In this episode, Megan Dean, a seasoned journalist and producer at Project Brazen, a branded podcast recording studio, discusses the A-Z of starting a podcast.
Branded podcasts are a powerful way for marketers and creators to blend compelling storytelling with brand narratives. So, how do you start a podcast that showcases your brand with engaging content? Listen to this week’s episode for tips on how to plan, produce, and promote a podcast successfully!
Need a voice actor to bring your AV project to life?
In this episode, Megan Dean, a seasoned journalist and producer at Project Brazen, a branded podcast recording studio, discusses the A-Z of starting a podcast.
Branded podcasts are a powerful way for marketers and creators to blend compelling storytelling with brand narratives. So, how do you start a podcast that showcases your brand with engaging content? Listen to this week’s episode for tips on how to plan, produce, and promote a podcast successfully!
Need a voice actor to bring your AV project to life?
Brazen is all about being bold, forward, defiant, and blatant, which is pretty brave today if you think about it. Hi, I'm Carel, host of AV123, an audio visual show powered by Voice123, the largest and most trusted network, to hire voice actors for your AV projects. In this episode, we chat with Megan Dean, who's a network manager and producer at Project Brazen, a company that likes telling it like it is.
Megan:
Personal stories are really what compels listeners, but it's important that they're character led rather than led by a topic area. And the other thing that we like to do is happening now. So whatever story that we're telling for it to be brazen, it needs to have some sort of relevance to the modern day.
Carel:
Megan certainly knows what telling compelling stories is all about. So join us for the chat. Megan Dean, network manager and producer at project Brazen. Welcome to AV123 and thank you for joining us.
Megan:
Thank you so much for having me.
Carel:
Your journalism studio and production company certainly has a very intriguing name. Using an adjective like Brazen is so in your face, it's almost a verb. So what's so Brazen about Project Brazen?
Megan:
There's a deep history to the name that comes from my bosses, Bradley Hope and Tom Wright. They were previously at the Wall Street Journal before setting up Project Brazen and Project Brazen itself was actually the name of an investigation that they did into this huge sort of a global scam, essentially the 1MDB scandal. They broke that story open for the Wall Street Journal and that kind of attitude, I like to think of it as sort of an approach to storytelling. We have a few central tenets to what makes a Project Brazen story. So the stories that we run with and that we pursue tend to have a few common elements, particularly narrative and investigative shows, which is really where we've made our name to date. And those sort of pillars are, firstly, big characters are absolutely crucial. They form the lifeblood of a story. What we don't like to do is just cover a topic area. The risk with that is that you end up creating something so generic and it, personal stories are really what compels listeners. So that could be any manner of things. But it's important that they're character led rather than led by a topic area. And the other thing that we like to do is happening now. So, whatever story that we're telling, for it to be brazen, it needs to have some sort of relevance to the modern day. It can be a historic story, but it needs to have a thread that you can pull that takes you all the way to today. I suppose consequences or sort of resonance that remains relevant, even if it is a historical story. And we have tackled historic stories like our podcast, Dynamite Doug, which was about an art trafficker who worked during the Cambodia genocide. That was, you know, that was a long time ago, but that story remains relevant because art that he looted is still in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York today. So those are the types of, you know, happening now.
Carel:
Yeah.
Megan:
That's that we like to do.
Carel:
Yeah, because I certainly, I certainly enjoyed your Havana Syndrome. I thought that was entirely fascinating. I would recommend that anybody listens to it. But tell me something, Project Brazen specializes, all right, you specialize in books, documentaries, television shows, films, and podcasts also.
Megan:
Yes.
Carel:
Now let's focus on podcasts because podcasting has become such a popular platform. Given that there's so much clutter and so many voices that are drenching the interwebs and competing for a listener's time, how important is it from your perspective to brainstorm podcast topics?
Megan:
Oh, it's absolutely crucial.
Carel:
How do you determine that?
Megan:
I think if you're literally just podcasting for fun. then jump straight in, you know, get into it. But if you are, if you have ambitions for the show that you're creating and you're looking to build reach and grow an audience, then you do need to put some planning and forward thinking into the topic of your show and sort of defining the audience that you would ultimately like to reach. You can articulate your podcast's uniqueness, you know, the value that it's bringing in a very cluttered market, as you said, and it gives you a chance to think about articulating that, not only in audio, like we're conversing in right now, but you also want to nail it down in written format as well, because your show description is really important, as are your episode descriptions. So, forward thinking in terms of planning your topic, it, it makes you step back and think about what can I create as a long term offer how far can I take this this topic? You know, you don't want to run out or burn through all your material in your first three episodes.
