July 30, 2024 • 24 mins
Join host Melissa Ann and special guest Rayna Rokicki, a podcast growth coach and producer, as they dive deep into the world of podcasting for business growth. Focusing on podcasters (new and old), speakers, coaches, consultants, and service providers, this episode is a goldmine of information for anyone looking to leverage podcasting to boost their brand.
Rayna shares her journey in the podcasting space and offers expert advice on:
- Identifying and reaching niche audiences
- Crafting effective content strategies
- Navigating the technical and creative aspects of podcast production
- Optimizing podcast discoverability
- Balancing content creation with other business activities
- Understanding the evolving landscape of podcasting
Whether you're a podcasting newbie or looking to take your show to the next level, Rayna's insights will help you position yourself as an expert, monetize your show, and expand your reach.
Tune in to learn how to make your podcast a platform and a powerful tool for business growth and personal branding. Let Rayna be your podcast hype woman and discover why she believes ambitious women need a digital platform to amplify their voices!
Rayne LinkedIn
Podcast Growth Club
00:00 Using Podcasts to Grow Your Business
00:21 Introduction to Girl Talk Podcast
01:04 Meet Rayna Rokicki: Podcast Growth Coach
01:23 The Rise of Podcasting
04:52 Common Podcasting Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
07:30 Understanding Podcast Analytics
09:03 The Challenges and Costs of Podcasting
11:57 Tips for Aspiring Podcasters
16:06 Rayna's Services and Final Advice
23:17 Conclusion and Contact Information
👉 Listen now: www.youtube.com/@GirlTawk
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Connect with Melissa Ann on Social Media.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Even with a small audiencethough, especially if you're
(00:03):
like a speaker, a coach, aconsultant, a service provider,
you can be using your podcastto grow your business.
So you don't need thousandsand thousands of listeners
to do that, to find, youknow, clients that you can
help with your expertiseWelcome to Girl Talk
Podcast with Melissa Ann.
(00:23):
And I am excited today to havea special guest Rayna on the
phone, and I will not attemptto botch Rayna's last name.
She will let you know howto pronounce her last name,
but really excited to haveRayna on because all of
us want to be podcasters,our so called podcasters.
And you see a gazillion podcastspopping up, but are we really
(00:46):
doing them the right way?
And so I thought I'd haveRayna on to talk through today.
So you want to be a podcasterAnd there's more and you
could actually get some ofRayna's services and she'll
talk more about that as well.
So without further ado Rayna,please introduce yourself
(01:08):
Hey guys, this isRayna, Rokicki.
Thanks.
My last name is a little weird.
Yeah.
Rokicki.
I am a podcast growthcoach and podcast
producer, YouTube producer.
And I pretty much live andbreathe all things podcasting.
So as you can guess, I'malways excited to talk podcasts
and yeah, most of, like youmentioned, I mean, more and
(01:30):
more podcasts keep poppingup, but I don't think that's
necessarily a bad thing.
I think it's one of those nicheplatforms where you can have.
Tons and tons of them, becauseyou really need, you know, maybe
a thousand true fans to make ityour own, to start monetizing,
you can even monetize withless than that, but it's a fun
way to reach your audience,especially if you're someone
who loves to talk, like, ifyou're a writer, maybe don't
(01:53):
go into podcasting, go into,you know, blogging or something
else, but if you like to talk,you like to have conversations.
Podcasting is the way to go.
yeah, and it's weird becausepersonally I don't like my
voice So I was like, eh, I'lldo podcasting only because
it was during the pandemicand I needed something to do.
So I, I started out doingthis as something fun and
(02:15):
was quite nervous about, myvoice and talking and making
sure that there was dialogue,but it just came so easily.
You know, once youstart having a dialogue
and making people feelcomfortable with individuals.
So what do you suggest or outfirst, the first question I have
for you is how did you get intopodcasting and has that always
(02:38):
been something you wanted todo and radio or communications?
Yeah.
Great question.
I've always loved audiostorytelling like the,
I can't say I've alwaysbeen a radio fan, but I
love listening to things.
And, I did, I did go to collegefor communications, but actually
I was a teacher for a long time.
(02:58):
And I was aninternational teacher.
Actually, I lived inNigeria for six years and
we came back during COVID.
And, it was at that point whereI'd done a lot of audio video
projects with my students.
And I was like, you know what,I'm ready to get back into
the audio communication world.
So I dove into podcasting,started having clients
helping them out.
And then of course I waslike, I need my own podcast.
(03:19):
So I did that.
I am, I have two podcasts.
One is called YouBetcha She Did.
And it's all about reallycool, you know, Midwest
women doing neat things,entrepreneurs, change makers.
And then I justactually launched my new
podcast this morning.
It is calledPodcast Growth Club.
And it's all strategies and tipsto help you grow your podcast
like a business and also startto monetize it without sponsors.
(03:43):
So No.
if you are a podcaster,you're definitely going
to want to check that out.
It's a great exampleof podcasting.
What it's like to workwith me and some of the
tools and tips I've used.
because yeah, I've been in thepodcasting space since COVID.
I worked for a podcastproduction company
for a while as well.
And then I kind of went myown way, just focusing on,
helping women podcasters.
(04:04):
So it's, I don't know,it's a, it's a great field.
Like I said, it doesn't, itdoesn't seem to be slowing down.
And I think.
I think there's a coupleof reasons for that.
One reason is that podcasts,it's like the only medium out
there where you can multitask,like you can be driving your
car, listening to a podcast,you can be running errands, you
know, whatever you need to do.
(04:24):
Like you can't watch YouTubeand clean your house, or
you can't watch YouTubeand walk your dog, or.
