[QUICKIE] What to expect from the Courageous Content podcast in 2022

IMPORTANT: THIS TRANSCRIPT IS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED. WE GIVE IT A QUICK CHECK THROUGH BUT WE DON’T CORRECT EVERYTHING AS IT’S INTENDED TO HELP YOU FIND PARTS YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO AGAIN - NOT AS AN EXACT TRANSCRIPT. SO THERE MIGHT BE A FEW QUIRKY WORDS/PHRASES HERE!

:: 00:00

It's scary when you feel like you're figuring things out in public, as I'd been doing with this podcast, to coin, my favorite John Lennon quotes life or content as in this case is what happens when you're making other plans better, late than never and all that. But I recently realized I'd never recorded an episode to explain what this podcast is about. I mean,

:: 00:21

I'm pretty sure you've worked out that it's all about content, but what's it really all about what's the ambition and the purpose behind it. And how has it changed since it launched back in April, 2021, I'm Janet Murray and in this short episode, I'll share the big ideas behind the courageous content podcast and what you can expect from the show in 2022, If you're new to my world,

:: 00:47

you may know I had another podcast for four years. It was frequently in the top UK marketing charts. And by the time I'd finished up, had more than 1 million downloads. So why the heck did I stop? Well, partly because I felt I could do better. I felt the interview episodes were too long. I was also often so fascinated by my guests.

:: 01:08

It often took me too long to get to the juicy tips and advice they have to share. And I was starting to feel kind of bored with the format. The very last review on Apple podcast says this podcast used to be good, which I thought was a little unfair. I mean, who goes out of their way to leave a podcast review that says this podcast used to be good.

:: 01:31

I still felt the podcast provided tremendous value. In fact, I remember someone showing me the notes they'd taken from one solo episode pages and pages of notes on A4 paper. But, I didn't want to get to the point where I actually agreed with that review. And I thought that if I carried on, I could have got to that point. Plus my business had changed so much since I launched that podcast.

:: 01:56

It had started off as the Soulful PR podcast because I started off teaching PR and press. Then it changed to the Janet Murray show. When I moved more into teaching online marketing, then it was the build your online audience with Janet Murray podcast. And that was when I shifted my focus again to online audience building. I was running two memberships at the time. So my build your online audience membership program,

:: 02:20

and also my content planning membership, which is now my Courators Club and I was producing my planner and it was all very, very busy. So I took the decision to take the advice I give to my clients all the time to niche and then niche. Again, I decided to focus purely on content planning and creation. So it made sense to revamp my podcast to reflect that change.

:: 02:47

And that's why I decided to quit while I was still ahead. And like many of my decisions it came suddenly. I had the idea that I didn't have to carry on doing that podcast just because I've been doing it for years. I rang my business, bestie, Jess to ask if she thought I was mad. She said, I wasn't. And that was it.

:: 03:05

I quit. I recorded my last episode and that was the end of that podcast. The new podcast name, the Courageous Content Podcast came from an interview. I'd done with a guest on the old one, a branding specialist called Nicole J. Smith, who turned the tables on me during an interview and started coaching me at one point, she said to me, I feel like you don't really help people with content and audience building.

:: 03:30

I felt like what you actually help people with is getting the courage to show up online and to create content. And she was absolutely spot on the more I've taught in the online space and I've been doing it now for a good five or six years, possibly longer. The more I realized that as a teacher, my job was so much more than giving people information or even technical skills and know how,

:: 03:57

and the longer I was in the industry, the more I saw that the people who were building successful online businesses, weren't animals talented than the next person. They just seem to have courage in space. They had the courage to show up with their content, to be a beginner, to take imperfect action and to take action without necessarily knowing the outcome or even the everything will be okay,

:: 04:22

which is exactly how I'd approached it. And still do actually, I mean, quitting a top-ranking podcast is pretty courageous, right? When I started this podcast back in April 2021, I didn't really have a clear idea of where I wanted it to go. I just knew I wanted higher production quality. So shorter, tighter episodes. I was also aware that I'd learned so much more from looking at content creators who were not marketing experts.

:: 04:49

And I was tired of rolling out the same old experts you hear on every podcast. So I went out in search of courageous content, creators, people that personally inspired me and my content, which is why if you go back through the old episodes, you'll find interviews with a wedding pianist, a Tiktokking lady vicar, a lady who trolled her troll on LinkedIn and the guy who blew up on Tik TOK by filming himself,

:: 05:15

making cheese toasties. I believe we can learn so much more from those people who are often accidental content creators than we can from some of the experts. I mean the expert advice is great, but I think there is so much to learn from these people too. I also added in live coaching episodes with business owners who were struggling with something specific relating to their content.

