Sarah: Good morning! So, we're doing a podcast, a video podcast, so we thought, what better topic than to talk about this? Because as you came up with this title, "You Too, Can Create a Video Podcast," but it's true. It really is, because we've started this and we've just found that it's such an amazing platform and to take it not only from an audio to a video podcast, opens up so many more options to reach a wider audience. And then you can start using platforms like YouTube and Facebook and all that and other social channels. So, we want to help anybody out that wants to do a video podcast, because here's the thing, before you go out and buy a microphone and hit record, you need to have a little bit of a plan.

Glyna: Little, yeah.

Sarah: Trust me, we know.

Glyna: We've been learning as we go, so that's why we want to share this, give it to y'all up front.

Sarah: Yeah, exactly, exactly. So we want to give the step-by-step of how you too, can set up a video podcast. So let's go! 

Glyna: Welcome to Marketing Mix, everybody. Every week we highlight different types of digital marketing segments. We like to really talk about trends, stuff that we're doing, things like this, we found out along the way and make things a lot easier for you. So, before we get started, let's look at our broadcast.

Sarah: Yes. Every week we go live on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, and we also do the replay on Instagram and LinkedIn. And as always, we have our great podcast, which is the audio podcast, Marketing and a Mic. Make sure you download that because it is awesome to listen to and gives you so much stuff about digital marketing, as always our YouTube channel, Fusion One Marketing. That's another good one to check out, because again, we're putting a lot of videos in so that you can watch, it's all resources.

Glyna: Exactly. We're doing all the work for you, all you have to do is watch what we tell you.

Sarah: You want answers, we got answers. So, let's get right to it. So, why would you want to think about starting a video podcast? Well, one of the biggest things is I think it's at a real basic level is that humans are visual creatures. We like to watch things and amazingly enough, and when you're watching something, it's something about the visual and the facial expressions that actually helps your brain digest information more, it sounds nuts, but it's absolutely true. We were talking about that, I think at one point we were doing visuals, excuse me, interviews. And you were saying that when you can see the expressions, it really helps put it all together a lot more. And also, video gives you a lot wider of an audience. You've got a lot more platforms that you can work with. And the majority of people still prefer video. So, it's just a great source. And this is something really, really cool, with video you can repurpose it. And what that means, is you can take your video and you can do so much more with it. We could edit this and shorten it, and then we could put it out on an Instagram reel. I could do a thing called ... there's this thing called an audiogram, which is cool. We can just do a little snippet.

Glyna: Yes, I love those.

Sarah: That you can put on social media, that just gives you a little teaser. So much you can do.

Glyna: Oh my gosh. Yeah. That's a whole other podcast is talking about, what can you do with the content after you're done. We may have to get Kelsi on here to talk about that one day. But yes, video, is it, it's here. It's been here for years. So, you need to be thinking about how you can use video and this podcast is the perfect way to do it, because you're right, video is so much more social. Even on social media, have you ever noticed that they're always on auto-play without sound, if you come across them on your feed? That's because even social platforms are optimized for video and not necessarily audio. Again, these platforms already to accept video and put it out there. And it's still one of the most popular forms of content. If you think about it, and a lot of people don't realize this, YouTube is the second largest social platform. And by that we mean, people use Google the most, you can think of that as a social platform or search engine, but YouTube is the second largest search engine or social platform that people use. So video is here.

Sarah: Video is here. It's wild when you think about that. But we also, and this could be a whole other show, is we like to title our shows and have a lot of keywords that make it searchable, because that's a platform, YouTube people are searching for stuff. So, that's a whole other thing to think about how you can use your video podcast and title it and all that good stuff. So, let's go right into it. Because we broke it up into, I don't know, I should know the number, but a few ways to break this down of how your podcast needs to be set up. And one of the first ones, is what is your podcast going to be about?

Glyna: Yeah.

Sarah: I'm sorry, why we should start a podcast? Sorry, what will your podcast be about now? This is something that's ... doesn't that sound so basic? But a lot of people don't think about that. Truly they think to themselves, "Okay. I want to do a podcast. I have an idea." And it's like, "Nah, you got to think about taking a step further." Is your idea going to be a long-running topic? In other words meaning, are you going to be able to generate a steady stream of content off of this idea? Because you really got to make sure you can.