Carel:
No.
Megan:
So your topic needs to be something that really has legs.
Carel:
How do you determine that? How do you determine what has legs? How do you know or how do you start? How would you advise a client, for example, that that something they are planning is compelling.
Megan:
It's very personal. I think what makes a compelling podcast is, is quite a personal decision, but it also comes into what you're looking to create, like the advice that I might give to someone planning an interview based show would be very different to someone planning an investigation based show. So I think often it needs to be story first. So those are character led rather than topic based.
Carel:
Now when you say character led.
Megan:
Yes.
Carel:
What are you saying?
Megan:
I think it's about storytelling in a way that's personal and that really resonates. Because whether you're, you know, creating, an investigative show or a branded or commercial podcast that that story is what will make you unique from, from others. So it's what lends your show authenticity essentially. So the first is character, as I said, in nonfiction, that's going to be real life characters with interesting stories, interesting life experiences, big personalities. If you're creating fictional characters, then you need to create relatable multidimensional characters, and then you also want to then use your character to shed light on a bigger story. So they're almost a narrative tool, a way into a larger theme or topic. So if you lead with the topic, your show is going to be kind of hard to connect with for listeners and you risk becoming a generic, but using a personal story as a way in will help really bring it to life and make it more straightforward for a listener to engage with. For Brazen our real focus is the storytelling and the narrative, but it will depend on the kind of show that you're trying to make like format is also a big part of it.
Carel:
What sort of formats work?
Megan:
It's actually been a bit of a learning curve for us. We, we started some of our initial shows with sort of eight to 10 episodes. Recently, we've been experimenting with shorter narrative shows. So four episodes, because not all stories can and should sustain, you know, 10 episodes, some some are going to benefit from actually a shorter runtime, like four half an hour episodes that's a recent show we made called The Professor. We felt that was best suited in a shorter sort of storytelling format.
Carel:
Let me stop you here for a second and aim this question at our listeners quickly. Are you an audio producer? Did you know Voice123 has an AV Resource Center where you can learn everything from how to hire a voice actor to creating video game characters? No? Well, all you need to do is visit www.voice123.com. com forward slash blog. And with that, it's back to you, Megan. From a commercial perspective, brands and marketing teams seem to be focusing more and more on branded podcasts. How does the approach to starting a branded podcast differ? How does the strategy change?
Megan:
It's so funny that you mention that actually because, in a way there's, they share more than, than they kind of diverge.
Carel:
Yeah.
Megan:
At least, at Brazen our approach is that even if you're creating a commercial product, a commercial podcast, the story is still everything because even then it needs to be at the heart of what you're creating. Every, you know, world leading brand, it starts with a story and that could be the founder's vision for the company. It could be the customer's need. Whatever your narrative is that's totally unique to your brand and it can't be replicated. So in a world, you know, where there's so much competition and even in the podcasting space, there's so much content. It's the authenticity of your story that, that matters. And that even for a commercial show, that's their best asset is, is telling your brand story.
Carel:
How would you define authenticity?
Megan:
I think it's become something that's like increasingly important. We see, you know, TikTok creators lean on the side of authenticity and they're not like creating a really polished final product. And so you look to social and see that it's connecting more these authentic sort of choppy cut videos. It's not polished looking perfect. So I think it is, it's a rawness and I guess a truthful encapsulation of what you consider really unique to yourself. So for a, for a brand to be authentic, that's like a direct sort of connection with a listener and that that will be a podcast that doesn't just try to sell you something they'll be really articulating why you know the story behind a brand and I've tied myself in a knot now.
Carel:
Let me release you from the knot and ask you this because you know, it's it's interesting the way podcasts are going and both you and I have listened to plenty and what defines its compelling nature has to do with authenticity, but authenticity isn't necessarily dependent on audio quality because here the two of us are having this conversation expensively using great equipment. Does that matter?
Megan:
That's a tricky question. There's kind of two questions in one that so planning and strategizing is, yeah, it's super important. Mainly to make sure what you're creating is sustainable because it's no good, you know, being super ambitious and, and creating this really highly produced show that you can only, you only have the time and resources to make three episodes. So making a show sustainably can, you know, depend on the format and, and. It'll also require making things like a production calendar and a content calendar that you know that you can actually achieve and you can deliver on. So a content calendar will sort of set up plans for each of your episodes, guest bookings, or interviews and outlines of the topic, release dates. And then I'd also recommend having a production calendar, which will actually track your physical production, the actual making of the thing. Have you done your initial research? Is the interview booked, recorded? Is it mixed? Have you written the copy for publication? Cause that kind of post production stuff often gets forgotten. And inevitably. Sorry, go ahead.
