TPU51 – Simplifying the Podcasting Process – Interview with Dylan (Digital Podcaster)

Episode-51

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[00:00:00] Dylan: Use one of those things to create curiosity, it creates an open loop and naturally as humans, we want to close the loop, like I have to know how this thing ends. I have to know what this means. I have, I can't be misinformed and doing that in a way that doesn't feel very sneaky, you know? So being like ethical about it and delivering on that, but using those episode titles to like, make someone go, okay, I got to see what this.

[00:00:29] Dilip: Welcome to the podcasting university, looking for help on starting your own podcast. Then this is the place to be. We will help you with everything from selecting your topic to promoting and monetizing your podcast in the simplest language. Listen to other podcasters, who've been through the grind and learn from them

[00:00:49] as we interviewed them every week, you can find more details on the podcasting university.com.[00:01:00]

[00:01:03] Hello, and welcome to episode 50, one of the podcasting university. This is your host Dylan. And in this episode, we are going to touch upon a very important aspect of podcasting. That is getting all of the things done, all of the important things done in podcasting. Now the question is how do you manage all of these hundreds of things that you have to do in podcasting?

[00:01:28] And this question is something that a lot of people who are getting started with podcasting usually have. In fact, this is a question that a lot of us podcasters who are already into running a podcast too keep asking ourselves. Um, the answer to this is to simplify your activities. Now that can be a long discussion for some other time, but what if you could hear it from somebody who has a formula for managing all of these things, using his simple techniques.

[00:01:58] In this episode, I'm [00:02:00] speaking to Dylan Schmidt from digital podcaster. He is an audio engineer turned digital marketer and podcaster. And he's the host of the digital podcaster podcast. He runs this amazing show and manages everything from scripting, recording, editing, and promoting on his own. And the best part, he has a formula that he follows, which helps him do that.

[00:02:26] So let us listen to it and more from Dylan. Join me in welcoming Dylan to the podcasting university. Hey Dylan. Welcome to the podcasting university. How are you doing today?

[00:02:39] Dylan: I'm doing great. I'm happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me. It's nice to be here.

[00:02:44] Dilip: Yeah. You know, I, I always love having these discussions around podcasting and getting a different perspective to podcasting.

[00:02:51] So I'm sure, you know, there is a lot that we'll be able to discuss around podcasts.

[00:02:57] Dylan: Yeah, I'm excited to dive in and, and I [00:03:00] love, uh, learning and chatting about all things podcasts.

[00:03:03] Dilip: So before we get started, I would like to know a little bit more about you. What is it that you do in addition to podcasting and how did you get into podcasting?

[00:03:14] Dylan: In addition to podcasting, I'm really passionate about marketing and helping small businesses primarily. I call them influencers or people that are usually the face of their own brand, like personal brands. I'm passionate about helping them figure out ways to grow their platforms. And I help people, you know, through podcasting as well.

[00:03:38] But I'm really, my experiences is more than podcasts. Just podcasting out of experience with like digital marketing and things like that. But I got into podcasting or not, sorry I got into audio first. I went to school for audio production right after high school. I'm 32 now. So this was like when I was 18 [00:04:00] and I always wanted to work in a recording studio, which I had the pleasure of doing.

[00:04:06] But then the more I learned about the music industry, the more I was like, nah, this isn't for me. And so I started working on digital marketing. I kind of left the audio part behind and then around 2016, I got the opportunity to work on and, build a podcast for a client. And I was like, this is my bread and butter.

[00:04:29] This is, I mean, this is so much easier than producing a band. So I worked on their podcast and I had around 2010 or 20 11, 20 12, I was doing marketing for my own coaching business and then helping other people too. So. After I had left the audio production behind, I went into marketing and then got into podcasts.

[00:04:52] You had 2016 of helping people behind the scenes and got really excited about it because it's such a interesting [00:05:00] format to share a message with the world, you know?

[00:05:06] Dilip: So on that point and you've been into audio and I've heard in one of your interviews that you were an audio engineer, you did all of those mixing and everything. So how did that experience of audio help you when you got into podcasting?

[00:05:23] Dylan: So it helped a way that I don't think is actually the obvious way, which would be most people would be like, oh, you're obviously very qualified for doing podcasts.

[00:05:34] If you're an audio engineer. But what bugged me about podcasting and audio production and engineering and all that is the person that, uh, I started learning about podcasts from, he didn't know anything about my background. He just made assumptions that I wouldn't be able to understand what I was looking at when I look at it. How to do a podcast.

[00:05:57] And he had no desire to have any [00:06:00] understanding of who I was or anything. He just was like, you wouldn't understand. Yeah. I could either get like mad or I could get like, try to understand like, Hey, like, do you know what I worked on? I didn't do that at all. I was just like, oh, tell me, tell me these secrets.