Workout, whatever it is,same with social media.
Same with, I mean, I guessyou could kind of sort
of read on the treadmill,but you know what I mean?
But podcasts are one ofthose things where you
can listen while doinga million other things.
And I think that's awesome.
And you kind of really getinto the ear of your listeners.
(04:46):
You know what I mean?
Like we put those littleearbuds in, you're making
that really intense connectionthat's amazing.
And one of the things thatyou and I talked about was.
You, you have to makesure that it's, it's like
sales or anything else.
You have to have adifferentiator from
other podcasts, but, youknow, for example, you
(05:07):
talked about girl talk.
So my, you know, I, Ithought, Oh, that's snazzy.
I'm from New York girl talk.
But girl, talk what?
Like, what do we talk about?
And you brought thatto my attention of, you
know, what is the taglineor what is the subtitle?
what are some of the mistakessuch as those that individuals
(05:29):
make that you find that inyour coaching of, podcasters?
Yeah, I mean, the, the biggestone I come across is people
missing the mark on havinglisteners find their show,
because like you mentioned,people want to have like a
really fun title, a snazzytitle, but unless they know you
personally, or they're alreadyconnected to you on social
media, new listeners aren'tgoing to find your show and
(05:51):
you don't want the name of yourshow to be the number one reason
why people aren't finding it.
So you could stillhave a snazzy title.
especially if that's like abrand you've worked on for a
while, but I would definitelyadd a title extension on like,
like we were talking about whereyou tell exactly who it's for.
Like, who is thisspecific show for?
Like, what are the keywordssomeone would be searching
(06:12):
for in, you know, Applepodcasts or Spotify to
help them find your show?
Because if you type in, youknow, maybe it's like key
topics for, moms, you know,like make sure you've got mom
in there if it's key topicsfor, black women, like make
sure you have that in thereso your audience can find you.
If you don't have that,they'll, they'll never find
(06:34):
it because no one's going tosearch for girl talk, right?
Unless they know you, butwe want, we want to keep
those podcasts growing.
So making sure you have keywordsin your titles, important.
your cover art isreally important.
You want to make sure thosekeywords are also there and
that the cover art, It's easyto view, like it pops out at
you, so some, some kind ofstandards for that I would
(06:56):
say is have either a lightbackground or a dark background
and have the font easy toread, but then the opposite.
So if it's a white, whitishbackground, use a dark
color to pop and so on.
because again, a lot ofpeople have these beautiful
cover swirly writing, butwhen it's tiny on your phone,
it's really hard to read.
And they might, they havebeautiful professional
photos, but you're like,I don't know that person.
(07:18):
So I don't, I don'tknow if I want to listen
to them, you know?
So It's interesting.
Yeah.
Small things you don'teven think about that is
attracting your audience.
Yes.
What would you say, you know,when I'm looking at some of
my downloads, what do youthink are some, what's like
a sweet spot for downloadson streaming as far and, and
(07:43):
then YouTube, we know YouTubecould go all the way off the
charts, but what do you findare the sweet spots where
you're thinking, okay, thispodcast has something there.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, I'll giveyou some statistics to
kind of frame it all.
I mean, the one thing you wantto see with your podcast is
consistent growth over time.
(08:04):
And the longer youdo it, the more.
Ideally, your downloads aregoing to increase, but if
you are getting more than 125downloads per episode after
30 days, then you're in thetop 50 percent of podcasts.
So podcasts are gettingless than that, which is,
which is a lot of podcasts.
And then 50 percentare getting above that.
If you have more than a thousanddownloads per episode after
(08:27):
30 days, then you're in thetop 20 percent of podcasts.
that being said, Even witha small audience though,
especially if you're like aspeaker, a coach, a consultant,
a service provider, youcan be using your podcast
to grow your business.
So you don't need thousandsand thousands of listeners
to do that, to find, youknow, clients that you can
(08:49):
help with your expertise.
So I think that's one thingthat's magical about it.
Cause I know somepeople are like, what
are these numbers good?
Are they not good?
I think the key is just, like Isaid, that you're seeing growth
over time and that you're also.
the whole process of podcasting,people think it's easy.
It's not very easy.
You know, you come in andyou think, Oh yeah, I'll
(09:12):
just start this podcast.
Cause it's very easy to.
Jump online, but you, youdon't think about the costs
associated with the editing,the software that you have to
use to even do the podcast, youknow, advertising doing, it's a
lot of work and it's not cheap.
Editors are very,very expensive.
So when you look, what doyou look for in an editor?
(09:35):
I would look for turnaroundtime, that they can get it
back to you, you know, in atimely method so that you have
a chance to look at it and seeif you need to make changes.
I would also look for,you know, I'd love to see
examples of past work andif they can give you tips
to make your podcast better.
I mean, it's one thing if theycan edit out the ums and the
(09:56):
likes and, you know, when youtrip up your words, but you
really want someone to who'sgoing to give you tips to
be a better speaker, betterways to use the microphone.
if you're looking for like apodcast producer, you would
really want someone who can giveyou content strategy planning.
So really help you with thatlong game of like, how can
we link episodes together?
How can we, Makethings more bingeable.
(10:18):
How can we look at those, vieweranalytics or listener analytics
and look at those trends, figureout what's working, what else
we need to double down on.
so you want someone who's notonly just going to like take
that off your plate, but helpyou with the strategy down the
road, because if you're alreadypaying a lot of money for the
editor, you want someone who canput in that strategy as well.
(10:39):
So the editor, so, so, theeditor, and so, like I said,
I do this for fun, but theeditor and the producer,
two different things.
