Don’t keep your ideas and knowledge in a jar. Podcasting can help you share them with your audience.

Don’t keep your ideas and knowledge in a jar. Podcasting can help you share them with your audience.

By Jim James, Founder EASTWEST PR and Host of The UnNoticed Entrepreneur.

 

In the newest episode of The UnNoticed Entrepreneur, Roger Nairn talked about audio and the impact that it can make on getting noticed as an entrepreneur.

 

Image from LinkedIn

 

Why Podcast?

There are over 4 million podcasts today, and according to Roger, entrepreneurs should also have one. However, the biggest question is: Why and for what purpose? It’s really all about the audience.

To clarify: it’s also allowed to have a podcast with no audience — like what he did in his first-ever podcast (as a hobbyist, he didn’t care about the size of the audience; he just wanted to talk to fascinating people). But, if you are a business and you start a podcast, you need to ask yourself: Who is this podcast for? What value can I deliver through my podcast?

That value could be about helping them out, answering questions, giving them a laugh, making them cry, or telling great stories. These are things that brands can do in spades, and they're doing them in different formats. But for him, the intimate format of podcasting is the best format by which these can be done.

 

Podcasting vs Advertising

Roger is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-founder of Canada-based company, JAR Audio.

 

Screengrab from JAR Audio

 

Their company puts podcasts in the higher part of the marketing and sales funnel. They consider it an awareness and brand-building opportunity. Their client brands, through podcasts, are giving their respective audiences helpful content that can serve a number of different purposes.

Coming from an advertising background, he noted that advertising needs to be hard-hitting and hard-selling. On the other hand, podcasting is a bit softer and more nuanced. It’s not a push medium but a pull medium.

In podcasting, the audience is saying, “I want to listen to this show. I want you to send me an episode every week or two weeks and put it in my ears on my own time. And I don't want you to waste it.”

It’s important for podcasts to not be advertising because nobody wants to listen to them. Nobody's going to listen to a 30-minute ad. So you need to create really engaging and awesome content that just happens to be brought to your audience by your brand.

 

Their Process at JAR Audio

At JAR Audio, they always start off with a discovery session. Pre-COVID, they’d sit in a room with fancy coloured markers and have a full concept and audience conversation with clients. Now, they do it a lot remotely over Zoom.

During that session, they will dig into why the podcast needs to exist.

From a brand standpoint, it could be because you're trying to attract a new audience or nurture your existing audience.

 

Image from Unsplash

 

In the case of one of their clients, Expedia (who had been experiencing a brand challenge: people didn’t see them as a helpful enough brand), they wanted to have a podcast that will help make their audience see them as more helpful.

After uncovering the “why,” they will then talk about the “what.” For instance, if you’re addressing a brand challenge, what sort of podcast could serve that brand challenge?

It entails knowing what will the format of the show be. Is it a one-on-one interview style? Is it a panel style, where you’re bringing a bunch of alternative views to the conversation and a moderator is managing it? Or is it some fictional storytelling (which, for Roger, is an incredible thing for a brand to tuck into)? It could also be a sort of documentary style.

Upon knowing the format, they will then help you develop ideas on the specifics of what your show could sound like. They will look at some of the competitive shows out there. What are they doing? Where are your audience's interests lying these days? Where’s the blue ocean opportunity, where there’s nobody serving that podcast space?

Once they’ve done that, they will next look at who’s the host and guests, and what are they saying to these guests? The host will obviously interview them, but there should be a format to the conversation. Is it free range? Or are you peppering them with some specific questions so you can take the conversation down to where you want it?

After identifying all this, JAR Audio will do all the recording.

Today, an incredible amount of technology allows them to do that. They’re also shipping equipment all around the world for every interview they do. They send the right equipment because, straightforwardly speaking, they don't trust that everybody has the right equipment.

Though this poses logistical challenges, they still do it because it’s what they’re here for. Sending some of the equipment and having them use it on the day of the recording (and training them to operate it) is a whole different ball game.

When clients sometimes send them back, JAR Audio is even donating the equipment to local schools.

 

Image from Unsplash

 

After the recording, they also do the editing and all the post-production side of podcasting — finding the right music and sound effects, taking out the “ums” and “uhs,” and making sure that the conversation is pacing properly.

Once a podcast is done, their full marketing team then takes over. They distribute it to major podcast distribution platforms, such as Apple, Spotify, Google, and Amazon. They ensure that your podcast gets into the right ears as much as possible — and as long as possible.

Then, they rinse and repeat that. They’re taking in a lot of data and learning from who’s listening: How long are they listening? Are they dropping off anywhere, or are they skipping anywhere? They will use all these data to inform their future episodes.

 

Different Service and Pricing Levels

When it comes to podcasting, clients will have varying degrees of quality and service levels.

Suppose you're a larger brand and organisation. In this case, you're going to not only want to have a certain level of service that allows you to shepherd the podcast through the organisation — but also make sure that it's meeting all brand and content checklists.

For the price, it will range anywhere between $2,000 to $50,000 per episode. But there are a lot of variables that will affect it.

For example: format. Different formats are going to result in different pricing because there are different production complexities that need to go into it. If you're going to hire an outside host, are they a lesser-known voiceover actor, an ex-journalist, or a celebrity?