[00:06:13] I seem to be missing because you know, done production for bands and all these things. And as far as I know, there's only two microphones here, so it seems a lot easier. I don't know. I just have two tracks. It's not 16 or something and everything I learned from him, I was like, it was almost, I learned what not to do.

[00:06:33] I saw like, oh, I'm like, okay, am I missing any secrets? I'm like, no. Okay. It could be really simple. Yes. And I really wanted to share that with others, because if I've learned anything over the years, it's been a, you can make something seem extremely difficult and unattainable, or you can break it down into simple steps that people can do it.

[00:06:52] And that's been, I've been on a mission since that speaking to that guy, almost of, I want to help people. [00:07:00] Learn how, you know, like just, I want to make it simple. It doesn't need to be some big thing that, you know, you wouldn't understand. It's like, no, actually I'd like to be more patient and help people understand and break it down and it doesn't need to be, you know, and that goes for marketing too and all sorts of things, but yeah.

[00:07:18] Dilip: That's a good experience. So

[00:07:21] Dylan: yeah, I guess it's the wrong, the wrong experience, but like the, put me in a one direction. I dunno. It's so still getting back at that guy, I guess. I don't know.

[00:07:30] Dilip: Um, but I think that that gave you a purpose to, uh, you know, your entire business strategy. Because Uh, you know, I think that is what gave you, the idea of, uh, you know, helping people simplify things rather than complicating things.

[00:07:44] So in a way that, that gave you the entire purpose for your business.

[00:07:48] Dylan: Yeah. Yeah. And I get passionate about people that want to do something, but maybe don't know how cause I've been in, I'm still in that position with certain things, of course. [00:08:00] And I want to give people patients, and I want to get people understanding.

[00:08:03] And anytime that there there's. Some type of, you know, you would not get this kind of attitude towards things. I just start to raise red flags and it makes me angry a little bit. I'm like, why? Like accessibility should be for everybody. You know, it's not like this person can't learn it. That person can like, it's like, yeah.

[00:08:26] Dilip: Well, yeah. In a couple of your episodes, I've heard you saying that you are introvert and. You know, so far as if I look at it from that perspective, I think as introverts, we are somebody who are very skeptical, reaching out to people, talking to them, you know, we would like to avoid any kind of conversations.

[00:08:46] So how do you think you were able to mould yourself into this entire podcasting universe and how, how has podcasting helped you as an introvert?

[00:08:58] Dylan: Yeah, that's [00:09:00] interesting. That's a great question. And I haven't thought about it too much in that way. So I still feel like the same introverted person. Like, I don't feel necessarily like, like I'm still like not having a lot of, um, I'm still like if someone cancels their plans on me to go out, I'm okay with it.

[00:09:20] You know, I'm not, I'm not going to be mad, but as far as digital podcaster, so that's the name of my company and, um, What I did was this is going to sound maybe a little funny. I went on a solo adventure in the desert and I stayed in this. Uh, do you know what an, igloo is, yeah, I stayed in an igloo in the desert and, uh, Joshua tree, California, and I was by myself.

[00:09:51] It looked like something out of star wars. Um, and I, I, I was like thinking a lot about like what I wanted to do, what I wanted to create. And [00:10:00] I had this idea of like, I need an alter ego because my personality is not gonna cut the, it's not going to make anything happen. Like my personality is not, uh, the outgoing one.

[00:10:12] So I was like, I need an alter ego. So I started designing like an alter ego of what that person would be like, everything down, like in such detail. And. Then like a month or two later, I created digital podcaster are not like I'm going to make this alter ego, but it kind of was ended up being of this person that is just out there.

[00:10:31] They make pictures of themselves. They record videos of themselves talking to the camera, all this stuff. And so that was kind of like, I look at like my online video creation, my online stuff. A digital podcaster is like an alternative. So there's still like me. That is like an introvert. Who's like just myself, which is like, kind of how I perceive myself to be.

[00:10:56] And then there's a digital podcaster. Who's like talking to the [00:11:00] camera and giving this advice and doing these different things that, that doesn't have to be, you know, I don't have to be on, I don't have to be outgoing and like all these things in my like day to day. Um, but when it comes to like online personas, if that makes sense, I can be outgoing and extroverted and reach out.

[00:11:19] And if I reach out to book a guest, it's not like Dylan is doing it. It's, it's like this alter ego is doing it. So it doesn't feel as scary, I guess, if that makes sense.

[00:11:30] Dilip: Yeah, absolutely. I think something like that is needed for, uh, you know, people who are a little introvert, you know, I think something that like that is needed.