Carel:
No, no, I'm sorry I interrupted you, but I just wanted to ask, how produced should a podcast be?
Megan:
Gosh, I mean, totally depends on the target audience and what you want to achieve with your show.
Carel:
So in other words, it's incredibly important before you even start thinking of a podcast, that you know exactly who your audience is. You've got to have your finger on the pulse of the audience.
Megan:
Yeah, I think so. Because if you don't know who you're trying to reach, It's, it's tricky to carve out a sort of niche and to know whether you're going to really actually meet the needs or, or interests of that group. So if you do think about those things in advance you can identify what that audience might be looking for. Is it entertainment? Is it education? Is it community? And you can tailor your content in response to that and, and hopefully make the most engaging possible show you can.
Carel:
How technically proficient do you need to be?
Megan:
So it's a sliding scale. I suppose depending on the experience that you have and your ambition for the show itself, but on the tech side of podcasting, there is a few things that you need to think about. One of them is hosting your show where to host it. There's a whole bunch of platforms now where you can host your show. A sort of easy, early entry level one might be just Spotify for podcasters. It's very user friendly and sort of intuitive. So that might be one place to start, particularly if you're just, you know, creating for fun to begin with. You need to think about things like The right format, you need to make sure you're exporting things in MP3, it seems basic, but, you know, if you export a WAV file, you're not going to be able to upload it to somewhere like Megafone, for instance, just small details like that, you need to make sure you've got an RSS feed that you can distribute to make sure that people can listen on all platforms, whether that's Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Castbox and all the other third party platforms, an RSS feed is sort of a file which holds all your show's most important information, so the series description, the art, all the, the main elements of the show will be delivered with that RSS file. In terms of editing, again, there's now so much tech that you could use. So traditionally people would use software like Audition or Audacity, but now there's new programs like Descript, which utilizes all sorts of AI to create this kind of user friendly in script editing experience, which is almost, it's kind of hard to describe in words, but it means that you can edit the words of your script and it will edit your audio at the very same time, which is magic really, but that also means it's easier for people who are just getting started to really edit their own show. They don't need to be you know, a sound engineer to get it done which is it's quite exciting in terms of lowering the barrier for for entry on this kind of thing.
Carel:
Should you consider having a team on board? Is that important? Do you think?
Megan:
Yeah, absolutely. I think people often underestimate just how labor intensive creating a podcast can be. I have a show at the moment which releases on a weekly basis, and getting that booked and recorded and mixed, it's a lot of work every week. So a team is crucial, depending on the ambition of your show, that is.
Carel:
Let me ask you another question and then I'll get off the whole technical side of it, but it's actually rather important because a lot of people think they can blindly leap into this and then it ends up blowing up in their faces. So, in your experience, in terms of what you've done and what you do at Project Brazen, what sort of must have equipment and software should one really have? Knowing that there is so much available and there's so much out there.
Megan:
So your absolute essentials is obviously a microphone. A good quality microphone is the best place to start. We use Rode microphones at Project Brazen, also Shure mics, and in our, the studio itself, we have sort of broadcast standard Neumann microphones. These are obviously top end and pretty eye wateringly expensive, but Shure and Rode both have great options. for sort of lower budgets. The one thing I would say is please, for the love of God, don't use your AirPods to try and record things. It sounds absolutely horrendous. Please get a proper mic. I'd also say a little handy Zoom recorder. I'm trained as a journalist initially. I love Zoom recorders. They're so useful. You can take them out for field recording as well as studio recording.
Carel:
Field recording, does it add authenticity? Is it a must have?
Megan:
Yeah, I think if your show is an investigation type show, a narrative show, then often field recording is really great for capturing sort of atmospheric scenes. You might want to follow your reporter or your producer into the field, get some on the ground recordings that I think can really add to the excitement of a show if you feel like you're there with them. But for other shows, chat based shows, nice, clean studio recorded sound is, is great. And it's it makes for a pleasant listening experience.
Carel:
What should you have ready? When preparing to launch your podcast, what do you need lined up?
Megan:
So we've talked a bit about the kit, but there are other things that you should try and have ready for the launch of your show. One would be cover art. Although podcasts mostly deal with audio, the visuals are really important, particularly for the presence of your show in apps like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, you really want to make a splash, and part of that is the visual identity of your show. You don't need to be an expert designer, although that, that helps. Simple things like choosing a font and consistent color schemes across all your visual assets for a show will help. I'm not an expert here, but I know there's also sort of a safe zone in design assets where you can put text. And if you follow those types of rules, it'll mean that your content will be well suited for social and other platforms. You won't end up with words getting cut off and whatnot. So that's something to think about.
