Kevin Crossman The Frat Pack Tribute: www

Guerrilla Podcasting
Producing a Great Show with
No Staff, No Time, and No Budget
Kevin Crossman
The Frat Pack Tribute:
Saluting Hollywood’s Comedy Clique
www.fratpackpodcast.com
Audience for this Presentation
• Hobbyist Podcasters!
• Don’t Particularly Care About Making
•
•
Money
Not “quitting my day job”
Podcasting instead of watching TV,
exercising, sleeping, et. al.
Session Demographics
Podcast Listeners only
Podcast Producers
Audience for this Presentation
• Niche Content Podcast Producers
• Independently produced
• Not a personal or general “audioblog”
• Focus on music, TV shows, movies, hobbies,
social issues, travel, and more!
• SCRAPcast
• All Games Considered
• Five Hundy By Midnight
• Raider Nation
• Inside the Magic
My History of Niche Content
• Lip Balm Anonymous (1995)
• Appearance on Daily Show (1998)
• Dozens of TV, Radio, Newspaper Interviews
• The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai (1998)
• “Top 5 Mai Tais on Oahu”
• Web and print publications
Current Obsession Hobby
• The Frat Pack Tribute
• Website (August 2004)
• 2000+ Unique Visitors Daily
• Podcast (April 2005)
• 93 “weekly-ish” episodes
• 300-500 1st week downloads
• 1300-9000 total “long tail” downloads
• Podcast is extension of the website
What is Guerrilla Podcasting?
• Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Leinson
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(1982)
An unconventional way of performing
promotional activities on a very low budget
Explore inexpensive or free publicity
Time, energy, imagination instead of money
Concentrate on making new relationships
Create an allied diversity of products and
services
Combination of marketing methods
Guerrilla Marketing Tactics
• Word of mouth campaign (“viral marketing”)
• Connect to consumer through their daily
•
•
routine
Personal canvassing
Use small size and agility as an advantage to
become closer to one’s customers
Guerrilla Podcasting
• Nothing more than applying guerrilla
•
marketing principles to podcasting
Hobbyist podcaster’s best friend
How Can the Hobbyist Podcaster
Leverage Guerrilla Podcasting?
Let’s find out!
Time Management
Time Management for Your Life
• Do a great show weekly or a bad one daily?
• Budget your time
• Give up something else
• But not your kids, spouse, or job
• Leverage your existing hobbies and interests
• Podcast what you know
• Engage family friends
• Help with conception and ideas
• Record a test show and have them listen
• Work them into the show(?)
Time Management for the Show
• Budget for preproduction
• Content gathering, interviews, audio
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preproduction
• Website maintenance
• Create show outline, line up clips
Recording the show (more later)
Post-production: editing, encoding, uploading
Publishing RSS feed updates and show notes
Promoting your new episode on forums,
sending out promos, etc.
Estimates vary, but assume a
30 minute podcast will take
2-3 hours to produce
Time Management Tips
• Look for tools that save you time
• Good blog software
• Can it create iTunes-specific tags for your
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RSS feed?
Consider Feedburner or other RSSgenerators
• Or handcode if you are able to
Use iTunes for editing ID3 tags, adding
album artwork
Use GarageBand 3 for creating Enhanced
Podcasts
Recording on a
Budget
Recording Philosophy
• Live recording (“live to tape”)
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•
vs. multitrack mixing
No Editing
Heavy Editing?
• How polished is your delivery?
• Ahs and ums
Consider a medium approach
• “Practically Live”
• Philosphy of live recording, mixed with
practical editing
Practically Live Approach
Recording Software
• Use the tool that makes sense for your style
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and budget
• Hobbyist podcasters don’t need “pro audio”
features
• You don’t need to spend $1000+ to build the
next Abbey Road studios
Live Recording
• CastBlaster (free - $50, Win)
Multi-track mixing
• Audacity (free, Win/Mac/Linux)
• GarageBand 3 ($80 or free with new Mac)
• Adobe Audition ($299, Win)
This is where to sped your money
• A good microphone (and mic stand)
• Samson C01U USB Condenser ($80)
• Marshall MXL 990 ($60, incl. shock mount)
• Cheap Mixer
• Useful for multiple mic setups, Skype
•
recording
Behringer UB802 EuroRack ($60)
The Five “Ds” of Domains
• Own your own domain
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• www.yourshow.com not yourshow.service.com
• $6.95 / year
Have “podcast friendly” URLs
• Which is easier to say?
