If you’re a fellow blogger trying to reach a consistent pitch of new blog posts, starting a podcast may be the unusual way to short-cut the hours-long writing process….
“At this moment, I don’t know if this podcast episode is actually going to make it onto the airwaves. I’m feeling very doubtful. And maybe it’s cause I had a bad day today, and when that happens, you start to question everything in your life.”Am I doing this right? Am I overextending myself?”
Recorded July 2021
For years, a bloody battle has been fought in my brain. What is the best way to build your own “personal brand” or “thought leadership” platform?
Blog vs. podcast vs. YouTube… Do you do em’ all? Or just one?
Coincidentally, I opened an email from the American Marketing Association today. And there was this one article by Mark Schaefer titled: Struggling With Your Personal Brand? This Is Why. And in the article, he was basically talking about this very same topic: Overextending yourself.
When doing your personal branding, he disagrees with the Gary Vaynerchuk model of “Be Everywhere”. Be on every single channel. Post every single day.
Anyway, the writer argues that the rest of us ain’t got time for that! We are busy consulting. Raising our kids. Leading busy lives.
So Mark Schaefer’s point was to really just focus on the one channel you know you can be strong on and you know about. Until such time that you feel you can add another channel to your workload.
That’s why I started blogging here at ebizmarketer.com — lo these two years ago. I blog because I’m a reclusive person by nature. If you, too, express yourself better on page vs. in front of people, a blog is a good channel to start on.
But why, then, did a stuttering, recluse blogger… With only 5 posts written in 2 years… Decide it’d be a good idea to pick up a SECOND channel and start podcasting? Had I lost my marbles?
Why I Started Podcasting Before My Blogging Game Got Better
I started the Confessions of an Industrial Marketer podcast because I tend to overdo my writing assignments.
Yes: I write too much.
When I blog, I tend to do a lot of research. I look at keywords, and I research my chosen topic (seeing how many similar blogs or articles already exist on the Internet). I plot how to differentiate my blog from the others.
Then I write the rough draft, churning out reams and reams of yellow pad paper. Then I red-line the first draft with a million notes, then type it into WordPress. Then I re-write and massage the text until it’s juuuust right. The whole process takes a very long time until I’m finally ready to hit publish.
Now don’t get me wrong; I think a certain amount of editing is a good thing. It respects the reader’s time, and gives em’ a good show. But what also happens in this editing process is…
… I actually start to edit MYSELF, and the blog post gets less personal. I’m massaging the content so much, saying to myself:
“Well, gee. What are my co-workers going to think if they read this.”
“I have to use these keywords, even if my sub-heads read a little stilted. Google said so.”
“Don’t rant too much. Even if you really WANT to.”
Whatever. I just couldn’t crack the blogging nut. How do you write compelling, educational blog posts… That don’t take 10 hours to write?
Meanwhile, I’d had this pet dream for years about hosting a podcast or video series.
As hinted earlier, I’m not a big talker. For context, my wife finishes 90% of my sentences, and I’m okay with that. Big noisy crowds drain me. In other words, hosting a podcast seems way out of character for a hermit like me.
And how do you write a blog and host a show… When you barely have sufficient free time for one?
After years of mulling it over, I think I finally figured it out.
How Podcasting Can Speed-Up Your Writing Process
I realized blogging and podcasting DO NOT have to live separate lives. One activity can feed the other. And best of all, you can retain your unique voice and personality in the written medium!
Take this very blog post I’m writing right now. It did not start from a yellow writing pad, like the others.
It started from a document where the words were already typed for me… Literally transcribed from the audio of the podcast episode I recorded!
I’ll explain Transcribing Audio for Dummies in a second. But first:
Let me explain why podcasting is so magical for a self-editing blogger such as yourself:
Once you hit record, there is little opportunity to edit. That’s right. That little red dot on the recorder practically forces you to keep talking. Sure, you might stumble. Stutter. Back-track. You might say the same thing twice. But you keep talking until you naturally feel you reach a conclusion or stopping point.
I actually find that simpler podcasting platforms (like Anchor.fm, the free app I use) makes this even more true. I’m limited in my number of options to pause, stop, and start recordings. So I do the entire episode in one take. Often while driving or on my lunch break.
Now sure, once you record the episode you have more options to trim and cut and splice audio together. But for me… Once I get to this point… I try to edit quickly and just publish the dang thing as soon as possible.
Unlike blogging, where I obsessively craft and poke and prod my writing for hours and hours…
… With podcasting, I just wanna get it done and out there!
I’ll say “It’s good enough, let the world have at it.”
And then when I transcribe it to a blog post (like I’m doing now), it’s 50% to 60% done for me!
