Danny Ozment | Podcasting to Attract Ideal Clients
Davina Frederick: Hi everyone
and welcome to the wealthy woman
lawyer podcast. I'm your host
Vina Frederick, and today I am
super, super excited to have a
fellow podcast lover, Danny
Osment here with me. He is the
owner of Emerald City
productions. He is a business
strategist and consultant for
entrepreneurs, professionals who
want to start and operate a
podcast for their business. And
he is a also a sought after
speaker, an online educator. And
he's a consultant for major
corporations and thought leaders
to some of his clients include
Salesforce, LinkedIn, the John
Maxwell team, Mike Kim, and
Ernie, the attorney for those
Ernie the attorney fans out
there. So welcome, Danny, it's
great to have you here. Thank
you. I'm glad to be here. So one
of the things I just want to ask
you about real quick before we
jump into some other things is
the name of your company,
Emerald City productions. So
Emerald City for those Wizard of
Oz fans, is that the connection
for that tie for that name? Or
was your not a behind the scenes
wizard? No, no, no. It's not
like that's a that's a
unintended benefit of the of the
connection there. But it's
really just based on my last
name. As we were thinking, I get
questions all the time, like,
Oh, are you in? Are you based in
Seattle? Are you based in I
think Portland is also called
the Emerald City or something
like that. I'm like, no, no, no,
I'm here in Orlando, Florida,
and used to be in Nashville
before that. But yeah, it's it's
the name. It's the Oh, I thought
you were the Wizard of Oz
podcast with a name like so.
So tell us how to like give us a
little bit of a quick story
about your journey. Sure. You
this type of business.
Yeah, I so I always wanted to be
a musician. Growing up, I loved
music in middle school in high
school, I was in Band and
Chorus. I did all the music
theater stuff. I went to college
and got a music degree. I even
have I went so far I have a
master's degree in conducting.
Oh, so I thought I was going to
be in a tuxedo on stage in front
of orchestras and things like
that, for my entire career. And
I took that path, spent about 10
years or so in the nonprofit
arts world. Before I realized
that I was probably going to be
in my 50s or 60s Before I got
the really good gig. Because the
people that get those gigs and
can work one job in the arts
world, they hold on to those
jobs until they're 70 years old,
80 years old sitting on a stool
because they can no longer stand
up that type of thing. So I, you
know, I was at that point where
I was wondering what I was going
to do. But then in 2008, my
daughter was born. And she had
some medical issues right away.
So my wife and I realized pretty
quickly that we needed a bit
more flexibility. And I came up
with the idea because I was
working in nonprofits and didn't
have really great benefits. Why
don't I start a business, I can
work from home, I can do
something. So I started to
brainstorm. And I realized that
Oh, I know how to record people.
I've been a musician. I've been
in bands. In college, I was in
acapella groups, and we recorded
ourselves in studios and things
like that. So I knew a little
bit I was and I realized that I
could start a business doing
that because there were people
recording acapella groups
traveling around the country or
recording groups in their homes
and things like that. So I
started that I started a
recording studio out of my home.
And it grew moderately, it was
paying the bills, things like
that, as grew to the point where
we actually moved to Nashville,
and I built a recording studio
in Nashville. And we were there
for four years. But during that
time, I was starting to get
frustrated with working with
musicians. I loved working in
music, but projects would go on
for a year and a half. And
budgeting is questionable. Let's
say that in the music world.
It's not a very business minded
world. And people don't think in
those terms. So I figured out
that I needed to diversify, I
needed to do something else in
the recording space. And I was
enjoying listening to podcasts.
I was listening to some podcasts
that were helping me with my
business or helping me with my
life. All those types of things.
And I realized when I was
listening to these podcasts that
some of them didn't sound really
good. So I just started emailing
some of those podcasters and
saying, Hey, I love your
podcast, it's changing my life.
It's changing my business, but
your sound really sucks. Please
let me help you because it would
just make the experience better
for everybody. And so I started
doing it for free. And then I
started charging a little bit of
money. And then it was, hey, can
you do the show notes too? And
hey, can you do this. And over
the last seven years that has
grown into an agency, where we
now have a team of 10, we've got
40 clients. Like you mentioned,
big corporations like
Salesforce, and, you know, small
law firms with three people,
solo coaches, consultants,
things like that all types of
different people. And we help
them get their podcast produced
each week, I help people launch
their podcasts, get everything
together at the beginning. And
then we help people keep people
moving, help them stay
accountable, so that they don't
and I love before we started
recording, the use use the term,
pod fade, which is something
that happens in this industry,
people want to do a podcast that
gets started, they get 10
episodes in 15 episodes, and
then it's, it's hard. It takes
time. It you know, they they
miss a week, they miss two weeks
they get behind life happens. So
we try to help people who know
they need a podcast, who are
committed to doing a podcast,
avoid that pod fade by
supporting them. Right.
