October 10, 2025 • 41 mins
The holiday season can be one of the most challenging times to keep up with your podcast. Between travel, family events, and year-end deadlines, it’s easy to fall behind or feel stretched too thin.
In this episode, we're sharing practical strategies to help you stay consistent without burning out!
Learn how to plan a short break without losing listeners, prepare episodes in advance, and keep your feed active with simple, time-saving ideas. You’ll also hear how podcasters in our community handle their holiday schedules and what the data really says about listener behavior in December.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- RSVP for the Tampa Buzzsprout Podcaster Meetup
- Buzzsprout Podcast Name Generator
- Podcasting Q&A Episode: How to Rebrand or Relaunch Your Podcast
Contact Buzzcast
- Send us a text message
- Tweet us at @buzzcastpodcast, @albanbrooke, @kfinn, and @JordanPods
Thanks for listening and Keep Podcasting!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jordan (00:00):
Okay, we got a fan mail from Tampa, Florida, saying
Jordan mentioned a BuzzsproutSummit in Tampa.
I live in Tampa and would loveto hear more if it's open to
podcasters.
Kevin (00:11):
What a lucky person to get to live in the fine city of
Tampa.
I love Tampa.
Jordan (00:17):
Do you?
I've I've never been.
This is gonna be my first time.
Kevin (00:20):
I grew up in the Tampa area, not Tampa proper, but
across one of the many bridgesthat lead over to Pinellas
County.
That is my childhood home.
And uh I didn't spend a ton oftime in Tampa because as a child
I was not allowed to go toTampa because it was this big,
mysterious, you know, it waslike going to Gotham City, like
nothing, you can't go there.
(00:41):
There's bad people there.
Yeah.
But as an adult, I finally gotto travel to Tampa and I
realized it's a wonderful place.
And yes, we are doing apodcaster meetup.
I think I have to do a uhcorrection because I think I
talked about this two or threefull episodes ago.
Jordan (00:59):
Yeah.
Kevin (01:00):
Well, I gave the date.
I don't need to say the dateagain, but I gave the wrong
date.
It was off by a day.
Oh.
So it's gonna be October 21st.
I'm gonna let Alban take overfrom this point because it's his
team that's planning it.
And last time I tried to giveinformation, I gave the wrong
information.
So Alban take over.
Alban (01:16):
It was right at the time.
Um on October 21st from 8 to 930, we're gonna be at the Oxford
Exchange in Tampa.
And the reason that we're doingit on that day is because when
we started looking around onlinefor venues, we found out that
uh Chris Krimitsos and everybodywho does PodFest, they have a
(01:37):
monthly podcaster meetup inTampa.
And we were going to kind ofalmost come into their town and
have a rival event the next day.
And so we talked to Chris, andwe're like, hey, what if we just
we some of us come to yourevent and then anyone who wants
can come to our meetupafterward.
Um, we don't want to dominatetheirs, but we want to support
(01:57):
it.
And so this is a way we came upto support it.
So if you want to go uh to thelocal meetup that they have
every month and get plugged inwith them, uh that's earlier.
I think it's 6 30 to 8.
And then everybody is invitedto come to the buzzsprout
meetup right after, and we'regonna have some food.
We're gonna, you know, lightfood and we're gonna have some
(02:18):
drinks and we're just gonna hangout and have a great time.
Kevin (02:20):
Light I thought you were gonna say light off fireworks
for some reason.
As soon as you said light, Iwas like, Wait, there's gonna be
fireworks?
Alban (02:27):
If you say food, then everyone's idea of what food is
is very different.
And somebody shows up andthey're like, I didn't eat
dinner, it's eight o'clock, Iwas expecting dinner.
And you're like, oh no, weweren't providing dinner.
We have like uh a small youknow charcuterie board or
something.
And they were like, Oh, that'snot what I wanted.
Jordan (02:46):
We've got the grazing table.
Yeah, so pod fest is like theawards ceremony, and we're like
the after party.
So you gotta go to both.
Alban (02:53):
Oh, okay.
You can go to both, you can goto one, uh, whatever you know
works for you.
We just thought having peoplego to podcast meetups in Tampa
back-to-back nights, you know,somebody's spouse was going,
like, what are you doing?
It's not due into this podcast.
Right.
One time it's really a blast totalk to buzzcast listeners in
(03:14):
particular, at least for thethree of us, because like all of
you, we podcast every week andwe put it out to the world and
we hear back from fan mail, butnothing ever compares to meeting
people in person.
And so uh it's always one ofthe highlights for me is when we
get together and we meet all ofyou.
So if you're in the Tampa area,please come by.
Jordan (03:34):
And I'll put the eventbrite link in the show
notes so you can RSVP and getthe time into your calendar and
have the uh location in yourmaps app, because that's what I
use it for.
Kevin (03:45):
And please RSVP so we know how many light bites to
order.
Alban (03:50):
Yeah, if you come expecting like a some cheese
plate and have a little likepickle on the side thing, you
you gotta make sure that youalready RSVP'd or we're not
gonna have enough.
Jordan (03:59):
There's not enough cheese.
Alban (04:02):
What if there's little tiny pickles, the uh baby
gherkin pickles have on shirtrewards?
That was great.
Gross.
You like the sweet pickles?
Jordan (04:10):
No, thank you.
Alban (04:11):
We're gonna run out.
Jordan (04:13):
Gherkins are gonna run out.
Welcome back to Buzzcast, thepodcast about all things
podcasting from the people atBuzzsprout.
This episode, we're going to betalking about podcasting during
a very, very busy time of theyear.
(04:33):
I know for me personally, theidea of podcasting through the
holidays, it's like I startgetting filled with a sense of
anxiety.
Like I can see the holidayslooming almost like a storm off
in the distance.
And I feel this sense of likedread.
Like I need to make sure that Iboard up the house and I do all
the things before theelectricity gets shut off.
(04:54):
Um, where it's just like, oh mygosh, how am I gonna do this
and do all my work and deal withthe kids?
And there's all these holidayparties.
And I don't know.
Do you guys feel that or isthat just me?
Alban (05:05):
Do you know?
Kevin (05:06):
Yeah, I don't think I feel it the same way.
Wow.
Okay.
Let me let me say this.
I am really grateful that youcarry such a large part of that
burden for us.
We yeah.
Jordan does such an excellentjob producing the show and
preparing everything for us thatreally our responsibility,
Alban and I, for the most part,is kind of just, you know, show
up and read or outline ahead oftime.
(05:27):
That's more on Alban's sidethan my side, and then produce
the best content that we can.
But there is a heavy lift thattakes place before, during, and
after at the show.
And Jordan carries mostly allof the before and mostly all the
after.
So I completely understandthat.
I don't want to minimize howyou're feeling, but do I feel
it?
No, because you are awesome.
Jordan (05:47):
Okay.
So I guess my experienceprobably resonates a little bit
more with like independentpodcasters who they are the
podcast producer and host andeditor.
Alban (05:57):
Yes.
Jordan (05:58):
Okay.
Well, I hope that my experienceresonates with our listeners.
And so we're going to beproviding some strategies in
this episode to kind of liftthat burden off of you.
So it's a little less stressfulto keep podcasting through the
holidays.
Alban (06:12):
And maybe give some tips to help people kind of
capitalize on the opportunitybecause it's not just, oh no,
it's a special time of the yearwhich involves travel and
parties and fun and that mightinterfere with my podcast.
There's also a lot ofopportunities in here, too.
Jordan (06:29):
When I was doing some research for this episode, I saw
that the Podcast MarketingAcademy's trends report in 2024,
they said that December isoften the second busiest month
for downloads, while fewest newepisodes get released.
And I know that they pulledlike 500 podcasters to create
(06:49):
this report.
And so I was wondering how thatcompares to our database of
110, 120,000 podcasters.
Alban (06:59):
I really appreciate when they put out data like this and
they're trying to figure out howstuff works.
But 500 podcasters, it's a lotof work to collect that data,
and yet it's still not assignificant as what I would
want.
So I went and pulled thebuzzprout stats for this same
period.
Um so we're looking at 120,000podcasts.
(07:20):
And I did it for all of 2024.
And the biggest months areJanuary, March.
You get a big spike here inAugust, September.
Those do really well.
But yeah, November, Decemberare low download numbers, and
they're the two lowest.
(07:41):
But they're also the two lowestfor people releasing episodes.
Jordan (07:45):
Okay.
So we have that in common.
Alban (07:47):
It's not exactly the same as what I think Jeremy found,
but it's it's similar.
And so what I did was I kind oftook the average.
Like what are the averagedownloads per new episode?
And pretty much that ends upbeing consistent.
While we do see the numbers ofpodcasts episodes being
(08:08):
released, new ones going down,we're also seeing the downloads
going down, kind of almost withthose.
Not as much, but almost.
So I think I end up pulling alittle bit of different
conclusions than the podcastmarketing academy's podcast
marketing trends report 2024did.
Jordan (08:26):
Yeah, it's a mouthful.
Alban (08:29):
But there is some data here to dig into.
Jordan (08:32):
Okay, so you looking at it, I don't know, I'm not a
stats person.
And so I just hear like a lotof numbers.
When you look at it, what isthe opportunity that you see for
podcasters?
Alban (08:42):
Okay, so let me take you back to 2017.
And 2017 was the first timethat I remember a lot of people
in like normal life talkingabout Bitcoin and all this
crypto stuff.
And then November hits andeverything went wild.
Like all crypto went wild.
And I remember like wonderingwhat happened.
(09:02):
Why did that go from zero to 60over, you know, just like a few
a weekend.
And then I saw people onlineposting, like, oh, I went to my
Thanksgiving hangout with myfamily, and my uncle was really
into Bitcoin, so we all boughtit.
And I saw enough of theseanecdotal reports.
I went, you know, there issomething special about these
(09:23):
periods where almost everybodyis trying to spend a little more
time with family and you catchup on stuff.
And so if it worked forBitcoin, I keep coming back to
why is this not going to workfor podcasting?
I'm gonna spend more time inthe car with family members in
the month of November andDecember than I will all the
(09:44):
rest of the year.
You know, those are the two bigdrive months, they're the most
busy travel months.
