Gill Moakes (00:01.786)
Welcome, welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm your host Jo Moakes and as always I am so grateful to you for being here with me again this week. Another episode, episode 115 would you believe. Amazing.
This episode I've been meaning to do for a while because this is really in response to a lot of questions that I get around this podcast. So some of my clients, certainly some of my audience and people on my email list, I get questions pretty often around...
whether a podcast might be the right platform for them. So I actually thought, you know what, it stands to reason if there's a few people asking, this is something that's probably going to appeal to many of you and is a good thing to create an episode around. So that's what I'm going to unpack today. The truth.
You know me you're gonna get the warts and all version of what it takes to grow a podcast and whether I believe it Sorry and What I believe are the criteria for making it the right platform for you Okay, let's dive in
Gill Moakes (01:46.298)
So I want to start off by just sharing a little bit about why I started this podcast. I'm a very strong believer, as you will know if you followed me for a while, in having your own original content platform. So if your intention is to position yourself as an expert in what you do, so if you're a coach, a consultant, a...
any kind of service provider who is positioning themselves online as a recognised authority in their field, I believe you should have your own original content platform. So that's the three that are the main three, I guess, would be either a blog, a podcast or a YouTube channel. Those were the sort of the big three.
Some people would argue now that there are social media platforms that really are stable and have enough longevity now to count as your original content platform. I still believe that social media is a way to distribute, to share your original content. I don't think it's a platform on which to build it. That's my opinion. I see some people...
doing a great job with LinkedIn articles. So, you know, you might say that actually, if you don't want to have a blog on your own podcast, then that might be a good option for you. In terms of how I see the landscape with these content platforms, I think that YouTube is a fantastic platform.
It's probably the platform that has the most potential when it comes to, well, the obvious fact is owned by Google. So of course, YouTube is an incredible search platform as well as anything else. you know, it actually does perform like a search engine. So discoverability on YouTube, really good. However, that said competition on YouTube, very high.
Gill Moakes (04:07.13)
very high. And it's to get it right to do it well, I think takes an incredible investment of time, energy and resource. So for me, I don't love creating video, and it isn't a fear or visibility. I have no problem with that whatsoever. In fact, going live is something I quite love to do.
So going live on video, absolutely fine with that. Creating my weekly content as videos, it's just like, I'm going to be honest with you. I don't want to have to keep putting my makeup on and checking my lighting and making sure that my composition for my video and captions and all of that kind of thing are spot on. I actually love the freedom that this podcast gives me.
to just switch on a microphone and start talking. That is me creating content. And I love that low barrier to entry, that low barrier to creating really great content.
I'll come back to the other things I absolutely love and why I started the podcast in a minute, but I just want to touch on blogs for a moment because I think blogs are quite underrated. They, I have one client in particular who, you know, is very consistent with her blog writing and is actually, it drives a hell of a lot of traffic to her website. I think if you are a good writer, if you know how to create great titles for your blog posts,
If you know how to SEO optimize your blog posts, then blogs can still be a great way to bring traffic to your website and therefore can be a great place. Sorry, I just need a drink.
Gill Moakes (06:12.364)
And so therefore they can be a great place to put your calls to action, because if you're letting that SEO optimization do its work and bring traffic via keywords, then it's a great place to be placing your calls to action to get people onto your email list, which actually when we create content, that's one of the primary reasons we do it. One is to get more visible, but two is to create leads, to generate leads for our business.
And for me, generating a lead is having someone listen to my podcast, go to the show notes and click on a link and then end up on my website, sorry, on my email list. Right. That's one of the reasons I started this podcast was for it to be my original content platform. And it serves as my visibility platform.
And it is where I share my thought leadership around creating a business that allows you to be who you truly are, do what you love, and do it your way. So this is my platform for doing that. I get to create my content plan. I get to be sure to cover off all of my content pillars. I...
Take the bit out actually about content pillars. Sorry, Lena.
I get to create a content plan that allows me to align my content with the things that I know are going to interest prospective clients for my coaching practice, or for my retreats business that I co founded with my partner, Lauren Jones of Branded by Boudicca. It is the place where I will...
