June 17, 2025 • 25 mins
We explore the top 10 ways to engage podcast listeners while sharing insights from personal experience in the podcasting world. The discussion reveals why authenticity trumps production quality and how building community can transform your podcast marketing strategy.
• Ask for feedback and reviews once you've built an audience beyond family and friends
• Encourage listeners to share your podcast on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Alignable
• Partner with sponsors through value exchanges like the Michigan Renaissance Festival ticket arrangement
• Consider offering exclusive content and early access to episodes for dedicated listeners
• Host live events or Q&A sessions where listeners can interact in real time
• Create community spaces where listeners can connect with each other and with you
• Minimize editing to maintain authenticity and save countless production hours
• Remember podcasting is a long-game strategy requiring consistency and commitment
• Focus on finding your unique identity and voice rather than perfect production
• Stay committed—most podcasts fail after just three episodes
Check out the Michigan Renaissance Festival and come network with us at Networking with Kids, first Thursday of every month at Jungle Java where business people can bring their children while making valuable connections.
Idea for this podcast is from this article from Gary Jones:
(6) 10 Ways to engage your podcast listeners | LinkedIn
The Michigan Renaissance Festival
Experience the Michigan Renaissance Festival, where history and fantasy collide!
Thanks for listening to The Trading Post Podcast!
Find all our important links—including our LinkedIn, MetroTrading.com, and Michigan Renaissance Festival info—at:
https://linktr.ee/traderstu
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© 2025 The Trading Post Podcast. All rights reserved.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome back to the Trading Post.
I am your host, trader Stu.
Welcome to the show.
Alright, take two.
I did it.
I'm that guy.
I recorded.
So my microphone wasn't pluggedin.
I plugged it in, but myrecording app that I use I use
Camtasia did not recognize thatI plugged in my microphone and
(00:24):
didn't manually select it.
So I recorded a whole episodeoff of the microphone, off my
laptop, and it sounded likegarbage and generally see, when
you're new you kind of get awaywith this because no one's going
to listen to your stuff.
Maybe, probably.
But you know you got threepeople and you're just like
whatever, screw it, I'm going toupload it, just to upload it.
(00:45):
But you know you got threepeople and you're just like
whatever, screw it, I'm gonnaupload it, just to upload it.
But you know, here we are, I'mre-recording it anyway, real
quick.
This episode is sponsored by themichigan renaissance festival,
so if you haven't been there yet, check that out.
My tickets are coming to mesoon for giveaways, hand
handouts et cetera.
It's also sponsored by theMetro Trading Association.
(01:07):
I'm recording this at lunch andso I figured they're sponsoring
it because I'm using their time.
So there's that.
And then what else Networkingwith kids.
Come on out First Thursday ofthe month, jungle java, where I
am hosting an event me andactually uh, dr uh mary with
(01:30):
suzy hughes kids are hosting anevent where you can bring your
kids networking with you andpass out business cards and they
can watch you network or learnhow to network, or they can just
go play and, uh, there's abasketball court there, so, and,
of course, the tunnels andslides, so kids of all ages
toddlers area too actually cancome and if you want, you know,
(01:51):
watch the kids and uh pass outbusiness cards.
And, of course, get prepped.
Why are they?
Uh, I mentioned them.
I'm gonna be in her video game.
She's actually writing me intothe video game.
I'm going to be the trader atthe trading post.
That's pretty cool and if youhaven't considered it yet, if
(02:12):
you're looking for a marketingpiece, check her out.
And she's an alignable.
It's called Get Prepped, whereshe will write you into her game
for a fee and then yourbusiness will be, or billboard
will be, in the game, and anaverage lifespan of a game is
five years.
She said so for the amount of Ithink it's 20 grand you can get
(02:37):
in your video, this video gamethat's going to be played by
millions of people and you getbig name recognition in it.
It's kind of like when disneybought was that, I think, 20
million dollars or somethingthat they spent on an island in
fortnight, something crazy likethat.
It's a disney island and, uh,you, it's not that much money,
(02:58):
but you get to get in the gameand so, in exchange for telling
people about the game, I'mgetting written in her game and
I get to be the trading post guy, the trader.
So very, very cool and whatelse we got here.
I want to go over a few thingswith you, actually.
10.
I came across an article aboutthe top 10 ways to engage your
(03:23):
podcast listeners.
So this podcast is beingrecorded on the season and
episode for network marketingand podcasting.
I haven't decided yet, you knowwhat.
I didn't mention the season yetbecause I don't know if it's
going to be my experience onseason three podcasting and how
it works out for using a podcastfor marketing, or is it going
(03:48):
to be the sales, marketing andnetworking season?
Definitely not season one,which is trade, education and
member spotlights.
But yeah, I haven't decided yetwhere this is going to go yet,
so it doesn't really matter.
Let's get into it All right.
Number one they said ask forfeedback and reviews.
Now, this will work if you havesome kind of audience, at least
(04:09):
more than your mom and dad andmaybe your brother and sister or
whatever but at least thisgives you a better understanding
of what your listeners like anddon't like about your podcast.
One thing to consider, thoughyou can't please everybody, so
be careful on what you do,because you can't like it
(04:29):
doesn't.
You can't appease everybody,right?
So you're going to chase yourtail all around if you, every
time someone has a suggestionfor you and you go for it and
you bite.
You can't do that.
It's not how that works.
Okay, so maybe get like a few.
If, like, you get a trend andthey'll say you know, hey, maybe
you should talk about thisinstead, or I don't think you
(04:49):
know enough about this topic,maybe you're whatever, I don't
know, and uh, so you know, atleast you have a way of once you
get your podcast rolling.