That's when people want goodpodcasts, and it's where
recommendation is actually goingto land.
So I didn't get the same levelof downloads are up, but my gut
tells me recommendability is atan all-time high.
(10:05):
The ability to find a new showis at its highest that
Thanksgiving weekend, almost ofany weekend that there is.
Jordan (10:12):
Yeah.
Kevin (10:12):
I find that data very interesting, Alban.
My gut tells me thatconsumption would be up and
publishing would be down.
But what you're seeing is theythey both go down.
And I think the conclusion thatmaybe we could draw from is
maybe downloads just go downjust because publishing goes
down.
Like maybe the it doesn't meanthe demand isn't there, but if
(10:33):
the supply is not there, thenyou can't get it.
And so if the seven to tenpodcasts that I've you know
follow in my podcast app, ifthey're not publishing, I can't
download.
So then I might have to dosomething else while I'm
traveling.
I might have to listen to theradio or I might listen to music
or get an audio book orsomething like that.
But there's a potential thatthe opportunity and demand is is
(10:53):
up, but as publishers, we'rejust publishing less.
We're not taking advantage ofthis opportunity that may exist.
Alban (10:59):
Yeah, I think you're uh drawing a really important
distinction between downloadsand consumption.
Downloads are the data that wehave.
We see, okay, the downloads godown a bit, but kind of almost
similar to the new episodesbeing published.
Well, we probably can guesswhy.
Like Kevin's saying, we seeauto downloads when new episodes
go live.
(11:20):
Okay, that makes sense.
But are all these episodesbeing downloads being listened
to?
And my guess is the percentagethat are listened to and the
length that they're listened toand the number of people
listening to them isskyrocketing because that's when
I clear out the queue.
I let the queue build up, andthen we go on a road trip and it
(11:40):
all gets cleared out.
And then you start going into,we've talked about this before,
kind of like the tier twopodcasts, where you're like, I
don't listen to every thisAmerican life, but then I go
once every once in a while and Igo download like five, and we
listen to them right then.
And that's a period where ifanyone in my life said, You
really have to listen to thisepisode, you would love it.
(12:01):
Your family would love it.
Then it gets added and but getsput to the top of the list.
Most of the time, I'm notlooking to take a two-hour
adventure with some podcast I'venever listened to.
Jordan (12:13):
Okay, so this puts podcasters in a position where
they want to maintainconsistency with their podcast,
not burn out, or maybe they justreally need a break.
And so let's go over some ofthe strategies.
I actually pulled a lot of thepodcasters in our community.
I got a lot of responses frompodcasters in the Facebook group
and on Reddit.
(12:33):
And I kind of compiled all oftheir responses into a breakdown
of podcasting strategies in theholidays.
The first strategy that I wantto go over is to just simply
take a planned break.
I think that this is maybe thepath of least resistance in
terms of like, is this going totake a lot of energy for me to
(12:56):
do?
So we've talked about taking aplanned break from your podcast
and not like losing listeners.
And I think really the key tothis is to communicate to your
listeners, hey, I'm taking abreak during the holidays or for
a vacation, and thencommunicating with them that,
you know, I'm gonna be back atthis date.
Like make it planned.
(13:17):
Don't just give them a nebulousidea of, like, yeah, I'm going
on break, and then they'll belike, uh oh, are they ever
coming back?
So just assuring your listenersthat you're gonna be coming
back in, you know, two weeks, amonth, two months, however long.
Alban (13:29):
I think that's a good idea.
Um, one thing I see people dowhen they take a break, we've
talked about this before, isrerun old episodes.
Jordan (13:37):
Yeah.
Alban (13:38):
And sometimes I think that works really well.
And other times I'm not reallya fan.
Jordan (13:43):
Yeah.
Alban (13:43):
Um, like for us, it wouldn't make sense.
We try to talk about mostlytopical content.
Sometimes we're doing moreevergreen episodes, but we're
doing a lot of like, hey, here'swhat's happening in the
industry right now.
So it would feel weird to belike, hey, let's take a look
back at what was announced toApple WWDC in 2020.
Yeah, that wouldn't be anexciting episode for people to
listen to.
Jordan (14:04):
I actually got a lot of podcasters saying that this is
what they do, is where they dolike a greatest hits or best of,
and they publish old episodesthat they had they're trying to
promote their back catalogthrough this.
I know for me personally, andthis is just a complete personal
preference.
I get a little annoyed whenpodcasts do this too much.
(14:26):
When I get like a greatesthits, or like once a week they
do like a best of or like a lookback.
And I don't know if that's justme being weird, or how do you
guys feel about those when yousee them?
Kevin (14:38):
I think it's hit or miss.
And it comes down for me, itcomes down to execution.
Tim Ferris does a good job ofonce a month.
He will publish an episode thatis the greatest hits.
It's roughly a month.
Sometimes it's like six weeks,but he will take four or five of
the episodes that he's kind ofdone between the time last time
he did it and this time, andhe'll give you like a two-minute
(15:00):
intro of who this person is andwhat we were talking about.
And then he plays a segment ofthat episode.
And it's like a five-minutesegment, a little part that
stands on its own, and then hecomes back in and narrates and
intros the next one.
And so it's an opportunity tocatch up on the podcast very
quickly.
And then it also highlights,oh, that's actually an episode
(15:22):
that I might want to go back andlisten to the whole thing.
Jordan (15:24):
Yeah.
Kevin (15:24):
And so I really love that execution.
For me, the Tim Ferris show isnot a podcast that I listen to
every single week.
The episodes are very long.
And so I love that as anopportunity to figure out which
episodes do I really want tolisten to the full two hour or
more episode on.
And doing something like that,I think could be a could be a
winner.
Like to say, uh, the year'scoming to a close.
(15:46):
I'm gonna take three or four ofmy favorite podcast episodes
and I'm gonna highlight clipsfrom them and introduce them for
people who might have missedthem.
Jordan (15:53):
I think that's a really great point is you know, take
old content that you have andchop it down into a more minimal
format and then promote theback to say, like, hey, if you
want to listen to the fullepisode or the the rest of it.
Alban (16:08):
I would say the execution, like Kevin said, is a
big key component there.
Yeah.
And so I don't think this fitsthe, hey, I want to take a break
and I want an easy episode.
I think that this could be ashard, if not harder, to do than
a normal episode.
Because you're gonna go backand try to find good segments
(16:29):
and old episodes.
You're gonna have to refreshyourself about what each one was
about.
You're gonna have to add thatnarration in and compile this.
That could be a real winnerbecause anyone who listens to it
might go, oh, there's fiveepisodes I'd like to listen to.
And then that that's kicks offa bunch of downloads.
It could be really good.
But I think that's a realamount of work to go through,
(16:51):
find segments, put it alltogether.
Jordan (16:54):
Yeah, an alternative to this.
So if you don't want to take,like, go through that whole
rigmarole of cutting it downcontent into something that you
find compelling, something thatyou could do, especially if you
provide podcast subscriptions,like if you have bonus episodes
as a subscription, this issomething that I've done.
I have taken a bonus paywalledepisode.
(17:16):
And if I'm on break and I'm notpublishing an episode,
sometimes I'll record an introand just say, like, hey, I'm
going to drop an episode fromthe premium feed for you to
enjoy for this episode.
And if you like it, you can goahead and subscribe with the
link in the show notes.
And that is actually a reallygreat option to not only keep my
(17:38):
feed warm while I'm away, butalso at the same time promote my
premium content.
Alban (17:43):
It's a Christmas gift.
Jordan (17:44):
Yeah.
Merry Christmas.
Kevin (17:46):
I like that.
I mean, it's two birds with onestone, right?
It's serving the need ofkeeping your feed fresh and
delivering new content to peoplewho subscribe to your feed, and
it's also promoting yourpremium stuff.
I love that idea.
Jordan (17:59):
Yeah.
Another thing that I've done,and I heard uh from some of the
other podcasters in ourcommunity saying that they have
also done this is the feed swapprocess.
And it doesn't necessarily haveto be a feed swap because
sometimes that takes a littlebit more communication with the
podcaster.
But what I've done in the pastis to keep providing episodes
(18:21):
and keep showing up in the topof my audience's feed is I will
reach out to other podcastersthat are in my niche through
like Facebook or Twitter orInstagram, just wherever I can
find them.
And I will send them a messageand just saying, like, I'm going
on break and I'd really like topromote your podcast, an
(18:41):
episode of your podcast in thefeed while I'm away.
I will record an intro sayingwhy I think it's a good fit.
And I'll have like a link inthe show notes so that they can
go check out your podcast.
And every single time thepodcasters said yes, absolutely,
and then they shoot me an MP3file and I schedule it and I
tell them what date I'm gonna bedropping that and I promote it.
And that's another really easyway to take a break without
(19:05):
creating like a full episode inthe meantime.
And then that way it's like therising tides raise all ships
because they're also going topromote that they were featured
on your podcast.
Hopefully, maybe not.
Maybe this is just like in thefantasy land I have where
they're just like, oh yeah, Ishould do the same.
That's a great idea.
And that's the fingers crossedversion of it, but really it's
(19:26):
whether they do or not.
Kevin (19:26):
I mean, that would just be the cherry on the Sunday.
Like you're primarily doing itfor your audience and to make
sure that they stay connected toyour show and receive benefit
from following your show andthanking them.
And so you're tipping them offto some other great content
that's similar to yours that youwant to make them aware of.
And that's great.
That's the benefit that youget.
The podcaster that's supplyingthat content to you, they get
their show promoted.
If they go above and beyond anddo anything back for you, do a
(19:49):
feed drop back for you or talkabout your show to their
audience.
That's just that's just gravy,I think.
Oh, yeah.
It's wonderful, but you alreadyhave a benefit whether they do
that or not.
Jordan (19:57):
Mm-hmm.
Do we have any other ideas ofhow a podcaster can take a break
from their podcast withoutlosing audience?
Do we have any other tips forthat that you guys can think of
off the top of your head?
Alban (20:08):
I mean, just like letting people know.
So many more things are totallyfine if you're honest with
people.
So have a plan.
You know, say, hey, if you tellthem, like, you know, I have a
job and I have kids and they'reall gonna be home for the
holidays.
