Preparing to Podcast, with Kirsty Petersen

First of a series of interviews talking to new podcasters about their preparations, plans for marketing, and measurements for success – just before their new podcast goes live.

For people unused to creating and publishing media, let alone recording and presenting, creating a podcast can have an overwhelming number of tasks to cover. Working with a professional producer can be a great boon, and in this episode we talk about the preparation process and launch plans for a new project by family mediator, Kirsty Petersen. Also, importantly, we talk about the place of a podcast within the context of a small business

Kirsty uses her skills as a former radio scriptwriter to nail her trailer episode and along the way gives an exemplary illustration of how a sole trader can think about a podcast in the content mix.

Pro-tip: The low tech tip for this episode is the super-simple method of auditioning music tracks by recording a live vocal while the music plays and capturing the results using online recording tool, Loom. You can them listen back to the music in context, before making a decision on which piece to license for your show.

Links
Kirsty Petersen / Co-Parenting Kids
Loom

Transcription

Martin Franklin 0:21
We’re back! with a new episode of Metapod. If you’ve listened to the last two episodes of the show, you might remember that each of the two guests gave their own tip for a great recording technique that they both used. And that is recording their show inside there walk in robe. So I thought, I’ll have tried that. And I am speaking to you right now, from my modestly appointed wardrobe.

Martin Franklin 0:47
You can just hear the clothes.

Martin Franklin 0:53
This episode, I’ll be speaking to family mediator, Kirsty Peterson, who is about to launch her new show, co parenting kids podcast.

Martin Franklin 1:02
I’m always amazed by the clever things that people do that I wouldn’t have thought to suggest myself. So before we get to the interview, I wanted to share with you this pro tip for trialing theme music for your show.

Martin Franklin 1:14
I talk to my clients about music in terms of the tempo, the pitch, the density, and each of those things, making it suitable accompaniment for their voice and the speed that they speak and the kind of intro that they want to give.

Martin Franklin 1:29
But I’d never thought of this genius simple technique, Kirstie had her selections down to three tracks and use loom to record herself speaking her show intro over each one to help with the decision.

Unknown Speaker 1:46
Lo fi examples of test recording

Martin Franklin 2:29
you’ll find out which was the successful choice if you listen to the CO parenting podcast. But now let’s talk to Kirstie

Martin Franklin 2:38
Kirstie Peterson about to launch the CO parenting kids podcast thanks for coming, having a chat with me about it pre launch so we can get a snapshot of where you are now with it. What I wanted to do was ask a couple of questions about the your goals for the podcast now and then come back sometime next year. And see how have they have they been been met? I think that you’ve been planning this for some time. Is that is that correct?

Kirsty Peterson 3:10
Yes, a very, very long time. It was like a brainchild brilliant idea that I had sort of five years ago. Let’s do a podcast I said to one of the people that I was sort of CO working with at the time.

Kirsty Peterson 3:23
And I was very excited and I fleshed out all the episodes and and then I didn’t do anything about it. And then early last year, I used an online program a platform to

Kirsty Peterson 3:37
I suppose you would say launch the podcast. But it sounded horrible and I didn’t like it so I pulled it and thought you know what if I’m going to do this, I want to do it properly. And that’s when I found you and how grateful and happy and excited Am I to have a producer like you oh thank you so I get a lot of validation from my my my guests who always seem to appreciate what I do. So that’s that feels really good. Well, that’s because you’re the expert and we’re the newbie and we have no idea we’re floundering around and you just sort of say Oh, do this or use this or this is the answer. Kirsty it’s like Yes, sir Martin Thank you.

Martin Franklin 4:15
As some of the listeners to this show, will be podcasters or aspiring podcasters themselves. Could we name names about what platform you used initially that didn’t quite hit the mark for you.

Kirsty Peterson 4:29
It was anchor. Oh, okay. And it wasn’t I don’t think it was anchor it was totally Kirstie.

Kirsty Peterson 4:39
Because when you just use your computer and your you know your little $5 headphones from the servo the quality isn’t going to be that great. It’s gonna be a $5 servo podcast.

Kirsty Peterson 4:52
Yes, but look, it served its purpose really because it enabled me toflesh it out to start with to get used to. And not that I wasn’t necessarily used to it, but to actually start recording something. But to put it out there and be able to be proud of it was not a step that I really considered, I thought I’ll you know, put my podcast on anchor and everything will be great.