[00:11:40] That's an excellent concept that you developed in order to reach out to people. So it's working.

[00:11:46] Dylan: How do I reach out? I'm like, I don't know, just like make, it's not, it's not me reaching out. Like I am so outgoing online, and in-person not that I'm like, uh, in a cave or something, but it's like, you can be [00:12:00] anything you want to be online.

[00:12:00] Like nobody knows online if you're introverted or extroverted because they're meeting you for the first time, usually. So. You can be anything you want to be really, you know, I could be a walrus online. I don't know,

[00:12:15] but I choose to be this guy that's posting all these, like, so I never take, I never, I don't have any selfies before I started digital podcaster. And now I'm like tonight, I like took a selfie at dinner and I'm like, this is because I'm, this is an alter-ego. Know, I don't like selfies in my phone, but now I do,

[00:12:33] Dilip: I can absolutely relate to you, Dylan.

[00:12:38] Dylan: It's working, it's working.

[00:12:39] Dilip: So yeah. So Dylan, you said that you had a coaching business before you even started a podcast. So things that people struggle with when, when they get into podcasting is monetization. But I think because you already had a coaching business, did it in some way help [00:13:00] you simplify that entire monetization strategy for your podcast?

[00:13:05] Dylan: Yeah, it did. My coaching business was like years ago though. Um, maybe I guess it was like 10 years ago. So it wasn't the business I started out with, but I've helped a lot of coaches behind the scenes over the last few years. So I have a lot of experience in what it takes to monetize a coaching business, but I hadn't done that for myself, but it was clear to me, um, because like coach and consultant, sometimes the line is a little close.

[00:13:37] I call myself like a podcast coach. But, but that is like, uh, yeah, so I, I had an idea on that of like, it was clear to me in the beginning, like this is. I want to help people do this, but, um, yeah.

[00:13:52] Dilip: Yeah. So, you know, another thing that I was a little curious about, considering that you have so much of knowledge around [00:14:00] audio, and you've been an audio engineer with music, mixing, bands, you getting into something like that, like that digital for digital marketing, um, you know, a podcast.

[00:14:13] Why did you pick digitally marketing as a topic or niche for your podcast, rather than maybe looking at something like, you know, uh, an audio or something like, uh, something related to audio that you already had so much of exposure experience, knowledge about

[00:14:30] Dylan: when I was doing music stuff, like I'd also play in bands too back in years ago.

[00:14:35] And it always, I never understood like why certain bands got popular and some didn't and it has always intrigued me like how the music industry works. And that kind of led me to marketing and helped when I worked on marketing with coaches and things like that. And I've always had this deep passion there.

[00:14:55] I have like a deep passion of cause marketing and psychology to me go kind [00:15:00] of close and how they influence the decision. And so to me, you know, talking about specifically like audio and things like that is a little boring. Cause I'm like. I just, I've listened to some really bad podcasts. Like the audio is bad and I still listen because I'm listening for the message.

[00:15:21] So I usually try to focus more on the message other than like the gear or things like that, because I know at the end of the day, people will sit through some bad audio if the message is really good. So, uh, and that's part of the marketing, I feel like. So that's kinda like why I dig down on like the marketing aspect of it.

[00:15:39] Yeah. 'cause I feel like you could market a, a podcast with bad audio, but you can't, you can't, you're going to have a much harder time, uh, or like, sorry, you can mark it a podcast with bad audio and a great message, but it's going to be much harder to market a, you know, good audio with like a boring message.

[00:15:59] Nobody really [00:16:00] cares about it's not that nobody cares, but nobody, you know, there's no hook to it. There's no like, Hmm. What's interesting here.

[00:16:10] Dilip: Yeah, good point. Fine. So, uh, you know, there are a couple of things that I wanted to get into and one of that is your production gear, but then I'll come to that a little later, but something that I wanted to talk to you about, I have seen you doing so much of video. And even when I look at your Instagram strategy, I see that you're focusing on reels a lot.

[00:16:32] You create a lot of reels, but your reels are all very high quality reels. I think you're using that for your YouTube shorts as well at the same time, all of the interviews that you're doing, you're posting that on YouTube also. So I want to understand what your social media strategies, as in, what are the platforms that you use, what are your production promotional tactics, and you know, how, how do you think YouTube [00:17:00] compliments or supports or helps this entire, uh, promotional strategy?

[00:17:04] Dylan: Yeah, I love like social media. I love consuming content. So I try to switch more in the habit of creating content as well. So creating daily videos or creating a daily piece of content really helps me because I'll be on the app either way. Like I'm going to spend time on Instagram or Tik TOK or YouTube or

[00:17:27] whatever it is. I might as well get something from that time because I've spent enough years not getting anything from it. Uh, so what I try to do is post regularly and, uh, I try to make it as seamless as possible. I have this, I say this. I don't know how true it is, but I do feel like I'm pretty lazy when it comes to a lot of stuff.

