Episode 19 - How to Generate FREE Leads using YouTube & Other Video Industry FAQ's

0:00

Welcome back to Faith and Frames.

This is this is a new style.

It's kind of a kind of our take on frequently asked questions.

We thought it might be helpful to address a lot of the questions that we get from our listeners.

0:17

We figure if they've asked it.

Probably want to know it.

Well, they're probably not alone either.

That's the thing, right?

There's probably other people who are asking similar if not same question, so.

And I've got a few questions here in the Thoughts and Doodles volume one.

Well, there's a Just Just hold that, hold that thought there, because.

0:35

And you've got a few questions too.

Yeah, you've got a couple questions.

We're fresh off of lunch.

That's some that's some good Irish Irish grub.

Some shepherd's pie.

Which is very polarizing to people I.

Think it's pretty tasty?

0:51

I love it.

Pretty tasty.

I love it especially in the winter time.

That.

Oh, that.

Just that.

Just it hits the soul.

Especially on days like today where it's 20°.

It is 20°.

We are at Create Appalachia, though.

Shout out shout.

Out.

This is really cool Co working space.

OK, so if you're someone who is a work from home in any industry and you're like, you know what, I'm sick sitting at my kitchen table, there are options.

1:16

They have an they have an establishment in Kingsport and they also have one in Johnson City.

Where we're at today.

Where we are at today?

All kinds of amenities, tons of cool desks and options for you.

Incubation spaces, podcast streaming, a studio in the.

1:31

Back Studio in the front today.

Learning Center.

We're in the lobby and it's looking really good.

I dig it.

They got the.

They took their living room.

Well, they got the training center and then there's like desks and it's set up in like a a training center vibe with a structure, LED TV, all these things.

1:51

It's a real.

Computer place.

You don't even have to bring your own computer in.

Yes, it's very, very cool.

And their whole goal is to, if I understand correctly, to to help artists not struggle.

Boom.

Because as an artist, you are a business.

2:07

You're a business, and today, with all of the technology and stuff available, you don't have to starve and you shouldn't starve.

Bingo.

And so it's just a great play.

We met an animator actually here.

Ben Carroll.

Garrett.

Yes, a graduate student at ATSU.

2:24

And actually really, really talented.

Biggest stuff.

So if nothing else, it's also helping with networking and just linking people up.

Cultivate your relationship and Ben is going to be a great, great asset in the future.

2:40

Reach out to create Appalachia.

Katie or Cher?

Yes.

Talk to either one of those.

And what's?

Their catch phrase you had earlier.

Catch phrase is where art meets business.

Oh.

It is a creative space built for creators by creators.

2:55

Yes, check them out.

I dig it.

I dig it.

Jared, we got some FAQs We do.

We want to tackle.

It.

I got to give you.

I got to give you.

I got to give you a cool joke.

Hit me.

Dang, Dang.

3:12

This one's good.

This one's good.

I love this.

I love this.

I thought the dryer was shrinking my clothes.

Turns out it was the refrigerator all along.

See what I did there?

3:31

Throwing out fridge.

Fridge is shrinking your clothes.

Be honest or.

It's enlarging you however you want to look at that.

After, after the shepherd's pie we had for lunch, I'm feeling quite enlarged and engorged right now that.

Poached egg was pretty good too.

Yeah, the egg was good too.

If you're an egg guy, the Scottish egg.

If you're an egg guy, which I am, is it Scottish or is it Irish?

3:51

I think on the menu it said Scottish.

Interesting.

Yeah, I think maybe they're Scotch Irish.

OK.

I don't even is that.

Maybe that's a thing.

I think it's a thing.

Maybe not.

I mean, they can correct me if I'm wrong.

Mulligans, if I'm being an idiot right now, please just tell me.

Let us know.

Yeah, let us know.

So seriously, today, this one's going to be a little more LAX, a little more conversational.

4:09

We don't have a guest lined up and we thought we would take this opportunity to truly trying to help as many people as we can answer.

Some of your burning questions.

These are questions that we've been asked at various points in our business and again probably not the only people asking these questions wondering the answers right.

4:27

So we thought we would take this opportunity to answer these thought we would.

Oblige.

Yeah, so let's go.

Let's get into the first one.

Sweet.

Let me pull out Thoughts and Doodles, Volume One.

Easy now question.

Number one, this actually comes fresh off of a gig that we did last year.

It may, may even been two years ago, but you mentioned it very recently in our five ways that you can use video.