Right. It is really interesting
until share with our audience
the same stats you share with me
about the number of podcasts out
there, and then the number that
are actually active podcast
because I think that's kind of
an interesting statistic. Oh,
sure.
So let me let me frame it a
little bit. The I talk about and
maybe I'm a little biased.
Because this is my industry,
this is my field. But I talk
about podcasting as being really
the most effective form of
content marketing. If you have a
business, if you have a law
firm, you know that one of your
significant portions of
marketing is content marketing,
you've got social media, you've
got all these other things you
can do. You can you can buy ads,
on buses, you can do all those
types of things that lawyers do.
But in content marketing, you
have that chance to let people
know who you are, and spend time
with them. And I say that other
than video besides video and
blogging, podcasting is the most
effective form of content
marketing, because for one,
you're spending a lot of time
with the person listening to you
what really happens. And if you
listen to podcasts, you you know
this effect. After a few
episodes, you kind of feel like
you've got a friend there. When
you're listening to a friend,
you're whether you're commuting
45 minutes or 15 minutes, or
you're running and working out.
You can listen to podcasts
anywhere, and you're spending
time with these people. In fact,
93% of podcast listeners listen
to more than half or all of
every episode. So when the
average podcast episode is 45
minutes or more on like a weekly
show. That means that the
podcast listener, your friend
that trusts you, is listening to
you for 20 minutes, 30 minutes,
40 minutes. When you take that
amount of time, then you you
realize that okay, reading a
blog takes five minutes, seven
minutes. YouTube, they get on
there and watch a video, most
likely, they're only watching
two to three minutes of a seven
minute video. podcast listeners
are listening for a long time.
Okay, all right. And then you
look at the total number of
podcasts out there and you say,
Wow, okay, podcast index,
Spotify, they say there's 4
million podcasts, or Apple says
there's 2.8 million in our
directory. What you don't know
and you have to dig into the
details, you have to dig into
the download stats that that
media hosts like Libsyn release.
Really, there's only about 350
to 400,000 podcasts that are
active. That means they've
released an episode in the last
30 days they release episodes
regularly. So you're only
competing really against 400,000
podcasts. And compare that to
blogs. There's like 7.5 million
blogs or No, no, it's it's 750
million blog. Sorry, I've moved
my decimal point 750 million
blogs out there that will pop up
anytime you search something on
Google if you have the right
thing. There's millions of
YouTube channels, okay. But
there's only 350 to 400,000
active podcasts, and the
listeners are spending more time
with you. And that number has
stayed consistent, even over the
last few years during the
pandemic. So that's why I say if
you're wanting to connect with
an audience, if you're wanting
to build a trust, then a podcast
is really your best place to do
that.
Yeah, yeah. Well, what I
particularly love about I think
is I'm a big fan of podcasts.
I've listened to a lot of them
and what I like about it is that
I can be doing other things To
listen to podcasts, unlike
videos, I'm not a video person,
because I don't have the time to
sit and binge on videos, the way
I can binge on podcast episodes.
And so there's that factor. And
then the other factor for me is,
I think it's a huge difference
when people can actually hear
your voice, as opposed to so I'm
a professional writer, and I've
written a lot of blogs. And I
really shifted to podcasts
because I was still, I still,
you know, write a lot of content
for things. But to me, the idea
that somebody can listen and
they can hear my voice, that is
a little bit that's how human
beings Connect is by seeing
human faces and hear your voice.
So this podcast, you can see
videos of me on a channel, but
if you're like me, you don't
have time to sit and watch
videos, you can also listen to
it on the go, which is the
wonderful thing. And, and that
does, that does for me, I know
the podcasts I listen to the
ones that I favor, it is because
I I enjoy the style of the host
and the way that they converse
with people, and sometimes how
it's produced, you know, makes a
difference. So, one of the
things I want to talk to you
about sound quality, because I
know this is a big thing for you
since you're a musician, and I
am hearing impaired. So for me,
I don't I probably don't have
the keenest sense of sound
quality that a lot of other
people do. But I will say that,
because of my hearing, I guess I
have certain tones that great.
And, and the and there are I
love Audible. And there are
books that I have bought and not
listened to because the narrator
is so terrible. And the sound is
just, you know, like, grates on
you and gets on your nerves or
something. Are there certain
things that if people want to
start a podcast and have a
successful podcast, and they
want to sound good? What what
are some of the sort of tips or
ideas that you could give people
about? It's just like, they're
just starting out, they're kind
of doing it on their own, and
you haven't hired a production
company? What are some things
they can do to sort of improve
the sound?
