1. Why You SHOULDN'T Start a Podcast (and 4 Reasons You Should)
Finally, there's a podcast for podcasters. My name is Kyle Cummings.
Mickenzie Vought:And I'm Mickenzie Vought. And each week, we are going to share the knowledge and expertise that we've gained from years of launching, running, and promoting successful podcasts.
Kyle Cummings:Whether you're an aspiring podcaster or you've already got hundreds of episodes under your belt, these conversations dive deep into the topics that matter to every podcaster.
Mickenzie Vought:From marketing and growing your podcast, to recording equipment and best practices, monetization, cutting edge tools, hiring help and so much more.
Kyle Cummings:Welcome to the Podcircle podcast.
Mickenzie Vought:Alrighty. If you're ready to take the plunge and finally start a podcast, this podcast is for you. But before you press record, we wanna help you decide if it's actually the right choice because, Kyle, like you've seen and I've seen in the last couple of years, everyone and their brother is starting a podcast, and we believe that maybe not everyone should.
Kyle Cummings:Yeah. Maybe not. But we think a lot of people should, and we're gonna get to that later. Yes. But first, we're gonna dispel some of the maybe false expectations around starting a podcast.
Kyle Cummings:So the first one is that you want quick results.
Mickenzie Vought:Yes. I think a lot of people I see from a marketing standpoint, like, oh, we want more people, we want a bigger audience, we wanna grow. Let's just start a podcast. And I think it's essential to start and manage expectations.
Kyle Cummings:Yes.
Mickenzie Vought:And say, like the tortoise and the hare, podcasting is a slow and steady game.
Kyle Cummings:Yeah.
Mickenzie Vought:And the slow and steady wins the race eventually, but you're not it's not gonna be an overnight success for sure.
Kyle Cummings:Yeah. I think the only overnight successes are people that are already famous that start podcasts, because someone comes to them and pitches them like, oh, you need to start a podcast because you already have this great audience. But those are still 10, 15 year of successes because these people, they didn't become famous overnight. But for most people that are starting a podcast, I think it's safe to say it's a year's long Yeah. Commitment and journey.
Kyle Cummings:And I think from a business perspective, everything that I've been taught about marketing also kind of applies to podcasting too. If you think about podcasting as like a wing of your marketing. Mhmm. It's committing to it for months and even years, and then iterating along the way and getting feedback and working that in. And just committing yourself to that long game, that long process, and just doing it consistently over time.
Kyle Cummings:I think that's the that's the name of the game, in my opinion.
Mickenzie Vought:Yeah. I can think of a specific podcast that I used to listen to a while ago. And, I mean, this woman had put in the reps, and she became an overnight success when she had a book that blew up, but the reason that it blew up is that she had been showing up week after week after week for her audience and building it slowly so that when she released a book, when she was ready to ask them, hey. Will you give me 24.95 to buy this hardcover? They were more than willing because she had been putting out quality content for such a long time.
Kyle Cummings:Yeah. Similarly, I have a a long term client who started a podcast with us back in 2016 Mhmm. And relatively unknown, but just like you said, just stuck to it and has never missed a week. Yeah. Releases podcast every Tuesday morning without fail for, like, 7 years, and now she's creeping up on 3,000,000 downloads.
Kyle Cummings:Wild. And for her, that's an amazing accomplishment for where she came from. And it's it's so fun to talk to her, about how her podcast has grown her Mhmm. Her reach and her organization. She she runs a nonprofit that is for specifically for moms, and her content is so great.
Kyle Cummings:Her episodes are rarely over 25 or 30 minutes. Yeah. And it's just so impressive, like, what she's done. And now she speaks all over the country. She has listeners all over the world.
Kyle Cummings:And just because of that stick to itiveness that, you know, that never giving up.
Mickenzie Vought:I think along these lines, if you are expecting people to find you organically, podcasting might not be for you either. Because, again, we're going back to, are you already someone who's very famous and has a huge platform, or are you someone who's willing to put in the reps and do that? So I think what I like to encourage people, and even what I discovered starting my own podcast and for the organization that I work for, is that people aren't gonna find you organically primarily.
Kyle Cummings:Right.
