March 3, 2025 • 38 mins
2025 is a great time to start a podcast
Thinking of starting a podcast in 2025? Worried the podcasting world is already too crowded? In this episode, we dive into the top reasons why launching a show now can be more advantageous than ever—even when it seems like “everyone” already has a podcast. From tapping into hyper-niche audiences to taking advantage of cutting-edge tech, you’ll learn why there’s plenty of space for fresh voices and unique ideas.
Join us as we break down the key factors that make this an ideal moment to get behind the mic.
Today's Hosts: Todd Cochrane, MacKenzie Bennett and Mike Dell
The Myth of Oversaturation
How the boom in podcasting can actually work in your favor
Why today’s listeners crave more specialized and personal content
Hyper-Niche Advantages
Finding and serving a very specific audience
How drilling down on a topic can create a more loyal listener base
Monetizing and collaborating within niche markets
Continued Technological Improvements
Lowering production costs and simpler editing tools
High-quality mobile recording options
Better distribution and analytics platforms making it easier to track success
Growing Global Listenership
Why podcasts are still expanding into international markets
Potential for multi-language or cross-cultural shows
Opportunities to reach new demographics that weren’t listening before
Evolving Monetization Models
Sponsorships, affiliate marketing, and subscription-based models
Using membership sites or premium content to create sustainable income
Why brands are doubling down on podcasts as a marketing channel
Standing Out with Authenticity
The power of genuine storytelling and human connection
Differentiating factors: personality, format, and unique angles
Cultivating an engaged community vs. chasing large numbers
Low Barrier to Entry, High Creative Freedom
Podcasting as a playground for testing ideas and formats
Multi-platform promotion: How social media and video can amplify your message
Simple steps to get started with minimal equipment and upfront costs
Future-Proofing Your Brand
Positioning yourself as a thought leader in your niche
Building relationships and networking through podcast interviews
How consistent content output can evolve into new opportunities (speaking gigs, book deals, etc.)
Key Takeaways for Listeners
Despite a seemingly crowded market, there’s a massive appetite for new, specialized shows.
Advances in tech and the global growth of podcasting create unique opportunities in 2025.
Authenticity, hyper-niche content, and community-building can help your podcast stand out.
Monetization models continue to diversify, making it easier to earn income and sustain your show.
Starting now means you’ll be better positioned as the medium continues to evolve. Check out our Plans and Pricing online to see which Blubrry plan is meant for you.
Listener Challenge
What unique angle or niche do you have that would stand out in the podcasting world? Whether you’ve already got an idea or you’re still brainstorming, we’d love to hear from you. Share your concept or inspiration on social media with the hashtag #FuturePod2025, and let us know how you plan to make your mark in the world of podcasting!
Thanks for listening to Podcast Insider, you can subscribe to new episodes out every Monday.
The best place for support with any Blubrry product or service is our ticket system. Tickets give the whole team access vs. direct emails or calls. General podcasting discussions and more can be shared on the Blubrry Podcasting Facebook group.
Fill out our listener survey at surveys.blubrry.com/podcastinsider
Hosting customers can schedule a one-on-one call with Todd or a tech checkup with Mike at todd@blubrry.com and mike@blubrry.com
Stay tuned for more episodes and visit our website for the latest updates and resources.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Everyone. Welcome to Podcast Insider from Blueberry Podcasting.
I'm Todd Cochran, founder of the company.
And I'm Mackenzie Bennett, your marketing go to
for podcasting.
And I'm Mike Dell, your friendly neighborhood tech
support guy here at Blueberry.
And today, we're diving into why 2025
is the perfect time to start a podcast
(00:21):
even if it feels like the market is
overly saturated, but in reality, it's not.
We'll be sharing hyper niche content, evolving tech,
and fresh monetization models that make podcasting more
accessible and rewarding than ever. Plus, we'll cover
some practical tips on standing out in a
crowded space from authenticity
to building a loyal community. And if you've
(00:44):
been on the fence about launching your show,
stick around because, you're gonna find plenty of
reasons to hit that record button right now.
So let's get started. There's a big podcasting
world out there, and we're here to help
you make your mark.
You're listening to podcast insider hosted by Mike
Dell, Todd Cochran, and Mackenzie Bennett from the
Blueberry team,
(01:04):
bringing you weekly insights, advice, and insider tips
and tricks to help you start, grow, and
thrive through podcasting, podcasting, all with the support
of your team here at Blueberry Podcasting.
Welcome. Let's dive in.
You know, if we look at what's going
on in the podcasting space from a purely
numbers
(01:25):
situation,
This is a great time.
You know, we've got,
about 400,000
shows
globally. They're doing a new episode every 30
days
compared to a 10,000,000
YouTube channels.
I think I think the chances are better,
(01:46):
you know Yeah. At least in the beginning
to do a podcast. So,
you know, it's not too crowded.
It really isn't.
I will say year like, years and years
ago,
Elsie from Libsyn actually said she gave gave
the analogy of, you wouldn't say to a
writer that wants to write a book that
the market is oversaturated.
(02:09):
And the same goes for podcasting.
Yeah. I think that, it's all a matter
of perspective. Good ideas and good content
always lead from the front, and
it's a great way to if you're a
new creator
and you're just trying to get your chops
going, it's a great way to get started.
(02:29):
You know? And I I think
as we look at this episode and we
dive into,
you know, the top reason why launching a
show can be more advantages
than ever,
even when it really
people feel
like everyone already has a podcast.
I I think if you really
plan well and set a good goal,
(02:51):
you can you can be that next,
that next show that reaches
the audience that you wanna reach. And I
think that's part of the
the discussion that should happen in the beginning
here too
is that
oftentimes when I talk to podcasters, they are
like,
I wanna grow my show. And I say,
(03:12):
what is the goal? And they don't even
know the goal of the show. So if
you don't know the goal, how do you
know where you're gonna get there? So
preplanning is important, and we we have a
number of episodes up on that already.
But A lot of podcasters
will,
say you know, you'll ask them who their
show is for.
(03:32):
And they'll say, well, everybody.
Well, a show for everybody is a show
for nobody. I mean, you know, there's a
few out there that get away with that,
but
it's it's not something you know, you wanna
you wanna niche down.
And and I think too there's this myth
of oversaturation.
And,
(03:52):
and I think as we move into this
AI world more and more, and I'm hearing
it on stuff that I'm listening to, and
believe me, it's driving me crazy,
is I'll put some content up, let's say,
it's YouTube video,
and you hear that voice
that you hear on, you know, hundred different
you know, it's the same voice. You're like,
oh my god. Really? And it's I back
(04:14):
out because
I wanna hear a a human.
You know, maybe a human did some editing
on the script, but, you know, it's that
to me is just a
drone. Right?
So
I think listeners are are gonna crave
personal content. I really think they do. And
(04:34):
Yeah. They they want a very specific audience,
I think. There there's definitely people out there
who are gonna, you know, get down to
the nitty gritty of what it is that
they're interested in, and they're gonna
they're like, okay. Well, none of my friends
are interested in this, so I'm gonna find
every show out there until I've about this
thing specifically,
about what it is that, you know, I
(04:56):
like about this show compared to this show,
and then they'll narrow it down and figure
out what it is that they wanna listen
to.
But then it also means
in a in a positive for that that
they are able to monetize better because there's,
you know, the the more narrow it is,
the more loyal the listener,
the the easier it is to monetize sometimes.
(05:16):
So there there's definitely,
I think, more pros than cons of of
hyperniche and narrowing down like that. You know,
Mike, you've been kind of the master of
doing some niche shows. You know, you were
doing some, a niche about, fast food or
something at one time, weren't you? Yeah.
Yep. Fast food history.
That's pretty nichey.
(05:38):
Yeah. And, well, you know,
and that's how I find topics sometimes. You
know, I'll get in a Wikipedia yank and,
you know, on certain topic, and then I
read this that story. That story. Oh, that'd
be a great podcast. So, you know, that's
how that came about. And,
you know, it it was fairly popular for
a while, and then, you know, I sort
of ran out of material and and motivation
(06:00):
and, you know, I'm the king of, pod
fade over here. I was talking with a
client of ours this morning, and
he is,
got a pretty
he's got a popular genre show,
but at the same time, he's now,
you know, narrowing
his focus
and,
(06:20):
to build a,
a more loyal listener base.
