Unleash Your Brand's Potential through Video

Ever wondered how to make your brand stand out in a crowded digital space? Uncover the transformative secrets of video podcasting in the post-pandemic world! This episode promises to equip you with actionable tips on incorporating video into your podcasting strategy, ensuring you drive engagement and expand your reach. We delve into the importance of investing in quality equipment—think Shure microphones and Logitech 4k Brio webcams—to create a professional and captivating experience for your audience. These tools are game-changers in boosting your brand's credibility and setting you apart from the competition.

Ready to launch your video podcast in 2023? We break down the essential steps from recording to editing and choosing the best hosting platforms like YouTube and Buzzsprout. You'll learn the power of organic promotion through social media and discover the benefits of collaborating with other creators to grow your audience. Drawing from my hands-on experience with Elevate Media, I'll share insights that underscore the importance of keeping the process streamlined and investing in decent equipment. Whether you’re a DIY enthusiast or prefer outsourcing tasks, this episode offers a treasure trove of practical advice to help you elevate your online brand or business. Tune in, take action, and watch your brand soar!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Elevate your Brand podcast, where we help online coaches learn how to elevate their brand, become the experts in their industries so they can bring in more clients and create a life they want. I am your host, chris Anderson, and if you want to make a difference in the lives of others, share this episode. Go over to Apple Podcasts and follow us there to leave a positive rating and review and together we can leave a bigger positive mark on the world the rating and review and together we can leave a bigger positive mark on the world. So you might have seen or heard, podcasting, especially during the pandemic, really blew up. It really took off. A lot of people were starting their own podcasts and now you know there's some trends showing that podcasts might be slowing down. And that's the false positive kind of thing If you look at it, because podcasting maybe the number of people that are starting their shows and continuing to release episodes has slowed down, because now people are back to work more often and they're not all virtual anymore. So, yes, the numbers are slowing down, but the need for podcasting in online brands and businesses is not slowing down, especially the video podcasting. So video podcasting is basically the same thing as podcasting, except you record a video and then you take that video and utilize it into your content loop strategy. And video podcasting is going to continue to grow and be implemented in people's marketing strategies, in their content strategies, to help grow an online brand, and so it's no more of an urgency to get your video podcast launched now than it was five years ago. It is such a crucial piece to be able to record once and then have a piece of content pulled from that recording that then you can share with your audience and help them and build that trust which will then, in turn, create more revenue for you. But with starting a video podcast, there are some essential pieces of equipment you do need to get started on a really good foot so you can continue to grow and put out great content, and with this video, I'm going to walk you through those kind of essential bare bone type pieces of equipment you're going to need to start a video podcast.

Speaker 1: 2:09

First off, you're going to need a high quality microphone. Now, yes, you're like do I really need this expensive microphone? Does it really help? And at the end of the day, it does. I started with a $60 microphone from Amazon and I thought it sounded really good and I got compliments on it as well, and so maybe with a little bit more tweaking and a little bit more editing after, it could have sounded better. But then when I upgraded to this, the Shure, I noticed a very vast difference in quality. So there's less editing on our end and it just sounded better. And so if you can invest and you should invest a little bit more into your equipment, starting out, that way you just have a high quality, a more high quality show.

Speaker 1: 2:52

People can tell it sounds good. They want to listen because, to be honest, people don't want to tune into a show that sounds terrible. They don't want to listen to a podcast that sounds like you're in the middle of traffic in your car, with all this feedback and echoing going on. You might say that going raw is what your audience likes, but people want to go watch a movie that wasn't edited or wasn't high quality. They're not going to want to really listen to your show for very long because it gets annoying. You might have the few that love it or just telling you they love it to not hurt your feelings, but if you don't have high quality audio and video for your podcast, very few are going to stay tuned in and the high quality sound video is going to help push you in the algorithms on social media because they look for that clear sound and picture on the micro videos, which is what's being pushed now and will continue to for a while.

Speaker 1: 3:44

So get yourself a good, high quality microphone. This sure is under $300. So it's nothing crazy. And with your online brand, of course, it's a write-off. I'm not a financial advisor. Again, talk to your CPA, your accountant, things like that, and get the real rundown. But my microphone was a write-off for my business and so it's an investment into your business and into your brand. There are others out there. Audio Technica has some good microphones. You hear people talk about the Blue Yeti. I'm not a big fan of Blue Yeti, but Shure is definitely a good one. Audio Technica is not bad and just, yeah, just invest a little bit into the audio, into the sound quality, to improve your show right out of the get go, because people are going to notice and they're going to listen longer.

