When in Doubt, Ask Your Audience: Cody Gough Interview

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Today on episode 623 we talk with Cody Gough of the Curiosity podcast. Cody had a podcast that was successful, and based on the goals of the podcast decided to make a radical change to their publishing schedule. 

Because of My Podcast 

2:20

Brenda from My Tech Toolbelt shares the story of being able to score media passes for one of the top educational events that would've cost her $650 but she's going for free Because of her podcast. 

Sponsorship Update

5:08

Every month we have one episode based on listener feedback, and somehow Todd's from the Trucker Dump podcast (www.abouttruckdriving.com ) went to spam. Todd shares an idea he may be turning into a podcast, and how he was able to get some sponsors for his podcast.

Perfect is the Enemy of Good

9:00

I can't think of anything that was perfect right out of the gate. Yet, people will not start a podcast because it is "not right." In a recent interview on the "My guest needs no introduction" Howard Stern talks about how he has changed over the years because he went to therapy, and isn't as insecure as he used to be. He states, "I think that bad radio is when you don't somehow change it up constantly." In another interview, Jerry Seinfeld interview David Letterman and he explained how Johnny Carson had all sorts of stipulations on how Dave could do his show, and as Dave put it, "I picked up the crumbs and try to make something out of it." That lead to Dave being super creative, and doing something you couldn't find on the TV anyplace and brought him a super loyal audience. So what can you do with your podcast if you took away some of the segments, some of the format, and had to come up with something new?

How Do You Know Your Audience Hates Something if You Don't Let Them Taste It

15:30

• Cody shares how he got a gig on LinkedIn to produce a podcast
• He inherited a huge audience from Curiosity.com
• How he had to set expectations with his boss on what to expect in regards to production
• Their show was weekly for a year before deciding to change the format
• His audience gave him feedback when he switched formats
• He lost a small amount of his audience before he downloads starting growing
• As his content is evergreen, his back catalog is still getting downloaded
• He shares some podcast promotion ideas (www.gretta.com ) and now is focusing on email and the Amazon Briefing
• His Amazon Briefing is different than most "standard" briefings
• How the assets at the company are changing with the new format
• How advertisers are more interested in the US audience in some cases
• A great story about he had a HUGE guest on his show and his audience could not have been less interested

36:40

• How he got a huge guest on his show (it was super easy)

40:05

• Tips for creating a daily show

42:55

• How often he checks stats, and takes the temperature of the audience

46:00

• The only way to know what your audience wants

48:20

• Who he is using for sponsors

What If There Was No Social Media?

52:00

I was listening to the New Media Show and Todd Cohran brought up an interesting question, "What is there wasn't social media, how would you promote your show? That may be something we think about, and start doing. We can easily rely on promoting ourselves sitting in front of a computer screen, but there are other strategies that require you to get out from behind the desk.

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