And,
that in ties into the ability for him
to monetize
and collaborate within that market.
And,
I think today,
people are really looking
to,
you know, to to
put content together that is gonna resonate and
(06:43):
be successful. But,
you know, I think there's still gonna be
a lot of podcasters out there that are
not gonna go hyper niche. They're gonna kinda
go wide,
broad, and wide.
Mhmm. And I and, again, I don't
I'm one strategy over the other, but, again,
it goes back to that discussion.
And we've been working on a consultant course,
(07:04):
and, you know, it's one of the things
that
and, you know, consider us your consultant.
You you really need to,
you know, hone down.
Okay. I I'm in love with x y
z.
I can talk about it twenty four seven
and probably, you know, the type of people
that likes to talk to you about that
(07:25):
kind of stuff. Mike, you like to talk
about airplanes. I like to talk about airplanes.
I'm a good target audience.
Mackenzie may not be a target audience for
airplanes.
So
But but I am, for instance, looking at,
like, I have
this Trader Joe's,
lip balm that just sits on my desk.
And Trader Joe's has a podcast where they
(07:46):
talk about how they make their own food.
They have they have sell their own spices
that you know, this is how they work
with other companies. Like
and then I get videos about Trader Joe's
stuff that comes out all the time too
because
I do go there. And I'm like, oh,
okay. They have new food. I wanna go
get it. Like, I have. It works. It
really does. Lucky think about this show. This
(08:08):
show is very niche. I don't know.
You know, the the the amount number of
listeners out there versus the number of podcasters
is a vastly different number.
And so podcasting about podcasting,
you know, it's kinda meta, but
it's it's a tight niche. You know, we're
we're not gonna get the hundreds and thousands
(08:28):
of, of downloads on each episode here,
whereas, you know, something in a different niche
might. But that may not be your goal.
Your goal might be
to get to the 200 people in the
world that are really interested in what you're
talking about. And, you know, that can be
monetized depending on what the subject is and
(08:48):
all that. You know, by the way, Mackenzie,
lucky for you that you got a Trader
Joe's to go to. I I don't even
know the closest one around here.
You you know, we had a show years
ago that,
it was done by a neurosurgeon,
a world renowned neurosurgeon,
and he had
a thousand
neurosurgeons
that were listening to his show. Now that
(09:09):
is his that's that's his about as tight
as you get, but
he made a lot of money
from that show. A lot of money because
he was reaching the right audience. Now he
was unique because he had that unique position.
He was he was the he was the
dude,
you know, that was and and there was,
you know, a broad based audience, but, you
(09:31):
know, he was the guy that was teaching
evolving stuff in neurosurgery. So Mhmm. That's niche.
My tech show is not so niche as
we kinda go all over the place. So
I think there's room
for both.
But, you know, I think the one thing
is great, though.
You know, if any of you see, you
know, any of a video clip of anything
(09:52):
that we do or anything like that, we're
not always using super high production stuff.
Dave has been, recording some stuff in his,
in his office. There's really no background.
He's been, you know, he's been doing a
little video, little audio.
Today,
getting starting in podcasting
(10:13):
is probably under a hundred bucks to Yeah.
Buy the gear you need,
and
high quality too.
Yeah. I mean, there's a a lot of
services out there that'll even help you with
cohost. I mean, you know, today, we're using
Zoom basically to
record this show, and we're in three different
(10:33):
locations.
And, you know, all you need is a
decent microphone that plugs into your computer and,
you know, a little bit of software, and
you're ready to go. Yeah. I just wanna
point out, we all have very different setups
in our homes as well. Like, Todd, you
have, you know, a lot of,
sound carriers. I have overkill. I have overkill.
(10:54):
Mike, you kinda have, like, the middle version
where you're like, okay. I have this whole
setup all the time, and
then I have
a fish tank
in the same room as me, the door
open,
and I'm sitting, you know, a foot away
from two windows. And my microphone is
keeping up with the quality that you guys
(11:15):
have as well. So, really, it is doable
for anyone anywhere at this point in time.
And and, you know, just for this audience's
idea, we are recording this in video, but
we're we're gonna put this out as an
audio podcast only.
Why are we doing the video? Well, we
maybe there's something here we say this remarkable
work as a a clip, and maybe that
(11:35):
clip to promote the show is better to
see, you know, the three talking heads here
than
just hear an audio. So, you know, we're
we're playing around with stuff too. And, again,
Mackenzie, you're probably using the webcam off your
your MacBook. Right?
I am actually not. I have a Logitech
one, but it was, like,
$50
(11:56):
Right. I think. You know?
Yeah. Nothing nothing too fancy. Facecam, I think,
was up and $99
or something. You know? It's
decent enough. So I I think here, the
tech stuff should not be a barrier anymore.
You know, just to do a basic podcast,
(12:16):
you know, that
the ATR 2,100
or the QDU.
What is that model? I anyway, there's a
couple of very inexpensive Q2U. Q2U.
Couple of very inexpensive microphones that do a
great job. And then here's the beauty.
The distribution analytics
is makes it much easier to track. Distribution
(12:39):
is just as powerful as as it has
ever been.
You can be everywhere. You can be on
Spotify. You can be on Apple Podcasts. You
can be on Amazon. You can be on
all these locations
where people can discover you. That's the believe
it or not, that's the easy part. It
may seem a little challenging in the beginning,
but the hardest part is just hitting record.
(13:02):
But Yeah. There is a global
audience for you.
Mhmm. And There definitely is. You know,
you know, we have a I have one
customer I can think of that does his
show
in English, and then he rerecords it in
Spanish, and then he rerecords
it in Italian.
(13:23):
And I think he's got, like, five different
languages that he knows that he records the
same episode
multiple times. You know, he's not even using
technology.
I'm jealous.
Translate that.
Yeah. I can barely speak English.
Well,
I honestly, I've been thinking about finding a
Spanish podcast for myself recently because I've kinda
(13:43):
hit a wall with Duolingo where I'm like,
I've been doing this a long time, and
I don't know anything. I've been trying to
learn Portuguese. So Oh, that's a that's a
hard one.
But a podcast is really a good way
to learn, I think. And, you know, I
think too one thing that if you have
a desire,
you know, if you're a business owner and
say, I wish I could expand expand my
(14:04):
reach into the Latino market or wherever it
may be.
There are great tools out there now like
ElevenLabs
where you can train your voice,
and it will
rerecord
in another language. Now
is that the best okay. It's is that
the best solution? No. But it's better than
nothing.
But the technology does exist. And it's getting
(14:26):
better every day. Yeah. Yeah. And I do
wanna call out as well, Apple recently
made it easy for all
podcast hosts such as Blueberry,
to get your show out there. And Apple
is still,
you know, one of the biggest distribution places
that you wanna be. So once you do
get in those places,
everyone's gonna be able to find you in
(14:46):
all these different countries. Yeah. It's beautiful. You
can do one click subscribe now. You don't
have to go to Apple anymore to submit
a show. We have podcasts as you you
don't have any more advantage
or less advantage
than some big celebrity.
How they have a little more name recognition,
but you're gonna be distributed in the exact
same app they are. Right. Mhmm. And I
(15:09):
think there's I think there's huge opportunities here
to reach new demographics. But, again, what is
the goal of your show? Who do you
want to reach? And if you wanna reach
someone in another country, there's it's it's completely
possible.
And I think too is a lot of
people. Oh my god.
It's a little
overwhelming at sometimes.
(15:29):
And I'll just say this before we get
into this topic. Don't worry about the money
in the beginning. Worry about the show, but
there is evolving monetization models.
Yeah.
Yeah. Absolutely.
There's I mean,
don't worry about it. Don't put too much
pressure on yourself, and and you're gonna be
going about having a podcast completely differently if
(15:49):
you're doing it as a hobby or if
you're doing it to make money.
But regardless,
you know, there are sponsorships. There are, you
know, advertising campaigns. There's affiliate programs. We have
one.
With Blueberry, there's subscription based models, premium podcasting.
There is a slew of ways that you
can monetize your show nowadays.
(16:10):
And and I truly believe
if you don't have a podcast and you're
a business, why
not?
Brand way to market.
You know, an example of that is, there's
there's a guy out there who's a chiropractor,
and
he gets business from all over the country.
