August 11, 2026 • 46 mins
What if your support team could answer customers’ questions before they ever submitted a ticket?
In this episode, we’re joined by Cara Pacetti, host of Podcasting Q&A and a member of Buzzsprout’s Podcaster Success team, along with Happy to Help producer and longtime podcaster Jordan Blair. Together, we explore how businesses can use podcasting as a proactive customer support strategy for educating customers, answering recurring questions, and building trust at scale.
We look at how Buzzsprout transformed Podcasting Q&A from a marketing initiative into a customer education resource, why support inboxes are full of potential episode ideas, and how a branded podcast can give customers more than step-by-step instructions. It can also teach the strategies behind a product, service, or feature.
We also discuss the unique ability of podcasting to create authentic relationships and brand loyalty. When customers regularly hear the voices of the people behind a company, support begins to feel more personal, familiar, and approachable. Over time, listeners can even become super fans who help educate and encourage other customers.
In this episode, we cover:
- How podcasting creates proactive and scalable customer support
- Turning frequently asked questions into evergreen content
- Using educational content to prevent customer frustration
- Building customer trust and brand loyalty through audio
- Adding support elements to an existing branded podcast
- Giving support professionals creative opportunities beyond the inbox
- Choosing topics, hosts, equipment, and production roles
- Using AI to identify recurring questions and brainstorm episodes
- Starting a podcast without overthinking the technology
- Why even a limited 10-episode series can become a valuable customer resource
Resources mentioned:
- Listen to Podcasting Q&A
- Follow Buzzcast
- Listen to Buzzsprout’s How to Start a Podcast series
- Learn more about Buzzsprout Fan Mail
If this episode inspires your support team to experiment with podcasting, send us Fan Mail and tell us about it!
We want to hear from you! Share your support stories and questions with us at happytohelp@buzzsprout.com!
To learn more about Buzzsprout visit Buzzsprout.com.
Thanks for listening!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Priscilla (00:00):
Welcome to Happy to Help, a podcast about customer
support from the people atBuzzsprout.
I'm your host, PriscillaBrooke.
Today we're talking about howlaunching a podcast can extend
your support experience.
We'll explore what inspiredBuzzsprout's Podcast, Podcast
and QA, how it helps customerssucceed, and how you can use
content and conversation in yoursupport strategy.
(00:21):
Thanks for joining us.
Let's get into it.
Okay, I'm really excited aboutthis episode.
Um, it's exciting for mespecifically because if you've
listened to this podcast for anyamount of time, you know that
Buzzsprout is the producer ofthis podcast, and Buzzsprout is
a podcast hosting service.
And so we're really big intopodcasting.
(00:44):
And so this episode is reallyfun because we're going to talk
about how podcasting canactually give you a way to level
up your support strategy andgive you like some cool ways to
connect with your customers.
So we have two guests.
One of them is Jordan, ourpodcast producer.
And she's here as a guesttoday.
I mean, she'll also beproducing, but she's here as a
(01:06):
guest today because she's alsothe host of several very
successful podcasts.
And I was thinking about it,Jordan.
I feel like you're the mostknowledgeable person about
podcasts that I know.
I feel like you've been doingit.
Well, I mean, obviously, I workat Buzzsprout.
There's so many people herethat are like really
knowledgeable about Buzzsprout.
I think you have like the mosthands-on experience.
(01:28):
You've been podcasting for areally long time.
You have a variety of differenttypes of shows.
You're constantly helpingpeople launch new shows and
you're editing new shows.
And so I'm really excitedbecause I think you are like
just a wealth of knowledge.
Thank you.
And then our second guest isCara Pacetti.
Cara is our podcaster successconcierge.
(01:48):
She's on the podcaster successteam, but a lot of her role is
about welcoming new podcastersand helping them podcast with
confidence.
And so she's also the host ofPodcast and QA, which is the
podcast that she runs under theumbrella of the support team
here at Buzzsprout.
So it's really exciting to haveyou here too, Cara, to talk
(02:10):
about podcasting.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I love it.
I'm excited.
I feel much more equipped thistime than my first two guesting
appearances.
Jordan (02:15):
Yeah, I think this is maybe one of the easier episodes
of Happy to Help because thisis directly in our wheelhouse.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Priscilla (02:23):
So before we get into talking about podcasting and
support and how we can usepodcasting for support, we
always start our episodes off ona positive note.
So, Cara, do you have a storyof someone who's made your day
recently?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
So recently we offered uh what we call a
Buzzsprout class.
It's something new that we'redoing where we get to highlight
some of our Buzzsprout features.
And the feature that wehighlighted was fan mail, which
is a really fun, interactive wayfor listeners to engage with
their favorite podcast.
And so my day was made when Iunexpectedly received some fan
(02:56):
mail to my podcasting QApodcast.
Nice from an attendee thatattended the fan mail class,
sent me a hype up message justletting me know that they really
enjoyed the class and that theywere excited.
They were returning topodcasting and they were so
thankful.
And so not only did I feelsuper energized and encouraged
(03:17):
that my class helped somebody,but also the fact that they
successfully sent a fan mailmessage, which is exactly what
the training was on.
And so it was such a win-winand it fell in line perfectly
with this recording.
Um, and so I was excited toshare that.
So that definitely made my day.
Priscilla (03:34):
I love that.
That's awesome.
It's one of the things that Ithink we've even mentioned on
this podcast, but like howimportant it is to like hype
each other up and like giveencouragement easily.
And the fact that that personwent out of their way to send
you a message to tell you youdid a good job.
We finished that classyesterday and we felt really
good about it.
But then when we got back toour desks and saw that message
(03:56):
come through, it was more like,oh man, it it hyped us up even
more.
Like we already felt good aboutit.
But absolutely seeing thathappen was so encouraging.
And then hearing from someonewas so encouraging.
And so I love that story.
And I think that's that's justa great example.
Jordan (04:12):
Well, and also, I mean, to even like add to it, Alban,
our head of marketing, saw thatwe had received a fan mail
message about podcasting QA.
And then he screenshot it andshared it to the company.
And then the whole company waslike, Yeah, Cara.
Oh, yeah.
Speaker (04:25):
That definitely was a great feeling.
I forgot to mention that partalso made my day.
Yeah.
Priscilla (04:30):
But it's so cool because the person who attended
took 20 seconds to write you athank you note and send it to
the podcast.
And then Alban saw it and took20 seconds to take that note and
post it in front of the wholecompany.
Yeah.
And then everyone in thecompany saw it and took three
seconds to boost it and, youknow, celebrate you.
(04:52):
But that's like what, a totalof 40 seconds that made your day
so much better.
Yeah.
With like the tiniest littlething when we actually break it
down like that, it just soundslike, why am I not doing this
more?
Why am I not complimentingpeople more?
It's so impactful.
And I just don't think to do itas much as I should.
Me too.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
A shameless plug to the happy to help listeners.
If you were loving the contentthat Priscilla is putting out
each week, click the send us fanmail link in the show notes and
let her know.
Go ahead and make her day.
Cara, that is why you're ourfavorite guest.
unknown (05:24):
That's right.
Priscilla (05:26):
Okay, so let's jump into podcasting.
Yeah.
Specifically how podcasting canbe used to level up the support
service that you're offeringyour customers.
So when you think aboutsupport, most people are going
to think about tickets andemails, maybe a chat bot, maybe
AI responses or phone calls.
(05:47):
But like we've talked about inthis podcast quite a few times,
your support service should bemore like a firehouse.
Remember, Chase came on andtalked to us about the idea that
while yes, we're putting outfires, the best support teams
are creating an environmentwhere fires aren't happening in
the first place.
And so people don't have tocome to you for help because
(06:08):
they don't need help becausethey've been educated up front.
When I think about podcastingin a support sense, that just
feels like a natural proactiveapproach to support.
And so I'm really, you know, Iam excited to talk about it
because I think it's somethingthat can set you apart from your
competition and is somethingthat can be a fun, creative way
(06:28):
to interact with your customersand build a relationship with
them.
Absolutely.
So first I want to like go backa couple of years to, I think
it was about 2018 when welaunched a podcast under the
Buzzproud umbrella called FiveMinute Mondays.
So the idea of this podcast wasa podcast that came out weekly
every Monday, and it was, youknow, five minutes thereabout.
(06:50):
Very self-explanatory.
Very a Monday podcast that wasabout five minutes.
Uh-huh.
That was it.
And the idea was we're gonnagive you a quick tip for the
week, right?
We're gonna give you a tipabout podcasting for the week.
And it was launched under ourmarketing team.
And at the time, you know,podcasting, this was pre-2020.
And so podcasting was known,but it wasn't the popular media
(07:14):
that it is today.
Yeah.
When we launched it, there wasan idea behind it that this
would be a way to get BuzzSprout into that education piece
for people who want to startpodcasts so that we would be top
of mind because we'd have thesevideos.
Cause I think they were pushingvideo to YouTube at the time
and they were making a podcastabout podcasting.
And so it really was more of amarketing push when it was
(07:36):
originally launched.
And it ran successfully forseveral years.
At one point, Jordan, youhosted it for a hot minute.
Jordan (07:43):
Yeah, it got like rebranded because we realized
like five minute Mondays is notvery SEO friendly and it doesn't
really say what it's about.
Yeah.
Priscilla (07:51):
You know that it happens on Monday and you know
that's five minutes, but youdon't know what it's about.
Yeah.
Jordan (07:55):
So it got like somewhere in there, it got rebranded
podcasting QA.
And then we went from like fiveminutes to like then bringing
on guests for like quickepisodes and it's been through a
million iterations.
Yes.
Priscilla (08:07):
And then at some point it kind of took a hiatus.
The marketing team was workingon different initiatives.
It wasn't uh priority on themarketing team, and so it kind
of sat there for a couple years.
It still got a lot of traction,but it didn't produce any new
episodes until last year.
Last year, the support team waslooking for creative ways to
(08:29):
lean into customer education.
Yeah.
Karen, you could speak to this.
We tried a lot of differentthings.
What are some of the thingsthat we tried?
Because you really led most ofthose.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
We did one-on-one calls.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, we've doneorientations, but it was an
iteration.
I was cold calling or coldemailing customers and who just
set up new accounts and said, Doyou guys want to jump on a
call?
Do you need help?
And so that was some of thecreative ways, but we knew we
needed something that could, youknow, be more time efficient
and reach a lot more people.
Priscilla (08:59):
So and we started doing Buzz Sprout Lives, is what
we called them, which Cara andI were both very excited about.
So they were kind of likeclasses, kind of like how Cara
was talking about with the fanmail class, but it was on
Facebook.
We have a Facebook community,and we would go on there and we
would host a live.
And the idea was it was likejoin the live and ask us
(09:19):
questions and let us give youreal-time support.
