11 - Not My First Rodeo

Jim Banks [00:00:00]:
Bad Decisions with Jim Banks is a digital marketing focused podcast that supports career growth in digital marketing by learning from the bad decisions industry experts have made. New content is released twice a week with one guest interview and a shorter aha moment episode like this one. So follow the podcast to stay up to date with our latest content releases. Now let's get on to this week's shorter aha moment episode.

Jim Banks [00:00:33]:
The other day I was doing one of those vanity searches where you go looking for yourself. Or in this case, I was actually looking for my podcast, bad decisions with Jim Banks. Now I know it's a bad decision to do that, particularly when it's such a new project. But I did it anyway. We all do. I went to Google and I searched for bad decisions with Jim Banks. I wanted to see what ranked higher. Was it platforms like Apple or Spotify? Or my own website? Or social media channels like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram or LinkedIn? You see, when promoting your podcast or specific episodes, it makes sense to focus on the platforms or strategies that bring the love less on the ones that don't.

Jim Banks [00:01:18]:
Now that will make sense, right? I am a dyed in the wool, unapologetic affiliate marketer. I think every link should be an affiliate link. So there is an equitable distribution of the revenue achieved by someone taking the time to recommend or review something and someone acting on the recommendation. When I record a podcast episode, I use descript to do the first edit of the content. I am an affiliate of descript, but also a heavy user of it. After I record an episode of my podcast, I import the audio or video file into the script and one of the first things I do is I use their AI to look for filler words. In most cases, each episode where I have a guest has about 600 filler words between my guest and me. Now, some of you might be asking yourself, what is a filler word, Jim? And that's a great question.

Jim Banks [00:02:15]:
A filler word is where someone adds a word that doesn't need to be there. My favourite filler words are, um, er, like, you know. And my biggest culprit is right, a lot of my guests have their own filler words and I can move those out as well. You might have your own special filler words. I then run the transcript through descript and cut out the filler words because I care about you, my loyal listeners and your precious time. Because 600 words in a 45 minutes episode probably knocks two to three minutes of the total time of each episode and it doesn't alter the flow of the conversation at all. So when I saw a link on Google which said bad decisions with Jim Banks reviewed, I was curious. It wasn't my site or a site that I knew.

Jim Banks [00:03:03]:
It turns out that an 18 year podcast veteran called Dave Jackson runs a site called School of Podcasting, but he also has a site called Podcast Rodeo where he randomly selects a podcast and reviews it. Now, I've been asked to critique many businesses marketing strategies or websites when I've been on panels, at conferences, and I've given valuable feedback that can help those businesses. The difference between these two scenarios is at a conference, someone is volunteering their website or ad campaign to be critiqued, and on podcast radio they are selected podcast episodes, randomly chosen. Now, Dave even said that someone from my site had come to his site, which I had. I was actually looking for help and guidance. Now, initially, I was fine with the feedback on the episode, so much so that I sent Dave $20 on buy me a coffee. Now, when I listened to the episode feedback a little bit more, I changed my view on it. I didn't ask for it.

Jim Banks [00:04:03]:
And it's called podcast Rodeo because if you do something awful, and let's face it, we all do, when we start out, you get kicked off the episode like a bucking Bronco. It's entertainment, listeners, downloads, or whatever else at someone else's expense. Now, because of my background in insurance sales, I am very thick skinned and podcast rodeo was not my first rodeo. I've been around the block a bit. I can absolutely take the criticism. Now, many other new podcast hosts might not be able to. They may be. They may take the criticism badly and stop creating episodes altogether.

Jim Banks [00:04:39]:
So for anyone offering up critique, please only do it if it's asked for and make sure it is constructive and not just used to belittle the recipient. Now, even though nice things were said about the episode by Dave, which I appreciated, I only took away the negative things that were said. And I think everyone in my position would do the same. I'm a 25 year digital marketing veteran, OG or whatever other accolades go with that length of tenure. I set up my podcast to help people looking to start or further their career in digital marketing by inviting some of the smartest minds in the digital marketing community and friends of mine to have a conversation with me. We share the challenges in digital marketing rather than saying it is all lambos and wild success. Each episode is not an interview. My guests share their bad decisions and I share mine.

Jim Banks [00:05:33]:
Some will be personal, some will be professional, but all will be valuable. There is way too much hatred and toxicity in the world right now. We need to learn to collaborate and celebrate when others have success and rally behind those that are having a tough time. All of us will have our turn on both sides of success and challenges. At some point. It may be financial, business, family or health related, but your life will be full of ups and downs. It won't be all unicorns and rainbows. So today I want you to look at your connections.

Jim Banks [00:06:06]:
Seek out someone who could do with a lift up and do something nice to help them without any thought for what is in it for you. Or better still, reach out to someone you don't know and tell them how much you enjoy their blog or their podcast or their social media content content. You will feel great on the giving end and they will feel great on the receiving end. A win win. Now that's all for this particular episode of bad decisions with Jim Banks. It hurt me a bit to make it, but I think on balance it needed to be said. And Dave, if you listen to this episode, I really do appreciate your feedback and value your knowledge and what you do for the podcast community. I'm not going to let a little thing like being thrown off the horse stop me from making progress as a podcaster.

Jim Banks [00:06:49]:
When I think I'm ready for a proper review and feedback, I will be all over your site looking for help and happy to pay for it. And I will tell all my friends to do the same. So I'll catch you on the next episode of Bad Decisions with Jim Banks. And just so you're aware, my guest on the next episode is Ashley Segura. She's one of the smartest content marketers I know and I can't wait to share the conversation we had with.