, okay, maybe
Speaker:blogging for your business is out the window. So then you have
Speaker:to look at, am I comfortable speaking about my
Speaker:business, or is this something that I want to pursue?
Speaker:Do I want to become more comfortable speaking about my business, about our
Speaker:services, about how we help people? Because those are the topics
Speaker:that podcast listeners want
Speaker:to hear from the business owner. They want to hear about
Speaker:the solution you provide, how you change
Speaker:people's lives for the better with your services or products.
Speaker:Now, lately. Then comes the
Speaker:question is, do I do a video
Speaker:podcast or do I just do audio?
Speaker:Tiffany, you do a great job of just doing audio. You have repurposed
Speaker:some video, but really, everybody's just loving the audio. So
Speaker:Tiffany's a great example of just stick with what works and
Speaker:what you're comfortable with, and not
Speaker:necessarily what is the hot trend right now,
Speaker:because there's a big push toward video right now. But I want to clarify
Speaker:that that's not necessary for everyone,
Speaker:especially if, for whatever reason, your lifestyle
Speaker:or your comfort level makes you kind of shy from the
Speaker:camera, because if there's any piece of the process
Speaker:that feels hard or
Speaker:you know that you're kind of pulling back from, you're less
Speaker:likely to be successful in that area because you're already
Speaker:feeling that barrier. So, okay, that
Speaker:should help as far as deciding which
Speaker:medium. So once you
Speaker:decide, maybe perhaps you're not a good writer
Speaker:and you're not comfortable on video or whatever it is, and you decide
Speaker:you're going to podcast and you're going to use this
Speaker:podcast as a marketing arm for your business, then
Speaker:it's time to really look at your daily and
Speaker:weekly time that you have
Speaker:to add this additional task of
Speaker:recording your episodes. Some people
Speaker:might want to script and then record their episodes. That is going to
Speaker:take more time. Again, it depends on what your goals are. If
Speaker:you want to practice speaking on the
Speaker:fly or if you are more methodical about it, you want to
Speaker:make sure that you get things in your episodes, but it's really going to boil
Speaker:down to the time you have
Speaker:and how you can integrate
Speaker:podcasting into your existing schedule. And that's a really
Speaker:important planning piece that you have to do upfront. You
Speaker:can get help with editing and production and all that. That's
Speaker:not going to be your forte at this point.
Speaker:But you do have to work in that time to record because nobody can do
Speaker:that for you. And that is so true, Virginia, I'm
Speaker:so glad that you bought up that timepiece, because people
Speaker:don't realize how much time and effort goes into this.
Speaker:It's definitely a labor of love sometimes, and
Speaker:getting clear on how much time you actually have available
Speaker:to it, because I feel like, and correct me if I'm wrong, if you really
Speaker:know the data. I don't. I'm just making an assumption. But I
Speaker:feel like people quit podcasting in some
Speaker:cases because of the time commitment, because they get in and they
Speaker:realize, ooh, this is more than what I thought it was. Absolutely. And
Speaker:so they run out of time and then the show goes stale. Yeah,
Speaker:absolutely. The two biggest fall
Speaker:off points, which we actually call that pod fade, it's where you just
Speaker:like, fade away and don't actually mean to say bye,
Speaker:just disappear. So the two biggest pod
Speaker:fade points are before episode
Speaker:seven. So real early on in the process, like, you just
Speaker:launched and you very quickly got overwhelmed. And then
Speaker:the other big fade point is around episode 50.
Speaker:So 50, man, like, that seems like such an
Speaker:accomplishment. You did 50 episodes, right?
Speaker:But when you think about if you were doing
Speaker:a weekly show, that's about a year of
Speaker:production. And so most people
Speaker:don't realize this is another important point. Podcasting really
Speaker:is a long game, even
Speaker:very niched down and targeted for your
Speaker:ideal client and specific topics and all that, you're
Speaker:not going to get very much traction very
Speaker:quickly. It is a long
Speaker:term, long, long
Speaker:game marketing strategy, really. You have to begin with the
Speaker:intention of producing probably 200 episodes or
Speaker:so. I'm not saying you won't get a customer until that point. I'm just
Speaker:saying that's how long it really takes to see
Speaker:the multiple thousands of download
Speaker:numbers and, you know, clients calling left and right
Speaker:from your podcast. So when someone
Speaker:looks and they've been producing for about a year and
Speaker:maybe they've gotten a couple clients out of it, it's
Speaker:one of those things where they're quitting when they're so close to the
Speaker:finish line, like, so, so close. If they just keep going to, like, episode
Speaker:60 or 70, you start to really gain some traction there.
Speaker:Yeah. And you know what? I can attest to that. In January,
Speaker:I posted early January, I'll put a link in the show notes.
