Top 5 Tips to Starting a Successful Real Estate Podcast

So can I do something different? And they said, okay. At the time, I had started doing the social media and really controlling all of the social media presence for the organization. And so I said, I would love to do a weekly Facebook live show series, whatever we want to call it. And really, the goal was just taking the content that we would have taken and putting it on a webinar. Instead of putting it on a webinar, let's make it a little more fun. Let's make it a little more engaging. Let's allow people to see my face and not just hear my voice. And by doing that, we engaged people that otherwise wouldn't have necessarily signed up for a webinar or would have maybe found that boring, like we're saying. So once we started doing that, it really took off. There was clearly a need for it.

And it grew. We started getting into different topics. It went from more, which we'll talk about some content stuff later, but it went from more of, let me just throw all this information at you to interview style and let's bring on subject matter experts and things like that. And from there, we took that and developed a podcast. So I will actually take the recording of that session that we stream and I will turn it into a podcast episode. So we have, we have both now. We have a, basically a video, you could call it a video podcast and we have an audio podcast. Well, I think the beauty of it, and you know, we, we, we kind of jokingly say this, but it's not really a joke at all is that Realtors don't read. Yeah. So, you know, whether it was having to either be in a fixed place for a webinar at a fixed time or it was going out in some sort of, you know, mass communication. Um, I think the podcast, when it comes to HR and how they interact with their members has become great because you can watch it live or you can catch the recording later. Yeah. You can download it on your favorite podcast app.

And it really has made the association's ability to communicate with their audience, which is a pretty specific audience, um, very flexible. And for agents who are on the move agents who are always out in their vehicle doing whatever, just being able to plug in and listen as they go along is, is a different experience for a lot of people. I think. Absolutely. And it's, it's interesting because we do have people that will tune in to watch live. That is their, their weekly thing every Monday at 9 AM, they grab their coffee, they sit down and they turn it on and watch the live. Um, but then we also have people that consistently watch the recordings. And then we also have people that subscribe to the podcast to just listen to the audio version of it, but we also have people who do both. They might watch it live or watch the recording, but then they also listen to the podcast to really allow the information to sink in. So, you know, it's, you have people that enjoy taking in that content in different ways and you're just giving them the opportunity to do that. Yeah. So before we get into the Top 5, can we, can we talk about one more subject real quick and kind of, so when you started the podcast, cause I know when I started this podcast, the idea was I didn't want to, to be telling, I didn't want to be a hypocrite for, for lack of a better term. I was telling my agents, do video, get out in front of people, you know, get your voice heard within your audience.

And then I wasn't doing any of that. And so we started the podcast to, to kind of, you know, lead by example. Right. But when I started my podcast, I picked up the phone and called you and said, Hey, what do I need to get? What do I need to do? And all that. So when you were going through the process of starting the podcast, was it a lot of trial by error? Was it trying to figure out this versus that? What was the resource? If there was one that you went to and said, Hey, I need great equipment. I need greatness. I need, and getting the right stuff to set up. And we're going to talk a little bit about equipment and all that later, but is there a, is there a place you went? I mean, you can probably guess it, but Google and YouTube and, and really it was just learning the basics. You know, I, I tell people all the time that you, you constantly, and you say this, I know too, you constantly have to be learning and growing, um, and determine what your strengths and weaknesses are. Right. And so for me, um, when this kind of got put in my lap, can you do this? Well, there's very few things that I'll say, no, I can't do that. Right. I'm at least going to try. Right.

Um, so I, I went to Google, I looked at the different things and we'll talk about them today. So people don't necessarily have to do that, but, uh, we'll talk with, I looked at some different things specifically when it came to the software and the production side of it, being on camera, you know, uh, getting a recording, all of that. I already knew how to do that. Um, but really the production side of it. Um, and you know, I, I tell people sometimes that you're again, it's about that learning and growing when I started at HAR almost 11 years ago, never did I ever think that I would be mastering garage band a few years later. So, uh, which is what I actually use to edit the podcast. Right. So, um, but I, I mean, again, going on Google, figuring out exactly what do I need to just get started and what will I need to improve it of course, but then also going on YouTube and watching people, literally watching them edit and produce a podcast. Cause I had never used garage band before that moment. So, um, and it all happened over the course of a couple of days. So it is possible to learn it quickly and dive in. Awesome. All right. So let's top in, let's jump into our top five. Uh, the number one is define the audience. And that seems kind of obvious, but I was actually listening to a book yesterday. Um, and I'm terrible at listening to books because my mind just doesn't stay with it, but I'm trying to get better. And so I'm listening to this book and it's on effective communication strategies. And this guy has this conference and they are talking about all these different ways to communicate, how to be a better public speaker, all these things. And when they get their feedback at the end of all the sessions that they had had over this two day conference, a 30 minute session on the first morning that was really seen to them as kind of a buffer was the one that was the most highly rated and most highly remembered. And it was the one on focusing your message to the people who need to hear it. And so let's talk about that.