And it's hard for me to do uhthe same level of content I want
to, but we're gonna be backJanuary 7th.
(20:29):
And I hope uh you have awonderful holidays.
And in the meantime, here'sfive podcasts that I'm gonna be
listening to that you may enjoyas well.
I think that's totally fine.
What stinks is when you'reexcited for your favorite
podcast to come out on Tuesdayand it doesn't, and then you're
waiting for it on Friday and itdoesn't.
(20:49):
And then you go, oh,something's broken or they've
gone away.
And then when they show up, youknow, a month later, you're
kind of like, whatever happened?
Like it feels something feelsoff.
And so tell people up front andit makes it so much more
seamless.
Jordan (21:05):
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
And and listeners will notice II accidentally took about a
month-long hiatus from mypodcast.
And finally, one of mylisteners wrote me and they're
like, Are you okay?
I was just like, Oh crap, Iprobably should have at least
recorded like a dynamicpre-roll, just saying, like, hey
guys, life is happening.
It's busy.
(21:25):
I haven't been able to record,you know, just something.
So I definitely think it'simportant.
All right.
So our second strategy is tostay consistent without burnout.
And so this is actuallypublishing episodes during the
holidays without working duringthe holidays.
And so something that comes tomind for a lot of podcasters and
(21:46):
what many podcasters haverecommended is to batch record.
If you haven't heard of batchrecording, that is where you
just are making sure that youare recording as many episodes
as possible.
And you can even like set outan entire day on the weekend and
just like crank out two orthree episodes in a day.
I've heard of some podcasters,if they have short form content,
(22:08):
cranking out like 10, which Icouldn't do.
Kevin (22:11):
I love it.
There are a lot of podcasters.
This is just their normal flowthat they are podcasters, they
are consistent.
And the the way that they doconsistent content creation is
that they carve a day out of theweek or a day out of the month
and they they crank it all outat one time.
Now, that doesn't work forevery show.
And I think that you have tothink through things a little
(22:33):
bit differently if you're gonnado that.
So if you're a show thatdoesn't normally do that, but
you want to try to do it forthis holiday season, then the
type of content that you createjust might have to look a little
bit different because I'm notrecording something today that
I'm gonna publish tomorrow.
I'm recording something I'mgonna publish in two weeks or or
something.
And so just think through itthrough that that lens.
Like we don't want to benecessarily time specific or
(22:53):
talk about events that may beirrelevant by the time that this
show publishes or somethinglike that.
But it's certainly it'scertainly possible.
And for shows that don'tnormally work like that, it
could be a fun way to mix it up,like a new fun, fresh challenge
for a podcaster.
So I think it's definitelysomething to consider.
Alban (23:10):
This is maybe related to batching.
I have never loved the idea ofbatching content because I
always feel like we're trying toget better.
And so I would hate to, youknow, record four and then I'm
editing those four later andrealize over time, like, oh,
some of this doesn't feel as uhauthentic as the things I'd want
to change.
I kind of like that iterativeprocess of going through the
(23:31):
whole episode.
But the related piece that Ithink is really valuable is
having some level of margin inyour recording, editing process.
And that margin means yes, wecould do this show every week.
And we've created some marginby saying we do the show really
once every two weeks, and thenwe do a mini show.
(23:52):
You know, we do the quick cast.
And that's a way of givingourselves a little bit of
breathing room so that wheninevitably we have a company
summit where we're all going tobe together, or we're at a
conference, or Jordan wants totake a vacation, or we go on
holiday, any of those thingshappen, we naturally are able to
shuffle things around.
(24:12):
Now it doesn't mean it'sperfectly easy, but the fact
that we can somewhat do it isproof that there's some margin
there.
I remember a pastor that we metwhen I was younger, and he said
his whole goal was always tohave written the sermon two
weeks in advance.
And so he was always just hehad like one sermon banked, and
he was always one ahead becausesomebody would pass away and
(24:35):
he'd have to do a funeral, andthen he goes, but then I knew on
Sunday the sermon was ready.
So I didn't have to stress anddo that on top of, you know,
doing a funeral.
And I think that's a greatmethod to have for podcasting,
like just have a little bit ofmargin.
So maybe you can't say oneepisode ahead because eventually
that will get used up duringthe holidays or you know, when
(24:57):
life happens, but then you don'thave to have that added stress
of the podcast on top of it.
Jordan (25:02):
Yeah, I will say like changing up the format of the
episode does help.
So for example, I was lookingat the calendar, trying to plan
out the time that I was gonnatake off during the holidays.
And it was so nice because Iwas looking at it and I'm like,
okay, this is a big mainepisode, and I know that
recording is gonna be like oneand a half to two hours.
And then, oh, thank goodness,like this week's gonna be a
(25:22):
quick cast.
So we can actually record thatthe week before, and we could
even, you know, tack that on tothe end of our main episode
recording.
However, if I was trying totake off like two main episode
recordings, it'd be really hardto stack that and be like, okay,
guys, we got a four-hourrecording sesh today and we're
gonna knock out two big mainepisodes and we got to keep our
(25:43):
energy up.
Like that would just feelreally insurmountable.
So I think that if you donormally have a long form
content podcast, maybe try doingsomething else like FAQs or
using fan mail to answer likelistener fan mail or just do
something fun, do somethingseasonal.
We know when these holidaysare, we know when our episodes
(26:05):
are coming out.
So you can actually look at thecalendar and plan ahead a
little bit and try to frame yourpodcast to be seasonal and
record it ahead of time, youknow, make it Christmas theme or
Halloween theme or whatever youwant to do.
Alban (26:18):
Well, it kind of makes me think of one really good idea
for us might just be hey, we'vegot a lot this stacks up.
We could just do three quickcasts in a row.
We could take a normal episodeand just make it a quick cast.
You could think about how doyou change your publishing
format, the episode format,maybe to accommodate the actual
schedule.
You know, it just may bedifficult to do a full episode
(26:42):
for somebody if a lot happens,but being able to be consistent,
even if it means it's 15minutes rather than an hour, I
think would be really valuable,much better than missing an
episode.
Jordan (26:52):
Yeah.
Kevin (26:53):
Another way to batch that you might be able to entertain
for your show would be justtaking a normal episode that
you're gonna record anyway andstretching it a little bit
enough so that it makes sense tosplit it into two parts.
Jordan (27:05):
Ooh, yeah.
Kevin (27:06):
So you're really just doing a little bit more work for
an episode that you've alreadyput together.
Maybe you cover one more topicor go in a little bit more depth
in one area, another.
And then all of a sudden,instead of normally your shows
are roughly an hour, maybe youget an hour and a half, which
nicely splits into two 45-minuteepisodes.
And so you kind of get abyproduct of just doing a little
(27:26):
bit more on one episode, youget a whole nother episode if
you can find a place to split itinto two.
Alban (27:30):
You could even use the uh like dateline method where
they're like, after the break,we're gonna do this, and you
like preview it.
And then when you come back,you're like previously, and then
you fill it in, and now you'reup to basically hour-long
episodes for both of them.
Jordan (27:45):
Yeah, you only need 20 minutes of content.
You can stretch that baby out.
And that's kind of like anotherpoint is you could do that if
you have like an extra longinterview or you an extra long
conversation with your co-hosts,but some other people might
have a different opinion onthis.
But I think it's a little biteasier if you record solo
(28:06):
episodes.
It's a lot easier to justrecord at like 11 o'clock at
night or something like that.
You know, you can batch late atnight, burn the midnight oil,
and you don't have to rely onco-hosts to also kind of like
schedule that time with you.
So that's another thing thatyou could do if you're trying to
batch episodes, is just kind oflike change up the format from
having like a guest on orco-host and maybe just, you
(28:28):
know, run a solo show for acouple episodes.
Okay, so here's some otheroptions that our community of
podcasters have suggested.
One of them said to change upthe publishing schedule.
And they said that during theholidays, they go from weekly to
every other week, which I thinkis a really good idea because
that's an easy way to lightenthe load.
I mean, you're basicallycutting your podcasting in half,
(28:50):
which seems a lot more doable.
Uh, some people talked aboutdropping mini sodes, which we
had touched on, you know, wherethey do like mailbag, year and
review, tips and stories,shout-outs, those kind of
things.
And they also will do year-endspecials where they will talk
about like maybe things learnedover the year of their podcast
(29:10):
or QA, fan mail, holiday themes,like we had talked about.
So those are some other greatoptions that you could do.
Kevin (29:17):
Yeah, I like the idea of using the holiday season as an
opportunity to do somethingdifferent, to try new
experiments.
And so if your show is normallyan interview show, or name
maybe you choose specific topicsand you go deep and uh do a lot
of research and teach on thosethings.
Maybe you have a comedy showand you have guests on and and
(29:39):
you crack jokes or review comedyspecials or whatever you do.
The point is you could dosomething completely different.
Uh you could just say, No, justme this time.
I want to share a story aboutsomebody who wrote in to how
this podcast you know impactedtheir life.
And I don't normally normallydo stuff like that, but I'm
gonna do it this time becauseit's the holiday season.
Uh right.
And so in things that we'rethankful for here.
(29:59):
Here's something that I'mthankful for.
And they were thankful for usand how that moved me and how
the show has moved them.
Okay.
It's totally different.
Jordan (30:06):
Yeah.
Kevin (30:06):
It's like the holidays give you an excuse to try stuff
like that.
Jordan (30:09):
Yeah.
Kevin (30:10):
Right.
Or you could just say, I don'twant to do, I don't have time to
go back and pull out clips ofall my favorite episodes from
the last year.
But I could quickly just lookat all the podcasts that I saw
last year and just say, oh,these three stand out.
And so I'm going to fire up mymic and I'm just going to
record.
Okay, in episode 123, I talkedabout this.
And and I really love thatepisode the way that it came
(30:30):
together.
I love the guests that we hadon.
And there's a link in the shownote for that.
And then the next episode thatI want to highlight is this.
And you talk about that for afew minutes and then you say
there's a link in the episode.
And it might only come out witha 10-minute episode, but it's
pointing people to three or fiveof the episodes that you did in
the past year.
Again, it could be a totallydifferent format than your
normal show.
People might be surprised, butyou know what?