Glyna: Yes, most people, and it's like anything, they look at the glamor and the fun stuff, but you really have to do some homework. So, think about who your audience is. Oh my gosh, demographics, demographics, demographics. I don't know how many times. I think that's in every show, we talk about "who is your audience? Who's buying your stuff and will your podcast resonate with the people you really want to reach?". Finally, this is a biggie. Are you an expert on your topic? You need to come across credible on the subject that you're talking about and provide enough value for people to come back over and over and over again. So, that's a lot to think about, but you really need to think, what is it going to be about? And how long could I possibly do this?

Sarah: That's so true, because really the consistency is so key. And that's the next point we want to make, is the time and frequency of your podcasts because any successful podcast, anything successful really in life, it's consistent. And I think one of the main staples about, whether it's an audio or video podcast, is that it's an ongoing series. It's got ongoing episodes. So, you want to make sure, and this goes too, what your podcast is going to be about. That it's got enough ideas to generate something ongoing and anything that is consistent, people know the time, they know when it's going to be on, they know when to tune-in, and that helps build your audience. So, you want to set up a time and a frequency that you know, you can stick with and that your audience can anticipate.

Glyna: That's the huge thing. People can watch it afterwards. Live, we love doing live. That way, we don't have to worry about being perfect on video. I don't know what it is about that, but yeah, but even if people don't watch it live, they're going to watch it later. So anyway, that's a big thing. When can you carve out time weekly, should be weekly probably, to get this done? So, you have to think of a name. My gosh, we went round and round and round with a name. Obviously, you want to make sure that you have what you're doing, in other words, in the name. So, we're a marketing company. So, we tried to put the word marketing, again for search engines, within the name. Branding is a huge part. So, you have to think of what your brand going to look like. And us, we already had a brand with Fusion One Marketing. So, we didn't want to sway off of those colors or off of that brand too much. We wanted people to know that it was part of Fusion One Marketing, so you have to think of all of those things. So, it's just a lot.

Sarah: But it's important. It's all that preparation that I think, you just don't want to set yourself up for failure. You don't realize how much you have to prepare for, but this piece of it getting your ... did I cut you off, Glyna? I thought you were about to say something.

Glyna: No, I was just going to say. And the other thing that we didn't think about until we started looking at podcasts is you don't want to name yours the same as somebody else. So, you need to check podcasts, video podcasts, audio podcasts, and make sure that it's unique.

Sarah: Yes. Yeah. Unique and you had indicated something to where in the title, people are going to know what the subject matter is. This is so important too, is to build your content. And so we always create our episode list in advance of all the topics that we can think of and things that we think our audience will be interested in and we just keep a running list of ideas, because this helps us tremendously, not only stay on track, but stay consistent so that we're not scrambling. And then also to take it a step further, whenever we were putting together a show, you and I sat down and we thought, what do we want it to be, do we want segments? Do we want a little intro? When do we bring in slides? When do we bring in ... ? There's so much within the meat of the show itself that you want to think about, too. The format of it. Are we going to have a little teaser at the beginning, are we going to ... all that stuff. Are we going to have a break where we do something fun? So, not only do you want to have a running list of ideas and your episodes, but you want to know within the show, what are you going to talk about, which is where that script comes in.

Glyna: Yes. And I never would have thought of a script until we really got in on this and what we mean by a script- We have this all written out and Sarah does this. We make our points and then we kind of fluff it up a little bit to make sure that we're including everything. So, every single week you need to plan time out, it's fun just doing this part of it, but it takes a lot of planning. You really need to plan out your time and your script. You want to keep it within a 30 minute window, but you want to make sure that you hit all your bullet points and Sarah does that for us every week and has this all ready. So, there's a lot that you need to think of. There may be some people that can just come on and pull it off and just talk and not worry about, but with us giving advice, we want to make sure that we're giving our audience the most valuable information and not leave anything out.

Sarah: Yes, that's so true. Okay.