Yeah. So know your audience and this, you know, Realtors, we mentioned Realtors don't read, but Realtors a lot of times try to be all things to all people, right? You, you aren't, I'm sorry, as an amazing of a Realtor you are, you, you aren't an expert in every topic, in every subdivision, in every, you know, area, there's just no way to be. And that's why it's important to specialize in something, right? So really knowing your audience is similar to defining your, your niche and defining your target market, just generally as a Realtor, right? So when you think about creating this, this podcast, this platform for yourself, who do you want that audience to be? And how specific do you want to be about that audience? Um, are you, you should probably pick something that you already have an interest in, right? So if you are specifically dealing with commercial real estate, right. Or you are specifically working a majority of your clientele or veterans, and you just keep, you know, getting some, you know, great referrals out of the, you know, that network, right?

Maybe that's your ideal audience, or maybe it's millennial moms who, you know, like eating Mexican food. I don't know why there was so many M's in that, but it works, right? So, right. So that could be your tagline. I mean, right. You know, and, and if, if find your people or who that audience should be and who it is that you want to speak to, you know, um, are they male or female or both? What age group do they fall into? Are these people that are self-employed? Um, you know, they're an employee of an organization, unemployed. What's their social life like? What are their hopes and dreams? Um, and what would they want to hear from you, right? So you really need to think about those people specifically, um, because that will help you create kind of the tone and really help you decide what exactly is this platform that I'm creating for myself.

Right. It makes me kind of wonder if there's, if, you know, you hear about people with, you listen to marketing gurus and things like that, talk about going deep, not going wide, you know, but then you hear other people like cast a wide net. Um, I wonder if you can get, I mean, I'm assuming, yes, obviously you can get too specific, but if you're really trying to target a certain niche, a certain demographic group, a certain market segment, how nerdy can you get on that? I wonder. I mean, you can get pretty nerdy, you know, I, I, I'll, I, I do consider myself a little bit of a podcast addict. Um, and you know, I think it comes with the territory, but even prior to having my own podcast, I was listening to different podcasts. I mean, think about all of the different genres of podcasts, just outside of anything real estate related, just, you know, the, the true crime, the, the business, the motivational, the, um, there was a podcast I listened to that was just all corporate speak. And it was just about like fun stories from the corporate world, you know? So there's just so many things that you could potentially talk about. And it's kind of, um, how some people say, you know, you, you find your ideal client and there's different ways to find your ideal client, really deciding who your audience is, is kind of the same thing. You're, you're defining my ideal client is this kind of person who does this, or this kind of person who lives in this particular part of town or whatever the case is, you're, you're defining who that is. Right. Which is kind of the perfect segue into topic number two, because once you have kind of lined out, who's my perfect listener, who's my perfect, you know, uh, audience member, you've got to create content that, that hits them. Right. So we're talking about brainstorming number two, being brainstorming subjects, brainstorming content.

Right. And it's, and it's so good to think about this again, this is all prior to launch, right? So we're deciding what am I going to be, who is my audience and what are we going to be talking about? Right. Um, I always tell people, uh, Realtors specifically, I say that when you're thinking of content, just generally, whether it be social media content, podcast content, whatever the case is, if you've been asked the question more than once it's content, right? So if you ever find yourself in a situation where you're just thinking to yourself, man, every person I meet in the woodlands asks me about blank, right? Um, every person that I talk to, or I show a home to in this area asks me, does this area flood or asks me, Hey, I heard the HOA in this area is very strict or whatever the case is. So if you're getting the same question over and over, that's a good subject for you to discuss, right? Because again, people want to hear about it. So I, you know, I, I generally tell people when you get those questions, you're out in the field and somebody asks you something, you're like, man, everybody asked me that go in the notes app on your phone and just write it down. Right. But in this case, if you're coming up with a podcast, write these, I mean, put, put together a word document or an Excel spreadsheet of, you know, here's all of the things I want to talk about, whether it may be monthly, I just talk about the market. There's an episode where I just talk about the market once a month, right? There's easy content that I have once a month. I can talk about what's going on.

Um, maybe, you know, I want to do something related to getting approved for a home loan, or maybe I want to do something related to, uh, something neighborhood specific. Maybe I get a lot of questions about what programs are available to me as a veteran, what programs are available to me as a first time home buyer, right? So those are all topics that you can create an episode around, um, and people will want to hear it. And a lot of these topics you might be able to reuse like a market update. You can do that as many times as you want. You can get more specific and drill down again to that super niche, only this particular area, not the Houston market as a whole. Right. Right. I know I, I keep a, um, I keep a Google, Google doc. I mean, it's just that simple. And when something comes to mind, because I will forget it if I don't write it down, um, when something comes to mind, I immediately just throw it in that Google doc and some of them happen and some of them don't.