If they don't like it, they canjust skip it and go into the
(30:52):
next podcast.
But maybe some people will likeit.
Maybe some people will be like,oh, I remember that episode.
You released that back inFebruary.
I want to hear that again.
And they might go back andlisten again.
So I really love the idea ofthe holidays, they don't always
have to feel like a burden.
It could also feel like anopportunity to just try
something new, to experimentwith your podcast, to have fun.
Jordan (31:10):
Yeah.
Kevin (31:11):
And if it works, it works.
Great.
If it doesn't, you don't everhave to do it again.
But why not use this uhopportunity just to be like,
I've always wondered if I coulddo that.
I'll give it a shot.
Holidays give you a reason andan excuse to do it.
Jordan (31:23):
Stretch those creative muscles.
Yeah.
I mean, we kind of didsomething very similar after
podcast movement, which to me isa little bit of a holiday is
podcasting conferences.
And we came back and it was acompletely different format for
episode.
It was just me, and it was justme pulling in clips from people
that I had talked to at thepodcast conference.
And honestly, it was really funto get to do something creative
(31:45):
like that.
It was completely differentfrom what we normally do.
And I actually really liked it.
And I hope to do that again.
Alban (31:51):
Yeah.
I appreciate everybody whowrote back to Jordan or wrote in
with fan mail for this.
Um, I saw a lot of people onFacebook and on Reddit offering
their suggestions, and thosereally helped shape, you know,
this outline.
So to everyone who's engagingthere and gave ideas, we really
appreciate you.
Jordan (32:10):
All right.
So we got two fan mail messagesthat actually tie together
nicely.
And I'm really excited becausewe have uh a little bit of a
promotion to go along with this.
Um, so first off, Marty fromNepal wrote in and said, I tried
the name generator twice, andeach time it came up with one
suggestion that I really liked,which is awesome.
(32:32):
Since I'm relocating to anothercountry this week and my show
is all about the country that Inow live in, these suggestions
could turn out to be veryhelpful.
I definitely want to keep doingthe podcast, and my audience
seems ready to travel with me,but I'm still trying to figure
out how to refocus it andrebrand also if necessary.
Alban (32:50):
Marty, that's awesome news.
Uh, I'm glad that you tried itout.
I also really like that asyou're traveling and you're
gonna be telling stories aboutanother location.
I remember Marty from earlierwhen he wrote in and we were
talking about how to promote thepodcast.
I like that you're kind ofgrowing the show as the scope of
the podcast is growing.
You're deciding, hey, I'm gonnarebrand it so that now it
(33:12):
matches and it's the bestcompliment we could get that you
use the name generator and youfound a suggestion you liked.
Um, that's really great news.
Jordan (33:20):
Yeah.
And if you're listening andyou're like, what is Marty
talking about?
What's a podcast namegenerator?
In our last episode, we talkedabout our new Buzzbrow Podcast
Name Generator, where you canenter in some information about
your podcast and generate somenames for it.
And I will put a link to thatin the show notes, or you can go
back to that episode and listento our process behind the name
generator.
(33:41):
And Fletch from the Mango Timessaid, I've had a hobby podcast
for years that accompanied mypersonal blog and website, The
Mango Times.
I was never really focused ongrowing an audience and have
started and stopped the podcastseveral times.
Now I have a clear focus fornext year.
All of my shows will becentered around midlife
adventure stories, conversationswith people who made a major
change at midlife and how thosechoices have played out.
(34:02):
And I think this direction hasreal potential to grow an
audience.
So here's my questions.
Should I rename the podcast andupdate the cover art to reflect
it?
Or should I leave my existingepisodes published, even though
they don't align with the newtheme, or would it be better to
just start fresh?
These are both very timely Famomessages because the episode
(34:22):
album that you recorded withKara on podcasting QA, which we
relaunched, is up aboutrelaunching and rebranding your
podcast.
Alban (34:32):
Yeah.
So, I mean, to speak to thisdirectly, I think I'd want to
know a little bit more about theMango Times and what the Mango
Times was about uh previously.
And if you're trying to decide,do I keep the old episodes up?
Do I rebrand?
Um, I think yes, you rebrand ifyou want to have a title and
(34:53):
artwork that match the newdirection of the show.
Absolutely.
Is the audience that you haveright now going to listen to
this new show?
If they're the right audience,then keep the same podcast feed.
Should I keep the old episodesup?
Well, if they're in alignmentwith the new brand or they're
kind of an you see theevolution, then probably.
(35:15):
But if it's like if you'rechanging a lot, you may
unpublish those.
It really I think would dependbased on like how much is this
show changing?
Is it changing from a showabout Pokemon cards to about
adventures in midlife?
Yeah, you you're getting awhole new feed and a whole new
brain.
It's totally different.
The only thing the same is it'sa podcast by you.
(35:37):
But sometimes podcasts shift soslightly that you don't even
need to tell people that it'smaking a change because it's so
natural.
So it's just you've got todetermine how much of an abrupt
change is this.
Kevin (35:52):
I think Alban gave such a good answer there.
And reading between the lines,like I've known Alban for a very
long time.
So let me try to summarize backto you, Alban.
Tell me if I'm hitting it.
But the theme that you keepweaving into your answer that
you gave is thinking about youraudience, thinking about your
audience, thinking about youraudience.
And it just comes down when youwhen he says really only you
can tell or he needs moreinformation, the questions he's
(36:14):
asking are is it the sameaudience?
And so just think about that.
Ask yourself are the people whoI was reaching before or I was
speaking to before, are they thesame people with this new pivot
that you're making?
And if they are, you're good togo.
Upload new cover art, changethe title, keep the feed
rolling.
But if it's different people,if the people who listen to the
(36:34):
old show are not gonna be asinterested in the new show, then
you've got a tough decision tomake.
And that's do I say this showis changing directions?
I'm gonna keep the feed, but ifyou don't like this new topic,
you might unsubscribe.
Or do I say no, there's there'sa potential for that to still
find an audience, and that isits own work, and I want to keep
it online, and I'm gonna launchsomething new in addition to
it.
Alban (36:55):
Yeah, I think that's the right way to approach it.
Jordan (36:57):
Yeah.
Alban (36:58):
Does the audience actually want to be subscribed
to this podcast?
I remember one of the firstconferences we went to, uh,
somebody spoke on stage and theysaid, never ever throw away an
RSS feed.
Always keep it so you canalways launch another show or
redirect it to your current showand get new listeners.
And I'm like, but if I launcheda show about marketing and then
(37:20):
a show about podcasting, andthen a show about baseball,
those are totally differentaudiences.
The only connection is me.
And I would be really annoyedif I got if I signed up for a
baseball podcast that eventuallybecame a marketing podcast that
became a podcast aboutpodcasting.
I'd be like, who is this guy?
He just assumes that I want tolisten to it.
So pay attention to youraudience.
(37:42):
Like, what do they actuallywant?
Jordan (37:44):
I just had like a mini daydream about rebranding
Dreamful to the Aliens podcastand just changing it to that.
Like it would just be anightmare.
It doesn't work.
Alban (37:53):
I wish I could give an example without kind of beating
up on someone, but there wassomeone who I remember them
telling us it went from justpolar opposites and they
switched and it made sense forthem and they just made the
change.
And I was like, none of youraudience wants to stick around
for it.
And they're like, my numbersare dropping.
And I'm like, Yeah, I can tellwhy.
Jordan (38:15):
So for next episode, we are going to be tackling part
two of podcasting mythbusters.
The subject so nice, we'redoing it twice.
So if you want to send inpodcasting myths, maybe you
missed the bus on the firstepisode that we did.
Um, you can go ahead and tapthe Texas show link in the show
notes to send those in.
(38:35):
And if not, I'm really lookingforward to some of the myths
that we have in store for you.
So until next time, thanks forlistening and keep podcasting.
Kevin (38:50):
Alban, I'm gonna ask the question, but I know the answer.
Your voice is different today.
And I don't think you startedsmoking aggressively in the past
24 hours.
No.
You were at that Jags game lastnight, weren't you?
My voice is uh already, itsounds quite a bit better.
Alban (39:07):
It was totally gone last night.
Jordan (39:09):
Oh no.
Alban (39:10):
Um, every once in a while, the Jaguars get a Monday
night game or a night game, andmy daughter and I go to every
Jacksonville game, and then wemy wife went with us this time,
and uh we let Emerson uh stay uppast midnight to watch football
and screens.
And we had a blast.
Jordan (39:31):
Did she make it to school in the morning?
Alban (39:34):
She went to school, she was first up this morning.
Jordan (39:36):
Wow, what a trooper!
Alban (39:38):
I was dragging myself into work.
Millie was uh didn't want towake up, but our daughter was up
and she was like, hey,someone's got to take me to
school.
Jordan (39:46):
Like, come on, guys.
Alban (39:49):
But it's been uh, you know, it's been 10 years of us
losing uh two-thirds more of ourgames, and most often in
embarrassing fashions, and we'vestuck it out, and there have
just been a few bright moments,and we had a bright moment last
night.
Kevin (40:06):
Ooh.
But last night the Jags won insort of an embarrassing fashion.
What?
I I don't find a winembarrassing at all.
Alban (40:14):
Embarrassing maybe for the Kansas City Chiefs, the
perennial Super Bowl contendersuh who came down to Jacksonville
confident they were gonna getan easy win.
Jordan (40:23):
Ooh.
Alban (40:24):
And uh they were up 14-0, hadn't lost a game like that
in, I don't know, 10 years, andJags fought their way back.
And it may have ended withTrevor Lawrence getting tripped,
falling on the ground, slippingon the ground again on his
birthday, and then scramblingaround the edge and getting in
(40:44):
for a touchdown that sealed thegame.
It was uh, you know, we couldwe're we we sat.
I just saw him fall down behindthe line of scrimmage.
I can't see him.
And I'm like, this is whathappens.
This is what we do.
Kevin (40:56):
Somehow he gets up and scrambles into the end zone.
It was it was it was like inJaguar fashion.
Like that's how they're gonnawin.
A busted play.
Yep.
Jordan (41:05):
I am having like a visualization of Mr.
Bean just like stumbling intothings the way you describe
that.