I don't mean, like, you gotthree episodes, you haven't even
really got started yet.
You got to get past three,because most podcasts fail at
three.
So the cool thing is, if youfollow numbers, I think there's
(05:12):
like 250,000 podcasts worldwide,right, but only like 70,000 of
those, or something like that,are active and that's worldwide.
Then you niche it down a bitmore, then you only got maybe a
thousand, a couple thousand.
That's doing what you do.
Then you niche it down a bitmore, then you only got maybe a
thousand a couple thousand.
That's what doing what you do.
Then you niche it down a bitmore.
So that's why you got an.
You know, get it down, whittleit down to what you want to talk
about and and make it so youcan always talk about it for a
(05:34):
predetermined amount of time,enough episodes once a week,
every other week, and then gofrom there.
But yeah, anyway, I digressEncourage listeners to share
your podcast with their friendson social media.
Of course that helps grow youraudience and get some more
exposure.
Well, yeah, so my idea was whenI first started Stew in the D,
(05:59):
which was where I was goingaround Metro Detroit and doing
all the different festivities,activities and things to do.
I wanted to have local artistsdo the background track right,
or the intro music or whatever,and I can mention them.
Like the intro that you heardwith the whistling that was
(06:22):
brought to you by Duracell.
He's in the description.
You can click on his link.
He also does first salemarketing, which is, uh, he
builds websites.
But he's also singer,songwriter, guitarist and, uh,
he wrote this, the jingle for me.
Um, just a deal we made right,so, and he's also part of metro
trading Association as well, soit's working.
(06:45):
I mean, I don't know how muchbusiness he's going to get from
me, but I hope that he says hey,one day.
This will be so cool.
And if he ever says hey,someone said they heard me on
your podcast and they wanted meto do an intro music for them as
well.
And you know, thanks, cool,that's all I need.
Dude Like perfect.
Then it worked.
You know, maybe that's all Ineed.
(07:07):
Dude like perfect.
That didn't work.
You know, maybe.
Now on to the next artist thatwants to get involved and gets
the name out there.
So, by the way, our business isright across the street from
one of the fire departments inRochester and for some reason,
rochester has a very active firedepartment.
I used to live across thestreet from the other one, down
the road, and it seems likeseven times a day these guys are
going out.
Man, it's crazy.
So when you get your friends oryour listeners share their
(07:32):
podcasts with your links onsocial media Facebook, maybe,
their LinkedIn I'm unalignable,mostly You'll find me there and,
yeah, great exposure.
Anyway, let's not get toowrapped up in that.
One number three is what I wastalking about.
Michigan renaissance festivalsponsored my podcast.
(07:53):
In an exchange, I get ticketsright and I get to go to their
uh, admin, not admin um, theirmedia media night and, which is
cool, it's, I think, open acouple nights before they
actually opened the park, whichis only for people that they've
worked with to sponsor the youknow, the Renaissance Festival
(08:15):
media.
So radio and newspapers, andI've referred them out to other
people that I know that, likeyou know, they're like hey, you
know, actually she said theMichigan Renaissance Renaissance
Festival ladies like hey, ifyou want, I would love more
marketing.
So we're doing podcasts now, uh, and we always do newspapers.
If you know anybody else youknow that wants to get involved,
I'd love to.
(08:36):
You know, trade tickets withthem, perfect.
So I gave their name out to godo that, um, so, and then if I
get these tickets, I can offerthem to hand them out and, as
far as content, I can offer thecontent and perks behind the
(08:58):
scenes access or early access tonew episodes.
So, let's, I want to talk aboutthis one for a minute.
I'm going to get me a drinkhere and take make this one
happen.
All right, here's my take onthis one.
Hmm, all right.
Exclusive content I think thatonce you get a staff and you get
(09:22):
more, that once you get a staffand you get more maybe help
with script writing or marketingor whatever you might have more
time to do more content andonly do content.
People that one of pay for it.
And then perks I don't knowwhat perks would be.
Maybe if you get famous enough,meet and greet, or if you know
(09:46):
a business owner and theycontact you, maybe you can give
them some free episode or freeairtime for commercial,
something like that.
Maybe access I don't know, Idon't understand that behind the
scenes access and early accessto new episodes.
So early access to new episodesI I am not in that ballpark, I
(10:10):
guess, unless you would dosomething to where you have some
new approach to linkedin andyou're like, let's's just say,
on LinkedIn, hey, if you do thiswhen you want to connect with
people, you'll get a 10% morerate of a lead or a sale or
(10:31):
whatever, and you're like youknow what that's worth it.
I would like in on that earlyaccess because I want to do this
for a week or two or whatever,before anybody else has power
this kind of power as well towield around.
So that one, I see I get thatone, I get that early access on
(10:51):
something like that.
But I'm one to where I can waitfor the movie to come out or
even to get cheaper.
Instead of paying for it for 25bucks, I can wait for it to
come out for five, sometimeseven free.
So I'm not, I'm not, I'm not inthere.
So I'm gonna talk aboutsomething and pitch something
and support something that Idon't know.
But, matt, I know, don't knowabout, but I don't care about, I
(11:11):
guess.
And behind the scenes, um, Idon't know.
If you wanna bring somebody toyour podcast, that'd be cool.
Yes, one day I'd love to have amobile podcast studio and get
like a, maybe a RV to where Ican go to people's buildings and
stores or whatever, and then wecan do a podcast together and
big, overstuffed leather chairsand the class C or the super C
(11:35):
my dream would be like a super C.