Yeah.
There are two differentroles, but it could be one
person, if that makes sense.
Okay.
for example, I'm apodcast producer.
So my clients willhire me, I edit it.
I'm like the social media.
(11:00):
but I'll also help them planout content and give them the
analytics report where I'mlike, here's based on what
I'm seeing with your audience.
This is what I, whatI think you should do.
Here's why let's try thisfor the next 90 days.
And then let's revisit againand see what's working.
You know, what keywords do weneed to keep showing up for?
what content was like themost downloaded, like let's
(11:20):
do two more episodes aboutthat and then link them.
So they're bingeable.
So that's, but somepeople just specialize.
Some people just do editing.
Some people just dothe social media.
Some people just dothe YouTube side.
so it kind of Yeah.
The social media itselfis a lot of work.
Yes, it is.
(11:40):
I know.
Yeah.
I know.
That's, that's probablymy least favorite part.
It's like a necessary evil.
Like you've got to, you gotto tell people what's going
on to keep the listenersyou already have engaged
so they can keep listening.
But it's, yeah, week afterweek, it gets to be quite a bit.
You know, it just.
Monotonous, you know, kind of,do you have any, you know,
(12:01):
tips for those out there thatare struggling, in the podcast
world, like take a step back.
Obviously theyneed your services.
So you want to talk moreabout your services, but
take a step back and do whatYeah.
Yeah.
If you're, if you're struggling,well, there's a couple different
(12:21):
ways you can go about it.
You can really take a look atthe things you love to do and
say, can I keep doing these?
And can I hire someone out forthe things I don't love to do?
If you're like, Idon't have any budget.
I can't do that.
you've got to really workon streamlining things.
tools that are going tomake it easier for you.
for example, Buzzsproutis a hosting platform
(12:43):
that you have to pay for.
So in the podcast world, there'sfree ones, which is like Spotify
for podcasters, which is great.
But if you want more indepth analytics and more
tools, I would say Libsynand Buzzsprout are great.
And like on Buzzsprout,they have a tool
called magic mastering.
Well, it'll automaticallyeven out the sound between
you and your guests.
So it's way less editing.
And then they also havesomething called co host AI.
(13:05):
So artificial intelligence, andit'll generate the show notes.
It'll generate a newsletter.
It'll generate social mediaposts for your episode.
You still need to wordsmithit because it's not, you
know, it's not your voiceand it's, it's not perfect,
but it's a great, great tool.
It's a great time saver inhaving to do all those things.
So, you know, findsystems that work.
(13:27):
I think for people whoare serious about growing
their podcasts, you reallywant to focus on putting
content out every week andthat, that can be a lot.
52 weeks a year.
So, you know, I tell my clients,like, let's figure out ways
to do, to make this easier.
Let's figure out ways tobatch episodes and episodes
(13:47):
can definitely be shorter.
in 2024, the ideal podcastepisode, I can't remember
if I told you this,Melissa, is 22 minutes.
So it's not that long actually.
Ah, really?
yeah.
and the reason that it's22 minutes is because the
average car commute inAmerica is 22 minutes.
So after people are donerunning their errands, or like
(14:08):
I said, walking their dog.
If it's a great episode, they'llprobably continue listening,
but sometimes they don't.
Sometimes they're like, I'mdone at the grocery store.
I'm, I'm just gonnado something else now.
And they don'tfinish that episode.
So, a good tip actually isto look in Apple podcast
analytics in, iTunes,Apple, Apple podcasts.
It's the only analyticswhere you can look at the
(14:30):
percentage of the episodethat was listened to.
And these, this is great forlooking at which episodes were
the most engaging, like whichones did people listen to 90
percent or more if people, likeif you have an hour episode
and they're, they're onlygetting through 53%, you're
like, Hey, if I probablyneed to make shorter episodes
because, or you could take thatlong episode chopping in two.
(14:52):
Yeah, you got part one,part two, just put a new
intro on the second partand then you're good.
So that's another way to keepthe content flowing, but you
know, make it less daunting,for the host to produce.
is interesting.
So I, you know, and.
Honestly, I've alwayssaid, you know, my
podcasts are 30 minutes.
Sometimes they run45 minutes, you know,
(15:12):
sometimes a little longer.
So I'm not thinking that,people are not really listening
to the entire episode becausethey've run out of time.
But I do find, ourshorts on YouTube.
Get a lot of hits Yep.
because I, cause I guessthat's what you were saying
(15:33):
is people like really fastinformation versus the 45
minute draft dragged out.
So, okay.
So I'll take that into practice.
Totally.
Yeah.
After this episode, go to, goto Apple, go to your analytics
and just check, check thoserates and see where they're at.
Be like, are peoplelistening to the longer ones?
Maybe they are.
(15:54):
Maybe they aren't, but youcan really see which episodes
were the most popular.
And then those, youknow, are good topics.
You're going to want tokeep doing, you're like,
let's do another topicabout that one or another
episode about that topic.
It makes sense.
So given the time that wehave together, what do you
want people to know about yourbusiness and how to reach you?
(16:14):
Sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, Like Melissa mentioned,I am a podcast growth coach.
So I would definitelycheck out my new podcast,
Podcast Growth Club.
you can, it's greatstrategies, just like
we're talking about today.
And if you have a podcast andyou're not seeing growth or you
want to start monetizing it,which a lot of us do, right,
even to just cover the costof producing it, please reach
(16:37):
out the emails in the podcast.
my email is Rayna, R AY N A at ladiesfirst.
com.
digitalmediacompany.
com.
You can find me on Instagram atpodcastgrowthcoaching, but yeah,
I do a two week podcast boosterwhere we get some strategies
into place right away.