Now people will actually fly in
(16:30):
to go to his chiropractic thing because he
has his podcast about chiropractic.
You know, when when you're in pain and
no one can fix you
and you find someone that gives you hope,
you'll just about go to the ends of
the earth.
Right. You know? So I This guy, you
know, people fly or drive in. You know?
He's in Dallas area, and
(16:52):
they fly and drive in just to go
to him because of his social media and
podcast. I'm sure when he started his podcast,
he probably thought, oh, I'm just gonna hit
folks in the Tristate area around Texas. Of
course, that's half the country almost as big
as Texas is, but you he probably didn't.
Did you do you think he realized he
(17:12):
would get all this
extra business that was coming in from everywhere?
He he he seems surprised. You know? He'll
he'll interview somebody that he's working with,
and, Oh, yeah. I just drove in from
Tampa, you know, to Dallas and, Yeah. It's
a short drive. Trip over and, you know,
whatever. You know? It's
(17:32):
it's pretty crazy how how many people will
come to him because of, you know, getting
the word out like that. Even though that's
a local business,
you know, he's getting it from all over.
So, you know, don't don't be afraid to
to start a show. You know?
Another friend of ours had a wallpaper store.
Oh, yeah.
And,
you know, also in the Dallas area, I
(17:54):
guess. But, you know, he was getting,
online orders. You know, this is just a
local shop, but he was getting online orders
like crazy because of his podcasting.
He he end up buying all the think
think about this, ladies and gentlemen. He end
up buying
about 90% of the wallpaper in The United
States that was left over in warehouses and
stuff, and he cornered the market on wallpaper.
(18:17):
There there's a business for everyone.
So I'll ask this question to both Mike
and Mackenzie. Have you ever been up at,
like, 02:00 in the morning in the old
days? And,
and so this is for those of you
that don't have haven't had a TV subscription
before,
have you ever turned a channel on at
02:00 in the morning? There's some dude there
selling something. You know, he's selling,
(18:38):
soap or selling, you know, whatever the wonder
of the world was for that day. Have
you ever have you ever seen one of
those, infomercials before?
Oh, yeah. For sure.
I bought stuff off of them. Yeah. We
had entire CD case full of ShamWow.
I do.
It's like it's actually kind of a thing
with millennials where we're like, if you can't
(18:59):
fall asleep, go watch a YouTube video of,
like, all the infomercial.
So which the ShamWow guy has a show
called the ShamWow
guy podcast.
So, obviously, then what's kind of funny here
is is you guys kinda went the a
different way. I was expecting a different answer.
I kind of like those folks. I'm like,
that dude's not super authentic.
You know? I'm like,
(19:20):
you know,
am I spent you know, if I spend
my $29.95,
am I actually gonna get the product?
So I think it goes back to
podcasting.
People people can smell a fraud.
Oh, for sure.
It well, it does remind me so, yeah,
growing up,
that's absolutely what we would buy. I bought,
(19:41):
you know,
all of the random stuff.
But
whenever my friends and I used to go
to the bar, you know, they would have
the TV on. At a certain point, the
infomercials would would start, and we would like,
we memorized all of them. We knew what
they were, and we were like
then it just became a joke of, like,
oh, yeah. They are this is really bad.
(20:03):
And, you know, here's another thing that people
don't think about. You know, you're talking about
your subject to your podcast.
Okay. There's how many podcasts about podcasting out
there, but, yeah, we're doing one. Right. Ours
is different than, say, Dave Jackson or Daniel
Lewis or whoever. You know, there's a bunch
of them doing them, plus a lot of
the podcast companies have their own. And they're
(20:25):
all unique, and they're all worth listening to.
And if you're interested in podcasting,
you're not gonna just listen to one podcast.
You're gonna listen to two or three on
that subject. You'll find the ones you like
and the ones you don't like and go
from there. I think So don't don't be
afraid to get into a,
competitive,
market. I I think it's important, though,
(20:47):
that whatever you're talking about,
you has to have some
background.
You you Oh, yeah. Because you if you
gotta come across
as authentic because
people will smell out if you really are
not being authentic.
So, you know, over time,
(21:07):
the people listen ten, fifteen, 20, 20 five
episodes, they're gonna get to know you pretty
pretty good. So the power of storytelling
and human connection is just like anything else.
It's when you meet someone for the first
time. We all do this. We kinda we're
like, alright. What's this person about?
And we've all met people sometimes that talk
too much
or know it all
(21:28):
or any, you know, any kind of you
know, we we do that. We put labels
on people.
But I think if you stay authentic
and you tell stories and you and you
do that
connection,
it's really,
the differentiating factor here,
of how
(21:49):
you're you're gonna connect with an audience. So
don't be afraid to have a personality
and make sure it's your personality.
Yeah. I was often asked by my buddies,
why don't you swear on your show? Because
when I was a sailor,
I I Swore like a sailor. I swore
like a sailor. But I I told them,
I said, I made it a point to
make my show family safe. It didn't change
(22:11):
who I was, but I didn't need to
educate through
a four letter word.
So and I've gotten much better at not
using four letter words, as the years have
went on. So I They're good punctuation
sometimes. Well, yeah, sometimes.
But, you know, so that was one thing
that actually shaped my personality for the better,
(22:32):
I think to that extent. But, you know,
building community,
I think we've all built some community in
this business for sure and in podcasting alone.
I think also don't take advantage of your
community. Yeah.
Because sometimes you can kind of you can
be your very authentic self, and it's it's
really working, but maybe a little too much.
(22:54):
And
in the sense of, like, yeah, you have
this really big audience now where maybe you
can
quit your job and do this full time
or maybe you are putting
you know?
Now you do have a studio for this,
and you are recording video and and just
however you've you've, quote, unquote, like, leveled up
in that sense.
(23:16):
But but if your authenticity
takes
a dive along with that change, people are
gonna notice and they're gonna leave. That's true.
There was a,
when I and I take this back to
my military years. When I made,
e seven, it's a transition
and you basically it's you go from one
type of uniform to another.
(23:37):
It's from, being almost a worker bee to
leadership,
and it's it's truly a transition in your
job. And they put you through
about two months of
this this training. And they they keep putting
your finger in your face saying,
you have to stay humble. Remember where you
came from.
You know, you're not a big ass shot
now. You're just you've moved up, but you
(23:59):
need to remember,
you know, where you come from. And I
think that stands out in
content creation too. So as you grow,
you don't forget what caused you to grow.
For sure. But one thing's for sure, low
barrier to entry and high creative freedom. And
I just took a little creative
creative license in the last comment I just
(24:19):
made, but we can do what we wanna
do in podcasting.
That's what I've done with my you know,
I have one long term show, and all
the rest of them have been experiments. And
I do them for a while, and they
do something else. And, you know, so, you
know, I I joke that I'm the king
of pod fade, but I've tried a lot
of different things.
And the ones that didn't work,
(24:40):
the, you know,
the worst ones
were where I was reading something or trying
to be something I'm not. And,
you know, I am who I am, and
that just has to come through the microphone
or the camera or whatever.
And
but the the nice thing about it is
you could start and stop things. You can
(25:00):
try things. You can, you know,
do anything you want with podcasting. There's nobody
telling you you can't do it.
You know?
And,
you know, Mackenzie, you know this more than
anything. Let's talk about
promotion.
Yeah.
Yeah. Promoting yourself, you know, you're gonna have
to do it in a variety of ways.
It's,
(25:21):
it can be a little scary for people
who
have no experience in that in that realm.
You know, like, going back to that neurosurgeon.
He went to medical school. He's a doctor.
He's never really stepped foot in the marketing
world
for you know, that's that's a better guess.
And so figuring out how do I monetize
(25:42):
this? How do I market it so that
I have
this loyal
thousand, you know,
thousand person audience on a regular basis?
And how do I keep them coming back,
whether that is through the content
or the social media that I'm putting out
there or, you know, my email list,
something as simple as a billboard sometimes.
(26:03):
You know, getting on that email list that's
going out to these hospitals with all these
other neurosurgeons
saying, like, this is available
for you. You just have to you have
to you have to spend some money, unfortunately,
sometimes. But You know, it's it's not a
requirement, but it is probably gonna come up.