Definitely. And I love that you,
you talked about how this is,
this is the way that humans
communicate. And it's a primal
thing. For us, the reason that
you can connect with a podcast
is the listening. Since we were
in caves, you know, sitting
around fires, this is how we
shared stories and communicated
and pass things down. Sound
quality is a big deal. It's it
really, there is no excuse at
this point for having bad sound
quality. And when I say bad
sound quality, I mean things
like, it sounds like you've
recorded with the built in
microphone on your computer, and
you were four feet away from it.
And there was a lot of noise in
the background. There really is
no excuse because even if you
plug in a set of earbuds that
came with your iPhone or
speaking to the iPhone,
microphone recording on voice
notes, something like that,
you're gonna get better sound
quality than that, and you're
gonna get usable sound quality.
So I like to think of it as you
know, if you went to your
favorite restaurant, you would
expect them to serve edible
food, okay, to exist as a
restaurant, if that's their job,
they have to serve food that you
can actually eat. When you
provide bad sound quality.
That's essentially what you're
doing with a podcast if the only
thing people are there to do is
listen to your voice. And it's
bad and it's annoying, and
there's noise or there's
frequencies that hurt their
ears. And what you said is
actually true. There are for
instance, the frequency of AES
is a frequency that we actually
have a tool to remove. It's
called a de Esser because that
frequency causes headaches. If
it's too loud, wow. There you
can actually hurt people's ears
and give them pain if you
provide bad sound quality. Now,
it's it's not hard to get good
sound quality because literally,
I mean, I see I think you have
do you have a Blue Yeti there?
Is that something? I do? Okay,
so you're using your Blue Yeti
correctly. There are some people
that misuse Blue Yeti, we don't
tend to recommend recommend
those because you can mess up
using this. The microphone that
I love is called the Audio
Technica ATR 20 100x. I would
say that probably 65% 70% of
podcasts you listen to that
sound good are using that
microphone. It's just like the
Yeti. It's a less than $100 USB
microphone, you can plug it
directly into your computer. So
there's no excuses because
that's the microphone I'm on
here. I have it plugged directly
into my computer. And I like
this microphone because in many
different rooms, whether you
have carpet on the floor,
whether you have reflective
ceilings, high ceilings, things
like this, this microphone
sounds pretty good. Because it
tends to sound good on all types
of voices. It also tends to only
pick up sounds that are within
two to three feet of it. So
microphones have this tendency,
especially this type of
microphone is called a dynamic
microphone, of focusing in on
the sound that is most closely
to it. Excuse me. And so I
recommend that and when you do
that, you've got this
microphone, plugged directly
into your computer with a USB,
you spent less than $100, you're
going to have pretty good sound,
you can record on QuickTime, you
can record on Microsoft Windows
voice recorder, that's built in.
Like I said, you can even take
your earbuds and plug them into
your iPhone and record and then
you're gonna have noise
cancellation, you're gonna have
a microphone that's going to
sound better than the built in
microphone on your computer.
There's really no excuse. If you
have the ability to watch some
YouTube videos, if you have the
ability to like I'm a LinkedIn
learning instructor and have a
course on how to produce a
podcast how to record a podcast.
There's information out there
that shows you how to use free
tools to remove noise. There's
information free information out
there that shows you how to DSX
your recording. There are
websites, there's a website
called Oh phonic, AU, P H, O N,
I c.com. That if you upload your
mp3 that you've recorded, it
will process it and remove noise
balance levels, make it a little
louder, so that people don't
have to turn the volume up and
down as you're moving forward
and back away from things like
that. If you're if you're one of
those talkers that moves a lot.
There are tools out there. And
really, that's all you have to
do to get good sound now, it's
just yeah, it's about the tools
or get help.
Yeah, yeah, it's interesting
that you say that, because so I
had a spate of episodes where I
didn't realize that the sound,
my sound quality wasn't as good
as my guest. And what it was his
eye, I was using a tool that
drowns out sound in the
background, because I have a an
English bulldog loves to bark at
inopportune times. And it works
great for a while, and then they
ran an upgrade on it. And when
they did that, something
happened to it. And it wasn't
working as well. And I didn't
realize it. And so one of the
things I think was that I move
around, when I, when I speak,
I'm talking to my hands, I'm
moving around. And when I would
move a little bit back from the
microphone, I would it would
drop out, my voice made it a lot
lower than, so I switched to
something else. And that seems
to solve the problem. And also,
I'm a little bit more careful
now making sure that I'm still
speaking right into the
microphone, I also have this
kind of acoustic panel that is
right near me that sort of helps
with the sound to sort of
capture it. But you know, those
things you learn over over time
and the long haul and feedback
and stuff like that,
we actually have a pre recording
checklist that we give to our
clients that we say print this
out, and put it right in front
of you so that every time you
know even if you're using Zoom
like we are to record this
interview, every time you turn
it on, you're checking to make
sure that the correct microphone
is selected, you're checking to
make sure that there's actually
a good level, because you can do
that in zoom, you can test those
things. And that way you you
avoid the the common problems
because zoom updated last week
and it reset all your settings,
well, you need to go in and
check your settings, you need to
make sure that it's going to
record correctly. Thankfully,
the last couple years of doing
lots of meetings online has
allowed more people to learn
what they need to do, and how to
improve their situation. So
honestly, podcast recordings
have gotten a lot better over
the last couple of years just
because people are more adept at
using these tools.