4:48

Yeah, for your business.

If you remember the blog that you put out, we've also put out a video for it as well and a post internal videos, internal videos.

I don't think that a lot of folks understand what that actually means for a business specifically.

So what what internal videos did we shoot for this client that they were able to use within the business?

5:08

It's not an actual ad piece, but they still used it for the business.

It's not even a public facing piece.

It's it's strictly internal.

It's training.

Right.

And so and I referenced it and I and I, I love the way that my professor in college phrased it.

I was in computer science classes and he said look, if you find yourself doing the exact same thing over and over every day, write a program to do that and free yourself up, well, that's no different than in in video as well.

5:35

So like if you are constantly, a lot of businesses have internal training that they have to do with every single new hire.

Maybe it's HR related, maybe it's for oh it's it's, it's whatever.

But they constantly retrain the exact same methods.

5:51

You should get that in a video form because that's going to free up that employee to do exactly what you hired them to do, and you're just going to be a lot more efficient in that way.

Yeah, well, the other thing too, with with training video specifically, and maybe this isn't as big of an issue as maybe I think it is, but with an internal video, you know that you're going to have consistency in the training.

6:13

So you know that and maybe you have the same person do the training every single time when you are.

They going to deliver it exactly the same way.

Right.

Are they going to have that same delivery and that's something that you know even going back to my previous industry, there is a a massive emphasis that I think is important when it comes to consistency and training.

6:29

I want to know that each new hire that I bring in is going to get the same information every single time.

Guess what?

If it's recorded.

It's the same way video.

Files the same way.

Bingo.

So I like tackling that question because I know that's probably something that people are wondering whenever we put that post out in internal videos.

6:45

What, what is this?

Well, if you're a business and and also a medium to large business to where you're constantly hiring new people, it's very important like you say to automate that, right?

There's no reason that you should take an employee away from whatever their actual duty is.

7:01

What you hired them to do, yeah.

What you hired them to do because that's going to cost you dollars at the end as a business owner.

Yeah, you hired them to do X and now they're having to do Y as well, which means X is not getting done.

So yeah, it there's there's tons of efficiency reasons as to why you should record and get into video form your internal training methods, because it's going to be the exact same message, the exact same delivery every single time.

7:27

And what you're going to realize is you will reap the return off of that from that consistency and added efficiency.

Yeah, absolutely.

And and another thing too, So we talked about onboarding one of our good friends in the industry.

He does this for one of his clients, but they do internal safety videos.

7:43

Same, Yeah, it's also.

Important You want the same information every single time.

Well, at Summer's Day where we, we did the two right, we did safety and HR because it is the exact same presentation.

Well, it's the exact same material to every new hire.

And so yeah, they decided, you know what, we need to automate this.

8:02

And I think that's a great way to use video.

And a lot of people don't even think about.

Right.

They don't think about it, which I'm glad you mentioned it.

It's not an.

Ad right.

It's not like it's commercial.

You're only gonna see the return.

Internally, internally, yeah.

But I'm glad that you mentioned that in the in the five ways though because that's something that a lot of companies don't understand or they don't even know that you can do that.

8:25

I was glad you mentioned that and that was a question that we we have tackled before.

Hit me with one from your little book there, Captain.

All right, all right.

OK, so we don't always practice what we preach.

That doesn't make it less true.

8:40

That doesn't make it any less true.

Like I tell my kids, do as I say, not as I do.

It's does not make it any.

I mean it is still a true statement.

So something that I think a lot of people do because we do it is don't neglect your caption and your thumbnail, right.

Just because it's the last thing that you do for a post for a piece before you hit post, does not mean it should be the last thought on your mind, right?

9:03

Well, so along that thought, you've got to think about it this way as let's let's just take a a take a salesperson.

Salesperson for example.

You can have the best sales presentation in the whole entire world.

9:19

In the whole entire world.

You can know every single thing that there is to know about your product.

You know all the features of it, all the problems that it will solve.

But if your ad for that product sucks, I don't even, I don't even care to know what the product is.

9:35

And it's kind of the same way with thumbnails.

So one thing that that we've learned on YouTube specifically because we're both on YouTube, obviously our business has YouTube.

We've done YouTube for other businesses.

One thing that is very, very underestimated is the power of your thumbnail.

9:52

A lot of the YouTube gurus will say you actually need to shoot your thumbnail first.

The reason being is because we want to within a split seconds moment of time, I want to attract.