I thought it was a really coolidea, but we really didn't get a
ton of traction because what werealized was that the time that
would work for us to do a liveQA session was not the time that
worked for our podcasters,because a lot of times
podcasting is a hobby thatsomeone's doing after hours,
(09:40):
after working hours, but for us,it's not.
It's a job.
And so we were trying to holdthese during working hours,
which made it difficult forpeople to come to it.
Anyway, it just didn't work outas we wanted it to.
And so about a year ago, wewere talking about how can we
get this in front of more peopleso that more people can get
help from it and also do it on atimeline that works for them.
(10:01):
And it made sense to go thepodcast route.
And because podcasting QAalready has the name and already
existed with an with afollowing, we decided that not
exactly rebranding it, but justmoving it into the support world
was the natural next step.
And so about a year ago, Caraworked on, relaunched, we
(10:23):
restructured, and we gotpodcasting QA running again, but
this time hosted and scriptedand produced and edited all by
Cara and focused less on themarketing strategies that it
could have and more on thesupport strategies and the
support benefits.
So, Cara, can you share some ofthe things that you thought
(10:43):
through when you were in thatrelaunching phase, you know,
thinking about the podcast as asupport resource and not as a
marketing initiative?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
One of the things that I think is really cool in
this day and age about using apodcast in the support world is
I just love that it's such acreative, out-of-the-box way of
offering support.
And so if you are a supportteam that isn't a part of a
podcasting company, I challengeyou to think how can I
incorporate a podcast as asupport feature?
(11:12):
And so that's what I wasessentially doing when I was
taking over podcasting QA isokay, so we have the queue.
We have our support inbox whereI'm answering emails from our
customers, from our podcasters.
But how do I make this kind ofthe equivalent?
And so one of the things I wasexcited about is that everybody
learns differently.
And so some people are maybethey don't know how to ask a
(11:34):
question to the support team.
Maybe they are they're afraidto, like it's a silly question.
And so a podcast, first of all,will give a little bit of
confidence and reassurance.
Hey, your questions are valid.
We actually have a whole backcatalog of questions that people
are sending in.
And so it's asking maybe thosequestions that you're afraid to
ask or that you don't know howto ask.
(11:55):
It's also, I wanted to thinkabout the episodes as answering
the questions before they evenknow what it is they're asking.
So as you're learning a newcraft, as you're learning
something, I wanted to tailorthe episodes to answer those
questions as they begin tounderstand and kind of help to
grow and help them to learn.
I think that that's a huge one.
Priscilla (12:15):
People don't come to us, they don't experience the
support situation or the supportservice until they have a
question that they know and canclarify enough to write an email
about.
But think about all the peoplewho don't know what they don't
know.
And so they don't ask thequestion because they don't
really know what the questionis, or the people who know
(12:35):
there's a question, but theyjust don't want to have to go
through the hassle of writing anemail and they are so used to
bad support that they don't evenconsider writing an email,
right?
And so this is a great way toput ourselves in front of our
customers in a way that says,Hey, let us tell you the things
you can be doing and facilitatea really easy way for you to get
(12:56):
in touch with us and askquestions if you need them, but
also we're gonna put this infront of you before you even
know if this is something thatyou're concerned with.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So specifically for podcasting QA, we are not only
speaking to Buzz Sproutpodcasters.
Yeah.
We're just speaking to theindustry.
So our customers are broad.
It, the people who arelistening are not necessarily
hosted here with us.
So I try to design the episodesin that way.
Like, of course, I'm gonnahighlight a feature that we have
that will help you, butoverall, I'm just taking this
(13:25):
industry that we are a part ofand that we are passionate
about.
And I'm just sharing what'sgonna help them succeed in this
industry.
And so I think that's a funway, again, to just offer a
podcast that can be helpful andthat it's more support than it
is a marketing that's specificto your specific business.
Priscilla (13:46):
Yeah.
It lives in the support world,but there's definitely marketing
benefits that are coming out ofthis too, because it is public
and it is available to morepeople than just our customers.
So while it's not completelyfocused on marketing, it
definitely has those marketingbenefits.
Jordan (14:03):
Cara, I have a question for you.
So, as like a fellow podcaster,I have experience in like the
episode planning.
And I know that that can belike really daunting for people,
especially when you're firststarting out a podcast, because
you're thinking, like, what if Irun out of things to talk
about?
And so I know that at podcastand QA, we literally cover like
questions and answers.
So, what kind of questions doyou focus on for the podcast
(14:26):
when you're coming up withvarious episodes?
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Super valid concern, especially because we put out
episodes weekly.
So there is always thatlingering fear of like, oh my
goodness, am I gonna run out ofcontent?
But then I remember I actuallyhave a very useful resource,
which is an active support inboxthat has hundreds of emails
that we go through every day.
And so, but I can't pull all ofthem, right?
(14:49):
Some of those questions arejust not gonna translate into a
successful episode.
So some of the things that Ilook for are how-to questions.
So, how do I grow my show?
How do I make money podcasting?
So that's specific to ourfield, but I'd just be looking
for questions that are specificto maybe a feature that you're
offering or something that'sspecific to your niche, your
(15:12):
customer base.
And how-tos are really easy tomake an episode on, sharing how
something works.
Uh, so an example here would behow we track downloads, how our
analytics are showing in BuzzSprout.
And so we get a lot of variousquestions that are all related
to that.
And so I want to try to get outof the weeds, not make it so
(15:33):
specific, but kind of just coveran overarching broad episode of
this is how this works.
Yeah.
Um, and then also helping withlike strategies, thinking
outside the box of how can we dothis better, how can we do this
this certain way, and givingoptions for listeners to take
home and try on their own.
Priscilla (15:50):
Yeah, I think that's one of the biggest ways that I
see podcast QA being so powerfulis that it gives you the time
to talk about strategy.
Yeah.
So you can teach someone how touse a tool, especially if
you're listening to this and youhave like a SaaS product.
You know, you can teach someonehow to use your product, but
there's a difference betweenteaching them how to click this
button and that button, and thenteaching them the strategy
(16:11):
behind it, right?
The like the strategy piece ofit.
You can use a tool and use itthe wrong way, right?
But this gives us the abilityto say, okay, here's how you use
this feature we have.
And these are some of thestrategies that we recommend you
use that you try.
And it gives you a little bitmore room to communicate that
than you would be able tocommunicate in an email when
(16:33):
someone's saying, you know, howdo I take a break from my
podcast?
Oh, well, here's this plan youcan move to to take a break.
Right.
But Cara can write and recordan episode that goes way more in
depth on the strategies aroundhow to take a break.
Jordan (16:46):
Yeah.
And this actually ties directlyinto what we were talking about
earlier with like when we hadChase Clemens on and he was
talking about like the firehousething.
Like, this is the educationaspect of it.
This is like the pre-amble sortof thing.
So, like, if you have like anHVAC company and you're doing an
HVAC podcast, you can talkabout like things to check when
(17:06):
your vent is blowing warm air.
Right.
Or if you are in hospitality,you can say, here are things to
remember to pack before yourtrip.
Like you can have thesedifferent strategies that you do
to make the customer experiencethat much better and educate
them on like things that theyneed to be prepared for before
getting your services.
Priscilla (17:26):
Yeah.
Think about like you just saidhospitality.
Like, think about a hotel thatlaunches a podcast about getting
the best experience out ofcoming to this hotel.
Yeah.
You could like highlightdifferent restaurants in the
area.
You could highlight your ownamenities, you could highlight
day trips.
Like there's so much you coulddo.
If like the city ofJacksonville had a podcast, they
(17:47):
could highlight the localbusinesses.
And this kind of leaves thatsupport side a little bit, but
it really focuses on theeducation side, right?
Because it's it's getting topeople, like you were saying,
Dordan, before they have thequestions, before they have to
walk up to the desk and say,Where should I go for dinner?
You've already given them fourepisodes where you highlight,
you know, restaurants withinwalking distance.
Jordan (18:09):
If we're gonna bring it back directly to support, like
let's say that you have afinance app or you work at like
a bank and you want to educatepeople on how to read the
financial reports on theirdashboard.
You know, just something likethat.
A podcast can do all thesethings that you're constantly
educating people on.
If you constantly have peoplecoming in and they're asking the
(18:31):
same questions over and overagain, like that's probably
gonna be a good topic to cover.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Absolutely.
I actually have a real lifeexample of how I covered one of
our features.
Uh, so visual sound bites is afeature that we offer here at
Buzz Sprout.
And um, primarily, I think theunderstanding around it is that
you would use it to promote yourpodcast.
So it's a little audio clip,you'd share it on your social
channels, and you'd use that topromote your podcast.
Well, we have a podcaster who'sbeen with Buzz Sprout for a
(18:56):
very long time who reached outto me via fan mail on an episode
that I did on visual soundbites.
And she never knew that shecould use the visual soundbite
as a trailer for her nextepisode, like a sneak peek
because I mentioned that on myepisode, and she wrote in and
said, Oh my goodness, I've beenusing this feature for years.
Never did I think to have it asa teaser for my next episode.
(19:19):
Like, awesome.
I'm gonna try this next.
And so that's one of those wayswe design these amazing
products, or we have this greathotel with awesome amenities.
Sometimes customers they missout because they just don't
know, like you said, they justdon't know what they don't know.
And so getting out there andreally explaining how things
work and the best intention forusing it can really level up
(19:43):
your customers' experience.
And I think that's support.
Jordan (19:46):
On top of that, you could get ahead of things too.
So if you work with the productteam or you work with the
marketing team and you know thatlike a new feature or a new
service is coming out, you canrecord an episode ahead of time
talking to the developers.
Why did they make thesedecisions to do these certain
(20:06):
things?
Talking to the marketing team,what kind of things do people
need to be using uh this newfeature for?
Or how do they use the newfeature and use the new tool?
And then as soon as thatlaunches, you send out the
podcast episode in like an emailnewsletter or something to all
the customers and they can learnabout it like in real time and
be in the know of what to expectwhen they like next log into
(20:30):
the website or next walk intoyour uh facility or you know,
whatever.
Priscilla (20:36):
Yeah.
Well, and I think about, youknow, because I'm kind of stuck
on this hospitality thing thatwe were talking about, but I
think about, you know, you makea reservation for a hotel that
you're gonna stay in in a coupleof weeks and you get an email
confirming your stay.
What if that email included alink to the podcast about the
that the hotel produces so thatyou can start planning your
trip?
Once you get to the hotel,you're gonna know all those
(20:58):
amenities that you haveavailable to you.
And it's one of those thingswhere you think about that and
you go, man, that would work fora luxury hotel, but maybe not
for like a smaller hotel, youknow.
But why wouldn't you use it fora smaller hotel?
You could make your hotel feelluxurious by treating it that
way and having that kind of aresource for the people that are
(21:19):
coming to stay.
And I feel like it's a coolcreative way to build a
relationship with yourcustomers.
So if it's the hospitalityexample, then before they really
get there, they're alreadycoming into it with that
excited, you know, mentality andthey already have a little bit
of a relationship with you.