Some of them seem like really, really brilliant ideas this morning. And then by afternoon, I'm like, that sucks. Nevermind. Yeah. Well, and then some of them could require, which kind of almost leads us into number three a little bit, but some of them, you know, if it's about, let's just say it's about home loan approval. Maybe this is an episode, maybe I'm typically just doing talking myself, or I'm just doing this with a partner, but maybe this is one where I want to bring on a subject matter expert. Um, if that's not my typical format. Right. Yeah. So which again, once again, like you've done this before once or twice. So, yeah, so now that we have good, we've got, we've defined our audience, we've got content that we want to deliver to that audience. We kind of get into sort of a little bit more the how, right? So with number three, we're talking about what's your format, what's your hosting style going to look like? And so take it away there. Yeah, absolutely. So your format and hosting style are there. That's a very big decision that we're hitting here on number three, because you're deciding how you're going to do this, how much work you're, you're going to give yourself or hire out to somebody. Right. Um, and, uh, you know, that the whole format of the show is, is coming together in this piece, because again, I have a video version of, of the show, right? Video podcasts have become increasingly popular. If you go to YouTube and you type in the word podcast, you're going to see so many podcasts there, but maybe I don't want the pressure of a video podcast. Maybe I just want audio. That's easier for me. I'm going to be editing it myself. I can put that together. Or I have a friend who's an audio engineer who's agreed to do it for me, whatever the case is. So video or audio is the number one decision, um, that you'll need to make there. Once, once you decide that, if it's, if it is video, where is that video going to go? Is this a YouTube channel? Is this a Facebook page? Um, where, where is this going to go? Um, and then also the hosting style it's, um, this, the Top 5 that you do, this is an interview style podcast, right? You typically bring on, uh, a subject matter expert that can give us a Top 5 of something, right? Um, Top 5 things you need to know about blank, which is a great format. And it emphasizes the title of the show and the goal of the show. Right. Um, but maybe, um, I want to just make this educational. I'm just sitting down and I'm talking for 15 to 20 minutes about a specific topic on one specific day. Maybe this is more of a storytelling, uh, type of podcast where I'm, I'm talking about what happened in, in, in, uh, in the field. Here's a weird thing that happened, or here's an interesting thing that happened, or here's a really great learning experience for others to hear.

Yeah. You hear these stories and you talk about agents who are like, you should write a book. You should write a book. Maybe they shouldn't. Maybe they should just do a podcast of the weird shit that happens to them while selling real estate. Absolutely. So it could be something storytelling. It could be conversational. Maybe, um, you and a friend that's also in the industry in some way, maybe they're a Realtor, maybe they're, they're not, maybe they work for a lender, a title company, whatever the case is. Maybe you co-host this with that person. Um, or maybe again, as you do here, you're the interviewer and you bring on a subject matter expert to interview in an interview style podcast. So these are things, and this can fluctuate, right? Maybe there's, there's a time where you're, where a chance you say, you know what, I have so much knowledge to give.

You're going to hear my Top 5 this week. These are my Top 5, whatever. And that's, and that's it. And that is educational. I think it's a, I think it's a very good idea for you to do, but, um, yeah, so it can be a combination of things, but, um, generally speaking, you want your audience to know what to expect. And so deciding that format and hosting style, at least for the most part that you're going to take on in advance is, is a really good idea. And there are, remember there are pros and cons. If your hosting style is conversational with a friend or somebody else in the industry, remember there's pros and cons to that because now you have an additional person's schedule to keep in mind. So, uh, it's something, it's a, it's a real conversation that you have to have with that person in advance of how available are you? Is this something that you can commit to weekly or twice a month or whatever it is that we're going to do?

Yep. And then, you know, it's especially like bringing on guests, you know, you're, you're sub, if you're going to be putting out a podcast on a daily basis or, you know, whatever your interval is, you've got to make sure that you line those up and either pre-record or make sure that, you know, schedules are, are really, really well coordinated because that can be one of the tough things, especially, you know, in real estate, for example, when you get into busy seasons, when you get into, you know, if staff's got a bunch of stuff going on for an association or for another company that you're trying to work through. Um, you know, we just, I just recorded one with Lori Levy, who is the general counsel of Texas Realtors on how to minimize liability for real estate agents and, you know, getting around a bunch of stuff that they had on, on the calendar, it can be really difficult. So if you're going to bring other people on, you got to be real cognizant of that plan well ahead. Yes, you definitely do. Um, somebody actually asked me, I was able to attend the, um, Texas Realtors leadership program opening retreat last week. Um, and that was, that was really great. And I got to meet some of our, our, uh, leaders actually met some agents that are, that are with your brokerage as well, which was nice. Um, and, uh, somebody asked me at that retreat, I want to start a podcast, but they said, I heard that you need to have three months of content planned out and produced before you launch. And I said, three months is a long time.

