499 - Why I’m Live Streaming the Making of My Podcast

Cliff Ravenscraft (0:00): Well, hello, and welcome back to another episode of Podcast Answer Man. Today, I am very excited to share with you a brand new approach to my live streaming and video strategy. My video content strategy. Now, I know what you're thinking. Cliff, for the last several months, ever since you brought back Podcast Answer Man, you go on and on and on about the fact that you are an audio only advocate and you'd be right.

Cliff Ravenscraft (0:38): And I am. You are listening to an audio only podcast. However, I also, from the very beginning, have always desired to create video content as well. I remember doing ustream.tv, quick cam, and eventually YouTube live streaming and Facebook live streaming. I remember playing around it with all of the different cameras.

Cliff Ravenscraft (1:15): Back in the day, we were recording gosh, in 2007, we were still recording onto tape using video handheld tape recorders and converting that over. And then we were making the switch over to digital. And then I remember the Kodak oh my gosh. Do you remember the Kodak Z I eight camera? That little tiny thing that you held in your hand and and it would record.

Cliff Ravenscraft (1:41): I think it was recording in seven twenty p or something like that. But, oh, man, those were the days. I've always enjoyed creating video content. I have never enjoyed creating a video podcast. Now over the past twenty years, have I created a podcast that is first and foremost a video podcast?

Cliff Ravenscraft (2:04): Yeah. I did. Matter of fact, this is one I sometimes forget that I actually created. One of the earliest podcast is probably right around the was probably one of the first five podcasts I ever created was called Facebook one zero one. And it was a video podcast.

Cliff Ravenscraft (2:26): It was a screencast. It was me teaching people how to use Facebook because Facebook had just become available to people who were not currently enrolled in universities. It was that, it was like new open to the public. And so many people were talking about Facebook and I'm like let me show you how you can use Facebook, how you can create a profile and how you can do certain things within it so that you can interact in the ways that you would wanna interact. And so I created a a video podcast where every episode was a video screen recording of me showing you how to do things.

Cliff Ravenscraft (3:02): I I created that video content. Now by as far as I'm concerned, that's a perfect use case for a video podcast. But I never really enjoyed creating that content. It took forever to create those episodes. But man, that that was a very popular podcast back in the day.

Cliff Ravenscraft (3:21): Then there were a couple of other times when I played around with putting video first episodes into an audio a typically audio podcast feed. This was more along I had a podcast years ago. It was called Pursuing a Balanced Life. And if I go over to let's see if I can't find that podcast in here. So I will go to gspn.tvpodcasts, and we will go to Pursuing a Balanced Life.

Cliff Ravenscraft (3:51): And that show, it had let's see. Back in the day, 639 episodes. And the things it says here, this podcast is pretty much an audio journal of my life from November 2007 through January 2016. This was a behind the scenes look into my life throughout the years. So I did an audio journal of my life, 639 episodes, but there was a time when I actually put episodes out that were video episodes.

Cliff Ravenscraft (4:28): And it's it's it's not anything I would recommend anybody do. But creating video podcast content is not foreign to me. It's just never been anything that I truly enjoy. Now I will share with you. There are hundreds upon hundreds upon 100 actually no.

Cliff Ravenscraft (4:50): Let me start over. There are more than a thousand videos of me recording audio podcasts. Stephanie and I, when we first started podcasting, created a lot of shows around entertainment. We would do the Twilight Saga podcast, which by the way may be coming back soon. The Twilight Saga podcast over at twilightsagapodcast.com.

Cliff Ravenscraft (5:24): We did the Hunger Games fan podcast over at hungergamespodcast.com. We did all sorts of other podcasts around television shows. I had podcast with my friend, let's see, Andy Traub. We did a show called Business Tech Weekly. We did a I did a show with my friend Chris Biting and it was called Help I Got a Mac.

Cliff Ravenscraft (5:46): It was all about Apple products and Apple computer. It I did another show called About the Church and it was with my friend DG Hollams and we would talk about ministries related stuff. And every and I also did my Pursuing a Balanced Life podcast, I did my podcast, Answer Man podcast, and my wife Stephanie with one of her friends did a show called The Full Time Mom. Eventually they rebranded that to actually they started a separate show called Authentic Life Radio. But the idea that I wanna share with you is there used to be a day where we would do what was called live show Thursdays.

Cliff Ravenscraft (6:28): You could actually go to gspn.tv/live and if you showed up anywhere between 9AM and 5PM, you could actually see a camera, an like a bird's eye view of of a camera shot of us recording shows in the studio. And those were all in person with the exception of Business Tech Weekly with Andy Traub and Social Media Serenity with Eric Fisher. Now when they came in, they came in via Skype and I basically just showed an overview of me talking to them. You could see me in the studio but you could just see their avatar up on the screen. But anyway, I used to and and it wasn't like we would actually create a video for each show that we recorded there.

