I got my start working in podcasting by providing podcast show notes through Fiverr. I waaaaaaaay undercharged for my services but it was a great learning opportunity.
Writing show notes helped me to learn what listeners really want to hear in a podcast episode and I created strategies to mimic a podcast’s unique tone of voice. I also developed show notes techniques that help podcasters to start to repurpose their podcast content.
On top of all of that, I was paid to listen to loads of podcasts on loads of diverse, funny and interesting topics.
Here’s a round-up of some of the funny, weird and interesting facts I’ve learnt from writing podcast show notes:
I wrote up podcast show notes for Doug Parker of Cruise Radio, a podcast for people addicted to cruise holidays. Having never been on a cruise before, a lot of his episodes were a real discovery for me, as was his level of passion for cruising. Doug Parker loves cruises!
On this particular episode (episode 652), Doug and staff writer Ashley reviewed their trip on the Carnival Mardi Gras Cruise Liner, which has a rollercoaster on the top deck offering 360° views of the boat and the ocean.
One of my regular show notes orders came from April, host of The Big Sky Astrology Podcast. On 20th February 2022, April released an episode about America’s Pluto Return, which is the first time that Pluto completed a full rotation through the zodiac since the United States was founded.
Astrologists believe that Pluto's Return signifies a shift in the balance of power and money, leading to societal upheaval.
Jeremy Francese is the host of a great show called The Marketing Water Cooler Podcast, where he shares advice and insights on B2B and B2C marketing and communications. I did a bulk order of show notes for every episode in the first season in the podcast and I learnt so much from hearing him talk so passionately about marketing.
One of the fundamentals that Jeremy explained is that the way that we buy products or services has fundamentally shifted. Before, we might have been happy to listen to a couple of experts (or maybe even one expert) before making a buying commitment, but those days are over.
Today, we treat purchasing decisions like we treat diagnosing our ailments, poking around on Google and asking our friends or family before we decide to see a doctor. If your sales executives are jumping on a call expecting to educate a prospective client about the product or service, you’re setting yourself up for failure because the client is coming to the call already informed. As Jeremy advises, you need to start catching your customer way earlier in their buying journey.
I’ve also had the pleasure of writing show notes for the Subscription League podcast, a show discussing the development and marketing of subscription model apps. Hosts Olivier Destrebecq, Nicolas Tissier and Jeff Grang interview guests who are shaking up the app subscription model, one of the fastest-growing areas of app development.
In the first episode of the podcast, they talked with Eveline Moczko, the Head of Product Management at Blinkist. Blinkist is a popular app offering condensed versions of popular non-fiction books, which has fans including Tim Cook of Apple. Eveline experimented extensively with how and when to send app users on a free trial a reminder of their first payment and found that, contrary to her expectations, sending a payment reminder made free trial users more likely to convert into paid customers. She hypothesised that the payment reminder encouraged users to dive into the app to get the most out of the trial, and this increased usage demonstrated the value for money of the product.
Second Act Actors is a podcast hosted by the delightful Janet McMordie. It showcases the stories of actors who got into acting later in life having already completed their ‘first act’ in a different career field. Janet herself is a Canada-based medical doctor who’s transitioning into acting (leave some achievements for the rest of us, Janet!) through roles in local theatre, background acting and small parts on screen. Each week she interviews a different ‘second act actor’ to find out why they want to act, how they’re getting started in acting and what they’ve carried from their first act into their second.
I particularly enjoyed the episode with Madeline DeCorso, as Janet met Madeline doing background work for Guillermo del Toro’s film Nightmare Alley. I had just seen the film in the cinema a few days before writing the show notes and I swear I recognised Madeline’s face from one of the crowd scenes in the fairground.
Where would I be without my regular dose of The Classi Ladi Corner? Stephanie, the host of the podcast, is an inspiration. She decided to live life her own way and has set herself a series of challenges, big and small, to show that life doesn’t just stop for women once you get over 40. In her podcast, she talks about mental health, physical health, getting waxed, ageing, drinking cocktails and so much more.
I wrote both show notes and blog posts for her website and I’ve learnt a lot from her and she always cracks me up. In her episode in celebration of Black History Month, she chose to highlight the achievements of lesser-known Black women and told the moving story of Oseola McCarty, a rural Mississippi woman born into poverty in 1908. Oseola had to leave school at the age of 12 to care for her aunt and she spent the rest of her life working as a washerwoman. She wanted other Black people to have the opportunities denied her so she lived extremely frugally and saved every cent she earnt in order to make a $150,000 donation to start a fund for Black students at the University of Southern Mississippi. The scholarship programme runs to this day.
This surprising and counterintuitive piece of advice came from the Call The Vet podcast, hosted by Dr Alex Avery. He produces excellent episodes packed with words of wisdom to help pet owners give their animals a happy, healthy and fulfilling life.
On this episode (Does Your Dog Really Need Walks - it might be best to stop them!), Dr Alex interviewed dog behavioural expert Niki French. Niki outlined that certain dogs might find daily walks to be overstimulating and this could be the cause of undesirable behaviour such as excessive barking or aggression. If this is the case with your dog, Niki suggests looking at the overall picture of your dog’s well-being and focusing on delivering concentrated bursts of mental stimulation for your dog such as playing with them or giving them toys or dog puzzles, all while in a calm, safe environment. Once your dog’s behaviour is more under control, you can gradually reintroduce walks into their routine.
If your podcast show notes need a little love, get in touch with me for a podcast show notes consultation call.