Um, but, but also keep in mind, should you, again, when you're coming up with the, the, uh, subjects that you want to have and your format and all of that stuff prior to, we're not at number four or five yet, but prior to that launch, you do want to have a couple already recorded, um, that it just makes it easier for you. It's a little less pressure out the get-go, but what I told that person was, um, unless your content is going to be completely evergreen, I can listen to it anytime. And it's all going to be the, you know, it doesn't matter what time of year, what, what, when it is, what the market looks like, if it's evergreen content, sure. But for the most part, you're going to want to not go that far out, maybe one or two weeks is, is fine, but I wouldn't go much more than a month out in advance of pre-recording because once that podcast information or once that podcast is released, what does the world look like once that podcast is released, right? What, what has changed in the market? What has changed in the world, um, since I recorded it? Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's the same thing.

Yeah. The other part of your job is, is doing all the social media work, right? And so it's the same thing about pre-scheduling social. Like you've got to be real cognizant of what that content calendar looks like, because if something in the world happens and then you post something that you had planned three weeks ago, but all of a sudden it puts you or your company or your brand or whatever it is in a bad light, you don't want that to happen. I mean, I can tell you, so, you know, from my personal experience in starting this podcast, not knowing what the hell I was doing, um, I leaned on friends for the first couple of episodes, just to kind of like, let's work through what this is going to look like. Um, and you know, my very first episode was with my business coach. And so he and I already talked about all the stuff we were talking about anyway, and we just recorded it this time and put a little bit of structure behind it. And so I think that kind of helps ease you in, but I mean, you know, we always try to keep, cause we'll run a 12 to 15 week quote unquote season. Um, and we try to always keep about three episodes in the camp before we start the season and just keep that. That way, if something happens in my schedule, something happens to one of the guest schedules, we're not scrambling for content.

Right. Right. And it can be, so what I do is a little different because I do stream it live, um, every week. And so it has to be scheduled. Everybody has to show up where they need to be and when they need to be there. Right. Um, but there, of course there are, have been situations over the course of doing it over a couple of years, it's bound to happen that something happens, there's an accident, uh, somebody, you know, it's never happened where somebody double booked themselves, but it has happened. It did happen once where somebody completely no showed, you know, so it can happen. And so that puts us in a scramble. Usually I have some sort of, I, maybe it's that women's intuition, but I, I, I feel like I know when somebody might not show up for something.

So I usually have, I have a backup plan in my mind and I'm ready to go with that. And I might call somebody at the last second and say, I need you to get on camera with me in 10 minutes. Right. So it could happen, but if you can avoid that, and like you said, have maybe three episodes in the can ready to go, that is ideal. Perfect. Perfect. All right. So that takes us to the question that everybody always asks. And I'm going to jokingly, as I'm introducing this, we just reach over here and turn on my light that I didn't turn on. Uh, when we, when we started this, uh, so that I actually, you know, don't look like I'm in the shadows on camera, but, um, is what do you, what microphone do you use? What this, what that? Uh, and I think, you know, the biggest question that I had for you when I called you initially was how do I get this out? Right. So let's talk about equipment and what you need to start a podcast from an equipment standpoint. Right. So again, if you're going to be, um, utilizing video, there's more elements than if it's audio only. So let me start with the video lighting that you're supposed to turn on. Like lighting that you're supposed to turn on. Yes.

Um, so lighting, the good thing is every piece of equipment that we're going to mention has gotten so cheap in the last two years. Uh, and I don't mean quality wise. I mean, just it's, it's a lot more accessible, um, that it was two years ago because everybody needs it, you know, with people taking zoom calls and things like that. Everybody needs it. So, um, if you're doing a video podcast, um, a camera is going to be necessary of some kind. Um, I would not suggest using just your built-in whatever that you have on your computer. Those are not made for the quality of video that you're going to want to put out in the world. So, um, a camera of some kind, there's some really nice, really expensive ones out there that you can look into, or just a simple webcam, um, a good quality webcam. I actually use a, um, a nice, uh, Logitech webcam. Um, and I, and I, yeah, and I get, I get compliments on it all the time. Like, why is your video quality so good? It's not right now.

For some reason I'm going out of focus, but, um, you, uh, I get, why is your video quality so good? And it's two things. It's a good camera and it's lighting. Um, so like you mentioned as well, lighting is also something that's crucial. It can really make or break the quality of the video that you have come through. Um, and again, lighting, most people have that now, but ring lights, umbrella lights, those they're not very expensive. Um, so look into it. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Um, and they'll, it'll be the same. I use Logitech webcam. It's been all that I've ever needed. We looked at getting, you know, kind of a DSLR or something like that. And I was just like, well, I could try this for a hundred dollars or buy this really expensive camera. And this has always been anything we've ever needed to be. And with most of them, you know, like this one just sits up on top of my monitor, but if I wanted to, I could also put it on a tripod really, really simply, uh, and have more of a mobile studio. That's, that's also one of the nice things about the little webcams is they're tiny. They're tiny. They're easy to move around. Like you said, they do make them to where they can go on a tripod. Um, and they're also plug and play, you know, you don't have to worry about settings and, and all of the, the bells and whistles that you're going to find on a DSLR. Um, so, you know, it really invest in a, in a decent quality, uh, webcam, um, and, and some decent lighting, and that will a thousand times over improve your video quality. Um, something else, um, that you will probably want is a, uh, boom stand or a microphone stand of some kind. Um, if you're ever listening to a podcast and you hear like a, or, or typing people, all of that stuff comes up. And so if you're somebody like, I speak with my hands a lot, I can't help it. They're always, they're moving right now. They're always moving.

