Writing

This Year, Podcasting Should be a Part of Your Brand and Content Strategy

December 28, 2022 by johnsuder Leave a Comment

Each week, more Americans listen to podcasts than have Netflix accounts.

According to Edison Research, 44% of the population in the United States has listened to a podcast at least once. Even more impressive is that 21% of the population listens to podcasts monthly.

There are 383.7 million podcast listeners globally. It is predicted that there will be around 424 million podcast listeners worldwide by the end of 2022. As of June 2022, there were over 2.4 million podcasts with over 66 million episodes between them.

Some stats via BuzzSprout:

In 2022, 62% of the population 12+ has listened to a podcast, and roughly 79% are familiar with the medium.
73% of the U.S. population 12+ have listened to online audio in the last month.
Over one-third (104 million) of Americans listen to podcasts regularly.
38% of those ages 12+ in the U.S. are monthly podcast listeners.
43% of listeners ages 35–54 are monthly podcast listeners (the most popular age group for podcast consumption).
26% (80 million) of Americans are weekly podcast listeners.
88% of Americans own a smartphone.
Smart speaker ownership grew by over 22% during the first year of the pandemic as more people worked from home.
In 2022, 35% of Americans 18+ will own a smart speaker.
During Covid, podcasting experienced unprecedented growth, and podcast audiences diversified.

Name practically any topic, and there’s a podcast for it.

So, if you’re trying to build or bolster a brand, what are you waiting for?

The barriers to starting an online business have never been lower. Starting a podcast is more accessible than many people think. Anyone can create and launch their own podcast with the tools within reach. Plenty of resources are available to help you get started, and it can be done relatively quickly and inexpensively. You can have your podcast up and running in no time.

I won’t get into the minutia of how exactly to start a podcast — there are many resources better than me to inform you about that.

Some of the misconceptions around podcasting:

You need expensive equipment.
Your phone is good enough to record with. There are also plenty of free tools to help you get started.

You need a large following.
This is 100 percent untrue. You’re not going to be Joe Rogan, not this month or ever. But that’s not the initial goal.

Podcasts need to be long — at least an hour!
More misinformation. At SUMO Heavy, we put out the eCommerce Minute podcast; each episode was less than 30 minutes (mostly around 15 minutes). We had over 700 episodes, and listeners are still checking out old episodes.

This article explains how your podcast can become a pillar in your content strategy. Let me explain:

Let’s say you have a podcast about interviewing artists and their daily routines. We’ll assume you’ve already set up your social media channels.

You’ll post a link to your followers and potential followers when you publish.

But it shouldn’t end there.

1. Make a transcript and publish it to your blog.
Make sure you post your latest episode transcripts along with embedded audio. You never know who might accidentally discover your podcast via search.

2. Get those emails!
Set up a mailing list capture and build your list. Direct listeners there to capture emails for your list and to serve as a directory for episodes and show notes. This also helps your SEO. Your casual listeners could become your top fans if you keep them in the loop!

3. Make YouTube Videos.
Record your guests on Zoom or Skype, then publish to your YouTube channel. YouTube is an excellent content search, and recommendation engine, so accidental discovery is possible.

If you can’t get a video recording, design an engaging title card and post just the audio file.

4. Don’t sleep on TikTok and Instagram
Instagram has gone video-heavy. TikTok is also becoming a search engine. Post clips of your video or audio with engaging graphics — research your keywords.

5. Quote Graphics
Take quotes from your guest and republish them on your social channels. Use a free design tool like Canva to create attention-grabbing graphics.

These are just five easy pieces of additional content that can be part of your brand strategy. If you have other ‘guerilla marketing’ tactics to share, leave them in the comments!

The Mystical Mirror World

December 20, 2022 by johnsuder Leave a Comment

*Mirror World by @JohnSuder [Midjourney v4]*

Few had ever traveled, and even fewer had returned from the realm beyond our own curtain. This place was referred to as the Mirror World and was thought to possess enormous power and mystery.

According to legend, the Mirror World was a reflection of our own, a parallel dimension where everything was the same, yet somehow different. It was where the impossible became possible, where the laws of physics could be bent and twisted to the will of those who knew how to harness its power.

Many people believed that the Mirror World was the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe and that those brave enough to venture into its depths would be rewarded with unimaginable knowledge and riches. But some warned of its dangers, claiming that the Mirror World was a place of great darkness and evil, where even the bravest of souls could be lost forever.

Despite the risks, there were always those drawn to the Mirror World, driven by a desire for power or knowledge. Some entered its realm searching for enlightenment, hoping to find the answers to life’s greatest mysteries. Others were driven by greed, seeking to exploit the Mirror World’s resources for their gain.

Those who entered the Mirror World were said to be changed by the experience, their perceptions of reality altered in ways they could never fully understand. Some returned with newfound abilities and insights, while others were forever haunted by the horrors they had witnessed within the Mirror World’s dark corners.

But despite its dangers, the Mirror World remained a place of great fascination, and many people continued to seek out its hidden pathways and secrets. Some even claimed to have found a way to enter the Mirror World at will, using ancient rituals and incantations to open portals to its mysterious realm.

The mirror world became shrouded in mystery over time, with scholars and mystics debating its existence. Some claimed that it was nothing more than a myth, a fable created to explain the inexplicable. Others insisted that it was real and that the experience forever changed those who entered its realm.

Regardless of the truth, the Mirror World continued to exert a powerful pull on the imaginations of those who heard its call. It remained a place of mystery and wonder, where anything was possible, and the impossible became a reality. And for those brave enough to venture into its depths, it held the promise of unimaginable knowledge and power, waiting to be discovered by those willing to take the risk.

The Evil Man Has All the Taylor Swift Concert Tickets and Won’t Share

November 18, 2022 by johnsuder Leave a Comment

It’s the stuff of nightmares for any die-hard Taylor Swift fan. You log onto Ticketmaster, only to find that there’s not a single concert ticket left. And the worst part is, you know who has them all: that one evil man who loves to hoard them and won’t share them with anyone.

You’ve tried reasoning with him, begging even, but it’s all fallen on deaf ears. He sits in his secret lair, surrounded by stacks of Taylor Swift concert tickets, cackling evilly as he denies you and all other fans the chance to see her live. He enjoys watching them suffer.

“The poor fools will never get their hands on my tickets!”

But don’t worry, dear reader. This is a tale with a happy ending. Because eventually, justice always prevails. One way or another, that man will be forced to share his tickets.

The fans stormed his house and burned it down and everything with it. His cat, Mr. Whiskers, barely made it out alive.

So he had to sell the tickets.

Man Looking to Escape Earth Launches Homemade Rocket in the Desert

November 17, 2022 by johnsuder Leave a Comment

A man launches his homemade rocket in the desert to escape the world he knows.

He had always dreamed of launching his own rocket. He had always been fascinated by rockets. When he was a child, he watched documentaries about space travel and dreamed of leaving his home planet behind one day.

So, when he finally got the chance, he took it. He had no practical knowledge of rockets, just a dream, and determination.

He spent months building a rocket in his backyard, using whatever materials he could find, and then drove to the desert to launch it.

The rocket exploded on the launch pad, sending him flying. Luckily, he landed in a cactus and was relatively unharmed.

“I’m not giving up,” he said to himself as smoke filled his lungs and tears rolled down from both eyes. His voice was raw with emotion, but it carried enough strength for the other man flying alongside him on this journey: “We’ve got another launch tomorrow at 8am.”

As he crawls away from the wreckage, his limbs intact but his pride and ego bruised, he realizes he lost his car keys.

It was going to be a long walk home.

Tools: Midjourney V4, Jasper.ai, WordHero