You you you know, what was amazing about
that particular show, and I tell this story
(26:23):
and I've told it many times, is he
was making $20,000
an episode with sponsorship,
reaching those thousand pod a thousand neurosurgeons.
And it got to a point where he
was about pulling, like, 80 k a month.
Now that's a number for all of us.
Right? If we could pull an 80 k
a month surgeon.
Yeah. You know, it's like, yes. But what
(26:44):
happened was
his partner said, hey. You're making too much
money here and stuff that we can't write
off. You're gonna drive us into a higher
tax bracket.
He he continued doing the show, but he
dropped all sponsorships. Now the rest of us
would have said, that's nuts. I'll pay the
tax. Right? Yeah. And,
but They don't have the money to pay
the tax with. Right.
(27:05):
So and to me, it was mind boggling
when he said, oh, I'm gonna continue the
show, but we're not gonna monetize. And I
and I think to all of you listening,
you're probably dumbfounded. I was. It's the only
time I've ever seen that happen.
But just imagine you get so successful that
you can't you have to stop taking the
money because it's
impacting your other business from a tax revenue
(27:26):
standpoint. It's bizarre, but it was true.
Yeah. So he future proofed his brand
To say the least.
You know, and, he didn't take no money
and continue to do the podcast for a
couple of years. So but he was a
thought leader in his niche.
Yeah. You know, that that brings up another
military term since we're talking military,
(27:47):
SHMI,
the subject matter expert.
Yeah. Now it doesn't necessarily mean you have
to be the expert in the niche you're
you're going
into. You could do the podcast to learn
the niche to become
that. I mean, a lot of things that
people do. You know? I I know this
one fairly famous podcaster that just got into
(28:08):
ham radio. He started a podcast about ham
radio. He's brand new at it. He doesn't
know a whole lot about it, and his
learning process is what
the podcast is about. And it and it's
fairly interesting,
you know, talk you know, listening to somebody
that really doesn't know it yet, but is
getting there.
So he brought the SMEs to him to
teach him and suck up that knowledge.
(28:29):
Yeah. So it can go both ways.
Yeah. You know, and I think many of
us in our when we were I mean,
when more people work in the office,
I remember telling someone that was new, you
know, attach yourself to this individual's hip. He's
he or she is the expert.
Suck all the knowledge you can out of
(28:50):
that individual
so that you can become,
you know, more
more effective.
And I think this is true in podcasting.
I listen to a lot of podcast
because why do I only listen to podcast?
Well, I often listen to really good podcast
to hear their technique. I used to listen
to Howard Stern just to learn his interviewing
(29:11):
technique. Now
I I will never ever ever ever ever
ever in this lifetime be a Howard Stern,
but there were certain things that I learned
from listening to him and how he did
his research and was able to dig in
deep and ask questions of his guests that
no one else would ask.
So I think, you know, there's things we
(29:32):
can learn by listening to other shows.
And,
again, what does that do? That helps you
become a better podcaster.
But, you know, going back to the beginning
on this,
consistent output. You have to have
consistent output of content.
It you just have to,
(29:53):
and that's for someone that's new, this is
how you grow your show. But there's lots
of opportunities out there as well.
Yeah. I mean, when you when you are
consistently doing something well too, it leads to
other stuff,
whether that is you becoming that expert in
the field and going to speak at some
conference about it or being a guest on
someone else's show or, you know, something like
(30:15):
that to talk about your own show.
You know, maybe you start radio,
interviews. You know? Yeah. Not as not as
widespread as it used to be, but, it's
still worth you know, if you get a
hit on
CNN or something, that might be something good
for you. Yeah. You know, speaking from personal
experience,
what happened with me was I was lucky
(30:37):
to land a book deal, and the book
deal
helped me a little bit in advancing the
show.
The book deal got me a speaking gig.
The speaking gig was I went to Vegas
and was speaking in front of, all the
educators
in the Las Vegas school district, and I
got a small honorarium.
But for the first time, you know, I
(30:58):
was just behind the mic, wasn't doing nothing
live, had no video. It was early days,
and I'm going from an audience of a
tell a computer screen
and knowing there's people listening, but we're not
really knowing
what
the dynamics of a crowd was to go
speak in front of a thousand people,
that was
an experience. That was, like, you know, opened
(31:19):
my eyes
and made me understand,
you know, when you have a thousand people
listening to your show,
what that really looks like visually
and how many people you're affecting.
So,
again, one thing can lead to the other,
and and opportunities are gonna come in
different ways. Sometimes it'd be someone in your
(31:41):
audience that says, hey. I love your show.
I'd love to sponsor it or someone that
says, hey. I love your show. I'd like
to have you come talk to my company
or
or I wanna hire you or there's just
you never know,
what opportunities
are going to
to present themselves. Well, you know, this company,
Rob Voice and Blueberry Podcasting,
(32:02):
exists because of an opportunity that was happened
on a phone call.
It's just a single phone call where,
the representative say, hey. Do you know other
podcasters that would like to advertise
our products? And I'm like, yeah.
But then I realized I can't do this
by myself. You know, I had a full
time job.
(32:23):
You know? So this is you you just
never know what's gonna come from your content.
I was doing it just to have fun.
I for me, it was this was a
blast.
I wasn't focused on the money. I was
trying to get a press pass, but
it it really
weird. Right? Anyway, it That's how I'm here.
That's how come I'm here. You know? So
(32:45):
you just never know.
So people will say, okay. My goal of
the show is to
become the authority in a a certain topic.
Great. My my goal is to, you know
my mom and I did a show and
it was the goal was to help one
person. And, again, you but then from that,
you just never know what's gonna come. So
(33:06):
people can't be so shortsighted on the money.
There's there's other advantages
in doing
consistent
quality content,
and I think this is the thing that
most people overlook
to a great extent.
They don't think about,
wow.
Okay.
Steve Jobs call. I got a meeting with
(33:26):
Steve Jobs because of my podcast. How did
that happen?
I was complaining
about,
Mac mini, that the first Mac mini came
out. And someone at Apple said, hey. This
guy is over here is complaining about the
Mac mini and wants to, you know, to
to chew out Steve Jobs for fifteen minutes,
and Steve must have thought that was funny
(33:46):
and arranged a meeting with his secretary. And
I got to talk to Steve Jobs for
fifteen minutes about a Mac mini, and then
he sent me a MacBook. So, you know,
that was a that was kind of an
interesting
thing. So you never know who is listening
and how your content can change your life
and the trajectory
that you're on. It's a huge opportunity.
(34:07):
I think something that we hear people say
about any type of content creation is I
wish I started sooner.
There's really
no reason to not start now.
You know, podcasting has been around for twenty
years, and we're still seeing the numbers
go up Yep. In terms of listeners.
(34:27):
So there's really there's really nothing stopping you.
Yeah. There's this this it is not a
crowded market,
and the number of people listening to listening,
watching, consuming content is growing. And with AI,
I think we're gonna be seeking out more
more voices,
authentic
voices per se. And, again, the global growth
(34:50):
is gonna continue, the community bidding and niche
content. What else is on the list we
need to think about?
I think we got pretty much covered.
If you guys have any questions, of course,
get a hold of us. Be happy to
talk to you. So we do have a
challenge for you,
and this is something new. And, we wanna
hear from you. So what unique angle
(35:12):
or niche do you have that would stand
out in the podcasting world? Now whether you've
already given
whether you've already got an idea or you're
still thinking about it, we'd love to hear
from you.
Share your concept or inspiration on social media
with a hashtag
future pod 2025,
and let us know how you make
(35:33):
you let us know,
and how do you plan to make your
mark in the world for podcasting. Now I
will give some caution here.
If you've got an idea
and it's been brewing in your head
and you want to do something that's an
angle or niche,
see if there's a domain name for it
and buy it before you announce it on
social media.
That doesn't sound familiar at all. Yeah.
(35:55):
Yeah. Take what he just said to heart.
If you have a good idea, go buy.
You know? And and Go buy that right
now. And why why I say that was
because I used to do a show called
Saturday morning tech show, and we were, you
know, we were talking about podcasting more than
about,
tech. And I I told my co host,
Rob, I said, why don't we change the
name of this thing? In the middle of
(36:16):
the show, we're live. You know? There's people
listening and watching.