Or like you were talking aboutlike an HVAC, like these things
(21:40):
that we have to do in life thatmost of us are not experts in.
I'm thinking of like my um, youknow, my AC unit.
If there was a podcast that Icould easily access where they
were like, hey, your AC unitwent out.
Here, let me walk you throughwhat you should do, what you
should check to make sure it'sworking.
Yeah.
That would be so much betterthan like to listen to that on a
Friday night in the middle ofthe night when my AC goes out,
(22:02):
than to try to reach out tosomeone on customer support when
it's 105 degrees in my house.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Well, and if you go to their website and it's, you
know, oh, Florida heat QA.
Oh, hold on, let me check that.
And then there's quick fiveminute episodes of like, oh, is
the meter reading this?
Try.
Yeah, like super helpful.
And everybody lit, you couldliterally listen to it as you're
troubleshooting it with yourdevice or with your machine.
So, you know, HVAC companies,take note.
Jordan (22:30):
Priscilla, you actually said something that I think
rings so true, especially in thepodcasting space, which is um
you talked about like with thehospitality thing, like you come
in and you've alreadyestablished a relationship with
the company because you've likelistened to their podcast.
And I think that is so true forpodcasts.
It's such a great way toestablish like brand trust and
(22:51):
relationships with a company.
Yeah.
Priscilla (22:54):
I mean, think about last year we had Britney Hodak
and she talked about creatingsuper fans for your company,
right?
And how apathy is like thescary part of having customers
because if they don't reallyfeel connected to your company,
then they're gonna move onbecause you've got to make them
super fans in order to buildthis brand loyalty.
And that's what she was talkingabout.
(23:15):
But I think that relationshipsare built with storytelling and
podcasting is storytelling atthe end of the day.
Yeah.
And so it's such a powerfultool to build a relationship.
And so, like thinking aboutthat hospitality example, if you
start building a relationshipbefore the person gets to your
hotel, you're starting on areally strong foot or with
(23:37):
podcasting QA.
Before someone even reaches outto support, they're listening
to this podcast, they're gettingto know Cara.
And that in part means they'regetting to know Buzz Sprout and
how we talk about things and howwe talk about podcasting and
how we encourage podcasters.
So then by the time they have aquestion to write into support
(23:57):
or to ask Cara specificallydirectly, they already feel
comfortable doing that.
They're already ready to likegive us a little bit of grace if
something goes wrong becausethe relationship is already
there and it's already, youknow, really strong.
Jordan, as someone who hasseveral successful podcasts, can
you talk a little bit about howthat aspect of podcasting
(24:18):
facilitating relationships?
Jordan (24:20):
We see this all the time in advertising.
You'll see this on like localcommercials now, which is wild.
It's such a weird thing.
And you will see it in likesocial media and stuff like
that.
There's all these companiesthat are doing these ads where
it's the like company foundersor people like behind a
microphone and you're watchingon the screen.
And the reason for that is thatpodcasting has gotten so
(24:45):
popular that there's been allthese studies done on podcasting
and the psychological effectsof how podcasting establishes
parasocial relationships likestronger than any other medium.
The reason for that is, andparasocial relationships, if you
haven't heard, is like the hotword of last year.
Um, but if you haven't heardit, that is where a relationship
(25:08):
is very like one-sided.
And so it's when you feel likeyou know a person deeply, like
you would a best friend orsomething like that, but they
have no idea that you exist,which is so real.
Yeah.
I think a lot of podcastlisteners experience this.
And that's because withpodcasting, it's such like an
intimate medium.
You know, you are you'rejoining these people, like when
(25:30):
they're going to the gym andwhen they're driving their kids
on the morning commutes and whenthey're like going about their
daily routines.
Podcasting is built intoroutines.
And so you become like a partof that routine.
It just establishes trustbecause you're in someone's ear,
you're you're explaining thingsin a way that is very like
(25:51):
personal.
And because it's like long-formcontent, you get longer to um
hold someone's attention andreally explain things and give
nuance and give context.
And so I think that that is whythese relationships are so much
stronger through podcastingthan it is through like a
YouTube video or a TikTok whereyou get like two seconds of
(26:12):
their attention max.
Priscilla (26:14):
Yeah.
We don't just think thatbecause we work in podcasting.
Like it is legitimate.
There are studies and studiesthat show how impactful those
relationships are, right?
And how podcasting is like ahuge part of people's lives.
And I think about like theadvertising side of things.
I don't know the numbers, butjust the growth in podcast
(26:35):
advertising over the years,especially in the last five
years, has blown up becauseadvertisers are seeing how the
relationships built throughpodcasting can impact, you know,
growth in your product.
And so it's one of those ideasthat sometimes feels really big,
like, oh, launching a podcastfor my company as like a way for
(26:57):
me to connect with potentialcustomers or existing customers.
That's a lot of work.
Is that going to be worth it?
I think it's one of thosethings that there's so many
benefits to it that people mightnot realize that it is, I could
say it is absolutely worth it.
It is absolutely worth it tocreate an environment where your
customers can get to know thepeople that are running your
(27:19):
product.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Absolutely.
You are selling yourself shortby not starting a podcast having
to do with your company.
That part right there,Priscilla, that you just said,
you get to know those behind theproduct, those behind the
customers.
I know for podcasting QA, yes,I host it, but sometimes I bring
on Jordan as a podcastproducer.
I bring on Tom, who is a codewriter and who knows all about
(27:43):
podcast stats.
Or I, you know, I can bring inother team members so that
listeners are now familiar withBuzzsprout and the people behind
it.
And like Jordan was saying,it's such an intimate thing
when, you know, our voices arein your ear.
Your voices are in yourcustomers' ear.
So it creates a lot of loyalty.
And I just feel like it reallyeliminates any hesitations from
(28:06):
customers, like, can I trustthese people?
When you hear them speaking inin this genuine and authentic
way, man, that really is goingto result in loyalty from your
customers.
Priscilla (28:16):
And it gives you the ability to like be friends with
your customers.
Does that sound weird?
No, but obviously I'm thinkingabout podcasting, right?
But even beyond that, likegoing back to like the AC
example, like the AC maintenancepeople, it allows you to become
closer with your customers in away where you can encourage
them and build confidence inthem, right?
So Cara does this in everysingle episode with podcasting
(28:39):
QA.
She is always talking about howthe goal of the podcast is to
make the listeners, whoever theyare, but Buzzsprout users or
not, how the goal is to makethem more confident in their
podcast so they will keeppodcasting.
Because, like with anything,there's an intimidation factor
when you get started withsomething new.
So whether that be podcastingor you just bought your first
(29:02):
house and now you have to dealwith an AC unit that you've
never dealt with before and youdon't have a lot of confidence
around that, right?
Or it could be anything.
It could be any product, anyservice that you have to use.
But if you have this podcast,you can kind of be that friend
for your customer and encouragethem and say, hey, you can do
this.
Like, let me give you anepisode about some maintenance
(29:24):
tips to make sure your AC willlive the longest it can.
You can come alongside yourcustomers in a way that's like
encouraging and friendly thatbuilds that relationship more
than just like answeringquestions.
Jordan (29:35):
Well, and I love what you're saying, Priscilla, here
because what you're talkingabout is like brand loyalty.
And it's so funny becausebranded podcasts are like really
having a moment.
I hear all the time aboutTrader Joe's podcast, which is
so funny.
Like I've never listened to itpersonally, but like I know I
love it.
But it's so funny becausepeople are like, oh my gosh,
have you heard the Trader Joe'spodcast?
(29:56):
I love the Trader Joe'spodcast.
I just think it's so cool.
Like, I know Ben and Jerry'shas one about like activism.
And I know that GeneralElectric has like these science
fiction podcasts that are likereally weirdly well produced.
Like it doesn't really haveanything.
So random.
Yeah, it's so cool.
And you know, Buzzsprout, wehave a branded podcast, really,
(30:18):
and it's Buzzcast.
That's one I co-host.
And I co-host it with theco-founder of Buzzsprout and
with the head of marketing.
So you would not think that ithas anything to do with support,
but I really want to put it outthere that if you do have a
podcast that is a brandedpodcast, there are opportunities
to have support elements in it.
So with Buzzcast, we use it allthe time for like marketing and
(30:43):
education and stuff like that.
But like if we have a newfeature come out, we have the
co-founder who really did a lotof the thinking behind like why
we're adding this thing.
What's what's our reason behindmaking these choices?
What is our philosophy whenwe're approaching these things?
And then we have the head ofmarketing who is telling people
(31:03):
all the great things that youcan do with this.
And then you have me who I'mkind of playing like the average
podcaster, saying, like, oh,cool.
And I'm asking the questionsthat I know that other
podcasters are going to have forthem.
And it creates this like reallycool dynamic.
And we have listeners write inall the time with fan mail,
which, you know, Cara hadmentioned earlier.
(31:24):
And that's the link that wehave in the show notes of this
podcast where you can like sendus a text message or send us a
voicemail.
It's so cool because we havelisteners write in all the time
and they will ask us questionsthat really fall under the
support umbrella.
And then we have an opportunityto address that.
And then other customers orother people who are in our
(31:45):
industry are listening andthey're like, even though
they're not asking thesequestions, they're taking note
of it.
And it's really cool because wesee it trickle down.
So in the um online communitygroups and stuff like that, when
people are posting and they'resaying, like, why can't I do
this?
or or what's the reason behindthis?
And they're asking thesequestions online.
I see all the time, I see it onTwitter, I see it on Facebook,
(32:07):
I see it on Instagram.
Our listeners will commentunder their thing and say, Oh, I
actually heard them cover thison their podcast, and here's the
reason why they did it.
So we have now thistrickle-down effect where our
super fans are educating theother people because of our
podcast.
Yeah.
And it's not even a supportpodcast, but it's actually kind
(32:28):
of filling that role.
Priscilla (32:29):
Yeah.
And it makes me think about thefact that you might be
listening to this and thinking,okay, my product really doesn't
lend itself to having a questionand answer podcast.
That's not a need.
But what you're talking about,Jordan, is much more than that.
It's a branded show and itallows support to kind of push
into that a little bit.
(32:50):
And so support could host apodcast that is about the
company branded more education.
And it doesn't have to be a QApodcast.
Nope.
And I think that, you know, wetalk a lot in this podcast about
support being more than just aninbox cue and the importance of
like giving the people on yoursupport team outlets to grow and
to move beyond just answeringemails.
(33:12):
And this is a great example forthat.
And I actually think about itin terms of AI, with AI coming
into support in such a way,right?
There's so much talk about likedeflection and answering those
easy emails so that you can havetime to focus on the harder
questions.
It made me think of thisconversation with Simon Sinek
(33:34):
and Will Guidera that I heard acouple months ago.
There was a story that Willshares that's something along
the lines of they had a group ofpeople that were taking
reservations by phone and theyreally felt that that was a very
important way to takereservations.