Speaker 1: 4:25

And then recording video. You can record straight from your laptop, from your phone, and get video that way Again, not recommended at all. You're going to hear people say, yeah, just get started, just use what you have and you can. But you're going to have to improve pretty quickly or you're not going to gain traction because people aren't going to want to listen to and watch a poor creation. It's just part of it. It people aren't going to want to listen to and watch a poor creation. It's just part of it. It's not going to look professional, it's not going to keep people's attention, it's going to distract.

Speaker 1: 4:54

And with video, again, nothing crazy that you have to do to get started. The one I'm using right now to show is just a Logitech 4k Brio webcam and it was under when I got it, under $200. I think it's under 300 now again. But again, a super simple solution, plugged right into the laptop and has a really good, clear video, and so you're not having to spend $10 on DSLRs or anything like that and all this soundboard and things of that nature. Just a USB mic and a Logitech Brio camera Brio camera that alone, right there, $500 in an investment or close to it, will set you up to launch your video podcast at a really good high level. And you got to use these tools to stand out, because if more people are doing it. Yours just has to look better than your competition.

Speaker 1: 5:39

Now, to record your video, you can use simple things like GarageBand or Audacity. For audio, you can use free programs like Movie Maker or QuickTime on your laptop. I'm using StreamYard because I like the flexibility, the professionalism and the ability to live stream, if I want, or create a webinar or push this out later, if I wanted to, on social media platforms. So find something that works for you. Streamyard is a very low investment as well I think it's under $30 a month but the features and the abilities you have with it are amazing. But you got to just find what works for you to be able to record your video and audio and then be able to break it down. And so that takes us into the next part, which is the editing of your video and audio.

Speaker 1: 6:27

Again, editing doesn't have to be anything crazy. It doesn't have to be expensive. You could use the free softwares like Windows Movie Maker I think is what they still have or iMovie on the Mac. Those programs are free, come with your computers and you can use those work. However, if you like more control, if you like more options and things of that nature, you can use things like DaVinci or Adobe Premiere, final Cut Pro, things of those natures that are a little bit more tech heavy, where you're going to have to learn, if you don't know it, how to use the program. It's going to open up the door to do a lot more things, like with Adobe Premiere. You can connect to After Effects, which helps pull captions and graphics and things on the screen Again, just takes it to that next level.

Speaker 1: 7:12

So you got to. Just at least you're starting with good equipment, your camera and your microphone. So then you have to decide how do I want to get this edited and just make it the simplest for you to start. At least get it done and out there. If the editing is what's holding you back, don't worry about Premiere Pro and all these fancy things. Just get it edited so there's not many flubs and filler words and things like that, and get it out there. That's a great place to start, but at least you're starting with good quality with the equipment you've bought and used.

Speaker 1: 7:43

So with editing, that's another thing too. Don't overthink it and keep it simple. Create templated files that have your intro audio or intro video and intro or an outro there. So all you have to do then is take the chunk of recording, put it in there, move things around a little bit and as you get better as well, there'll be less filler words, there'll be less mistakes, because you'll be less filler words. There'll be less mistakes because you'll be used to talking and you'll be used to that layout, so it'll get better. And if you can have those templated files that also cut down on some time as well, and then don't over edit, don't think you need to cut out every single filler word or every single breath or every single mistake. Sometimes that keeps it real with your audio thing and makes the. You want to make sure the flow is good. You don't want to make it so choppy where it's like people can tell. So if there's some filler words, that's fine.

Speaker 1: 8:38

And then one other thing you can think of and invest in to improve your audio quality is lighting. This could be as simple as just purchasing a ring light kit that goes behind your camera and just illuminates your face a little bit, because you don't want a dark, shadowy face that people can't see again. You want it clear and crisp, and that could be the start is just one little ring light, but you could also invest in some studio lights. So right now in this office, as we're waiting to move into our actual recording studio, I have two hue light bars that can change colors and then I have two little clip lights that clip on the top of my screens that can turn on to illuminate, and then I have led lights. So it doesn't have to be anything crazy for your setup. Those were fairly inexpensive probably a hundred dollars total for all those. So it doesn't have anything crazy.

Speaker 1: 9:29

Now, if you want to take it to the next level, like in our recording studio, we're going to have the three set up the key light, the fill light, the backlight, color lighting, things of that nature to make it really cinematic, really well done, and I'll have to do a video to show you guys the setup there. But it doesn't have anything crazy. It could be where maybe you have a window. That's natural. Having natural light come through illuminates just enough of your face but doesn't wash it out. So think of it that way. You don't always have to purchase lights. If you can be in a situation where there's natural light coming in, that's going to be the best, as long as it doesn't deteriorate your sound quality by you being in a big room that echoes a lot, so think about that. But these items can help achieve a more professional look and they're relatively affordable.