You've got accessto me for 14 days.
You can ask me all thequestions you want.
(16:59):
if you want a deeperdive with strategy, I
have a 90 day program.
Where you, you're with me forthree months and each month
we're looking at analytics.
We're looking at what'sworking, what's not.
if you want someone tojust produce your podcast,
you're like, I need totake it off my plate.
You can, you canhire me for that too.
I'll help you with editing.
I'll help you with socialmedia, with your show notes.
So you just have to.
(17:20):
Produce your content andthen forget about it.
You're Oh, that's what I like.
Forget about it.
That's right.
So, so what is your, your,you know, your sweet spot
customer, all clients, oris there a customer that you
will, you know, not necessarilyready for your services?
(17:41):
Yeah.
gosh, I mean, I, I love workingwith women podcasters because I
really, I'm really big on makingsure women's voices are heard.
So that's kind of my sweet spot.
But, I have, I do help peoplelaunch their podcasts in a way
that it's going to grow as well.
So if you're like, I reallywant to do a podcast.
But there's so many things,I don't know where to start.
(18:03):
If you want an expert handto guide you, I've got a
great 12 week program wherewe work one to one each week.
We get your podcastlaunched, we help you
streamline things so you feelcomfortable with it after.
but yeah, my, other than that,my ideal customer is someone
Who, like I said, is a coach,consultant, business owner,
and wants to use their podcastto grow their business because
(18:24):
that's, that's where I feellike my zone of genius is I can
look at all, all the aspectsand say, all right, let's,
let's, here's a strategy toget us through the woods and
to get you start making money,to start getting new clients.
That's, I kind of lovedigging into that.
That's nice.
That's good.
Do you find yourself,practicing with those?
(18:45):
Who, you know, have fulltime jobs or is podcasting
in their full time life.
Yeah.
A lot of people want to getto that full time podcaster,
but, right now it's, it's likea, A platform they're using to
grow their business and theneventually it will become their
business, if that makes sense.
Okay.
(19:05):
I see a lot of individualslike, you know, have studios
and I, and in my head, I'mlike, Ooh, ah, you know,
here I am in my dining room.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, I think withthe technology today,
you don't need a studio.
Yes, it's nice, but evenin the past four years, the
(19:25):
equipment, the digital recordingspaces have gotten so much
better that, like, if youhave interviews, your guest
doesn't need a microphone.
You can make the audio soundgreat, which was not the case.
I would say four or fiveyears ago before you're like,
yeah, let's meet in a studio.
You know, we got nice wallsthat are soundproofed.
You don't need that anymore,which, which is awesome.
So yay for technology formaking it more accessible.
(19:48):
Yeah, that's cool.
Just to, you know, bouncefrom one room to the
next and, and release.
I think for me, this islike a tension release.
It's really cool to have theseconversations with individuals.
You know?
Yeah.
So, last question, what wouldyou, what advice, top three
(20:11):
things you would tell, someonewho wants to start a podcast.
So you want to start a podcast.
So here's the top threethings you need to know.
Okay.
yeah, if you want to start apodcast, you definitely want to
know who you're, who it's for,who is your ideal audience.
The more you can niche it down,the better you're going to do.
(20:34):
Cause I know at first,sometimes people are
like, it's for everybody.
It's for women.
And it's like, Nope, Nope.
There's so many out there.
You got to niche it down.
think about what makes youunique that you can bring to it.
you, I would also really makesure you have the time, like you
were mentioning, because you,you want to keep it up, right?
(20:55):
You want to keep doing itweek by week, so I would
say make sure, especiallyat the beginning, that you
have at least five hours aweek just to dedicate to it.
Yeah, as you get betterand better, it'll get
easier and easier and youcan streamline that down.
But when you're first starting,you know, editing and all
that stuff takes, takes time.
The other thing I wouldtell them, you are serious,
(21:17):
it's not just a hobby, butyou want to use it to grow
your influence, to grow yourbrand, to grow your business.
I would hire someone like myselfto help you because you're going
to save yourself so much timeand money in the end because
we'll show you the best ways,like I said, to have listeners
find you, to set up yourepisodes for success, to help
you with all the tech issues.
(21:38):
you can do it on your own, butit's, it's kind of a rabbit
hole, like a lot of things.
So if you like, ifit's not a hobby.
You know, then I would say,spend the money to have someone,
you know, bring you, bring youright down the path of success.
So you don't waste allthat time, time and energy
trying to figure it out.
Yeah.
I think I've been with myeditor going on, I don't know,
(22:00):
four or five years or so.
And, I found himon Instagram, which Oh,
you know, like doing a searchon Instagram and I lucked out
because it could have been aweirdo that was going to take
my money, but it was just,you know, lucked out, he's
excellent at what he does.
So we've kind of grown together.
(22:20):
So I think that, findingsomeone like yourself in
him, is beneficial to theart of this because without.
In experts such asyourselves, and it's very
difficult in my opinion.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you're just going to getfrustrated and then you won't
have your podcast, right?
You're going to get pod fade.
(22:41):
You're going to burn out andyou're going to toss it away.
And then what good is that?
You have good ideas toshare with the world.
Like make sure youget them out there.
right.
I agree.
Well, it's been awesome.
you have me at the 22minutes now and all of my
podcasts will be 22 minutesPerfect.
You're like, that's it.
(23:01):
Got to go.
yeah, we just like, you know,normally this shoot and shit
keep going, you know, but youknow, 22 minutes makes sense.
Yeah.
Yeah, it does.
I know.
Once you know, you can't unknow.