I go with a freight liner, youknow truck and have it all
decked out in old school liketrading post, like log cabin,
you know brown leather and like,maybe old, like, like, looks
like lanterns on the walls andwood flooring and knotty pine
cabinet doors etc.
Etc.
Etc.
Right, make it cool.
But also it's a million dollarrig.
(11:57):
So I'm long way from that.
Unless I I win the lotto, thenmaybe I'll just treat myself to
my own podcast studio.
It's mobile, anyway, I don'tknow.
If you have that kind of money,do you even want to work
anymore?
Maybe you do.
Maybe you work as like, yeah, Imake great money doing this
podcast, but you know peoplethey don't know you win the
(12:18):
lotto Anyway, hosting liveevents or you can do a Q&A
session with your listeners thatcan interact with you in real
time.
So I like that.
If you do live podcasts, that is, of course I could do live
podcasts.
I might try that, because Idon't edit anyway.
(12:38):
Like I literally upload thisinto Camtasia, don't edit anyway
.
Like I literally upload thisinto Camtasia, I might take out
the beginning, if there's like asecond or two of like dead air
to where I just don't talk rightaway, or at the end of it.
Maybe I didn't end it fastenough, you know, and then I'll
just shrink that timeline down,but I don't do any of the like
(13:00):
like these sirens in thebackground.
I'm not gonna go back and editthat out.
Are you crazy?
Who cares?
Nobody cares.
And also, by the way, I'venoticed I don't like overly
produced podcasts.
I don't like the ones where youtune in and they got like a 30
second intro.
Who cares?
Yeah, I mean, you know, ormaybe longer than that.
It doesn matter.
But, like, all I'm saying isit's a big, big to do and
(13:23):
everything's like perfect andthey, I don't know you can just
tell it's edited, edited andchopped up.
And, by the way, if you'retrying to get into podcasting
and you're also working fulltime and you're also trying to
do this for a, you know,marketing thing, you don't want
to over edit, you want to knowwhy.
You know how much time editingtakes.
It's forever, especially thevideo.
If you do video podcasting, myGod figure.
(13:49):
It's almost like if you getreal good, maybe 10 minutes per
minute of airtime.
Or when I was doing stuff forSnow X, where I was doing the
hands-on thing, I would teachhow to do everything and then do
all the scripting and thewriting and the editing and the
voiceover.
It was like an hour per minute.
It was crazy.
I was up upstairs in thisoffice for hours for days for a
five minute video or whateveryou know.
(14:10):
So I highly suggest, if you can, don't, don't edit or minute or
edit minimally.
Besides that, it's more realanyway.
So, yeah, I can host, live onto that point.
Uh, creating a community oflisteners, uh, for the listeners
to connect with each other andwith you.
(14:31):
Uh, through social media groups, yeah, forums and your websites
and through dedicated apps.
Okay, okay, I want to talkabout this real quick because
I've been wanting to do this andI haven't pulled the trigger
yet.
I don't know why, because whynot?
But, as I said, I'm big onAlignable and Ambassador and all
that stuff right, and I havethat.
Networking with kids is throughAlignable, it's through the
(14:52):
group.
I want to do a talking session,q&a, about trade, bartering,
whatever, and then that waypeople can ask me, without being
pitched to and salesy, how theycould utilize it for them, in
front of everybody else, maybe.
Or you know, and do Q&A andmaybe somebody that's part of
(15:17):
Metro Trading Association, youknow, comes on and says, hey, I
use it for this, and not eventhat.
It doesn't got to be MetroTrading Association, because
Alignable is a national program,I think, partially
international.
I mean, I don't know wherethey're in Canada, but there's
trade groups, several sometimesper state, right.
So it doesn't matter ifsomeone's in Colorado and, by
(15:38):
the way, we're real closely withthe one that's out in Colorado
and it's like hey, I'm in theColorado group and this is how I
use trade and this is why Ilove it and this is why how I
use it, this is how I saveoverhead and time and money.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
Perfect dude.
Yup, you have the floor right,so I will.
(16:00):
I might do that now that I'mtalking out loud.
See, this is why I do podcastssometimes.
Sometimes, when you just talkout loud and get out of your own
head, you're like you know what?
Screw it, I'm gonna do it.
So that's a community.
You know, there, it's alignableas a community.
And, uh, I'm gonna record thatsession.
So there's the other thing ofit too.
I'll do the thing with thelineable, I'll record it.
(16:22):
And people don't worry aboutbeing on video or on youtube
because they're.
There's no camera, I'm notdoing the screen recording.
I'm recording the audio andjust upload it, and maybe
that'll be god.
What season would that be,though?
If it's, if it's long enough,it might be a season four here.
I wanted to keep this thing toseason three.
I do the seasons for categories, not for seasons, but to make
(16:47):
everything so you can kind ofclick through, although I've
noticed that I don't see any ofthe podcasting platforms that
allow you to search by season.
It's just a chronological order.
Anyway, I digress.
What else can we talk abouthere?
Hmm, anyway, I digress.
What else can we talk abouthere?
Offer listener-generated content, such as a segment where you
(17:08):
read listener-submitted storiesor answer listener-submitted
questions.
For me, because I don't see,maybe, that if I get an email
and like, hey, you can go aheadand mention this on your podcast
(17:29):
, and here's my story aboutbeing in trade or whatever, or
how I used my success with usinga podcast for marketing.
It's a thing out there.