Alban (41:13):
I'll I'll have to I'll have to send you a link, Jordan,
so you can uh you can go watchthis.
I want to see it.
Everyone used to call us thecardiac cats because uh you're
always on the edge of your seat,your your heart's pounding, and
we always make it stressful.
We lived up to the name lastnight, but we just had a blast.
You know, there's times you'vegot to take the wins, and uh it
(41:34):
was a huge win, and I appreciateit.
And uh go Jags Duval
Okay, we got a fan mail from Tampa, Florida, saying
Jordan mentioned a BuzzsproutSummit in Tampa.
I live in Tampa and would loveto hear more if it's open to
podcasters.
Kevin (00:11):
What a lucky person to get to live in the fine city of
Tampa.
I love Tampa.
Jordan (00:17):
Do you?
I've I've never been.
This is gonna be my first time.
Kevin (00:20):
I grew up in the Tampa area, not Tampa proper, but
across one of the many bridgesthat lead over to Pinellas
County.
That is my childhood home.
And uh I didn't spend a ton oftime in Tampa because as a child
I was not allowed to go toTampa because it was this big,
mysterious, you know, it waslike going to Gotham City, like
nothing, you can't go there.
(00:41):
There's bad people there.
Yeah.
But as an adult, I finally gotto travel to Tampa and I
realized it's a wonderful place.
And yes, we are doing apodcaster meetup.
I think I have to do a uhcorrection because I think I
talked about this two or threefull episodes ago.
Jordan (00:59):
Yeah.
Kevin (01:00):
Well, I gave the date.
I don't need to say the dateagain, but I gave the wrong
date.
It was off by a day.
Oh.
So it's gonna be October 21st.
I'm gonna let Alban take overfrom this point because it's his
team that's planning it.
And last time I tried to giveinformation, I gave the wrong
information.
So Alban take over.
Alban (01:16):
It was right at the time.
Um on October 21st from 8 to 930, we're gonna be at the Oxford
Exchange in Tampa.
And the reason that we're doingit on that day is because when
we started looking around onlinefor venues, we found out that
uh Chris Krimitsos and everybodywho does PodFest, they have a
(01:37):
monthly podcaster meetup inTampa.
And we were going to kind ofalmost come into their town and
have a rival event the next day.
And so we talked to Chris, andwe're like, hey, what if we just
we some of us come to yourevent and then anyone who wants
can come to our meetupafterward.
Um, we don't want to dominatetheirs, but we want to support
(01:57):
it.
And so this is a way we came upto support it.
So if you want to go uh to thelocal meetup that they have
every month and get plugged inwith them, uh that's earlier.
I think it's 6 30 to 8.
And then everybody is invitedto come to the buzzsprout
meetup right after, and we'regonna have some food.
We're gonna, you know, lightfood and we're gonna have some
(02:18):
drinks and we're just gonna hangout and have a great time.
Kevin (02:20):
Light I thought you were gonna say light off fireworks
for some reason.
As soon as you said light, Iwas like, Wait, there's gonna be
fireworks?
Alban (02:27):
If you say food, then everyone's idea of what food is
is very different.
And somebody shows up andthey're like, I didn't eat
dinner, it's eight o'clock, Iwas expecting dinner.
And you're like, oh no, weweren't providing dinner.
We have like uh a small youknow charcuterie board or
something.
And they were like, Oh, that'snot what I wanted.
Jordan (02:46):
We've got the grazing table.
Yeah, so pod fest is like theawards ceremony, and we're like
the after party.
So you gotta go to both.
Alban (02:53):
Oh, okay.
You can go to both, you can goto one, uh, whatever you know
works for you.
We just thought having peoplego to podcast meetups in Tampa
back-to-back nights, you know,somebody's spouse was going,
like, what are you doing?
It's not due into this podcast.
Right.
One time it's really a blast totalk to buzzcast listeners in
(03:14):
particular, at least for thethree of us, because like all of
you, we podcast every week andwe put it out to the world and
we hear back from fan mail, butnothing ever compares to meeting
people in person.
And so uh it's always one ofthe highlights for me is when we
get together and we meet all ofyou.
So if you're in the Tampa area,please come by.
Jordan (03:34):
And I'll put the eventbrite link in the show
notes so you can RSVP and getthe time into your calendar and
have the uh location in yourmaps app, because that's what I
use it for.
Kevin (03:45):
And please RSVP so we know how many light bites to
order.
Alban (03:50):
Yeah, if you come expecting like a some cheese
plate and have a little likepickle on the side thing, you
you gotta make sure that youalready RSVP'd or we're not
gonna have enough.
Jordan (03:59):
There's not enough cheese.
Alban (04:02):
What if there's little tiny pickles, the uh baby
gherkin pickles have on shirtrewards?
That was great.
Gross.
You like the sweet pickles?
Jordan (04:10):
No, thank you.
Alban (04:11):
We're gonna run out.
Jordan (04:13):
Gherkins are gonna run out.
Welcome back to Buzzcast, thepodcast about all things
podcasting from the people atBuzzsprout.
This episode, we're going to betalking about podcasting during
a very, very busy time of theyear.
(04:33):
I know for me personally, theidea of podcasting through the
holidays, it's like I startgetting filled with a sense of
anxiety.
Like I can see the holidayslooming almost like a storm off
in the distance.
And I feel this sense of likedread.
Like I need to make sure that Iboard up the house and I do all
the things before theelectricity gets shut off.
(04:54):
Um, where it's just like, oh mygosh, how am I gonna do this
and do all my work and deal withthe kids?
And there's all these holidayparties.
And I don't know.
Do you guys feel that or isthat just me?
Alban (05:05):
Do you know?
Kevin (05:06):
Yeah, I don't think I feel it the same way.
Wow.
Okay.
Let me let me say this.
I am really grateful that youcarry such a large part of that
burden for us.
We yeah.
Jordan does such an excellentjob producing the show and
preparing everything for us thatreally our responsibility,
Alban and I, for the most part,is kind of just, you know, show
up and read or outline ahead oftime.
(05:27):
That's more on Alban's sidethan my side, and then produce
the best content that we can.
But there is a heavy lift thattakes place before, during, and
after at the show.
And Jordan carries mostly allof the before and mostly all the
after.
So I completely understandthat.
I don't want to minimize howyou're feeling, but do I feel
it?
No, because you are awesome.
Jordan (05:47):
Okay.
So I guess my experienceprobably resonates a little bit
more with like independentpodcasters who they are the
podcast producer and host andeditor.
Alban (05:57):
Yes.
Jordan (05:58):
Okay.
Well, I hope that my experienceresonates with our listeners.
And so we're going to beproviding some strategies in
this episode to kind of liftthat burden off of you.
So it's a little less stressfulto keep podcasting through the
holidays.
Alban (06:12):
And maybe give some tips to help people kind of
capitalize on the opportunitybecause it's not just, oh no,
it's a special time of the yearwhich involves travel and
parties and fun and that mightinterfere with my podcast.
There's also a lot ofopportunities in here, too.
Jordan (06:29):
When I was doing some research for this episode, I saw
that the Podcast MarketingAcademy's trends report in 2024,
they said that December isoften the second busiest month
for downloads, while fewest newepisodes get released.
And I know that they pulledlike 500 podcasters to create
(06:49):
this report.
And so I was wondering how thatcompares to our database of
110, 120,000 podcasters.
Alban (06:59):
I really appreciate when they put out data like this and
they're trying to figure out howstuff works.
But 500 podcasters, it's a lotof work to collect that data,
and yet it's still not assignificant as what I would
want.
So I went and pulled thebuzzprout stats for this same
period.
Um so we're looking at 120,000podcasts.
(07:20):
And I did it for all of 2024.
And the biggest months areJanuary, March.
You get a big spike here inAugust, September.
Those do really well.
But yeah, November, Decemberare low download numbers, and
they're the two lowest.
(07:41):
But they're also the two lowestfor people releasing episodes.
Jordan (07:45):
Okay.
So we have that in common.
Alban (07:47):
It's not exactly the same as what I think Jeremy found,
but it's it's similar.
And so what I did was I kind oftook the average.
Like what are the averagedownloads per new episode?
And pretty much that ends upbeing consistent.
While we do see the numbers ofpodcasts episodes being
(08:08):
released, new ones going down,we're also seeing the downloads
going down, kind of almost withthose.
Not as much, but almost.
So I think I end up pulling alittle bit of different
conclusions than the podcastmarketing academy's podcast
marketing trends report 2024did.
Jordan (08:26):
Yeah, it's a mouthful.
Alban (08:29):
But there is some data here to dig into.
Jordan (08:32):
Okay, so you looking at it, I don't know, I'm not a
stats person.
And so I just hear like a lotof numbers.
When you look at it, what isthe opportunity that you see for
podcasters?
Alban (08:42):
Okay, so let me take you back to 2017.
And 2017 was the first timethat I remember a lot of people
in like normal life talkingabout Bitcoin and all this
crypto stuff.
And then November hits andeverything went wild.
Like all crypto went wild.
And I remember like wonderingwhat happened.
(09:02):
Why did that go from zero to 60over, you know, just like a few
a weekend.
And then I saw people onlineposting, like, oh, I went to my
Thanksgiving hangout with myfamily, and my uncle was really
into Bitcoin, so we all boughtit.
And I saw enough of theseanecdotal reports.
I went, you know, there issomething special about these
(09:23):
periods where almost everybodyis trying to spend a little more
time with family and you catchup on stuff.
And so if it worked forBitcoin, I keep coming back to
why is this not going to workfor podcasting?
I'm gonna spend more time inthe car with family members in
the month of November andDecember than I will all the
(09:44):
rest of the year.
You know, those are the two bigdrive months, they're the most
busy travel months.
That's when people want goodpodcasts, and it's where
recommendation is actually goingto land.
So I didn't get the same levelof downloads are up, but my gut
tells me recommendability is atan all-time high.
(10:05):
The ability to find a new showis at its highest that
Thanksgiving weekend, almost ofany weekend that there is.
Jordan (10:12):
Yeah.
Kevin (10:12):
I find that data very interesting, Alban.
My gut tells me thatconsumption would be up and
publishing would be down.