Gill Moakes (08:12.89)
talk about other projects that I have on the go, maybe it might be workshops, it might be courses, it might be my writing. It's the platform that I get to control and I get to leverage to share about the things that I think will interest my audience, the things that predominantly I find interesting and therefore want to talk about. And I also get to promote my business.
via this podcast. If you like it, it's the top of my funnel. People are listening to this podcast and thinking, yeah, she talks a bit of sense. I wouldn't mind finding out a bit more about her and they're going to go to my website or they're going to like I said, they're going to head to the show notes and maybe follow a link and they might book a call with me or they might just spend a little time and I opt in and spend a bit of time on my email list.
getting to know a bit more about what I'm all about and then eventually take the next step to work with me. So that's one of the reasons that I started the podcast. The other reason was to widen my own network. And this is something that's been a really surprising benefit actually of starting the podcast, which has been around...
unexpected doors opening in terms of the guests I've had on the podcast over the last two years. My guests have been phenomenal. And you know, what started out as someone either pitching to me or me approaching them to come on the podcast has ended up in really close friendships, collaborations, introducing business between each other and
has actually resulted in clients for my business. So that's been an unexpected result of doing some interview episodes. So that's something to bear in mind that, you know, the actual payoff of having a podcast isn't always what you expect it to be. But for me, I started the podcast because at the time I found that blogging, I had a blog on my website,
Gill Moakes (10:30.362)
And I'm a reasonably good writer, but I didn't particularly enjoy writing blog posts. Because I kind of got into this habit of writing blog posts that were very kind of instructional. I always felt I had to be teaching something in this post, and it would end up a bit formal speak, a bit of a lesson. And
I didn't want to do YouTube for the reasons I said before, it just felt like such a heavy lift for me to have to be video ready to create video content consistently. I also was a big fan of podcasts. So I've been listening to podcasts probably since around about 2014. I was no actually way before that. What am I talking about? I'm going to say maybe like,
Yeah, 2011, 2012, something like that. I've been listening to podcasts for a long time and I knew that it was a medium that I get so much from in terms of learning things that have helped me in my business. So the natural, it felt like a natural choice for me. I love talking. I love, this is my favorite medium of communication.
and I don't find it difficult. Don't find it difficult to jump on here week after week and create what I hope is useful content for you. So it was just the absolute natural platform for me.
I had some expectations at the beginning around what podcasting would do for me. And I'd be honest with you, I thought the growth of the podcast would happen much faster. So that's something I want you to think about when or if you think that creating a podcast is the right platform for you. And that is that podcast growth now we're in 2024 now.
Gill Moakes (12:42.49)
is definitely it has slowed down. I think the early adopters had this benefit of, lots of people having access to a smaller number of podcasts. There are a shit ton of podcasts out there right now. that doesn't mean you can't grow your podcast. And I think it's really important to hear that. If I had listened to the people who said, you know, that's kind of, that's gone now. It's all about video now.
podcasts don't work anymore. I probably wouldn't have started this podcast and I wouldn't be enjoying the benefits of it that I am now. But I'm two years in and it definitely has taken a good 18 months to get like decent growth on the podcast. So that's something to bear in mind that probably growing a podcast is a slower burn. I don't want you to think it's going to be about, you know, kind of spectacular overnight results, because it
Probably won't be.
Gill Moakes (13:46.298)
Another benefit of podcasting, in my opinion, is how easy it makes it for you to pitch yourself as a guest on other podcasts. This is something I don't do as often as I should do, but I feel like if I wanted to, I could be guesting on other people's podcasts absolutely every week. Because there's this podcasting community that's really very generous about inviting each other on.
to each other's podcasts. And I really love that about the podcasting community. It is an incredibly generous community. There's not a ton of, you don't get that feel of competition. I think there's a real generosity. You see people, you know, coaches inviting on other coaches. So it's a real abundant feel, I think, within the podcasting community. So that's been a really another unexpected bonus. I hadn't realized that it would open that door.
for me. And it is something that I love coming, I love guesting on other people's podcasts. And I probably don't do it as often as I should. But it really does make it easy to pitch and be accepted onto other podcasts.
One of the reasons that I love listening to podcasts is that I think you can make it a habit. And so I really like thinking about that when I'm recording, like I'm sitting here now recording this and I'm picturing you listening, kind of either, I don't know, making your lunch, or maybe you're on your treadmill, or maybe you are in the car doing a regular school run or whatever.
you know, whatever you tend to do, wherever you are, when you tend to listen to podcasts, I actually really love that thought of being, you know, this voice literally between your ears. I think it's a lovely medium for developing quite a deep connection with your audience. Some people say that you can only do that with video, but I just don't know if that's true.