Mickenzie Vought:They're going to find you from places that you already are. So social media, your email, your paid advertisements, guest spots on other podcasts, collaborations. I always joke that you don't own your social media followers. You don't own your podcast followers. You own your email list.
Mickenzie Vought:So you need to be building them simultaneously.
Kyle Cummings:I'll say about that not to jump ahead to reasons that you should start a podcast. Yeah. But, I mean, I evangelize this all the time to people. I think starting a podcast is a wonderful thing in terms of just content creation because how many different ways you can repurpose it, transferring a a podcast conversation into a blog post, using the copy from that in your emails, taking snippets, clips of those. There's really good clips of the podcast episodes and and producing them into Instagram reels and TikToks and things like that.
Kyle Cummings:Like, oh, I just think it's it's a content machine. But I might be jumping ahead of myself a little bit there. No. I'm good. People aren't gonna just find you organically, because they don't know what to search for in Apple Podcasts.
Kyle Cummings:You know? So it's it's leveraging all of those other outlets, your email list, your social media following, even just the guests that you have on using their reach as well, sending them really good social media assets for them to promote on their channels as well. That's how people are gonna find you, and it's it's just gonna be that slow and steady once the race, like you said, over time.
Mickenzie Vought:Definitely. I think of some of my favorite podcasts, and where I found them. I think guests are a big one. Some of the podcasts that I love, I simply searched a particular guest or I heard them on a different podcast and they were talking about their show and I kinda jumped over here and started listening to their podcast all the time and maybe even abandoned the other show. Like, it I think it's just organic in that and I think my encouragement with this would be show up consistently in your podcast and also have a multi tier strategy for the ways that you are talking about what you do and who you are.
Kyle Cummings:Yeah. I agree. I think to that point, one of my favorite stand up comedians, and I listen to a lot of comedy podcasts. His name is Rory Scoville. And I just like I was so obsessed with him and his comedy, I just would search his name and just see what other podcasts he guested on.
Kyle Cummings:And I would just would just binge a bunch of those and listen to those. So you're exactly right. I think that matters. Mhmm.
Mickenzie Vought:Kyle, I'm gonna get on my soapbox for a minute. Do it. Because I know that podcasting is a commitment. We've talked about that. You need to consistently show up, but you also need to have a plan when you show up.
Mickenzie Vought:And so it can get really tiring if you're just pressing record and you're not sure what you're talking about. And so we think you shouldn't start a podcast until you know what you're about. Yep. If you can't answer the question, what's this podcast gonna be about? Go back to the drawing board for clarity.
Mickenzie Vought:Because it's not gonna serve your audience, and it's not gonna feel sustainable when you're, like, pulling from the recesses of your mind all the time without a plan. So what have you seen from your seat on this topic?
Kyle Cummings:Well, I mean, I'll speak firsthand. I mean, at Podcircle, we offer these strategy sessions
Mickenzie Vought:Mhmm.
Kyle Cummings:As part of some of our launch packages, when someone comes to us and they want, they they wanna partner with us to help them launch a podcast. I get so excited when they decide to take us up on our our strategy session. Yeah. It's 2 hours of dedicated time where we, like, we really zoom out and ask big questions about, like, what's your why? Like, what's the purpose of this podcast?
Kyle Cummings:Who is it for? It's this kind of cool funnel, where we ask the big questions and then like really hone in on the specifics of like, here's how long we think these episodes should be because of who's the listener. And just getting really granular there and answering, I think, some of those, almost like asking questions that they don't know to ask Yeah. To get to some of those answers that I think are really important to get to before you really dive into those episodes. Like, hey, what's the ideal guest for this podcast?
Kyle Cummings:Things like that, I think are really, really important.
Mickenzie Vought:Yeah. Those are some of my absolute favorite things to be a part of.
Kyle Cummings:And full disclosure, Mackenzie leads those strategy sessions, and she we used to do them together, and now I'm just like and sometimes I'll join, but now I'm just like, Mackenzie, you can just take it and run with it. Like, I'm I'm the dumbest person in the room, and I run pod circle. But, man, when it comes to content strategy and really thinking big picture, it's crazy to watch you work.