And then they ended up changingthings up and started taking
reservations online.
But then it freed up a wholereservations team.
(33:55):
And now they didn't haveanything to do because the
reservations were being handledonline.
And he talks about how insteadof letting that team go because
now they're not needed, theyrepurposed that job into
something a little more creativeand they started doing calls
with people who had madereservations to talk to them
about their upcoming dinnerreservation.
And they leaned into the superpersonal side of things.
(34:18):
And I think about a podcastbeing a way you could do that in
support.
If you're running a team thatis now finding itself where the
tickets are being answered by anAI, and you're like, okay, now
I've got these people who needwork.
I want to, you know, reallocatetheir time to something that's
gonna improve our service.
A podcast might be a really funcreative way to do that and a
(34:41):
creative outlet for them to leaninto.
And like I think I said itearlier, Cara, you script the
episodes, you record theepisodes, you produce the
episodes, you edit the episodes,and then you publish them.
It's all you.
Most of those things I justlisted are things you have
learned how to do in the lastyear.
How has that been?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Well, I will say that role that you just described is
what many of our podcastersthat I'm working with in the
inbox are experiencing.
They are a one-woman, one-manshow and they're doing it all.
And so it's been a lot.
It's been awesome, honestly.
It's been a lot of hard work.
But what I've gained from it iswhen our customer writes in and
(35:20):
says, Man, I'm struggling withthis script.
I don't know what to do next,or my audio, it just doesn't
sound right.
I love it because genuinely,not just because of knowledge,
but because of experience, I cangive them advice.
And there's just something tothat.
And so that's been really funto be able to live it out, what
(35:41):
I'm answering the questions on,and then uh be able to
incorporate that in my responsesto our customers.
So I mean, I've loved it.
Jordan (35:49):
Would you say that podcasting was harder or easier
than you feared it was?
Speaker 1 (35:56):
That's a great question.
I feel like there are aspectsof it that are easier than I
anticipated, and then there areaspects of it that are much
harder than I expected.
What things are a lot easierthan you thought.
Honestly, just talking into themic.
Like, but I'm also I uh I likethat kind of thing.
Like public speaking makes meexcited, not nervous.
Yeah.
So maybe that's why I enjoyedit.
(36:17):
My first recording for mytrailer with you, Jordan, I was
such a timid little mouse.
I'm like, I don't know what tosay.
But then that part clicked veryquickly.
One of the parts that Iunderestimated was editing.
Yeah.
Ooh, that was a bear.
Um, but I've had a lot of uhgreat teachings from Jordan and
(36:38):
uh and our own resources that wehave here at Buzz Sprout.
And so now I've mastered thatand uh, but it's it's all still
a challenge.
Like I am constantly learning,and that is actually a really
fun part about podcasting that Ialso didn't realize until I got
into it.
Priscilla (36:53):
I think if you're listening to this and you're
considering launching a podcast,the unknown of podcasting can
feel like a huge hill to climb.
But the reality of thesituation is that it's a lot
easier to start a podcast thanyou might think.
And the technical aspects thatcan feel really scary can
actually be really simple.
And yes, there are skills thatyou have to learn, like editing
(37:16):
and producing, but those thingscan be learned.
And Cara is a great example ofthat because a year ago she had
no editing experience.
And now here we are a yearlater, and she's editing
episodes in a couple hours andgetting those released really
quickly.
Yep.
And so you can come a long way.
And so if you're listening tothis going, oh my gosh, we can't
even consider a podcast becauseI'm not tech savvy and I can't
(37:38):
learn that.
I just want you to challengethat a little bit because I
actually think it's somethingthat's way more accessible than
you might think it is.
Jordan (37:45):
I also want to say real quickly, we have met so many
podcasters who are just startingout, and every person has
different strengths anddifferent weaknesses or
different fears and differentthings that they're excited
about, things that excite themand give them life.
And so one person might beexcited to speak behind the mic,
but might be scared of editing,and another person might love
the editing aspect of it, butmaybe they don't like talking
(38:07):
behind the mic.
Well, this is a greatopportunity to team up.
Yeah.
And so you have you havesomeone on the support team who
loves talking, then you put thembehind the mic, and then you
have the other person who'slike, man, I would love to get,
you know, my mitts on theediting board.
And like, you know, and so it'sa really good opportunity to
kind of like split things up andmake it a team project too.
And I want to say too that likeapps have come such a long way.
(38:31):
I have a $70 Samsung QTUmicrophone that has a USB-C.
My daughter wanted to start apodcast.
I gave her the microphone andsaid, here you go.
And she plugged it into hertablet and she has Cap Cut,
which is just like a very simpleapp.
And her podcast sounded sogood.
It was crazy.
(38:52):
She just like ran upstairs andlike recorded for like an hour
and like was doing her littleediting thing.
And I'll tell you what, if myeight-year-old can do that, you
can too.
And it sounded great.
Like I was, I was veryimpressed.
So there's so many tools nowthat make podcasting a lot more
accessible.
There's like AI things, there'slots of like text-based
editing, or, or if you likeediting with sound clips or
(39:13):
editing on your iPad or, youknow, whatever.
There's options for everybodyand you just have to kind of
experiment and find what worksfor you.
Priscilla (39:21):
Yeah.
All three of us are podcasthosts.
So I'll kind of pose thisquestion to all three of us.
If a support team wanted toexperiment with a podcast, what
would you tell them would be thefirst thing they should do to
like get started?
Jordan (39:34):
I'm gonna get mine out of the way.
Okay.
In this day and age, you do notneed a ton of equipment.
Years ago, it used to be wayharder to start a podcast.
You had to have an audiointerface and you had to have an
XLR microphone and you had tohave like all this different
stuff, and it was so confusing.
Nowadays, honestly, the toolsthat we have in our phones is
crazy.
So at Best Breut, we have likemagic mastering.
(39:57):
So if you don't have perfectaudio, you can upload it and
it'll just like like magicallyfix it, and it sounds perfectly
like studio audio.
There's so many tools likethat.
So don't limit yourself, likestart simple.
You can just start with a $70to $100, depending on inflation,
USB microphone and just plug itdirectly in your computer.
(40:18):
Use a free software like GarageBand or Audacity or Cap Cut to
record your podcast and edit it,and you can be done.
It's really not thatcomplicated anymore.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
So, my thought is actually if you were on a
support team, define the purposeof what we could offer with
this podcast.
What is the information thatneeds to get out there ahead of
our customers in order to putout any fires that may arise?
And then find somebody who,like you said, enjoys uh
speaking behind a mic and alsohas kind of a gift of explaining
(40:50):
complicated things in kind of asimple way.
Um, so if there's somebody whoor a couple of people on your
team that do a really good jobat that, um, I would see if
they'd be interested in therecording and then turn on the
mic and start recording.
That's really the best way tolearn.
I kind of feel like that's howit happened with me.
It was like, we're gonna dothis.
And I said, okay.
(41:11):
And then we just went for it.
And now here we are 46 episodeslater, and uh, I'm growing
every day.
And so don't think too hardabout it.
Just go for it.
Priscilla (41:19):
To piggyback on that, Cara, one of the pieces of
advice I got when I was startingthis podcast was sit down and
write down as many episodetopics as you can think of.
Like you don't have to fleshthem all out, just come up with
the topics for how many?
And if you can sit down andjust come up with 10 episode
ideas right there on the spot,then that's enough to launch
(41:40):
because by the time you getthrough those 10, you will have
10 more, right?
And you'll have 10 more.
And you'll be able to createthat content.
Because for me, the contentcreation aspect of podcasting
feels daunting.
And that was a huge motivatorfor me to sit down and go, oh,
yeah, we could do 10 episodes.
So, like you're saying, Cara,if you pull your support team
(42:01):
together and go, okay, let'scome up with 10 episodes of ways
that we could get to ourcustomers before they have
questions for us.
So let's say we're an ACcompany.
Let's get together the twopeople who run the support team.
And we want to outline what are10 episodes that we could do
that would come alongside ourcustomers and help educate them
(42:21):
on using our services.
If you can come up with 10episodes and release those
monthly, then you've got abranded podcast that will be
evergreen content.
Like if you decided to pausethe podcast, the episodes are
still going to be valuable, evenif you just do 10 episodes.
And I think that is like a hugeresource for your customers.
Jordan (42:40):
And with AI, it is so easy to find the information,
like just give it the data, haveit figure out what the hottest
topics are, like what are themost asked questions, and then
also have it help you brainstormepisodes that you could do
around those topics.
You don't have to dedicate aton of time to figuring this
(43:01):
part out of it.
Priscilla (43:02):
Yeah.
I know for me and for Cara, andI'm sure for you too, Jordan,
with episode creation for yourpodcasts, AI is a huge tool in
helping with that brainstorming.
Yeah.
I want to be clear, podcastingis not going to be the answer
for everyone, right?
You might have a team of peoplewho it is terrifying the idea
to get behind a mic.
And so you really don't havesomeone who wants to do that,
and it might not be the answerfor you.
(43:23):
But if podcasting is excitingfor you, it can be a huge
relationship builder between youand your customers.
It can build those super fansthat are so important to growing
a company, use it as a resourceto share more information about
using your product orstrategies about using your
product well.
And at the end of the day,podcasting right now is so
(43:47):
popular and so part of people'slives that now is a really good
time to get in on this and tolaunch your own branded podcast.
So at the risk of this soundinga little bit like an ad, which
it's definitely not.
There's so many podcastingresources out there that you can
use.
If you are interested inlaunching a podcast, if this is
something that's exciting toyou, you can email our support
(44:09):
team and you'll probably getCara or I and we can give you
some next steps for starting, oryou can go ask AI how do I
start a podcast and let themwalk you through it.
And you can use any kind ofthere's coaches, there's so many
resources out there that canhelp you start.
Jordan (44:24):
I want to plug our Buzzsprout How to Podcast
podcast.
I will link to it in the shownotes.
It is a 10-part series.
Each episode is very short,like maybe 10 minutes.
And uh Jelan and Alban do sucha great job at making like
starting a podcast fun.
And they just like each episodeis like the next step and you
(44:44):
can follow along and do ityourself.
And honestly, like it could bea fun support team building
exercise to build your podcasttogether.
Priscilla (44:52):
Oh, that's a great idea.
Jordan (44:53):
Yeah.
Priscilla (44:54):
If you do that with your support team, will you
please send us fan mail and letus know that you did that?
Because I think that's such agreat activity for like a meetup
or something, is like, hey,we're gonna listen to these
episodes and we're gonna launcha podcast together as a team.
You can also totally create apodcast and not publish it.
Yeah.
And just do it as an activity.
(45:16):
And then maybe something getspublished, maybe something
doesn't.
Jordan (45:18):
I think that's one of those things where like you take
the pressure off yourself andso you have like more fun
creating it.