[00:17:51] So I try to, I try to set up my life, I guess, into ways that like I fall into traps of like, it's, [00:18:00] I have to do things a certain way, or to explain more, I have my gear set up in a way that makes it so like, it is so low energy for me to just hit record that, you know, I don't have to set up a light. I don't have to set up the camera.

[00:18:16] Everything just stays there. And all I got to do is hit like two buttons and I can post a daily video and it looks high quality because nothing's proved. But in reality, it's like, it took me very little energy. It takes almost the same amount of energy to, you know, open up emails and things like that as it is to record a video.

[00:18:39] So, you know, suggest to people that they make content using podcast clips, but I enjoy. You know, the conversation aspect of creating videos. So I don't, and I have time, like I don't have kids right now. Um, you know, so I can afford that time, you know, maybe that'll change later, but I can make a bunch of [00:19:00] videos.

[00:19:00] And so with YouTube, I post the conversations. I don't really go too heavy on YouTube at the moment, because I need to probably figure out more of my own systems first. But I do like posting the content there. Uh, I do find that with YouTube in particular, so much goes into that, that thumbnail, like there's only so much I can focus on.

[00:19:30] And I think like in the next three months I'll look more into YouTube, but right now I'm like experimenting with different thumbnails. Some of my YouTube shorts are getting like thousands of views and then others get like two views. I don't totally understand, you know, it's a weird, it's weird. Um, so I'm still learning and experimenting on YouTube, but I'm finding it, uh, finding it fun, but, but Instagram is my, like my home platform and that's, that's where I'll post podcast clips or, [00:20:00] or daily reels or carousel posts, uh, because the feedback is so great.

[00:20:05] And. The fact that Tik TOK isn't available in India. It makes me not like Tik TOK as much because I like talking with people over the world and there's like a billion people, not on the app. So, um, so yeah.

[00:20:19] Dilip: Yeah, I think that is one of the reasons why TikTok has never gotten into a, uh, you know, kind of a strategy for most of the podcasters from India.

[00:20:26] So everybody's kind of focusing on Instagram right now. And considering that reels on Instagram is something. You know, that is, that is preferred, those same reels videos are being uploaded to YouTube shorts as well. So that's how most of the strategy here works like, but I think, you know, some of in, in some of the other parts of the world, it is TikTok, that comes first.

[00:20:47] And from there, it goes into Instagram reels and then YouTube shorts. So how does it work for you? Are you, uh, focusing too much on TikTok? How does that work?

[00:20:57] Dylan: I just do I'm mere Tik TOK. Uh, [00:21:00] so to me, Instagram is first. Um, okay. And, uh, and maybe that'll change if it changes with access to India, but, but I'm like, I don't know, for some reason, like, kind of like how, when I got into podcasting, I'm like, you gotta make this available to everybody.

[00:21:15] It's not like I'm boycotting Tik TOK, but like, I don't, for some reason, I don't know. I just, cause I talked to a lot of people from India and I don't know like my, for some reason I'm just like, that also kind of bothers me of what's going on. Tik TOK. Um, And so, yeah, Instagram's first I post, I make videos, you know, specifically for that platform.

[00:21:35] And then I just take those videos and I also post them on Tik TOK and YouTube shorts, uh, in a perfect world. I would also post those upload those like right away to Facebook and that also upload them to Twitter and Pinterest and LinkedIn. But. I've only got two arms at the moment. And, and I don't have a, an assistant virtual assistant yet, uh, which I [00:22:00] I've been thinking on, but it's like, there's only so much.

[00:22:03] I don't even know if I want to handle that. It's like, Instagram is great, you know, email newsletter. Great. YouTube. Cool. Let's just focus.

[00:22:14] Dilip: So I was about to ask you about that. Uh, you know, when he spoke about virtual assistance. So I see that your creatives, your graphic designs are also very nicely done. Uh, very, it's an amazing, so do you do all of that on your own or have you outsourced it? Uh, how do you do all of this?

[00:22:33] Dylan: Yeah, so my secret is templates, so I try to tell,

[00:22:37] templatize. I don't know if that's word templatize. I tried to keep create templates of all the key pieces of something. So if it's for podcast graphics, I'll usually create the template for it. And then just change variable, whether that's a color or a picture of the person, but I try to keep it very easy to change, but there has to be something that changes, whether [00:23:00] it's a color or a picture of a person.