People are talking about it,I've heard of it and nobody is
doing it, it seems like becauseit's a pretty big time
commitment and it's a long burn.
(17:49):
Right, it's a long game.
You got to be committed and yougot to get the algorithms that
like you to push your contentand you got to stay consistent
and blah, blah, blah.
So I say, if you can do it, doit, try it, hit record, do 10
episodes and power through man,get her done.
What else can we talk abouthere?
(18:11):
Number seven Includeinteractive elements in your
podcast, such as polls andquizzes.
I don't know about how do youpolls, how do you do that?
How do you do polls and quizzes?
I don't know about.
How do you polls, how do you dothat?
How do you do polls and quizzesin a podcast?
Because generally, when I wasdoing a training for Douglas
Dynamics, I was doing an appwhere you would get on your
(18:35):
phone I'm trying to think of thename while I'm talking here, it
doesn't matter and I was inclass doing PowerPoint and they
would do their answers as like aquiz to see.
And I don't really ever seemyself doing that with this
podcast.
I just don't.
So I'm not going to talk aboutit no more, because I don't
(18:57):
really have anything to sayabout it.
Here's what I do like a littlebit, where you can encourage
your listeners to submit theirown audio recordings, such as
voicemails or mini episodes Manyepisodes to include in the
podcast.
I don't know if I've ever heardanybody do that yet, have you?
(19:18):
I don't know if I would evenwant to do that Like, so you'd
have to have something sopowerful of a message to say to
reply to a podcaster that youfollow.
So you're like you know what,I'm going to comment on this and
I'm going to send them theaudio file, and then you're
(19:38):
going to like, you're going towant to edit it, and then you're
not going to like the way yousound, and then you're not going
to like this and your cadenceand your rhythm, and you sound
stupid, or you said too many ums, and then it'll never get
submitted.
And I think that if you ask forthese submissions, I think
it'll never happen Becausepeople are so self-conscious
about doing it.
(19:59):
I can't tell you how many timesI run into people at networking
events and they're like oh yeah,it's a good idea, I should do
it, I want to do a podcast too,and how do you do it?
And I even had a guy buy melunch and and I don't know if he
ever started on it it was about, I think, being a handy man, or
no, no, he was a handy man, buthe had been to prison and he
(20:20):
wanted to talk about the prisonlife, I think it was, and he was
going to interview inmatesabout people who are wrongly
convicted or wrongly accused.
I guess convicted is whereyou're found guilty for serving
time for a crime that theydidn't do.
It was going to be superinteresting.
(20:40):
And uh, cause I think he was, Ithink he was not guilty after
he served time and they're likewell, oh well, sorry, like I
don't know.
How do you, how do you sayyou're sorry, you missed time
with your kids?
You gotta, I guess they theyget rid of your record if they
find you not guilty.
But still, I don't know howmany years he was in, but you
(21:02):
know years and you're servingsomething that you weren't, you
didn't even do and no one, noone believes that you didn't do
it.
I guess wrong time, wrong placeor whatever.
But terrible, that's all awful,it sucks.
So I can't even imagine dudedoing something for, oh, brutal,
missing time with my son.
That would just tear me up.
(21:23):
Anyway, what's the last one here?
Number nine?
Oh, I got two more.
Run a contest or giveaway forprizes to your listeners.
The only way I can see myselfdoing.
That is if I did somethingthrough Alignable and I would be
like, hey, the first one to youknow, give me this answer gets
(21:45):
four tickets to the MichiganRenaissance Festival, and of
course I hope that they're inMichigan, so that's my only
hiccup with that.
I never really thought thatwould work on me, but it does
work on me because I likewatching this one guy.
He's a prepper and it's calledCity Prepper and I'm entertained
by fear-mongering and preppingand the fantasy of not having to
(22:08):
pay bills no more and justliving man, just just surviving,
trying to grow a garden andhoping the chipmunk squirrels
and woodchucks and mold fungusand flies and beetles and worms
don't eat your crop.
People think like, oh, I'mgoing to be a prepper, I'm going
to plant a garden, I'm all set,I won't starve, like you are so
(22:29):
screwed dude.
Anyway, I'm trying to do thegardening thing and I'm just
getting it handed to me, put itthat way.
Anyway, I digress.
Contest prizes there, Ianswered that one.
Here's one that I got into.
Not a debate about, maybe aslight debate.
Host a meetup or gathering foryour listeners in your local
(22:51):
area.
This can be a great way tobuild a sense of community and
get to know your listeners inperson.
Yeah, so it depends on what youdo, what you talk about, who
you are.
Maybe Some people have an issuewith letting the general
populace know where they'regoing to be when, and I find
that funny and interesting,because people on Facebook give
(23:14):
live updates about like hey, I'mgoing to be in Disney this week
, and then they post I'm sayingI'm giving Disney a hard time
right now, aren't I?
I don't know, let's just okay,I'll change it up, it don't
matter, I'm at Cedar Point thisweekend and then you post live
updates of you being at CedarPoint.
Now, everyone knows you're nothome.
That's a bad idea, I don'tunderstand, but people do that.
(23:40):
No, everyone knows you're nothome, your house is empty and
you're in cedar point, two hoursaway, three hours away, and uh,
I don't know.
Just yeah, uh, I don't know.
I got things to say about thatone.
So I like the whole communitything.
People get to see you, meet you, whatever, if you think you're
that important.
I'm really not that narcissistic.
I mean, I know my name isTrader Stu, but that's for
marketing purposes, um, and thatwas hard enough to deal with.
(24:04):
Like, who am I, trader Stu?
Like this is stupid.