Kirsty Peterson 5:20
And then I listened to it and thought it’s more than just getting over the sound of your voice and the breathing mistakes or any of those sorts of things.

Martin Franklin 5:29
Well, that’s really interesting, because five years ago, you would definitely would have been ahead of the current boom that podcasting is going through. So yeah, had you started, then you probably have quite a big audience now.

Kirsty Peterson 5:42
Yes, oh, my fear would have been revealed. And I would have run out of content, because that’s the thing that sort of has stopped me this whole time. It’s, you know, I felt like I could do a few episodes. But then what would I talk about? So doing the anchor podcast enabled me to sit down well forced me to sit down and say, Well, what am I going to talk about and, and flesh out some ideas? And then how is that going to apply to my business? How is it going to be relevant, and see that that I had so much that I could talk about? Because I went through content that I’d written, I went through my blog posts, and all those sorts of things, looking for ideas of what to talk about. But this time around, I’ve been much more strategic, I wanted to dive into both of those angles a little bit, if I could, so So you’ve already done it in a way, like a sort of pre season planning, you know, through your initial project five years ago. So how did you approach planning out the content for your season? Yeah, this time, it was very different. I started a new program this year, it’s my flagship group coaching program. And so I’ve really tried to tie the content of the podcast into the content of the group coaching program, so that there’s some relevance there, but also, so that I’m taking listeners on a bit of a journey, because developing the Change program was really quite a different experience for me as well, I’ve created a lot of content over the last seven years, but there’s never really been any strategy to it. It’s just sort of what am I gonna, what blog posts will I put out this week, you know, random, what they say, throwing spaghetti at the wall a little bit like my socials, it’s like, oh, that’s pretty old post that today or not been a lot of strategy.

Kirsty Peterson 7:26
So that was really important for me this time. And having done the anchor podcast really enabled me to say the difference between what it feels like to have something that goes together, and that what I’m talking about this week, builds on what we talked about last week, and those sorts of things, versus the anchor podcast that really was just spaghetti on the wall, because I just went through blog posts or, you know, social content and just talked about different things. But then when I listened to it, I was like, well, this is just random information. You know, there was no journey. I do sometimes kind of talk to people who haven’t quite got a clear idea about their format, or the duration or frequency of their show. And I kind of talk about things in terms of a pilot season, because sometimes until you try it, you don’t know what feels right, and what your audience will, will respond to. So I think it’s in a way the spaghetti on the wall sort of that

Martin Franklin 8:24
Yeah, there can be a bit of value in in that. I just want to come back to that sort of business connection, which I think is really important. They have give us a good a good context. So how does the podcast in your mind connect to your your wider business? itself? I guess you because you mentioned the Change program. So perhaps we ought to actually do a little preamble out what is your business?

Kirsty Peterson 8:52
Oh, right. So I work in family law as a mediator, which is quite sporadic work. It’s a lot of it is referral. And then I do some Google ads and a little bit of Facebook marketing, to get leads. Facebook isn’t necessarily about mediation.

Kirsty Peterson 9:09
But the area that I’m really focusing on a moving towards is much more providing programs and work well. I used to do workshops, pre COVID, I had a suite of workshops. So I have moved them across two courses. And I had a one to one coaching program.

Kirsty Peterson 9:29
Which in my marketplace I find difficult because families don’t generally have a lot of money and if you’ve got families who are embroiled in court battles, then every single cent that they’ve got is being funneled into paying for their lawyer. So being able to enter the goal is to help as many people as possible it’s to, for people to be able to say, you know, I know I’ve got this problem and you’re the one to be able to fix it for me. So it’s about getting like all of us getting in front of enough people who are the right ideal customer to be going, you know, it’s like you were me, I watched your, your video series, I googled podcast producers, and I watched your video series and I went, Martin is the man, you know, he knows what he’s talking about. He’s talking about equipment. He’s answered all my questions, he’s the expert, he’s the one that can help and, and you’re in front of me when I need to do. And so hopefully, the podcast will help, you know, with that, for me, it will just get more eyes on what I offer. And because it’s a very targeted program, it’s not just a general mediation program, or a conflict program, it’s, it’s a very targeted program. It’s supporting people who are co parenting with people who behave differently or have narcissistic traits. So it’s a very targeted program. So hopefully, it will help broaden my audience and help me with my change program. There’s an important role that a podcast can have as almost like a first a first contact where people can just hear you and and, you know, sort of get a sense of what it might be like to to work with you before they, you know, make any any big decision. So I think that could be really interesting. And I think one of the things that really surprises me, every time it happens is when people have found my website and read lots and lots of my blog posts. I haven’t blogged for a couple of years, but I have a truckload of blogs on my website that I sort of forgot about.