Yep. I can't have a microphone just sitting in front of me and expect good quality because I inevitably will bang that microphone with my hands or I'll hit my hand on the table and you're going to hear it come through the audio. Um, there are microphone stands that you can't. So again, super inexpensive. You can clip them onto the table. So the microphone is comes and just sits right in front of your face. Um, I actually have a boom microphone that sits over my head. So anything that I am to do on the computer, like if I'm doing a quick little type of something or sending a note to whoever, you know, it won't necessarily pick up that audio. It won't pick up when I bang my arms on the table. Um, it won't pick any of that up and it just sits above my head. So I just have to make sure that when I speak with my hands, I don't go over my head. I don't do the Ricky Bobby. I don't know what to do with my hands. Um, so exactly. Um, so you know, a boom stand or a microphone stand of some kind, but also the actual microphone, right? So the microphone is going to be important as well.

Um, I, I actually use, um, the microphone that I, I use is, uh, the brand Samsung as not Samsung, Samsung, S A M S O N pretty easy. It only has three different dials on it. So I can increase the gain, increase the volume and things like that. Um, but another, again, if you're looking for plug and play, but good quality, a lot of people use the Yeti ones, Yeti blue specifically. Yeah. I think I might have recommended the Yeti blue to you. Um, but yeah, because that's the one I typically recommend to everyone. It's again, I love the plug and play, um, you know, accessibility. There's literally a mute button and that is it. Right. So very easy to use, but really can be improved by putting it on a boom stand or a microphone stand of some kind. Um, so as far as, uh, like any other equipment, obviously a computer, um, you know, and then whatever you're going to be recording on, um, you know, whether you're recording on zoom, um, some people don't do, uh, the video option on zoom just to improve their internet quality. So they don't have cuts out and lag and things like that. Um, and then, um, also, so, uh, what I actually do is, um, my, I have a podcast co-host, uh, HR's PR manager, David Mendel. He's my co-host on the podcast. We record through zoom, but then we also have separate individual recordings that do on their own. He uses a program called audacity and I use garage band. And so I actually have, I zoom is really just our backup audio that we use. Um, and you, him recording on his end and me recording on my end actually really improves the audio quality of the podcast. So you can, again, you can start with zoom and grow from there. Right. So it's, it's, it's a lot easier to do. And then again, that's, if you're interviewing somebody, if you're doing it solo, you don't even have to go that far. So. Well, and I think that that, what you just said is really good advice, just in general, like you can start with an inexpensive camera, you can start with an inexpensive mic, as long as you get good sound out of it. And then as you grow and you realize that this is something you really want to do, then you can start getting re I mean, you can get real expensive with some of this stuff if you want to, uh, and start, you know, using equalizers and all of that for your sound. And you can, you can go crazy with it if you want to, but there's really not a need.

No, there really isn't. I mean, again, it's again, if you've determined your audience, you've determined some really great topics to cover, people aren't going to be super critical of anything you put out, especially anybody. Again, if you're picking your, your ideal client here, they're not going to be somebody who really cares about how beautiful it sounds or whatever the case is. Um, but you can, um, also hire somebody to do that stuff for you. If, if that's something you decide to do down the road, or it just becomes too much work for you. Um, I was a guest co-host, um, for, uh, for a podcast recently. It's an organization that I'm really involved with. Um, and they asked me to guest co-host and they actually had a audio company on the zoom call with us. And they listened throughout the whole thing. They took notes of our arms and us and all of that stuff. And also any spots where we said, Oh, uh, you know what? I misspoke. Let's take that back.

Right. So they actually sat on the entire call with us, made all those notes and then produced the podcast, gave us a transcript and let us read through to make sure we were happy with it and then produced it and finalized it. So there are, you know, ways and levels of production that you can just get higher and higher. And of course, more expensive, more of an investment to do something like that. But, you know, again, you can do that with some, with some external help as well, if that's something you want to do. Absolutely. So last but not least, before we go on to number five, um, and maybe this is included in number five and I'm, and I'm, and I'm getting ahead. One thing that I came to you for once we really started recording was how do I get this out? Like from the aggregation standpoint, do you want to talk about that now or in, in five?

