Welcome to Podcast Insider.

This is Mackenzie Bennett, and Mike is joining me.

Hello.

This is Mike Dell.

Yeah.

We, unfortunately, have to, do a little intro for this episode because this is Todd Cochran's last recording that we know of.

As far as I am aware, this was the last podcast that he recorded.

We did this on Thursday, the you know, something like September 2 or whatever, third, something like that.

And it was supposed to go out Monday, September 8.

Given the circumstances, we have held off on releasing this, but it's a good one.

And we're just considering what we wanna do with Podcast Insider, in the future.

Yeah.

You know, the tentative plan is sometime mid October, we'll, start up.

We'll probably have some new voices in here periodically from the rest of the Blueberry team and maybe some from outside the Blueberry team.

You never know.

But we will be back with our regular weekly episodes, and, we're gonna press on.

Here here at Blueberry, we're, in, you know, in the process of figuring out how everything's gonna work going forward, but, I think we're making pretty good progress.

We're, we're really coming together and figuring out what is appropriate at what times.

I think that's kind of the most important thing for us right now, but we we are not stopping anything by by any means.

We we really just wanna reiterate that sometimes that, you know, services are still happening.

Blueberry is holding strong.

We're gonna be alright, and we're just figuring out moving forward.

Yeah.

And like I said, it was quite the shocker as as, you know, you all know.

The last episode was a a replay of, the new media show that, a bunch of us did for, for Todd's memorial.

But, yeah, like I said, going forward, we'll, we'll keep on keeping on, and we'll see what this all looks like, in a month or so.

We appreciate each and every one of you listeners and hope to see you around soon.

Well, on with the show.

Hey, everyone.

I'm Todd Cochran, founder and CEO here at Blueberry Podcasting.

And I'm Mackenzie Bennett, marketing specialist here at Blueberry.

Welcome to Podcast Insider.

And today, we're helping you go from that first spark of an idea to a fully planned podcast season.

Whether you're launching your very first season or refreshing an existing show, a little strategy upfront can make your entire production smoother and more sustainable.

You're listening to Podcast Insider, a weekly podcast bringing insights, advice, and insider tips and tricks to help you start, grow, and thrive through podcasting with the support of your team here at Blueberry Podcasting.

Welcome.

Let's dive in.

I had to laugh.

I was a little squeaky there saying season, and maybe it's because, I've got a a long time saying that I say about seasons.

I I you know, if you're a brand new podcaster, you know, you really, really, really need to consider, very carefully how you run your seasons.

And jokingly, I'd always say, hey.

Season one let's say you do 10, you know, 10 episodes in a season or 13 or whatever the number is.

And, that first season, I always say, yeah.

Season one one ends on Friday, and then season two begins Monday.

And, you know, and really what it's the reason I say that is, you know, I I understand that for many podcasts, their seasons can provide structure, can do give you relief, you can stay creatively focused, and, you know, it it has its advantages.

But, also, there's this losing momentum, situation, especially when you're brand new, that I think you have to really consider.

I I've always said someone that's doing just regular episodes, as hardcore as it sound, probably doesn't should not take a break for, like, the first two years.

And and I mean by a break, you know, break should not be longer than, like, ten days.

Everyone's gonna take off for Christmas or, you know, some people will and some people won't or a holiday or an anniversary or wedding or whatever that may be.

But going away from a podcast for two or three months after season might not be as beneficial to a new podcaster as someone that's established.

But, again, some people, it just fits their, I guess, for better words, their work their work planning to do, to do seasons, and I get it.

So there's some things here we should we should consider if you're gonna be doing season seasons.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

I I feel like I was raised on the television schedule of starting the fall, go through, you know, until Thanksgiving, a little bit a little bit of a break, a little break around Christmas, and New Year's come around back in January, go strong until, quote, unquote, the end of the school year.

Right.

And then take summer off.

That I think is kinda how I got used to watching programming, and then there was, like, the special programming during the summer.

Yeah.

So so I definitely do still somewhat adhere to content watching, and listening and just consuming in general, in seasons.

Like, I have no problem with that.

But you are absolutely right in that don't take too long.

There there's specifically a show that I've listened to that started with seasons.

I I'm not kidding.

Maybe four years ago, and I think there's been two seasons.

And if they have had a third, I don't know about it You know?