Well, that's your new viewer right your it's your billboard.

It is your ad for your product, which is your piece of content, whether it be a YouTube video, Instagram post, Facebook, whatever.

10:12

That is your billboard, that is your ad for that content.

So we need to do a couple of things very quickly because we know that attention spans nowadays are.

That of an AT.

That of an AT.

So we need to a get your attention.

BI need to let you know right then and there what this video is about.

10:29

So we need to know what it's about and then on top of that I need to give you maybe a little bit of a a bait because we at the end of the day we want you to click on the video got to.

Entice you to get there.

Right, we want you to click on the video and want you to stay so with thumbnails though, there is a fine line because I think we've all been victim to like a truly click baited thumbnail.

10:49

Yeah, if it doesn't deliver on its claim, that's that's that's where you you become dishonest, in my opinion.

You become dishonest.

So there there is a fine line with thumbnails, but to A to a degree you do have to have some sort of bait with every thumbnail that you do.

Same thing with captions.

Those are the big one.

11:04

I think that's very relatable as captions.

Yes, the the captions are a beautiful place to make yourself relatable and and you're actually good at copy.

You're very good at writing.

So what would you say in a caption?

I need to have as as a business owner or as a solo creator?

11:20

Well, so I think, I think it's really easy to to think of a photo, take a photo, take a collection of photos maybe from your day at work or whatever think, well I'll post this later.

You get there and you're like shots from the day that's just like all that you can think about.

11:37

Whereas like you need to be offering some sort of value and and a good method is to.

I mean like like anything else you have to have a hook and so like your first sentence should be something that you are wanting your viewer to either be intrigued by maybe it's a a pain point that you solve or maybe it's a question that you posed something that makes them essentially hit that little dot dot dot To see more read more of the caption engage with your posts.

12:05

So like, yeah, your caption, other than the the the photos or the whatever that's that's your that's a great opportunity to to create a further relationship with your with your audience.

I like it.

It's at the end of the day, it's relatability.

12:21

So you want to hook them, you got to hook them with a good thumbnail, honest good thumbnail, and then you want to keep them with a very relatable caption.

I think those are really quintessential for any solid post, any solid post.

I would agree.

Nice.

So another one in my little black book here, The Thoughts and doodles that we've tackled very recently and and we've had folks come to us and and again if you're new to content creation, especially if your business, you probably don't understand this.

12:49

But I think that a lot of folks come to us and they say, I got this really cool video idea or Jared and Garrett, I need you guys to give me one cool video idea.

I need one really cool video.

And again, we're in the space, so we understand that one Cool Video may not be the answer, and a lot of times it's probably not the answer.

13:09

But why?

Why is 1 Cool Video not the answer for a lot of businesses?

Well, traditionally that.

Was the case, you had one really good piece of advertisement that could run its course for months, if not years, whatever, With today's climate Nats being the attention span, all those things, and in the quick dopamine hits that happen, you have to have more of a volume approach.

13:33

And so this, this came up with our buddy Max.

Yeah, came to us through a referral and we initially were talking about doing a branded video.

We then asked him more of what his pain point was and he said, look, honestly, it's an exposure and it's awareness thing.

13:52

Once people know that I exist, if they're in the lumber space, they need lumber, they often times become a client.

So we're like OK, think about it, if you if you have one piece of video, even if it's a good video, like it's a great video.

You get one video you post it maybe it gets shared a few times maybe it gets we'll just say 345000 views.

14:14

Great, cool.

That's the end of that cycle unfortunately, right with the climate of of social media today that's that's the that's true of the case.

So unless you're going to a post it more often which you're posting the same video or you're throwing ad dollars behind it, one video is probably not going to be the answer today.

14:35

So we elected with Max specifically.

Our solution for Max was to do more of a blast approach, right, more of a multiple.

So I believe we ended up ultimately ended up with like I believe we ultimately ended up with probably 8 or 10 pieces as well as some photos.

14:54

And so that right there was a multitude of post versus a singular post that would have been effective, but only effective for a short stand.

Yeah.

I think and I know that both, both you and I really agree that there's a a good amount of importance in having a strong branded piece.

15:11

But I think that the place in which that branded piece sits is what's important.

I think a branded piece is a a great place probably to put on your website.

Yeah, it needs to.

Live there for sure.

Needs to live on your website.

Probably needs to live on your YouTube, but as as a standalone piece, less effective when it comes to social media like your Facebooks, your Instagrams, things like that that are short attention span.

