Today I’ll be analyzing why I believe “Stuff You Should Know” is a great podcast and how you can learn from their success.
“Why is it so hard to say “Toy Boat” 3 times fast: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-26940277/episode/why-is-it-so-hard-to-29468427/
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Transcript
(00:00):
What’s up ladies and gents. Welcome back again to the podonthego SHOW. I am your host Razz. And this week, today is February 10th, 2021. And this week the theme is consistency. So I have to finish this week, do an episode every day. Otherwise the entire thing, it doesn’t make any sense. And today I am going to do a segment. A new segment is called “analyzing a great podcast”. There’s a lot of podcasts out there. Very few are really good. Very few can stay consistent and stay great over the years. So that’s what we’re going to try to analyze today. And today’s episode is stuff you should know. Okay. It’s one of the OG podcasts, any podcast player that you use, you’re going to find it in one of the top recommended slots, especially for new podcasts. There’s I remember listening to it when I first started listening to podcasts in late 2012, I was a real estate agent and I’d wake up early in the morning, like 5:00 AM and run around the neighborhood.
(01:02):
And I would listen to this podcast and, and a couple other ones. So this is you know, it’s a classic podcast. And if I’m honest, I really, really, really wanted to hate these guys. I really wanted to hate this podcast and do a, your favorite podcast sucks. I had the graphic made up and everything. I was, I was ready to go. I was ready to do a hit piece. I was ready to talk about it. I was ready to, you know, tweet them and tell them that they suck Josh and Chuck, but I couldn’t, you know, I couldn’t they’re a King, you know, so they, so they get the crown, it’s a great podcast and it’s been a great podcast for a long time. And I’ll tell you why, like the main reason that I switched, I’ll tell you that a little bit closer to the, to the end of the show.
(01:47):
We’ll get to that. But here, so it’s a few reasons why I believe it to be great. Number one is consistency that theme of the week and something they do tremendously well or I use pocket casts. And as of today they have 1,654 episodes live on my podcast player. They’ve been going hard for 13 years, same two hosts, Josh and Chuck, and the same intro music. This is one thing I don’t agree with. Switch it up sometimes, you know, get a different intro, get a different outro guests with different music. But I guess if it works, it works and that’s the, you know, that’s what it is about being consistent. That’s why it’s so important, but the best incredible, you know, that’s, it’s just a masterclass and consistency. Most podcasts fail after episode seven is just a rule of life. Maybe more now after the coronavirus, people have more time at home, but most podcasts fail by now.
(02:46):
They would’ve failed a long time ago. Most podcasts don’t last past probably two or three months of doing that podcast because they realize how much hard work it is. But these guys, this team at howstuffworks.com have been able to create a podcast that’s lasted for over a decade, 13 years. How crazy is that in 2021? And I know they’ve gone through ups and downs. I’ve know, I’m sure that there’ve been times where they’re like, man, I don’t know if this is wolrth it. Should we keep going? Should we put our efforts in other places, but this is just, it’s incredible. You know, if you just think about that podcasting, I think started in like a rabbit time and they’ve been there the entire time. Number two, they, they found a niche, a niche and stuck with it. You know, this is who I think that this is, you know, a hipster in Portland or Seattle with the hat, the beard, you know, I thought about getting a fake mustache today at twisting up the corners, just so putting on a flannel shirt just so I could fit in while I listened to the podcast, but you know, who else did?
(03:56):
I also thought this was that niche too.
(04:04):
That’s quite a rock you’re wearing. Perhaps I could get you some fluffy new slippers made from the heads of innocent and defenseless, baby seals, guest pet detective. You must be the monopoly guy.
(04:28):
Okay. Yeah. But that’s who I think they are. That’s what I thought the niche was, but clearly I love it, you know, and I’m just a nerd tech nerd and pod you know, anime nerd. So, but I love the podcast. So they, they found in this people who like these weird facts and talking points and, and also another cool thing about it is this is a podcast that you can easily share with people. You know, it’s like, wow, we were talking about this topic at the bar there. The night I heard a podcast talk about it, I’ll share this podcast with you. You know, we were talking about how, you know, I don’t know how Congress works and when, you know, it heard this on a podcast, two days later, I’m going to share with you, it’s only 10 minutes. You can listen to it at any time. You know? So it’s, it’s just an incredibly shareable talkable, interesting podcast. And the, the two hosts they have, you know, Chuck and Josh, Josh, and Chuck, they have I’ll get to it. I’ll get to it
(05:36):
Next.
(05:40):
Great. It’s a perfect addition to the blog. Okay. Or the website, the website is how stuff works.com. They created the podcasts from the website. And it’s just the perfect addition is the ideal podcast and the ideal lead generator for the website, which I’m sure is the hub of everything they do. And just a little bit about the website that I found from the web that I bought from the about page on the website, how stuff works.com started in 2008, same year as the podcast currently 35 million downloads per month across all of their podcasts. They, and I’ll add a business model here because when you think about it, it’s, it’s incredible. It’s brilliant how they were able to monetize the podcast as well as monetize the website and how everything kind of comes back and flows back to the hub, which is the website.
(06:34):
And that includes, you know, they’ve created books from the podcast, they do live events. And in large venues, they do website as podcast sponsors, YouTube ad revenue, just all kinds of all kinds of ways to make it worthwhile for the people involved to, you know, just to make sure that everybody’s getting paid appropriately, make sure that everybody’s compensated correctly for the work they put in because there’s, I’m sure there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of research that goes into all of these posts and that prep work is something, a lot of podcasts is leave out, but they do a tremendous job of next is they started early and, you know, some, you know, beginning in 2008 the beginning of the podcast industry’s, popularity and there’s a lesson there, you know, the lesson is just start, you know, it’s the Nike thing.