[00:23:02] And then for social media, specifically my videos, uh, it's a little bit of a mixture. So I'll make the videos about 50% of the time. And then the other 50% of the time I'll have different editors that I work with. But sometimes I move so fast that I don't give them time to do a video. So, you know, I've just moving at light speed.

[00:23:26] So.

[00:23:27] Dilip: Have you tried outsourcing any of these activities? Uh, how's your experience been?

[00:23:33] Dylan: Yeah, I'm all for it. I've outsourced everything and I've also done it all myself, so I kind of know what to outsource, but I do currently I'm not outsourcing anything with the podcast. Uh, although I would, uh, and I wouldn't have any problem with it, but I'd just so quick at it.

[00:23:51] So I just do it myself. But as far as like, Making the videos it's, I'm also quick at it. So it takes so little [00:24:00] energy. YouTube is actually the one that I'm trying to outsource some more of, because I think that there's more goes into it, like creating a thumbnail, um, takes quite a bit of energy and time. I think outsourcing that is, is going to be more helpful and I've already started outsourcing a bit of YouTube.

[00:24:18] Dilip: Okay. Yeah. I think from a video creation perspective made it actually takes a lot of time. So yeah, it really makes sense to outsource, uh, at least a video part. Do you, as in your podcast production strategies. So do you record the video and then extract the audio out of it? How, how is it that your video is so excellent quality and your audio that you're, you know, maybe extracting out of that video is also so good because I've seen a lot of these, you know, online meeting platforms.

[00:24:52] Don't give that good quality audio as well. So how do you manage that? What's what is your process for that?

[00:24:58] Dylan: I use [00:25:00] this Shure SM 7 B microphone. That's plugged into my Rodecastor Pro and that's plugged into my computer. And I think that is the best as far as audio goes, like the microphone is high quality.

[00:25:14] Like it's, it's a fairly expensive setup. I guess, that's like where it starts really. Um, and then. I, I don't know if this is really traditional sense, but I find the more I can make myself comfortable, the better, the whole thing seems to be so kind of, like I said on like how I make it really easy if I had to like set up everything or when I record videos, sometimes I'll record videos around my house and I have to set up like a tripod and a light and like all these things, it does not sound nearly as good or it doesn't look as good.

[00:25:50] I S I usually sound like, kind of out of breath. Not really like flowing ideas are harder to form all that stuff. And I think that affects the quality, [00:26:00] um, of, of what I'm trying to make. So I feel like having like a, it just sit here too also is like, nice. Cause I know you can just relax and make it, but as far as lighting for the video, I think that helps a lot.

[00:26:12] Like I, I can control the lighting in my office so I can close the blinds and then, you know, control where the light sources are. And then luckily for a lot of it on social media, since it's on the phone, it doesn't have to be like 4k quality. Um, it can be, you know, 10 80 is okay. Um, which is nice.

[00:26:32] Dilip: And, uh, what, what software, or what platform do you use to record your podcast interviews?

[00:26:38] Dylan: So I use zoom, which is not the nicest, but I had so many troubles. I had so many troubles of using Riverside. I don't know. Maybe it's gotten better, but I kept having drops and cuts and it took me so much time to edit an episode after using it [00:27:00] that I was just like, let's just go to zoom. So maybe I'll I'll switch in the future, but zoom right now seems to just be the easiest, although it's not the highest quality

[00:27:09] Dilip: on zoom.

[00:27:10] You since you only get one track, don't you find editing the audio a little too difficult there? Or is there a different method that you follow?

[00:27:22] Dylan: It is, it is, but it's not a, it's not a good one. So, so I, I cut corners all the time. I move in at the speed of light. So I sacrifice quality for speed. Because I'm doing so much.

[00:27:41] I have to like cut corners on some areas and that looks like my office isn't like perfectly sound treated and things like that could sound better in here. I could use a different software that splits the tracks, but I got to get this out because I'm a little bit more [00:28:00] focused on the marketing. Like I'll record the episode and then I'll focus more on the marketing, you know?

[00:28:05] So there is pieces that, you could like behind the curtain. It's like, oh wow, you edit this really fast because I'm cutting all sorts of corners, things in the future that will be, you know, edited by an editor. That's something I would look to outsource. Uh, but not something necessarily I would do myself because I've got so many things going on.

[00:28:27] Dilip: Yeah, no good point. I think that's very important because a lot of time you're se bent on editing and making that audio, the perfect that you, you find that you spend almost five, six hours only on editing and audio. That is about what 35, 40 odd minutes. Yeah. And you lose all of that time in marketing your show.

[00:28:48] I think that makes absolute sense. When you said that we need to, at times make that decision on how much quality is uh, good. And then maybe [00:29:00] sacrifice some so that we can focus on some of the marketing aspects.