Right, right. Right. Well, and I
do think it's really kind of
interesting because one of the
things my husband always said
I'm a little bit of a
perfectionist, so I'm always
like, I don't like it when
things go wrong. And and he's
and he listens to a lot of these
sort of larger audience
podcasts. And he says, you know,
you it's amazing, all the
different little things that go
on because people are recording
out of their home a lot and even
some of the big names that he
says you'll hear dogs barking in
the background or stuff have you
know, kids or whatever. So I do
think there is certain level of
that, that actually makes people
feel like they know you Even
more, because it makes you more
human and relatable, you know.
So let's move away from kind of
the technical aspect of the
podcast, I would love to include
links or that microphone, and
then what you said, after that.
Anyway, we'll, we'll get those
links included in the show notes
for people. But I want to move
away from the technical aspect.
And I want to talk specifically
about show talk, like the
purpose of a podcast. So you and
I were talking before where a
lot of people think I'm going to
start a podcast, and I'm going
to make a lot of money on it,
because I'm gonna get sponsors.
And my podcast is set up for a
different purpose. You have a
lot of conversations with your
clients about the about a
business purpose for the
podcast. And let's talk about
kind of the differences between
the two.
Sure. Well, I know our audience
is, is law firms and lawyers. I
like to think of it as the best
outcome of a podcast, especially
if your business is to create
trust, to create a connection of
some time to create a
relationship. And in we have
several clients who are law
firms like like you mentioned,
Ernie Svenson, Ernie, the
attorney is one of our clients.
And what I realized early on
for, let's call them busy
professionals. So lawyers,
accountants, therapists, we have
lots of therapists as well.
Their one really only way of
getting clients has been
marketing, whether it's Google
My Business, whether it's their
website, whether it's referral
marketing is a very strong
thing. And that's a lot of
referral marketing is based on
trust, right? And what if you
could do this thing where you
had 1000 people listening each
week that consider you a friend,
and you could refer your own
business to your friends? Well,
that's what a podcast is. And
then for lawyers and law firms,
I mean, I think, you know, I
have a business and I have a
house and I have a family, okay?
The only times I've ever had to
call a lawyer, or use a lawyer
was something big was happening,
something scary is happening,
I'm in trouble, something has
gone wrong, the IRS has sent me
this letter, I don't understand
what it means all these types of
things, whatever the type of
lawyer it is that I found my
course, on somebody else's site
online, they've stolen my
intellectual property. I need to
contact someone, what am I going
to do? Well, I'm going to call a
friend because I trust a friend.
And I'm going to see if they've
got any lawyers that they
recommend. So what if you were a
lawyer that could establish that
trust beforehand? And so that
that's why you know, I, when I
talk about podcasts I talk about
as business creating a podcast
that connects with connects with
your ideal listener, whoever
you're trying to reach out to.
I'll use an example recently,
it's not with a lawyer. We were
in Orlando, Florida. So we put
solar panels on our house. And
Florida has a lot. It's great.
Like HOAs can't deny you having
solar panels. So it's really
cool. Well, what was the first
thing I did, I went to Google My
Business to start looking at,
okay, who are the solar
companies? Because there's a
million of them in Florida, that
have good reviews, okay, here's
three or four that have really
good reviews. Let me go to their
websites. Okay. Okay, I see
this, this looks good. Let me
contact these three. And I'll
meet with these three and
connect with them. And okay, and
I'm going to choose this one,
because this felt like the best
relationship. Well, when I had
that person that owned this
solar company came out, and he
did the work and met with me and
all that sort of stuff. I said
to him, I was like, Hey, I
noticed on your site, you don't
have a blog or a podcast. Like
if you'd had a podcast with even
five episodes, I would have
listened to one or two. And I
would have gotten to know you.
