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If you’re like me

RC / If you’re anything like me…

How I finally decided to take the advice of my heroes and mentors, and why this time it will all be different.

by WILLIAM SMITH

If you’re anything like me, you regularly read articles on self improvement, leadership, and marketing. Maybe you follow @Seth Godin, @Jay Baer, @Jason Fried or experts in your field.

Maybe, if you’re like me, you’ve developed a specific view of marketing that revolves around being useful, being surprising, being early and being original. Maybe you’d rather start from the beginning instead of follow someone else’s formula or best practice. Maybe you’re a heretic?

And perhaps, if you’re like me, you’ve struggled to just get started working on your own projects. Agonized about what your website looks like, what your podcast should sound like, or questioned whether you were experienced enough to speak on your profession, publicly. Maybe you haven’t feel good enough to contribute.

I’ve been a marketer my entire career, and that means that ultimately, people want me to help them sell products Sometimes they are physical products and some are services. I’ve designed websites to sell products, paid for search and social ads, and really, spent most of my time marketing to a spreadsheet.

Its had its ups and downs in terms of my personal fulfillment.

My current specialities are:

Coming up with ideas, and seeing how an idea can influence someone else. I love to see ideas grow.

Communicating and articulating complex concepts (typically marketing related) into easy to understand language for non-marketers. I just love teaching and thinking about marketing.

And finally, recording, editing and packaging content – this can be a podcast interview, a video interview, or some mash up of the two, into a compelling story that helps sell something, either a product or a concept.

I can do other things, but these are the three that make me happy and pay my bills (in that order).

I’m also a marketing generalist, and I’m pretty damn proud of that.

I think generalist get a bum rap sometimes. We are who you go to as a last resort, or when you don’t have money (or resources).

That’s curious to me, because more often than not, we are actually the most flexible, adaptable, accountable and fastest. I happily carry the banner for those generalists who have dedicated themselves to learning something about all of the various aspects of their profession. This took me a long time to recognize as a strength. For years I have wondered “what if?”

What if I kept playing my violin through college? Could I have become a professional musician?

What if I had learned coding, would I be more marketable today?

What if I stuck with podcasting just a little longer, would I have a show with a large subscriber base today?

I’m a true believer in learning through failure. Failing is the only way you get better, so I’ve decided that this ride I’m on will present many challenges, and I’ll probably fail spectacularly. Maybe the reason my attention flows like water is that its following some path that I can’t see just yet. Maybe this river leads somewhere great!

I have helped hundreds of people start their own projects (this sounds douchey, and I know that), but I’ve always had a hard time starting my own.

I had a podcast called Studio which I did about 20 episodes of before I had a bout of crippling self-doubt that I was good enough at podcasting to offer advice to other people.

I’ve had websites that were designed and just ready to launch only to throw the entire project into the trash because I couldn’t find the right font, or the right colors, or the right post-grid to display my content in a specific, pixel-perfect way.

Maybe you’re like me, and you have doubted yourself. Maybe you’ve been told not to, but you don’t believe it.

I have been here for years

If you know me, you know I’m the first to offer you advice.

“You need to have a website, a portfolio and a blog where you share your ideas and help solve problems.”

“Really, I think you should start a podcast! I’d even edit it for you, for free! I just want the experience.”

“Record a video every day sharing some insight. Let people see your personality!”

Where the hell is my website? Podcast? YouTube channel? I can create them, I’ve got boundless ideas for content, things I can share that are interesting from other places and an uncommon perspective on marketing.

I just never got started. But now I have.

My site isn’t going to be perfect. My podcast will start off scripted and probably lame. I’ll probably be really embarrased by my first video. But that’s literally how I imagine every single person who has ever created something new for the first time feels when they get started.

This time feels different. I want to find my tribe. I want to ship something and I want to get on with helping people and forging my identity in my field. If you feel the same way, let’s figure out a way to help each other.

A Beginner’s Guide to Podcasting

Perform a search on Google for “podcasts” and you will find the following definition — Podcasts are digital audio files that can be downloaded over the internet.