You're like, Oh,it's 22 minutes.
Let's Yeah, let's wrap this up.
Rayna, it's been anabsolute pleasure.
(23:22):
I'm so excited to, have you on.
I enjoyed the conversationand I'm sure that the rest of
the community of individualswho are listening will get
something out of this too.
And I hope that if youare listening, that
you reach out to Rayna.
Rayna.
and you're starting apodcast, reach out to her
(23:42):
and utilize her services.
Rain again, wherecan they find you?
Yeah.
You can find me onLinkedIn at Rayna Rokiki.
You can find me on Instagramat podcast growth coaching.
And of course you can find me atthe podcast growth club podcast.
So listen in.
You can contactme there as well.
I can't wait to listen.
(24:02):
So thanks again, Rayna.
And as always, I seeyou because I am you.
Thanks for listening.
Even with a small audiencethough, especially if you're
(00:03):
like a speaker, a coach, aconsultant, a service provider,
you can be using your podcastto grow your business.
So you don't need thousandsand thousands of listeners
to do that, to find, youknow, clients that you can
help with your expertiseWelcome to Girl Talk
Podcast with Melissa Ann.
(00:23):
And I am excited today to havea special guest Rayna on the
phone, and I will not attemptto botch Rayna's last name.
She will let you know howto pronounce her last name,
but really excited to haveRayna on because all of
us want to be podcasters,our so called podcasters.
And you see a gazillion podcastspopping up, but are we really
(00:46):
doing them the right way?
And so I thought I'd haveRayna on to talk through today.
So you want to be a podcasterAnd there's more and you
could actually get some ofRayna's services and she'll
talk more about that as well.
So without further ado Rayna,please introduce yourself
(01:08):
Hey guys, this isRayna, Rokicki.
Thanks.
My last name is a little weird.
Yeah.
Rokicki.
I am a podcast growthcoach and podcast
producer, YouTube producer.
And I pretty much live andbreathe all things podcasting.
So as you can guess, I'malways excited to talk podcasts
and yeah, most of, like youmentioned, I mean, more and
(01:30):
more podcasts keep poppingup, but I don't think that's
necessarily a bad thing.
I think it's one of those nicheplatforms where you can have.
Tons and tons of them, becauseyou really need, you know, maybe
a thousand true fans to make ityour own, to start monetizing,
you can even monetize withless than that, but it's a fun
way to reach your audience,especially if you're someone
who loves to talk, like, ifyou're a writer, maybe don't
(01:53):
go into podcasting, go into,you know, blogging or something
else, but if you like to talk,you like to have conversations.
Podcasting is the way to go.
yeah, and it's weird becausepersonally I don't like my
voice So I was like, eh, I'lldo podcasting only because
it was during the pandemicand I needed something to do.
So I, I started out doingthis as something fun and
(02:15):
was quite nervous about, myvoice and talking and making
sure that there was dialogue,but it just came so easily.
You know, once youstart having a dialogue
and making people feelcomfortable with individuals.
So what do you suggest or outfirst, the first question I have
for you is how did you get intopodcasting and has that always
(02:38):
been something you wanted todo and radio or communications?
Yeah.
Great question.
I've always loved audiostorytelling like the,
I can't say I've alwaysbeen a radio fan, but I
love listening to things.
And, I did, I did go to collegefor communications, but actually
I was a teacher for a long time.
(02:58):
And I was aninternational teacher.
Actually, I lived inNigeria for six years and
we came back during COVID.
And, it was at that point whereI'd done a lot of audio video
projects with my students.
And I was like, you know what,I'm ready to get back into
the audio communication world.
So I dove into podcasting,started having clients
helping them out.
And then of course I waslike, I need my own podcast.
(03:19):
So I did that.
I am, I have two podcasts.
One is called YouBetcha She Did.
And it's all about reallycool, you know, Midwest
women doing neat things,entrepreneurs, change makers.
And then I justactually launched my new
podcast this morning.
It is calledPodcast Growth Club.
And it's all strategies and tipsto help you grow your podcast
like a business and also startto monetize it without sponsors.
(03:43):
So No.
if you are a podcaster,you're definitely going
to want to check that out.
It's a great exampleof podcasting.
What it's like to workwith me and some of the
tools and tips I've used.
because yeah, I've been in thepodcasting space since COVID.
I worked for a podcastproduction company
for a while as well.
And then I kind of went myown way, just focusing on,
helping women podcasters.
(04:04):
So it's, I don't know,it's a, it's a great field.
Like I said, it doesn't, itdoesn't seem to be slowing down.
And I think.
I think there's a coupleof reasons for that.
One reason is that podcasts,it's like the only medium out
there where you can multitask,like you can be driving your
car, listening to a podcast,you can be running errands, you
know, whatever you need to do.
(04:24):
Like you can't watch YouTubeand clean your house, or
you can't watch YouTubeand walk your dog, or.
Workout, whatever it is,same with social media.
Same with, I mean, I guessyou could kind of sort
of read on the treadmill,but you know what I mean?
But podcasts are one ofthose things where you
can listen while doinga million other things.
And I think that's awesome.
And you kind of really getinto the ear of your listeners.
(04:46):
You know what I mean?
Like we put those littleearbuds in, you're making
that really intense connectionthat's amazing.
And one of the things thatyou and I talked about was.
You, you have to makesure that it's, it's like
sales or anything else.
You have to have adifferentiator from
other podcasts, but, youknow, for example, you
(05:07):
talked about girl talk.
So my, you know, I, Ithought, Oh, that's snazzy.
I'm from New York girl talk.
But girl, talk what?
Like, what do we talk about?
