Episode Summary
Podcasts have become a valuable marketing tool for many companies especially after the pandemic hit But few organizations were aware of the complexity involved in producing such content and the devotion that podcasting requires In addition most of them struggled with consistency
Thats why a well-thought-out plan is what makes a podcast survive Although many believe that you need a high-quality tech stack podcasting is all about discipline But of course its also about having fun and enjoying it
In this episode of Recorded Content our host Justin Brown welcomes Lee Doubleday of Imagine America Foundation Lee is also the host of Imagine America Radio a career-focused podcast and he is with us today to discuss what drove him to start a podcast how Snapchat works for distribution and why sponsors are valuable partners
Guest Profile
Name: Lee Doubleday
What he does: He is the Director of Operations at Imagine America Foundation
Company: Imagine America Foundation
Noteworthy: Lee is also the host of Imagine America Radio a podcast dedicated to helping career colleges connect with their community and reach out to potential students and high school counselors
Key Insights
- A well-thought-out structure is the prerequisite for a good podcast episode Once Lee started a podcast he realized he needed to structure each episode Having an outline and a plan not only helps him stay organized but also helps his guests especially potential ones who listen to their podcast learn the general approach to the podcast and whether being on it can benefit their institution That was my original intent I want to post a podcast twice a month and the organizational structure was really for me But I also know that there are schools teaching these programs and they would like to get these programs in front of prospective students and my database of high school counselors So it was partly driven by the customer but it also helped me stay organized
- Sponsors are valuable partners to us When listening to a podcast it is common to hear a host introducing a company sponsoring the specific episode or the entire show Although not all podcasts rely on sponsorship having a sponsor is like having a partner with whom you share the same vision and mission So lets say I do nursing in October and have a sponsor So what Ill do is Ill do an email introduction after every one of those episodes when I provide the reporting and Ill say This would not have been possible without the help of our sponsor which is true
- Go where your prospects are For us thats Snapchat Companies of all shapes and sizes use social media Still the key is not to use every platform Instead learn where your target audience is For a non-profit such as Imagine America Foundation Snapchat is that channel I know that the customer is on Snapchat And so I thought Okay I need to figure out a way to put my podcast on Snapchat It was a lot of trial and error Also figuring out the backend of Snapchat ads manager Its similar to Facebook but its a little different and just playing with that and figuring that out also took some time but were good now
Episode Highlights
Pitching the idea regarding a podcast
Its always better to ask forgiveness than permission So I went ahead and talked to people in my community and got them to agree to do a podcast with me before I even had a podcast
And so it made the conversation a little easier When I did talk to management and said Well it looks like we might be doing this because Ive got some prospective guests that weve never been able to talk to that are interested in talking to us now all of a sudden because Im starting a podcast channel
It was very easy to see that this is a great opportunity for us to promote the sector and help our current customer group get out in front of their community
I was a little nervous about how I was going to pitch it because as you know discussions with management are always about ROI At some point youre going to have a conversation with management about Okay well it looks like this is taking X amount of your time The highest cost is your time
If you’re going to start a show you should have a structure
When I started podcasting I wanted to get as many prospects and my core group of friends on the podcast to provide value But from a listeners perspective its been much better received since Ive organized the episodes
I usually provide a mock script for every episode that I do So I will research the career I look up the Bureau of Labor Statistics data and well talk about it Ill ask questions about that particular career So I have to know what to ask and I have to know a little bit on whatever topic were going to be talking about
To book a guest its either cold outreach or through LinkedIn and just the community of people that I know
Steps Lee takes once he records the episode
I throw it into Audacity I prefer Audacity its where I started And then I throw it into Headliner for snippets Then Ill throw it into a transcription service that transcribes my episode its called transcribemecom
While this is being transcribed Ill make the ads and make a landing page for every episode So I go into the backend of my website and create a new blog post for that page Ill then link that page throughout my website
I put together an email that goes out to our newsletter to high schools in the area where that college is being interviewed So if theyre in Phoenix I send it out to my high schools in Arizona to let them know about the new episode that came out
Then I also send it out to my college sector lists so that they know Hey looks like Imagine America Radio has another episode on welding in the metaverse And this is cool I want to check it out and I want Lee to interview me about my program
Its a lot of work because of multiple audiences
Snapchat is our go-to platform
The students that are entering technical schools being anywhere between 19 to 36 years old are all on Snapchat And I would say that Snapchat is probably our largest the one we spend the most time and energy on because its a way to get somebody hooked on what youre talking about
And then going to the landing page where we have the full episode and we have a little more about the guests and what we talked about
But also LinkedIn I do a little bit of LinkedIn And then obviously email marketing was a big one for us as we have a relatively large list Our space is small but theres a large list of high school counselors we send out every episode to