Glyna: Yeah, so the next thing is, choose a platform for your podcast. Now you're going to need a platform, and what we mean by that, Zoom or Stream Yard or something like that, to put your video podcast on and not all of them are created equal. And in fact, you need to look for service, that's going to be flexible, but also give you what you need for your show. Each show could be different and you need to think about what platform offers you the best features. And we love Stream Yard and we'll get into why in a minute. I think just right off the top, it's so flexible. We can add all our cool stuff to it. We love Stream Yard, and I think going live, we can go live on so many platforms, or not platforms, social media channels all at once. We love Stream Yard for the ease of use and flexibility.

Sarah: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. That's so key is to just make sure that you know, that you're picking what ... because once you have it all laid out, "Okay, here's what I want my show to be about." Then align that with what's going to be a good platform where I can broadcast and you said all the destinations or social channels that I want to go live on and all that stuff. So, you got to do a little bit of research with that. So, this is another one I feel like every time I'm, "This is really important too," but this is really important. So branding plays a huge part in your video podcast because, for obvious reasons, that's what's your sticking point, what resonates with people, your recognition, if you look up in the corner, we have our little fancy Marketing Mix logo that we actually created specifically for this show. And that's something that we brand and we put out everywhere.

Glyna: We put it on our cups.

Sarah: Yeah, we put it on our cups, it's everywhere. I know and I had my cup and I had it on my counter. And then I had my Biz Talk mug., See? We just brand everywhere. Branding full. So you want to create graphics and we're going to touch on the ones that we really need to think about just at the basic level. But it's just something that helps put it all together. An intro video, an outro video, it just adds that professional touch to your broadcast. And you really want to think about your colors and your fonts or however far you want to go. But again, it's all going to come together.

Glyna: Yes. And I have to give you great kudos. If it wasn't for Sarah, we wouldn't have all these cool graphics and she's amazing. And it's just so much fun. She created all this stuff, I just show up.

Sarah: Glyna is the talent.

Glyna: I won't say, "The talent." Yeah right! All this beautiful stuff you see that we have, Sarah's done it. So, I think when you start thinking about what makes us stand apart is you really put together a package for our podcasts that, I feel, make us look very professional, our intro video clip. It's what you guys see at the beginning that we play. And if you're going to create an intro video, again, these things may be beyond you. You may not have to have one, but this is just going to make you look the most professional as possible. But you need to have just a little bit of text on it, your colors, again, your brand, your logo, all of that. And then music is very important. You want to have something a little bit upbeat. Well, I guess, depending on your show, I can't think of anything that wouldn't want to be upbeat. You never know the topic, for ours we like to give it something that's a little upbeat, but very important, make sure that you're not using music that has a copyright on it.

Sarah: Yeah. Yes. And that intro, and I think all of it is so important to give even people that are watching for the first time or just introducing themselves, that in the intro video, as well as what you say in the beginning, it gives them that quick little intro about what your show is going to be about. Not only what the topic is, but what the show is. So that's why we always talk about having a little hook in the beginning, then play that intro video, because then that reinforces, "Hey, while you're here, this is what our show is about. We provide marketing trends and ideas and tips." So, along with that, then you're going to have your outro video, which goes at the end. And that's just a real simple, thanks for watching. And then it gives them reminders of, "Hey, if you want to catch more videos, you can find us here. Don't forget to subscribe." If they want it for more information, provide the contact information. And then also some call to action of how they can contact you if they want more information. So that's equally as important because it helps reinforcing your brand and how people can contact you and watch more videos.

Glyna: Yes, exactly. And, oh, there's Harry Slagle, haven't talked to Harry in a while. Good morning, Harry and Perry Bars. And Gary is joining us from ... Shelby Chamber, good morning. And also another reason we love Stream Yard so much is that you can do these cool things. It's easy to pop in the intro and outro, but also it's really easy to accentuate other pieces of your platform, overlays that have call to action. You mentioned call to action. We've done our subscribe one for our YouTube. The one that Sarah puts up at the beginning talking about our podcast.

Sarah: You have those little things, if I take down this banner, it's got all these cool little things.

Glyna: Just show a couple. Go and show that.