And you brought thatto my attention of, you
know, what is the taglineor what is the subtitle?
what are some of the mistakessuch as those that individuals
(05:29):
make that you find that inyour coaching of, podcasters?
Yeah, I mean, the, the biggestone I come across is people
missing the mark on havinglisteners find their show,
because like you mentioned,people want to have like a
really fun title, a snazzytitle, but unless they know you
personally, or they're alreadyconnected to you on social
media, new listeners aren'tgoing to find your show and
(05:51):
you don't want the name of yourshow to be the number one reason
why people aren't finding it.
So you could stillhave a snazzy title.
especially if that's like abrand you've worked on for a
while, but I would definitelyadd a title extension on like,
like we were talking about whereyou tell exactly who it's for.
Like, who is thisspecific show for?
Like, what are the keywordssomeone would be searching
(06:12):
for in, you know, Applepodcasts or Spotify to
help them find your show?
Because if you type in, youknow, maybe it's like key
topics for, moms, you know,like make sure you've got mom
in there if it's key topicsfor, black women, like make
sure you have that in thereso your audience can find you.
If you don't have that,they'll, they'll never find
(06:34):
it because no one's going tosearch for girl talk, right?
Unless they know you, butwe want, we want to keep
those podcasts growing.
So making sure you have keywordsin your titles, important.
your cover art isreally important.
You want to make sure thosekeywords are also there and
that the cover art, It's easyto view, like it pops out at
you, so some, some kind ofstandards for that I would
(06:56):
say is have either a lightbackground or a dark background
and have the font easy toread, but then the opposite.
So if it's a white, whitishbackground, use a dark
color to pop and so on.
because again, a lot ofpeople have these beautiful
cover swirly writing, butwhen it's tiny on your phone,
it's really hard to read.
And they might, they havebeautiful professional
photos, but you're like,I don't know that person.
(07:18):
So I don't, I don'tknow if I want to listen
to them, you know?
So It's interesting.
Yeah.
Small things you don'teven think about that is
attracting your audience.
Yes.
What would you say, you know,when I'm looking at some of
my downloads, what do youthink are some, what's like
a sweet spot for downloadson streaming as far and, and
(07:43):
then YouTube, we know YouTubecould go all the way off the
charts, but what do you findare the sweet spots where
you're thinking, okay, thispodcast has something there.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, I'll giveyou some statistics to
kind of frame it all.
I mean, the one thing you wantto see with your podcast is
consistent growth over time.
(08:04):
And the longer youdo it, the more.
Ideally, your downloads aregoing to increase, but if
you are getting more than 125downloads per episode after
30 days, then you're in thetop 50 percent of podcasts.
So podcasts are gettingless than that, which is,
which is a lot of podcasts.
And then 50 percentare getting above that.
If you have more than a thousanddownloads per episode after
(08:27):
30 days, then you're in thetop 20 percent of podcasts.
that being said, Even witha small audience though,
especially if you're like aspeaker, a coach, a consultant,
a service provider, youcan be using your podcast
to grow your business.
So you don't need thousandsand thousands of listeners
to do that, to find, youknow, clients that you can
(08:49):
help with your expertise.
So I think that's one thingthat's magical about it.
Cause I know somepeople are like, what
are these numbers good?
Are they not good?
I think the key is just, like Isaid, that you're seeing growth
over time and that you're also.
the whole process of podcasting,people think it's easy.
It's not very easy.
You know, you come in andyou think, Oh yeah, I'll
(09:12):
just start this podcast.
Cause it's very easy to.
Jump online, but you, youdon't think about the costs
associated with the editing,the software that you have to
use to even do the podcast, youknow, advertising doing, it's a
lot of work and it's not cheap.
Editors are very,very expensive.
So when you look, what doyou look for in an editor?
(09:35):
I would look for turnaroundtime, that they can get it
back to you, you know, in atimely method so that you have
a chance to look at it and seeif you need to make changes.
I would also look for,you know, I'd love to see
examples of past work andif they can give you tips
to make your podcast better.
I mean, it's one thing if theycan edit out the ums and the
(09:56):
likes and, you know, when youtrip up your words, but you
really want someone to who'sgoing to give you tips to
be a better speaker, betterways to use the microphone.
if you're looking for like apodcast producer, you would
really want someone who can giveyou content strategy planning.
So really help you with thatlong game of like, how can
we link episodes together?
How can we, Makethings more bingeable.
(10:18):
How can we look at those, vieweranalytics or listener analytics
and look at those trends, figureout what's working, what else
we need to double down on.
so you want someone who's notonly just going to like take
that off your plate, but helpyou with the strategy down the
road, because if you're alreadypaying a lot of money for the
editor, you want someone who canput in that strategy as well.
(10:39):
So the editor, so, so, theeditor, and so, like I said,
I do this for fun, but theeditor and the producer,
two different things.
Yeah.
There are two differentroles, but it could be one
person, if that makes sense.
Okay.
for example, I'm apodcast producer.
So my clients willhire me, I edit it.
I'm like the social media.
(11:00):
but I'll also help them planout content and give them the
analytics report where I'mlike, here's based on what
I'm seeing with your audience.
This is what I, whatI think you should do.
Here's why let's try thisfor the next 90 days.
And then let's revisit againand see what's working.
You know, what keywords do weneed to keep showing up for?
what content was like themost downloaded, like let's
(11:20):
do two more episodes aboutthat and then link them.
So they're bingeable.
So that's, but somepeople just specialize.
Some people just do editing.
Some people just dothe social media.
Some people just dothe YouTube side.
so it kind of Yeah.
The social media itselfis a lot of work.
Yes, it is.
