David Johnson-Igra

#content-podcasting - April 18, 2023 at 06:32 PM

1. Don’t “launch” without a backlog of content already produced, as publishing cadence is important for compounding success
2. Scheduling and editing the episode take longer than you think
3. Have a unique angle—because while the Q&A format is tried and true—you’ll want more than just your guest’s names/brands to help you stand out
4. Like any content, understand what the value of your content is to your listener—and use that as the editorial northstar vs what your company wants to cover

#freelance-gigs - February 08, 2023 at 02:14 PM

I'd suggest estimating what the total time spent will be (admin, writing, revising) and then multiplying that by the hourly rate you feel good about. Then, add 10% more time on top. Whatever that sum is, decide afterwards "is this too much?" There's an argument both ways to keep the sum as is (it's the time you expect it will take you, you shouldn't underbid, getting customers who pay low ages often = more demanding customers) or to reduce it (you need work, the brand is awesome and will enhance your portfolio). Good luck!!

#general - December 30, 2022 at 02:34 PM

I have had clients do Net 45 and Net 60 (which sucked). I’ve found that the larger the business, the more time they take. Just the price of doing business, I suppose.

#general - October 20, 2022 at 02:45 PM

@Maggie Leung interesting idea re: not relying on your existing network—and always looking to expand your talent pool. How do you scale evaluating new talent? I imagine it’s difficult to overcome personal bias for people you have longstanding history/experience with—so what tips/practices do you implement to equally assess/place new, discovered talent?

And agree re: that VC. I feel like I dodged a bullet—and I’ve got no complaints as a consultant now. I feel very fortunate.

#general - October 19, 2022 at 08:09 PM

I agree with a lot of what @Maggie Leung said already. The points I’d add are:

1. Depends on the sector you’re applying to. Big agencies seem to be struggling mightily to fill clients’ content void for a variety of reasons. Accordingly, I have seen layoffs for content positions at the agency level. Within VCs, it seems every brand is trying to hire a Head of Content—following the trend set forth by a16z/First Round and others—knowing that their money is now commoditized. That said, I was on the 7th interview for a FT job at a very well-regarded VC firm for a $250k salary with equity options and they pulled the plug as the market environments worsened.
2. Freelancing opportunities seem to be growing. I’ve spoken to a few content and marketing leads and they all have noted how business is not slowing down. I suspect this is a byproduct of tightening operational budgets for companies less willing to hire someone FT, but still having growth targets to make and relying instead on consultants.
3. Generally, the price for content seems to be following the trend of inflation. Up, up, and up. A recent client I took on noted to me she doesn’t think there’s any recession happening, because she has struggled to find any strong content writer/consultant to support her (who wasn’t already completely booked up).
4. I think we’re also at a juncture—where we’ll start to see more specialization and differentiation of writing services—which in turn will impact pricing and opportunities. People are realizing that just because you’re a good writer (maybe a former journalist) you’re not necessarily a strategic marketer who understands how content maps to a channel. Or, similarly—if you’re a great SEO writer, you don’t necessarily have the interviewing and writing skills to sit down with C-Level executives.
   

#content-podcasting - October 05, 2022 at 03:42 PM

How they conduct audits to differentiate from other podcasts? What types of things are they looking for—and how do they identify white space?

Also, @Jimmy Daly (Superpath) would love to chat with you about participating on the podcast, if that’s an option.

#content-podcasting - August 02, 2022 at 04:08 PM

I found Simplecast to be pretty easy to use. Art19 is another popular one. Just make sure it’s on this list: https://podcasters.apple.com/partner-search

#content-podcasting - July 06, 2022 at 02:42 PM

Totally agree there's a lot of ways to look at it @Anne Merkert. Little challenging to answer the question without knowing the audience (eg. consumers vs. B2B partners) and intent. That said, pragmatic content could work. To me, it's dependent upon format and whether it feels forced/natural to the approach.

Here are two different podcasts I developed, where one felt a little more forced and the other worked more naturally because of the approach:

For one—the product related content was around software helping businesses with digital transformation. Each episode had two separate interviews, one (my client's) customer story and the other a celebrity/influencer's (who helped draw traffic) story, each speaking about personal or business transformations. It kind of worked—but it felt a little unnatural since the audiences for these types of transformation stories were different. The customer story included pragmatic advice about tools/software (that the company's service supported)—which was very different than the personal triumph/pivot stories of the celebrity/influencer.

Comparatively, I also developed Floodgate VC Mike Maples Jr podcast Starting Greatness—where the product was his advice on how to scale a startup. The product we were selling here was Mike's frameworks for how to scale startups (so it is thought leadership). (His goal was to win deals with startup founders—so impressing them with his strategy/advise/network were important.) The format we took was a Q&A interview with a celebrity/startup founder explaining their experience doing X/Y/Z—married with a shorter form episode that featured a particular framework of Mike's that was illustrated/tied to the interviewee's experience. In this instance, because the pragmatic content was so intrinsic to the interview which the audience was seeking to listen to—it worked. Had we just done a podcast that focused solely on Mike's frameworks (the short form episodes), I think the podcast would have felt like a lecture and wouldn't have been as successful.

Similarly, if you do episodes of content that are solely about applications of the product—I'd suspect they'd feel like webinars or tutorials—whereas the most successful podcasts tend to be tied to storytelling.

#intros - March 23, 2021 at 05:01 PM

Hello everyone! I'm a content marketer at Outcast—a digital marketing, design and communications agency—which works with brands like Facebook, Amazon/AWS/Alexa, HBO, TurboTax, SoFi and more. We create and support podcasts, long form thought leadership, newsletters, blog programs and social media campaigns. Look forward to meeting and learning from everyone!