WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:03.480 Hey everybody, welcome to The Streamlined Podcaster, 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:06.639 a show that teaches you how to create a podcast 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:09.859 that's worth listening to so you are not spinning 00:00:09.859 --> 00:00:12.839 your wheels. My name's Joe Casabona. I've been 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:16.239 podcasting for 13 years, and today I want to 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:20.260 talk to you about creating a voice memos podcast 00:00:20.260 --> 00:00:23.899 or a voice notes podcast. Recently, my good friend, 00:00:24.199 --> 00:00:27.480 Becky Pearson -Davidson went on Podcraft. and 00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:31.660 talked about how beneficial her podcast has been 00:00:31.660 --> 00:00:34.500 to her. She says, she says this on LinkedIn. 00:00:34.659 --> 00:00:37.100 I'll link it in the show notes. The podcast takes 00:00:37.100 --> 00:00:39.880 her 15 minutes a week and it's changing everything. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:42.380 She's made deeper connections with subscribers. 00:00:42.679 --> 00:00:46.299 She's nurtured leads to close more sales and 00:00:46.299 --> 00:00:51.359 she's created more quality human content in less 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:54.939 time. Shout out to Becky. She also gave me credit. 00:00:55.130 --> 00:00:58.630 for this. I know I'm not the first person to 00:00:58.630 --> 00:01:02.170 do voice notes podcasts but I feel like I did 00:01:02.170 --> 00:01:04.170 bring it to our circle of friends. It was something 00:01:04.170 --> 00:01:08.569 that I tried doing as a private podcast at first 00:01:08.569 --> 00:01:12.709 just like a lead magnet and I realized this content 00:01:12.709 --> 00:01:16.109 was really good and I didn't want to just like 00:01:16.109 --> 00:01:18.810 put it behind a paywall. I wanted to create maximum 00:01:18.810 --> 00:01:21.450 impact so I made it its own feed and then eventually 00:01:21.450 --> 00:01:25.340 I just started making it as part of my kind of 00:01:25.340 --> 00:01:28.739 flagship show, Streamline Solopreneur. So now 00:01:28.739 --> 00:01:32.579 those voice memos episodes show up in the same 00:01:32.579 --> 00:01:34.879 feed as my main podcast. They talk about pretty 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:37.140 much the same thing. But today I want to talk 00:01:37.140 --> 00:01:39.959 to you about why you might want to do this and 00:01:39.959 --> 00:01:42.900 how you could go about doing it. So why would 00:01:42.900 --> 00:01:45.500 you want to do a voice notes podcast in the first 00:01:45.500 --> 00:01:48.620 place? Well, my friend, Luria Petrucci, who just 00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:53.340 knows so much about creating great video, talks 00:01:53.340 --> 00:01:55.480 about two different types of content, right? 00:01:55.480 --> 00:01:59.640 She talks about the thought leader content, which 00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:02.920 is the type of content that requires a video 00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:05.920 setup like the one I have. Great lighting, it's 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:09.259 maybe scripted or semi -scripted, and you are 00:02:09.259 --> 00:02:13.539 imparting wisdom in a very structured way. But 00:02:13.539 --> 00:02:15.860 then there's also the more relatable content, 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:20.319 the seemingly casual, behind -the -scenes, imperfect 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:25.580 content. And that's the stuff that nurtures and 00:02:25.580 --> 00:02:28.879 builds relationship. Becky talks about it for 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:31.219 her voice memos podcast. Luria mentions that 00:02:31.219 --> 00:02:34.240 you need to do both if you want to build relationships. 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:37.780 And a voice notes or voice memos podcast is a 00:02:37.780 --> 00:02:41.000 perfect way to do this. You are giving people 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:48.219 raw, possibly unfiltered, definitely unpolished 00:02:48.219 --> 00:02:51.259 thoughts. it feels like they're having more of 00:02:51.259 --> 00:02:54.319 a conversation with you. A podcast is already 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:59.300 a great way to build connections because it is, 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:02.759 I've always said, a more intimate medium, right? 