Your choice is going to play a huge factor. Plus, you're going to get different returns on those people. If you hire a celebrity, you'll get a lot more marketing bang for that buck. If you hire a journalist, you'll have an existing audience attached to that person.

 

Image from Unsplash

 

A Collaborative Process

JAR Audio does offer a do-it-all, for-use service. However, they recognise that some organizations have great in-house writers, for example, who have a strong understanding of a certain topic. In that case, they will lean on them to do some writing.

But it also doesn't necessarily mean that all writers translate perfectly to audio or podcast audio. And in that situation, they’ll do some training or they’ll work with them on how to tweak their language.

The kind of service that they provide very much depends from client to client. They have certain opportunities where they offer an “a la carte style process.”

But no matter what their clients are doing, everything that they do at JAR Audio is collaborative. At no point are their clients handing over the entire reigns of their brand to them. They are working directly with them, like how they’re working with a marketing agency.

As a client, you're going to hear the podcast episode before it goes out. You’re going to see the rough cut and the script draft before anything moves forward.

 

Image from Unsplash

 

They also have a process to make sure that there’s a legal and quality control side to it and that it works well for the brand.

Every step of the way, you want to ensure that any Intellectual Property (IP) is transferred to you as an organisation. That includes everything from the writings to any stock audio or photography used in marketing. Essentially, anything that you’re touching, you want to make sure that the full rights are on your side of the fence. An experienced lawyer in that field can easily help you in that realm.

On JAR Audio’s part, they always err on the side of they don't have the rights (versus they do). But when they need to get the rights, they’ll find the best way to work together to get them.

 

Communicating the Scope of Work is Key

Some of the brands that JAR Audio has worked with received help from them for a certain period or number of episodes, then transitioned to doing it all on their own.

If that will be the case, Roger emphasises that it’s important to communicate it upfront so that every step of the way can be a learning lesson or a knowledge transfer. They won’t be waiting until the end and then reverse engineer the whole thing.

JAR Audio has experienced working not only with clients who wanted to transfer it in-house, but also those who wanted to take it in and slice and dice it on their own into different forms of content (e.g., taking the audio and turning it into a video or a blog post) for a better return on investment (ROI).

 

The Case of T-Mobile

One of the clients they’ve produced a podcast for is T-Mobile, a huge communications company that specialises in mobile communications.

They have an incredible in-house content team who are ex-journalists. And their mission is to explore the world of mobile and understand from a sociological and psychological standpoint what mobile is doing to all of us.

JAR Audio did a podcast with them called “Mobile Diaries.” It’s like Radiolab, but for the mobile communications space. It delved into the ins and outs, and the social, psychological, and anthropological aspects of mobile communications.

For the podcast, they looked at mental health, dating, work environment, and mobile work experience. They talked to a mobile native.

 

Image from T-Mobile

 

The podcast offered an incredibly in-depth look into a fascinating topic that just happened to be brought to the audience by a brand that makes a lot of sense. It’s an example of making a podcast about participating in a community and leading a conversation — rather than selling a product or a service.

 

Getting JAR Audio Noticed

The biggest thing when it comes to getting their Vancouver-based business noticed is reputation. They see to it that they’re producing great content and great work on behalf of their clients. They ask them for referrals as well.

Roger also does interviews and goes on others’ podcasts and events because it allows him to have a point of view on the community. For instance, he recently spoke at the Podcast Movement Conference in Dallas, Texas.

At JAR Audio, they also do digital advertising via Google and LinkedIn.

The biggest piece, however, is that they produce a blog that has insights, tips, and tricks on podcasting in general and podcasting for the business community. They also have a newsletter that goes out weekly and is designed to educate everyone in the podcast space.

Though they don’t have a podcast of their own yet, it’s currently in production. They’ve spent their time focusing on clients that they haven’t gotten to do it themselves. They acknowledge that podcasting is a lot of work — and it’s why clients hire them in the first place.

 

Audio vs Video

Audio is good. But video seems to be more powerful with platforms like YouTube and TikTok. The question is: Is it worth investing in a podcast?

 

Image from Unsplash

 

For Roger, entrepreneurs should absolutely invest in podcasts. But again, it depends on the “why” and “what.”

There are going to be some things that are going to be served better with video. But keep in mind that anything done in audio can also be transferred to video — whether it’s the recording of an interview or an animation opportunity.

Furthermore, there’s a huge audience on YouTube that listens to podcasts. In fact, it's the second most popular podcast platform behind Apple.

Also, consider this: Anyone who has invested in video will understand that it's not a very flexible medium. If you want to re-record something, edit something, or go back in and do it again, you have to get the crew, get the lights, and figure out the continuity side of it. On the other hand, audio is a lot easier to slice, dice, and insert down the road.

When getting into production, think about your content, its longevity, and the “updateableness” of it.

 

To learn more about JAR Audio, visit their website at www.jaraudio.com. You can also check out their LinkedIn and Twitter pages.

This article is based on a transcript from my podcast The UnNoticed Entrepreneur, you can listen here.

Cover image by DCStudio on Freepik



Roger Nairn
Guest
Roger Nairn
Co-Founder & CEO of JAr Audio