Speaker:I had posted my chart of all my podcast downloads
Speaker:from, like, when I started the podcast up until the end
Speaker:of last year. And you'll
Speaker:see, you could see a stark difference right around the timeframe, you're saying.
Speaker:So from 2019 to, like, 2022,
Speaker:my downloads were abysmal. Like, they were really
Speaker:small. It's rough at first. It is,
Speaker:but, and you know what? And when I was going through that data before I
Speaker:took the screenshot, I was like, dang, some days I had zero listens. Like
Speaker:nobody was listening to me. But I consistently kept putting out that
Speaker:content. And then you just see a boom, like in
Speaker:2022, somewhere up in there, it was just a boom for the
Speaker:podcast. And now I look at my numbers, I'm like,
Speaker:oh, I'm not doing too bad. But it took that long
Speaker:to start gaining traction in this. And for
Speaker:me, it draws comparison to blogging as well.
Speaker:Blogging as is another long game thing. You can't just hop in and think you're
Speaker:going to get all this traffic. It takes a long time to build that
Speaker:up. So I'm glad you brought that up, because, you know, maybe
Speaker:it'll help someone from getting discouraged when they don't see those
Speaker:numbers, you know, in their first year or what have you. And
Speaker:they're like, you know what? I'm already prepared for this. Virginia and
Speaker:Tiffany told me about this, so I can keep going.
Speaker:With that being said, what is something else? What's the next step?
Speaker:So after we figure out our time, what else should we
Speaker:think about? So you want to really
Speaker:clarify exactly who you're speaking
Speaker:to. That's one important component.
Speaker:And of course you can say, oh, potential clients, of
Speaker:course, but you have to really define
Speaker:those clients. And I'm not talking about age or
Speaker:gender basics like that. It's going to be
Speaker:extreme specifics. For
Speaker:example, business owners making 250k
Speaker:or more who also have a
Speaker:podcast marketing their business, right? That's
Speaker:my ideal market for my
Speaker:show that's launching soon. You have
Speaker:to really identify
Speaker:those deep niches. You could go even further to the
Speaker:example than what I just said. But once you identify
Speaker:that ideal client, maybe they live in a certain area,
Speaker:perhaps they visit coffee shops three times a week or
Speaker:something like that. Like, it can be the craziest thing. But the
Speaker:additional features, you list niches down your
Speaker:target listener even more. So then,
Speaker:what I want you to really concentrate on is the
Speaker:actual structure and makeup of your
Speaker:episodes. Is it going to be interviews? Is it going to be
Speaker:solo? Are there going to be different segments? Are
Speaker:you going to play a game with your guests? There's so
Speaker:many things you can do, and you want to be really clear
Speaker:about that structure. And of course, for that
Speaker:structure to have a purpose, whether that
Speaker:is helping people become more familiar
Speaker:with you or your business or because you want it to be
Speaker:entertaining, there has to be a purpose to
Speaker:that ideal client or ideal listener and
Speaker:the structure of your episode. So if you notice, we
Speaker:haven't talked about anything about like microphones or software, anything like
Speaker:that. It's all in the place, planning and the vision for
Speaker:the show. That's where the hard work is. Yes,
Speaker:I agree with that. And as someone that did not do that when I
Speaker:started, I didn't do any of that. Most movies don't.
Speaker:Cause nobody tells them, right. I didn't do any of
Speaker:that. And I was like, oh, I just want to talk to everybody, and
Speaker:I just want everybody to get all this information that I'm putting out because it's
Speaker:so important. Everybody needs to know. And like I said,
Speaker:my download numbers were really
Speaker:low. It wasn't in till I actually
Speaker:did an episode where I said, this is the premise for the
Speaker:podcast. And that is when
Speaker:I really dialed it in on what are we here
Speaker:for? After that is
Speaker:when everything started taking off, so. And that wasn't until like,
Speaker:episode, I don't know, 100 something hundred.
Speaker:So I wish I would have done that earlier, but I say that
Speaker:to say, it's so important to know who, who you're talking to when
Speaker:you're creating your podcast and what is the purpose of even doing the
Speaker:podcast. So I'm glad that you brought that up.
Speaker:Now one thing, now that we're talking about structure, right.
Speaker:Some people, they're like, well, you know, weekly sounds good, but
Speaker:I don't have that in me. What are some other cadences when it comes
Speaker:to, like, what can podcasting look like? Because I've heard of capsule
Speaker:podcasts. I've heard of seasonal
Speaker:podcasts. What are the different types? Yeah,
Speaker:okay. That's a great one. So as far as a long
Speaker:term ongoing running show, I mean, let's
Speaker:just top this with there are no rules, okay. You can literally do
Speaker:whatever you want. Whatever you do, though, it needs
Speaker:to be defined from the beginning. So you've got long
Speaker:term podcasts and then you've got the capsule podcast like you
Speaker:mentioned in the long term podcast
Speaker:space, do whatever you want to do as
Speaker:long as it's consistent. So if you can't do weekly, do every
Speaker:other week or monthly or sometimes
Speaker:quarterly. Now, the longer you go between
Speaker:episodes, the slower the traction is going
Speaker:to occur on your show. You
Speaker:mentioned seasonal. Oh, go ahead. Yeah, I was just going to say I can attest
Speaker:to that as well because I told my audience I would do
Speaker:weekly and there would be a couple of months before they get a new episode.