Gill Moakes (16:01.018)
I actually feel like I get more immersed in the podcasts that I listen to than I do with video content. I prefer listening to podcasts than video because I think you have to kind of, you have to submerge yourself more into video. So you can't kind of multitask. Not that I want you to be multitasking of course.
when you're listening to me I want your undivided attention but equally if you are making a lunch and a cup of coffee and then just kind of loading the dishwasher that's okay too that's what I do so I do love that people can make you a habit if they are subscribing and they're getting used to your podcast so you know this podcast drops every Monday rain or shine it can become a habit it's part of someone's week I know
One of my listeners has shared with me that she listens to my podcast every Monday morning on the beach. She lives near the beach. That's part of her morning ritual is to walk down at the beach. And that's when she tunes into my podcast. And I just, I love that. I love the thought of someone kind of almost waiting for the episode to drop, to go out and have me between their ears on a walk, because that's what I do with my favorite podcasts.
I'm waiting for them. I'm anticipating the next episode. So when you think about that, do people do that with blogs? I'm not sure they do. Maybe with YouTube, I don't know. It's YouTube. I'm just not, it's not my number one favorite platform, but maybe they do. But I don't know. There seems to be some kind of intimate connection with podcasting that has people genuinely waiting for your next episode. I absolutely bloody love that.
So I think there are a ton of great advantages to podcasting. And I am biased, of course, it's the platform I use, but I see the ease of doing it, that low barrier to entry, literally hitting record, hitting record and switching your mic on and just starting to talk. So good for me, someone who...
Gill Moakes (18:17.85)
you know, I want to be able to when the moment catches me when I'm feeling creative, feeling like I've got something to say, you know, sometimes I want to just hit the record and start talking having not even planned a word of what I'm about to share with you. Some of you are probably listening to that and thinking, yeah, it shows. That's okay. That's okay. I think I actually when I listen back to my really overly prepared episodes, I don't like those ones as much.
I don't like the ones that sound like I'm reading from a script. I like the ones when I haven't prepared as much. So there's a lot of good things that come with podcasting, but there are also a couple of challenges, I think, with starting a podcast. So I've mentioned one of them, and that is that, you know, this isn't an overnight strategy that is going to bring you an immediate ROI.
I think this is something that if you are going to start a podcast, be in it for the long game. Absolutely accept that this is going to be a year of feeling like you're talking into a bit of a void. Just while you get consistent while you start building up your voice, your, your thought leadership. So the topics that you talk about the opinions that you have while.
While you're feeling into all of that and getting into your rhythm, you know, lining up some good guests if you want to do interviews, or getting very clear on your solo episode strategy, accept that it's a long game, accept that you're going to have to be in it for the long run. And, you know, I don't see that as a negative because...
The positives for me have absolutely outweighed the amount of time it took for me to get going, to get into my stride, if you like. I now just can't imagine myself having any other platform to get my original thoughts and my take on things, my way of working with people. My podcasts are a taste of what it's like to be coached by me, really.
Gill Moakes (20:37.626)
And I can't even imagine using a different platform to do that now. But that slow burn can be a disadvantage for some people. The other thing is that I 100 % believe that starting a podcast is a team effort. So if you are on your own and you don't have a virtual assistant to help with.
some of the tasks, you know, there's a long workflow that goes into creating one of these episodes. You know, I can share with you now it's I'm looking at my workflow in Asana right now and it starts with me writing the episode title, I will then pick a cover image. I'll then record the episode in Riverside.
And then I hand it over after that to my team. So Lena, my podcast editor, takes it over for me. She then goes into Riverside. She edits the episode and uploads it to my Google Drive. And she creates the videograms and uploads those as well. She then hands over to Emily, my virtual assistant, who between her and Rosie, my other VA, they are doing the rest of the tasks. So they are downloading the script.
just the, sorry, Lena, they're downloading the transcription from Riverside, for example, and they're writing the show notes, they're creating the cover art, they're uploading it to Kajabi, which is the platform that I use. They're loading in the transcription into Kajabi, they're creating the quote tile that goes with the post in Canva, they're creating the social media posts that we use to promote the episode, they're scheduling those posts, they're updating my website with the current
podcast episode. So, you know, there's a lot of little tasks that go into producing one episode of the podcast. And so there are two things you need, really, you need some discipline around sticking with that workflow. And this is something that I, ooh, I think if Lena obviously is listening, because she's editing this, and she will say, well, Jill, you've left this one a little bit close to the wire.