And then I bet anything, if youall get together and like make
your own podcast, you'll listento it and be like, you know
what?
Actually, this is pretty good.
We should probably do this.
Priscilla (45:33):
Yeah, I agree.
Well, thank you, Jordan andCara, for joining me on this
episode.
This was really fun to talkabout podcasting, which we don't
do that much on this podcast.
Yeah.
But it was really fun.
And if you are starting apodcast, you should go listen to
podcasting QA becausepodcasting QA every single
Monday releases a new episode tohelp you podcast with
confidence.
Thank you, Priscilla.
(45:54):
Yes.
If you have a question or atopic that you would like us to
cover in a future episode ofHappy to Help, you can shoot us
a text using the Send Us FanMail link in the episode
description.
If you like this episode,please share it with someone who
works in customer support orleave us a review on Apple
Podcasts.
Thank you again to Cara andJordan for joining us on today's
episode.
(46:14):
And thank you for listening.
Now go and make someone's day.
Welcome to Happy to Help, a podcast about customer
support from the people atBuzzsprout.
I'm your host, PriscillaBrooke.
Today we're talking about howlaunching a podcast can extend
your support experience.
We'll explore what inspiredBuzzsprout's Podcast, Podcast
and QA, how it helps customerssucceed, and how you can use
content and conversation in yoursupport strategy.
(00:21):
Thanks for joining us.
Let's get into it.
Okay, I'm really excited aboutthis episode.
Um, it's exciting for mespecifically because if you've
listened to this podcast for anyamount of time, you know that
Buzzsprout is the producer ofthis podcast, and Buzzsprout is
a podcast hosting service.
And so we're really big intopodcasting.
(00:44):
And so this episode is reallyfun because we're going to talk
about how podcasting canactually give you a way to level
up your support strategy andgive you like some cool ways to
connect with your customers.
So we have two guests.
One of them is Jordan, ourpodcast producer.
And she's here as a guesttoday.
I mean, she'll also beproducing, but she's here as a
(01:06):
guest today because she's alsothe host of several very
successful podcasts.
And I was thinking about it,Jordan.
I feel like you're the mostknowledgeable person about
podcasts that I know.
I feel like you've been doingit.
Well, I mean, obviously, I workat Buzzsprout.
There's so many people herethat are like really
knowledgeable about Buzzsprout.
I think you have like the mosthands-on experience.
(01:28):
You've been podcasting for areally long time.
You have a variety of differenttypes of shows.
You're constantly helpingpeople launch new shows and
you're editing new shows.
And so I'm really excitedbecause I think you are like
just a wealth of knowledge.
Thank you.
And then our second guest isCara Pacetti.
Cara is our podcaster successconcierge.
(01:48):
She's on the podcaster successteam, but a lot of her role is
about welcoming new podcastersand helping them podcast with
confidence.
And so she's also the host ofPodcast and QA, which is the
podcast that she runs under theumbrella of the support team
here at Buzzsprout.
So it's really exciting to haveyou here too, Cara, to talk
(02:10):
about podcasting.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I love it.
I'm excited.
I feel much more equipped thistime than my first two guesting
appearances.
Jordan (02:15):
Yeah, I think this is maybe one of the easier episodes
of Happy to Help because thisis directly in our wheelhouse.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Priscilla (02:23):
So before we get into talking about podcasting and
support and how we can usepodcasting for support, we
always start our episodes off ona positive note.
So, Cara, do you have a storyof someone who's made your day
recently?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
So recently we offered uh what we call a
Buzzsprout class.
It's something new that we'redoing where we get to highlight
some of our Buzzsprout features.
And the feature that wehighlighted was fan mail, which
is a really fun, interactive wayfor listeners to engage with
their favorite podcast.
And so my day was made when Iunexpectedly received some fan
(02:56):
mail to my podcasting QApodcast.
Nice from an attendee thatattended the fan mail class,
sent me a hype up message justletting me know that they really
enjoyed the class and that theywere excited.
They were returning topodcasting and they were so
thankful.
And so not only did I feelsuper energized and encouraged
(03:17):
that my class helped somebody,but also the fact that they
successfully sent a fan mailmessage, which is exactly what
the training was on.
And so it was such a win-winand it fell in line perfectly
with this recording.
Um, and so I was excited toshare that.
So that definitely made my day.
Priscilla (03:34):
I love that.
That's awesome.
It's one of the things that Ithink we've even mentioned on
this podcast, but like howimportant it is to like hype
each other up and like giveencouragement easily.
And the fact that that personwent out of their way to send
you a message to tell you youdid a good job.
We finished that classyesterday and we felt really
good about it.
But then when we got back toour desks and saw that message
(03:56):
come through, it was more like,oh man, it it hyped us up even
more.
Like we already felt good aboutit.
But absolutely seeing thathappen was so encouraging.
And then hearing from someonewas so encouraging.
And so I love that story.
And I think that's that's justa great example.
Jordan (04:12):
Well, and also, I mean, to even like add to it, Alban,
our head of marketing, saw thatwe had received a fan mail
message about podcasting QA.
And then he screenshot it andshared it to the company.
And then the whole company waslike, Yeah, Cara.
Oh, yeah.
Speaker (04:25):
That definitely was a great feeling.
I forgot to mention that partalso made my day.
Yeah.
Priscilla (04:30):
But it's so cool because the person who attended
took 20 seconds to write you athank you note and send it to
the podcast.
And then Alban saw it and took20 seconds to take that note and
post it in front of the wholecompany.
Yeah.
And then everyone in thecompany saw it and took three
seconds to boost it and, youknow, celebrate you.
(04:52):
But that's like what, a totalof 40 seconds that made your day
so much better.
Yeah.
With like the tiniest littlething when we actually break it
down like that, it just soundslike, why am I not doing this
more?
Why am I not complimentingpeople more?
It's so impactful.
And I just don't think to do itas much as I should.
Me too.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
A shameless plug to the happy to help listeners.
If you were loving the contentthat Priscilla is putting out
each week, click the send us fanmail link in the show notes and
let her know.
Go ahead and make her day.
Cara, that is why you're ourfavorite guest.
unknown (05:24):
That's right.
Priscilla (05:26):
Okay, so let's jump into podcasting.
Yeah.
Specifically how podcasting canbe used to level up the support
service that you're offeringyour customers.
So when you think aboutsupport, most people are going
to think about tickets andemails, maybe a chat bot, maybe
AI responses or phone calls.
(05:47):
But like we've talked about inthis podcast quite a few times,
your support service should bemore like a firehouse.
Remember, Chase came on andtalked to us about the idea that
while yes, we're putting outfires, the best support teams
are creating an environmentwhere fires aren't happening in
the first place.
And so people don't have tocome to you for help because
(06:08):
they don't need help becausethey've been educated up front.
When I think about podcastingin a support sense, that just
feels like a natural proactiveapproach to support.
And so I'm really, you know, Iam excited to talk about it
because I think it's somethingthat can set you apart from your
competition and is somethingthat can be a fun, creative way
(06:28):
to interact with your customersand build a relationship with
them.
Absolutely.
So first I want to like go backa couple of years to, I think
it was about 2018 when welaunched a podcast under the
Buzzproud umbrella called FiveMinute Mondays.
So the idea of this podcast wasa podcast that came out weekly
every Monday, and it was, youknow, five minutes thereabout.
(06:50):
Very self-explanatory.
Very a Monday podcast that wasabout five minutes.
Uh-huh.
That was it.
And the idea was we're gonnagive you a quick tip for the
week, right?
We're gonna give you a tipabout podcasting for the week.
And it was launched under ourmarketing team.
And at the time, you know,podcasting, this was pre-2020.
And so podcasting was known,but it wasn't the popular media
(07:14):
that it is today.
Yeah.
When we launched it, there wasan idea behind it that this
would be a way to get BuzzSprout into that education piece
for people who want to startpodcasts so that we would be top
of mind because we'd have thesevideos.
Cause I think they were pushingvideo to YouTube at the time
and they were making a podcastabout podcasting.
And so it really was more of amarketing push when it was
(07:36):
originally launched.
And it ran successfully forseveral years.
At one point, Jordan, youhosted it for a hot minute.
Jordan (07:43):
Yeah, it got like rebranded because we realized
like five minute Mondays is notvery SEO friendly and it doesn't
really say what it's about.
Yeah.
Priscilla (07:51):
You know that it happens on Monday and you know
that's five minutes, but youdon't know what it's about.
Yeah.
Jordan (07:55):
So it got like somewhere in there, it got rebranded
podcasting QA.
And then we went from like fiveminutes to like then bringing
on guests for like quickepisodes and it's been through a
million iterations.
Yes.
Priscilla (08:07):
And then at some point it kind of took a hiatus.
The marketing team was workingon different initiatives.
It wasn't uh priority on themarketing team, and so it kind
of sat there for a couple years.
It still got a lot of traction,but it didn't produce any new
episodes until last year.
Last year, the support team waslooking for creative ways to
(08:29):
lean into customer education.
Yeah.
Karen, you could speak to this.
We tried a lot of differentthings.
What are some of the thingsthat we tried?
Because you really led most ofthose.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
We did one-on-one calls.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, we've doneorientations, but it was an
iteration.
I was cold calling or coldemailing customers and who just
set up new accounts and said, Doyou guys want to jump on a
call?
Do you need help?
And so that was some of thecreative ways, but we knew we
needed something that could, youknow, be more time efficient
and reach a lot more people.
Priscilla (08:59):
So and we started doing Buzz Sprout Lives, is what
we called them, which Cara andI were both very excited about.
So they were kind of likeclasses, kind of like how Cara
was talking about with the fanmail class, but it was on
Facebook.
We have a Facebook community,and we would go on there and we
would host a live.
And the idea was it was likejoin the live and ask us
(09:19):
questions and let us give youreal-time support.
I thought it was a really coolidea, but we really didn't get a
ton of traction because what werealized was that the time that
would work for us to do a liveQA session was not the time that
worked for our podcasters,because a lot of times
podcasting is a hobby thatsomeone's doing after hours,
(09:40):
after working hours, but for us,it's not.
It's a job.
And so we were trying to holdthese during working hours,
which made it difficult forpeople to come to it.
Anyway, it just didn't work outas we wanted it to.
And so about a year ago, wewere talking about how can we
get this in front of more peopleso that more people can get
help from it and also do it on atimeline that works for them.
(10:01):
And it made sense to go thepodcast route.
And because podcasting QAalready has the name and already
existed with an with afollowing, we decided that not
exactly rebranding it, but justmoving it into the support world
was the natural next step.
And so about a year ago, Caraworked on, relaunched, we
(10:23):
restructured, and we gotpodcasting QA running again, but
this time hosted and scriptedand produced and edited all by
Cara and focused less on themarketing strategies that it
could have and more on thesupport strategies and the
support benefits.
