5. Dreaming in Biology: Tales from the Ginkgo Bioworks Studio

[00:00:00] Hector: m y p fam, what's going on? Welcome you to another episode of the Marketing Podcast show. My name is Hector Sania. Steon and I have been producing and promoting podcasts for almost a half decade now. And this is the show that gives you all the tools, tactic strategies, mindset.

[00:00:16] Hector: Things that you need to go out and grow a successful podcast.

[00:00:20] Hector: today we're gonna talk about some things that you can do after you launch a show, cuz we've focused some episodes on how to start a podcast. And you may be here listening before you start a show. And if you are. . We have some episodes to go back and listen to that, talk about how to actually launch a podcast, and we talk about some of our systems for doing that.

[00:00:37] Hector: What we're gonna talk about now is what to do actually after you launch a podcast. And this is something that I think doesn't get enough attention and is actually one of the reasons why we started this show is because there was so much information about how to get launched, but there wasn't a whole lot of information about how to sustain, how to keep going, what to do, who to talk to, what do you focus on.

[00:00:54] Hector: And we were on a. podcast, AMA experience that we were hosting, and we actually just wrapped up our second podcast, AMA Experience.

[00:01:02] Hector: It was really cool. We had about, I think, a dozen podcasters on a live Zoom call, having breakouts, having conversations about what's going on in their show and how they can actually do things to improve their listener experience, how they can do things to improve their monetization. It was just a really cool opportunity to get different hosts together and, chat. And so if you guys want to find out how you guys can attend our next one, check the show notes for that and we'll leave the link in there as well.

[00:01:30] Hector: And it also inspired a newsletter that I posted on LinkedIn. So if you're not subscribed to Podcast Success Secrets, go and get subscribed to that. And you can read some of these as well.

[00:01:39] Hector: But the first thing that came up that people can really not do it's to not pay attention to their stats. this is actually because someone on the call was talking about how do I know whether or not I'm doing well?

[00:01:49] Hector: How do I know if I'm doing good? What about the things that happen during the holidays, right? Downloads may dip. How do I handle all that? And Alex's suggestion was to not really focus on the download. That much at all at the beginning. You know, he does a lot of work with people on YouTube, and his suggestion is similar to YouTube in your first year, maybe even your first two years, to just put your head down and focus on the content and look for feedback that you're getting.

[00:02:15] Hector: Not necessarily quantitative feedback because you may not be seeing a bunch of downloads, thousands of downloads, even hundreds of downloads coming in. . You might hear someone reach out and say, Hey, I heard that episode with so-and-so. That was a really good episode. Or they might reach out and say, Hey, I really love your music, or, I love what you're doing, or, I love your topic, or I love your theme.

[00:02:33] Hector: Those are the things that you're looking for, and those are the things that you wanna lean into. So when it comes to. Early on , and what you should be focusing on. Don't get caught up in the quantitative data, right? The numbers necessarily. You should be looking to see are they going up, are they going in the right direction?

[00:02:48] Hector: And if they are awesome, fantastic. You know, you're doing something well. But if you're not at a hundred downloads or 500 downloads an episode, or a thousand downloads an episode, whatever that number in your head that you think you should be, don't worry about. that's not as important as the listeners that you're impacting as the listeners that you're gaining, as the connections that you're creating with some of your guests.

[00:03:07] Hector: So all those things are way more important, especially at the beginning, when you're getting started.

[00:03:11] Hector: now to payback on top of that. , because we're not gonna be focusing necessarily on our downloads. What we're gonna be focusing on is our listeners. The second thing to do after you launch your show is to really embrace your early listeners. And this was inspired by Derek Sivers.

[00:03:25] Hector: so this point was actually inspired by a TED talk that Derek Sivers gave on how to start a movement. It's my favorite TED Talk. It's a three minute video. We'll put the link in the show notes, but go watch it. I've, I've watched it maybe 50 plus times.

[00:03:38] Hector: And what he talks about is that it's not actually about the leader, right? If someone wants to start a movement, if someone wants to. A community. If someone wants to get people rallied behind them, then it's not just about the leader. Yes, the leader is important. Yes. The leader maybe sets the vision or, or kind of creates and initiates it, but it's actually the first followers that actually create the movement , I encourage you to go watch this, But basically it's a video of a guy dancing at a festival, and he's just going wild, right? And he's going crazy. And he's all alone. He's all by himself. he calls it like the lone nut. And that's kind of what podcasters feel like is they're the lone person. They're the lone wolf.

[00:04:14] Hector: They're all here doing it all by themselves. And what I would encourage you to do is to embrace your early listeners, because in this video, what you'll see is that when someone comes and starts dancing next to him, right? And starts doing it crazy too, he. Move away. He doesn't create some sort of distance or show that he's better or that the other person is doing it wrong.

[00:04:33] Hector: He embraces that person, he empowers them, and sooner or later another person comes and joins. But. Derek's point is that they don't follow the leader, they follow the first follower. So embrace your early listeners. Show them what to do, encourage them to share, encourage them to, give feedback. Encourage them to engage.

[00:04:50] Hector: If you have a Facebook group or a Discord community or something like that, encourage them to get involved in when they do really. For lack of a better term, like sink your teeth into them. Right. Like really get a hold of them and let them know that you care, right. That they are important because they are.