The definition isn’t wrong, but it lacks the breadth of what a podcast truly is. While it’s true that podcasts are digital audio files, they are also episodic, can be subscribed to freely, and are educational, entertaining and emotive. Podcasts follow specific topics or themes, are usually intended for specific audiences and can be consumed in many different environments.

Video can also be downloaded over the Internet as a digital file, but a video isn’t necessarily a movie or television show, is it? Defining a movie or television show as just being a digital file provides an incomplete picture of all their wonderful qualities. We all know that movies and television shows have plots, characters, a story arc and typically appeal to certain audiences. Podcasts are really no different in this respect. In fact, there are such a thing as video podcasts, although for the purposes of this guide we’re referring to the audio variety. Given all the things podcasts are, its difficult to provide you a universal definition but here is how I like to think about podcasts:

Podcasts are episodic audio programs that can be broadcast to the world by any person, from any place and at any time, for any audience, and can cover any topic.

Podcasts can do all of that? Yes, and thats not all because podcasts can also be consumed pretty much anywhere too — from your pocket to your home stereo system. Want to learn something new while going on a walk? How about be entertained on the morning commute to work? Podcasts are the ultimate in portable, personal content. Take them anywhere you go and become immersed in the conversation. Need to take a break and come back to your podcast later? Just press pause and pick up where you left off. There are a ridiculous amount of uses for podcasts, and we intend to cover them all in our guide. But let’s start at the beginning.

To understand where podcasts came from and how they’ve evolved over time, we’re going to kick off our Beginners Guide to Podcasting with:

The origin of podcasts
Types of podcasts available
Ways you can find podcasts
How to listen to podcasts

Spotify Podcasts

There is little doubt that Spotify is one of the fastest growing music streaming services today. In March of 2016, the company announced they had over 100m subscribers to the service, with 30m of those being paid subscribers. And while Apple and Google have set their sights on music streaming, Spotify has been able to maintain its edge through its accumulated momentum and innovation.

Yes, Spotify has some great stuff going on. Between their seamless integration with the Amazon Echo, to IFTT and other connected services, there are a lot of positives to what Spotify brings to streaming music. But what about podcasting? How is Spotify capitalizing on the enormous audience for podcasts?

The state of Spotify’s podcasting support.

Spotify announced that podcasts would become part of their app back in May 2015. They told us that we should expect the most entertaining Spotify ever. Although podcasts were mentioned, they were relegated to just a single mention at the bottom of the press release. Spotify did follow through and launched their podcast directory with the usual lineup of popular shows including WTF, The Nerdist and 99% Invisible.

Amongst my friends in the podcasting community there was a lot of excitement! We had thoughts of Spotify’s massive user base and the potential windfall of new subscribers who could now find and enjoy podcasts inside of a familiar music app. We wouldn’t have to ask our friends and family to go and download a podcast app from the App Store! Frankly, it just seemed to make sense that a company like Spotify would make a move into podcasting, after all, Apple and Google had.

Why can’t I add my podcast?

Spotify only launched with only the most popular podcast shows (fitting into very specific genres like tech and storytelling). That makes sense in a way, although I’ve never been a fan of limited launches with “select partners.” But as a marketing professional for over 20 years I get it. We’ve all seen it before, from Facebook and Twitter, who routinely open up new advertising platforms to only the largest content producers. Sadly, as I write this today, over a year later, there still isn’t a way for me to add any of the podcasts I produce to Spotify’s directory.

The Spotify Community forums have thread after thread about this, but there has been no response from those in the know at Spotify on how or when us regular old podcaster producers will be able to submit our shows.

Desktop users don’t get podcasts.

Spotify podcasts are unavailable on the desktop and only found in the iOS or Android app. I personally don’t own a Windows Phone, but it seems as if those users are out of luck as podcasts aren’t available on the Windows Phone version either.

I haven’t seen official desktop statistics for Spotify, but a casual survey of my officemates shows a majority of them listening to Spotify while working at their desk on their desktop computers. It only makes sense that people would enjoy music while working (or podcasts) so why not include podcasts on the desktop app? Only Spotify knows, but it seems like a missed opportunity, especially given the fact that Spotify is really good at syncing across devices (desktop and mobile) and most podcast apps are not.