And it would have been easy
selection. Because I would have
already heard you talk about
what you guys do and why you do
it, and what people should know
and try to educate people. So
that's why when I talk to
businesses, like law firms,
accountants, therapists, I
talked about it in terms of, if
you're starting a podcast, it
really needs to be about that
ideal listener, it needs to be
about building a relationship
with the ideal listener, because
this is your opportunity to do
referral marketing on a grand
scale and and create those
connections yourself. Because
really, and we talked earlier on
a lot of people, they want to
start a podcast because, oh, you
know, I want to talk about this
interesting thing or this
problem that I've seen. And I
want to interview all these
interesting people about it. But
there's already a lot of
podcasts out there even though
there's 400,000 that are active
that that listeners are already
listening to that cover certain
topics. And with a podcast
listener, what generally happens
is they find some shows that
they like, and they stick with
those shows. So they're going to
listen to a new show. It has to
be something that hits
differently, or covers something
different than things they're
already listening to.
So again, let's let's talk about
law firms. That might be, let's
say you're, you know, a law firm
that covers a certain area of
law, like we have a client who's
an immigration lawyer, and she
specifically is doing a show
about immigration law. But she
niched it down, she focused down
into one industry, and that was
tech startups, because she's in
Silicon Valley. And so she
wanted to talk to tech startups,
to help them deal with
immigration issues for the
workers that they need. The
employees that they need the
coders that they need, the
developers that they need, that
were in short supply in Silicon
Valley, because they you know,
so, China, India, or Australia,
all these places where they
might want to bring people in.
So it was that little extra
level that has led to great
success for her show, because
she focused it down there.
And that's a great success for
her business. Yeah, as well,
which is really what we're
taught like, so a podcast like
mine, a podcast like that. A
podcast for any lawyer who's
wanting to talk about their area
of law, is really the purpose of
the podcast and for you is to
develop your network, develop
your connections, and get more
get more visible with people who
might benefit from using your
services. Yeah. So because a lot
of people will start a podcast,
I recently spoke with a
colleague who started a podcast,
and she started it with the
intention of it being a business
right from the beginning. And so
she before she even had any
content, she was getting
sponsors before, you know
beforehand, cuz she had a
business model in mind for that
podcast. But most of the
podcasts that you see that are
started by business, people like
us, like you said, the, the
entrepreneurs and the service
providers are they're doing it
because what they're wanting to
do is create more content, but
more powerful content, right,
and a blog that might get
skimmed and people don't you
know, when's the last time when
you saw a blog was the last time
you looked at who wrote the
blog? Yeah, right.
It's really, it's really about
finding a way, especially over
the last couple years, like we
saw huge growth in 2020. Just
like, how can I get in front of
people? Because I can't get in
front of people anymore? How
could I meet with 500 new
clients a week, instead of the
10, that I can schedule to come
in to the office during certain
periods of time. That's where it
gets into is the let's build
this network of listeners, ideal
clients, client leads, whatever
that I can't do. In person face
to face.
I have a, I have a client who
says we were working together
one of our one of the tools that
we use to market her business
was to get her to start a
podcast. And she's in a very
specialized. She's in family
law. And Texas, and her. She's
had several cases before the
Texas Supreme Court. And so she
really wanted to connect with
other family law attorneys,
other judges other people out in
that area. And it has been a
tremendous source of referrals
for her now, because she's
inviting people onto her
podcast, who didn't know about
her before. And she recently
attended a conference. And she
says, used to an iTunes
conference, nobody knew me. Now
I show up and everybody comes up
and they go, Oh, you're so and
so this is your podcast
Valhalla. And they're, she's
writing a book and they're all
eager to get a copy of her book.
So it really creates what I call
internet famous right you know,
it helps it helps to, you know,
get more people to know you. So
the goal when people say I want
to have a podcast that makes
money the goal really for most
business people in the way that
we make money through a podcast
is by getting those clients that
our ideal clients that we really
really like to have to serve and
to help you build that trust
that know like trust factor
before they ever even meet us in
person which makes the sale
easier
right and that that's primary
and and if you want to you know
up level your skill once you
have the podcast Yeah, you're
you're wanting to generate leads
but the the people that we've
seen monetize their podcasts in
this service provider world.
They they find a way to serve
their Your entire value ladder.
That's a term that gets used a
lot in marketing. Is that, okay?
Yes, there's going to be the
clients that can hire you, and
pay the hourly rate or the flat
fee or whatever. But then there
might be the clients that just
need a little bit of advice. And
I know it's like in investment
advice and law in therapy.
There's, there's compliance
issues, and there's things that
you have to follow. But, you
know, if you're a lawyer, and
you could create a checklist
that people could download for
free, and you mentioned it on
your podcast, and that gets them
on your email us so you can
communicate with them more
regularly, that maybe leads to,
hey, if there's a basic course,
that you could do in real estate
law, that shows people how to do
this thing that you guys do all
the time, that really doesn't
require a lawyer, they could,
you know, get some help, but you
charge $100 for that course, or
$50. For that course, that's a
revenue stream that lives on the
podcast. I mean, I have a
client. He is a business
strategist, branding strategist.
