What to Expect When You Hire a Podcast Manager: The Hiring Process, Onboarding, and Beyond [Ep. 122]

 
 

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Here’s what to expect from this episode:

Have you been thinking about hiring a Podcast Manager? Whether you're currently a one-person show or are getting ready to launch your podcast, I'm taking a deep dive into the hiring process and sharing everything you need to know before you hire a Podcast Manager.

In today's episode, I'm chatting about why you might hire a Podcast Manager, how to know when it's the right time, and what exactly to expect when you go through this hiring process and work with a Podcast Manager long-term. If you've been thinking about hiring a Podcast Manager for your show, this episode will equip you with all kinds of great information so you can feel confident going into it.

A huge piece of what we do at Podcasting for Educators is full podcast production for our retainer clients, AND I have a podcast manager myself. So, I am coming at this topic from both lenses, as the Podcast Manager and the client. From discovery calls and contracts to onboarding and beyond, there's a lot to consider when going through this hiring process.

If you choose to take the leap and hire a podcast manager anytime soon, congratulations! I know you'll love it, and it will be a total game-changer for you and your show. I hope this episode helps to prepare you for what's to come!

Topics covered:

  • Why hire a Podcast Manager and how to know when it's time

  • The difference between a Virtual Assistant, Podcast Editor, and Podcast Manager

  • What exactly to expect from your discovery call to onboarding

  • After onboarding and setting yourself up for a good working relationship

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  • Sara Whittaker 0:01

    Your Podcast is a powerful tool that serves your audience and your business. But how do you manage it all bring in new listeners, and convert those listeners into customers. That's what this show is all about. Welcome to podcasting for educators. I'm Sara Whittaker, classroom teacher turn podcast manager, and I'm here to help you get the most out of your show, all while making an impact on other educators. Hey, and welcome back to another episode of podcasting for educators. Today, we're going to talk about a topic that I hope will be really helpful to many of you. If you are currently a one man or one woman show when it comes to producing your podcast, we are chatting about everything you need to know about hiring a podcast manager. A huge piece of what we do here at podcasting for educators is full podcast production for our retainer clients. And I have a podcast manager myself for this show, shout out to brandy. So I'm coming at this topic from both lenses, both as a podcast manager and as a client who has hired a podcast manager. I'm going to be talking about why you might decide to hire a podcast manager how you know, it's time to move forward with that hiring,