Kirsty Peterson 11:36
And certainly, since I’ve been focusing on more digital marketing things, I forgot about content marketing, which I used to do quite regularly. And people read the blogs and think they know you, they really develop a relationship with you before they even pick up the phone and say, Kirsty, I need help with my co parenting or my, you know, my, I need immediate mediator. And so that relationship building happens because they listen to you. And, you know, there’s there’s somebody that I’m following on socials at the moment. And I really feel like my great friends, I’ve never met her, she has no idea who I am. But I’ve read a blog post, I’ve listened to a podcast, I follow her on social. So I see her life on Instagram and I in her content marketing on Facebook. So I really feel like we’re great friends. And that’s the huge value of these sorts of platforms is being able to invite people into your life and into your business. So that like you just said, they get to know you and they they value your opinion, and they know what you can offer and they know how you can help them. The next step is just for them to reach out and say, Kirsty, I’ve got this problem and and you’re the one I want to fix it, please. Yeah, that’s, that’s amazing. Yeah, I think that bit of early research is very valuable. I’m always sort of really keen to say to people who talk to me, Listen to what I do. You know, here’s a few examples. Here’s the show reel, because this is what you know, this is what I would deliver for you. And surprisingly, very few people ever do. Oh, really? That Yeah, they’re happy to get on the phone, and they have no idea what comes out of the studio. Maybe that’s where my experience differs, because I had had that experience with anchor and the quality with anko. I knew very much about what I didn’t want it to sound like. So when I listened to your reel, looked at your reel, it was like yes, that’s what I want it to sound like. That’s how crisp I would like it to be. That’s how clear I want to sound. I know I need to practice my enunciation. But yeah, that’s the quality that I’m looking for.

Martin Franklin 13:36
Can I ask you because the I, we although we haven’t launched or, you know, we are about to produce some episodes for you. You are very good on the microphone. Have you had any experience of of this previously?

Kirsty Peterson 13:50
Not directly, I worked in radio for a while, but as a copywriter, not on out on air. I like to sing so I do a bit of karaoke, but I’ve never done anything like this. Okay, well. So working in radio is a fairly good qualification, you know, for the enterprise that we’re announcing today. Just to go back for a second. I also want to add that that the greatest value, I think of a podcast is being able to add another suite of free resources for people and being able to reach people across different platforms, because not everybody wants to sit and read a blog post. Some people want to watch a YouTube video, some people just want 15 minutes in the car show or in the shower or whatever, to listen to a podcast. So it’s about being able to provide as many people as possible access to the free resources and the free information.

Martin Franklin 14:45
Yeah, and I quite agree, I think there was a sort of guidance about web design, look, you know, a long time ago, which was Don’t make me think, you know, make it make it easy, and make it straightforward for people. So now we’ve entered this era of story where people like to be told, and they like to watch, you know, more so than read a guide or, you know, download up, ebook or whatever. Yes, yeah. So how did you find the recording process for the initial things that you’ve done so far?

Kirsty Peterson 15:19
Oh, look, I was really daunted doing it with anchor. And that was probably the most simplistic process possible. But you have made this high tech, high quality process. So simple. I bought what you mentioned, you didn’t necessarily recommend it. But you said, these are some things that I’ve used. And I went off and looked at three products. Instead of doing a Google search for podcast equipment, which I had done previously, you know, I’ve been, like I said, this is a five year thing for me, this is not the first time I sort of sat down and thought, What do I need to buy, I found some good deals as well. So it wasn’t as expensive as other times that I had looked, it wasn’t $600 for a mic, it was, you know, $400 for my understand and accord, I got my zoom recorder 50% off.

Kirsty Peterson 16:06
So I found some really great deals, but also because I knew what I was looking for I was I went and I looked for the zoom h5. And then compared where I could buy it, it wasn’t, again, just a random Google search for recording devices, and then trying to figure out, so just having the support. And again, I mentioned, this is free support, because it’s in your free video course,of being able to just have that support and know what to look for. And being able to purchase the equipment. It’s two pieces of equipment. It’s, it’s so simple, it’s not daunting, it was totally daunting. When I took it out of the box and looked at it and thought, oh my god, what is this thing? And how do I use it? But you helped me with that, you know, you talked me through it like a baby,

Martin Franklin 16:52
I think I was there on the on the video call.