And so why don't we call it the
new media show? And then I had this
this, like, panic.
And then so I immediately opened the browser
and went over to GoDaddy, and I put
newmediashow.com,
and miraculously, it was there. And I registered
it
you know, cut me off at the knees.
So,
(36:38):
yeah.
So that before listening to somebody, you know,
on a podcast mention
something. Oh, that'd be a great domain name.
And I tag the domain. I have too.
So,
so before you post that out there, you
know, and same thing with the social name.
If the social name's available, register that social
name.
You know, we missed out on a couple
(36:59):
of social names because we didn't register them
early enough. So Be cautious with your brand.
And and hence the no e's in the
in blueberry.com.
Well, the e's were already, you know, the
e's were already taken and, you know, they
cost 3 millions. But we, you know, we
built the company in an age where there
was a lot of vowels missing from companies'
names. So Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people
(37:19):
forget Twitter didn't have any, vowels in it
when it started. So
So feel free to share whatever your niche
is on social. And if you're a little
too nervous to do that, then just contact
us if you would like to if you
would like to talk about it. Yeah. When
you're ready to talk about it, we'll keep
it a secret if you don't want us
to tell. But,
anyway, so
(37:41):
You can find all the show notes and
stuff we mentioned over at podcastinsider.com.
We wanna thank you for being here. Thanks,
everyone.
Thanks for joining us. Come back next week.
And in the meantime,
head to podcastinsider.com
for more information.
To subscribe, share, and read our show notes,
check out the latest suite of services and
(38:03):
learn how Blueberry
can help you leverage your podcast, visit blueberry.com.
That's Blueberry without the e's because we can't
afford the e's.
Everyone. Welcome to Podcast Insider from Blueberry Podcasting.
I'm Todd Cochran, founder of the company.
And I'm Mackenzie Bennett, your marketing go to
for podcasting.
And I'm Mike Dell, your friendly neighborhood tech
support guy here at Blueberry.
And today, we're diving into why 2025
is the perfect time to start a podcast
(00:21):
even if it feels like the market is
overly saturated, but in reality, it's not.
We'll be sharing hyper niche content, evolving tech,
and fresh monetization models that make podcasting more
accessible and rewarding than ever. Plus, we'll cover
some practical tips on standing out in a
crowded space from authenticity
to building a loyal community. And if you've
(00:44):
been on the fence about launching your show,
stick around because, you're gonna find plenty of
reasons to hit that record button right now.
So let's get started. There's a big podcasting
world out there, and we're here to help
you make your mark.
You're listening to podcast insider hosted by Mike
Dell, Todd Cochran, and Mackenzie Bennett from the
Blueberry team,
(01:04):
bringing you weekly insights, advice, and insider tips
and tricks to help you start, grow, and
thrive through podcasting, podcasting, all with the support
of your team here at Blueberry Podcasting.
Welcome. Let's dive in.
You know, if we look at what's going
on in the podcasting space from a purely
numbers
(01:25):
situation,
This is a great time.
You know, we've got,
about 400,000
shows
globally. They're doing a new episode every 30
days
compared to a 10,000,000
YouTube channels.
I think I think the chances are better,
(01:46):
you know Yeah. At least in the beginning
to do a podcast. So,
you know, it's not too crowded.
It really isn't.
I will say year like, years and years
ago,
Elsie from Libsyn actually said she gave gave
the analogy of, you wouldn't say to a
writer that wants to write a book that
the market is oversaturated.
(02:09):
And the same goes for podcasting.
Yeah. I think that, it's all a matter
of perspective. Good ideas and good content
always lead from the front, and
it's a great way to if you're a
new creator
and you're just trying to get your chops
going, it's a great way to get started.
(02:29):
You know? And I I think
as we look at this episode and we
dive into,
you know, the top reason why launching a
show can be more advantages
than ever,
even when it really
people feel
like everyone already has a podcast.
I I think if you really
plan well and set a good goal,
(02:51):
you can you can be that next,
that next show that reaches
the audience that you wanna reach. And I
think that's part of the
the discussion that should happen in the beginning
here too
is that
oftentimes when I talk to podcasters, they are
like,
I wanna grow my show. And I say,
(03:12):
what is the goal? And they don't even
know the goal of the show. So if
you don't know the goal, how do you
know where you're gonna get there? So
preplanning is important, and we we have a
number of episodes up on that already.
But A lot of podcasters
will,
say you know, you'll ask them who their
show is for.
(03:32):
And they'll say, well, everybody.
Well, a show for everybody is a show
for nobody. I mean, you know, there's a
few out there that get away with that,
but
it's it's not something you know, you wanna
you wanna niche down.
And and I think too there's this myth
of oversaturation.
And,
(03:52):
and I think as we move into this
AI world more and more, and I'm hearing
it on stuff that I'm listening to, and
believe me, it's driving me crazy,
is I'll put some content up, let's say,
it's YouTube video,
and you hear that voice
that you hear on, you know, hundred different
you know, it's the same voice. You're like,
oh my god. Really? And it's I back
(04:14):
out because
I wanna hear a a human.
You know, maybe a human did some editing
on the script, but, you know, it's that
to me is just a
drone. Right?
So
I think listeners are are gonna crave
personal content. I really think they do. And
(04:34):
Yeah. They they want a very specific audience,
I think. There there's definitely people out there
who are gonna, you know, get down to
the nitty gritty of what it is that
they're interested in, and they're gonna
they're like, okay. Well, none of my friends
are interested in this, so I'm gonna find
every show out there until I've about this
thing specifically,
about what it is that, you know, I
(04:56):
like about this show compared to this show,
and then they'll narrow it down and figure
out what it is that they wanna listen
to.
But then it also means
in a in a positive for that that
they are able to monetize better because there's,
you know, the the more narrow it is,
the more loyal the listener,
the the easier it is to monetize sometimes.
(05:16):
So there there's definitely,
I think, more pros than cons of of
hyperniche and narrowing down like that. You know,
Mike, you've been kind of the master of
doing some niche shows. You know, you were
doing some, a niche about, fast food or
something at one time, weren't you? Yeah.
Yep. Fast food history.
That's pretty nichey.
(05:38):
Yeah. And, well, you know,
and that's how I find topics sometimes. You
know, I'll get in a Wikipedia yank and,
you know, on certain topic, and then I
read this that story. That story. Oh, that'd
be a great podcast. So, you know, that's
how that came about. And,
you know, it it was fairly popular for
a while, and then, you know, I sort
of ran out of material and and motivation
(06:00):
and, you know, I'm the king of, pod
fade over here. I was talking with a
client of ours this morning, and
he is,
got a pretty
he's got a popular genre show,
but at the same time, he's now,
you know, narrowing
his focus
and,
(06:20):
to build a,
a more loyal listener base.
And,
that in ties into the ability for him
to monetize
and collaborate within that market.
And,
I think today,
people are really looking
to,
you know, to to
put content together that is gonna resonate and
(06:43):
be successful. But,
you know, I think there's still gonna be
a lot of podcasters out there that are
not gonna go hyper niche. They're gonna kinda
go wide,
broad, and wide.
Mhmm. And I and, again, I don't
I'm one strategy over the other, but, again,
it goes back to that discussion.
And we've been working on a consultant course,
(07:04):
and, you know, it's one of the things
that
and, you know, consider us your consultant.
You you really need to,
you know, hone down.
Okay. I I'm in love with x y
z.
I can talk about it twenty four seven
and probably, you know, the type of people
that likes to talk to you about that
(07:25):
kind of stuff. Mike, you like to talk
about airplanes. I like to talk about airplanes.
I'm a good target audience.
Mackenzie may not be a target audience for
airplanes.
So
But but I am, for instance, looking at,
like, I have
this Trader Joe's,
lip balm that just sits on my desk.
And Trader Joe's has a podcast where they
(07:46):
talk about how they make their own food.
They have they have sell their own spices
that you know, this is how they work
with other companies. Like
and then I get videos about Trader Joe's
stuff that comes out all the time too
because
I do go there. And I'm like, oh,
okay. They have new food. I wanna go
get it. Like, I have. It works. It
really does. Lucky think about this show. This
(08:08):
show is very niche. I don't know.
You know, the the the amount number of
listeners out there versus the number of podcasters
is a vastly different number.