Yeah, no, let's talk about that now. Cause I think that falls into really number four, um, which is you need to find a podcast host, right? How do you get it out in the world? Uh, you need to find some sort of podcast host. There are a lot of, there's podcasts go to so many different places. I mean, most people think like Apple podcasts, but Spotify now LinkedIn, Facebook now has podcasting all of these, you know, I heart radios, all these things. Some of them, when I got into looking at where they go, I was like, I've never even heard of that. Right. And because some of them are, um, they might be really popular in a different country. And then you also have to, well, do I want it to go out there? Sure. Why not? Right. Uh, maybe who knows, um, you'd be surprised. We, we, I look at my metrics sometimes and, and the number of, uh, listeners that we have outside of the country, it's, it's pretty interesting. So I, I say we have a worldwide podcast. We do. So, um, yeah. So finding some kind of podcast host, um, is, is going to be really important, uh, because essentially what you're doing, by finding a podcast host is you're determining what platform am I going to upload to that is then going to release to the Spotify, the SoundCloud, Facebook, Twitter, you know, everywhere else in the world that I might want my podcast to go. Um, so there's a lot of different ones, um, podcast hosting platforms. I use, uh, one called Libsyn L I B S Y N. It has worked well. I've been using that one since 2018, I think when we launched, um, and it has worked well for me. Um, it was actually recommended to me by, um, by a friend who is an audio engineer. Um, so that was why I went with that one. He said, it's easy to use and I think you'll like it. I said, okay. So I tried it. Um, but there's different ones. There's things like RSS.com. I'm not sure which one you use chance, but there's, there's so many out there that you can use. It was Buzzsprout. Yeah. Um, and I've been really happy.

It pushes out to, I think like 18 or 19 different directories. Um, so, you know, your big ones like Google podcasts, Spotify, Apple podcasts, obviously. Um, but I mean, Stitcher, iHeart, just all these, uh, like, I don't, I don't even have a clue what Deezer is, but apparently that's a thing, uh, where podcasts are. And so, you know, sure. We'll be on Deezer, whatever the hell it is. I don't know, but we'll be on it. Yeah. And most of these, um, different hosting sites, they do also have analytics built into them. So how I mentioned, like, I can see where in the country and where in the world were being downloaded, um, most of them have that in there. So you can see, um, how many downloads you got on a specific topic or episode, which again, is an indicator to you. If I see, oh my gosh, we talked about, you know, X, Y, Z and our downloads doubled. Well, we need to talk about that more.

Um, so looking for a podcasting host that not only will do take the, the legwork out for you and push it out to all these different platforms, but also one that is going to give you some analytics that are meaningful and helpful to you as you're determining the future of your podcast. Yeah. And it really is kind of cool because as you see what resonates with the audience, you can immediately redirect your content strategy to match up with what they're looking for. And so, you know, one of the most popular, uh, one of the most popular episodes of this show was when we gave Top 5 tips to brand new Realtors. I mean, that's gotten more downloads and more listens than almost any of the other episodes by a long shot. And so, you know, now what we talk about is, okay, well, how do we pull the thread on that? And what else do new Realtors need to know? And can we just start to deliver a little bit of that content, um, as opposed to just general real estate agent topics? Yeah. Yeah. Well, especially with the increase of, well, but yeah, well, especially with the increase of, of Realtors in the, in the last two years as well, there's a, there's a lot of them that are looking for some guidance. So absolutely. That's an excellent topic and I can see why it's a, a high volume, um, download. Um, so yeah, finding an actual platform and again, Google is a, is a great source if you don't, if you don't know where to go, but, uh, finding a platform that that's easy for you to use, gives you good analytics and is, is going to distribute. Uh, but also again, prior to launch, this is a major one here and I'm, and I kind of buried it into number four, but it's a, it's a major, uh, thing. You need to come up with a name for your, your podcast. So again, this is another place where you're going to have to be intentional.

Think back to the audience and the subjects that, that we discussed earlier and determine, you know, what is the name of your, your podcast. Um, and how does it align with your brand? How does it align with your audience? How does it align with the subject matter that you're going to be discussing in, in this podcast? Um, there was, it's, it's no longer on, but there was a podcast I used to listen to called, uh, Martinis and murder. It was all true crime and they would talk about murder, right? They would talk about true crime and they would drink a different martini every, every episode. And so that was, that was their brand. They have a themed martini to that murder, right? Yeah. And they would do that. And, and then, you know, from there it would stem out to, oh, it's national martini day and we're doing this or that or whatever. So, you know, determining that audience, determining the subject matter, and then deciding what we're going to call this podcast, uh, is, is crucial. You mentioned earlier that Realtors are on the move. Guess what the name of our podcast is? HAR on the move, right? So it, it, it, it makes perfect sense because Realtors are always on the move and we want you guys to be able to take the content we're giving you from HAR, take it on the move with you. Right. So it makes sense. Yours Top 5. So easy to understand where we have five specific things that we're going to be talking about today. Here they are. Right. Um, and so the whole point of the podcast. So the truth be told, the reason I named it Top 5 was actually out of a movie that I love, which is high fidelity starring John Cusack and Jack Black. Um, they would always make these just like random, like desert Island albums, you know, top, top album of the seventies. So they work in a record store. And so I have a buddy and we always play that game, like Top 5, this Top 5, that, uh, he take, I woke up to a text message like three days ago. It was like Top 5 Westerns. Oh crap. Cause I'm not a huge Western fan. So there's a lot of recency bias on that with like, you know, and then I tried to throw in city slickers in there and he was like, that's not a Western comedy on horseback. Um, but anyway, that was where the name came from.