    Sara Whittaker 1:16

    and exactly what to expect when you go to hire and work with a podcast manager long term. So if you have been considering hiring a podcast manager, then this episode is definitely going to equip you with all kinds of great information to the you can feel confident going into this process. I've done a couple of other episodes on a similar topic, but I've never done this deep of a dive. If you want to learn a little bit more about hiring after listening to this episode, I would check out episode 49 that I did with Lauren Wrighton. We talked all about outsourcing, and really what the differences are between a podcast manager and a virtual assistant. And then I also talked with Janice cook in Episode 87, about what to know before hiring in your teacher business. So we weren't specifically talking about podcast managers, that's kind of overall hiring in your business. So those would be two other great episodes to check out. So first, let's talk about why you would even hire a podcast manager, I think the obvious reason that you'd want to hire one is to save you time, if you're doing all of your podcast production, you know, what a huge time commitment it is. Hiring a podcast manager gets you hours back each week, which you can then take and either turn that time into whitespace in your schedule, or into more needle moving tasks. It also will really allow you to focus a bit more on the actual content of your episodes, and the strategy that you're putting into your show. When you hire a podcast manager, you are hiring someone who is specialized in this service, this is what they do. And so they are going to have all of the skills that they need coming into it, you are not going to have to do any kind of training with them. Most likely they will know more than you do about podcasting and depending on how experienced they are, can not only offer the services, but also strategy. Let's look at how to know when it's time to hire podcast manager. Number one would be that you have a budget for it. And we're going to talk more specifically about pricing in just a minute. But I do want to note that if budget is what has been holding you back from hiring, which is the case for a lot of people, just know that you could do kind of like a gradual release, where maybe you're just going to hire an editor at first, and then you'll add on your show notes. And then you'll add on your graphics and you can kind of gradually build this over time. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing. It's also probably time to hire if you know that you're gonna stick with podcasting for a long time like you are in it, you know that you have years ahead of you. You're not planning on stopping anytime soon, you're really committed to this process. And I think most people who are considering hiring fall into two groups either you're just starting out, you haven't even launched yet. And you know from the very beginning that you're not going to have time to do all of these things by yourself. Or you don't even know how to do them and you have zero desire to learn. You just want to be the one recording. You want to get those episodes out there. But you do not want to learn how to do it. You want to just you know that you're going to outsource it from the beginning. Or maybe you're somebody who has already launched your podcast, you've been doing it by yourself for months or years, and you're ready to kind of take that leap, get those hours back every week, put them towards other things and you're really ready to hire. Okay, so let's break down what to expect when you hire a podcast manager. And I do just want to touch on some differences here between different roles that you could potentially hire. I mentioned a minute ago, a virtual assistant or a VA, I've mentioned a podcast editor. And I've mentioned a podcast manager. So I've kind of like thrown out these different terms, they are not the same. A virtual assistant is somebody who's, who can do a bunch of different things in your business. And in most situations, somebody who calls themselves a virtual assistant is not going to have the specialized skills for podcast management. So you might have to do some kind of training. If you're planning on turning your VA into your podcast manager. Then there's a podcast editor, a podcast editor does just that they edit huge piece of your podcast production, of course, but a podcast editor is editing your audio, they are not doing your show notes. They're not doing graphics, they're not doing strategy. They're not doing scheduling, in most cases, it is you sending them the audio them editing, and them sending you the final mp3 file and you're doing the other things. Okay. And then there's a podcast manager. And really what that term means is, in most cases, usually podcast managers will have several different packages. But these packages are usually more than only editing. So they're editing, they're writing the show notes, they are uploading it to your host, scheduling it to your host, maybe putting ads into your episodes, creating promotional graphics, tracking your stats, like there's so much more that goes into podcast services than only podcast editing. So just want to differentiate that there. If you're hiring somebody who's doing more than editing, you're hiring a podcast manager, not a podcast editor. When it comes to pricing, the price range of service providers are definitely going to vary with the greatest factor being experience. There are lots of podcast managers out there who are just starting out who are going to charge a lot less than somebody who has more experience. And there's a match out there for everyone. Some people like to work with beginners because it meets their budget. And maybe you already have a strong grasp on podcasting. And so you're okay with hiring a beginner, while others may have a larger budget, and they really want someone who knows what they are doing to come in and really take over and have that experience under their belt, I would say to be hesitant of anyone who charges a lot less than other prices that you are seeing. So when you go out to look for a podcast manager, you might be shopping around a little bit looking at people's websites, checking out pricing, and if you see somebody whose pricing is like drastically lower than other prices that you are seeing, that would be a bit of a red flag, I see this a lot with podcast managers who are just starting out to get their first one or two clients, they'll price themselves super low. And then once they land that first or second client, they start the work and they realize right away, oh my gosh, I cannot do all of this work for this little pay. And then they're going to end up needing to increase their prices very quickly. So what I'm trying to say here is if somebody if it seems like it's this crazy, good, low price, good, quote unquote good, but this really low price for all of this work, and they seem great. Well, that's great. But you can expect a price increase to probably happen very soon. Another thing to note with pricing is that you can expect most podcast managers to have a package pricing versus hourly pricing. So they'll have a package and they'll say, these are the services that are included. Maybe that's editing, show notes, to graphics scheduling, monthly stats update, and then there will be a flat rate for that versus hourly. And usually within these packages when the podcast manager is building these packages, and when they're having these conversations with you, there will be an average episode length attached to that package. So you know, if you're putting out 10 minute episodes, then your pricing is probably going to look different than if they had a client who has hour long episodes. If you're looking at kind of that really common package of like full production, meaning editing shownotes, writing an episode description within the host uploading and scheduling, creating some kind of promotional graphics, putting all of the show notes on your website actually structuring it, formatting it on your website, and updating monthly stats depending on the podcast managers experience, I have seen those packages range anywhere from like $500, up to, you know, 3000 plus. So it really does depend on experience level and just know that you're probably going to see a variety of prices. Let's go through the process of beginning your work with a podcast manager. So I'm going to kind of walk you through what you could expect, when you decide, okay,