(11:40):
I know.
Yeah.
I know.
That's, that's probablymy least favorite part.
It's like a necessary evil.
Like you've got to, you gotto tell people what's going
on to keep the listenersyou already have engaged
so they can keep listening.
But it's, yeah, week afterweek, it gets to be quite a bit.
You know, it just.
Monotonous, you know, kind of,do you have any, you know,
(12:01):
tips for those out there thatare struggling, in the podcast
world, like take a step back.
Obviously theyneed your services.
So you want to talk moreabout your services, but
take a step back and do whatYeah.
Yeah.
If you're, if you're struggling,well, there's a couple different
(12:21):
ways you can go about it.
You can really take a look atthe things you love to do and
say, can I keep doing these?
And can I hire someone out forthe things I don't love to do?
If you're like, Idon't have any budget.
I can't do that.
you've got to really workon streamlining things.
tools that are going tomake it easier for you.
for example, Buzzsproutis a hosting platform
(12:43):
that you have to pay for.
So in the podcast world, there'sfree ones, which is like Spotify
for podcasters, which is great.
But if you want more indepth analytics and more
tools, I would say Libsynand Buzzsprout are great.
And like on Buzzsprout,they have a tool
called magic mastering.
Well, it'll automaticallyeven out the sound between
you and your guests.
So it's way less editing.
And then they also havesomething called co host AI.
(13:05):
So artificial intelligence, andit'll generate the show notes.
It'll generate a newsletter.
It'll generate social mediaposts for your episode.
You still need to wordsmithit because it's not, you
know, it's not your voiceand it's, it's not perfect,
but it's a great, great tool.
It's a great time saver inhaving to do all those things.
So, you know, findsystems that work.
(13:27):
I think for people whoare serious about growing
their podcasts, you reallywant to focus on putting
content out every week andthat, that can be a lot.
52 weeks a year.
So, you know, I tell my clients,like, let's figure out ways
to do, to make this easier.
Let's figure out ways tobatch episodes and episodes
(13:47):
can definitely be shorter.
in 2024, the ideal podcastepisode, I can't remember
if I told you this,Melissa, is 22 minutes.
So it's not that long actually.
Ah, really?
yeah.
and the reason that it's22 minutes is because the
average car commute inAmerica is 22 minutes.
So after people are donerunning their errands, or like
(14:08):
I said, walking their dog.
If it's a great episode, they'llprobably continue listening,
but sometimes they don't.
Sometimes they're like, I'mdone at the grocery store.
I'm, I'm just gonnado something else now.
And they don'tfinish that episode.
So, a good tip actually isto look in Apple podcast
analytics in, iTunes,Apple, Apple podcasts.
It's the only analyticswhere you can look at the
(14:30):
percentage of the episodethat was listened to.
And these, this is great forlooking at which episodes were
the most engaging, like whichones did people listen to 90
percent or more if people, likeif you have an hour episode
and they're, they're onlygetting through 53%, you're
like, Hey, if I probablyneed to make shorter episodes
because, or you could take thatlong episode chopping in two.
(14:52):
Yeah, you got part one,part two, just put a new
intro on the second partand then you're good.
So that's another way to keepthe content flowing, but you
know, make it less daunting,for the host to produce.
is interesting.
So I, you know, and.
Honestly, I've alwayssaid, you know, my
podcasts are 30 minutes.
Sometimes they run45 minutes, you know,
(15:12):
sometimes a little longer.
So I'm not thinking that,people are not really listening
to the entire episode becausethey've run out of time.
But I do find, ourshorts on YouTube.
Get a lot of hits Yep.
because I, cause I guessthat's what you were saying
(15:33):
is people like really fastinformation versus the 45
minute draft dragged out.
So, okay.
So I'll take that into practice.
Totally.
Yeah.
After this episode, go to, goto Apple, go to your analytics
and just check, check thoserates and see where they're at.
Be like, are peoplelistening to the longer ones?
Maybe they are.
(15:54):
Maybe they aren't, but youcan really see which episodes
were the most popular.
And then those, youknow, are good topics.
You're going to want tokeep doing, you're like,
let's do another topicabout that one or another
episode about that topic.
It makes sense.
So given the time that wehave together, what do you
want people to know about yourbusiness and how to reach you?
(16:14):
Sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, Like Melissa mentioned,I am a podcast growth coach.
So I would definitelycheck out my new podcast,
Podcast Growth Club.
you can, it's greatstrategies, just like
we're talking about today.
And if you have a podcast andyou're not seeing growth or you
want to start monetizing it,which a lot of us do, right,
even to just cover the costof producing it, please reach
(16:37):
out the emails in the podcast.
my email is Rayna, R AY N A at ladiesfirst.
com.
digitalmediacompany.
com.
You can find me on Instagram atpodcastgrowthcoaching, but yeah,
I do a two week podcast boosterwhere we get some strategies
into place right away.
You've got accessto me for 14 days.
You can ask me all thequestions you want.
(16:59):
if you want a deeperdive with strategy, I
have a 90 day program.
Where you, you're with me forthree months and each month
we're looking at analytics.
We're looking at what'sworking, what's not.
if you want someone tojust produce your podcast,
you're like, I need totake it off my plate.
You can, you canhire me for that too.
I'll help you with editing.
I'll help you with socialmedia, with your show notes.
So you just have to.
(17:20):
Produce your content andthen forget about it.
You're Oh, that's what I like.
Forget about it.
That's right.
So, so what is your, your,you know, your sweet spot
customer, all clients, oris there a customer that you
will, you know, not necessarilyready for your services?