But now you gotta, if you'regonna be a podcaster or youtuber
, I think you gotta.
You gotta have an identity.
You know I what I mean?
So, as far as the hat and thebeard, that was just me doing
what I've always done.
I've always had wore cowboyhats, that, uh, I used to be a
big timeline dancer at a CoyoteJoe's in Shelby township.
(24:26):
I forgot everything now, butanyway it's.
Everyone knew me for my damnhat.
I had a black hat that I had.
I had it formed pretty cool and, uh, a far stretch.
So all I'm saying is making adinner for yourself.
You're gonna do a marketingthing for podcasting or YouTube,
so you're identifiable and,yeah, let's get on it well.
(24:47):
So what do you do out there,you guys?
Be good or be good at it.
Hello and welcome back to the Trading Post.
I am your host, trader Stu.
Welcome to the show.
Alright, take two.
I did it.
I'm that guy.
I recorded.
So my microphone wasn't pluggedin.
I plugged it in, but myrecording app that I use I use
Camtasia did not recognize thatI plugged in my microphone and
(00:24):
didn't manually select it.
So I recorded a whole episodeoff of the microphone, off my
laptop, and it sounded likegarbage and generally see, when
you're new you kind of get awaywith this because no one's going
to listen to your stuff.
Maybe, probably.
But you know you got threepeople and you're just like
whatever, screw it, I'm going toupload it, just to upload it.
(00:45):
But you know you got threepeople and you're just like
whatever, screw it, I'm gonnaupload it, just to upload it.
But you know, here we are, I'mre-recording it anyway, real
quick.
This episode is sponsored by themichigan renaissance festival,
so if you haven't been there yet, check that out.
My tickets are coming to mesoon for giveaways, hand
handouts et cetera.
It's also sponsored by theMetro Trading Association.
(01:07):
I'm recording this at lunch andso I figured they're sponsoring
it because I'm using their time.
So there's that.
And then what else Networkingwith kids.
Come on out First Thursday ofthe month, jungle java, where I
am hosting an event me andactually uh, dr uh mary with
(01:30):
suzy hughes kids are hosting anevent where you can bring your
kids networking with you andpass out business cards and they
can watch you network or learnhow to network, or they can just
go play and, uh, there's abasketball court there, so, and,
of course, the tunnels andslides, so kids of all ages
toddlers area too actually cancome and if you want, you know,
(01:51):
watch the kids and uh pass outbusiness cards.
And, of course, get prepped.
Why are they?
Uh, I mentioned them.
I'm gonna be in her video game.
She's actually writing me intothe video game.
I'm going to be the trader atthe trading post.
That's pretty cool and if youhaven't considered it yet, if
(02:12):
you're looking for a marketingpiece, check her out.
And she's an alignable.
It's called Get Prepped, whereshe will write you into her game
for a fee and then yourbusiness will be, or billboard
will be, in the game, and anaverage lifespan of a game is
five years.
She said so for the amount of Ithink it's 20 grand you can get
(02:37):
in your video, this video gamethat's going to be played by
millions of people and you getbig name recognition in it.
It's kind of like when disneybought was that, I think, 20
million dollars or somethingthat they spent on an island in
fortnight, something crazy likethat.
It's a disney island and, uh,you, it's not that much money,
(02:58):
but you get to get in the gameand so, in exchange for telling
people about the game, I'mgetting written in her game and
I get to be the trading post guy, the trader.
So very, very cool and whatelse we got here.
I want to go over a few thingswith you, actually.
10.
I came across an article aboutthe top 10 ways to engage your
(03:23):
podcast listeners.
So this podcast is beingrecorded on the season and
episode for network marketingand podcasting.
I haven't decided yet, you knowwhat.
I didn't mention the season yetbecause I don't know if it's
going to be my experience onseason three podcasting and how
it works out for using a podcastfor marketing, or is it going
(03:48):
to be the sales, marketing andnetworking season?
Definitely not season one,which is trade, education and
member spotlights.
But yeah, I haven't decided yetwhere this is going to go yet,
so it doesn't really matter.
Let's get into it All right.
Number one they said ask forfeedback and reviews.
Now, this will work if you havesome kind of audience, at least
(04:09):
more than your mom and dad andmaybe your brother and sister or
whatever but at least thisgives you a better understanding
of what your listeners like anddon't like about your podcast.
One thing to consider, thoughyou can't please everybody, so
be careful on what you do,because you can't like it
(04:29):
doesn't.
You can't appease everybody,right?
So you're going to chase yourtail all around if you, every
time someone has a suggestionfor you and you go for it and
you bite.
You can't do that.
It's not how that works.
Okay, so maybe get like a few.
If, like, you get a trend andthey'll say you know, hey, maybe
you should talk about thisinstead, or I don't think you
(04:49):
know enough about this topic,maybe you're whatever, I don't
know, and uh, so you know, atleast you have a way of once you
get your podcast rolling.
I don't mean, like, you gotthree episodes, you haven't even
really got started yet.
You got to get past three,because most podcasts fail at
three.
So the cool thing is, if youfollow numbers, I think there's
(05:12):
like 250,000 podcasts worldwide,right, but only like 70,000 of
those, or something like that,are active and that's worldwide.
Then you niche it down a bitmore, then you only got maybe a
thousand, a couple thousand.
That's doing what you do.
Then you niche it down a bitmore, then you only got maybe a
thousand a couple thousand.
That's what doing what you do.
Then you niche it down a bitmore.
So that's why you got an.