00:03:02.759 --> 00:03:05.780 It is you in someone's headphones most likely, 00:03:05.780 --> 00:03:10.500 and they are listening to you talk. But a voice 00:03:10.500 --> 00:03:13.919 notes podcast almost feels like a friend is calling 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:17.800 you, and the connection is stronger. I've seen 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:21.000 it on my show, Becky has seen it on her show. 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:25.520 There's a reason why these are becoming, I would 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:29.319 say, more popular. But the other reason is that 00:03:29.319 --> 00:03:34.180 producing a podcast is hard. Especially now, 00:03:34.780 --> 00:03:38.599 if you are trying to integrate video with your 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:44.259 podcast. And a voice memos podcast is decidedly 00:03:44.259 --> 00:03:49.659 easier. So... It feels like all upside, right? 00:03:49.819 --> 00:03:53.800 It's easier to produce. You don't need super 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:56.460 expensive equipment and you're forming a stronger 00:03:56.460 --> 00:04:00.240 bond with your audience. You could be like Becky 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:03.199 and you're nurturing leads to close more sales. 00:04:04.180 --> 00:04:09.259 That sounds like a win win win. So let's talk 00:04:09.259 --> 00:04:14.840 about how to produce a voice memos podcast. First, 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:18.000 you need a topic. or a promise. This is true 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:22.000 of every podcast, right? Your show needs to promise 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:25.399 something to your audience. What problem are 00:04:25.399 --> 00:04:29.100 you solving for them? What are you telling them 00:04:29.100 --> 00:04:33.300 you're going to deliver? For Becky, it's about 00:04:33.300 --> 00:04:35.500 building memberships and communities. She's offering 00:04:35.500 --> 00:04:39.060 essentially like five minute tips on building 00:04:39.060 --> 00:04:42.850 a community. Super consumable and amazing for 00:04:42.850 --> 00:04:44.670 her audience. And then again, her audience is 00:04:44.670 --> 00:04:46.490 saying, hey, what you're talking about is great. 00:04:46.490 --> 00:04:50.689 Can you do it for me? My voice memos podcast 00:04:50.689 --> 00:04:52.870 gives you a behind the scenes look at what it's 00:04:52.870 --> 00:04:55.629 like running a solo preneur business while also 00:04:55.629 --> 00:04:59.709 being a super present father. There's a lot of 00:04:59.709 --> 00:05:01.410 challenges there and I feel like there's not 00:05:01.410 --> 00:05:05.470 a lot of content for parents. And my voice memos 00:05:05.470 --> 00:05:07.870 deliver on that promise. Here's what I'm thinking 00:05:07.870 --> 00:05:10.759 about. Here's what I'm struggling with. Here's 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:13.439 what it's like on a day where my kids are all 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:18.339 sick and my wife's at work Very relatable content 00:05:18.339 --> 00:05:23.620 and honest to God Those episodes get way more 00:05:23.620 --> 00:05:29.019 feedback than my longer form episodes So what 00:05:29.019 --> 00:05:32.120 is your promise? Can you deliver that promise 00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:34.459 in 10 minutes or less? That's like that's not 00:05:34.459 --> 00:05:37.819 a hard requirement, but that is something I think 00:05:37.819 --> 00:05:41.689 about because again We don't want this content 00:05:41.689 --> 00:05:45.449 to get too long. We don't necessarily want it 00:05:45.449 --> 00:05:48.709 to drone on for a while. And if we're delivering 00:05:48.709 --> 00:05:50.629 these voice memos, like imagine if somebody sent 00:05:50.629 --> 00:05:53.629 you a 15 -minute voicemail. I don't even know 00:05:53.629 --> 00:05:55.769 if you can do that, but you'd stop listening, 00:05:55.930 --> 00:05:59.610 right? So what is a promise that you can deliver 00:05:59.610 --> 00:06:05.509 in bite -sized content? Now, as far as gear goes, 00:06:08.020 --> 00:06:11.660 Again, we want to make this as simple as possible. 