[00:05:05] Hector: And you're not gonna necessarily be able to do this forever with all your listeners, but when you're first getting started, it can be really, really helpful to spark that next little boost. It can be really helpful to spark that next little bit of.

[00:05:17] Hector: the third and final point, at least for today. Episode, we'll maybe do this more and go into some more things that you can do after you launch. But the third thing that came to mind was to start connecting with other hosts and start connecting with other podcast hosts. And that's for a couple of reasons.

[00:05:32] Hector: The first, obviously is The technical part. they may have answers to what Mike should you use? What camera should you use, what software should you use? How do you. This. How do you make it sound like this? How do you post or publish or market or grow, right? They might have all of those types of answers, but the other side of it is the mental and emotional side of it as well.

[00:05:49] Hector: similar to that lone wolf kind of thing. Podcasting can feel very lonely. It can feel very isolating either because you're the only podcaster you know, so everyone in your family, everyone of your friends, they don't really know what you're going through or know kind of what it.

[00:06:02] Hector: The know all the things that go into it, right? All of the anxiety and stress and work and effort and late nights and recordings and all that kind of stuff. They may not know that. and so because they don't have a perspective of it, it helps to have people around who do know what you're going through, who can offer some support,

[00:06:17] Hector: who can offer a shoulder to lean on or create a space for you to vent or create a space for you to cry or whatever it is, right? We, as podcasters, we're doing something unique, and we may be the only person of our friends, and we may be the only person in our industry doing it as well, and so, It helps to find other podcast hosts that may be in your niche, but also may be around it because if you've got a

[00:06:39] Hector: true crime show or you've got an interview show, or you've got a business show or whatever type of show you have, there is something that you can learn from other types of shows.

[00:06:47] Hector: if you're a fiction podcast, there are things that you can learn from non-fiction podcasts and vice versa. Not everything is gonna carry over. Not everything is gonna translate, but there are some things that you can bring over and that can. so in addition to all of the support and learning and training and mentorship and community that can be created from surrounding yourself with other podcast host, it's also helpful because they can help you promote the show.

[00:07:10] Hector: You guys can grow and collaborate together to promote your show, whether it's cross promotion, episode swaps, promotion, swap. LinkedIn, post Twitter spaces, all these opportunities for you to now borrow each other's audiences for you guys to grow together. You can pick up a couple of their listeners, they can pick up a couple of your listeners.

[00:07:28] Hector: And as long as you're providing value and as long as, and as long as you're doing it in a way that is relevant or makes sense to your listeners, then it's gonna be something that's beneficial for both.

[00:07:38] Hector: those are really three simple things that I think anyone can do right away if you've already got a show. You know, the first one is to check your downloads less, right? To check your numbers less. I used to check them daily, and that was exhausting.

[00:07:49] Hector: So really just try and. , whatever that means, right? Maybe it goes to once a week, or if you're checking 'em once a week already, maybe you look at 'em once a month. And I'm not saying to avoid or ignore, but I am saying to not get caught up in those numbers and to feel judged by them and to all of a sudden think, wow, I didn't, have as many downloads as last week.

[00:08:09] Hector: that means that, you know, and then drawing some sort of conclusion from it, or drawing some sort of, value of your worth from it, right? That's the worst thing you can do is go, oh, I didn't have a, big day in download, so I must not be a good podcast host. That's not it, right? maybe the app didn't work, or maybe the feed, didn't go through, or, we have to be able to remove ourselves from those numbers, because we can't always control.

[00:08:29] Hector: What we can't control is focusing on the people that do come around, focusing on the people that do show up, that do raise their hand, right? I always think about this and I can't take credit for this kind of analogy, but someone said that if you only get 50 downloads or you get 25 downloads on an episode or something like that, if you were to have 25 people in a room listening to that conversation, that would be something.

[00:08:47] Hector: And if you had 25 people in a room and you ignored them, that would be something too. So think about those people as real people, and even though they're listening in their own home or in their own car, or they're on their own jog or whatever it is, they're there with you. , like I said, you might not be able to do it for everybody, but if you can reach out and connect with those early listeners, those people are gonna be the ones that really set the tone, that give you the insights that you need, and also may be your biggest evangelists, may be your biggest fans, and the ones that are out there sharing it the most.

[00:09:16] Hector: So embrace those people. and similarly embrace the people in and around the podcast industry, right? Whether it's in the same niche as you, or even different niches. Having people that you can lean on, having people that you can go to for questions, for support, for ideas, for guests, all those things can really help.

[00:09:35] Hector: And so once again, Not a comprehensive list by any means, but three simple things that I think can really make a difference and really make a big impact and help you to get to that next level, right? Whatever that next level is for you. So I wanna thank you guys for sticking around with me on these shorter kind of bite sized episodes with me.

[00:09:53] Hector: I appreciate you so much. If you are not connected with me on LinkedIn, come search my name, Hector Sant. Esteban, if you're on Twitter and that's more your style, I'm at Hector underscore podcast. You can find my newsletter on CK on LinkedIn as well. If you guys want to come out and hang out with us at these podcast AMA events.

[00:10:10] Hector: Check the show notes. Go to podcast ama.com. Actually, you can go to podcast ama.com and you can get all the info there. Thank y'all for being here and being part of the NYP Fam. It means a lot to me that you guys are listening and we'll see you guys on the next show later, y'all.