You know, get it down, whittleit down to what you want to talk
about and and make it so youcan always talk about it for a
(05:34):
predetermined amount of time,enough episodes once a week,
every other week, and then gofrom there.
But yeah, anyway, I digressEncourage listeners to share
your podcast with their friendson social media.
Of course that helps grow youraudience and get some more
exposure.
Well, yeah, so my idea was whenI first started Stew in the D,
(05:59):
which was where I was goingaround Metro Detroit and doing
all the different festivities,activities and things to do.
I wanted to have local artistsdo the background track right,
or the intro music or whatever,and I can mention them.
Like the intro that you heardwith the whistling that was
(06:22):
brought to you by Duracell.
He's in the description.
You can click on his link.
He also does first salemarketing, which is, uh, he
builds websites.
But he's also singer,songwriter, guitarist and, uh,
he wrote this, the jingle for me.
Um, just a deal we made right,so, and he's also part of metro
trading Association as well, soit's working.
(06:45):
I mean, I don't know how muchbusiness he's going to get from
me, but I hope that he says hey,one day.
This will be so cool.
And if he ever says hey,someone said they heard me on
your podcast and they wanted meto do an intro music for them as
well.
And you know, thanks, cool,that's all I need.
Dude Like perfect.
Then it worked.
You know, maybe that's all Ineed.
(07:07):
Dude like perfect.
That didn't work.
You know, maybe.
Now on to the next artist thatwants to get involved and gets
the name out there.
So, by the way, our business isright across the street from
one of the fire departments inRochester and for some reason,
rochester has a very active firedepartment.
I used to live across thestreet from the other one, down
the road, and it seems likeseven times a day these guys are
going out.
Man, it's crazy.
So when you get your friends oryour listeners share their
(07:32):
podcasts with your links onsocial media Facebook, maybe,
their LinkedIn I'm unalignable,mostly You'll find me there and,
yeah, great exposure.
Anyway, let's not get toowrapped up in that.
One number three is what I wastalking about.
Michigan renaissance festivalsponsored my podcast.
(07:53):
In an exchange, I get ticketsright and I get to go to their
uh, admin, not admin um, theirmedia media night and, which is
cool, it's, I think, open acouple nights before they
actually opened the park, whichis only for people that they've
worked with to sponsor the youknow, the Renaissance Festival
(08:15):
media.
So radio and newspapers, andI've referred them out to other
people that I know that, likeyou know, they're like hey, you
know, actually she said theMichigan Renaissance Renaissance
Festival ladies like hey, ifyou want, I would love more
marketing.
So we're doing podcasts now, uh, and we always do newspapers.
If you know anybody else youknow that wants to get involved,
I'd love to.
(08:36):
You know, trade tickets withthem, perfect.
So I gave their name out to godo that, um, so, and then if I
get these tickets, I can offerthem to hand them out and, as
far as content, I can offer thecontent and perks behind the
(08:58):
scenes access or early access tonew episodes.
So, let's, I want to talk aboutthis one for a minute.
I'm going to get me a drinkhere and take make this one
happen.
All right, here's my take onthis one.
Hmm, all right.
Exclusive content I think thatonce you get a staff and you get
(09:22):
more, that once you get a staffand you get more maybe help
with script writing or marketingor whatever you might have more
time to do more content andonly do content.
People that one of pay for it.
And then perks I don't knowwhat perks would be.
Maybe if you get famous enough,meet and greet, or if you know
(09:46):
a business owner and theycontact you, maybe you can give
them some free episode or freeairtime for commercial,
something like that.
Maybe access I don't know, Idon't understand that behind the
scenes access and early accessto new episodes.
So early access to new episodesI I am not in that ballpark, I
(10:10):
guess, unless you would dosomething to where you have some
new approach to linkedin andyou're like, let's's just say,
on LinkedIn, hey, if you do thiswhen you want to connect with
people, you'll get a 10% morerate of a lead or a sale or
(10:31):
whatever, and you're like youknow what that's worth it.
I would like in on that earlyaccess because I want to do this
for a week or two or whatever,before anybody else has power
this kind of power as well towield around.
So that one, I see I get thatone, I get that early access on
(10:51):
something like that.
But I'm one to where I can waitfor the movie to come out or
even to get cheaper.
Instead of paying for it for 25bucks, I can wait for it to
come out for five, sometimeseven free.
So I'm not, I'm not, I'm not inthere.
So I'm gonna talk aboutsomething and pitch something
and support something that Idon't know.
But, matt, I know, don't knowabout, but I don't care about, I
(11:11):
guess.
And behind the scenes, um, Idon't know.
If you wanna bring somebody toyour podcast, that'd be cool.
Yes, one day I'd love to have amobile podcast studio and get
like a, maybe a RV to where Ican go to people's buildings and
stores or whatever, and then wecan do a podcast together and
big, overstuffed leather chairsand the class C or the super C
(11:35):
my dream would be like a super C.
I go with a freight liner, youknow truck and have it all
decked out in old school liketrading post, like log cabin,
you know brown leather and like,maybe old, like, like, looks
like lanterns on the walls andwood flooring and knotty pine
cabinet doors etc.
Etc.
Etc.
Right, make it cool.
But also it's a million dollarrig.
(11:57):
So I'm long way from that.
Unless I I win the lotto, thenmaybe I'll just treat myself to
my own podcast studio.
It's mobile, anyway, I don'tknow.
If you have that kind of money,do you even want to work
anymore?
Maybe you do.