But yeah, the app, the practical application piece of it was, we want somebody to listen to this podcast, be able to take these five things and immediately go put them into business. And so it's a pretty simple fit. So, yeah. And again, it's, it's important to have determined number one and two, to come up with that name. If, if we, again, we talked about, uh, is it storytelling, right? So, or, you know, is it, is it something along the lines of stories from the field or whatever it is, right? So there's different things that you can decide on, but you have to have figured out one and two first. And then also, these are some crucial things, every podcast. And I, if you're going to be launching a podcast, hopefully you've listened to a podcast, right? Um, but if you haven't, maybe go do some research, maybe look up, you know, Wondery, they have a whole, uh, library of different podcasts. You can go, go listen to, but pretty much you're going to find every podcast has a few things, right? They have a title. They have some kind of logo or album artwork that you're going to need, uh, some kind of graphic, right? And they all have a little bit of consistency as to what they do in every episode, whether it's the intro, the outro, it could be music. It could be, they just jump right in and start talking. Um, and then they cut to music, right? So there's, there's a little bit of consistency. And what that does for your audience is it just, it creates recognition as you know, I could be listening to a podcast, one ends and another begins, but I know what podcasts I'm listening to because I recognize the music or the, the, the host's voice or whatever it is. Right. So you need to determine those intros and outros. Um, and really important here, if you're going to be using music for the intros, for the outros, for cutaways, for different things like that, you need to make sure it's copyright free music. Again, if you just go to royalty, just Google royalty free music, you can find it on YouTube. You can find it different places. Um, and that music you can actually utilize because what you don't want is some sort of copyright strike. And now you have to take everything down and start all over again. Yep. So royalty free or copyright free music, you can find, uh, you can find it in a lot of different places online. All right. So up to this point, we've talked about before you launch, before you launch, before you launch. So now number five is launch and spread the word, right? Yes. Launch your podcast and market your podcast. Specifically at the very beginning, this is going to be a lot of work. Um, hopefully, you know, at the beginning, people immediately start subscribing or following your podcast and love it and just stay subscribed. Um, but initially again, I already mentioned that you're going to need some kind of graphics for your show, some podcast cover art, um, graphics for social media, because like chances are, you're going to want to promote this on social media. Um, is it an email campaign? You know, I just launched a podcast, subscribe wherever podcasts are available. Right. Um, so you want to promote that and you'll need to do that in the, um, initial at the initial, right? So maybe my very first episode is a super short one. It's three minutes long and it's me telling you what to expect from this podcast. Right. Or maybe my first one, like you did, you just dive right in with a subject matter expert and, and let's get in. Right.

Um, so it really, again, you have to determine what that is and then launch it, um, on the platforms we mentioned earlier, um, that, that you use to distribute the podcast, they do have to where you can schedule this in advance. Um, so you don't have to just be ready at the, you know, on your mouse, the trigger on your mouse, right. Ready to click release into the world. Right. Um, so you schedule it. So for example, mine always go out, um, very early on Wednesday mornings, right. I schedule that in advance. Um, but, um, this is, this is something that, that you can easily schedule and know that you're going to want to promote on X day at X time or whatever the case is. Um, any platform that you use is also going to ask you for a description of your show. If you've made it to this point, you should be easily able to summarize your show in one or two sentences. Um, but you'll also want to know that at the launch, how am I going to promote this to people on social media, on email, et cetera. How am I going to describe this podcast to them and why, what is the buy-in? Why would they want to subscribe to my podcast? Aside from just the fact that they love me, right? Why, what value are they going to get from this podcast? So you should be able to describe that in one or two sentences.

It's like doing a unique value proposition for your business. You're doing a unique value proposition for your podcast. Absolutely. Um, and yeah, exactly, exactly right. So come up with that description. You're also going to need to come up with your schedule. Like I mentioned, you can schedule them in advance. You mentioned that you'd like to have like three in the can ready to go. So come up with, um, a schedule because guess what? We humans were creatures of habit. We like consistency. I like knowing that on Thursday mornings, I'm going to wake up and find a new episode of my favorite podcast in my podcast app. Right. So, um, how frequently are you going to do this? Is it going to be weekly? Is it going to be bi-monthly? Is it going to be monthly? Um, whatever it is, you need to determine that in advance and you need to stick to that schedule because people are going to be looking for it. Once they fall in love with you and fall in love with your podcast, they're going to be looking for it and they're going to have questions. If it's, if it's Thursday at noon and my new podcast, isn't there, what happened this week? Where are they? Are they okay?