[00:29:03] Dylan: Totally. Yeah. I, I guess the marketing side of myself that comes out in it, but most of the time, like people will say, oh, you sound amazing.

[00:29:12] And I'm like, awesome. But that's basically all I had time for because I was trying to get to do like four video clips that I could post on social media and get the guest, you know, some links in a blog article and then transcribe it. So for SEO and all these things. So like I'm trying to do way too much for one person, but the only way I could possibly do that is if I sacrifice some of the finer details.

[00:29:38] And I hear a lot of people that are like, you know, I spend so much time editing. How do you guys do it? And I'm like, um, I leave a lot of stuff in that's my personality coming through.

[00:29:51] Dilip: Good good strategy. So coming to the core aspect, and I think since you've, you've been into marketing for some time, uh, one of the most [00:30:00] difficult things, Dylan, that, that most of us podcasters find ourselves in is in terms of promotions and finding new audience, our marketing, our podcast, and finding new audience for the show.

[00:30:13] What are your marketing? What is your marketing strategy? What are the things that you recommend, uh, from a podcasting perspective that podcasters do to gain new listeners, new audience and to promote their podcast?

[00:30:30] Dylan: Yeah. I love this topic because I've been studying it for years. And it feels like playing a video game because how do you get attention on something that like, like we're talking for so long, you know, podcasters are, and like, you're trying to tell somebody to listen to your conversation, that they're not a part of.

[00:30:49] And you're going to tell them like, listen to 30 minutes an hour or two hours. Like that is a, that's a hard video game to play because we're playing with real people. It's not like fake, you know, there's no [00:31:00] computers. Uh, I love this. So I, when it comes to marketing, I, I find that especially with podcasts is people are already trying to do everything they're trying to edit,

[00:31:15] they're trying to publish, they're trying to make it sound great, they're trying to record it, they're trying to be the host. We're trying to find guests, book guests, get stuff to the guests. There's like so many things and, then it comes to the marketing and they're like, so tired by the time of the marketing.

[00:31:31] They're like, I don't know what to do because I got no energy left or I got no budget left. I got nothing. Um, so, so, um, that's what I love of helping people do that as like, it's really comes down to positioning, like how you position your content. Um, like I mentioned, like people will listen to bad audio with a great message.

[00:31:53] That's that's the marketing, you know, that's the positioning of why someone should listen to something. And to me, if [00:32:00] you're taking the time to do all the stuff of recording and all the things, that's you, someone should listen to that. Like, you obviously care about what you're saying. You care about what you're doing, and there's a person out there that would like to listen.

[00:32:14] So it's in the marketing that shows someone why they should listen and get them to listen. Because it's one thing of just showing someone like, Hey, this is what you should do. It's another, if you can get them to take action. And that's what I like to help people with is like, they're like, no, one's listening.

[00:32:32] And it's like, oh, I don't even know what your podcast episodes for. Like, and they're like, this doesn't make any sense. I'm like, no, the episode title is speaking, like I don't know who it's for and that kind of thing. So, um, it's usually more obvious to someone like. It's obvious to your audience, like if it's for them or not for them, but it's hard for the podcaster to see that cause they're doing 8 million things.

[00:32:57] So I think [00:33:00] you're getting feedback is important and really being clear, not really clever, but being clear on showing someone like showing the person it's for like, Hey, this is for you. So if it's, you know, for me teaching like marketing on like how I market on Instagram, just saying like, this is how I market on Instagram, you know?

[00:33:21] Um, it sounds obvious, but it's way better. People will be like my, the social media strategy that, you know, I'm, I don't know some like big terms that I'm like, you lost me, but if I go good with my Instagram strategy, it's like, oh, awesome. I can't wait to listen. You know?

[00:33:40] Dilip: I saw that you have something like a 365 episode title ideas or something that, that you're offering for free.

[00:33:49] Yeah. You know, what, what specifically about episode title is it that, uh, somebody needs to care about? Because, uh, you [00:34:00] know, the reason why I'm asking that is because a lot of times we, uh, get into an interview, we talk to somebody and then, uh, there are some specific things that come out of that conversation.

[00:34:10] And then we just, when it comes to podcasting, all that we are focused on is just mentioning there that it is an interview with a discipline. Rather than, you know, kind of getting into what that conversation was. So for somebody, a listener who's looking to that episode only sees that it is an interview with Dylan or interview with, um, you know, Dilip.

[00:34:31] And if they think that they are able to connect with somebody like that of Dilip or maybe a Dylan, they will tune into it. And, uh, if they don't know both of these people then they would just skip. So how, how do you think that that episode title should be shaped? Uh, why is it that important and what do you think are the things that people need to keep in mind, especially when it comes to, uh, you know, these interview podcasts.