15:31

So one of our biggest recommendations is with a branded piece, back it up with consistent content as well.

Let maybe that maybe that's your spearhead to get your content started.

That way, people do know who you are.

They knew they do know what you do, but then you've got to back it up again with a volume approach, kind of like we did with Max.

15:51

Today you almost have to reverse it.

So like your your your website is ultimately where you want someone to end up, right?

That's the end of the funnel.

It's the end of that funnel.

So like you've got to have tons of Nets out there doing the fishing for you, which is your multitude of of content.

Ultimately they end up at your website and that's where they get to watch your branded video and now now they know who you are, what you do.

16:12

So it's like it's it's really difficult in today's climate for a branded video to be a standalone.

Unless you're back in the dollars like you said.

It's just not enough today.

Yeah.

So what do some of those little pieces look like that maybe funnel 2A branded piece like take Max for example, what were our actual actionable pieces of content that we shop for Max?

16:34

Yeah.

So we we ended up asking him like what is most popular sellers worth in regards to to some of his inventory because they've always got tons of different inventory species of wood.

So we we we thought of pieces of content that allowed Max to be shown to the public the the first time viewer of a reel or whatever as Max being the expert.

16:59

And so we thought of of ways like, OK, why is wood good for this but not good for this?

Or why is oak good for this, not good for this application?

Or is there a wood that's great for every application?

Max knows these answers.

I don't.

So we we thought of ways to, they were kind of like, again, kind of like FAQ, but also just things that he ends up telling his clients anyways.

17:23

Like hey, if you're trying to build exterior siding, use hemlock, those types of things.

Yeah.

So Max, at that point time was able to again handle those, yeah, those repetitive questions without having to shoot another piece of content, without actually having to answer them at all.

He can direct people to that content.

17:40

But the other thing too though Jared is we were still able to incorporate some of those branded elements into Max's short form prescription, we'll call it right in, in the sense of like you know, Max has excellent customer relations like his customers love working with him, right, very personable guy, has excellent customer service.

17:59

So we were still able through the help of Brianna, his brand strategist and our brand strategist.

Should be yours.

Yeah, should be yours as well folks, but we were able to still have those little glimmers of a a branded element show through.

So you're not totally missing out by not doing a branded piece if you can only do short form content, sure, or if that is the prescription.

18:20

But again, we were able to sprinkle in some of those elements from the branded piece.

Yeah, I mean, if it's a differentiator, definitely, yeah, definitely want to show that and any and all ways that you can.

Yes, but we wanted more value for Max because of his specific problem.

So again, going back to the original question, that singular piece by itself probably not the answer for Max, yeah.

18:41

Well, it's just, it's just not the best use of his dollar, right?

Yeah, we could have done it would would have been a great video.

It just probably wouldn't have been the maximizing of the dollar, correct, correct climate.

So moving on, we got another question and this one actually kind of piggybacks off of that and it's something that I know we hear a lot.

19:04

It's basically the the statement of I don't have enough time to to shoot content.

I don't have enough time to to to shoot enough content.

You guys are saying we need some volume and some some quantity.

19:22

I don't have enough time for that.

And I'll agree with you, you don't have the time for it.

If if you're trying to shoot one video at a time and this is this is a mental shift that it took, I'm just going to go ahead and speak from personal experience.

19:37

Took a long time to latch onto.

Yeah.

Sometimes it seems so counterintuitive to spend an hour or two hours shooting four to five videos.

Heck, if you're shooting shorts, you can probably shoot 15 to 20.

Maybe 30 and bang them out.

Seems kind of counterintuitive.

19:54

The difference is though, so we we recommend batch shooting for a lot of reasons.

What we're doing today, we're actually batch shooting this podcast and typically we do because we know that we will have one set up, we can bang out, we'll just say two to four episodes and we're giving you guys the secret sauce to the podcast right now.

20:12

But it it creates an efficiency.

The other thing too with with batch shooting.

So aside from the fact that you have one one initial setup.

One setup, one teardown.

One setup, one teardown.

To me, it's also helpful in the sense that it's pretty easy to get into a flow.

You know, whenever roof get into a groove, you get into a creative, we'll call it flow state to where you're banging off these ideas.

20:31

Now, the caveat to that is you do have to come to the table with ideas that day.

Yeah, probably not going to sit down and and and concept and everything all all at once.

Right, right.