Speaker 1: 10:10

You save up and investing in all part of your business. Check with your CPAs accountants they could be write-offs, they should be write-offs, but that's just my opinion and what I've done. So we talked about the microphone, the camera, the lighting. These are all important, starting out, people they are, and I agree when I was there, just get started. You can use your phone and your headphones and you can. But you're going to want to improve the quality really quick if you want people to get on board and stay coming to your show and stay tuning in, because the quality keeps people or pushes people away.

Speaker 1: 10:40

And then, once you've got it recorded, edited, now what do you do? You're going to want to obviously have your hosting platforms For video. Obviously YouTube is going to be your best bet and where you should be focusing. And then for podcasts, you're just going to have your podcast host site. We recommend Buzzsprout to host your audio and then it'll push it to all the directories once you get submitted into those. There are others out there. Of course, buzzsprout charges, but again, it's worth it, in our opinion for the investment. There are some free ones Again, we've heard really negative things about that and you get what you pay for sometimes, just check around for that. Again, we recommend Buzzsprout and I'll leave a link in the show notes if you want to check that out.

Speaker 1: 11:20

But, yeah, get on your hosting platforms YouTube and then Buzzsprout to push those out there. Again, don't overthink it. Just get it out there to start, if you have a good mic and a good camera, your quality will be decent, and then lighting you can improve it on there and then just get it out there. You're not going to be perfect. I mess up, I still say things wrong, and I've been doing this three years, but I've gotten a lot better than when I first started, and that's what's going to happen with you. So the better you'll get.

Speaker 1: 11:46

And just getting it out there is what these social media platforms want. These hosting platforms want, first and foremost, just getting stuff out there of good quality and then improving upon that and tailoring it to what your audience wants and what they're trying to push. Vertical video from. This will help you grow your online brand, help you elevate to new levels and bring in more revenue and help more people. So then you're going to the big thing is one to promote your show and you're going to expand your market and your audience, and there are. You could pay for ads, you can do all that, but the best way to promote it is just share about it on your social media, of course, where your audience is.

Speaker 1: 12:23

But then the second best way, and maybe the first, actually to find more people, new people, faster is being a guest on other podcasts or collaborating with other online brands that have audiences close to yours and doing Instagram lives or Facebook lives or whatever. Collaborating there or being a guest on their show, because that's going to be one little chunk of recording that you had to do, but you get put in front of their audience and it's going to stay there. So, as people go back and listen to it, they're going to hear it and you're going to direct it to your podcast or your YouTube channel, which is your top of your funnel. So, like videos, will have called actions telling them to go to your Instagram, to your Facebook, whatever it is gets, to your freebie or whatever. So that's how you use that.

Speaker 1: 13:04

But collaborating, partnering, being on other shows is going to be a huge way to organically push your message and your show out to more people, until you get to that level where you can fork over $5,000 a month for ads, when it becomes really beneficial to do that. So, to sum it up, starting a video podcast is fairly simple. There is a little bit of investment with the equipment of your mic and your camera and maybe some lighting, but that's a minimum. You can spend thousands and thousands, like we have, getting equipment for a podcast recording studio, or you can just do the bare minimum of getting, like the Logitech and the Shure. Either way, that's a great start because you're going to have good quality to be able to push out there from the get-go, and that's what you want to do.

Speaker 1: 13:47

You want to be as professional looking recordings as you can without breaking the bank, without overdoing it, and you want to keep it simple still. So when you're editing, when you're hosting your, when you're hosting your recordings, keep it simple, keep it easy to do and use for you. Right now, maybe you have a VA, or maybe you outsource the editing to someone like us at Elevate Media or, if you're thinking about it, feel free to reach out. But keep it simple, keep it streamlined and then connect with other creators in your space, collaborate with them and help grow your audience through being a guest on their show or connecting through lives on social media. So this was just the minimum necessities to start a video podcast and getting it launched in 2023.

Speaker 1: 14:33

I hope that you take this. I hope you are successful this year. I hope you actually do it. If you had a resolution of starting a podcast, stop dragging your feet, get it done and you'll be thankful you did, especially if you have an online brand or business, because this is the reason you know been able to grow Elevate Media to where it is today was because of this, because I started a podcast and the show doesn't directly create most of my revenue, but all my revenue comes through the podcast and we've been able to get high five figures as of 2022, the end of 2022, just shy of six figures Just came short of it. But we're looking forward to 2023, really expediting our growth there and we look forward to hearing everybody's success stories with their podcast and with their video content.

Speaker 1: 15:16

And if you ever need any help launching your show, we do it for you. Or if you need video editing or video content creation, help reach out. We do that as well. All right, so next time, continue to elevate yourself and make the world a better place. We'll see you, and thanks so much for tuning into this episode today. If you found value at all from this episode, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It just helps us get this show, these messages, out in front of more people. And don't forget to share this with someone who you think could benefit from listening to as well.