But what you're seeing is theythey both go down.
And I think the conclusion thatmaybe we could draw from is
maybe downloads just go downjust because publishing goes
down.
Like maybe the it doesn't meanthe demand isn't there, but if
(10:33):
the supply is not there, thenyou can't get it.
And so if the seven to tenpodcasts that I've you know
follow in my podcast app, ifthey're not publishing, I can't
download.
So then I might have to dosomething else while I'm
traveling.
I might have to listen to theradio or I might listen to music
or get an audio book orsomething like that.
But there's a potential thatthe opportunity and demand is is
(10:53):
up, but as publishers, we'rejust publishing less.
We're not taking advantage ofthis opportunity that may exist.
Alban (10:59):
Yeah, I think you're uh drawing a really important
distinction between downloadsand consumption.
Downloads are the data that wehave.
We see, okay, the downloads godown a bit, but kind of almost
similar to the new episodesbeing published.
Well, we probably can guesswhy.
Like Kevin's saying, we seeauto downloads when new episodes
go live.
(11:20):
Okay, that makes sense.
But are all these episodesbeing downloads being listened
to?
And my guess is the percentagethat are listened to and the
length that they're listened toand the number of people
listening to them isskyrocketing because that's when
I clear out the queue.
I let the queue build up, andthen we go on a road trip and it
(11:40):
all gets cleared out.
And then you start going into,we've talked about this before,
kind of like the tier twopodcasts, where you're like, I
don't listen to every thisAmerican life, but then I go
once every once in a while and Igo download like five, and we
listen to them right then.
And that's a period where ifanyone in my life said, You
really have to listen to thisepisode, you would love it.
(12:01):
Your family would love it.
Then it gets added and but getsput to the top of the list.
Most of the time, I'm notlooking to take a two-hour
adventure with some podcast I'venever listened to.
Jordan (12:13):
Okay, so this puts podcasters in a position where
they want to maintainconsistency with their podcast,
not burn out, or maybe they justreally need a break.
And so let's go over some ofthe strategies.
I actually pulled a lot of thepodcasters in our community.
I got a lot of responses frompodcasters in the Facebook group
and on Reddit.
(12:33):
And I kind of compiled all oftheir responses into a breakdown
of podcasting strategies in theholidays.
The first strategy that I wantto go over is to just simply
take a planned break.
I think that this is maybe thepath of least resistance in
terms of like, is this going totake a lot of energy for me to
(12:56):
do?
So we've talked about taking aplanned break from your podcast
and not like losing listeners.
And I think really the key tothis is to communicate to your
listeners, hey, I'm taking abreak during the holidays or for
a vacation, and thencommunicating with them that,
you know, I'm gonna be back atthis date.
Like make it planned.
(13:17):
Don't just give them a nebulousidea of, like, yeah, I'm going
on break, and then they'll belike, uh oh, are they ever
coming back?
So just assuring your listenersthat you're gonna be coming
back in, you know, two weeks, amonth, two months, however long.
Alban (13:29):
I think that's a good idea.
Um, one thing I see people dowhen they take a break, we've
talked about this before, isrerun old episodes.
Jordan (13:37):
Yeah.
Alban (13:38):
And sometimes I think that works really well.
And other times I'm not reallya fan.
Jordan (13:43):
Yeah.
Alban (13:43):
Um, like for us, it wouldn't make sense.
We try to talk about mostlytopical content.
Sometimes we're doing moreevergreen episodes, but we're
doing a lot of like, hey, here'swhat's happening in the
industry right now.
So it would feel weird to belike, hey, let's take a look
back at what was announced toApple WWDC in 2020.
Yeah, that wouldn't be anexciting episode for people to
listen to.
Jordan (14:04):
I actually got a lot of podcasters saying that this is
what they do, is where they dolike a greatest hits or best of,
and they publish old episodesthat they had they're trying to
promote their back catalogthrough this.
I know for me personally, andthis is just a complete personal
preference.
I get a little annoyed whenpodcasts do this too much.
(14:26):
When I get like a greatesthits, or like once a week they
do like a best of or like a lookback.
And I don't know if that's justme being weird, or how do you
guys feel about those when yousee them?
Kevin (14:38):
I think it's hit or miss.
And it comes down for me, itcomes down to execution.
Tim Ferris does a good job ofonce a month.
He will publish an episode thatis the greatest hits.
It's roughly a month.
Sometimes it's like six weeks,but he will take four or five of
the episodes that he's kind ofdone between the time last time
he did it and this time, andhe'll give you like a two-minute
(15:00):
intro of who this person is andwhat we were talking about.
And then he plays a segment ofthat episode.
And it's like a five-minutesegment, a little part that
stands on its own, and then hecomes back in and narrates and
intros the next one.
And so it's an opportunity tocatch up on the podcast very
quickly.
And then it also highlights,oh, that's actually an episode
(15:22):
that I might want to go back andlisten to the whole thing.
Jordan (15:24):
Yeah.
Kevin (15:24):
And so I really love that execution.
For me, the Tim Ferris show isnot a podcast that I listen to
every single week.
The episodes are very long.
And so I love that as anopportunity to figure out which
episodes do I really want tolisten to the full two hour or
more episode on.
And doing something like that,I think could be a could be a
winner.
Like to say, uh, the year'scoming to a close.
(15:46):
I'm gonna take three or four ofmy favorite podcast episodes
and I'm gonna highlight clipsfrom them and introduce them for
people who might have missedthem.
Jordan (15:53):
I think that's a really great point is you know, take
old content that you have andchop it down into a more minimal
format and then promote theback to say, like, hey, if you
want to listen to the fullepisode or the the rest of it.
Alban (16:08):
I would say the execution, like Kevin said, is a
big key component there.
Yeah.
And so I don't think this fitsthe, hey, I want to take a break
and I want an easy episode.
I think that this could be ashard, if not harder, to do than
a normal episode.
Because you're gonna go backand try to find good segments
(16:29):
and old episodes.
You're gonna have to refreshyourself about what each one was
about.
You're gonna have to add thatnarration in and compile this.
That could be a real winnerbecause anyone who listens to it
might go, oh, there's fiveepisodes I'd like to listen to.
And then that that's kicks offa bunch of downloads.
It could be really good.
But I think that's a realamount of work to go through,
(16:51):
find segments, put it alltogether.
Jordan (16:54):
Yeah, an alternative to this.
So if you don't want to take,like, go through that whole
rigmarole of cutting it downcontent into something that you
find compelling, something thatyou could do, especially if you
provide podcast subscriptions,like if you have bonus episodes
as a subscription, this issomething that I've done.
I have taken a bonus paywalledepisode.
(17:16):
And if I'm on break and I'm notpublishing an episode,
sometimes I'll record an introand just say, like, hey, I'm
going to drop an episode fromthe premium feed for you to
enjoy for this episode.
And if you like it, you can goahead and subscribe with the
link in the show notes.
And that is actually a reallygreat option to not only keep my
(17:38):
feed warm while I'm away, butalso at the same time promote my
premium content.
Alban (17:43):
It's a Christmas gift.
Jordan (17:44):
Yeah.
Merry Christmas.
Kevin (17:46):
I like that.
I mean, it's two birds with onestone, right?
It's serving the need ofkeeping your feed fresh and
delivering new content to peoplewho subscribe to your feed, and
it's also promoting yourpremium stuff.
I love that idea.
Jordan (17:59):
Yeah.
Another thing that I've done,and I heard uh from some of the
other podcasters in ourcommunity saying that they have
also done this is the feed swapprocess.
And it doesn't necessarily haveto be a feed swap because
sometimes that takes a littlebit more communication with the
podcaster.
But what I've done in the pastis to keep providing episodes
(18:21):
and keep showing up in the topof my audience's feed is I will
reach out to other podcastersthat are in my niche through
like Facebook or Twitter orInstagram, just wherever I can
find them.
And I will send them a messageand just saying, like, I'm going
on break and I'd really like topromote your podcast, an
(18:41):
episode of your podcast in thefeed while I'm away.
I will record an intro sayingwhy I think it's a good fit.
And I'll have like a link inthe show notes so that they can
go check out your podcast.
And every single time thepodcasters said yes, absolutely,
and then they shoot me an MP3file and I schedule it and I
tell them what date I'm gonna bedropping that and I promote it.
And that's another really easyway to take a break without
(19:05):
creating like a full episode inthe meantime.
And then that way it's like therising tides raise all ships
because they're also going topromote that they were featured
on your podcast.
Hopefully, maybe not.
Maybe this is just like in thefantasy land I have where
they're just like, oh yeah, Ishould do the same.
That's a great idea.
And that's the fingers crossedversion of it, but really it's
(19:26):
whether they do or not.
Kevin (19:26):
I mean, that would just be the cherry on the Sunday.
Like you're primarily doing itfor your audience and to make
sure that they stay connected toyour show and receive benefit
from following your show andthanking them.
And so you're tipping them offto some other great content
that's similar to yours that youwant to make them aware of.
And that's great.
That's the benefit that youget.
The podcaster that's supplyingthat content to you, they get
their show promoted.
If they go above and beyond anddo anything back for you, do a
(19:49):
feed drop back for you or talkabout your show to their
audience.
That's just that's just gravy,I think.
Oh, yeah.
It's wonderful, but you alreadyhave a benefit whether they do
that or not.
Jordan (19:57):
Mm-hmm.
Do we have any other ideas ofhow a podcaster can take a break
from their podcast withoutlosing audience?
Do we have any other tips forthat that you guys can think of
off the top of your head?
Alban (20:08):
I mean, just like letting people know.
So many more things are totallyfine if you're honest with
people.
So have a plan.
You know, say, hey, if you tellthem, like, you know, I have a
job and I have kids and they'reall gonna be home for the
holidays.
And it's hard for me to do uhthe same level of content I want
to, but we're gonna be backJanuary 7th.
(20:29):
And I hope uh you have awonderful holidays.
And in the meantime, here'sfive podcasts that I'm gonna be
listening to that you may enjoyas well.
I think that's totally fine.
What stinks is when you'reexcited for your favorite
podcast to come out on Tuesdayand it doesn't, and then you're
waiting for it on Friday and itdoesn't.
