Episode 73: How to Grow Your Podcast with Todd Cochrane, CEO at Blubrry Podcasting
In this week’s episode of Subscriptions Scaled, we speak with Todd Cochrane, Founder & CEO at Blubrry Podcasting by RawVoice.
In the episode, we learn everything from how the podcasting industry has evolved to how Todd markets his business.
Keep reading to learn more about the episode.
Blubrry Podcasting
Blubrry makes podcast publishing easier with a smooth publishing platform, live customer support, straightforward migration, and helpful statistics.
Plans
There are two primary plans; a standard plan at $12 per month and an advanced plan at $20 per month with a whole host of benefits. More and more features have been added over the years.
There’s also a pro plan at $100 per month.
Todd has been in the podcasting space since 2004 and has been building Blubrry Podcasting since around 2006. Not all customers are subscribers, but some may use Blubrry Podcasting’s PowerPress plugin.
People can pay for an annual plan instead of a monthly one and get a small discount.
The standard plan gives customers everything they need to really get going. The advanced plan provides a little more. The pro plan offers tools like ad insertion and networking building.
So, there’s something for everyone, from beginners to experts.
Blubrry Hosting will soon make some announcements about integrations with other platforms. This helps the podcaster in the production and growth of their show.
The evolution of the podcasting industry
The podcasting industry has really evolved over the years. In 2005, Libsyn came onto the scene, started providing hosting, and allowed the space to develop. When Todd joined the industry and began Blubrry Podcasting, he had to work hard, build his website, and grow the company by word of mouth.
Todd had to learn how to build his podcasting business and develop a brand. Now there are so many different tools available to help you and Todd believes it’s much easier to grow a brand than it used to be.
Live streaming
Todd has been live streaming for a while, and for a reason. He lived in Hawaii and hosted a show at 8 pm in Hawaii and at 2 am in Levin, New Zealand. There was no audience interaction at first and what Todd edited was a solo show.
Eventually, a few people in New Zealand could watch Todd and provide immediate feedback.
Many podcasters enjoy doing live because they get some interaction that provides feedback. People can stream on Facebook Live, for example, and it adds some real-time flavor to the show.
The challenge many live streamers have is that most of your audience is just listening rather than watching. If you’re showing something on the screen and you’re not describing it, you’re alienating the people who are just listening. It’s best to be careful to explain what you’re talking about.
Editing
When it comes to editing, Todd is pretty old-school. However, if you’re a new podcaster, Todd shares that there are no rules.
When Todd first started podcasting, he had three young children and a full-time job. He was swamped and had no time to edit his podcasts.
Because of this, Todd made sure his equipment chain was the best it could be. The audio sounded the best it could be, and Todd tried to host as best he could.
This would allow the content to come out reasonably well without Todd editing. However, he admits he probably kept content that should have been edited out.
However, Todd didn’t have the time or sanity. As Todd has done podcasting for a longer period, he’s gotten better, being more concise with a good message.
Todd’s always said that if you’re a YouTuber, people will forgive you for a bad video but not for bad audio. He thinks it’s relatively similar to podcasting.
A decent audience is the first step to superior content, getting you down the road, and building an audience.
While some people believe you have to edit to the ninth degree, Todd believes you can over-edit.
Building authority
To build authority in the podcasting industry, you need to be talking with people, on panels, and participating in your content genre. It takes time, but that’s how Todd did it.
It’s about an intimate relationship you have with an audience. Listeners can smell a fake a mile away, so you have to be honest, genuine, and consistent. You have to be willing to put your neck out and say what you think and then defend that respectfully if someone thinks you’re wrong.
Blogging and social media can also help you gain authority in the podcasting industry. Todd believes sometimes you have to make your own authority. For example, sharing and equipping to do your 100th episode or something similar. Or reaching out to a local television station.
Once Todd was at an event where he saw the BBC. He walked up and convinced them to give him some time on-air, and that’s how he ended up being on the BBC call list.
The BBC would call Todd at 3 am, wake him up, and ask if he could talk about a specific topic. He might not always know the subject, but he’d use Google for research as he’d only need 10 minutes on air.
Todd used these experiences as part of his resume and ultimately built authority. He ended up going live on stage with NBC Universal.
The book writing Todd did on podcasting also helped him build his authority.
Marketing
Todd and his team use various marketing methods, including Google search and word of mouth.
The key is trying to onboard people. The important part of this process is getting people up and running quickly through the signup process.
Todd admits that the team has struggled with SEO, which is what they’re working on so they can rank higher from some of the key search terms they want.
However, with the success of Blubrry Podcasting, it seems that Todd and his team are certainly doing many things right with the business.
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