Cliff Ravenscraft (7:23): No. This was a behind the scenes, a peek into the studio. Just, you know, if you wanna come in and and there was a live chat room, and oftentimes we would engage with and interact with people who are in the chat room. We even took live call ins. We had a telephone number and we're talking about real landline telephone.

Cliff Ravenscraft (7:42): We had a digital hybrid that we brought in. I mean, was crazy stuff. So I I'm not opposed to creating video content. I think video content is amazing but when it comes to podcast content, I still I lean so strongly. I lean so heavily on audio only.

Cliff Ravenscraft (8:05): Meaning that I think about creating this for the person who will consume and listen to my voice later. That is what I think about as the most amazing content when it comes to podcasting. Now, when it comes to video, I think there are a lot of different options to be considered. One that is not a favorite of mine is to have a whole studio set up and do a super highly produced, super published version of a podcast of people talking to one another, a bunch of talking heads, and creating a video version of that. Now tools are easier today.

Cliff Ravenscraft (8:52): Workflows are easier today. But the way that I create my show directly streamed right into Adobe Audition and when I make a mistake going back and fixing it and rerecording a section as I go along, that workflow isn't necessarily as easy for me to do in video as audio is. I could probably make an argument that I could actually start doing that and and after about 10 or 15 episodes it'd probably be just as easy and all these other things. But the other thing is that I wanna live stream as well. So let me just share with you that that I have since I brought back Podcast Answer Man, I made the decision that there would be no camera involved in the recording of my weekly shows, the Cliff Ravenscrap show and Podcast Answer Man.

Cliff Ravenscraft (9:54): However, I went to social media marketing world about three and a half weeks ago. And at the speaker party, I'm sitting there hanging out with Roberto Blake and Sean Cannell. Now, if you happen to be somebody who understands the YouTube space, you may just recognize their names. Think Media and then Roberto Blake. These two guys are they they are experts in the industry of getting visibility with YouTube content.

Cliff Ravenscraft (10:28): They are at the top of the game. And I'm sitting there, the three of us chatting, and they're like, Cliff, he's like, so tell me what's going on in your world? And I shared with them what's going on in my world. And and so what's it like bringing back Podcast Answer Man after being away for eight and a half years? And I said, it you know, it I've it's been wonderful.

Cliff Ravenscraft (10:48): I there's all sorts of great benefits that have come as a result of it, opened more invitations to stages and stuff like that. That's why I'm back on the stage here at Social Media Marketing World and all these other things. And they asked why did you bring back Podcast Answer Man? I said well, you guys might be interested in one of the reasons. One of the reasons I brought back Podcast Answer Man is because I saw a growing number of people who were giving up on podcasting because they had bought into a narrative that you are not credible as a podcaster or you won't be taken seriously as a caster moving forward if you don't have a video version of your show available on YouTube and Spotify and now HLS video on Apple, you know, on the Apple platform.

Cliff Ravenscraft (11:42): And it looks like Spotify is even going to adopt the HLS standard from Spotify or from Apple. So I said there are so many people who bought into the idea that I need to get lighting, I need to get multi camera angles, I need to hire some video editors to edit this because I don't know how to do it. I don't want to learn how to do it. I would just hire a team to do it. And the expense just went through the roof and and it's just like they were buckling and not seeing any real tangible measurable results of actually having gone through all of the time, effort, energy, and expense of doing it.

Unknown Speaker (12:17): And they were quitting podcasts. And I'm like, what are you doing? You just go back to audio. You don't have to quit. So anyway, I I was sharing that with them and I was like, man, that's that's a powerful message.

Cliff Ravenscraft (12:29): And I said, so one of the things that I've chosen to do is I've made it a point even though, you know, I've got years of live streaming and showing people and all this stuff and I've done several episodes where I'm recording an audio podcast, but I'm also a talking head looking directly into the camera and all the other stuff and and things like that. I I because I wanna be an advocate for those who don't feel like they can actually be seen credible unless they do video, I chose to do audio only for my shows. And as a result of that, I chose to not include a thing. And we're having this dialogue back and forth and they're asking me some pretty powerful questions. They're sharing some insights and and and through what I'll share with you is they convinced me that there is value in creating video content on a consistent basis.

Cliff Ravenscraft (13:24): Like Cliff, so maybe you don't do your podcasts. It's very clear there's a reason why you prefer to create the audio podcast for the audio audience and you're not performing for the camera and all that other stuff. I get all of that. But why did you stop creating YouTube content? I said, well, it's it's a constraint of time factor and and stuff like this.

