► Tell us about you and your podcast
With over 25 years in Digital Marketing, Matt has worked in brands and agencies. Since 2006, has been training the worlds biggest brands and the most prestigious universities. His training curriculum is used at over 300 universities and major training sites such as LinkedIn Learning, Simplilearn, Udemy, and Udacity.
The podcast was initially started as a way to maintain relationships with students, audiences, and training clients. Besides the initial training, people wanted a way to keep up on the latest trends and "look past the headlines" to find the real story.
There are three major groups in this audience; 1. Marketing students at universities. 2. Marketing managers and practitioners between 5-10 years experience. 3. Adults making a career change to marketing or starting their own business.
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
Why a podcast? It's easier than blogging. I study analytics and I found that i could get 5,000 people to go to a blog article, but the average time on a 2,000 word article was 90 seconds. People don't read online. But a podcast!?! I can get 500 people to listen to an hour of discussion. That's real engagement.
The initial goal was simply to have fun and talk to my friends in the industry. It still is. It keeps me connected to people I haven't seen in years. During the pandemic, it morphed into a way to replace those conference evenings catching up at the bar.
I started in June 2016. It didn't take long to release, as I didn't do much editing.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
I now try to release a new episode every 2 weeks. I have an editor to do the heavy work, and someone in my office creates transcripts and audio-grams. I'd say that each episode takes maybe 20 hours for everything (editing, posting, transcripts, show notes, & audio-grams).
I look at this as part of a value-added service and marketing for my training. The feedback keeps me going. I dedicate Friday mornings to recording, and the conversation is always great - it energizes me.
I funded this myself. I'm now gaining sponsorships to cover the costs. However, I've purchased more microphones than i care to admit. After 2019, I upgraded everything. This is marketing , even though i do very little marketing in the show.
► What do you gain from podcasting?
I'm taking sponsorships at $150 per episode. I'm developing a higher level sponsorship level for $500.
The first sponsor was helping a friend. i did it for free. The second was the result of being on someone else's podcast and we hit it off. We're now actively promoting each other.
I started getting attention when I passed 300 dl/mo. I've since joined a small network to get more attention for sponsors. I've passed 500/mo. and climbing fast.
Podcasting benefits my mental health. Simply talking to smart people motivates and inspires me. The fact that others want to hear these conversations just blows my mind.
► How does your podcasting process look like?
Hardware: Shure SM7B microphone, Cloudlifter, Scarlett 2i2. Also added video for future recording with a Fuji X-T4 and Atomos Ninja 5
Prep: It's a naturally flowing conversation. I hate canned questions. I have a notebook to write questions prior to the show, but most come during the conversation. I also take notes during the show for follow-up question or topic. I also note timestamps of quotable material. If anything, I find spending about 30 minutes getting to know new guests is the best prep.
I use Riverside for recording.
► How do you market your show?
I post audiograms to LinkedIn and Instagram which link to the show page on my website.
Most visitors come directly to my website show pages and subscribe from there.
Apple Podcasts accounts for almost 40%, Chrome about 25%, Spotify has gained over the past year and will probably go past 10%.
I find my own website SEO and LinkedIn to be the two most useful channels. Getting the transcripts on the show page and the audio-grams on LinkedIn are great. The next best useful thing is to get on other podcasts!
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
Advice: Listen to a bunch of podcasts to find what you like. I never liked short podcasts, as they ended just when they were getting interesting. I was drawn to long-form conversations, so that's what I'm best at creating.
A good podcast is one where the listener feels like they can join the conversation.
Learn good sound. Sound is everything, and I'm not picky enough. I need to push my editors more to get the sound I want.