It's it's good to have some concepting already done.

I know one thing that I like to do specifically with like YouTube is I will write some of my scripts ahead of time.

20:49

Sure, at least bullet point.

Just outlines.

Just some outlines.

We do the same thing with the podcast.

We outline some ideas that we want to talk about.

We line the guest up and then we schedule a shooting date.

So that is our solution for quote quote, not having time, it's let's try some batch shooting.

21:04

Maybe we can set aside one to two hours a week to where you can knockout 1520.

Thirty short forms.

Maybe it's two to four long forms.

Whatever it is, whatever it is you want to shoot, that's kind of the solution.

And again, that's what all the gurus do.

21:20

The gurus are always batch shooting.

It's just the most efficient use of your time with content.

It it wholeheartedly, I would agree.

We also, we also do this with our clients.

I do, we do.

You know we have we'll.

Take Preston for example, from Star.

21:36

You guys have heard Preston here on the podcast.

We batched you with him a full month's worth of content within one day.

Actually, the way it breaks down hour wise in most cases is 6 hours.

Yeah, five or six hours.

And so for a whole month.

So the great thing is, is that is you.

21:52

You probably.

Maybe.

You don't think you do.

Maybe.

Maybe you don't think you do, but you can probably scrounge up six hours for the month and that's all that your involvement is at that point.

22:08

So yeah, bat shooting is the most effective way to to create, create content because yeah, you get into a groove and it's just it's it's very resourceful from a time perspective.

One set up, one tear down.

Do it all at once.

That's a good one.

22:24

That's a good one.

We get that a lot.

Sweet.

Moving on.

I've got one from the Thoughts and Doodles for you, Jared.

Let's say I'm running a YouTube channel.

Are you running one or you want to start one?

Well, let's just say I'm wanting to start one.

OK, I'm wanting to start a YouTube channel, but I want my YouTube channel to generate a little bit of interest, generate some leads my way.

22:45

What are what are some ways with my YouTube channel that I can do that well so?

YouTube is the second largest search engine.

I'll lead with that that.

Sounds pretty good.

It's.

Right.

My owner and Google, right.

So you got Google and then you got YouTube.

23:01

So people, what that means is people are going there and they're asking questions.

They're probably asking questions about solutions that you provide.

Take a plumber, for example.

23:17

How do I winterize my cabin?

Yep, I bet you know the answer to that is a plumber and you can make a video about it.

Therefore you can be the solution to somebody.

Well, going back to the FAQs that we talked about earlier.

Here's here's the great thing I'll I will die saying this because it's true.

23:36

We all have problems and we're all searching for answers.

So it's a great way to, yeah, answer your FAQs, because you probably already got them.

Make them a video because guess what they're If they're frequently asked, that means people are frequently asking them means there's a lot of them be the answer.

Specifically, we've got a client who's a real estate agent, and they highlight things within the area that they know.

24:01

People on the outside looking in may be looking to move.

They know they're searching.

For they know they're searching for, they're going to YouTube, and they're searching like, what's it like in Johnson City, TN in the winter?

Real estate agents know that, so she's using it to generate real estate leads.

And they do a fairly good job with that too, I know.

24:18

So they they have us out for a dinner each year and we're actually about to go to the one for for this past year.

Last year at the dinner, I think they had, and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong, if you're listening, but I think they had 30 to 40 couples, maybe 30 to 50 couples that they had helped relocate to the area.

24:39

And every single couple that I talked to mentioned the fact that they met Stephanie and Shad on YouTube.

There you go from their channel.

And it was again basic search items.

Now that the key to it was they were very keywordable right search items.

It's the way you got to work with searches.

Right.

24:55

You know, one video that comes to my mind specifically that was was really good for them was 7 rural towns.

There you go in East Tennessee, very general but very searchable because people who are looking to move this area, they're looking for a rural type of lifestyle.

You can do it with search, but you can also do it with with things that, you know, people are just generally interested in.

25:14

A couple weeks ago, we had EJ on the podcast.

He made a sale from a person in New York, bought something off of the shelf of his antique store in Greenville, Tennessee.

You know how they saw it on YouTube?

I saw it on YouTube.

So he generated a lead and ultimately a sale.

25:30

Yeah, he generated a client, generated a sale as a result of as a result of YouTube.

Yeah yeah, I think with YouTube the key is if you are one, to use it to generate lead, you have to a be solving a problem B you have to make that problem searchable and your keywording and your thumbnails and your titles and your captions, all that good stuff.