    Sara Whittaker 10:27

    I am, I'm ready to hire podcast manager, I'm ready to meet with a couple of people and decide who the best fit is for me, once you've decided who you want to meet with, and this might be just one person, it might be three people, I probably wouldn't do many more than three to start with. But once you know who you want to talk to about their services, you would book a discovery call with that person, you can easily find a link to book a discovery call on their website, if they don't have a website, then they probably have a portfolio that they can send over to you. And on that portfolio would be a link to book a discovery call. So when you click that link, you would choose a date and time. In many cases, there would also be some sort of intake form at the time that you book this call. And this is a free call. Usually, it's, you know, around 20 minutes or so I know I have an intake form that I have included with my discovery call booking so that the potential client fills out this form to let me know what kind of services they're looking for. I like to make my prices very transparent. I look for this when I'm hiring as well. At minimum, I like to see people have starting at prices. Like for me, I have a set price for podcast launches. And then monthly packages will vary. I have three base packages. And then we kind of tweak those to the client's specific needs. But I know for me when I'm hiring, I want to see those prices, or at least a general range of those prices. Because I don't want to waste anybody's time, I don't want to waste my time, I don't want to waste their time getting on a call with someone who is completely out of your price range. So if you are interested in meeting with somebody and their prices are not listed, don't be afraid to ask them, send them a quick message and ask for a general range of pricing so that you can make sure that it's even worth getting on a call. Then you'll book the call. And then on this actual discovery call, the potential podcast manager really should be the one leading this call. For example, I usually ask on my discovery calls, I asked the client like why are you deciding to start a podcast now? Or if they've already had a podcast for some time? Why are you deciding to outsource your podcast production now. And I like to go over every single detail of what they're looking for, for their services. Because my goal is to be able to make a proposal that matches exactly what they're looking for. And so I need all of those details about what they want. So same for you going into this discovery call, if you haven't yet started your podcast, make sure that you have an idea of like, how long you want your episodes to be if they're going to be solo or guest episodes, and what kind of services you want. Sometimes I'll get on a call with people and they'll say, you know, I'm not totally sure what I need, like maybe they want guest management, maybe they don't maybe they want graphics, maybe they don't, but they know that they want editing and shownotes. So in that case, I let them know hey, after this call, I'll create three packages for you. So that you have some options. But really on this call, you want to give your potential podcast manager as many details as possible so that they can create that accurate proposal that reflects your needs. I also recommend that you have questions prepared for your discovery call, just like in a job interview. When if you're being interviewed and the person asks you, what questions do you have for us, sometimes our mind kind of goes blank. So it's good to have these prepared ahead of time. And they'll probably just organically come up for you as you're talking to the potential podcast manager. But some questions that you might want to ask are things like, how soon do I need to have episodes to you? Do you charge extra for months that have five weeks? Meaning that if your contract is going to say that you get one episode produced per week? Well, some months, that's going to be four episodes in some months, that's going to be five episodes. For us. I create our packages, so that it's just a flat rate. All of our packages include weekly podcast episodes, regardless of how many regardless of if that ends up being four episodes or five episodes. You might want to ask if they're going to help you with any kind of planning with the podcast and if not, is that something that could be added to the package? How will you have ongoing communication with them? How will you get your episodes to them? If you want to run ads? Is that something that is included in the packages? And let them know what you're really looking for in a podcast manager? Are you looking to be totally hands off? Or are you looking for someone to do a lot of planning with and have a lot of communication with, that's really good information for your podcast manager to have. Okay, so then after the discovery call, the next step is that the podcast manager will create a proposal and a contract for you for your services. Like I said, Before, they might on this proposal, they might give you one package option, or they might give you a few different options that you can choose from, depending on what program they use to create their packages, their contract might be attached to their proposal, so that when they send it to you, if you know that you for sure want to move forward, you can choose what package you want, you can sign the contract right then in there, or they might send you the proposal, you say, Okay, looks good to go, I want Package B, and then they'll send over the contract separately, there will likely be an expiration date for the proposal, I usually see these set to like one week after it's sent or two weeks after it's sent. And so it really ensures that you make a decision in that timeframe. And if you don't, then you risk the chance of the price increasing in the future. So when you get that proposal, take the time to look it over. And don't be afraid to ask any kind of follow up questions that you can think of. Then once you've made your decision, obviously, if you want to hire them, let them know. Yes, like let's move forward, I'm so excited. But also if you decide this isn't the right fit for you, or it's out of your budget, or you just didn't vibe, whatever, let them know that you're going with somebody else, don't just go to them, send that email and say, you know, thank you so much for your time, I really appreciated meeting with you. I've decided to go with someone else for podcast management services or something like that. Alright, so you've done the discovery call, you've accepted the proposal, you've signed the contract, then you guys will decide on a start date. And then you'll begin the onboarding process. You are the podcast managers client. So they are onboarding you. So really, they are taking the reins here and letting you know what they need from you what the process is going to look like. And you get to kind of sit back and just give them what they need. Here are some expectations during this onboarding process, and as well as just working together ongoing. Remember that a podcast manager, unless you're hiring them full time as your in house podcast manager, they are a contractor, meaning that they're not an employee. So they will have their boundaries and expectations when it comes to working with clients. And these boundaries and expectations should be made clear to you before you begin your work together. And when I say expectations and boundaries, I mean things like it should be very clear when they need episodes from you. How far in advance? Do you need to give them episodes before they air? What kind of turnaround time do they need? And what does that submission process look like? As I said before, podcast managers are freelancers or contractors, whatever term you want to use, so they are going to have multiple clients. Again, unless you're paying them a full time salary, which would be amazing. That means that they will need your episodes ahead of time to be able to plan for the time it takes to produce them, and to have that flexibility in their schedule. Not only that, but getting your episodes recorded ahead of time is truly in the best interest of both parties. For me, I don't need all of my clients to be batched months in advance. But I do need them to be recorded at least two weeks before the episode airs, because that ensures that they are planning their content ahead of time, they're able to look at the big picture to see what's coming up in their business and determine how they can create episode content that fits that. Plus,