By the way, this flywheel concept of content production is nothing new.
The idea of, say, creating one 60-page eBook, which begets 10 blog posts, which begets 20-50 social media posts. Or in the golden-oldie days when guys like Dan Kennedy would turn a 3-day seminar into cassette tapes, video tapes, and workbooks.
The idea being that – in your total potential audience – there are segments who prefer email, blogs, podcasts, video, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., over all other channels.
The more you can meet them on their preferred channel… In the way they LIKE to consume content… The better.
I’m most active on LinkedIn these days. I wanna post more long-form status updates.
(You know, the ones where there’s a line-break after every sentence, and starts with some dramatic opener like “I fired my entire team of coders…” – My LI peeps know what I mean 😃)
And I think fleshing out an idea via podcast is a great way to spin-off 1 or more posts like that.
And if I think a particular episode has some legs (like this one I did on Photo Contests)… Or if I didn’t go into the detail I wanted it to, then I’ll turn it into a much longer blog post (which, BTW, I can clone into a LinkedIn Article)
How Long Does it Take to Publish a Podcast Episode?
Your results may vary, especially if you have guests, co-hosts, or a topic that requires deep research.
For me, I’d say it takes 3-4 hours, elapsed over the course of 1-2 weeks.
With Anchor.fm, I record my voice into directly into my phone (no microphone needed). I can then edit the audio on my phone, which is great cause I only have little moments to do this throughout the week. (Lunch breaks, long visits to the restroom, and pushing the baby stroller around the block are my key editing windows.)
How much prep is needed before you hit record?
For me, I pick a topic from a running list of ideas I keep on my phone. I try to think of what conclusion I want to reach at the end of the episode. Then I may (or may not) scribble a quickie outline on a napkin or receipt before hitting the record button.
Simple, right?
Oh, you say I’m being lazy? Think I’m stuffing more garbage down the internet rat-hole?
Well, maybe. You can invest in all the studio quality mics, mixers, and audio programs you like. You can spend time booking quality guests, and plan an ambitious content calendar with operatic story arcs. More power to ya’.
But for me… I know that, if I’m going to podcast, I need to eliminate distractions and complexity at every turn. Or I just ain’t gonna do it.
If you are currently standing right at the water’s edge of launching you podcast or video series / vlog, I highly suggest you eliminate those distractions too.
Designing your favicon, page banner, bumper music, and show website can all come later. First prove you can actually record a few episodes — and let it evolve into the show it’s meant to be — before you start to polish the chrome.
And for God’s sake, DO NOT look at your metrics at first.
Mind you, Confessions of an Industrial Marketer is just a one-person show. So I can afford to be this simple. Guests, co-hosts, and higher production value may come much later down the road – that is, once I’ve found my voice, unique point-of-view, and mission.
But for now, I’m in a wonderful exploratory zone. Just pick a topic, hit record, and let whatever spills out of my mouth happen.
O.K. I seem to be straddling two topics here.
- TOPIC #1: A “pep-talk” for starting your own podcast.
- TOPIC #2: Using your podcast to spin-off content in other mediums.
Let’s circle back to the first one:
When I recorded this podcast episode a few months ago, I had a lot of doubts.
I’m sure you are having doubts too. In retrospect, I had a bummer day when I recorded that episode – I can recall at the time feeling like “What is the point of this? Who in their right mind is gonna listen to this?”
Rest assured, getting started is always the hardest part.
And what’s my take-away on the topic of spinning podcasts into blog posts?
So far, this experience of transforming podcast to blog has been liberating. It’s one thing to hear yourself talk. It’s another to read your voice verbatim — “uhms”, “errs”, rambles, and all. And though there IS editing involved, the blog (or other written medium) gets to retain some essence of “You” from the recording. Which – if we’re talking how to differentiate your personal brand from all others – is probably the key ingredient.
Talk about “finding your voice”, right?
How to Transcribe Audio to Text Free with Word
This quick instructional* assumes you have Anchor.fm as your podcast platform, and an active Microsoft365 account.
- Download Your Episode. Login to the Anchor website and access your dashboard
- Click ‘Episodes’ at the top of the page
- Next to a published episode click the 3 dot menu ‘…’
- Click ‘Download episode’
- Convert speech to text transcript
- Make sure you’re signed in to Microsoft 365 (on-line version of Word; not the desktop one!)
- Go to Home > Dictate dropdown > Transcribe.
- In the Transcribe pane, select Upload audio.
Done! In seconds, you’ll see your voice magically appear in text form!
*These are excerpts are from both company’s instructions. Full, up-to-date instructions can be found on their websites.