And he is six years into his
podcast now seven years. And he
has a product, it's a business
proposal template that he talked
about in episode 47. I think if
I remember correctly, of his
podcast, that it was this
template here, fill this out,
this is how I, you know, write
proposals to land these clients
and all that sort of stuff. It
was like a two page PDF, I sold
it for $50, he still makes $500
a month off of that template.
He's he's made something like
$40,000, over six years off this
PDF that he put on a thing and
has never touched since. Because
people go back through his
podcast. So when you're thinking
about monetizing, there's all
those little ways that you can
get a little bit here, and you
can help the people that are
never gonna hire you. You can
provide them tools, you could,
you know, you could do a two day
workshop on this thing where you
could teach people how to do it.
And you could charge a little
more than and in the people that
often they go through those
things that start listening to
the podcast, and then they
download the free thing. And
then they buy that course. And
then they attend that two day
workshop. Well, three years down
the road, they're hiring you for
this, because now they're a real
estate investor, and they need a
lawyer, that's a go to person,
and now you're on retainer. You
know, it's things like that,
that, that long term investment
of podcasting can create this
funnel, really is what it is
this marketing funnel of people
for your business.
Right, right, right. I was gonna
just check here and I want to
talk about what, what it takes
to start a podcast, I do think
that a lot of people sort of
underestimate the amount of work
it takes to produce a podcast.
So, you know, we often think,
well, I could just, I'll just
record it, and I'll upload it.
And we're done. Right? And they
don't think about all the
different pieces and parts that
go into producing a podcast. So
we're gonna talk about that a
little bit. Yeah, let's,
I mean, I mean, that's why
Emerald City productions exist,
because people get into it, or
they have seen somebody else do
a podcast. And they know like,
Oh, my God, that person was
spending four hours a week on
their 30 minute podcast. Because
when you meet with a strategist
like us, you meet with someone
like me, who's going to help you
launch your podcast, you get
information along the lines of
You know, yes, you probably if
you want an effective podcast
that's going to grow, it needs
to be a weekly show. So you have
to think about okay, can I do 15
minutes a week? Could I do 30
minutes a week, could I do 45
minutes a week. Okay, I can do
that recording. But then, if I
want to edit it, I either have
to learn how to edit like user
tool. And there's lots of easy
tools out there. Now, you know,
you're not loading up Pro Tools.
And like I am in editing things
in wav forms and stuff like
that. There's tools out there
called like descript, where it
is a digital audio workstation,
it's software, but when you
record into it, it immediately
transcribes it, and you can
actually edit the transcript. So
it's like you're editing a
document and you're editing your
audio and you can learn those
tools. But that 30 minute
episode might then take you an
hour, hour and a half, two hours
to edit. If you start to obsess
over your own voice. And every
time you say I'm you're going to
be spending three hours. That's
why like on my team, my editors
that do this every week and
multiple shows a week, a 30
minute show takes them maybe
even 15 minutes sometimes to
edit because they've got tricks
and they can listen to it faster
and they can do all these
things. So you've got that and
then you got to think about,
okay. All the shins schedule at
each week. And I've got to write
shownotes. And I've got to make
sure I list all of the resources
that I mentioned. And even in
the setup part, one of the
things that we do a lot, we've
actually got seven clients right
now launching, is we take them
through that whole process at
the beginning of okay, what is
your idea?
Who are you trying to reach?
Let's do some research to see
what's out there and what the
title of the podcast should be
to reach those people. SEO wise,
like, we've got to, just like,
in websites, podcast, search
engines and apps and directories
have SEO. So you got to know how
Apple works. Who's the the big
dog in the market? How does
Spotify work? How do we get the
right title to hit the right
market to make sure people can
actually find this? And then we
got to describe it. And then
we've got to create a trailer
episode. And we've got to create
your artwork, and we've got to
create your RSS feed, we've got
to set up a media Host account,
what categories should you be
in? And how do we optimize that?
How do we connect you to all the
podcast directories, there's a
lot of steps that go into just
the nuts and bolts of making
sure people can listen to your
podcast. One of the benefits of
podcasts is that it uses an RSS
feed. So that means that like,
Facebook can't shut you down.
YouTube can't completely shut
you down. And then you disappear
from your audience. You can be
in a lot of places with a
podcast. But it's an older
system. It's like, you know,
we've been podcasting since
2004. We're coming up on 20
years. So it's an old system.
And there's benefits in that.