Mickenzie Vought:And I love that we get to leave people with tangible steps of, like, okay. Here's how I'm actually gonna get started. Here's how I'm gonna take this big vision and put legs to it and get going and really get clear about who you are, who you're talking to, what you're talking to, and how you can serve people. Because I think when you go back to how is what I'm putting out into the world serving 1st and foremost, that's how you decide what you're about.
Kyle Cummings:Totally.
Mickenzie Vought:Alright. The last one is the reason we think you shouldn't start a podcast is if you're trying to do it all yourself. So as someone who likes to do it all myself, I understand this.
Kyle Cummings:I do too. Truly. Yeah. Because there's the saying, like, if you want it done right, you do it yourself. And I think a lot of people feel that way when they start their podcast.
Kyle Cummings:It's like, and then they dig into all these things that are maybe not part of their core competencies, like how to edit audio, like which podcast host.
Mickenzie Vought:Yeah.
Kyle Cummings:And then you you get into it. And it's like, it might be exciting for a time. But once you get a couple episodes in people, oftentimes, they get overwhelmed with it.
Mickenzie Vought:Yeah. I wonder how often you kind of meet people in that, Kyle, where they've been trying to do it themselves for a while. Maybe they're starting to miss episodes or they're not getting things out or the quality isn't there. Because it it is a lot to take on. It's really fun and exciting at first.
Mickenzie Vought:But then when the rubber meets the road, I think I read a stat that 20% of podcasts launched actually survive every year. Yeah. And I think a lot of that is because of this grind that we're talking about. Like it to put a quality podcast out on a consistent basis and show up when you say you're gonna show up, it's not always easy.
Kyle Cummings:Yeah. I think you're absolutely right. I did I should just talk to a client. She's in that same place. She's got I think she's got 6 episodes, which is so often like the breaking point.
Kyle Cummings:That's where people feel like they're exhausted because they've been having technical issues with remote guests. They're not happy with the quality. They've been hiring a freelance podcast editor maybe off of Fiverr or Upwork, and that's not going super well because they they don't feel like they have a partner in that. And they're just they're kinda losing that excitement and that vigor that they started out with, and and that bums me out because I just I told her when when I was talking to her, I'm like, I wish that we'd found each other a couple months ago because I think the first 10 minutes of our conversation were just the paint all these pain points of, like, yeah. I love that.
Kyle Cummings:I'd like, I I was just so excited. Now I'm just kinda burnout and having these issues. And in my head, I'm just listening, but I'm also thinking, like, oh, we could have helped you so much along the way. Yeah. But I'm so grateful she she found this because by the end of the call, you could tell she just already felt lighter, and she's just like, I had no idea that someone with agency level services had this much support and could offer such a personalized experience.
Kyle Cummings:And it it really seemed like she felt like she had a partner, and that just makes me happy.
Mickenzie Vought:I love it.
Kyle Cummings:I actually just pulled this stat the other day. It says only 21% of podcasts achieve more than 10 episodes. Only 21% make it past 10 episodes, and I think it's for all these reasons that that we're talking about.
Mickenzie Vought:Yeah. I would give you guys the gift of going second and share a few of my own DIY fails in launching a podcast. One is I redid an intro, like, way after I should have. Like, it was going out on Monday, and we got the copy on Sunday. And I didn't wanna bother Kyle, and I should have because we were partnering with him.
Mickenzie Vought:I was like, I'll just I can put this in. I've got GarageBand skills. It did not work. I spent way more time than I needed to, and I'm not an audio expert. I didn't start a podcast because I'm an audio expert.
Mickenzie Vought:I started a podcast because I'm a content specialist, and I know how to produce quality content.
Kyle Cummings:Yeah.
Mickenzie Vought:I don't know how to do audio. So, one, it's gonna take you longer than it should. And when you're out of your sweet spot, it's just clunky and uncomfortable.
Kyle Cummings:I think that there's this illusion that get a mic Yeah. Plug it into GarageBand, hit record, publish.
Mickenzie Vought:Mhmm.
Kyle Cummings:And honestly, I wish it was that simple. And maybe for some people it is. But for most, it just isn't. It just isn't, you know, maybe if you do that, and then you listen back on Apple Podcasts, and it's really cool to see your podcast show up. And then you listen, it's like, man, I feel I sound really quiet.