Maybe you work as like, yeah, Imake great money doing this
podcast, but you know peoplethey don't know you win the
(12:18):
lotto Anyway, hosting liveevents or you can do a Q&A
session with your listeners thatcan interact with you in real
time.
So I like that.
If you do live podcasts, that is, of course I could do live
podcasts.
I might try that, because Idon't edit anyway.
(12:38):
Like I literally upload thisinto Camtasia, don't edit anyway
.
Like I literally upload thisinto Camtasia, I might take out
the beginning, if there's like asecond or two of like dead air
to where I just don't talk rightaway, or at the end of it.
Maybe I didn't end it fastenough, you know, and then I'll
just shrink that timeline down,but I don't do any of the like
(13:00):
like these sirens in thebackground.
I'm not gonna go back and editthat out.
Are you crazy?
Who cares?
Nobody cares.
And also, by the way, I'venoticed I don't like overly
produced podcasts.
I don't like the ones where youtune in and they got like a 30
second intro.
Who cares?
Yeah, I mean, you know, ormaybe longer than that.
It doesn matter.
But, like, all I'm saying isit's a big, big to do and
(13:23):
everything's like perfect andthey, I don't know you can just
tell it's edited, edited andchopped up.
And, by the way, if you'retrying to get into podcasting
and you're also working fulltime and you're also trying to
do this for a, you know,marketing thing, you don't want
to over edit, you want to knowwhy.
You know how much time editingtakes.
It's forever, especially thevideo.
If you do video podcasting, myGod figure.
(13:49):
It's almost like if you getreal good, maybe 10 minutes per
minute of airtime.
Or when I was doing stuff forSnow X, where I was doing the
hands-on thing, I would teachhow to do everything and then do
all the scripting and thewriting and the editing and the
voiceover.
It was like an hour per minute.
It was crazy.
I was up upstairs in thisoffice for hours for days for a
five minute video or whateveryou know.
(14:10):
So I highly suggest, if you can, don't, don't edit or minute or
edit minimally.
Besides that, it's more realanyway.
So, yeah, I can host, live onto that point.
Uh, creating a community oflisteners, uh, for the listeners
to connect with each other andwith you.
(14:31):
Uh, through social media groups, yeah, forums and your websites
and through dedicated apps.
Okay, okay, I want to talkabout this real quick because
I've been wanting to do this andI haven't pulled the trigger
yet.
I don't know why, because whynot?
But, as I said, I'm big onAlignable and Ambassador and all
that stuff right, and I havethat.
Networking with kids is throughAlignable, it's through the
(14:52):
group.
I want to do a talking session,q&a, about trade, bartering,
whatever, and then that waypeople can ask me, without being
pitched to and salesy, how theycould utilize it for them, in
front of everybody else, maybe.
Or you know, and do Q&A andmaybe somebody that's part of
(15:17):
Metro Trading Association, youknow, comes on and says, hey, I
use it for this, and not eventhat.
It doesn't got to be MetroTrading Association, because
Alignable is a national program,I think, partially
international.
I mean, I don't know wherethey're in Canada, but there's
trade groups, several sometimesper state, right.
So it doesn't matter ifsomeone's in Colorado and, by
(15:38):
the way, we're real closely withthe one that's out in Colorado
and it's like hey, I'm in theColorado group and this is how I
use trade and this is why Ilove it and this is why how I
use it, this is how I saveoverhead and time and money.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
Perfect dude.
Yup, you have the floor right,so I will.
(16:00):
I might do that now that I'mtalking out loud.
See, this is why I do podcastssometimes.
Sometimes, when you just talkout loud and get out of your own
head, you're like you know what?
Screw it, I'm gonna do it.
So that's a community.
You know, there, it's alignableas a community.
And, uh, I'm gonna record thatsession.
So there's the other thing ofit too.
I'll do the thing with thelineable, I'll record it.
(16:22):
And people don't worry aboutbeing on video or on youtube
because they're.
There's no camera, I'm notdoing the screen recording.
I'm recording the audio andjust upload it, and maybe
that'll be god.
What season would that be,though?
If it's, if it's long enough,it might be a season four here.
I wanted to keep this thing toseason three.
I do the seasons for categories, not for seasons, but to make
(16:47):
everything so you can kind ofclick through, although I've
noticed that I don't see any ofthe podcasting platforms that
allow you to search by season.
It's just a chronological order.
Anyway, I digress.
What else can we talk abouthere?
Hmm, anyway, I digress.
What else can we talk abouthere?
Offer listener-generated content, such as a segment where you
(17:08):
read listener-submitted storiesor answer listener-submitted
questions.
For me, because I don't see,maybe, that if I get an email
and like, hey, you can go aheadand mention this on your podcast
(17:29):
, and here's my story aboutbeing in trade or whatever, or
how I used my success with usinga podcast for marketing.
It's a thing out there.
People are talking about it,I've heard of it and nobody is
doing it, it seems like becauseit's a pretty big time
commitment and it's a long burn.
(17:49):
Right, it's a long game.
You got to be committed and yougot to get the algorithms that
like you to push your contentand you got to stay consistent
and blah, blah, blah.
So I say, if you can do it, doit, try it, hit record, do 10
episodes and power through man,get her done.
What else can we talk abouthere?
(18:11):
Number seven Includeinteractive elements in your
podcast, such as polls andquizzes.
I don't know about how do youpolls, how do you do that?
How do you do polls and quizzes?
I don't know about.
How do you polls, how do you dothat?
How do you do polls and quizzesin a podcast?