So, Cara, can you share some ofthe things that you thought
(10:43):
through when you were in thatrelaunching phase, you know,
thinking about the podcast as asupport resource and not as a
marketing initiative?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
One of the things that I think is really cool in
this day and age about using apodcast in the support world is
I just love that it's such acreative, out-of-the-box way of
offering support.
And so if you are a supportteam that isn't a part of a
podcasting company, I challengeyou to think how can I
incorporate a podcast as asupport feature?
(11:12):
And so that's what I wasessentially doing when I was
taking over podcasting QA isokay, so we have the queue.
We have our support inbox whereI'm answering emails from our
customers, from our podcasters.
But how do I make this kind ofthe equivalent?
And so one of the things I wasexcited about is that everybody
learns differently.
And so some people are maybethey don't know how to ask a
(11:34):
question to the support team.
Maybe they are they're afraidto, like it's a silly question.
And so a podcast, first of all,will give a little bit of
confidence and reassurance.
Hey, your questions are valid.
We actually have a whole backcatalog of questions that people
are sending in.
And so it's asking maybe thosequestions that you're afraid to
ask or that you don't know howto ask.
(11:55):
It's also, I wanted to thinkabout the episodes as answering
the questions before they evenknow what it is they're asking.
So as you're learning a newcraft, as you're learning
something, I wanted to tailorthe episodes to answer those
questions as they begin tounderstand and kind of help to
grow and help them to learn.
I think that that's a huge one.
Priscilla (12:15):
People don't come to us, they don't experience the
support situation or the supportservice until they have a
question that they know and canclarify enough to write an email
about.
But think about all the peoplewho don't know what they don't
know.
And so they don't ask thequestion because they don't
really know what the questionis, or the people who know
(12:35):
there's a question, but theyjust don't want to have to go
through the hassle of writing anemail and they are so used to
bad support that they don't evenconsider writing an email,
right?
And so this is a great way toput ourselves in front of our
customers in a way that says,Hey, let us tell you the things
you can be doing and facilitatea really easy way for you to get
(12:56):
in touch with us and askquestions if you need them, but
also we're gonna put this infront of you before you even
know if this is something thatyou're concerned with.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
So specifically for podcasting QA, we are not only
speaking to Buzz Sproutpodcasters.
Yeah.
We're just speaking to theindustry.
So our customers are broad.
It, the people who arelistening are not necessarily
hosted here with us.
So I try to design the episodesin that way.
Like, of course, I'm gonnahighlight a feature that we have
that will help you, butoverall, I'm just taking this
(13:25):
industry that we are a part ofand that we are passionate
about.
And I'm just sharing what'sgonna help them succeed in this
industry.
And so I think that's a funway, again, to just offer a
podcast that can be helpful andthat it's more support than it
is a marketing that's specificto your specific business.
Priscilla (13:46):
Yeah.
It lives in the support world,but there's definitely marketing
benefits that are coming out ofthis too, because it is public
and it is available to morepeople than just our customers.
So while it's not completelyfocused on marketing, it
definitely has those marketingbenefits.
Jordan (14:03):
Cara, I have a question for you.
So, as like a fellow podcaster,I have experience in like the
episode planning.
And I know that that can belike really daunting for people,
especially when you're firststarting out a podcast, because
you're thinking, like, what if Irun out of things to talk
about?
And so I know that at podcastand QA, we literally cover like
questions and answers.
So, what kind of questions doyou focus on for the podcast
(14:26):
when you're coming up withvarious episodes?
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Super valid concern, especially because we put out
episodes weekly.
So there is always thatlingering fear of like, oh my
goodness, am I gonna run out ofcontent?
But then I remember I actuallyhave a very useful resource,
which is an active support inboxthat has hundreds of emails
that we go through every day.
And so, but I can't pull all ofthem, right?
(14:49):
Some of those questions arejust not gonna translate into a
successful episode.
So some of the things that Ilook for are how-to questions.
So, how do I grow my show?
How do I make money podcasting?
So that's specific to ourfield, but I'd just be looking
for questions that are specificto maybe a feature that you're
offering or something that'sspecific to your niche, your
(15:12):
customer base.
And how-tos are really easy tomake an episode on, sharing how
something works.
Uh, so an example here would behow we track downloads, how our
analytics are showing in BuzzSprout.
And so we get a lot of variousquestions that are all related
to that.
And so I want to try to get outof the weeds, not make it so
(15:33):
specific, but kind of just coveran overarching broad episode of
this is how this works.
Yeah.
Um, and then also helping withlike strategies, thinking
outside the box of how can we dothis better, how can we do this
this certain way, and givingoptions for listeners to take
home and try on their own.
Priscilla (15:50):
Yeah, I think that's one of the biggest ways that I
see podcast QA being so powerfulis that it gives you the time
to talk about strategy.
Yeah.
So you can teach someone how touse a tool, especially if
you're listening to this and youhave like a SaaS product.
You know, you can teach someonehow to use your product, but
there's a difference betweenteaching them how to click this
button and that button, and thenteaching them the strategy
(16:11):
behind it, right?
The like the strategy piece ofit.
You can use a tool and use itthe wrong way, right?
But this gives us the abilityto say, okay, here's how you use
this feature we have.
And these are some of thestrategies that we recommend you
use that you try.
And it gives you a little bitmore room to communicate that
than you would be able tocommunicate in an email when
(16:33):
someone's saying, you know, howdo I take a break from my
podcast?
Oh, well, here's this plan youcan move to to take a break.
Right.
But Cara can write and recordan episode that goes way more in
depth on the strategies aroundhow to take a break.
Jordan (16:46):
Yeah.
And this actually ties directlyinto what we were talking about
earlier with like when we hadChase Clemens on and he was
talking about like the firehousething.
Like, this is the educationaspect of it.
This is like the pre-amble sortof thing.
So, like, if you have like anHVAC company and you're doing an
HVAC podcast, you can talkabout like things to check when
(17:06):
your vent is blowing warm air.
Right.
Or if you are in hospitality,you can say, here are things to
remember to pack before yourtrip.
Like you can have thesedifferent strategies that you do
to make the customer experiencethat much better and educate
them on like things that theyneed to be prepared for before
getting your services.
Priscilla (17:26):
Yeah.
Think about like you just saidhospitality.
Like, think about a hotel thatlaunches a podcast about getting
the best experience out ofcoming to this hotel.
Yeah.
You could like highlightdifferent restaurants in the
area.
You could highlight your ownamenities, you could highlight
day trips.
Like there's so much you coulddo.
If like the city ofJacksonville had a podcast, they
(17:47):
could highlight the localbusinesses.
And this kind of leaves thatsupport side a little bit, but
it really focuses on theeducation side, right?
Because it's it's getting topeople, like you were saying,
Dordan, before they have thequestions, before they have to
walk up to the desk and say,Where should I go for dinner?
You've already given them fourepisodes where you highlight,
you know, restaurants withinwalking distance.
Jordan (18:09):
If we're gonna bring it back directly to support, like
let's say that you have afinance app or you work at like
a bank and you want to educatepeople on how to read the
financial reports on theirdashboard.
You know, just something likethat.
A podcast can do all thesethings that you're constantly
educating people on.
If you constantly have peoplecoming in and they're asking the
(18:31):
same questions over and overagain, like that's probably
gonna be a good topic to cover.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Absolutely.
I actually have a real lifeexample of how I covered one of
our features.
Uh, so visual sound bites is afeature that we offer here at
Buzz Sprout.
And um, primarily, I think theunderstanding around it is that
you would use it to promote yourpodcast.
So it's a little audio clip,you'd share it on your social
channels, and you'd use that topromote your podcast.
Well, we have a podcaster who'sbeen with Buzz Sprout for a
(18:56):
very long time who reached outto me via fan mail on an episode
that I did on visual soundbites.
And she never knew that shecould use the visual soundbite
as a trailer for her nextepisode, like a sneak peek
because I mentioned that on myepisode, and she wrote in and
said, Oh my goodness, I've beenusing this feature for years.
Never did I think to have it asa teaser for my next episode.
(19:19):
Like, awesome.
I'm gonna try this next.
And so that's one of those wayswe design these amazing
products, or we have this greathotel with awesome amenities.
Sometimes customers they missout because they just don't
know, like you said, they justdon't know what they don't know.
And so getting out there andreally explaining how things
work and the best intention forusing it can really level up
(19:43):
your customers' experience.
And I think that's support.
Jordan (19:46):
On top of that, you could get ahead of things too.
So if you work with the productteam or you work with the
marketing team and you know thatlike a new feature or a new
service is coming out, you canrecord an episode ahead of time
talking to the developers.
Why did they make thesedecisions to do these certain
(20:06):
things?
Talking to the marketing team,what kind of things do people
need to be using uh this newfeature for?
Or how do they use the newfeature and use the new tool?
And then as soon as thatlaunches, you send out the
podcast episode in like an emailnewsletter or something to all
the customers and they can learnabout it like in real time and
be in the know of what to expectwhen they like next log into
(20:30):
the website or next walk intoyour uh facility or you know,
whatever.
Priscilla (20:36):
Yeah.
Well, and I think about, youknow, because I'm kind of stuck
on this hospitality thing thatwe were talking about, but I
think about, you know, you makea reservation for a hotel that
you're gonna stay in in a coupleof weeks and you get an email
confirming your stay.
What if that email included alink to the podcast about the
that the hotel produces so thatyou can start planning your
trip?
Once you get to the hotel,you're gonna know all those
(20:58):
amenities that you haveavailable to you.
And it's one of those thingswhere you think about that and
you go, man, that would work fora luxury hotel, but maybe not
for like a smaller hotel, youknow.
But why wouldn't you use it fora smaller hotel?
You could make your hotel feelluxurious by treating it that
way and having that kind of aresource for the people that are
(21:19):
coming to stay.
And I feel like it's a coolcreative way to build a
relationship with yourcustomers.
So if it's the hospitalityexample, then before they really
get there, they're alreadycoming into it with that
excited, you know, mentality andthey already have a little bit
of a relationship with you.
Or like you were talking aboutlike an HVAC, like these things
(21:40):
that we have to do in life thatmost of us are not experts in.
I'm thinking of like my um, youknow, my AC unit.
If there was a podcast that Icould easily access where they
were like, hey, your AC unitwent out.
Here, let me walk you throughwhat you should do, what you
should check to make sure it'sworking.
Yeah.
That would be so much betterthan like to listen to that on a
Friday night in the middle ofthe night when my AC goes out,
(22:02):
than to try to reach out tosomeone on customer support when
it's 105 degrees in my house.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Well, and if you go to their website and it's, you
know, oh, Florida heat QA.
Oh, hold on, let me check that.
And then there's quick fiveminute episodes of like, oh, is
the meter reading this?
Try.
Yeah, like super helpful.
And everybody lit, you couldliterally listen to it as you're
troubleshooting it with yourdevice or with your machine.