Kyle Cummings:And something wrong with my mic. Like, why do I sound weird? And why did why is it so echoey and all of these things? And then you go back and you're like, how do I EQ it and compress it? And I've got this air conditioner that I can hear in the background?
Kyle Cummings:How do I get rid of that? And that's when people, they just need to hire an expert.
Mickenzie Vought:How do I put intro music over top?
Kyle Cummings:Yeah. And how do I, like, fade it out in a nice way? And if you know how to do all that stuff, then awesome. But I've just found it. That's just not the majority of people, honestly.
Mickenzie Vought:And then I think in my own experience, like, there are a lot of steps that maybe we don't think about. So we think we just plug it in and we load it up. But Yeah. What happens when you need to have show notes and post it to a website and create social media graphics and make sure that you've got guest stuff and communicate? Like, there's just a whole range of tasks that need to happen for every single podcast, which is why I love what we do at Podcircle because
Kyle Cummings:Yeah.
Mickenzie Vought:We really do take the headache out of it and help you do what you do best. So okay. Let's, quickly talk about why you should start a podcast. Let's do it. I think this harkens back to something we talked about earlier.
Mickenzie Vought:People are gonna find you organically, but you wanna increase brand awareness and loyalty. So we really do believe that this is one of the greatest ways to do that. People spend more time listening to podcasts daily than scrolling social media or watching TV.
Kyle Cummings:That's wild.
Mickenzie Vought:And so you're really meeting people where they are, in their cars, doing their dishes. I used to listen to podcasts on long runs while I was training for half marathons. Like, you're meeting people in really vulnerable places and where they're already at, And this is such a great way, like, we were talking about to consistently show up and build trust with people that will translate into whatever your goals are, whether it's sales, whether it is a product, whether you have a service that you want to introduce people to, maybe you're going to have a book launch. And I think there's so many reasons to want to build brand awareness and loyalty.
Kyle Cummings:Absolutely. And I think what's so unique about podcasts and what's so great about it is that it just creates this intimacy and, like, familiarity
Mickenzie Vought:Mhmm.
Kyle Cummings:Between the listener and the host or the guest or whoever's on it. But just having that person speak to you, like right into your earbuds right into your headphones, I just think it's such a cool relationship. And what's so great about it, as opposed to, you know, watching TV or something like that is that you can kind of be totally disengaged. Like
Mickenzie Vought:Mhmm.
Kyle Cummings:You can be on a run, you can I mean, you can be in the shower? You can be doing whatever, doing dishes, doing laundry. And I think that that's why podcast consumption just continues to go up. Like, year over year, it continues to go up because you can consume it anywhere. I mean, I have friends that take road trips, and they just will put on instead of put listening to music, they'll just put on a podcast and listen to it on a road trip together, which I think is so cool.
Kyle Cummings:But it does. It creates that loyalty. Like, I've I've probably got a dozen different podcasts that I listen to on a weekly basis.
Mickenzie Vought:Mhmm.
Kyle Cummings:I've just made it part of my routine, like, every week, like, I've I've got my Monday podcast and my Tuesday podcast and and some of my favorite comedy podcast come out on Wednesday, and you kind of start to look forward to it. But I just think from a branding perspective, what better way to create trust and authority and familiarity with maybe a prospective customer or client or, you know, if you're a speaker, like, I think every speaker and author should have a podcast. Like, am I crazy for thinking that?
Mickenzie Vought:I don't think so. I think if you're in the business of wanting to curate a relationship with someone, there's no better way to do that.
Kyle Cummings:Totally.
Mickenzie Vought:I know from my own perspective, I started a podcast at On-site because we wanted to find a way to help emotional wellness be accessible
Kyle Cummings:Mhmm.
Mickenzie Vought:And create something consistently for people who maybe couldn't come and and then it led people to wanna know more about what we do and come and have an on-site experience.
Kyle Cummings:Yes.
Mickenzie Vought:So super it's been super successful, I've seen, in curating a relationship, providing consistent value on its own, and then also helping people take that next step. And 6 out of 10 people listen to podcasts. Like, people are there. Everyone's there.