Gill Moakes (23:02.97)
But sometimes I'm really good. Sometimes I batch create in advance and we're properly ahead of the game and everyone's super happy. And then other times it's like, okay, I'm going to do my best to get that one done in time. And of course my team are amazing and never let me down. So I'm very, very lucky. But I think if I was on my own and I was doing all of those tasks that go into pulling an episode together, would I be as consistent?
Would I be able to produce a weekly episode? I'm not sure I would. Now, I don't think, sorry, not I don't think, Lena. I'm not saying that just because you don't have a team, just because it's you on your own, that a podcast isn't a great platform for you. But I do think you need to just manage your own expectations around
how many episodes you're going to be able to put out and how much justice you're going to be able to do to that content in terms of promoting it and sharing it and, you know, getting all of those things done as well as your day job. In other words, as well as coaching your clients, as well as offering your service, you know, whatever your services that you provide to your clients, you need to just manage that because otherwise that is a sure fire route to burnout.
Trying to stay super consistent with a platform where you're doing it all yourself, I think is tricky. And that's when you might say to yourself, well, actually for me, a blog is really more manageable for me right now. And I'm going to wait until I've hit X amount of revenue before I invest some of that back into launching a podcast or launching a YouTube video channel. So I think that's a, you know, we've got to be mindful of that.
that there is a lift with a podcast. It's not a passive piece of content to create. And if you're layering on top of that, a lot of social media or any other content that you do, you could run the risk of over committing. But if you've got a team like I'm lucky to have, it's just the most rewarding platform. I absolutely love podcasting.
Gill Moakes (25:29.594)
I touched earlier actually about what the podcasting community is like and you know, it really is a pretty special community of people. I don't know if that's the same on YouTube. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I think there's just so much competition on YouTube, on TikTok. You know, there is so much competition and yes, there are a ton of competition.
of podcasts, but actually when you drill down into the number of really consistent podcasts, you know, where podcasts that are releasing weekly episodes week in week out, and are, you know, doing well, I think, you know, it's actually a smaller pond. So it's easier to create a ripple in a smaller pond for sure.
What else might you want to know about whether creating a podcast is the right move for you? One thing I would say is that creating a podcast is it needs to...
If you're doing as a business owner, if you're doing as part of your lead generation strategy, for example, like I am, then you need to be very clear about what you want from the podcast. You know, it might be that you don't need thousands and thousands of listeners. But what you do need is to create community around your for your listeners. Maybe you need to.
really love on the listeners that you have and make them feel like they are your insiders. And I really hope I do this with you. I really hope I do because it is how I feel. I've never been one for chasing download numbers. That kind of doesn't mean that much to me. I'm much more about the engagement. So,
Gill Moakes (27:37.882)
The best thing anyone can ever do for me is to send me an email after they've listened to an episode of the podcast or even better book a call with me so I can actually speak to you. You know, that is the best thing that anyone could ever do. I'm not that worried about the number of downloads because at the end of the day, I'm a coach who works one -to -one with my clients. I'm not searching for thousands and thousands of clients, but I am looking for the right clients.
And I think what any original content platform does is it gives you the opportunity to create the content that attracts the right clients and repels the wrong clients. And for that, I think podcasting is a great platform.
So I hope that's helped. If podcasting is something you're thinking of or wondering if it might be something you would like to do, and you'd like to go a bit deeper around what it actually takes to launch a podcast, feel free to apply for a breakthrough session with me. I'll pop the link in the show notes of today or email me at info at Jillmoakes .com. That's G -I -L -L -O -A.
feel free to do either of those things and I will be more than happy to share a bit more of my experience with you because it has been so satisfying and I know that for a lot of your podcast could be the absolute game changer for your business. Okay, well I hope that's been helpful and if you do enjoy this podcast, if you're like me and you're a
You're someone who likes to subscribe so that you don't miss an episode. Please do that. Please hit the subscribe button. And if you could leave a review, I would be so grateful. The thing is that, you know, podcasts have an algorithm like anything else. And so on iTunes, for example, if you leave me a podcast review, a five star review, it makes a massive difference. It means that Apple will push this podcast out to more ears. And for that, I would be truly grateful. That said,
Gill Moakes (29:56.57)
Thank you so much for listening and come and join me again next week. Bye for now.