    Sara Whittaker 19:34

    we need some buffer room you need time between when the client records and when the episode actually goes live in case there are any kind of audio issues or any other kind of issue. I can't tell you how many times I have received audio from a client and we go to edit it and we push play to edit and that audio is just awful. And the client has no No idea. So in those cases, if it's really bad, sometimes we have to, you know, bring this to the client and say, Hey, here's the situation, do you want to rerecord. And that takes a lot of back and forth. And it takes time, and it adds time to the schedule. And now we're off schedule, and it kind of puts a wrench in things. But as long as we're ahead with that recording, then it allows for the space for that, because it's going to happen at some point, you're gonna have tech issues, it happens to all of us. But if you don't have that buffer room, then it's going to really put an urgency on things that could have been avoided. Like I said, I require our clients to give us episodes a minimum of two weeks before they air. I know other podcast managers who do a week before Air Day and I know others who do six to eight weeks before air date, I've even met with some who actually require their clients to have a whole quarters worth of episode content to them at the beginning of the quarter. So this turnaround time is going to vary. So just definitely be sure to get clear on this with your podcast manager from the beginning, like these are things that are good to know before you even sign that contract. Your Podcast manager, after letting you know how soon they need episodes from you. They should also make clear what happens if you do send in an episode late. And this is where I'm going to kind of put my podcast manager hat on because as a podcast manager, and as someone who knows and supports a lot of other podcast managers, I'm just going to be totally honest, when I say that consistently, getting your episodes in late to your podcast manager makes things so difficult. It throws off our schedules. And it really kind of makes us feel like you don't value our boundaries. We care so much about your show. And we always make sure that your episodes get pushed out on time. So we ask you to do the same. Don't wait until the day that it's due every single week, because we all know what happens, your kid will get sick or your power will go out. And then your episode is going to be late. I heard a quote, I think it was like on an Instagram reel a while ago. And it really stuck with me, especially as someone who has always had a really difficult time enforcing boundaries, I'm getting better. But it's definitely something that I'm always working on as a service provider. And that was don't make someone else's emergency your emergency. And I am speaking on behalf of the podcast manager community. When I say don't make your emergencies, your podcast managers emergencies, obviously things happen. We are humans. And if you always get your episodes to your podcast manager on time, but you have this one time when you're really struggling to meet the deadline, I get it. And it's happened plenty of times with our clients. And I'm gonna let you submit a little bit late because we're human. And I I want to honor that I've been in that situation myself. It's when it's a constant occurrence that that frustration and that resentment can happen. Like I said, I'm in communication with a lot of podcast managers. And I can tell you that probably the number one reason that things don't work out between a podcast manager and a client is because the client is not respecting the podcast managers boundaries. So all in all, your podcast manager should tell you what will happen if your episode is late. Most commonly, that is either gonna be a late fee, or they'll push the episode to the following week, and you'll forfeit a week of episodes. Okay, other expectations that your podcast manager should make you aware of, they should let you know what the production process is going to look like. They should really lay out clearly what it's gonna look like for you to submit your episodes to them, what it will look like when they're producing the episodes. And then what's going to happen once your episode is fully produced. It's scheduled and it's ready to go. An example of that process for us, we use clickup for project management for my team and I and so we have a quick form that our clients fill out. They have this bookmarked on their computer, and we have a shared Google Drive. So they just drop their audio in the Google Drive. They go to the forum, they submit their episode telling us you know what the episode number title is, when it's going to go live as well as any notes for us that we would need to know. So maybe they want to tell us something specific about what they want us to take out in the episode for editing or maybe they want to tell us about a tech issue that they had or whatever. If it's a guest episode, they can submit the guest headshot in their bio at that time so that we have everything that we need when the client submits that episode so that we When we go to work on that episode, there are no bottlenecks. We have it all. We have the audio, we have their notes, we have everything we need so that we can smoothly produce this episode. Once the episode is scheduled, we have a confirmation email that we