Sarah: This is one that we do, which is the welcome to Marketing Mix. That's fun. And then of course, this is the overlay that Glenna was talking about in the beginning. Where we talk about subscribe for more. And then we've got all these little pop-ups that we can do and add them in, so ...

Glyna: Yeah, it's just endless and it's so fun. So, it just adds a lot to the broadcast and you can get crazy with it. You could do all kinds of stuff. And then the banners, as Sarah's putting up the banners across the bottom and those can move. So again, that's another reason why we love StreamYard because it gives us so much flexibility to do all this fun stuff.

Sarah: Yes, that's really, really true. We love it all. It's really fun. And then the other thing with the show, so we're talking about the show itself with all the graphics, that beforehand, when you schedule your broadcast, when you are scheduling it, they ask for something called a thumbnail. If you don't know what that is, that's the cover. That's when you set out your broadcast and it goes on to all your social channels, it's that cover that everybody sees of, "Tune in, we've got this guest, we're going to talk about this." So you want to create a pre-show thumbnail, that's another graphic. So that's another thing you want to think about having a brand in, having those colors and all that stuff in place, include your logo, the name of the show, when it's going to air, the guest information, all that good stuff.

Glyna: Yes, exactly. And again, with StreamYard, I'm sure it's available and on other platforms, but we've just not found one that allows us to do these things as much as StreamYard. So background, that's what you see in the background. You're going to want to do this just to really drive home your marketing and your brand, especially if you're not in a studio setting. So again, Sarah's created all these backgrounds for us. We have all different kinds that we can pick at any moment. Again, you want to have your logo, all your colors, all that good stuff. And with Stream Yard, it's really cool that you can create different ones. If you have three people, five people, so you can create backgrounds for any number of people that you want on the show. So it's really awesome.

Sarah: It is awesome. So, this segues to our next, which is if your video podcast has guests, because it is another beast in a way.

Glyna: That's a whole different ball game.

Sarah: Yeah. Yeah. When you and I pop on every week, we know the drill, we know what we're ... we know the process, we know what's going on, but when you have guests and you plan on having ongoing guests, you've really got to do a little extra planning. But having shows with guests is super fun. It does draw in a lot of audiences and different audiences because when you bring in guests, you've got more and more people that are going to be exposed to it. So, let's get right to it. You want to book weeks ahead of time, make sure that those guests are available, create a script for the show. This is important too, because your guests could be coming on, they may not do a lot of video podcasts. So, they're going to be, "I don't know when I talk, what I'm supposed to do, I'm nervous." You want to create something with names on it so that they know what the show ... we call it, the "run-a-show". So it's what's all going to go on, and when you're going to come on and then practice it too, if you can, get with them early. Say, "Let's do a little practice run. Let's make sure your camera works. Let's make sure you've got good audio," all that good stuff. You don't want to be going live in 10 seconds and your guests is, "I can't get on."

Glyna: Yes. We love having guests. And when we did our BizTalk segments, as your cup shows, we had guests every week and it was so much fun, but you need to have your stuff together because you need to practice, as Sarah said, make sure they're set up is good. Because if they don't have good video or internet, it's not going to work and you don't want to know that two minutes before you go on. We've had a lot of fun little things, but anyway, you probably want to tell them to arrive early, even though you've practiced, you want to get there early, just to make sure that everything's still set up well. And then with all the graphics that you can do ahead of time to advertise, you probably want their headshot, you want their logo. You want all that stuff ahead of time. And then have the guests, have them share to their social media channels and get more people to come and watch and get them ready for the upcoming shows. But that's fun too. Like you said, it brings all different audiences each week.

Sarah: Yeah. And I think too, get your guests, if they're coming on, have them help you out a little bit and share it and make sure they're spreading the word. So, last but not least, let's talk about the equipment needed. Now this is not going to be a show where we're going to pull up actual brands and all the nitty gritty of what it is. We want to talk about more the basic level, because honestly you can get as fancy or as simple as you want. It just depends on your budget, but there's some staples, some must haves. And I think it goes without saying, but you do need to have a computer with a camera.

Glyna: Or a camera and just a camera.