But there's also you got to know
how things change and how things
are happening right now. What
changes is Apple made recently
that we need to update. So we
like to go through that whole
process. And then we also work
with our clients on what should
yearly content be? Because like
I mentioned before, with that
episode from the business
proposal template, selling seven
years on podcast, listeners like
to discover you later on, they
may be listening to Episode 200,
or episode 40. And then they go
back to Episode One. So how do
we establish a relationship
right away, and we talk a lot
about that content and what that
should be. So these are all
things that you've got to think
about. And then, okay, I want to
launch I want to put this
podcast out there, but I don't
want crickets. I want an
audience. So what do I do? So we
often spend a lot of time in
launch strategy of how to borrow
audiences, how to use your
current audience, whether you've
got an email list, whether
you've got some social media
following, how best to get those
people turned on to your
podcast, because that's going to
be the place that your your core
audience lives, right, the
people that are spending the
most time with you, your, your
loyal audience. And through that
process, you know, I'll use an
example from a lawyer that we
worked with a solo Personal
Injury Attorney down in
Louisiana, really small
community, maybe like 10,000
people in this town. Okay. He
wanted to do a podcast, he was
actually part of one of earnings
groups. And we had met through
that. It's like, I want to start
a podcast, but there's only
10,000 People in my town and
pretty much the only personal
injury attorney here. So people
know if they need a personal
injury attorney, they know who
to go to. But I want to make
sure people hear about me. And
so we talked and we and we came
up with the idea and that
strategy process of well, maybe
the best way for you to use your
time is for you to become the
digital mayor of the town.
You've lived there all your
life. You know about the town
people know you they know your
family. You want to grow because
he was talking about how is
transient community there's a
lot of a bedroom community, not
transient community bedroom
community for New Orleans and
Baton Rouge. And so there were a
lot of new people there that
didn't know about him, didn't
know about his business didn't
know about the town. So he
started a podcast as a lawyer,
sponsored by his law firm that
talked about the town and the
events and interviewed the
principal of the high school and
interviewed a former football
player that had gone on to LSU
and stuff like that. And that
podcast gave him the opportunity
to build a relationship with
people in the town that never
knew he existed. So much so that
like he created a Facebook page
for the podcast in a town of
10,000. He had 1000 people on
that Facebook page. And that's
that's absurd. Yeah. 10% of the
population of the town. You
would be lucky to get like 2% of
your email list for most people
to listen to your podcast. He's
dominated the area because he
decided to focus on the regen,
instead of doing a podcast about
loss, so that process as you get
started up, that you need to
think about, like all these
variables that that are possible
with a podcast when you're
getting started.
Yeah, I think that's a really
wonderful idea and thought for
people, because I know that a
lot of attorneys, you know, who
thought I would love to do a
podcast, but nobody wants to
hear about acts like what am I
going to, you know, people
don't, people don't hire me
until something happens. There's
a triggering event. And so, you
know, I'm having to hit a broad
swath and personal injury is a
great example of that, you when
you're trying to identify an
ideal client, and you're it's
not a demographic, it is a
someone's been injured in a car
accident, right. So, or some
other type of vaccination. And
that's a triggering event. So to
sort of tailor that to a
specific audience would be a
little difficult to do. But the
idea of, you know, just focusing
on your region and being like
you said, the digital mayor,
that's a great idea. And I think
that's probably one of the
things that trips, a lot of
attorneys up when they're
thinking about a podcast, they
may love podcasts and listen to
podcasts. Oftentimes, what I,
what I see are people who kind
of tried to do you know,
something similar to what's
already out there, but kind of
put like a little bit of their
own spin on it. So they'll take,
you know, there are a lot of
coaches, for lawyers now or for
women. And so those people
there, there's these podcasts
out there with these topics. So
I'll focus on instead of the
money, I'll focus on the
happiness or I'll focus on the
whatever. And, and oftentimes,
they do that, because they don't
want to talk about their area of
law, they think it's boring and
will be boring to people. So
they're looking for something
else. That's a topic. And
oftentimes, those are the ones
that kind of fade away too,
because they're really trying to
force something that doesn't,
you know, that there's not
longevity to
one of the things that I like to
tell lawyers specifically about
the benefits of podcasting,
partly because a lot of lawyers
are used to dictating, right, so
they're used to speaking
lawyers, lawyers need to speak.