(17:41):
Yeah.
gosh, I mean, I, I love workingwith women podcasters because I
really, I'm really big on makingsure women's voices are heard.
So that's kind of my sweet spot.
But, I have, I do help peoplelaunch their podcasts in a way
that it's going to grow as well.
So if you're like, I reallywant to do a podcast.
But there's so many things,I don't know where to start.
(18:03):
If you want an expert handto guide you, I've got a
great 12 week program wherewe work one to one each week.
We get your podcastlaunched, we help you
streamline things so you feelcomfortable with it after.
but yeah, my, other than that,my ideal customer is someone
Who, like I said, is a coach,consultant, business owner,
and wants to use their podcastto grow their business because
(18:24):
that's, that's where I feellike my zone of genius is I can
look at all, all the aspectsand say, all right, let's,
let's, here's a strategy toget us through the woods and
to get you start making money,to start getting new clients.
That's, I kind of lovedigging into that.
That's nice.
That's good.
Do you find yourself,practicing with those?
(18:45):
Who, you know, have fulltime jobs or is podcasting
in their full time life.
Yeah.
A lot of people want to getto that full time podcaster,
but, right now it's, it's likea, A platform they're using to
grow their business and theneventually it will become their
business, if that makes sense.
Okay.
(19:05):
I see a lot of individualslike, you know, have studios
and I, and in my head, I'mlike, Ooh, ah, you know,
here I am in my dining room.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, I think withthe technology today,
you don't need a studio.
Yes, it's nice, but evenin the past four years, the
(19:25):
equipment, the digital recordingspaces have gotten so much
better that, like, if youhave interviews, your guest
doesn't need a microphone.
You can make the audio soundgreat, which was not the case.
I would say four or fiveyears ago before you're like,
yeah, let's meet in a studio.
You know, we got nice wallsthat are soundproofed.
You don't need that anymore,which, which is awesome.
So yay for technology formaking it more accessible.
(19:48):
Yeah, that's cool.
Just to, you know, bouncefrom one room to the
next and, and release.
I think for me, this islike a tension release.
It's really cool to have theseconversations with individuals.
You know?
Yeah.
So, last question, what wouldyou, what advice, top three
(20:11):
things you would tell, someonewho wants to start a podcast.
So you want to start a podcast.
So here's the top threethings you need to know.
Okay.
yeah, if you want to start apodcast, you definitely want to
know who you're, who it's for,who is your ideal audience.
The more you can niche it down,the better you're going to do.
(20:34):
Cause I know at first,sometimes people are
like, it's for everybody.
It's for women.
And it's like, Nope, Nope.
There's so many out there.
You got to niche it down.
think about what makes youunique that you can bring to it.
you, I would also really makesure you have the time, like you
were mentioning, because you,you want to keep it up, right?
(20:55):
You want to keep doing itweek by week, so I would
say make sure, especiallyat the beginning, that you
have at least five hours aweek just to dedicate to it.
Yeah, as you get betterand better, it'll get
easier and easier and youcan streamline that down.
But when you're first starting,you know, editing and all
that stuff takes, takes time.
The other thing I wouldtell them, you are serious,
(21:17):
it's not just a hobby, butyou want to use it to grow
your influence, to grow yourbrand, to grow your business.
I would hire someone like myselfto help you because you're going
to save yourself so much timeand money in the end because
we'll show you the best ways,like I said, to have listeners
find you, to set up yourepisodes for success, to help
you with all the tech issues.
(21:38):
you can do it on your own, butit's, it's kind of a rabbit
hole, like a lot of things.
So if you like, ifit's not a hobby.
You know, then I would say,spend the money to have someone,
you know, bring you, bring youright down the path of success.
So you don't waste allthat time, time and energy
trying to figure it out.
Yeah.
I think I've been with myeditor going on, I don't know,
(22:00):
four or five years or so.
And, I found himon Instagram, which Oh,
you know, like doing a searchon Instagram and I lucked out
because it could have been aweirdo that was going to take
my money, but it was just,you know, lucked out, he's
excellent at what he does.
So we've kind of grown together.
(22:20):
So I think that, findingsomeone like yourself in
him, is beneficial to theart of this because without.
In experts such asyourselves, and it's very
difficult in my opinion.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you're just going to getfrustrated and then you won't
have your podcast, right?
You're going to get pod fade.
(22:41):
You're going to burn out andyou're going to toss it away.
And then what good is that?
You have good ideas toshare with the world.
Like make sure youget them out there.
right.
I agree.
Well, it's been awesome.
you have me at the 22minutes now and all of my
podcasts will be 22 minutesPerfect.
You're like, that's it.
(23:01):
Got to go.
yeah, we just like, you know,normally this shoot and shit
keep going, you know, but youknow, 22 minutes makes sense.
Yeah.
Yeah, it does.
I know.
Once you know, you can't unknow.
You're like, Oh,it's 22 minutes.
Let's Yeah, let's wrap this up.
Rayna, it's been anabsolute pleasure.
(23:22):
I'm so excited to, have you on.
I enjoyed the conversationand I'm sure that the rest of
the community of individualswho are listening will get
something out of this too.
And I hope that if youare listening, that
you reach out to Rayna.
Rayna.
and you're starting apodcast, reach out to her
(23:42):
and utilize her services.
Rain again, wherecan they find you?
Yeah.
You can find me onLinkedIn at Rayna Rokiki.
You can find me on Instagramat podcast growth coaching.
And of course you can find me atthe podcast growth club podcast.
So listen in.
You can contactme there as well.
I can't wait to listen.
(24:02):
So thanks again, Rayna.
And as always, I seeyou because I am you.
Thanks for listening.
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