Which is exactly the problem.

You know?

But in on the other hand, there's, like, television seasons, like, go back to when Lost was big or Mhmm.

Yellowstone or you know, there's some seasons.

It gets the it gets to the thirteenth episode and you're like, crap.

Yeah.

You know?

And then and then sometimes you have to wait a year before the next season, and, it always drove me absolutely insane.

And staff and you know?

So they're probably recording those 13 or 12 or 13 episodes over the course of, like, you know, probably two or three months, and then people need a break.

Gotcha.

So, yeah, I get it.

But podcasting, yeah, it's a little bit but let's start with the big picture here and talk about some of the things that you should think about and and ask yourself.

Absolutely.

First things first.

What is the theme or the goal of this specific season?

And I think that's really important from a podcasting standpoint overall, whether it's seasons or not.

You know, what is what is the goal?

What are you gonna impair?

And I think the follow on season should be thought about as well.

Are you gonna change topics completely?

Because if you think about cereal, which was the most famous and most successful Mhmm.

Cereal, you know, they came in with season two, and it was not as impactful as season one.

That was hard to beat.

No.

But, again, who is the season four?

And and, you know, what are you what are you creating for your audience that they they want to hear?

I I think that's really, the the kicker here is, you know, what's the goal?

What from point a to point z, what what are we gonna do to get there and get this this season?

Because there has to be a close or a cliffhanger, one of the two.

Yes.

You know, who is the season four?

What what exactly did they wanna hear, and how many episodes do you need to commit to and that you can realistically commit to to achieve that goal for that season.

You know?

If you're setting out this goal of this is what I wanna tell and and you're saying it for this set of specific people, then set up a number of episodes to actually achieve that properly.

I've actually seen, as you mentioned, it can be a small number of episodes.

I've seen shows that applied for the podcast awards that we basically have a seven show minimum.

Mhmm.

But some folks don't do seven seven episodes.

They do four or three, and it's maybe a documentary or, some sort of, you know, some sort of short story.

So they may only have four episodes.

And what we did was we said, yep.

That qualifies.

You've you've completed a project.

You didn't have to meet the seven episode minimum because you basically did this you know, did a season, and this was the season.

So, again, seasons don't have to be 10 or 12 episodes.

They again, like you said, they could be three to six.

And, again, choose that structure you can stick with and that your audience will appreciate.

And more importantly, what are you coming back to, and how long between seasons are you gonna wait?

Yeah.

And when you're kinda checking in on, are people listening, you know, post new episodes coming out?

Am I still gaining an audience?

Have people completely and utterly dropped off?

Does this, like, does this season have any long tail, essentially?

Did they enjoy this format?

All those types of questions, that is something that your blueberry stats can help you figure out.

And I think too, doing season does require a significant amount of planning, and, we're kinda calling this the batch plan.

Mhmm.

You know, once you've locked in your season theme, you know, start focusing on topics.

Don't overthink it.

Write everything that fits.

You know, brainstorm that out on a piece of paper and, you know, write the 20 things that you wanna accomplish, and then rack and stack it and organize your ideas.

And, really, it should have a flow, you know, and you can even consider coming up with, your titles and talking points or guest ideas.

But also things that are critical is, is it time sensitive?

You know, the stuff that, is happening today that relates, that needs to go in episode one or two, even though it may not exactly flow, but the timing of it will be good.

I really hate those types of situations where you're you're trying to stay with the times.

And then if you but the problem with it is is once that episode's out and it was time critical because of something going on in the world, you're then kind of your your long tail value of that content is not as good.

That's a risk you take with doing whatever the topic is in a season format.

So, yeah, I think I think planning those things out, whether you are jotting them down on paper, on, you know, your notes app in your phone, just put them all together at one point or another, and then you can organize it out.

And and this isn't to say that you you have to batch the entire season.

You can batch the first two episodes.

You can break it up into different sections of the season.

You know, that's that's, pretty typical or normal thing to do of, like, hey.

There's a part one and a part two to these episodes, but they're, like, the last, you know, wrap up episodes of the season, something like that.

But building that out and drafting these things and then being able to schedule them, generally helps with staying consistent.

And I think that dispatch dispatch planning will give you a head start so you're not scrambling week to week.