Cliff Ravenscraft (13:47): I'm currently committed to two shows every single week in audio. And and I said be and I it's just right now, I'm in a season where there isn't really enough time for me to produce consistently content for my YouTube channel and or any of the other short platforms and long form platforms. I said, however, I got an I got a question for you. I used to do these livestream of the behind the scenes, you know, peek into the studio thing. I got a question for you.

Cliff Ravenscraft (14:17): Let me let me pass this by you. What do you think about the idea if I were to turn on Ecamm Live? And I just want you to imagine this. At the top of the screen, you see my Adobe Audition software. And as I'm speaking into the recording, you can see the little scrubber going all the way across.

Cliff Ravenscraft (14:43): And if I make a mistake, I'll stop and I will go in and delete the part where I messed up. I'll replay where I left off and I'll hit the record button at the I'll move it to the the scrubber to the end of the already recorded audio. I'll hit the record button and pick up where I originally messed up with with the new version of what I meant to say. The way that I meant to say it. And so there would be just like a thumbnail image of me.

Cliff Ravenscraft (15:15): And maybe if I happen to have an outline, I might actually have the outline to the side of me. So imagine this, you've got that's what's on the screen. You click play And then I say, well, hello and welcome to another livestream here. I I wanna share with you what I'm doing today. This is a behind the scenes recording of an audio only podcast.

Cliff Ravenscraft (15:42): And I and I I explained the whole thing of what I would do. And I said, do you think that would be compelling content? Because it's I mean, it's not polished but at this point, I'm actually intentionally trying to not do polished content. Everybody's trying to be so perfect. They're trying to impress people and perform and and to have such high production standards that most people are just getting burned out on overly produced polished content that sounds like everybody else out there.

Cliff Ravenscraft (16:12): This this is my idea of what I think I would do. Do you think that would have any legs? And they're like, they're both like, Cliff, you've got to do that. Like seriously, next week, start that. I said, well, I can't till next two weeks.

Cliff Ravenscraft (16:28): Had lots of travel. But I said, I am I I tell you, I am definitely going to do this and I'll text you when when I when I do. Well, this past week, last week, I started. And this is my second livestream and it is the third time that I've actually produced video of me doing this behind the scenes approach. So let that that is a lot to really set all of this up.

Cliff Ravenscraft (17:01): But what I wanna share with you, I'm gonna go to my outline here. I'm already committed to producing two audio only podcasts every single week. And the key is that these audio podcasts will serve those who are already subscribed to the Cliff Ravenscraf Show and to podcast Answer Man, which is great. There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people subscribed to each of those two shows. However, if you were to go back before COVID, before TikTok, before shorts and reels and and all of the other stuff that's been happening and all the algorithms that are hijacking people's dopamine, If you go back before there was all of this other content online, and also if you were to go back before I stopped producing consistently, there used to be a day when I had thousands of people who were subscribed to the Cliff Ravenscrap show.

Cliff Ravenscraft (18:11): And when it came to my by the way, I stopped producing podcast Answer Man like eight and a half years ago. I just brought it back six months ago. So as a result of that, be before I had podcasting, I mean, there was like 15,000 downloads an episode. So things have shifted. Things have changed a lot since then.

Cliff Ravenscraft (18:31): But I will say this, I'm not going let let's just say it's 500, 700 downloads an episode. I have spoke on a stage with that many people in the audience and I'm thrilled to create the two episodes I do every week for that number of people. That is amazing. However, here's what I know. The thousands of people who used to consume the content before I either stopped podcast answer man, the you know, eight and a half years ago, and the and before I kinda just said, you know what?

Cliff Ravenscraft (19:04): I'm gonna stop creating the Clifford Owens Craft Show every single week now that I, you know, I'm I'm using the Prosperous Coach method. I I I really wanna go all in over here. I'm I've got a bunch of other things. I'm and I was going all in on my YouTube channel. I was like vlogging almost every day and all this other stuff.

Cliff Ravenscraft (19:24): And I said I'm gonna just create content for the Cliff Ravenscrap show whenever I feel inspired. They'll probably be at least one episode every single month. And there was about an average of one to two episodes a month every month for the next several years. But because I used to be weekly every single week, a lot of those people originally eventually unsubscribed, which is perfectly fine except for the fact that now when I'm back consistently showing up every single week for two different shows, those people aren't hearing that content. They're not consuming that content.

Cliff Ravenscraft (20:02): They're not even aware that content exists. So here is what I will share are the three problems that I was facing. First, there are thousands of people who used to be subscribed who unsubscribed and these people are still out there following me. Many of them are connections on LinkedIn. They're friends and or followers on Facebook.

Cliff Ravenscraft (20:30): They're subscribers to YouTube channel. There there's 14,000 or however I I don't know. There's a bunch of people on the former Twitter app now called X. There's a couple thousand people on my email newsletter. So so many of those people, I have access to them but not with an audio only podcast.