Kyle Cummings:Yeah. And what's cool in in your case is, like, they already have so much trust because they're like, you guys are facilitating these really Mhmm. These conversations that not a lot of other people are having. And you have this expert knowledge, but you're just facilitating in in such a special way that people are gonna come to Onset because you've you gain their trust through the podcast so much. I
Mickenzie Vought:I think this is basically point 2, which is you have a product or service you wanna talk about. I think podcasts are a really organic way to talk about what you do, and to provide value to people. Have you ever bought something based on a podcast?
Kyle Cummings:Yeah. Liquid IV, it's this thing you pour in water.
Mickenzie Vought:But was that an ad?
Kyle Cummings:It was an ad. Yeah. And I'll and this is a little soapbox of mine. I'll go on. Read your own ads.
Kyle Cummings:If you're a podcast host, read
Mickenzie Vought:your own ads.
Kyle Cummings:Don't have someone else do it. I know some people that hire, like, voice over folks to read their ads. I'm like, no. It needs to come straight from you. So, yeah, I bought Liquid IV because I was working out a ton at the time and just didn't feel like I was getting enough water.
Kyle Cummings:And I was like, oh, this sounds great and it's supposed to taste great. And I think I had a buddy who tried it. So, yeah, that'd be one example.
Mickenzie Vought:At On-site, we have not branched out into having external ads. We're looking at that in the next year. But all of our ads are internal ads because we have such a complex suite of services. We want to talk about what we do. So from our digital programs to our more intensive residential trauma treatment to our in person experiences and our mercantile, we're always finding a way to relate it back to the topic, whether we do a podcast on trauma, then we say, like, hey, we have a class on trauma.
Kyle Cummings:Yes.
Mickenzie Vought:Or you can come and have this experience for a trauma workshop and, yeah, reading in our own in our own voice and pushing back to our own services and products within that has been a strategy that has worked really well for us.
Kyle Cummings:One of the number one questions that I get with a a new or prospective customer or client is I wanna monetize my podcast. How do I monetize my podcast? And as a newbie, if you're looking to sell other people's ads, you got to get those those download numbers up first. Like, I've heard advertisers don't even get super interested until you're averaging a 1,000 or more downloads per episode. And even then, I don't think those payouts are that great.
Kyle Cummings:So I tell people, why don't you bet on yourself? Like, advertise you. Like, advertise your services. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?
Kyle Cummings:Like, if you're a comedian and you wanna start a podcast, you should start every podcast by telling them where your next shows are. Like, I've got shows in Spokane and, you know, and if you're a course creator, advertise your courses, if you're a coach, a business coach, like my friend, Alex, that's what he does. He has a great podcast, the content that he shares is is so great, and he's so well positioned himself as as an authority in the business coaching space. Yeah. And he advertises his coaching business that way.
Kyle Cummings:And I think I would be surprised if that's not one of the number one ways that he gets new clients. I should ask him, but I I would be really surprised if it wasn't because it's such a great podcast.
Mickenzie Vought:Yeah. And that leads us into the third reason we think you should start a podcast is if you wanna establish yourself as an authority in your space because you have a regular opportunity to talk about what you do and why you specialize in it and continue to just, frankly, toot your own horn and position yourself as an expert. What I discovered doing a little bit of research on this is that 75% of podcast listeners state that they tune in to their favorite shows to learn something. We all wanna learn something. There's a reason I listen to invisibility.
Mickenzie Vought:There's a reason that I listen every morning to the news. There's particular people that I trust, and they've established themselves as an authority in different spaces and things that I wanna learn about. There's a parenting expert that I listen to a podcast about. So I think there's no better platform
Kyle Cummings:expertise. Absolutely. I think that's a really great point. Number 4, you would like to network with others in your field. I love this one.
Mickenzie Vought:Oh, I think this is such a good one because I think there's 2 parts to that. 1, you wanna create a show that provides value for other professionals to tune into. And 2, you wanna elevate other voices in your space through guest interviews. I can think of if you're a therapist, maybe you want to create a resource for therapists, but you're also gonna be connecting and networking with other therapists. And you've created a platform where people wanna come on and say, hey.
Mickenzie Vought:I was on this person's podcast because they are an authority in this space and it's gonna help me, and then you're creating relationships.
Kyle Cummings:Totally.