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:18.680 I strongly recommend the DJI mics. I've got one 00:06:18.680 --> 00:06:22.779 and I've got a pair. I find actually the pair 00:06:22.779 --> 00:06:26.519 sounds better than just the one I have. I'll 00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:28.879 have an affiliate link in the show notes, but 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:32.540 these things are super portable. They plug right 00:06:32.540 --> 00:06:37.259 into the bottom of your phone and the audio quality 00:06:37.259 --> 00:06:41.180 is a lot better than just the built -in microphone 00:06:41.180 --> 00:06:43.420 but you know i mean the new new phones have really 00:06:43.420 --> 00:06:46.779 good built -in microphones but i like to pace 00:06:46.779 --> 00:06:50.459 i like to walk and having you know having the 00:06:50.459 --> 00:06:53.560 portable microphone allows me to have a consistent 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:57.860 sound quality even if i'm walking or moving around 00:06:57.860 --> 00:07:03.339 so i would strongly recommend the dji mic Road 00:07:03.339 --> 00:07:07.339 has a similar one. There's a couple, right? There's 00:07:07.339 --> 00:07:08.860 a receiver that plugs into the bottom of your 00:07:08.860 --> 00:07:13.660 phone. And then a phone. That's it. A phone and 00:07:13.660 --> 00:07:17.319 a microphone. That's all you need for this podcast. 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:19.879 You could have an AI tool. I was using an AI 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:22.120 tool for a while. I have stopped doing that. 00:07:22.860 --> 00:07:26.139 Because I was using it to make the transcript 00:07:26.139 --> 00:07:29.480 and summarize and create a full -on description. 00:07:29.540 --> 00:07:33.269 But I have found that With a five minute podcast, 00:07:33.649 --> 00:07:36.389 have a good title and have a one -liner about 00:07:36.389 --> 00:07:38.990 what it's about. You don't want people to spend 00:07:38.990 --> 00:07:40.850 more time reading about the episode than listening 00:07:40.850 --> 00:07:45.709 to the episode. So I think whatever summary you 00:07:45.709 --> 00:07:50.050 have of those five to ten minutes is fine. So 00:07:50.050 --> 00:07:51.910 those are really the two things you need. And 00:07:51.910 --> 00:07:54.230 then of course you need a voice recording app. 00:07:54.790 --> 00:07:56.889 If you have an iPhone, there's voice memos. If 00:07:56.889 --> 00:08:00.189 you have Android, I think there is a suspect 00:08:00.189 --> 00:08:03.649 that there's an equivalent. I also like whisper 00:08:03.649 --> 00:08:07.709 memos on the iPhone or their super whisper. We 00:08:07.709 --> 00:08:10.629 want to keep it as simple as possible. I would 00:08:10.629 --> 00:08:12.709 just use the voice recording app on your phone. 00:08:13.750 --> 00:08:16.670 Voice memos on your iPhone definitely automatically 00:08:16.670 --> 00:08:19.629 transcribes now in newer versions of iOS. I'm 00:08:19.629 --> 00:08:21.810 gonna go out on a limb and say the Android version 00:08:21.810 --> 00:08:25.600 also does that. You don't need the transcript 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:28.000 per se, but I do like releasing the transcript 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.759 of all of my episodes. So that's one less step 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:34.019 that I would need to do as well with the voice 00:08:34.019 --> 00:08:41.039 memos app. OK, so your phone, a DJI mic, a recording 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:47.179 app. I like voice memos. The idea here also in 00:08:47.179 --> 00:08:50.960 getting a decent mic and keeping it short is 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:53.019 we don't want to have to edit these episodes. 00:08:53.909 --> 00:08:58.750 Because editing turns it from raw, unfiltered, 00:08:58.789 --> 00:09:02.570 like a friend is leaving you a voicemail, to 00:09:02.570 --> 00:09:05.230 thought leader stuff. Because now you are shaping 00:09:05.230 --> 00:09:07.429 your message. And that is really important for 00:09:07.429 --> 00:09:12.309 full -length podcasts. Always edit your full 00:09:12.309 --> 00:09:15.350 -length episodes. But for things like this where 00:09:15.350 --> 00:09:18.370 the purpose is different, I don't think you should 00:09:18.370 --> 00:09:23.389 edit them. Hosting. I'm going to recommend RSS 00:09:23.389 --> 00:09:27.570 .com. It is very affordable. I am the evangelist 00:09:27.570 --> 00:09:30.610 for RSS .com, so full disclosure there. But I 00:09:30.610 --> 00:09:32.250 also just think it's the best hosting for most 00:09:32.250 --> 00:09:34.850 people. It's easy to use. It works very well 00:09:34.850 --> 00:09:40.090 from your phone. And it has a lot of really great 00:09:40.090 --> 00:09:45.669 features for podcasters. So RSS .com, big fan. 00:09:46.210 --> 00:09:51.269 I wouldn't be their evangelist if I wasn't. Also, 00:09:51.820 --> 00:09:54.480 You know there are like other like we I mean 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:57.500 we have