25:48

Great thing is, is it can be generating for a long time.

Yeah, YouTube specifically is, is what we call Evergreen.

I know we've mentioned that before here on the quite the reporter.

It is the Rewarder.

We even have our own specific examples of an Evergreen piece generating a client to where we were solving a problem specifically with an editing software.

26:08

That person probably tried it on their own, realized that they didn't want to put the time into edit, and they turned into a client.

Yeah.

That video was two years old, though, yeah.

And that video was two years old there.

You go so it's a it's a great it's a great way to and a lot of people don't think about it that way.

So yeah, I would encourage you to to think about the questions that you're commonly asked.

26:26

Guess what?

They're not the only one asking it.

No, you're missing out by not getting it on YouTube.

Well, and there's a new pool of people every single day that are experiencing that problem for the first time.

True.

So as long as you've got, as long as you've got the solution there on that platform, you are now an option for them to come to.

26:42

And you only had to shoot it one time.

There you go.

Sweet.

I like that a lot.

Another question that we get asked a lot.

A lot of people are wondering it Podcasts.

They are huge right now.

They're fun too, they.

They really are.

They're really great opportunity and they're a lot of.

26:57

Fun I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with you here on Faith and Frames.

There you go.

Hopefully listeners have.

Hopefully they have.

If not, I mean we're still having a ball.

Still going to keep doing it but so so a lot of people ask how do I get started and and that's a that's a loaded question but how do you get started with podcast because you know we take for granted like we're Cameron guys and we work with this.

27:23

Do it for a living.

We know exactly what to do from day one, but we also didn't know at some point.

So what?

What would you say to someone who's want to start podcast?

I think the first question would be, well, first questions would be #1 what is your budget?

I think that's always a question that you have to ask yourself when wanting to do a new endeavor, whether you start it as a hobby.

27:43

Yeah, 'cause they're going to make your.

Purchases involved?

Possibly, yes.

So let's do this.

Jared, let's maybe break it up into, let's just say 3 tiers.

Tier #1.

We'll tackle it is I am a solo podcaster or future solo podcaster?

27:59

I want to get into it.

Very limited budget.

I have a message I want my audience to get out, but with a limited budget.

Kind of want to use my phone still.

I want to use minimal audio equipment, minimal lighting, right.

Don't really want to buy a camera right now.

28:15

So tier one is just that solo creator.

What are some things that I can do for my my first podcast?

Yeah, so if you're just starting out and you want audio only, I would suggest using your your cell phone with some sort of voice recording app.

They all have them natively.

28:31

Voice Memos called Voice Memos.

It'll do a fine job, especially if you have earbuds.

It's going to even be better.

If you wanted to maybe consider throwing video into it.

You can use your cell phone.

Most people also have a laptop with a webcam, and again, those are going to be your cheapest because you probably already have them.

28:49

No purchases required there.

At that point, you're just going to figure out some sort of editing solution, so that's probably the easiest way to get started.

Yeah, and along with that too, like with cell phone content specifically, I would say it probably wouldn't be a bad idea if you're using a laptop webcam too.

29:06

Like you said, use some earbuds.

One thing with a podcast that you really want to try to practically handle is audio.

Yeah, it's going to be your biggest.

That's going to be your.

That's going to be your biggest, biggest, I'm going to say hurdle is getting good, clean audio.

Yes, that's that's the the biggest part.

29:21

Good news is with cell phones, a lot of them are auto levelling whenever you're using their their voice memos.

So just make sure your audio is good.

Use use a a microphone or or use your earbuds if you're going camera only or phone only and then use some sort of microphone with your webcam on your laptop.

That's tier one.

29:37

That's that's how you can get into podcasting essentially for free.

It's probably the lowest.

Barrier of entry Spotify will host it for free.

Spotify will host it for free, and that also gets you access to Apple Podcasts direct.

So you have two platforms there for free.

OK, so let's move into Tier #2.

29:54

Maybe an audio only guy?

Maybe audio only, but you want to step the level up a little bit so you a little.

Bit of money and you're like, hey, I can do this.

Yeah, got a little bit of, got a little bit of money.

So let's talk First off maybe recorders, couple of recorders that we recommend and I'm going to say these are sub $400.00 and recorders that we have personally used.

30:14

So we can endorse these, hit me.

Well, so it's it's a little older now.