Kirsty Peterson 16:56
You told me you know, then it was simple. Turn it on. This is what this means. This is what that means. And so I didn’t have to sit and I had looked at the instructions. But there were six books in that box, one in six different languages was like, oh my god.

Kirsty Peterson 17:12
So it was very overwhelming. But you just made it so simple and easy that you took the overwhelm out of it. You didn’t have to learn new technology, because you taught it to me in 10 minutes. It was just yeah, once it’s connected, and you’ve got the settings down.

Martin Franklin 17:29
Yes, yeah, it’s pretty reliable. All right. Well, that’s that’s good to know. So I think we are within a few weeks of launch of the show. Do you have any plans of how you promote it? Once we go live?

Kirsty Peterson 17:44
Yeah, I’m going to check it out into all the Facebook groups that are member of, it’ll probably get deleted from half a dozen of them. But I’m not worried about that. If I can get just a couple of people and then they listen and they share or any of those sorts of things. I’ll push it out on all my socials. I’ve already started alluding to it in my email campaign, you know, I’m doing something really exciting that I’ve been thinking about doing or wanting to do for five years. So building some interest around what is Kirsty up to that she’s wanting to do for five years that she’s finally doing?

Martin Franklin 18:16
This is really important because he that that actually you’ve already done you know the legwork to build that those social accounts and you know, you’ve you’ve got a bit of audience there already.

Kirsty Peterson 18:29
Yeah, look, I haven’t done a lot of socials for probably a year I haven’t focused on at all i got a bit overwhelming with Corona last year and sort of March and I pulled back from social media and got really lazy with my content marketing and I think I got a bit overwhelmed. I’ve got four different Facebook groups in three different pages and thought Yes, there’s just too much.

Martin Franklin 18:57
So what is your hope for what the podcast will be doing in nine months time,

Kirsty Peterson 19:03
the dream the fantasy and then there’s the reality the reality probably is that there’ll be a few listeners who are there for the free information.

Martin Franklin 19:12
Now go for the dream have the dream,

Kirsty Peterson 19:13
the dream is that it will go totally gangbusters. Everybody will love it. I’ll you know do two more seasons this year. I know maybe not this year, but you know, two more seasons in the next 12 months. Yeah, there’ll be 26 episodes across the 12 month period. And it will help fill my change program it’ll lead into a one to one coaching and maybe even support my mediation practice a little bit because I’ll Chuck into mediation relevant information as well. And I think the thing that makes me feel more confident that that’s an option. Not a reality, but an option is that I feel like there’s some strategy around it. It’s not just spaghetti on the wall. It’s targeted information with a purpose, and I learned that from other podcasts that I listened to, I listened to a couple of digital marketing podcasts.

Kirsty Peterson 20:07
So being able to listen to one and say, you know, this is pretty random, I think they make this episode topic up as they go. And they just chalk a call to action at the bottom of whatever it is that they’re doing right now, versus, you know, digital marketers who have really short episodes, five to 10 minutes, but it’s quite targeted to whatever it is they’re launching right now, but not in a salesy way. So that’s the goal is to be able to share information.

Martin Franklin 20:33
Yeah. and have it be relevant to something that’s going on in the background, that you can also promote that sort that spot on that that approach of just being being visible and useful, but not not going into like a salespitch, necessarily.

Martin Franklin 20:49
Okay, so, elevator pitch for your for your podcast, why should people listen?

Kirsty Peterson 20:55
Because it’s a short version of a really long blog post. It’s distilled targeted information, tips and tricks for how to co parent successfully with somebody who is has difficult behaviors and narcissistic traits, it’s being able to get that practical support with an actual roadmap of, of targeted information. If you have this specific problem, then here are some ways to resolve that. It’s it’s not just a general podcast with lots of co- parenting information or interviews where people just blather on for an hour that it is there’s a targeted reason to listen, and this is what you’ll get out of each episode is quite clear at the beginning.

Martin Franklin 21:39
Yeah, the Co-Parenting Kids podcast and you’ll be on- You’ll be everywhere on Apple podcasts and Spotify and so on. So that’s a good good search or you have a website as well. Do you not?

Kirsty Peterson 21:51
Yes, co parenting kids.com.au.

Martin Franklin 21:54
Awesome. Thanks, Kirsty.