Speaker:And then it was like I had to start from scratch. So I just wanted
Speaker:to tag onto that to say, yes, that is, that is
Speaker:real, but go ahead. Yeah, yeah. And that goes
Speaker:back to your listeners knowing what to expect if
Speaker:you start from the beginning and go, listen, this is going to be a
Speaker:once a month show. Look for me every month on the
Speaker:15th, you know, for whatever, whatever updates
Speaker:you're doing and at least you're telling them so they aren't going to
Speaker:be driving in their car on the 16th looking for
Speaker:your episode because they know you already dropped one on the 15th and they got
Speaker:to wait. So just be clear with your
Speaker:intentions and then follow through. Now, if
Speaker:an ongoing show isn't in
Speaker:you but you want to do seasons, for
Speaker:example, again, there are no rules. You could do an eight
Speaker:episode season. You could do a 20 episode season,
Speaker:and there is also no rule as far as how
Speaker:long you should wait in between seasons.
Speaker:So again, look at your
Speaker:calendar, look at your lifestyle, your plans for your business,
Speaker:your travel, your kids schedules, all those things,
Speaker:and map out when it makes sense
Speaker:for you to record so that you can see
Speaker:how many episodes you might could record within, let's say, a
Speaker:month. Then from there you'll
Speaker:be able to say, okay, when's the next time that's
Speaker:possible? Maybe that's three months down the road.
Speaker:So maybe
Speaker:seasons are great for you. Maybe you can do
Speaker:a five episode season and tell your audience,
Speaker:hey, we'll be back in three months with another five episode season.
Speaker:You can do anything as long as it's defined and
Speaker:people know what to expect, because then the trick is you're
Speaker:not letting them down. And that is the
Speaker:big thing for me. So people will
Speaker:look for you when you say you are going to
Speaker:release, because, you know, people that knew me, they were in my inbox, like, where's
Speaker:my episode? Like, where is it at? But
Speaker:one thing that really stuck with me, that
Speaker:changed, you know, that whole waiting and all that
Speaker:stuff that was kind of stagnating my growth was I was at
Speaker:Fincon one year, I think it was 2021, and
Speaker:I was sitting at the bar next to the retirement
Speaker:answer man. So check out his podcast. Shout out to
Speaker:him. I'll put a link to his show in the show
Speaker:notes. But he said to me, tiffany, and
Speaker:mind you, he had gone seven years, releasing once
Speaker:a week for seven years, never missed. And he said,
Speaker:tiffany, when you like someone, let's say
Speaker:you like this guy, y'all are going on dates, hitting it off, everything's
Speaker:going well, and then he stands you up.
Speaker:How would you feel? And he said, that is
Speaker:how your audience feels when you miss an episode. I
Speaker:said, no. Like, I don't want to break their
Speaker:hearts. Oh, my gosh. Right? But that
Speaker:difficult conversation that he had with me really changed
Speaker:my viewpoint about my podcast and how important
Speaker:it was to be consistent. And like I said, in 2022 was when everything took
Speaker:off, because, you know, all of those conversations. So
Speaker:I can really attest to how important that consistency
Speaker:piece is, regardless of whatever you choose. I have friends that
Speaker:do once a quarter. You know, they do a couple of releases and
Speaker:then they're done, but they have a good following. People are
Speaker:watching and they're listening. So it really
Speaker:just depends on what you want to do, what you
Speaker:have time for, and then what you communicate to your audience. I
Speaker:think that's the most important thing. And even if, you know, you
Speaker:start at a cadence, let's say, once a week, and you're like, oh, this is
Speaker:too much. Communicate with your audience and say, hey, y'all,
Speaker:I'm going to do once a month because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
Speaker:blah. You know, make sure you communicate whatever changes you make to the
Speaker:show, because it really goes a long way as well, in my opinion. What do
Speaker:you think? Yeah, absolutely. And that's part of
Speaker:the statement where there really are no rules. It
Speaker:is your show. You can do whatever you want. You can pick your own colors.
Speaker:You can pick your own music, right?
Speaker:So you can change what you're doing. Even if you identify, like, we were
Speaker:talking about structure a while ago, and you say, okay, well, I want to
Speaker:do an interview and I want to play games with my guests, like
Speaker:at the end, like ask them five top questions or something,
Speaker:and you decide, this is lame, or, I don't like this, or
Speaker:whatever, you can change it, it's okay.