(20:49):
And then you go, oh,something's broken or they've
gone away.
And then when they show up, youknow, a month later, you're
kind of like, whatever happened?
Like it feels something feelsoff.
And so tell people up front andit makes it so much more
seamless.
Jordan (21:05):
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
And and listeners will notice II accidentally took about a
month-long hiatus from mypodcast.
And finally, one of mylisteners wrote me and they're
like, Are you okay?
I was just like, Oh crap, Iprobably should have at least
recorded like a dynamicpre-roll, just saying, like, hey
guys, life is happening.
It's busy.
(21:25):
I haven't been able to record,you know, just something.
So I definitely think it'simportant.
All right.
So our second strategy is tostay consistent without burnout.
And so this is actuallypublishing episodes during the
holidays without working duringthe holidays.
And so something that comes tomind for a lot of podcasters and
(21:46):
what many podcasters haverecommended is to batch record.
If you haven't heard of batchrecording, that is where you
just are making sure that youare recording as many episodes
as possible.
And you can even like set outan entire day on the weekend and
just like crank out two orthree episodes in a day.
I've heard of some podcasters,if they have short form content,
(22:08):
cranking out like 10, which Icouldn't do.
Kevin (22:11):
I love it.
There are a lot of podcasters.
This is just their normal flowthat they are podcasters, they
are consistent.
And the the way that they doconsistent content creation is
that they carve a day out of theweek or a day out of the month
and they they crank it all outat one time.
Now, that doesn't work forevery show.
And I think that you have tothink through things a little
(22:33):
bit differently if you're gonnado that.
So if you're a show thatdoesn't normally do that, but
you want to try to do it forthis holiday season, then the
type of content that you createjust might have to look a little
bit different because I'm notrecording something today that
I'm gonna publish tomorrow.
I'm recording something I'mgonna publish in two weeks or or
something.
And so just think through itthrough that that lens.
Like we don't want to benecessarily time specific or
(22:53):
talk about events that may beirrelevant by the time that this
show publishes or somethinglike that.
But it's certainly it'scertainly possible.
And for shows that don'tnormally work like that, it
could be a fun way to mix it up,like a new fun, fresh challenge
for a podcaster.
So I think it's definitelysomething to consider.
Alban (23:10):
This is maybe related to batching.
I have never loved the idea ofbatching content because I
always feel like we're trying toget better.
And so I would hate to, youknow, record four and then I'm
editing those four later andrealize over time, like, oh,
some of this doesn't feel as uhauthentic as the things I'd want
to change.
I kind of like that iterativeprocess of going through the
(23:31):
whole episode.
But the related piece that Ithink is really valuable is
having some level of margin inyour recording, editing process.
And that margin means yes, wecould do this show every week.
And we've created some marginby saying we do the show really
once every two weeks, and thenwe do a mini show.
(23:52):
You know, we do the quick cast.
And that's a way of givingourselves a little bit of
breathing room so that wheninevitably we have a company
summit where we're all going tobe together, or we're at a
conference, or Jordan wants totake a vacation, or we go on
holiday, any of those thingshappen, we naturally are able to
shuffle things around.
(24:12):
Now it doesn't mean it'sperfectly easy, but the fact
that we can somewhat do it isproof that there's some margin
there.
I remember a pastor that we metwhen I was younger, and he said
his whole goal was always tohave written the sermon two
weeks in advance.
And so he was always just hehad like one sermon banked, and
he was always one ahead becausesomebody would pass away and
(24:35):
he'd have to do a funeral, andthen he goes, but then I knew on
Sunday the sermon was ready.
So I didn't have to stress anddo that on top of, you know,
doing a funeral.
And I think that's a greatmethod to have for podcasting,
like just have a little bit ofmargin.
So maybe you can't say oneepisode ahead because eventually
that will get used up duringthe holidays or you know, when
(24:57):
life happens, but then you don'thave to have that added stress
of the podcast on top of it.
Jordan (25:02):
Yeah, I will say like changing up the format of the
episode does help.
So for example, I was lookingat the calendar, trying to plan
out the time that I was gonnatake off during the holidays.
And it was so nice because Iwas looking at it and I'm like,
okay, this is a big mainepisode, and I know that
recording is gonna be like oneand a half to two hours.
And then, oh, thank goodness,like this week's gonna be a
(25:22):
quick cast.
So we can actually record thatthe week before, and we could
even, you know, tack that on tothe end of our main episode
recording.
However, if I was trying totake off like two main episode
recordings, it'd be really hardto stack that and be like, okay,
guys, we got a four-hourrecording sesh today and we're
gonna knock out two big mainepisodes and we got to keep our
(25:43):
energy up.
Like that would just feelreally insurmountable.
So I think that if you donormally have a long form
content podcast, maybe try doingsomething else like FAQs or
using fan mail to answer likelistener fan mail or just do
something fun, do somethingseasonal.
We know when these holidaysare, we know when our episodes
(26:05):
are coming out.
So you can actually look at thecalendar and plan ahead a
little bit and try to frame yourpodcast to be seasonal and
record it ahead of time, youknow, make it Christmas theme or
Halloween theme or whatever youwant to do.
Alban (26:18):
Well, it kind of makes me think of one really good idea
for us might just be hey, we'vegot a lot this stacks up.
We could just do three quickcasts in a row.
We could take a normal episodeand just make it a quick cast.
You could think about how doyou change your publishing
format, the episode format,maybe to accommodate the actual
schedule.
You know, it just may bedifficult to do a full episode
(26:42):
for somebody if a lot happens,but being able to be consistent,
even if it means it's 15minutes rather than an hour, I
think would be really valuable,much better than missing an
episode.
Jordan (26:52):
Yeah.
Kevin (26:53):
Another way to batch that you might be able to entertain
for your show would be justtaking a normal episode that
you're gonna record anyway andstretching it a little bit
enough so that it makes sense tosplit it into two parts.
Jordan (27:05):
Ooh, yeah.
Kevin (27:06):
So you're really just doing a little bit more work for
an episode that you've alreadyput together.
Maybe you cover one more topicor go in a little bit more depth
in one area, another.
And then all of a sudden,instead of normally your shows
are roughly an hour, maybe youget an hour and a half, which
nicely splits into two 45-minuteepisodes.
And so you kind of get abyproduct of just doing a little
(27:26):
bit more on one episode, youget a whole nother episode if
you can find a place to split itinto two.
Alban (27:30):
You could even use the uh like dateline method where
they're like, after the break,we're gonna do this, and you
like preview it.
And then when you come back,you're like previously, and then
you fill it in, and now you'reup to basically hour-long
episodes for both of them.
Jordan (27:45):
Yeah, you only need 20 minutes of content.
You can stretch that baby out.
And that's kind of like anotherpoint is you could do that if
you have like an extra longinterview or you an extra long
conversation with your co-hosts,but some other people might
have a different opinion onthis.
But I think it's a little biteasier if you record solo
(28:06):
episodes.
It's a lot easier to justrecord at like 11 o'clock at
night or something like that.
You know, you can batch late atnight, burn the midnight oil,
and you don't have to rely onco-hosts to also kind of like
schedule that time with you.
So that's another thing thatyou could do if you're trying to
batch episodes, is just kind oflike change up the format from
having like a guest on orco-host and maybe just, you
(28:28):
know, run a solo show for acouple episodes.
Okay, so here's some otheroptions that our community of
podcasters have suggested.
One of them said to change upthe publishing schedule.
And they said that during theholidays, they go from weekly to
every other week, which I thinkis a really good idea because
that's an easy way to lightenthe load.
I mean, you're basicallycutting your podcasting in half,
(28:50):
which seems a lot more doable.
Uh, some people talked aboutdropping mini sodes, which we
had touched on, you know, wherethey do like mailbag, year and
review, tips and stories,shout-outs, those kind of
things.
And they also will do year-endspecials where they will talk
about like maybe things learnedover the year of their podcast
(29:10):
or QA, fan mail, holiday themes,like we had talked about.
So those are some other greatoptions that you could do.
Kevin (29:17):
Yeah, I like the idea of using the holiday season as an
opportunity to do somethingdifferent, to try new
experiments.
And so if your show is normallyan interview show, or name
maybe you choose specific topicsand you go deep and uh do a lot
of research and teach on thosethings.
Maybe you have a comedy showand you have guests on and and
(29:39):
you crack jokes or review comedyspecials or whatever you do.
The point is you could dosomething completely different.
Uh you could just say, No, justme this time.
I want to share a story aboutsomebody who wrote in to how
this podcast you know impactedtheir life.
And I don't normally normallydo stuff like that, but I'm
gonna do it this time becauseit's the holiday season.
Uh right.
And so in things that we'rethankful for here.
(29:59):
Here's something that I'mthankful for.
And they were thankful for usand how that moved me and how
the show has moved them.
Okay.
It's totally different.
Jordan (30:06):
Yeah.
Kevin (30:06):
It's like the holidays give you an excuse to try stuff
like that.
Jordan (30:09):
Yeah.
Kevin (30:10):
Right.
Or you could just say, I don'twant to do, I don't have time to
go back and pull out clips ofall my favorite episodes from
the last year.
But I could quickly just lookat all the podcasts that I saw
last year and just say, oh,these three stand out.
And so I'm going to fire up mymic and I'm just going to
record.
Okay, in episode 123, I talkedabout this.
And and I really love thatepisode the way that it came
(30:30):
together.
I love the guests that we hadon.
And there's a link in the shownote for that.
And then the next episode thatI want to highlight is this.
And you talk about that for afew minutes and then you say
there's a link in the episode.
And it might only come out witha 10-minute episode, but it's
pointing people to three or fiveof the episodes that you did in
the past year.
Again, it could be a totallydifferent format than your
normal show.
People might be surprised, butyou know what?
If they don't like it, they canjust skip it and go into the
(30:52):
next podcast.
But maybe some people will likeit.
Maybe some people will be like,oh, I remember that episode.
You released that back inFebruary.
I want to hear that again.
And they might go back andlisten again.
So I really love the idea ofthe holidays, they don't always
have to feel like a burden.
It could also feel like anopportunity to just try
something new, to experimentwith your podcast, to have fun.
Jordan (31:10):
Yeah.