Sarah: Yeah, exactly. You need a good, powerful computer, laptop, desktop, whatever it is. If you're going to do professional shows, some really not going to work very well on your phone at the vertical, you really want to have that mapped out. I know you love that. So you want to have a strong internet connection and a good camera. So if your device that you're using, doesn't have a good camera. You can buy a webcam and they are great. They're so easy to set up, but you just got to make sure that you have that in place.

Glyna: Yeah. And again, this is for people that are just starting. So you don't, as Sarah said, you don't have to go all fancy. If you have a laptop with a camera, that's perfectly fine. As long as you have it positioned in the right way and all that stuff, but you can get a fairly inexpensive webcam and you can even use that microphone if you want to. It's not the perfect thing, but just getting started, you just feel your way through it. We also have separate microphones for us, in fact they're so powerful, sometimes they get us ... you might hear a little echo. So you have to be careful with that. Using headsets probably would be the best thing, but I hate them. And I don't think Sarah likes them either. So, we try to avoid them at all if possible.

Sarah: I don't want to mess up my hair.

Glyna: Exactly. So, a microphone can help and drown out some of the backgrounds and then lighting. Lighting, again, we're not lighting experts. And we struggle with this all the time, but we have a beautiful sunny day, which we're always like Friday, "Yay, it's nice and sunny!" It sounds ridiculous, but we both have windows in front of us, which helps a lot. And you can even get away with that. But even out your lighting, there's little ring lights or large ring lights, and they're pretty inexpensive. And it can soften up a lot of things, as far as-

Sarah:  The ladies are like, "It's softens your face, thank God."

Glyna: The bad thing is, you still have to go back in public. And people are like, "You don't look like that."

Sarah: "Not as advertised."

Glyna: I've been so used to this filter for a year and a half. But anyway.

Sarah: I'll tell you when I turn that ring light off, "Yeesh!"

Glyna: We always look like this.

Sarah: Oh my God. And so there's other things to consider. I'm actually just laughing because my husband, we're talking about this before the show, my husband, he truly is, he's got so much stuff down and figured out. With lights, with audio, with all that. He could do a show on that himself, but there are other things to consider. So, you've got your ring light, but you can also have they're these LED lights. These are optional, but they're placed around your perimeter and they just help to balance out the lighting in the room and highlight your face and drown out the background and just provide some depth. So that's just another one of those things. I'm sure, you've just seen some of the videos where their clarity is just off the charts. So that's just another way. And to help with your audio, as well, beyond just having a microphone, which you have to have a microphone. We can't stress that enough because it truly will mess up your audio. So do invest in a microphone, but you can have, you said, the podcasting headphones, you can have an audio interface, which just helps with the fine-tuning of all. If you've got music playing and all that stuff, those adjustable arm stands that come in and then they've got that pop filter, that will circle that you've seen, that goes over the ... so that you get real fancy. You really, really can. And I actually wanted to ... Lance and I watched this show, it's YouTube channel and it's called Live Streaming Pros. So Live Streaming Pros on YouTube, that's my plug. Y'all need to contact us for plugging you. To say that they are amazing, they get right to the point and they just help you put together any live stream that you're looking to do. They give you suggestions, they provide you with ideas, a lot of equipment, real good equipment stuff for any type of budget. So I suggest you check them out too. So ...

Glyna: Yeah, exactly. And you really, I think bottom line, have to do what you're comfortable with, especially when you're first starting out, get the basics, learn what you like, what you don't like, what you need, all of those things. But you can do it yourself. You too can do a video podcast.

Sarah: You too, can create a podcast!

Glyna: But that's all we had today. Do you have any last minute comments?

Sarah: No. No, but we'd love to ... if anybody needs any help or if you're wanting to create one of these video podcasts and you're like, "I just want to be like Glyna. I want to be the talent. I want to walk in and I want somebody to hit live and I just shine." And we actually do that as part of our services, is we do some of the specs, all of that run of show, background stuff, behind the scenes. Anyways, if you need any help with any of that, we're always here.

Glyna: Yes, exactly. And we will be back next Friday at eight o'clock for another marketing segment. So hope y'all have a great day and we'll see you then.

Sarah: All right. Bye.