Um, so yeah, so you need to determine what that schedule is and stick to it. And then, um, really just like you said, just like with your business, you need a marketing plan. So you need to come up with your marketing plan for your podcast as well. Am I, if I'm releasing every, let's say Wednesday morning, maybe every Wednesday at 10 AM, I put a post on all my social media platforms. We have a new episode out today. It was with Chance Brown and we were talking about X, Y, Z, right? So maybe that's what I'm going to do. Maybe it's an email marketing campaign. Again, these are things that you have to determine based on your audience and who that, who you're trying to target with this podcast. Yep. So we launched Wednesdays at 10 and Tuesdays at 10, we launch a teaser that usually has a clip, right? Like this. Um, and then we, to promote it, to get, build anticipation on social for the following day. And then it goes out everywhere. Um, and yeah, I, I think we've got a schedule.

We schedule it all obviously through Buzzsprout, like we were talking about, but also we schedule it through Facebook, um, the video portion and Instagram and, uh, also YouTube. So we schedule all of that in advance. That's great. You should try to automate as much as you can, you know, just so you're not. Based on your topic and your audience, you should be doing it on LinkedIn too. Well, so we do, but we do, we, uh, LinkedIn only allows you to post a video up to a certain length and more often than not, these episodes go over that. You post the YouTube link into LinkedIn. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's how, that's how we have to try to get around that. Cause I think they'll, I think in LinkedIn, you can only go up to 15 minutes or something like that. So, yeah. Cool. All right. So going back through our Top 5, we're defining our audience and we're brainstorming the content that we're going to deliver to them. We're going to pick first our format and our hosting style, how we want to do this as an interview, as a conversation with storytelling.

And then we're going to get the equipment to be able to do that because it may determine whether we're getting lighting that we don't turn on or a camera, or if we're just worried about a microphone. Um, and then we're going to launch and push this out to market and promote the heck out of it. That's right. That's how you make a podcast kids. That's how you do it. So easy. That's right. Just super easy. Everyone can do it. You have to start doing it. Yeah. And that's, and that's exactly what it is. I think, um, you know how they talk about entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs. I feel like they need to create a, a word for wants a podcaster or something because I, I, you know, people talk to me about this all the time. I want, I, I, I hear podcasts. I love podcasts. I feel like I can do it, but it's just like anything else. You just have to jump in and do it. And, um, and I will say it's fun. It's, it's fun. Do you have fun doing that? I don't think you would do it.

I always have a good time doing these and I always learn something. Like that's the best part is I always learn something new. Um, I have a great time doing it. The thing that I hear a lot from people, especially when it comes to video is I don't want to be on the video because I don't like the way I look or I don't like the way I sound and yeah, not to be kind of crass, but my response to that is, well, that's because you're funny looking and funny sounding, get over it and start and get out there and do the work. I say it a little bit nicer, but I say you look the way you look and you sound the way you sound, because I will tell you that you're going to hear and see every flaw that you have when you start editing yourself. I mean, imagine editing a podcast of your voice and you don't like the way your voice sounds. And I'm saying things you say, right. And guess what? My, the first time I heard myself on camera, I hated my voice. I still don't really like it.

That much, but I'm so used to it now. It doesn't bother me. It is what it is. Right. And that's the thing that hit me was the first couple of times I would catch myself saying either well, the first time it, it was, it was incredibly embarrassing, but it didn't make it into the podcast. I said the word like 4,000 times. I mean, it sounded like a Valley girl was hosting the show from the eighties. Right. And I was, Oh, I couldn't stand it. And so, but it changes the way that you speak. And I think it changes the way you speak for the better. So that if you're ever going to be speaking in public, presenting anything like that, you kind of almost through the training of hosting a podcast, get rid of some of those bad habits of the ums and the pauses and the little colloquialisms that you tend to repeat when you're just in easy conversation.

But you know, and like you just said it in easy conversation and that's how it should feel to your audience. It should feel like an easy conversation. Yes. If you go and go into the podcast app, you're going to find some heavily, highly produced podcasts. Um, you know, I, uh, I, I, there's podcasts I listened to that they're very clearly put on by production companies with lots and lots of money in their pockets and that's fine. But for what we're doing here, this is not, it doesn't need to be that it doesn't need to be highly produced. It doesn't need to be the most perfect thing in the world because at the end of the day, the client wants to work with you for whatever, for, for the person that you are, for how you sound, for how you look, they like those things about you and that's why they want to work with you. So if you say like, if you say, um, you're probably going to say them in real life too, and that's okay because they're going to either not even hear it because we are all our own worst critic, or if they do hear it, they're going to accept it and they're going to be fine with it. Yep. Awesome. Christina, thank you. This was tremendous. I appreciate not only your help in helping me start this podcast and all the free advice that you give out to people, but also for coming on and sharing everything with people today.

Of course, I had fun. Thank you so much. Me too. And thank you for watching this episode of Top 5. We'll be back next week with another one. Take care.