[00:34:57] Dylan: Yeah. And I love, that's such a great point [00:35:00] about, like, if you just say the person's name, like good chance, most people haven't heard of that person, you know, I mean, that's, I try to treat even anything. I do. Even people that are familiar with me, I try to always give context. Like, why should someone give any attention to it?

[00:35:15] Like, I don't feel like I'm owed any attention at any point from anybody. I have to show a value. And one of the ways I can show value is by. Creating some type of curiosity or give reason to, because we live in an age where, you know, we go on YouTube and we see these videos and we're like, I have to click this video.

[00:35:38] I have to see what this person is doing in this video based on the title. And so, like I mentioned where I said I was lazy. I was like, okay, I am tired of one of my jobs, obviously as a podcaster is like, I have to create titles for every episode. And I just [00:36:00] don't want to have to exercise those muscles every time because I'm so lazy.

[00:36:05] Uh, so I'm like, you know what I'm going to do. I'm going to spend a half a day and I'm going to go through really popular podcast, episode titles of popular podcasters. I'm going to go, uh, search viral, YouTube videos, like top viral videos and look at what titles they're using and then map them out in a list so that when I interview somebody, all I have to do is look at the list and go, oh yeah, this one will work here.

[00:36:33] Like, based on the conversation. For nice and pure laziness. But the plug in to the title is like, what? Something that we referenced in the episode. So if I was talking to like a therapist, for example, and I looked at, and there was a viral video that I like created on my list. It would say. What therapists think you should know in 2022, like that is creates curiosity because you're like a therapist.

[00:36:59] What, what should I [00:37:00] know? Or, you know, you could use one of those things to create curiosity. It creates an open loop. And naturally as humans, we want to close the loop. Like I have to know how this thing ends. I have to know what this means. I have, I can't be misinformed. And doing that in a way that doesn't feel very sneaky.

[00:37:18] Um, you know, so being ethical about it and delivering on that, but using those episode titles to like, make someone go, okay, I gotta see what this is. Um, and I, I don't, you know, do that perfectly all the time, but when it's done right, it's done. Like, it almost makes the episode better because you're like, wow, I got to listen to this.

[00:37:40] Dilip: Amazing nice strategy. And while you're calling yourself lazy, I think Dylan, that that is a very positive attribute or it has worked positively for you because you, you you're able to do so much, so many things in that little time, your strategy of templatizing things says, you know, it works on [00:38:00] pretty much everything.

[00:38:00] And I think that's something that helps you get so much done and done so well..

[00:38:06] Dylan: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I think you, I just, I I'm a introvert and I, I don't love watching movies, but I love like just spacing out and like reading books or just staring at the sky and the quicker I can get back to that, the quicker I am golden.

[00:38:22] So that's what templates and things like that make me \cutting corners. I'm like, oh, I can get back to spacing out. You know, I can't space out and think of an episode title. So I'm just like, let's, let's use this one. Let's let's spend more time. I've got to spend more time with my dog or something. Like, I gotta, I gotta, like, I treat everything.

[00:38:38] Like I got to get it out the door and it's got to go. And ideally I have help with that, you know, outsourcing help. But for those parts where I don't, I gotta make it quick.

[00:38:51] Dilip: Those are some very nice tips. I think I'm hearing some of those tips for the first time and I think it's really valuable because it will help a lot of [00:39:00] us who are managing so many things when it comes to podcasting.

[00:39:03] Yeah.

[00:39:04] Dylan: Yeah. It's a lot, like, I feel like it's almost understated at how much you do, you know, like people is what they see and then like, you know, you make it look easy. And I know that there's a lot of work that goes into it and it's all worth it, but it's like, That's it, you know?

[00:39:23] Dilip: So Dylan coming to one of the critical aspects of podcasting, which is the monetization.

[00:39:28] And I think you have been podcasting for some time and it is then that you've started promoting your course and you've started monetizing the audience that you've been generating with your podcast. So when you started off with your podcast, did you already have that strategy in. So, did you start off with the monetization strategy already in your mind?

[00:39:51] Or did you develop it once you got started with your podcast and what is your strategy about?

[00:39:58] Dylan: So my strategy [00:40:00] is like two things, really like one is just making podcasting accessible to people and kind of things around that nature. So I've taught classes on I'll teach classes on like creating digital products.

[00:40:15] Things like that because I just like digital products and I like making them, I like selling them. Uh, and then I also work one-on-one with people who want to start a podcast, but I don't help them in the normal way. Like I don't, I was editing and more of like an agency. I don't do that anymore. I just want to empower hosts.