I believe it's it's the the the line is a Zoom H4N, but I believe there's like an H5 or something.

Yeah, there is an H5 now.

Stands for handy, right?

It's got the two mics up top, but it also there's the cool.

30:30

Here's the key part.

It allows 2 XLR inputs.

So actually use a real microphone.

You can use a real microphone.

Guess what?

You also could bring a guest on and that's boom, you're covered right there.

Now you are more than a solo podcaster.

You're more than a solo podcaster, and from a microphone standpoint obviously you got to have something.

30:46

I would suggest probably the cheapest and most consistent results would probably come from like a a sure SM50.

Eight, yeah, Which we still use to this day.

Still, use it with our guests.

I mean, it's a great microphone.

The 58's a staple across multiple different industries.

31:04

Podcast Live Production live live band like the The 58th State.

So if you're audio only, you can be all in for about three 5400 bucks.

That's just for you, right?

And that's for Dang good audio.

Now that's really good audio.

31:20

Dang good audio.

Especially if you learn how to EQ and stuff like that, which there's a lot of good software out there for that these days.

Well, even now a lot of your newer recorders have AI EQ built in.

Yeah, they they do a lot of auto leveling built in and it's pretty good stuff.

Yeah.

So if you have no interest on the post production side, you could probably shoot and and dish out a podcast straight from the recorder, yeah?

31:41

And like I said, three 5400 definitely sub 500 bucks.

You could easily have a recorder and two mics and you're going to sound really good.

Well, and and if you think too even on the used market, a lot of people don't think about this.

I mean the the recorder that we use the H6, which is the four channel version of the H4, I bought it second hand, I bought it used.

32:01

So that that's another thing too folks is if you are looking into equipment.

Purchases.

Oh yeah, I gave new rates.

I mean, you could, yeah, you could get that down way less.

Yes, you you can buy some good used gear.

Make sure you use either a close friend that that has it or even like a trusted reseller, maybe like a keh.com.

32:20

We buy a lot of camera stuff from them.

Buy something reputable if you are going to use.

But again, even in the new space, so $500, you can have a Dang good audio set up for solo podcast and even solo plus guest.

Oh yeah, absolutely.

So that'll be Tier 2 general.

Let's go tier 3.

32:35

Now maybe I want to start incorporating video into my podcast.

So now I've got my iPhone only set up, I've got my audio only set up.

How about though, I've got the budget, got the budget for it, and I want to introduce and incorporate some video.

Well, so it depends on what you want to do.

32:51

Like if you're if you're wanting to host in person guests and stuff like that, you're going to need an in person camera.

Obviously you've got solutions like Riverside for remote stuff and it does a great job.

I would look into that if you're going to have a lot of remote guests, but let's say you want to have one in studio I guess like we do.

We personally use the Lumix S5 Twos.

33:08

We love them.

Bang for buck.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't.

I really don't know of a better offer out there.

I can't think of 1.

Now obviously you've got your Sony's and your Canons, but we would suggest the Lumix S52 because you can get it body with a kit lens and a battery for depends on the deals, depends on the days because they they they they.

33:32

Well.

They've got some really good deals sometimes, anywhere from like 1500 bucks to like 1800 bucks.

And so at that point, all you need to do is buy a memory card.

Make sure you get a lens too.

Obviously make sure you get one with the lens.

Well, yeah, that was the kit.

It was like 1800.

33:47

Bucks.

Oh yeah, you're right.

When it was on sale.

Yeah, you're right.

Dang.

So it's it's pretty commonly there.

And then at that point you're just going to need some audio solution, which we already covered.

So yeah, you could be all in on a podcast like 3000 bucks.

Yeah, about 3K.

And then the obviously the icing on the cake comes in the form of lighting.

34:07

Right Sky's the limit with lighting.

Oh yes, one of our first recommendations, especially if you're a solo podcaster.

Find a window.

There you go.

Big soft light source.

Find yourself a window to where natural daylight's coming in.

But lighting when it comes to video, lighting is to video what a good microphone is to audio.

34:27

You can have the best camera in the world, but if you have crappy lighting, it's it's not going to look.

Great.

I like having the best singer in the world, having horrible recording options.

There you go.

Horrible recording options, so make sure folks lighting we're going to say is on point.

Find yourself a big soft source, whether it be a window or if you have the budget, we can give you a laundry list of recommendations for.

34:50

Whatever your budget is, if I know people are interested in starting podcasts.

If you have a if you have a budget in mind, reach out to us.