Spotify Podcasts on iOS
We can’t really evaluate how Spotify does with podcasts on the desktop, but we can examine Spotify as a podcast player on mobile. How does Spotify compare to popular podcast apps like Overcast (my personal favorite), PocketCasts or even Apple’s dedicated podcast player?

Spotify’s podcast player is rather uninspiring. I’d almost call it utilitarian but that’s not quite accurate, either — it’s missing too many key features.

The interface here is spartan — it’s essentially just a long list of podcast shows listed in no particular order.

If you want to search for a podcast, which let’s face it is one of the most important functions of any podcast app, you have to settle for Spotify’s unified search function which mixes results from songs, videos, playlists and artists (as well as podcasts).

WTF on Spotify Podcasts The WTF podcast of Marc Maron, one of the most popular in the world, is nowhere to be found on the first screen of results – or the second, or the third, or the fourth. Spotify hasn’t reached Google status I guess in terms of determining intent. Marc’s show comes up first on regular old Google searches for the phrase “WTF”, even above Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary!

Spotify’s podcast discovery could be vastly improved as well. There is a screen in the app that attempts to break down podcasts by genre, but some podcasts defy that sort of categorization. Take the I AM RAPAPORT podcast, a personal favorite. Is it comedy? Sports? Something else? I’d argue it is a category unto itself. The genres are nice to have, but not a substitute for a proper dedicated or filtered podcast search. I can sum up my feelings on Spotify’s overall directory with one word: Yahoo! (from the late 90s). That, my friends, is not a compliment.

How is the player itself?

Podcasts are MP3 files after all, and Spotify is essentially a fancy MP3 player, so from a technical perspective it sounds just fine. Spotify is known for having a large music catalog that is available at a high bit-rate (320k) but its not known whether or not podcasts can or are being distributed at that high of quality. I’d assume not as podcast files can be enormous due to their long duration. Honestly, podcasts inside of Spotify sound as good as anywhere else to my ears.

Where I do notice big differences in Spotify’s approach and lets say, Overcast’s, when it comes to the features that are important to podcast listeners. Some of those features include:

Reducing or remove silence
Speeding or slowing a podcast
Easily getting to show notes
Sharing an episode at the current time
Creating smart playlists
Chapters within a podcast

Perhaps Spotify can’t add these features to their app because they also have to support music streaming. Maybe the podcast that is played inside of Spotify is thought of like any other song, or video, and therefore cannot support the features that Overcast does. Or maybe, Spotify saw the addition of podcasts to their service as low hanging fruit — a couple of changes in the code that enabled them to make the claim they are a place to go to listen to podcasts. Maybe Spotify doesn’t have an interest in becoming the best podcast player in the market and that’s okay too.

I’m not sure, but it does seem plausible that Spotify can’t add the features because Apple has had to split their podcast app out of their music streaming app.

Regardless of the reason, Spotify doesn’t have a compelling podcast player right now. There is no reason to use Spotify as a podcast app if you already have one, and most dedicated podcast apps have some or all of the features above.

Spotify users deserve a better podcast experience, though.

As a Spotify subscriber since they came to the US market, I feel like their effort into supporting podcasts is minimal and half-hearted. Yes, you can listen to podcasts — very specific ones — inside of Spotify, but the discovery of new podcasts is lacking, as are the features of the player itself.

The podcast community, which includes listeners and creators, should be able to enjoy their music and their podcasts inside of one app that syncs across all platforms. We appreciate the acknowledgement that podcasts are important and are here to stay, but Spotify can do better. We’ve seen them do better in many, many areas from their pricing to their 3rd party integrations. Podcast fans and creators are passionate about them, and we want to be able to find new ones and share our favorites with friends.

I hope that Spotify will revisit their podcasting strategy, including opening up submissions to the thousands of high-quality if lesser known shows, innovating their player to surpass what’s currently available with most free podcast apps, and going beyond “good enough” to truly innovating this space like they have in so many other areas.