So, you know, HVAC companies,take note.
Jordan (22:30):
Priscilla, you actually said something that I think
rings so true, especially in thepodcasting space, which is um
you talked about like with thehospitality thing, like you come
in and you've alreadyestablished a relationship with
the company because you've likelistened to their podcast.
And I think that is so true forpodcasts.
It's such a great way toestablish like brand trust and
(22:51):
relationships with a company.
Yeah.
Priscilla (22:54):
I mean, think about last year we had Britney Hodak
and she talked about creatingsuper fans for your company,
right?
And how apathy is like thescary part of having customers
because if they don't reallyfeel connected to your company,
then they're gonna move onbecause you've got to make them
super fans in order to buildthis brand loyalty.
And that's what she was talkingabout.
(23:15):
But I think that relationshipsare built with storytelling and
podcasting is storytelling atthe end of the day.
Yeah.
And so it's such a powerfultool to build a relationship.
And so, like thinking aboutthat hospitality example, if you
start building a relationshipbefore the person gets to your
hotel, you're starting on areally strong foot or with
(23:37):
podcasting QA.
Before someone even reaches outto support, they're listening
to this podcast, they're gettingto know Cara.
And that in part means they'regetting to know Buzz Sprout and
how we talk about things and howwe talk about podcasting and
how we encourage podcasters.
So then by the time they have aquestion to write into support
(23:57):
or to ask Cara specificallydirectly, they already feel
comfortable doing that.
They're already ready to likegive us a little bit of grace if
something goes wrong becausethe relationship is already
there and it's already, youknow, really strong.
Jordan, as someone who hasseveral successful podcasts, can
you talk a little bit about howthat aspect of podcasting
(24:18):
facilitating relationships?
Jordan (24:20):
We see this all the time in advertising.
You'll see this on like localcommercials now, which is wild.
It's such a weird thing.
And you will see it in likesocial media and stuff like
that.
There's all these companiesthat are doing these ads where
it's the like company foundersor people like behind a
microphone and you're watchingon the screen.
And the reason for that is thatpodcasting has gotten so
(24:45):
popular that there's been allthese studies done on podcasting
and the psychological effectsof how podcasting establishes
parasocial relationships likestronger than any other medium.
The reason for that is, andparasocial relationships, if you
haven't heard, is like the hotword of last year.
Um, but if you haven't heardit, that is where a relationship
(25:08):
is very like one-sided.
And so it's when you feel likeyou know a person deeply, like
you would a best friend orsomething like that, but they
have no idea that you exist,which is so real.
Yeah.
I think a lot of podcastlisteners experience this.
And that's because withpodcasting, it's such like an
intimate medium.
You know, you are you'rejoining these people, like when
(25:30):
they're going to the gym andwhen they're driving their kids
on the morning commutes and whenthey're like going about their
daily routines.
Podcasting is built intoroutines.
And so you become like a partof that routine.
It just establishes trustbecause you're in someone's ear,
you're you're explaining thingsin a way that is very like
(25:51):
personal.
And because it's like long-formcontent, you get longer to um
hold someone's attention andreally explain things and give
nuance and give context.
And so I think that that is whythese relationships are so much
stronger through podcastingthan it is through like a
YouTube video or a TikTok whereyou get like two seconds of
(26:12):
their attention max.
Priscilla (26:14):
Yeah.
We don't just think thatbecause we work in podcasting.
Like it is legitimate.
There are studies and studiesthat show how impactful those
relationships are, right?
And how podcasting is like ahuge part of people's lives.
And I think about like theadvertising side of things.
I don't know the numbers, butjust the growth in podcast
(26:35):
advertising over the years,especially in the last five
years, has blown up becauseadvertisers are seeing how the
relationships built throughpodcasting can impact, you know,
growth in your product.
And so it's one of those ideasthat sometimes feels really big,
like, oh, launching a podcastfor my company as like a way for
(26:57):
me to connect with potentialcustomers or existing customers.
That's a lot of work.
Is that going to be worth it?
I think it's one of thosethings that there's so many
benefits to it that people mightnot realize that it is, I could
say it is absolutely worth it.
It is absolutely worth it tocreate an environment where your
customers can get to know thepeople that are running your
(27:19):
product.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Absolutely.
You are selling yourself shortby not starting a podcast having
to do with your company.
That part right there,Priscilla, that you just said,
you get to know those behind theproduct, those behind the
customers.
I know for podcasting QA, yes,I host it, but sometimes I bring
on Jordan as a podcastproducer.
I bring on Tom, who is a codewriter and who knows all about
(27:43):
podcast stats.
Or I, you know, I can bring inother team members so that
listeners are now familiar withBuzzsprout and the people behind
it.
And like Jordan was saying,it's such an intimate thing
when, you know, our voices arein your ear.
Your voices are in yourcustomers' ear.
So it creates a lot of loyalty.
And I just feel like it reallyeliminates any hesitations from
(28:06):
customers, like, can I trustthese people?
When you hear them speaking inin this genuine and authentic
way, man, that really is goingto result in loyalty from your
customers.
Priscilla (28:16):
And it gives you the ability to like be friends with
your customers.
Does that sound weird?
No, but obviously I'm thinkingabout podcasting, right?
But even beyond that, likegoing back to like the AC
example, like the AC maintenancepeople, it allows you to become
closer with your customers in away where you can encourage
them and build confidence inthem, right?
So Cara does this in everysingle episode with podcasting
(28:39):
QA.
She is always talking about howthe goal of the podcast is to
make the listeners, whoever theyare, but Buzzsprout users or
not, how the goal is to makethem more confident in their
podcast so they will keeppodcasting.
Because, like with anything,there's an intimidation factor
when you get started withsomething new.
So whether that be podcastingor you just bought your first
(29:02):
house and now you have to dealwith an AC unit that you've
never dealt with before and youdon't have a lot of confidence
around that, right?
Or it could be anything.
It could be any product, anyservice that you have to use.
But if you have this podcast,you can kind of be that friend
for your customer and encouragethem and say, hey, you can do
this.
Like, let me give you anepisode about some maintenance
(29:24):
tips to make sure your AC willlive the longest it can.
You can come alongside yourcustomers in a way that's like
encouraging and friendly thatbuilds that relationship more
than just like answeringquestions.
Jordan (29:35):
Well, and I love what you're saying, Priscilla, here
because what you're talkingabout is like brand loyalty.
And it's so funny becausebranded podcasts are like really
having a moment.
I hear all the time aboutTrader Joe's podcast, which is
so funny.
Like I've never listened to itpersonally, but like I know I
love it.
But it's so funny becausepeople are like, oh my gosh,
have you heard the Trader Joe'spodcast?
(29:56):
I love the Trader Joe'spodcast.
I just think it's so cool.
Like, I know Ben and Jerry'shas one about like activism.
And I know that GeneralElectric has like these science
fiction podcasts that are likereally weirdly well produced.
Like it doesn't really haveanything.
So random.
Yeah, it's so cool.
And you know, Buzzsprout, wehave a branded podcast, really,
(30:18):
and it's Buzzcast.
That's one I co-host.
And I co-host it with theco-founder of Buzzsprout and
with the head of marketing.
So you would not think that ithas anything to do with support,
but I really want to put it outthere that if you do have a
podcast that is a brandedpodcast, there are opportunities
to have support elements in it.
So with Buzzcast, we use it allthe time for like marketing and
(30:43):
education and stuff like that.
But like if we have a newfeature come out, we have the
co-founder who really did a lotof the thinking behind like why
we're adding this thing.
What's what's our reason behindmaking these choices?
What is our philosophy whenwe're approaching these things?
And then we have the head ofmarketing who is telling people
(31:03):
all the great things that youcan do with this.
And then you have me who I'mkind of playing like the average
podcaster, saying, like, oh,cool.
And I'm asking the questionsthat I know that other
podcasters are going to have forthem.
And it creates this like reallycool dynamic.
And we have listeners write inall the time with fan mail,
which, you know, Cara hadmentioned earlier.
(31:24):
And that's the link that wehave in the show notes of this
podcast where you can like sendus a text message or send us a
voicemail.
It's so cool because we havelisteners write in all the time
and they will ask us questionsthat really fall under the
support umbrella.
And then we have an opportunityto address that.
And then other customers orother people who are in our
(31:45):
industry are listening andthey're like, even though
they're not asking thesequestions, they're taking note
of it.
And it's really cool because wesee it trickle down.
So in the um online communitygroups and stuff like that, when
people are posting and they'resaying, like, why can't I do
this?
or or what's the reason behindthis?
And they're asking thesequestions online.
I see all the time, I see it onTwitter, I see it on Facebook,
(32:07):
I see it on Instagram.
Our listeners will commentunder their thing and say, Oh, I
actually heard them cover thison their podcast, and here's the
reason why they did it.
So we have now thistrickle-down effect where our
super fans are educating theother people because of our
podcast.
Yeah.
And it's not even a supportpodcast, but it's actually kind
(32:28):
of filling that role.
Priscilla (32:29):
Yeah.
And it makes me think about thefact that you might be
listening to this and thinking,okay, my product really doesn't
lend itself to having a questionand answer podcast.
That's not a need.
But what you're talking about,Jordan, is much more than that.
It's a branded show and itallows support to kind of push
into that a little bit.
(32:50):
And so support could host apodcast that is about the
company branded more education.
And it doesn't have to be a QApodcast.
Nope.
And I think that, you know, wetalk a lot in this podcast about
support being more than just aninbox cue and the importance of
like giving the people on yoursupport team outlets to grow and
to move beyond just answeringemails.
(33:12):
And this is a great example forthat.
And I actually think about itin terms of AI, with AI coming
into support in such a way,right?
There's so much talk about likedeflection and answering those
easy emails so that you can havetime to focus on the harder
questions.
It made me think of thisconversation with Simon Sinek
(33:34):
and Will Guidera that I heard acouple months ago.
There was a story that Willshares that's something along
the lines of they had a group ofpeople that were taking
reservations by phone and theyreally felt that that was a very
important way to takereservations.
And then they ended up changingthings up and started taking
reservations online.
But then it freed up a wholereservations team.
(33:55):
And now they didn't haveanything to do because the
reservations were being handledonline.
And he talks about how insteadof letting that team go because
now they're not needed, theyrepurposed that job into
something a little more creativeand they started doing calls
with people who had madereservations to talk to them
about their upcoming dinnerreservation.
And they leaned into the superpersonal side of things.
(34:18):
And I think about a podcastbeing a way you could do that in
support.
If you're running a team thatis now finding itself where the
tickets are being answered by anAI, and you're like, okay, now
I've got these people who needwork.
I want to, you know, reallocatetheir time to something that's
gonna improve our service.
A podcast might be a really funcreative way to do that and a
(34:41):
creative outlet for them to leaninto.
And like I think I said itearlier, Cara, you script the
episodes, you record theepisodes, you produce the
episodes, you edit the episodes,and then you publish them.