(07:27):
Just do it. Just start, just start your podcast. If you have a podcast idea and the start now, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today. And it’s the same thing with podcasts. The best time to start a podcast is now soon as possible, because if you can start now and stay consistent 10 years from now, you’ll look back and say, wow, that was a great decision because of the growth, because of the impact, because of the connections you make, because of the, the, the money you make, the compensation, you receive everything, you know? So if you have an idea for a podcast and you’d have a competency yourself speaking on it, then yeah. You know, just start now. And that’s what they did. They started, it was a new thing, then I’m sure they got a blow back from other people on the team, or I’m sure they got blow back or, you know, just, just have second thoughts.
(08:20):
Everybody has second thoughts whenever you start something new. So I’m sure they had them, but they did it. And they stuck with it family friendly. And I’ll get to this in a second, but one thing I want to point out that I, I forgot to I forgot to mention when I said it was a perfect addition. I didn’t have a place to put it right in the slot. But one thing I forgot to mention is that something you can learn from, especially if you’re a larger organization thinking about starting a podcast, and you have a lot of team members and you don’t know who’s going to be the host and the cohost or whatever, do what they did. So I listened to, like, I did a lot of research on this. I listen to at least 25 episodes. So like, that’s like 20 hours probably like, 15 hours of the episodes, just over the past week.
(09:05):
And one in the beginning, they didn’t know who the co-host was going to be. I think Josh was there the entire time, but it took three or four months before Chuck came on and then immediately they had a, a comradery that added to the show and they noticed it and he became the permanent cohost. And so that’s, that’s the way to do it. If you’re a large organization thinking about launching a podcast to help grow your business, your, your current business, I would say, start with a dedicated host. And if you want more people to join in, then, you know, just do auditions and see where the, you know, see where the comradery is. See, see where the what’s the word I’m looking for. See, see who goes together the best. I’ll think about the word as soon as I turn the camera off, but you know what I’m trying to say.
(09:56):
All right. So next is family friendly, right? And I think this is something that a lot of people miss, and this is deeper than just being, you know, about ad revenue and sponsors wanting to be a part of the show is deeper than that, because something, most podcasts miss out on when they’re trying to be edgy and their cursing all the time. And they’re talking about, you know, graphic or, or you know, R-rated subjects. They miss out on building a relationship with children who are listening because kids grow up to be adults and kids grow up to make money. And if you’re thinking about the longterm, if you’re planning to do a podcast for 20 years, then you might as well be family-friendly for the most part, because then it’s just like, McDonald’s right. Growing up. Everybody has a growing up as kids, at least in my, in my instance, right?
(10:53):
In my experience, I grew up, I had a birthday party at McDonald’s, you know, you can go play on a play place. You get, you get your toy. You know what I’m saying? You get a cheeseburger, some fries, some ice cream, you know what I’m saying? You leave, you leave McDonald’s with the high almost, you know, they drug you up. They want you to come back. It’s, it’s incredible. You know how they, you know, the, the place used to be colorful. You know, my parents loved McDonald’s. So they took me there a lot because they had experiences as a kid. And they, these members that they created as a kid with their families, and then that’s, that’s how McDonald’s kept people coming back. It wasn’t necessarily the food, it’s the experience at a certain point. Anyway, it wasn’t the food, it was the experience of being a kid.
(11:38):
And then you want your kids to experience it. So you give them a birthday party there, you know, but I think they, I think they messed up now because now every new McDonald’s looks like a, I don’t know, like some kind of corporate office space. Like they want to become a shop now, a corporate coffee shop, or they want to, it’s like, it’s got a FedEx. Kinko’s feel to it. It doesn’t have a fun kid friendly experience, you know? So anyway, so that’s the same thing we do with the podcast. If you can allow your podcasts and like parents to interact with their kids, or, you know, parents are taking their kids all over the place. You know, we have a minivan suburban lifestyle here in America. So kids are always in the car with their parents and parents are looking for more stuff to listen to that they can listen to with their kids and interact with their kids with.
(12:29):
So that is, so that could be your podcast and that’s their podcast because my son loves this podcast now. And I love it because now I’ve created an experience with stuff you should know. And this is the biggest reason why I didn’t find a way to say, you know, make this a, your favorite podcast sucks segment. And now it’s analyze a great podcast segment because they have an episode that says, why can’t you say toy boat three times fast or something like that. I left the link to it in the description, in the comments. And I was listening to it with my son. And we had a little moment, you know, we both would try to say toy boat, toy boat. And I can’t say it at all. I can barely say it twice fast. But he couldn’t say it either. And we just laughed and we laughed and tried it for 10, 15 minutes.
(13:18):
Then we tried to get his grandfather to say it and his mother to say it. And it was, you know, it was a moment. And now I have that moment with my son and now “Stuff You Should Know” is to me a great podcast because of that episode. And there’s a lot of episodes like that. So yeah, I think that’s it. I hope you guys got something from this. I hope you guys were able to learn and improve your podcast and stay consistent with your podcast. You never know where it’s gonna go, but it’s not, it’s not about creating a viral hit or a viral sensation. It’s about doing a great quality podcast for a decade, you know, on a regular basis. That’s what it’s all about. It’s not about making one big hit. It’s not about getting, you know, a former President of the United States on your podcast or a Will Smith or Tom cruise on your podcast. That doesn’t matter. What it’s about is creating quality content on a regular basis. So you’re not just adding to the noise, but you’re actually impacting somebody. So thank you guys will listening. This has been the podonthego SHOW. I am your host, Razz and hope you guys have a great day. If you want to start a podcast and you want to learn, you can reach out to me and I can help you with it. Info@Podonthego.com. So thank you guys. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Peace.