And, you know, with build in, you know, this is something Py can help you a little bit with with our episode planner is if you're struggling, you maybe have got the idea for the episodes, but, you know, then or the theme, but use the, or use chat GPT, either one.

All of our hosting customers now get blueberry pie for free, or included in their hosting plan.

So, you know, play around with that episode planner and see if it helps you, ID or what's the word I wanna use here?

Give you idea iteration.

Is that the Yeah.

Word?

But Yeah.

Yeah.

And, you know, that kinda leads to okay.

Now we need to get if it's an interview show, we need to get people on, get get them scheduled.

That's a big one because that is something that can 100% push you back.

So book your guests early.

If you know that you want them involved and that you're on some sort of timeline, whether that is, you know, not set by you or set by you, the earlier you try to book someone out, the better, especially if they are a person that is, what would you say, busy.

Right.

If they, you know, if they have a set schedule, and this isn't just like, hey.

I can hop on on a Wednesday anytime you want.

Yeah.

The the doing that is gonna be for your benefit.

If you're doing solo, still, I would highly recommend blocking out time to record multiple episodes at once when you are in the zone.

And this is this is gonna be helpful for staying on track.

It's always easier to edit things later than record and edit back to back, in a season, I think.

So something something's good for that.

And, also, we just came out with something amazing for helping you find a guest.

Yes.

You can go over to guestmatch.pro and get, get a create a counter of a creator or a guest account.

And, basically, it allows you to connect with, with guests.

And a matter of fact, if you've interviewed someone already, a referral for them to to, be on other shows, can earn you some money down the road.

So definitely check out, guest match problem.

Now one thing I did wanna say on the recording multiple episodes at once, you should plan this when you know there's not gonna be interruption from kids, partner, life.

You know, you wanna make sure this is a block of time that you've got scheduled.

And I also have followed the rule now for many, many years is is an example.

I know it I do my show at a certain time on certain days, and if I'm not feeling good or my power's low, sometimes I skip an episode because or not skip, but I don't record then because I know it's just not gonna come out good for the audience.

Don't die on the vine here and say, oh, I gotta record today and I feel like crap.

Feel free to shift that, but, you know, try to plan for a specific date.

Especially if you're doing interviews, you're kinda locked in.

You know, I've I I book interviews now as far as a month out and, to make sure I get in the type of, time slot I want when I know I am at the best energy.

But this publishing schedule is really, really important, film then, on when you do have those episodes ready to rock and roll, what they do next.

Yes.

Absolutely.

Especially when you have decided on when your season will launch and how often you want those episodes to drop.

That could be weekly, biweekly, and biweekly is twice a week or twice a month.

That's up to you.

You know, I wouldn't recommend going too too long in between episodes.

I'd say every other week is as far as I would extend it.

Yeah.

I mean, we've seen that with any type of content, but specifically podcasting, I think.

And then share that audience share that schedule with your audience.

That's super important.

I think there's a reason every single YouTuber and podcaster says new episodes are available on such and such day.

We are available on Thursdays.

It's been that way for a long time.

And they usually try to tell the approximate time.

Mhmm.

There's a show that I watch on YouTube that drops every Saturday morning, and it's usually my Saturday morning coffee show.

And if it's not there, I'm like, Yep.

So, people people build you into their lives, and guess what happens when I have that moment on a Saturday morning and that show's not there, I find something else.

Yeah.

And, then I catch that specific episode when I can.

Same thing with some podcasts I listen

to.

I know Friday at 04:00 it's gonna be available or specific time, and I know when I'm gonna listen and what I'm gonna be doing when I'm listening.

And I think most folks that listen to podcasts on a regular basis probably understand the importance of the of the scheduling.

Now we can help you with that.

Even if you're using WordPress PowerPress, you can schedule your post.

Make sure you do a test one.

Make sure the first one you actually around at the time the thing clicks over to make sure your WordPress website's publishing.

But on, Blueberry dashboard, you can schedule that, and then we kick the episode loose at the at the specific time you designate so that it comes out and it's available for for your audience.

I always say if it's gonna be as an example, you tell them it's gonna drop at 7AM, I would, probably have that episode ready to rock and roll by, like, 5AM and so that it can be picked up and and, and distributed.

But, you know, how do you handle or getting to let's say it's gonna be a twelve twelve episode series.