And so podcasting about podcasting,
you know, it's kinda meta, but
it's it's a tight niche. You know, we're
we're not gonna get the hundreds and thousands
(08:28):
of, of downloads on each episode here,
whereas, you know, something in a different niche
might. But that may not be your goal.
Your goal might be
to get to the 200 people in the
world that are really interested in what you're
talking about. And, you know, that can be
monetized depending on what the subject is and
(08:48):
all that. You know, by the way, Mackenzie,
lucky for you that you got a Trader
Joe's to go to. I I don't even
know the closest one around here.
You you know, we had a show years
ago that,
it was done by a neurosurgeon,
a world renowned neurosurgeon,
and he had
a thousand
neurosurgeons
that were listening to his show. Now that
(09:09):
is his that's that's his about as tight
as you get, but
he made a lot of money
from that show. A lot of money because
he was reaching the right audience. Now he
was unique because he had that unique position.
He was he was the he was the
dude,
you know, that was and and there was,
you know, a broad based audience, but, you
(09:31):
know, he was the guy that was teaching
evolving stuff in neurosurgery. So Mhmm. That's niche.
My tech show is not so niche as
we kinda go all over the place. So
I think there's room
for both.
But, you know, I think the one thing
is great, though.
You know, if any of you see, you
know, any of a video clip of anything
(09:52):
that we do or anything like that, we're
not always using super high production stuff.
Dave has been, recording some stuff in his,
in his office. There's really no background.
He's been, you know, he's been doing a
little video, little audio.
Today,
getting starting in podcasting
(10:13):
is probably under a hundred bucks to Yeah.
Buy the gear you need,
and
high quality too.
Yeah. I mean, there's a a lot of
services out there that'll even help you with
cohost. I mean, you know, today, we're using
Zoom basically to
record this show, and we're in three different
(10:33):
locations.
And, you know, all you need is a
decent microphone that plugs into your computer and,
you know, a little bit of software, and
you're ready to go. Yeah. I just wanna
point out, we all have very different setups
in our homes as well. Like, Todd, you
have, you know, a lot of,
sound carriers. I have overkill. I have overkill.
(10:54):
Mike, you kinda have, like, the middle version
where you're like, okay. I have this whole
setup all the time, and
then I have
a fish tank
in the same room as me, the door
open,
and I'm sitting, you know, a foot away
from two windows. And my microphone is
keeping up with the quality that you guys
(11:15):
have as well. So, really, it is doable
for anyone anywhere at this point in time.
And and, you know, just for this audience's
idea, we are recording this in video, but
we're we're gonna put this out as an
audio podcast only.
Why are we doing the video? Well, we
maybe there's something here we say this remarkable
work as a a clip, and maybe that
(11:35):
clip to promote the show is better to
see, you know, the three talking heads here
than
just hear an audio. So, you know, we're
we're playing around with stuff too. And, again,
Mackenzie, you're probably using the webcam off your
your MacBook. Right?
I am actually not. I have a Logitech
one, but it was, like,
$50
(11:56):
Right. I think. You know?
Yeah. Nothing nothing too fancy. Facecam, I think,
was up and $99
or something. You know? It's
decent enough. So I I think here, the
tech stuff should not be a barrier anymore.
You know, just to do a basic podcast,
(12:16):
you know, that
the ATR 2,100
or the QDU.
What is that model? I anyway, there's a
couple of very inexpensive Q2U. Q2U.
Couple of very inexpensive microphones that do a
great job. And then here's the beauty.
The distribution analytics
is makes it much easier to track. Distribution
(12:39):
is just as powerful as as it has
ever been.
You can be everywhere. You can be on
Spotify. You can be on Apple Podcasts. You
can be on Amazon. You can be on
all these locations
where people can discover you. That's the believe
it or not, that's the easy part. It
may seem a little challenging in the beginning,
but the hardest part is just hitting record.
(13:02):
But Yeah. There is a global
audience for you.
Mhmm. And There definitely is. You know,
you know, we have a I have one
customer I can think of that does his
show
in English, and then he rerecords it in
Spanish, and then he rerecords
it in Italian.
(13:23):
And I think he's got, like, five different
languages that he knows that he records the
same episode
multiple times. You know, he's not even using
technology.
I'm jealous.
Translate that.
Yeah. I can barely speak English.
Well,
I honestly, I've been thinking about finding a
Spanish podcast for myself recently because I've kinda
(13:43):
hit a wall with Duolingo where I'm like,
I've been doing this a long time, and
I don't know anything. I've been trying to
learn Portuguese. So Oh, that's a that's a
hard one.
But a podcast is really a good way
to learn, I think. And, you know, I
think too one thing that if you have
a desire,
you know, if you're a business owner and
say, I wish I could expand expand my
(14:04):
reach into the Latino market or wherever it
may be.
There are great tools out there now like
ElevenLabs
where you can train your voice,
and it will
rerecord
in another language. Now
is that the best okay. It's is that
the best solution? No. But it's better than
nothing.
But the technology does exist. And it's getting
(14:26):
better every day. Yeah. Yeah. And I do
wanna call out as well, Apple recently
made it easy for all
podcast hosts such as Blueberry,
to get your show out there. And Apple
is still,
you know, one of the biggest distribution places
that you wanna be. So once you do
get in those places,
everyone's gonna be able to find you in
(14:46):
all these different countries. Yeah. It's beautiful. You
can do one click subscribe now. You don't
have to go to Apple anymore to submit
a show. We have podcasts as you you
don't have any more advantage
or less advantage
than some big celebrity.
How they have a little more name recognition,
but you're gonna be distributed in the exact
same app they are. Right. Mhmm. And I
(15:09):
think there's I think there's huge opportunities here
to reach new demographics. But, again, what is
the goal of your show? Who do you
want to reach? And if you wanna reach
someone in another country, there's it's it's completely
possible.
And I think too is a lot of
people. Oh my god.
It's a little
overwhelming at sometimes.
(15:29):
And I'll just say this before we get
into this topic. Don't worry about the money
in the beginning. Worry about the show, but
there is evolving monetization models.
Yeah.
Yeah. Absolutely.
There's I mean,
don't worry about it. Don't put too much
pressure on yourself, and and you're gonna be
going about having a podcast completely differently if
(15:49):
you're doing it as a hobby or if
you're doing it to make money.
But regardless,
you know, there are sponsorships. There are, you
know, advertising campaigns. There's affiliate programs. We have
one.
With Blueberry, there's subscription based models, premium podcasting.
There is a slew of ways that you
can monetize your show nowadays.
(16:10):
And and I truly believe
if you don't have a podcast and you're
a business, why
not?
Brand way to market.
You know, an example of that is, there's
there's a guy out there who's a chiropractor,
and
he gets business from all over the country.
Now people will actually fly in
(16:30):
to go to his chiropractic thing because he
has his podcast about chiropractic.
You know, when when you're in pain and
no one can fix you
and you find someone that gives you hope,
you'll just about go to the ends of
the earth.
Right. You know? So I This guy, you
know, people fly or drive in. You know?
He's in Dallas area, and
(16:52):
they fly and drive in just to go
to him because of his social media and
podcast. I'm sure when he started his podcast,
he probably thought, oh, I'm just gonna hit
folks in the Tristate area around Texas. Of
course, that's half the country almost as big
as Texas is, but you he probably didn't.
Did you do you think he realized he
(17:12):
would get all this
extra business that was coming in from everywhere?
He he he seems surprised. You know? He'll
he'll interview somebody that he's working with,
and, Oh, yeah. I just drove in from
Tampa, you know, to Dallas and, Yeah. It's
a short drive. Trip over and, you know,
whatever. You know? It's
(17:32):
it's pretty crazy how how many people will
come to him because of, you know, getting
the word out like that. Even though that's
a local business,
you know, he's getting it from all over.
So, you know, don't don't be afraid to
to start a show. You know?
Another friend of ours had a wallpaper store.
Oh, yeah.
And,
you know, also in the Dallas area, I
(17:54):
guess. But, you know, he was getting,
online orders. You know, this is just a
local shop, but he was getting online orders
like crazy because of his podcasting.
He he end up buying all the think
think about this, ladies and gentlemen. He end
up buying
about 90% of the wallpaper in The United
States that was left over in warehouses and
stuff, and he cornered the market on wallpaper.