Because generally, when I wasdoing a training for Douglas
Dynamics, I was doing an appwhere you would get on your
(18:35):
phone I'm trying to think of thename while I'm talking here, it
doesn't matter and I was inclass doing PowerPoint and they
would do their answers as like aquiz to see.
And I don't really ever seemyself doing that with this
podcast.
I just don't.
So I'm not going to talk aboutit no more, because I don't
(18:57):
really have anything to sayabout it.
Here's what I do like a littlebit, where you can encourage
your listeners to submit theirown audio recordings, such as
voicemails or mini episodes Manyepisodes to include in the
podcast.
I don't know if I've ever heardanybody do that yet, have you?
(19:18):
I don't know if I would evenwant to do that Like, so you'd
have to have something sopowerful of a message to say to
reply to a podcaster that youfollow.
So you're like you know what,I'm going to comment on this and
I'm going to send them theaudio file, and then you're
(19:38):
going to like, you're going towant to edit it, and then you're
not going to like the way yousound, and then you're not going
to like this and your cadenceand your rhythm, and you sound
stupid, or you said too many ums, and then it'll never get
submitted.
And I think that if you ask forthese submissions, I think
it'll never happen Becausepeople are so self-conscious
about doing it.
(19:59):
I can't tell you how many timesI run into people at networking
events and they're like oh yeah,it's a good idea, I should do
it, I want to do a podcast too,and how do you do it?
And I even had a guy buy melunch and and I don't know if he
ever started on it it was about, I think, being a handy man, or
no, no, he was a handy man, buthe had been to prison and he
(20:20):
wanted to talk about the prisonlife, I think it was, and he was
going to interview inmatesabout people who are wrongly
convicted or wrongly accused.
I guess convicted is whereyou're found guilty for serving
time for a crime that theydidn't do.
It was going to be superinteresting.
(20:40):
And uh, cause I think he was, Ithink he was not guilty after
he served time and they're likewell, oh well, sorry, like I
don't know.
How do you, how do you sayyou're sorry, you missed time
with your kids?
You gotta, I guess they theyget rid of your record if they
find you not guilty.
But still, I don't know howmany years he was in, but you
(21:02):
know years and you're servingsomething that you weren't, you
didn't even do and no one, noone believes that you didn't do
it.
I guess wrong time, wrong placeor whatever.
But terrible, that's all awful,it sucks.
So I can't even imagine dudedoing something for, oh, brutal,
missing time with my son.
That would just tear me up.
(21:23):
Anyway, what's the last one here?
Number nine?
Oh, I got two more.
Run a contest or giveaway forprizes to your listeners.
The only way I can see myselfdoing.
That is if I did somethingthrough Alignable and I would be
like, hey, the first one to youknow, give me this answer gets
(21:45):
four tickets to the MichiganRenaissance Festival, and of
course I hope that they're inMichigan, so that's my only
hiccup with that.
I never really thought thatwould work on me, but it does
work on me because I likewatching this one guy.
He's a prepper and it's calledCity Prepper and I'm entertained
by fear-mongering and preppingand the fantasy of not having to
(22:08):
pay bills no more and justliving man, just just surviving,
trying to grow a garden andhoping the chipmunk squirrels
and woodchucks and mold fungusand flies and beetles and worms
don't eat your crop.
People think like, oh, I'mgoing to be a prepper, I'm going
to plant a garden, I'm all set,I won't starve, like you are so
(22:29):
screwed dude.
Anyway, I'm trying to do thegardening thing and I'm just
getting it handed to me, put itthat way.
Anyway, I digress.
Contest prizes there, Ianswered that one.
Here's one that I got into.
Not a debate about, maybe aslight debate.
Host a meetup or gathering foryour listeners in your local
(22:51):
area.
This can be a great way tobuild a sense of community and
get to know your listeners inperson.
Yeah, so it depends on what youdo, what you talk about, who
you are.
Maybe Some people have an issuewith letting the general
populace know where they'regoing to be when, and I find
that funny and interesting,because people on Facebook give
(23:14):
live updates about like hey, I'mgoing to be in Disney this week
, and then they post I'm sayingI'm giving Disney a hard time
right now, aren't I?
I don't know, let's just okay,I'll change it up, it don't
matter, I'm at Cedar Point thisweekend and then you post live
updates of you being at CedarPoint.
Now, everyone knows you're nothome.
That's a bad idea, I don'tunderstand, but people do that.
(23:40):
No, everyone knows you're nothome, your house is empty and
you're in cedar point, two hoursaway, three hours away, and uh,
I don't know.
Just yeah, uh, I don't know.
I got things to say about thatone.
So I like the whole communitything.
People get to see you, meet you, whatever, if you think you're
that important.
I'm really not that narcissistic.
I mean, I know my name isTrader Stu, but that's for
marketing purposes, um, and thatwas hard enough to deal with.
(24:04):
Like, who am I, trader Stu?
Like this is stupid.
But now you gotta, if you'regonna be a podcaster or youtuber
, I think you gotta.
You gotta have an identity.
You know I what I mean?
So, as far as the hat and thebeard, that was just me doing
what I've always done.
I've always had wore cowboyhats, that, uh, I used to be a
big timeline dancer at a CoyoteJoe's in Shelby township.
(24:26):
I forgot everything now, butanyway it's.
Everyone knew me for my damnhat.
I had a black hat that I had.
I had it formed pretty cool and, uh, a far stretch.
So all I'm saying is making adinner for yourself.
You're gonna do a marketingthing for podcasting or YouTube,
so you're identifiable and,yeah, let's get on it well.
(24:47):
So what do you do out there,you guys?
Be good or be good at it.
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