We would love to mix and match and figure out what we can do to work.

Yeah, we actually offer that as a services, as consulting for podcast, so we can help you with your startup.

35:06

We can help you shoot your podcast there if that's something that you're interested in.

Absolutely.

So another question we get comes, comes often.

Maybe they're a business who they see the the power and social media.

They realize they need to create a presence on there.

35:24

They're going to create their own content because they don't have the budget to hire out a crew.

What are some ways that they can improve their content, up the quality with their existing equipment etcetera?

Yeah.

So if we're talking on equipment, obviously we've mentioned using your cell phone as your camera.

It's sufficient in many.

35:40

Cases.

It's actually probably one of the most popular cameras used in today's.

World at and everybody pretty much has one now.

Right.

Everybody has one in their pockets.

You already have a camera in your pocket.

There are a few things that you can do to up the level of that, so we'll talk specifically on the look and the use of the camera #1.

And we mentioned it again with upping.

35:57

Your lighting is find a big window.

Lighting is key.

Some sort of natural light source.

Don't don't shoot in direct sunlight.

If you are having, yeah.

If you are having to shoot outside, find some shade.

Find some shade.

Find some shade, something that's a little bit more controllable, but find a big light source, something big and soft, whether it be a window or some shade that's going to instantly make your content look better.

36:19

Secondly, turn the rule of thirds on in your phone and turn.

Your grid on turn that tic tac toe.

Board on, right, Turn the tic tac toe on and learn how to use the grid for composition And if you want to.

If you want to learn anything about composition, you can ask us or there's a million YouTube videos out there about composition.

36:38

But yeah, use your rule of thirds with your cameras.

Another thing too is frame rates.

Something that a lot of people don't think of, but frame rates.

I know a lot of your social media platforms prefer a 30 frames per second video.

We we typically shoot 24.

36:53

It's a little more cinematic.

That's more natural.

Yeah, a little more natural.

But I know a lot of platforms prefer 30P.

Don't shoot 60P unless you plan on slowing that down later.

That's just that's a practical thing.

The.

Only thing I would add there in the lighting aspect is like if you are having to shoot outdoors if you can't find shade or or if shade's not available shoot in the morning or the afternoon.

37:15

Yeah.

Shoot Shooter your golden hours, right?

It's it's going to be a softer.

Light.

Yeah, yeah.

Time of day Marvel.

Pleasing where you might get lucky one day and then go shoot on an overcast day.

If you're going to start.

Overcast days are are great for shooting.

So yeah, there there are great ways to get good results from your cell phones.

37:30

We typically shoot stories from our cell phones.

There's actually been a couple of reels that we shoot on our cell phones.

It's very convenient.

That's the beauty of a cell phone.

It's convenient.

You can whip out content fast.

You don't have to set up all this equipment before that though, I would also say a way to up your content on just the content side itself.

37:51

As new business owner, find those issues within your industry, decide how you can solve those problems and that is going to be your content.

That's going to be your ideas that you bring to the table and the solutions that you bring to the table.

Looking good is one thing when it comes to your content, but you also have to have good content that actually solves a problem or adds value.

38:11

So, so on that solution side of things, think of the ways that you've historically solved it.

So I can use those as use cases.

That's a personal story that you can tell, people can relate to and resonate with.

And yeah, you're going to immediately create better, more engaging content that way.

38:30

I dig it.

I dig it.

I believe that's all I have in my little black book today.

Is the field notes also empty for the moment?

I believe it's, yeah, I believe it's would be pretty well exhausted it right now.

38:46

Again folks, this one was a little more off the cuff because we we have had a stack of questions come in over the past few months.

We just wanted to take the time today while we're here at Create Appalachia.

Give you a couple practical things, some practical knowledge that we've learned over the over the past couple of years, shooting together full time.

39:04

But yeah, if you have any more questions, do not hesitate to send those in.

We love answering.

We love helping.

So yeah, we just enjoy doing this, right?

We enjoy helping people, answering questions.

So yeah, if you have any reach out, we'll let them stack up and we'll do another one of these, one of these videos.

39:20

Sweet Jared.

I think that's good for today if you want to do the hard part here.

Leaves a review rate US.

Tell us if you like us or if you hate us.

There you go.

Oh, that's a good bar right there.

That's a bar.

On that note, let's head home before we get snowed in.

39:38

Sweet.

See you on the next all.

Right.

We'll catch y'all later.