:: 05:40

These coaching episodes include honest reflection from me, including where my coaching could be better, where I could have asked better questions or different questions. And that's often the part that people tell me. They liked the most about those episodes. I am proud of some of the episodes of the courageous content that I've created. I really am, but if you've listened to any and particularly those early ones back in last summer and in the autumn you'll know that they are very highly produced.

:: 06:12

I was so particular about it. I actually started off editing the interviews myself before I sent them to my technical podcast editor. So I was just sending exactly what I wanted to be in the episode. It took me hours. It meant sometimes I was taking maybe four or five days to create one episode, which isn't sustainable. When you have a business to run.

:: 06:36

I also felt that some episodes were so highly produced that listeners weren't getting to know me anymore, which I think is really important with the podcast and something else was niggling me having dropped my other online programs, my courageous content planner. So if you haven't heard about that show, you have, if you've listened to the podcast before it's an A4 desk planner that you can use to plan out your content for the coming year,

:: 06:59

it's got awareness days, key dates, content, ideas, prompts, beautiful hardback. This year stickers we've even got a digital version now, but it really had become the heart of my business. And after years of trying to make my planner better every year, trying to find the answer to the conundrum that kept coming up. And it was this thing around people saying to me,

:: 07:21

I just want somebody to tell me what to post, where and when, and knowing that I couldn't do that because if I was to provide pre-written social media posts, then that would be unethical because to make sales, you have to publish content that resonates with your ideal customers or clients. But I have been pondering that whole thing for years and this year or the 2022 courageous content planner,

:: 07:45

which I launched last year, I felt I'd actually really nailed it with my four by four content strategy, which is simply about posting four styles of content four days a week. The planner explains those four styles of content or pillars as they're often called. And we've even got stickers that relate to the content. And yeah, I really felt I was starting to nail it.

:: 08:05

But if I was encouraging people to make things simple, to make a commitment, to show up four times a week with their content, where did my podcast, which at the time was publishing twice a week, fit into my own four by four strategy. After chatting gets very with Kate Cocker, who is a podcasting expert, he's been working with me to develop the new podcast.

:: 08:26

I decided to trial publishing four episodes a week, three bite-sized episodes now known as quickies and one interview or tutorial on a Friday. I also decided that it made sense to repurpose my podcast content into social media content, because that way I'd be modeling that approach of keeping it simple four styles of content, four days a week. We purposing wherever you can.

:: 08:51

I will be modeling that for my clients just to be upfront. I'm still finessing this process, but that's okay because being a courageous content creator is for me about accepting that you don't have to have everything figured out before you hit publish. In fact, publishing content is how you figure out what you need to create. Well, it's worked for me for the last,

:: 09:13

however many years. I've been doing business online anyway. So having brought you up to speed with the background to this podcast, what really motivates and inspires me to turn up and create this content now four times a week for you, what can you expect from this podcast in 2022? Well, they'll still be three short episodes a week. Typically Tuesday, Wednesday,

:: 09:33

Thursday, they will be packed with practical content planning and creation tips, and also inspiration, motivation. Anything I can share with you to help you be more courageous and just to get out there and create the content, because that's the only way you're really going to find out what resonates with your ideal customers or clients. And one longer tutorial episode a week,

:: 09:57

typically on a Friday, I've accepted that however much I want to do. It's spending four or five days or one interview episode or coaching interview episode is really not viable. And I still have a ton of content from those interviews. And also for my online event, courageous content live that I can reuse and repurpose view. I've been doing a lot of that recently.

:: 10:19

And that's another thing about being a courageous content creator, a courageous content creator, or courator as I like to call it. It does not feel they have to reinvent the wheel all the time, but I am planning to do another round of interviews with courageous content creators and some new coaching episodes starting in April. So I hope that's given you an idea of what to expect from this podcast in 2022,

:: 10:44

you found out more about my vision. I hope it's also inspired you to be a more courageous content creator and just get out there and create some content without knowing exactly where it will lead. It's scary when you feel like you're figuring things out in public as I've been doing with this podcast. But if I hadn't been brave enough to end my old podcasts and start something new,

:: 11:04

I'm not sure it would even have entered my head to tie this podcast into my Courageous Content planner, to tie it in with those four styles of content in my planner, I'm showing up four days a week. I've really not sure that that would have clicked for me and to coin my favorite John Lennon quotes life or content as in this case is what happens when you're making other plans.