It's all you.
Most of those things I justlisted are things you have
learned how to do in the lastyear.
How has that been?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Well, I will say that role that you just described is
what many of our podcastersthat I'm working with in the
inbox are experiencing.
They are a one-woman, one-manshow and they're doing it all.
And so it's been a lot.
It's been awesome, honestly.
It's been a lot of hard work.
But what I've gained from it iswhen our customer writes in and
(35:20):
says, Man, I'm struggling withthis script.
I don't know what to do next,or my audio, it just doesn't
sound right.
I love it because genuinely,not just because of knowledge,
but because of experience, I cangive them advice.
And there's just something tothat.
And so that's been really funto be able to live it out, what
(35:41):
I'm answering the questions on,and then uh be able to
incorporate that in my responsesto our customers.
So I mean, I've loved it.
Jordan (35:49):
Would you say that podcasting was harder or easier
than you feared it was?
Speaker 1 (35:56):
That's a great question.
I feel like there are aspectsof it that are easier than I
anticipated, and then there areaspects of it that are much
harder than I expected.
What things are a lot easierthan you thought.
Honestly, just talking into themic.
Like, but I'm also I uh I likethat kind of thing.
Like public speaking makes meexcited, not nervous.
Yeah.
So maybe that's why I enjoyedit.
(36:17):
My first recording for mytrailer with you, Jordan, I was
such a timid little mouse.
I'm like, I don't know what tosay.
But then that part clicked veryquickly.
One of the parts that Iunderestimated was editing.
Yeah.
Ooh, that was a bear.
Um, but I've had a lot of uhgreat teachings from Jordan and
(36:38):
uh and our own resources that wehave here at Buzz Sprout.
And so now I've mastered thatand uh, but it's it's all still
a challenge.
Like I am constantly learning,and that is actually a really
fun part about podcasting that Ialso didn't realize until I got
into it.
Priscilla (36:53):
I think if you're listening to this and you're
considering launching a podcast,the unknown of podcasting can
feel like a huge hill to climb.
But the reality of thesituation is that it's a lot
easier to start a podcast thanyou might think.
And the technical aspects thatcan feel really scary can
actually be really simple.
And yes, there are skills thatyou have to learn, like editing
(37:16):
and producing, but those thingscan be learned.
And Cara is a great example ofthat because a year ago she had
no editing experience.
And now here we are a yearlater, and she's editing
episodes in a couple hours andgetting those released really
quickly.
Yep.
And so you can come a long way.
And so if you're listening tothis going, oh my gosh, we can't
even consider a podcast becauseI'm not tech savvy and I can't
(37:38):
learn that.
I just want you to challengethat a little bit because I
actually think it's somethingthat's way more accessible than
you might think it is.
Jordan (37:45):
I also want to say real quickly, we have met so many
podcasters who are just startingout, and every person has
different strengths anddifferent weaknesses or
different fears and differentthings that they're excited
about, things that excite themand give them life.
And so one person might beexcited to speak behind the mic,
but might be scared of editing,and another person might love
the editing aspect of it, butmaybe they don't like talking
(38:07):
behind the mic.
Well, this is a greatopportunity to team up.
Yeah.
And so you have you havesomeone on the support team who
loves talking, then you put thembehind the mic, and then you
have the other person who'slike, man, I would love to get,
you know, my mitts on theediting board.
And like, you know, and so it'sa really good opportunity to
kind of like split things up andmake it a team project too.
And I want to say too that likeapps have come such a long way.
(38:31):
I have a $70 Samsung QTUmicrophone that has a USB-C.
My daughter wanted to start apodcast.
I gave her the microphone andsaid, here you go.
And she plugged it into hertablet and she has Cap Cut,
which is just like a very simpleapp.
And her podcast sounded sogood.
It was crazy.
(38:52):
She just like ran upstairs andlike recorded for like an hour
and like was doing her littleediting thing.
And I'll tell you what, if myeight-year-old can do that, you
can too.
And it sounded great.
Like I was, I was veryimpressed.
So there's so many tools nowthat make podcasting a lot more
accessible.
There's like AI things, there'slots of like text-based
editing, or, or if you likeediting with sound clips or
(39:13):
editing on your iPad or, youknow, whatever.
There's options for everybodyand you just have to kind of
experiment and find what worksfor you.
Priscilla (39:21):
Yeah.
All three of us are podcasthosts.
So I'll kind of pose thisquestion to all three of us.
If a support team wanted toexperiment with a podcast, what
would you tell them would be thefirst thing they should do to
like get started?
Jordan (39:34):
I'm gonna get mine out of the way.
Okay.
In this day and age, you do notneed a ton of equipment.
Years ago, it used to be wayharder to start a podcast.
You had to have an audiointerface and you had to have an
XLR microphone and you had tohave like all this different
stuff, and it was so confusing.
Nowadays, honestly, the toolsthat we have in our phones is
crazy.
So at Best Breut, we have likemagic mastering.
(39:57):
So if you don't have perfectaudio, you can upload it and
it'll just like like magicallyfix it, and it sounds perfectly
like studio audio.
There's so many tools likethat.
So don't limit yourself, likestart simple.
You can just start with a $70to $100, depending on inflation,
USB microphone and just plug itdirectly in your computer.
(40:18):
Use a free software like GarageBand or Audacity or Cap Cut to
record your podcast and edit it,and you can be done.
It's really not thatcomplicated anymore.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
So, my thought is actually if you were on a
support team, define the purposeof what we could offer with
this podcast.
What is the information thatneeds to get out there ahead of
our customers in order to putout any fires that may arise?
And then find somebody who,like you said, enjoys uh
speaking behind a mic and alsohas kind of a gift of explaining
(40:50):
complicated things in kind of asimple way.
Um, so if there's somebody whoor a couple of people on your
team that do a really good jobat that, um, I would see if
they'd be interested in therecording and then turn on the
mic and start recording.
That's really the best way tolearn.
I kind of feel like that's howit happened with me.
It was like, we're gonna dothis.
And I said, okay.
(41:11):
And then we just went for it.
And now here we are 46 episodeslater, and uh, I'm growing
every day.
And so don't think too hardabout it.
Just go for it.
Priscilla (41:19):
To piggyback on that, Cara, one of the pieces of
advice I got when I was startingthis podcast was sit down and
write down as many episodetopics as you can think of.
Like you don't have to fleshthem all out, just come up with
the topics for how many?
And if you can sit down andjust come up with 10 episode
ideas right there on the spot,then that's enough to launch
(41:40):
because by the time you getthrough those 10, you will have
10 more, right?
And you'll have 10 more.
And you'll be able to createthat content.
Because for me, the contentcreation aspect of podcasting
feels daunting.
And that was a huge motivatorfor me to sit down and go, oh,
yeah, we could do 10 episodes.
So, like you're saying, Cara,if you pull your support team
(42:01):
together and go, okay, let'scome up with 10 episodes of ways
that we could get to ourcustomers before they have
questions for us.
So let's say we're an ACcompany.
Let's get together the twopeople who run the support team.
And we want to outline what are10 episodes that we could do
that would come alongside ourcustomers and help educate them
(42:21):
on using our services.
If you can come up with 10episodes and release those
monthly, then you've got abranded podcast that will be
evergreen content.
Like if you decided to pausethe podcast, the episodes are
still going to be valuable, evenif you just do 10 episodes.
And I think that is like a hugeresource for your customers.
Jordan (42:40):
And with AI, it is so easy to find the information,
like just give it the data, haveit figure out what the hottest
topics are, like what are themost asked questions, and then
also have it help you brainstormepisodes that you could do
around those topics.
You don't have to dedicate aton of time to figuring this
(43:01):
part out of it.
Priscilla (43:02):
Yeah.
I know for me and for Cara, andI'm sure for you too, Jordan,
with episode creation for yourpodcasts, AI is a huge tool in
helping with that brainstorming.
Yeah.
I want to be clear, podcastingis not going to be the answer
for everyone, right?
You might have a team of peoplewho it is terrifying the idea
to get behind a mic.
And so you really don't havesomeone who wants to do that,
and it might not be the answerfor you.
(43:23):
But if podcasting is excitingfor you, it can be a huge
relationship builder between youand your customers.
It can build those super fansthat are so important to growing
a company, use it as a resourceto share more information about
using your product orstrategies about using your
product well.
And at the end of the day,podcasting right now is so
(43:47):
popular and so part of people'slives that now is a really good
time to get in on this and tolaunch your own branded podcast.
So at the risk of this soundinga little bit like an ad, which
it's definitely not.
There's so many podcastingresources out there that you can
use.
If you are interested inlaunching a podcast, if this is
something that's exciting toyou, you can email our support
(44:09):
team and you'll probably getCara or I and we can give you
some next steps for starting, oryou can go ask AI how do I
start a podcast and let themwalk you through it.
And you can use any kind ofthere's coaches, there's so many
resources out there that canhelp you start.
Jordan (44:24):
I want to plug our Buzzsprout How to Podcast
podcast.
I will link to it in the shownotes.
It is a 10-part series.
Each episode is very short,like maybe 10 minutes.
And uh Jelan and Alban do sucha great job at making like
starting a podcast fun.
And they just like each episodeis like the next step and you
(44:44):
can follow along and do ityourself.
And honestly, like it could bea fun support team building
exercise to build your podcasttogether.
Priscilla (44:52):
Oh, that's a great idea.
Jordan (44:53):
Yeah.
Priscilla (44:54):
If you do that with your support team, will you
please send us fan mail and letus know that you did that?
Because I think that's such agreat activity for like a meetup
or something, is like, hey,we're gonna listen to these
episodes and we're gonna launcha podcast together as a team.
You can also totally create apodcast and not publish it.
Yeah.
And just do it as an activity.
(45:16):
And then maybe something getspublished, maybe something
doesn't.
Jordan (45:18):
I think that's one of those things where like you take
the pressure off yourself andso you have like more fun
creating it.
And then I bet anything, if youall get together and like make
your own podcast, you'll listento it and be like, you know
what?
Actually, this is pretty good.
We should probably do this.
Priscilla (45:33):
Yeah, I agree.
Well, thank you, Jordan andCara, for joining me on this
episode.
This was really fun to talkabout podcasting, which we don't
do that much on this podcast.
Yeah.
But it was really fun.
And if you are starting apodcast, you should go listen to
podcasting QA becausepodcasting QA every single
Monday releases a new episode tohelp you podcast with
confidence.
Thank you, Priscilla.
(45:54):
Yes.
If you have a question or atopic that you would like us to
cover in a future episode ofHappy to Help, you can shoot us
a text using the Send Us FanMail link in the episode
description.
If you like this episode,please share it with someone who
works in customer support orleave us a review on Apple
Podcasts.
Thank you again to Cara andJordan for joining us on today's
episode.
(46:14):
And thank you for listening.
Now go and make someone's day.
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