What should my marketing podcast look like?

That's great news!

Personally I'd love a 30 minutes in-depth chat with founders on what worked and what didn't work to drive traffic and acquire customers.

Personally a big fan of actionable content in podcasts. So they can almost be a tutorial to learn something or at least provide a decent jumping off point to go find out more. Founder stories tend to be a bit different but if there’s some how to elements to take it beyond interview fluff then it works for me.

So for marketing examples, what about you take the simple format of story followed by a how to implement. You have the great examples and you can tell the story (as your emails and tweets show) but I miss one thing - more detail on how to implement in the real world of indie hackers or the specific audience you’re targeting. Some of the examples are interesting but maybe feel out of reach to normal people.

Like the Lil Nas X thread is great. But how do I implement that to get 1000 followers or subscribers or customers. for example.

Does that make sense?

Hey Harry,

Big fan of Marketing Examples! I also love narrative podcasts like Radiolab, This American Life, etc.
Recently I started to listen to RadioDiaries.org
The premise is simple they give a tape recorder to somebody for around a year to report their lives. This one was pretty good http://www.radiodiaries.org/thembis-aids-diary/

I'm thinking that a merge btw the Radio Diaries and Startup from Gimlet media could be an interesting idea. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/startup

The idea is getting Startup Founders or Marketing Heads that are going to implement a marketing strategy and asking them to record how everything unwraps.

Definitely the timeline should be lesser, perhaps 1-2 months per startup to get you into the idea of fast-growing environments.

Pros
-The final product could be raw and authentic.
-Nice marketing examples told by the founder telling his own story the way he wants it.
-You could be working with some startups in parallel.

Cons
-The edition and production will be hard work.
-Very ambitious and could take longer to put to market.
-Founders could not record great content.

I think in general it's not something tailored for a one-man business like yours, and could be something you're not aiming for, but I just wanted to share what I would love to listen to in a podcast on two of the things that I love (Marketing/Startups and Narrative podcasts) that could differentiate from the vastly typical startup interview podcast.

I love that you're doing this!

I'd just give one of them a shot and just go... you'll be able to change the style and delivery as you learn to use the tools and find a good pace and cadence to your speach.

I did a podcast show myself nearly 5 years ago... so, that doesn't really count for much (https://john.do/itunes-podcast-experiment/) and that was my second try — my first was over 9 years ago! https://john.do/8bit-podcast-yammer-and-the-undead/

LOL.

But, what I've learned from vlogging everyday for my small startup is you learn the pacing... you learn how to tell your story in your own voice and way... but, it takes a lot of practice and it can take time.

But, the faster you get started, the better. I'm a fan!

Personally I am growing a bit tired of strict interview podcasts. I would experiment with the format.

Hey Harry,
Given that podcasts as a medium are so well suited to long-form content, that's usually a winning format. Not to say that segmented doesn't work, just that more segments = much more editing, but maybe you're fine with that. Something to bear in mind though because if there are only a couple of bits to edit then it'll be easier to get them sounding consistently great. It might just be me, but I can't stand listening to podcasts with awful audio quality!

I think people ultimately stick with a podcast because they like the host(s), and while the content is valuable, what they really enjoy is the way the host packages and transmits the content, in their own unique style. It would be very hard to compete with these high-end podcast production companies in terms of producing a super-polished product, but what those companies don't have is you. So whatever format you decide on, as cheesy as it sounds, just do you, and I'm sure people will love it. It's certainly easier to get your personality across with long-form too. And after all, if one way doesn't seem to be getting traction, you can always switch it up.

My favorite podcast is Naval’s How to Get Rich podcast. The episodes are succinct, clear & to the point without wasting anyone’s time, just like his tweets.

I’d try both formats: Long Content & Short Content. Just like IH does now with Quick Chats & see what works.

I think I enjoy IH podcast because Courtland is an amazing interviewer. He does his research thoroughly so even the long episode doesn’t get boring.

The format is not too important to me as long as it’s tightly edited. When I think about what I think your podcast will sound like I imagine something high energy with short clips of music or sound attached to your segments.

You could also experiment with a narrative approach. Listen to darknet diaries as an example. The host narrates and explains a good portion of the show but inserts guest clips from interviews in between his narration.

I read your posts for the real world examples and actionable explanations about what’s good and bad. As long as you keep that as your main goal I would totally listen.

Why is this not a podcast where you run through one real-life marketing example in an episode?
You could organically incorporate audience questions into this and would reduce the chances that it would start to sound too homogenous.