They're used to dictating. Do
with a podcast, knowing all the
marketing that is out there
nowadays, like you've got to
have a social media presence,
you've got to have a blog, you
got to have an email list, you
got to send this out, you got to
have some different types of
just regular advertising out
there. When you create a
podcast, we've talked about the
average length we've talked
about even if you did 10
minutes, even if you did 15
minutes, that is a piece of
content that is really long. And
whether it's your paralegal,
whether it's a virtual
assistant, it's pretty easy to
take 15 minutes 1000s of words,
and find two or three really
good quotes that you could turn
into social media posts. And I
often tell our clients, hey,
record your podcast live, just
go live on Facebook, LinkedIn,
whatever. So you record some
video, you go live, you have the
opportunity if people happen to
show up and ask a question, you
can answer the question. You can
then take that audio and turn it
into a podcast. You've got video
that now on Instagram, Tik Tok,
whatever, like really, these
things matter, you could clip a
minute long video and put up an
Instagram reel, which is what
Instagram is really pushing. You
could put up that video on
LinkedIn as well you could put
up that video on Tiktok and
tiktoks algorithm will go to
work and you might get something
that you mentioned put up there
and then people who are sitting
on their phone looking at Tik
Tok while they're at the
hospital after they just got run
into might see your video like
it's all these types of things.
So you've got social media
posts, you've got we we take our
podcast episodes. And we have
copywriters that we actually
provide as part of our services,
where they take the episode and
they turn the episode into a
blog post. So different than the
shownotes. There's a blog
article that now goes on your
website. And so you've gotten
new blog posts every week. And
that's helping your SEO on your
site. And your show notes are
going up with media players, and
that's helping your site's
availability and prominence in
search results on Google or
whatever. There's all ways that
you can take this one piece of
content where you just sat down
for 15 minutes and talked. And
now other people or even people
on your own team can quickly
take a transcript and generate
some Social media can generate
other things. So that's why like
it is like, if you're thinking
about your marketing in general,
besides the fact that you need
to have the content marketing to
build trust, you can take your
content that you create purpose,
turn it into a lot of other
things.
Yeah, yeah, we do that with us.
We repurpose, you know, and
create reels and things like
that out of it to pull people
in. And part of is to pull
people into listening to the
podcast, because I want them.
What I'm sharing on this podcast
is stuff that I think will help
them. And I think if you're
creating, if you're creating a
podcast, with that in mind that
I am trying to help people, and
you keep that at the forefront.
This is about servicing an
audience and really providing
something that's beneficial and
useful to them. And if you do
that, and you approach it
sincerely, I do think it, you
know, it works to your benefit.
I want to make sure that people
don't feel overwhelmed by
everything, I know that you can
start a podcast organically, you
can grow it organically, you can
start with you in your basement
with your microphone, and, and
some of the, you know, so many
tech tools and automation out
there to get started. As you
grow, it's just like with your
law firm business, as you grow,
you're making you know, you're
becoming more and more
successful, then you get to a
point where you can invest in
other people to help grow your
team. So don't let this
conversation intimidate you. If
you feel like oh my gosh, I have
to go hire this whole production
team. It's a whole lot harder
than I thought most people who
start podcast started out with
them a microphone and, you know,
some some tenacity. And and you
learn as you go along and it
gets bigger and better. And then
you can afford to hire a
production team like Emerald
City productions. And so do keep
that in mind. If you're thinking
about it, if you already have a
podcast, and you're realizing
that you might start fading
because you're running out of
steam. The reason why is
probably not the recordings and
the conversation. The reason why
is all the production aspect
that goes into it. And
definitely professionals make a
huge difference. In production.
It's not something you need to
develop a whole career. Second,
third, fourth career around when
you can hire people who already
have that knowledge. So Danny,
tell us how we can get in touch
with you. If we want to talk
with you more, or get some of
these tools that you've talked
about. I know you mentioned a
production checklist. Yeah, how
we can do all that.
The best way for most people
listening to this to find me
would be to go to Emerald City
pro.com. If you go there, there,
not only is there a lot of
information about the different
things that happen in the
podcasting process, what you
should know about those, we
answer a lot of questions.
Pretty much every page is
written like a blog or FAQ,
where they can get common
questions answered. But there's
also a lot of buttons on that
site, literally all the calls,
calls to action or schedule a
call with me. And if you do that
you're gonna get a a time with
me. So I'd love to answer
people's questions that way, but
Emerald City pro.com is going to
be the best place to
go. Awesome. Thank you. Thank
you so much. And thank you for
being here. I've enjoyed our
conversation. I've learned a few
things. I know that my podcasts
are long. And but I have people
who you know, and there are
people who won't listen to the
whole thing, but I also have
people who binge on those long
road trips and tell me oh my
god, I just binge, you know, so
don't don't also don't think you
have to be locked into something
short just because that is the
you know, the popular view. My
individual podcasts are shorter,
but my interviews always go a
little bit long and I find that
people absolutely love it. So
thanks so much, Danny for being
here and sharing your wisdom
about Podcast. I'm sure a lot of
people will appreciate that.
Thank you. I appreciate you
having me on