(18:17):
There there's a business for everyone.
So I'll ask this question to both Mike
and Mackenzie. Have you ever been up at,
like, 02:00 in the morning in the old
days? And,
and so this is for those of you
that don't have haven't had a TV subscription
before,
have you ever turned a channel on at
02:00 in the morning? There's some dude there
selling something. You know, he's selling,
(18:38):
soap or selling, you know, whatever the wonder
of the world was for that day. Have
you ever have you ever seen one of
those, infomercials before?
Oh, yeah. For sure.
I bought stuff off of them. Yeah. We
had entire CD case full of ShamWow.
I do.
It's like it's actually kind of a thing
with millennials where we're like, if you can't
(18:59):
fall asleep, go watch a YouTube video of,
like, all the infomercial.
So which the ShamWow guy has a show
called the ShamWow
guy podcast.
So, obviously, then what's kind of funny here
is is you guys kinda went the a
different way. I was expecting a different answer.
I kind of like those folks. I'm like,
that dude's not super authentic.
You know? I'm like,
(19:20):
you know,
am I spent you know, if I spend
my $29.95,
am I actually gonna get the product?
So I think it goes back to
podcasting.
People people can smell a fraud.
Oh, for sure.
It well, it does remind me so, yeah,
growing up,
that's absolutely what we would buy. I bought,
(19:41):
you know,
all of the random stuff.
But
whenever my friends and I used to go
to the bar, you know, they would have
the TV on. At a certain point, the
infomercials would would start, and we would like,
we memorized all of them. We knew what
they were, and we were like
then it just became a joke of, like,
oh, yeah. They are this is really bad.
(20:03):
And, you know, here's another thing that people
don't think about. You know, you're talking about
your subject to your podcast.
Okay. There's how many podcasts about podcasting out
there, but, yeah, we're doing one. Right. Ours
is different than, say, Dave Jackson or Daniel
Lewis or whoever. You know, there's a bunch
of them doing them, plus a lot of
the podcast companies have their own. And they're
(20:25):
all unique, and they're all worth listening to.
And if you're interested in podcasting,
you're not gonna just listen to one podcast.
You're gonna listen to two or three on
that subject. You'll find the ones you like
and the ones you don't like and go
from there. I think So don't don't be
afraid to get into a,
competitive,
market. I I think it's important, though,
(20:47):
that whatever you're talking about,
you has to have some
background.
You you Oh, yeah. Because you if you
gotta come across
as authentic because
people will smell out if you really are
not being authentic.
So, you know, over time,
(21:07):
the people listen ten, fifteen, 20, 20 five
episodes, they're gonna get to know you pretty
pretty good. So the power of storytelling
and human connection is just like anything else.
It's when you meet someone for the first
time. We all do this. We kinda we're
like, alright. What's this person about?
And we've all met people sometimes that talk
too much
or know it all
(21:28):
or any, you know, any kind of you
know, we we do that. We put labels
on people.
But I think if you stay authentic
and you tell stories and you and you
do that
connection,
it's really,
the differentiating factor here,
of how
(21:49):
you're you're gonna connect with an audience. So
don't be afraid to have a personality
and make sure it's your personality.
Yeah. I was often asked by my buddies,
why don't you swear on your show? Because
when I was a sailor,
I I Swore like a sailor. I swore
like a sailor. But I I told them,
I said, I made it a point to
make my show family safe. It didn't change
(22:11):
who I was, but I didn't need to
educate through
a four letter word.
So and I've gotten much better at not
using four letter words, as the years have
went on. So I They're good punctuation
sometimes. Well, yeah, sometimes.
But, you know, so that was one thing
that actually shaped my personality for the better,
(22:32):
I think to that extent. But, you know,
building community,
I think we've all built some community in
this business for sure and in podcasting alone.
I think also don't take advantage of your
community. Yeah.
Because sometimes you can kind of you can
be your very authentic self, and it's it's
really working, but maybe a little too much.
(22:54):
And
in the sense of, like, yeah, you have
this really big audience now where maybe you
can
quit your job and do this full time
or maybe you are putting
you know?
Now you do have a studio for this,
and you are recording video and and just
however you've you've, quote, unquote, like, leveled up
in that sense.
(23:16):
But but if your authenticity
takes
a dive along with that change, people are
gonna notice and they're gonna leave. That's true.
There was a,
when I and I take this back to
my military years. When I made,
e seven, it's a transition
and you basically it's you go from one
type of uniform to another.
(23:37):
It's from, being almost a worker bee to
leadership,
and it's it's truly a transition in your
job. And they put you through
about two months of
this this training. And they they keep putting
your finger in your face saying,
you have to stay humble. Remember where you
came from.
You know, you're not a big ass shot
now. You're just you've moved up, but you
(23:59):
need to remember,
you know, where you come from. And I
think that stands out in
content creation too. So as you grow,
you don't forget what caused you to grow.
For sure. But one thing's for sure, low
barrier to entry and high creative freedom. And
I just took a little creative
creative license in the last comment I just
(24:19):
made, but we can do what we wanna
do in podcasting.
That's what I've done with my you know,
I have one long term show, and all
the rest of them have been experiments. And
I do them for a while, and they
do something else. And, you know, so, you
know, I I joke that I'm the king
of pod fade, but I've tried a lot
of different things.
And the ones that didn't work,
(24:40):
the, you know,
the worst ones
were where I was reading something or trying
to be something I'm not. And,
you know, I am who I am, and
that just has to come through the microphone
or the camera or whatever.
And
but the the nice thing about it is
you could start and stop things. You can
(25:00):
try things. You can, you know,
do anything you want with podcasting. There's nobody
telling you you can't do it.
You know?
And,
you know, Mackenzie, you know this more than
anything. Let's talk about
promotion.
Yeah.
Yeah. Promoting yourself, you know, you're gonna have
to do it in a variety of ways.
It's,
(25:21):
it can be a little scary for people
who
have no experience in that in that realm.
You know, like, going back to that neurosurgeon.
He went to medical school. He's a doctor.
He's never really stepped foot in the marketing
world
for you know, that's that's a better guess.
And so figuring out how do I monetize
(25:42):
this? How do I market it so that
I have
this loyal
thousand, you know,
thousand person audience on a regular basis?
And how do I keep them coming back,
whether that is through the content
or the social media that I'm putting out
there or, you know, my email list,
something as simple as a billboard sometimes.
(26:03):
You know, getting on that email list that's
going out to these hospitals with all these
other neurosurgeons
saying, like, this is available
for you. You just have to you have
to you have to spend some money, unfortunately,
sometimes. But You know, it's it's not a
requirement, but it is probably gonna come up.
You you you know, what was amazing about
that particular show, and I tell this story
(26:23):
and I've told it many times, is he
was making $20,000
an episode with sponsorship,
reaching those thousand pod a thousand neurosurgeons.
And it got to a point where he
was about pulling, like, 80 k a month.
Now that's a number for all of us.
Right? If we could pull an 80 k
a month surgeon.
Yeah. You know, it's like, yes. But what
(26:44):
happened was
his partner said, hey. You're making too much
money here and stuff that we can't write
off. You're gonna drive us into a higher
tax bracket.
He he continued doing the show, but he
dropped all sponsorships. Now the rest of us
would have said, that's nuts. I'll pay the
tax. Right? Yeah. And,
but They don't have the money to pay
the tax with. Right.
(27:05):
So and to me, it was mind boggling
when he said, oh, I'm gonna continue the
show, but we're not gonna monetize. And I
and I think to all of you listening,
you're probably dumbfounded. I was. It's the only
time I've ever seen that happen.
But just imagine you get so successful that
you can't you have to stop taking the
money because it's
impacting your other business from a tax revenue
(27:26):
standpoint. It's bizarre, but it was true.
Yeah. So he future proofed his brand
To say the least.
You know, and, he didn't take no money
and continue to do the podcast for a
couple of years. So but he was a
thought leader in his niche.
Yeah. You know, that that brings up another
military term since we're talking military,
(27:47):
SHMI,
the subject matter expert.