Mickenzie Vought:I think a lot of comedian to do this. There's celebrities that do this. They're always on your podcast. There are authors that do this. Like, how do you figure out what your field is? Whatever your field is, there's gonna be a podcast about it.
Kyle Cummings:Yeah. And we'll do the same with this podcast. And we've talked about we've got a handful of people that are really influential in the podcast space who either offer really great services or just have a lot of expertise and their particular thing that we're gonna reach out to and have them on kind of for that same reason. And 2, maybe another side of this is, you know, when you when you land a really great guest, it's it's really cool to sit down and have a 15 or 30 or minute or hour long conversation with them. Like, that's really, really unique dedicated time that you get to spend with that person.
Mickenzie Vought:Mhmm.
Kyle Cummings:And if if that goes well, then you can say, hey, we pulled this really great clip, you know, make them look good and sound smart and all that good stuff and then send it to them. And if they like it, they'll share it to their 1,000 or 100,000 or 1,000,000 followers, whatever their their reach is. Yeah. And to me, I think that's a really important thing to consider when you're kinda considering those guests and and just the networking aspect Yeah. Of of that.
Mickenzie Vought:And they're reaching people who are your target market most likely Yeah. Which I think is so great. It's just people you're not talking to who are interested in what you have to say. So question for you.
Kyle Cummings:Alright.
Mickenzie Vought:In that realm, networking with other people in our field, who would be your dreamiest of dreamy guests?
Kyle Cummings:Oh, gosh. That's a hard one. Can I go more general? Yeah. Well, I'm I grew up in the nineties. So Conan O'Brien was my late night host. I love Conan O'Brien and I love that he has has a podcast and he's one of the ones I kind of listen to religiously. Even if I'm not really that into the guest. I just want to hear him be an idiot. You know?
Kyle Cummings:Yeah. Love Conan. I think I mentioned him earlier. One of my favorite comedians, maybe my favorite comedian. It's a guy named Rory Scoville. We grew up in the same town. I didn't know him there, but I grew up in South Carolina. I just think the guy is hilarious. I love his specials and would just love to grab a drink with him and and record the conversation. I think it'd be super fun.
Kyle Cummings:What about a couple of yours?
Mickenzie Vought:Well, here's the deal. I really think I would be best friends with Dax Shepard and Monica.
Kyle Cummings:Same.
Mickenzie Vought:But that's that's the whole thing. Right? Their whole their whole podcast is all about, like, you're part of our armchairies. They do such a great job from a content perspective.
Kyle Cummings:Great job.
Mickenzie Vought:So I think I would love that.
Kyle Cummings:Yeah. Me too. Hey. Listen. If you ever land that interview, hook a brother up, you know?
Mickenzie Vought:Yeah. All I know. I mean, and if we're talking about incredible interviewers, it'd be incredible to get to interview Oprah and Brene Brown. Brene Brown is one of the most incredible interviewers because I think she's a social scientist.
Kyle Cummings:So Yes. She's a researcher.
Mickenzie Vought:I think those would be my top 3. People that I really admire and wanna learn from.
Kyle Cummings:She has such good questions, and those are some some quality guests right there. That'd be pretty sick. Yeah.
Mickenzie Vought:There you go. Well, this has been a really fun conversation, and if you're ready to start your podcast, we wanna help you Yeah. At Podcircle.
Kyle Cummings:That's what we do. I mean, we we talked about a lot of things. We talked about, you know, obviously, there's the podcast editing and show notes writing and social media clips and things like that. But a lot of people just need a lot of help getting started. Yeah.
Kyle Cummings:You said it I think you said in our trailer episode, every podcast begins with someone googling how to start a podcast.
Mickenzie Vought:Mhmm.
Kyle Cummings:One, I really hope that we can show up in those search results. We're working on that. But it's just because we feel like we have so many resources and so much knowledge and so much expertise in launching and running successful podcasts that we love partnering with people. And I and I use that word intentionally partnering with people. I think a lot of people would feel like they just need a partner.
Kyle Cummings:And I think to go at it alone is to really suffer through until you find a partner who can really help you.
Mickenzie Vought:Awesome. Well, I'm so excited to keep having these conversations with you, Kyle.
Kyle Cummings:Yep. We'll talk to you guys next week.