• www.the-frat-pack.com
• www.thefratpack.com
Consider alternate URLs
• The Frat Pack Tribute = the-frat-pack.com
• thefratpacktribute.com
• thefratpack.com
• fratpackpodcast.com
Hosting on a Budget
• Website hosting vs. media hosting
• Web host supports your website or blog, show
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notes, forum, and your custom domain
Media hosting is where your mp3 or video files
are served from.
RSS feed may be on web host, media host, or
3rd party
Okay to use Feedburner or Libsyn but have
your own website (or redirected URL)
Bandwidth: don’t spend more than
$10 / month for 1000 GB to unlimited
Free may not be worth more than you pay for it
Make a Connection
Your Audience
Your Community
Your Peers
Engaging Listeners
• Contests and bribery aren’t recommended
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unless you have a source of free prizes
Instead, provide perks to key listeners
• Input on show direction
• Suggest show content
• Moderators on your show forum
• Special perks
• Earmuff Awards Voting
Value the Connection with Listeners
• Feedback to improve the show
• Help spread the word
• Help with show production
• Cultivate your own “wack pack”
• Create recurring segments
• Cohosts and guest hosts
Spencer “Champ Kind” Gliko
Kyle “The Godfather” Potter
Obtaining Feedback
• Voicemail
• K7.net (free!)
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• 206-666-GEEK, 206-666-HELP, 206-666-FRAT
• +1 201-625-6357
Web Voicemail
• Odeo, MyChingo, Skype
Blog comments and show message board
Email
• Text and other attachments, Email Lists
• Audio (mp3, wav)
Snail Mail
• P.O. Box or other mailing address
Online Surveys
• Podtrac, Survey Monkey, et. al.
Record a Promo
• Short 30-60 sec. commercials for your show
• Have a promo available on your website and
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•
first entry in feed
• Send promos to podcasts
• General promos (for any podcast)
• Custom promos (for “big dogs”)
Produce promos yourself
Don’t send them out until you’ve done a few
shows
Frat Pack Tribute Promo
Connecting with other Podcasters
• Podcast forums:
• Podcast Pickle
• Podcast Alley
• Podcast411
• Yahoo! Podcasters Group
• Forums of your favorite podcast
• Provide listener feedback or segments for
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their shows - and mention yours
Always include your show name and URL
Conferences and Meet-ups
• Bring business cards that include your
name, show, and website
Subject Matter Communities
• Focus on forums or communities dedicated to
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the topic of your show
Participate and promote yourself
Add value to the discussion
Pimp your show, judiciously
• Brand your show
• Brand yourself as an expert
• Leverage online relationships
Forum Avatars and Signatures
Resources that Won’t
Break the Bank
Resources: Podcasts and Blogs
• Podcasts about Podcasting
• Podcast 411
• Podcaster Confessions
• Podcasting Underground
• Digital Mediacast Experiment
• School of Podcasting
• Today in Podcasting
• Podcast Brothers
• Podcasting Blogs
• Podcasting News
• Podcast Pickle News
• Paul Colligan (paulcolligan.com)
• Michael Goeghegan (mwgblog.com)
• Podcheck Review (also a podcast)
Resources: Books
• Tricks of the Podcasting Masters
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by Rob Walch and Mur Lafferty
Promoting Your Podcast
by Jason Van Orden
Podcast Solutions
by Michael Geoghegan and Dan Klass
Podcasting for Dummies
by Tee Morris and Evo Terra
Pop Quiz!
Pop Quiz: Show Feedback
What was the voicemail number for
the Daily Source Code?
(+1 201-625-6357)
What is the voicemail number for
the Frat Pack Tribute?
(206-666-FRAT)
Pop Quiz #2: Promote Your Podcast
206-666-FRAT
kevin@kevdo.com
What’s Your Favorite Frat Pack Movie?
(Anchorman, Dodgeball, 40 Year-Old Virgin, Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers,
Old School, Starsky & Hutch, Talladega Nights, Wedding Crashers, Zoolander)
Who’s Your Favorite Frat Pack Star?
(Jack Black, Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson)
Summary
In Conclusion...
• Podcast what you know
• Budget your time - including pre and post•
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•
•
•
production.
Invest in time-saving tools.
“Practically Live” approach to recording
Spend money on a mic before anything else
Engage and cultivate your audience
Leverage forums to spread the word
Network with other podcasters - always
mention your show
Have Fun!
Podcasting is a blast but it isn’t worth
losing your job, family, or sanity
Contact Info and Presentation
Kevin Crossman
kevin@kevdo.com
www.kevdo.com/pme2006
206-666-FRAT
www.fratpackpodcast.com
Questions?
Thank You