RSS .com we have like dynamic ads now 00:09:57.500 --> 00:10:03.659 but the feature set is really focused on creating 00:10:03.659 --> 00:10:09.639 a really good podcast so I like RSS .com. Okay. 00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:13.480 Publishing your first episode. I think every 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:17.919 podcast should have a trailer and so I would 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:20.059 recommend you do the trailer in the same format 00:10:20.059 --> 00:10:22.470 that you're going to do the episodes. You can 00:10:22.470 --> 00:10:25.370 maybe semi script this because I think the trailer 00:10:25.370 --> 00:10:29.870 should follow a story. Why are you doing this? 00:10:31.250 --> 00:10:33.070 What's the show about? What are people going 00:10:33.070 --> 00:10:36.850 to get from it? How can they listen? And again, 00:10:36.850 --> 00:10:40.629 you can keep that to one to two minutes. So if 00:10:40.629 --> 00:10:43.450 you're launching a voice notes podcast separate, 00:10:44.029 --> 00:10:46.490 I still say have a trailer. If you're adding 00:10:46.490 --> 00:10:49.820 it onto your main show. I would just preamble 00:10:49.820 --> 00:10:53.440 the first voice notes episode with what this 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:54.840 is and why it's different and let me know if 00:10:54.840 --> 00:10:58.519 you like it. So that's publishing the first episode. 00:10:59.100 --> 00:11:01.700 And then you need all the stuff that a normal 00:11:01.700 --> 00:11:05.220 podcast needs. You need a title, make the title 00:11:05.220 --> 00:11:09.059 clear, have a tagline for who it helps, what 00:11:09.059 --> 00:11:13.019 problem it's solving. Make some artwork. I think 00:11:13.019 --> 00:11:15.000 if it's a voice notes podcast, your face should 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:18.019 be on it. It is you. people should get to know 00:11:18.019 --> 00:11:21.200 you. And then you need a description. I think 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:24.299 podcast descriptions should read like movie synopses, 00:11:24.419 --> 00:11:30.799 synopses, where you agitate the problem or you 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:33.679 set up the promise and then you talk about how 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:38.639 you're going to deliver on that promise. So that's 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:41.679 it. That's everything you need to start a voice 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:46.200 notes podcast. I also one kind of like side tip 00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:49.100 here is since I am releasing my voice notes podcast 00:11:49.100 --> 00:11:53.840 on my long form podcast feed, I like to append 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:57.519 square brackets with I call them Joe's audio 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:00.639 notes. So I append audio note to the end of it. 00:12:00.759 --> 00:12:03.700 And I do have custom episode artwork that's called 00:12:03.700 --> 00:12:06.980 Joe's audio notes for those episodes to help 00:12:06.980 --> 00:12:09.320 them stand out a little bit more in podcast players. 00:12:10.319 --> 00:12:12.460 Especially ones that support custom artwork, 00:12:12.519 --> 00:12:16.659 which I think most of them do now. Apple does. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:21.659 Spotify does. All the ones I do do. So that's 00:12:21.659 --> 00:12:24.779 just kind of a side tip. If it's a strict like 00:12:24.779 --> 00:12:27.159 voice notes only podcast, you don't really need 00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:29.600 to do that. But if you're adding it to your long 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:31.440 form, I like to make them stand out a little 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:36.179 bit so people know immediately the type of episode 00:12:36.179 --> 00:12:40.620 they're getting. But that's it for this episode 00:12:40.620 --> 00:12:42.220 of Streamline Solopreneur. If you want to learn 00:12:42.220 --> 00:12:44.059 more, if you want help launching a voice notes 00:12:44.059 --> 00:12:45.620 podcast, I mean, you're listening to this show, 00:12:45.620 --> 00:12:49.480 so you probably don't need help. But if you do, 00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:51.720 I'll have a link in the description and you can 00:12:51.720 --> 00:12:56.220 head over to Casabona .org to get in touch. Thanks 00:12:56.220 --> 00:12:59.419 so much for listening. And until next time, I 00:12:59.419 --> 00:13:01.740 hope you find some space in your week.