Carel:
So even if you're not a company, you still need to brand your podcast.
Megan:
Yeah, I would really encourage it. I think having a visual identity, whether that's a brand or otherwise, it's just another way for listeners to engage with what you're creating, and they will come to associate repeated visual triggers with that show, whether that's color scheme logo or the cover art.
Carel:
Now here's a real Hamdinger for you. How can new podcasters promote and grow their show's audience?
Megan:
People often this is a huge question in podcasting because sometimes it seems like a bit of a black box where you throw in your content and you have to hope for the best. But there are some tried and tested ways of promoting new shows, even though there's thousands of them out there. One, I would recommend having a social media presence is important. It's not the be all and end all, but it can be helpful. And if you can create some sort of light lift, social assets, repurpose stuff you've already made or recorded for places like Tiktok or Twitter or Instagram, then then do it.
Carel:
Those are the big three.
Megan:
Yeah, we we predominantly use those three platforms. Yeah.
Carel:
All right.
Megan:
The other really important thing is cross promotions and swaps. So that will involve connecting with your fellow podcast creators and trying to arrange cross promotional activities that could be swapping an ad. It could be placing an episode in each other's feeds, but that's a really good way to reach and expand your audience.
Carel:
Following on from that, what would you say are some of the most common mistakes that aspiring podcasters should best avoid when launching their shows?
Megan:
One thing that I've learned in the process is don't leave your promotional activity until after the show has launched. It can be really easy to get caught up in the production and getting into nitty gritty of that and then leave your promotion till afterwards. But a lot of really powerful tools for promoting your show. They actually have to be prepared in advance. So whether that's reaching out to reviewers, they need advanced time to review your show. Also sort of promotional placements in apps like Apple podcast or Spotify that that requires lead time as well. You need to make those requests weeks in advance. So try and think about those and do a bit of forward thinking to ensure that you get the best out of those opportunities.
Carel:
So there's actually a lot of preparation that needs to be done before you even start.
Megan:
Yeah, yeah. And my other number one tip, I think I've said it already, but make your workflow sustainable, particularly if you're planning an always on show, you'll probably underestimate how much work is involved. But the more sustainable your show is, the more likely you are to find success and it can take quite a while to reach your, your target audience. So you need to give yourself a decent runway of a good few episodes for you to start growing your audience. So that's something to bear in mind as well.
Carel:
For you as a professional podcaster and a professional podcast producer, how has AI helped you?
Megan:
That's a really interesting question. AI definitely is a tool that I use pretty frequently. I'd say one of the main ways I personally use it is transcription services. So they do an amazing job. We obviously deal with so much tape and so much interviews or footage and a lot of the shows that we make and having that automatically transcribed, it's incredibly accurate now as well. We use mostly Rev, but Descript has transcription services as well. It's a huge time saver. I imagine in the past transcribing things, by hand must have been such a time suck. So yeah.
Carel:
One can hardly imagine.
Megan:
And the other way I use it is also creating social assets. It's not something that I personally want to spend a load of time on. If you can use something like, I know Riverside does it, Descript does it, it'll take your episode and churn out clips and other useful assets that you can use for social. And if you really want to focus on the production of your show, that's just a time saver.
Carel:
Does transcription matter in podcasting? Should you be able to provide transcriptions?
Megan:
Yeah, I would definitely encourage shows to provide transcriptions where you can. It's good for accessibility. And it's also good for searchability to have transcripts, say, on your website. So yeah, I would recommend creating those.
Carel:
As a final question, Megan, let's imagine for one moment that here I am, a complete newbie, and I come to you and I say, what should I do first? What would you tell me?
Megan:
I think my first piece of advice would be to really nail down your concept. So, your show description, really spend some time thinking about it and making the conception of your show as clear as possible because it will guide the rest of your episodes and it'll become sort of law for your show. So really understanding what the show is and what you're trying to create will help keep it nice and tight to that original sort of ambition. Try to really nail that down before you get started, and it will help you along the way.
Carel:
Megan Dean of Project Brazen, thank you so much for joining us.
Megan:
Thank you for having me.
Carel:
It's been a real pleasure. And to all of you listening to the show, remember, If you ever need a voice acting maestro to bring your AV projects to life, head over to voice123. com. It's free to use, so you can hire voice actors for any project, or you can get our Managed Services to manage your project from A to Z. We'll be back with another show soon, so keep watching this space.