Kevin (31:11):
And if it works, it works.
Great.
If it doesn't, you don't everhave to do it again.
But why not use this uhopportunity just to be like,
I've always wondered if I coulddo that.
I'll give it a shot.
Holidays give you a reason andan excuse to do it.
Jordan (31:23):
Stretch those creative muscles.
Yeah.
I mean, we kind of didsomething very similar after
podcast movement, which to me isa little bit of a holiday is
podcasting conferences.
And we came back and it was acompletely different format for
episode.
It was just me, and it was justme pulling in clips from people
that I had talked to at thepodcast conference.
And honestly, it was really funto get to do something creative
(31:45):
like that.
It was completely differentfrom what we normally do.
And I actually really liked it.
And I hope to do that again.
Alban (31:51):
Yeah.
I appreciate everybody whowrote back to Jordan or wrote in
with fan mail for this.
Um, I saw a lot of people onFacebook and on Reddit offering
their suggestions, and thosereally helped shape, you know,
this outline.
So to everyone who's engagingthere and gave ideas, we really
appreciate you.
Jordan (32:10):
All right.
So we got two fan mail messagesthat actually tie together
nicely.
And I'm really excited becausewe have uh a little bit of a
promotion to go along with this.
Um, so first off, Marty fromNepal wrote in and said, I tried
the name generator twice, andeach time it came up with one
suggestion that I really liked,which is awesome.
(32:32):
Since I'm relocating to anothercountry this week and my show
is all about the country that Inow live in, these suggestions
could turn out to be veryhelpful.
I definitely want to keep doingthe podcast, and my audience
seems ready to travel with me,but I'm still trying to figure
out how to refocus it andrebrand also if necessary.
Alban (32:50):
Marty, that's awesome news.
Uh, I'm glad that you tried itout.
I also really like that asyou're traveling and you're
gonna be telling stories aboutanother location.
I remember Marty from earlierwhen he wrote in and we were
talking about how to promote thepodcast.
I like that you're kind ofgrowing the show as the scope of
the podcast is growing.
You're deciding, hey, I'm gonnarebrand it so that now it
(33:12):
matches and it's the bestcompliment we could get that you
use the name generator and youfound a suggestion you liked.
Um, that's really great news.
Jordan (33:20):
Yeah.
And if you're listening andyou're like, what is Marty
talking about?
What's a podcast namegenerator?
In our last episode, we talkedabout our new Buzzbrow Podcast
Name Generator, where you canenter in some information about
your podcast and generate somenames for it.
And I will put a link to thatin the show notes, or you can go
back to that episode and listento our process behind the name
generator.
(33:41):
And Fletch from the Mango Timessaid, I've had a hobby podcast
for years that accompanied mypersonal blog and website, The
Mango Times.
I was never really focused ongrowing an audience and have
started and stopped the podcastseveral times.
Now I have a clear focus fornext year.
All of my shows will becentered around midlife
adventure stories, conversationswith people who made a major
change at midlife and how thosechoices have played out.
(34:02):
And I think this direction hasreal potential to grow an
audience.
So here's my questions.
Should I rename the podcast andupdate the cover art to reflect
it?
Or should I leave my existingepisodes published, even though
they don't align with the newtheme, or would it be better to
just start fresh?
These are both very timely Famomessages because the episode
(34:22):
album that you recorded withKara on podcasting QA, which we
relaunched, is up aboutrelaunching and rebranding your
podcast.
Alban (34:32):
Yeah.
So, I mean, to speak to thisdirectly, I think I'd want to
know a little bit more about theMango Times and what the Mango
Times was about uh previously.
And if you're trying to decide,do I keep the old episodes up?
Do I rebrand?
Um, I think yes, you rebrand ifyou want to have a title and
(34:53):
artwork that match the newdirection of the show.
Absolutely.
Is the audience that you haveright now going to listen to
this new show?
If they're the right audience,then keep the same podcast feed.
Should I keep the old episodesup?
Well, if they're in alignmentwith the new brand or they're
kind of an you see theevolution, then probably.
(35:15):
But if it's like if you'rechanging a lot, you may
unpublish those.
It really I think would dependbased on like how much is this
show changing?
Is it changing from a showabout Pokemon cards to about
adventures in midlife?
Yeah, you you're getting awhole new feed and a whole new
brain.
It's totally different.
The only thing the same is it'sa podcast by you.
(35:37):
But sometimes podcasts shift soslightly that you don't even
need to tell people that it'smaking a change because it's so
natural.
So it's just you've got todetermine how much of an abrupt
change is this.
Kevin (35:52):
I think Alban gave such a good answer there.
And reading between the lines,like I've known Alban for a very
long time.
So let me try to summarize backto you, Alban.
Tell me if I'm hitting it.
But the theme that you keepweaving into your answer that
you gave is thinking about youraudience, thinking about your
audience, thinking about youraudience.
And it just comes down when youwhen he says really only you
can tell or he needs moreinformation, the questions he's
(36:14):
asking are is it the sameaudience?
And so just think about that.
Ask yourself are the people whoI was reaching before or I was
speaking to before, are they thesame people with this new pivot
that you're making?
And if they are, you're good togo.
Upload new cover art, changethe title, keep the feed
rolling.
But if it's different people,if the people who listen to the
(36:34):
old show are not gonna be asinterested in the new show, then
you've got a tough decision tomake.
And that's do I say this showis changing directions?
I'm gonna keep the feed, but ifyou don't like this new topic,
you might unsubscribe.
Or do I say no, there's there'sa potential for that to still
find an audience, and that isits own work, and I want to keep
it online, and I'm gonna launchsomething new in addition to
it.
Alban (36:55):
Yeah, I think that's the right way to approach it.
Jordan (36:57):
Yeah.
Alban (36:58):
Does the audience actually want to be subscribed
to this podcast?
I remember one of the firstconferences we went to, uh,
somebody spoke on stage and theysaid, never ever throw away an
RSS feed.
Always keep it so you canalways launch another show or
redirect it to your current showand get new listeners.
And I'm like, but if I launcheda show about marketing and then
(37:20):
a show about podcasting, andthen a show about baseball,
those are totally differentaudiences.
The only connection is me.
And I would be really annoyedif I got if I signed up for a
baseball podcast that eventuallybecame a marketing podcast that
became a podcast aboutpodcasting.
I'd be like, who is this guy?
He just assumes that I want tolisten to it.
So pay attention to youraudience.
(37:42):
Like, what do they actuallywant?
Jordan (37:44):
I just had like a mini daydream about rebranding
Dreamful to the Aliens podcastand just changing it to that.
Like it would just be anightmare.
It doesn't work.
Alban (37:53):
I wish I could give an example without kind of beating
up on someone, but there wassomeone who I remember them
telling us it went from justpolar opposites and they
switched and it made sense forthem and they just made the
change.
And I was like, none of youraudience wants to stick around
for it.
And they're like, my numbersare dropping.
And I'm like, Yeah, I can tellwhy.
Jordan (38:15):
So for next episode, we are going to be tackling part
two of podcasting mythbusters.
The subject so nice, we'redoing it twice.
So if you want to send inpodcasting myths, maybe you
missed the bus on the firstepisode that we did.
Um, you can go ahead and tapthe Texas show link in the show
notes to send those in.
(38:35):
And if not, I'm really lookingforward to some of the myths
that we have in store for you.
So until next time, thanks forlistening and keep podcasting.
Kevin (38:50):
Alban, I'm gonna ask the question, but I know the answer.
Your voice is different today.
And I don't think you startedsmoking aggressively in the past
24 hours.
No.
You were at that Jags game lastnight, weren't you?
My voice is uh already, itsounds quite a bit better.
Alban (39:07):
It was totally gone last night.
Jordan (39:09):
Oh no.
Alban (39:10):
Um, every once in a while, the Jaguars get a Monday
night game or a night game, andmy daughter and I go to every
Jacksonville game, and then wemy wife went with us this time,
and uh we let Emerson uh stay uppast midnight to watch football
and screens.
And we had a blast.
Jordan (39:31):
Did she make it to school in the morning?
Alban (39:34):
She went to school, she was first up this morning.
Jordan (39:36):
Wow, what a trooper!
Alban (39:38):
I was dragging myself into work.
Millie was uh didn't want towake up, but our daughter was up
and she was like, hey,someone's got to take me to
school.
Jordan (39:46):
Like, come on, guys.
Alban (39:49):
But it's been uh, you know, it's been 10 years of us
losing uh two-thirds more of ourgames, and most often in
embarrassing fashions, and we'vestuck it out, and there have
just been a few bright moments,and we had a bright moment last
night.
Kevin (40:06):
Ooh.
But last night the Jags won insort of an embarrassing fashion.
What?
I I don't find a winembarrassing at all.
Alban (40:14):
Embarrassing maybe for the Kansas City Chiefs, the
perennial Super Bowl contendersuh who came down to Jacksonville
confident they were gonna getan easy win.
Jordan (40:23):
Ooh.
Alban (40:24):
And uh they were up 14-0, hadn't lost a game like that
in, I don't know, 10 years, andJags fought their way back.
And it may have ended withTrevor Lawrence getting tripped,
falling on the ground, slippingon the ground again on his
birthday, and then scramblingaround the edge and getting in
(40:44):
for a touchdown that sealed thegame.
It was uh, you know, we couldwe're we we sat.
I just saw him fall down behindthe line of scrimmage.
I can't see him.
And I'm like, this is whathappens.
This is what we do.
Kevin (40:56):
Somehow he gets up and scrambles into the end zone.
It was it was it was like inJaguar fashion.
Like that's how they're gonnawin.
A busted play.
Yep.
Jordan (41:05):
I am having like a visualization of Mr.
Bean just like stumbling intothings the way you describe
that.
Alban (41:13):
I'll I'll have to I'll have to send you a link, Jordan,
so you can uh you can go watchthis.
I want to see it.
Everyone used to call us thecardiac cats because uh you're
always on the edge of your seat,your your heart's pounding, and
we always make it stressful.
We lived up to the name lastnight, but we just had a blast.
You know, there's times you'vegot to take the wins, and uh it
(41:34):
was a huge win, and I appreciateit.
And uh go Jags Duval
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