[00:40:35] So I'll help them set up, you know, the, the templates, the team that they need to support them. And those are my main two drivers is like, uh, helping people through programs and classes and then helping people one-on-one. And I had an idea that, that that would be the case since beginning of the podcast, but, you know, naturally, like I [00:41:00] always second guess things or, you know, is this the right thing I should do?

[00:41:03] And, but I've got so many confirmations of like, yes, keep doing this. So I stick with it, but I had an idea from the beginning of, of this is how I want to help people. But I talked to a lot of people that don't know and, you know, I just usually to them, I just go like, okay, like, let's not, unless if they're, if you don't know, then I feel like typically the monetization isn't needed in the beginning to get started because.

[00:41:33] You know, then it's like, okay, well let's, what do you just want to talk about in the hell? I want to talk about these 8 million things. I'm like, oh, okay. Let's pick one and then go from there. But if someone's never like, like, I, I, I have a client that they've never monetized like a digital product or anything like that, but they want to share on science and things.

[00:41:52] So I help them with that as far as monetizing, sponsors or ads maybe, [00:42:00] you know, affiliates. Okay. But really it's just like helping them with the show. But as far as myself is like, it's always weird, like helping people with podcasts, but also you're like, it's like being on a podcast, but helping people with podcasts, you know what I mean?

[00:42:18] It's like a double, a double whammy.

[00:42:22] Dilip: Yeah. Good. So, uh, one last question that I have for you, Dylan. So now that you've been into podcasting for quite some time, you've had a lot of experience producing, editing, marketing. So if you are to start your podcast from scratch today, or a new podcast from scratch today, what are two things

[00:42:44] that will be the top most on your priority list or something that you absolutely need to look at, or that are absolutely important for you to get started.

[00:42:56] Dylan: I would say the number one thing that I would look for [00:43:00] if I was starting over from scratch is just making sure I pick a general enough topic, a specific, but general topic that I feel.

[00:43:11] I, um, could talk on repeatedly episode, over episode. Um, you know, I don't feel too narrowed in with what I'm currently doing, but I have so many passions, so it's like, you know, digital podcaster but I talk about I'm chatting with therapists and things, but having that I think is really important. So that would be really important is pick a topic that I can keep talking on.

[00:43:37] And not get bored of, and the second thing I would say is, um, just being easy on myself, you know, I don't really care for the sound of my own voice, all those things, uh, aside. So like just being easy on myself from the beginning of knowing that it's all gonna be okay. I think that's really important if just like

[00:43:59] being easy. [00:44:00] And you know, it's like, it's not, it's not going to be perfect, but that's not the goal isn't perfection. The goal is just do it.

[00:44:10] Dilip: Two things. What you recommend is that one, while we should pick a niche, but that niche shouldn't be so narrow that you just don't have anything to talk about. And second to just get started rather than.

[00:44:22] You know, thinking over trying to get that perfect. Uh, you know, perfect everything in place. Right. Exactly, exactly. Right. Okay. Valid points. Right. So thanks a lot, Dylan, for joining me on the show and sharing some of your tips. Some of those things, I think are things that I'm hearing for the first time from somebody.

[00:44:44] And when I look at it from that perspective, I think those are very practical tips. Something that anyone of us can go and implement and it will work for sure, because there is a science behind it. So some good points. Thanks a lot for coming on the [00:45:00] show, talking to me and sharing all of these steps.

[00:45:02] Dylan: Thank you so much for having me.

[00:45:04] It's been a pleasure,

[00:45:05] Dilip: Right thanks a lot. You have a wonderful rest of the day and we'll talk again sometime later than once. Once we have a kind of developed newer strategies. And when we see newer things happening in podcasting, uh, I would want to surely connect with you. So thanks a lot. You have a good rest of the day and, uh, take care.

[00:45:26] Sounds great. Talk to you. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Dylan, if you did, I'm sure you will enjoy most of the other conversations that we've had with some of the other podcasters in earlier episodes. So don't forget to go there and give it a listen. If you're not subscribed to the show, then to consider subscribing to the show on your favorite podcasting platform so that you don't miss the latest episodes that we come out with.

[00:45:51] Head over to the podcasting university.com for the show notes and a printable transcript, you will also be able to find a [00:46:00] free ecourse on the basics of podcasting. You can visit the podcasting university.com and join the course there. The podcasting university is available on pretty much all podcasting platforms, including apple podcast, Google podcast, Stitcher, TuneIn,

[00:46:17] Hubhopper, Amazon prime music, Spotify and Gaana as well, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to send it over to me by visiting the podcasting university.com. That is all that I have for this episode. I'll be back again with another interesting conversation the next week until then keep listening to the podcasting university and you all have a wonderful

[00:46:41] rest of the week.[00:47:00]