send out to the client to say, hey, great news, your episodes ready. And if there's any kind of deliverables that we give them, like audio grams or anything like that, that gets delivered at that time as well. During the onboarding process, your podcast manager should tell you, where they're keeping track of due dates for your episodes. Again, we work on clickup. And we have a special page for each client that I call the client view that again, they can bookmark to their computer, and we list out all of their upcoming episodes and the dates that they are due to us and the dates that they go live. We also send out email reminders weekly, if they have an episode due that week, so that things just stay on track. Everybody knows what's coming up, everybody knows what their role is in that. And things can keep chugging along as smoothly as possible. Okay, so those are some typical things that you can expect to get clear on during the onboarding process. You'll also probably need to share some credentials with your podcast manager. Like if they're doing shownotes on your website, you'll need to add them to your website, you'll need to share logins for your podcast host, and anything else that they might need. LastPass is a great way to share logins in a confidential way. After the onboarding, you can expect there to be a little period of adjustment as you all get used to working with each other. And as you get used to the routines and the processes that are set in place for you guys to be working together. Once you get in a groove things should honestly run like clockwork. And then you get to reap the benefits of handing off your episodes and you get that time back in your week. One of the last things I'll say is just to remember that you can't read your podcast manager's mind and your podcast manager can't read your mind. If you notice, and this goes for anybody that you hire in your business. If you notice that there's a particular way that your podcast manager is doing something that you would like changed or adjusted, just let them know, they want to make you happy. So just voice anything that might be bothering you. Similarly, be sure to let them know that you're happy with their services, too, if you really love the way that things are going. And don't be afraid to bounce ideas around or ask for your podcast managers questions, or for feedback from them of ideas that you have. As service providers. We love to hear that you're enjoying our work. And we also love to know that you value our opinions I love when my clients send me messages like, Hey, I'm thinking about doing this or this is kind of a goal that I have, do you have any ideas on how I could reach that? I love that kind of back and forth and I feel valued knowing that they want my opinion. If you're looking for a podcast manager, that is a huge part of what we do here at podcasting for educators at the time of this recording, which is October 2023. We do not currently have any retainer client spots, but we will have one or two beginning in January of 2024. If you're looking for help right away, I would recommend posting a job opportunity at WWW dot hire a podcast manager.com. And when you do that, it will give you the opportunity to fill out exactly what you're looking for, like what services you're looking for what your budget is, and it will go to a community of podcast managers. That's Lauren Ryan's community of podcast managers, if you've heard her on the podcast before, she's been on here a few times. And I actually help support that community. So I can tell you that there are so many great podcast managers in there. So if you're looking for somebody right now, that is where I would go. If you choose to take this leap and hire a podcast manager anytime soon. Congratulations, I know you're gonna love it and it will honestly be a total game changer for you. It will help breathe life back into your podcast because

    Sara Whittaker 29:28

    it will just give you that space to really just focus on creating the content. I hope this episode helps to prepare you for what's to come. If you have any follow up questions you can always reach out to me on Instagram at podcasting for educators. Thanks so much for tuning in today and I will see you here next week. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. To keep this conversation going connect with me on Instagram at podcasting for educators. I'm always looking for an excuse to talk about podcasting. If you're looking for support are in launching, managing or growing your podcast. Check out my online course the podcasting for educators prep school at podcasting for educators.com/prep school. I'll see you here next time.

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Podcasting for Educators is the podcast for TpT authors and other online educators. It's a show that will help you get your podcast in front of those who need it most - teachers, counselors, literacy specialists, SLPs, parents, and more! Each week, Sara Whittaker and her guests will share top tips and actionable strategies that you will need in order to launch, manage, and grow your podcast. You’ll learn how to leverage your show to build long-lasting relationships with your audience and promote your TpT resources, courses, and memberships, all while providing valuable and accessible content!

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Sara Whittaker