You know, what do we do to prepare the audience for the absence of an episode?

You know, what what what what do we do when we're we're trying to educate the audience?

Hey.

I'm not gonna be here for three months.

I I think you have to really educate the audience how long you're gonna be up and when you will be back, a specific date.

I think it's super critical.

That's when you use your social media presence to your to your advantage.

That is how you keep up with your audience during the off times.

That, I think, is critical to keeping people coming back so that they know when new episodes are gonna drop.

They are not just, you know, feeling left behind, I guess.

There's there's entire people who are responsible for promoting shows during the off season.

And there there is a reason why, and it's so that they come back to an audience.

You know, you're you're like, you can't afford to not have this and this to not have that audience, you know, back to back.

You can't afford to take that much time off.

And I think one of the ways to kinda combat that a little bit is social media, is sending is scheduling old episodes, like, once a month saying, hey.

Catch up.

Maybe listen to this one again.

It's super popular or it's, like, critical to the next season, something like that.

That's all very helpful in keeping their interest.

I think a personalized episode that may not be on content was was like, hey, folks.

Just wanna let you know we're working hard on season two, three, four, whatever it may be.

It's coming along.

I think you're gonna be excited because we're gonna be, you know, covering x y z, maybe even highlight who's gonna be a guest on an upcoming show.

Sneaky never never hurts.

Yeah.

And I think you just do a little a little teasing because they go, oh, what's this?

You know, they find it in their their their app of choice, and I think it works good.

Now another thing you can do is if you haven't been publishing to YouTube or Instagram or wherever your audience is, we've got a great tool called vid pod two vid, and a lot of people don't even know that this exists, in in the Blueberry dashboard.

And what it does is it would allow you to go back and, create a video using, images that maybe you've collected while you've done the interviews and with through chapters to tell that story in a video without actually being AKA a video.

So, Pod2Vid will help you with that.

And, this really is a is a cool tool, and, you know, maybe didn't have time during the season to to publish this way.

And it might be just a way to to reach a new audience, on your, quote, unquote, social media platform of choice.

A good thing to also consider during this, downtime is it might seem like downtime to the audience, but this is probably the time that you're spending the most effort.

And this is a great time to update your website.

You can you know, whatever type of website it is that you have, Blueberry gives you a free one with WordPress if you would like.

You have a podcast directory listening with us overall.

But, essentially, this is a great way to keep things updated.

This is you know, make sure that they are still able to reach you properly, put out some new blog posts, change up the graphics.

This is all the type of stuff that will keep your website looking fresh in that downtime.

And I think it really just does help with keeping the keeping the latest season in people's minds and getting them excited for the next.

And I think with the you know, I am I can draw stick figures.

So, you know, I have no graphics ability at all.

So thank goodness for Sora and ChatGPT now.

The image creation and those tools are actually pretty good.

So, you know, it might be a situation where, you know, every couple of weeks, you can kinda change up your your, your program art to let people know, yep.

This is alive.

It's well.

You know, coming soon, you know, season two.

You know, you can really get people to and this is going to attract new listeners that says, oh, coming season number two.

I wonder what season one was about.

You know, actually give people the ability to say and it's it's amazing.

Just updating your program art will trigger people that are looking through their apps to say, they may have looked over you before and they say, oh, there's something new where it's really not new.

It's just the art that's new.

It may give someone a trigger to, to check you out.

I think these are all helpful ways to help plan out your season, but I think that's a wrap on this episode.

Thanks for tuning in.

Yeah.

Planning your season really doesn't need to be complicated.

The more structure you put in the beginning, the more flexibility you're gonna really have as as you go to market with that show.

And we mean that whether it's your first season or your fifteenth.

Remember, prep leads to consistency and consistency leads to growth.

And as always, Blueberry gives you the tools to support every step of the journey from launch to growth to monetization.

If there's something we don't have, we definitely wanna hear from you in that regard.

Be sure to follow and subscribe to Podcast Insider for more tips, tools, and insights to help you make the most of your podcasting season.

Thanks, everyone.

Thanks for joining us.

Come back next week.

And in the meantime, head to podcastinsider.com for more information, to subscribe, share, and read our show notes.

To check out the latest suite of services and learn how Blueberry can help you leverage your podcast, visit blueberry.com.

That's Blueberry without the e's because we can't afford them.