Yeah. Now it doesn't necessarily mean you have
to be the expert in the niche you're
you're going
into. You could do the podcast to learn
the niche to become
that. I mean, a lot of things that
people do. You know? I I know this
one fairly famous podcaster that just got into
(28:08):
ham radio. He started a podcast about ham
radio. He's brand new at it. He doesn't
know a whole lot about it, and his
learning process is what
the podcast is about. And it and it's
fairly interesting,
you know, talk you know, listening to somebody
that really doesn't know it yet, but is
getting there.
So he brought the SMEs to him to
teach him and suck up that knowledge.
(28:29):
Yeah. So it can go both ways.
Yeah. You know, and I think many of
us in our when we were I mean,
when more people work in the office,
I remember telling someone that was new, you
know, attach yourself to this individual's hip. He's
he or she is the expert.
Suck all the knowledge you can out of
(28:50):
that individual
so that you can become,
you know, more
more effective.
And I think this is true in podcasting.
I listen to a lot of podcast
because why do I only listen to podcast?
Well, I often listen to really good podcast
to hear their technique. I used to listen
to Howard Stern just to learn his interviewing
(29:11):
technique. Now
I I will never ever ever ever ever
ever in this lifetime be a Howard Stern,
but there were certain things that I learned
from listening to him and how he did
his research and was able to dig in
deep and ask questions of his guests that
no one else would ask.
So I think, you know, there's things we
(29:32):
can learn by listening to other shows.
And,
again, what does that do? That helps you
become a better podcaster.
But, you know, going back to the beginning
on this,
consistent output. You have to have
consistent output of content.
It you just have to,
(29:53):
and that's for someone that's new, this is
how you grow your show. But there's lots
of opportunities out there as well.
Yeah. I mean, when you when you are
consistently doing something well too, it leads to
other stuff,
whether that is you becoming that expert in
the field and going to speak at some
conference about it or being a guest on
someone else's show or, you know, something like
(30:15):
that to talk about your own show.
You know, maybe you start radio,
interviews. You know? Yeah. Not as not as
widespread as it used to be, but, it's
still worth you know, if you get a
hit on
CNN or something, that might be something good
for you. Yeah. You know, speaking from personal
experience,
what happened with me was I was lucky
(30:37):
to land a book deal, and the book
deal
helped me a little bit in advancing the
show.
The book deal got me a speaking gig.
The speaking gig was I went to Vegas
and was speaking in front of, all the
educators
in the Las Vegas school district, and I
got a small honorarium.
But for the first time, you know, I
(30:58):
was just behind the mic, wasn't doing nothing
live, had no video. It was early days,
and I'm going from an audience of a
tell a computer screen
and knowing there's people listening, but we're not
really knowing
what
the dynamics of a crowd was to go
speak in front of a thousand people,
that was
an experience. That was, like, you know, opened
(31:19):
my eyes
and made me understand,
you know, when you have a thousand people
listening to your show,
what that really looks like visually
and how many people you're affecting.
So,
again, one thing can lead to the other,
and and opportunities are gonna come in
different ways. Sometimes it'd be someone in your
(31:41):
audience that says, hey. I love your show.
I'd love to sponsor it or someone that
says, hey. I love your show. I'd like
to have you come talk to my company
or
or I wanna hire you or there's just
you never know,
what opportunities
are going to
to present themselves. Well, you know, this company,
Rob Voice and Blueberry Podcasting,
(32:02):
exists because of an opportunity that was happened
on a phone call.
It's just a single phone call where,
the representative say, hey. Do you know other
podcasters that would like to advertise
our products? And I'm like, yeah.
But then I realized I can't do this
by myself. You know, I had a full
time job.
(32:23):
You know? So this is you you just
never know what's gonna come from your content.
I was doing it just to have fun.
I for me, it was this was a
blast.
I wasn't focused on the money. I was
trying to get a press pass, but
it it really
weird. Right? Anyway, it That's how I'm here.
That's how come I'm here. You know? So
(32:45):
you just never know.
So people will say, okay. My goal of
the show is to
become the authority in a a certain topic.
Great. My my goal is to, you know
my mom and I did a show and
it was the goal was to help one
person. And, again, you but then from that,
you just never know what's gonna come. So
(33:06):
people can't be so shortsighted on the money.
There's there's other advantages
in doing
consistent
quality content,
and I think this is the thing that
most people overlook
to a great extent.
They don't think about,
wow.
Okay.
Steve Jobs call. I got a meeting with
(33:26):
Steve Jobs because of my podcast. How did
that happen?
I was complaining
about,
Mac mini, that the first Mac mini came
out. And someone at Apple said, hey. This
guy is over here is complaining about the
Mac mini and wants to, you know, to
to chew out Steve Jobs for fifteen minutes,
and Steve must have thought that was funny
(33:46):
and arranged a meeting with his secretary. And
I got to talk to Steve Jobs for
fifteen minutes about a Mac mini, and then
he sent me a MacBook. So, you know,
that was a that was kind of an
interesting
thing. So you never know who is listening
and how your content can change your life
and the trajectory
that you're on. It's a huge opportunity.
(34:07):
I think something that we hear people say
about any type of content creation is I
wish I started sooner.
There's really
no reason to not start now.
You know, podcasting has been around for twenty
years, and we're still seeing the numbers
go up Yep. In terms of listeners.
(34:27):
So there's really there's really nothing stopping you.
Yeah. There's this this it is not a
crowded market,
and the number of people listening to listening,
watching, consuming content is growing. And with AI,
I think we're gonna be seeking out more
more voices,
authentic
voices per se. And, again, the global growth
(34:50):
is gonna continue, the community bidding and niche
content. What else is on the list we
need to think about?
I think we got pretty much covered.
If you guys have any questions, of course,
get a hold of us. Be happy to
talk to you. So we do have a
challenge for you,
and this is something new. And, we wanna
hear from you. So what unique angle
(35:12):
or niche do you have that would stand
out in the podcasting world? Now whether you've
already given
whether you've already got an idea or you're
still thinking about it, we'd love to hear
from you.
Share your concept or inspiration on social media
with a hashtag
future pod 2025,
and let us know how you make
(35:33):
you let us know,
and how do you plan to make your
mark in the world for podcasting. Now I
will give some caution here.
If you've got an idea
and it's been brewing in your head
and you want to do something that's an
angle or niche,
see if there's a domain name for it
and buy it before you announce it on
social media.
That doesn't sound familiar at all. Yeah.
(35:55):
Yeah. Take what he just said to heart.
If you have a good idea, go buy.
You know? And and Go buy that right
now. And why why I say that was
because I used to do a show called
Saturday morning tech show, and we were, you
know, we were talking about podcasting more than
about,
tech. And I I told my co host,
Rob, I said, why don't we change the
name of this thing? In the middle of
(36:16):
the show, we're live. You know? There's people
listening and watching.
And so why don't we call it the
new media show? And then I had this
this, like, panic.
And then so I immediately opened the browser
and went over to GoDaddy, and I put
newmediashow.com,
and miraculously, it was there. And I registered
it
you know, cut me off at the knees.
So,
(36:38):
yeah.
So that before listening to somebody, you know,
on a podcast mention
something. Oh, that'd be a great domain name.
And I tag the domain. I have too.
So,
so before you post that out there, you
know, and same thing with the social name.
If the social name's available, register that social
name.
You know, we missed out on a couple
(36:59):
of social names because we didn't register them
early enough. So Be cautious with your brand.
And and hence the no e's in the
in blueberry.com.
Well, the e's were already, you know, the
e's were already taken and, you know, they
cost 3 millions. But we, you know, we
built the company in an age where there
was a lot of vowels missing from companies'
names. So Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people
(37:19):
forget Twitter didn't have any, vowels in it
when it started. So
So feel free to share whatever your niche
is on social. And if you're a little
too nervous to do that, then just contact
us if you would like to if you
would like to talk about it. Yeah. When
you're ready to talk about it, we'll keep
it a secret if you don't want us
to tell. But,
anyway, so
(37:41):
You can find all the show notes and
stuff we mentioned over at podcastinsider.com.
We wanna thank you for being here. Thanks,
everyone.
Thanks for joining us. Come back next week.
And in the meantime,
head to podcastinsider.com
for more information.
To subscribe, share, and read our show notes,
check out the latest suite of services and
(38:03):
learn how Blueberry
can help you leverage your podcast, visit blueberry.com.
That's Blueberry without the e's because we can't
afford the e's.
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