Speaker:And even then, if you feel like you need to announce it, that's fine, you
Speaker:can. But same thing with your publishing
Speaker:schedule, you can make that adjustment, say, hey,
Speaker:we're going to back down. We're going to go to every two weeks, we're going
Speaker:to go to once a month. You know, it's winter break, it's summer break. Like,
Speaker:whatever the reason is, that's fine. And you can turn around
Speaker:and increase the consistency later
Speaker:if you feel energized. I will
Speaker:say something I want to point out, and Tiffany, I know
Speaker:you're so good at this, so you can back this up.
Speaker:You don't produce a weekly show
Speaker:by recording one episode every single week. That's just
Speaker:not how this works. You always, always
Speaker:want to record more
Speaker:than what you need in the coming week. So
Speaker:if you're doing a weekly show, really look at batch
Speaker:recording. So I would say record
Speaker:three episodes every two weeks at
Speaker:minimum. Right. And so you always have that one extra
Speaker:that's recorded. So when you're scheduling them to
Speaker:go live on future dates, you're already a week ahead each
Speaker:time. So explore
Speaker:something like that. Some people do five recordings
Speaker:once a month, and that takes care of all
Speaker:the episodes they needed to record. Tiffany, I know, is
Speaker:a master batch recorder. So
Speaker:just for that clarity, yes.
Speaker:Consistency in your schedule may be important. So you
Speaker:may look at this, say, oh, well, I need to record one episode every week.
Speaker:That's fine. Make sure that there's
Speaker:wiggle room in there and that sometimes you get
Speaker:two or three recordings. Because here's the deal. People are going to get
Speaker:sick. You need a vacation, you're going to be tired, you're going to
Speaker:have a client emergency. Different things are going to happen.
Speaker:And guess what? The one time you have to cancel
Speaker:your recording appointment, you don't want to be without a
Speaker:show next published date. So you always want to be
Speaker:working ahead. Yes. Yes. And like Virginia said,
Speaker:I am a master batch recorder. I'll give you all just a
Speaker:little behind the scenes. Now, in this episode. Since we're talking about it, we're
Speaker:recording this on January 4. You'll probably be hearing this in, like,
Speaker:April because that's where I am in my batch. So, and I'm
Speaker:closing my calendar in a couple of days, and I won't record
Speaker:until April again. So that's how I'm able
Speaker:to keep my sanity when it comes to running
Speaker:the podcast. And, you know, people are like, how are you able to, you know,
Speaker:release twice a week and blah, blah, blah, blah? Well, it's because of
Speaker:this, I'm able to batch pretty
Speaker:efficiently, and then I don't have to touch it for a whilst. I
Speaker:get a break, and then I'll get back to it later on. So I'm so
Speaker:glad you mentioned that and to give y'all a little behind the scenes, that's how
Speaker:we operate over here. So with that being said, because we can't
Speaker:give it all away, Virginia, I know we could be here forever
Speaker:talking about podcasting because we both nerd out on it.
Speaker:But if people were interested in learning more about you
Speaker:about podcasting, how you can help them, where could they find
Speaker:you? Yeah. Thank you, tiff. I
Speaker:am@podcastabundance.com dot. There are
Speaker:several blog posts and various pages. You can
Speaker:check out all our services and just lots of good advice there. And
Speaker:then on Instagram, same thing. It's
Speaker:odcastabundance. Thank you. Thank you. And I'll make sure I
Speaker:have all of that in the show notes for you all. So if you're doing
Speaker:something else while you're listening, because it's not a video,
Speaker:make sure you check out the show notes and it'll definitely be
Speaker:there. Thank you so much, Virginia, for spreading so much
Speaker:valuable information and dropping these gems on the money talk with TIFF
Speaker:podcast today. I definitely look up to you when it comes to
Speaker:podcasting because you know about all the equipment and stuff. But like you
Speaker:said, we don't even have to talk about equipment when it comes to
Speaker:starting a podcast. It just starts with getting the structure and
Speaker:getting everything comfortable for you so that way you can
Speaker:have longevity and sustainability.
Speaker:Absolutely. Thank you for having me. I loved this. Thank you so
Speaker:much. Yes, no problem. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day.
Speaker:Bye. Thank you for listening, joining, and being a part of the
Speaker:Money Talk with TIFF podcast this week. You can check Tiff out every
Speaker:Thursday for a new Money talk podcast. But if you just can't wait until
Speaker:next week, you can listen to previous podcast episodes at
Speaker:Moneytalk with tea or follow TIFf
Speaker:on all social media platforms at moneytalkwitht.
Speaker:Until next time, spend wise by spending less than you
Speaker:make. A word to the money wise is always sufficient.