Cliff Ravenscraft (20:54): That's problem number one. I'm creating high value consistent content on a weekly basis for two different shows and there are thousands of people who know who I am, who care about who I am, who know, like and trust me, who are just not even aware that the content I've been creating for the last six months every single week exists. That's problem number one. Problem number two, there are thousands of people who have discovered me through my public speaking where I've been a guest as a speaker or a teacher in online summits, workshops, master classes, where I've been a guest on other people's podcasts, where some of my peers have written about me and the influence I've had in their lives and my mastermind groups, the influence my mastermind group experiences have had in their lives. They're talking about me in their New York Times bestselling books and people hear about me.

Cliff Ravenscraft (22:07): They're they're finding me because I've been mentioned by somebody in social media. They are hearing other speakers speak about me on stage and say you've gotta follow my friend Cliff Ravenscraft. He can help you with this and he helped me with this and this and they're using me as an example and then people are like looking me up and they're following me on all these other platforms. So I'm being mentioned in another of a number of environments and sometimes it's because I'm showing up in comments and I go through the feed and I'm commenting on things and these people are following me. I'm participating in online groups, people's school communities, Facebook groups, and I'm adding value there.

Cliff Ravenscraft (22:52): But I'm not saying, oh my gosh, you should check out my audio podcast. Instead, it's a real quick let's follow Cliff. And so those follows are happening on their social media channel of choice. They're connected with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, any of these other number of places, and they're not aware that I have an audio podcast and less I share that I have an audio podcast. And let me just say this, I have been around long enough to know that if I were to just post a LinkedIn post or if I was to put a Facebook message out or an Instagram post or a Reel or a Short or an email newsletter and announce that I just published a new episode of my podcast, it does not have really any true impact.

Cliff Ravenscraft (23:47): Now, I'm not going to undervalue the two or three people who may check out and click through to link to that. But what I'm saying is that a majority of the people who would see that in their social media feed, they're scrolling LinkedIn and they see it's like, Cliff's mentioned he just put a podcast episode of that's sixty minutes long on this topic. Yep. Scroll on through and that's it. Right?

Cliff Ravenscraft (24:15): So this is a problem. Okay. Now, let's see here. That was problem number two. Problem number three.

Cliff Ravenscraft (24:24): I actually do desire to create more video content. I have zero desire to create an video podcast. But I do wanna create more video content. I have always loved doing live streams. I actually enjoy recording direct to camera and upload later vlog content.

Cliff Ravenscraft (24:48): I enjoy I'll I enjoy teaching things. I love all sorts of stuff but I really love live streaming. And so, I wanna create more content but I don't necessarily have any more time in my schedule if I wanna remain consistent to the audio only podcasts that I'm already producing and I'm already producing them. So what I decided is I'm already creating these two shows every single week. What if I do what I told Roberto and Sean?

Cliff Ravenscraft (25:26): And I'm like, yeah, I think this is amazing. Now, if I record into Adobe Audition, people get to see the behind the scenes look into how an episode, a polished audio episode comes into being. Now, I have the ability to record live to drive. Hit record, speak for an hour, and then hit stop and hit done and there are no edits necessary. Now, while I have that ability and if I decide ahead of a time right there by the way, I'm I'm going to choose to leave that in.

Cliff Ravenscraft (26:00): I could stop and edit that part out. I have the ability to record from beginning to end without making any mistakes or at least needing to go and edit, especially if at the beginning I say, this is gonna be live to drive. I've got an hour and fifteen minutes to produce an hour long podcast episode. So any mistakes I make, they're gonna be put in, they're gonna become a part of the show. And so I have the ability to do that.

Cliff Ravenscraft (26:28): I have the ability to communicate after more than 5,500 episodes. I don't fill every bit of silence with ums and ahs that need to be edited out. So I have this ability to communicate but I do also have the ability to do some work on it. I can actually rerecord sections. I could record problem number three of my podcast before I decide to record problem number one and problem number two, and I can just copy and paste those and put them in the right chronological order.

Cliff Ravenscraft (27:05): I could build my podcast episode in Adobe Audition like Legos and and just put them where they need to go. I love the freedom and flexibility to do what I'm doing in my audio only production. But I also love the fact that I can turn on the live stream and explain that this is not episode four ninety nine of Podcast Answer Man. This is the making of episode four ninety nine of Podcast Answer Man, an audio only podcast. And the cool thing is is that whenever I make a mistake, I can start narrating and talking to people who are watching on the live stream.

Cliff Ravenscraft (27:46): And there are people who do watch on the live stream and so this is the great thing. The solution here is that people who have been following me on social media over all of these years, when I am streaming live, these are people who may have at one time listened to my podcast but for whatever reason they're no longer subscribed to the podcast today. These are the people who may have met me because I was spoke on a stage, somebody mentioned me or whatever the case may be, and they started following me in social media. These people are always logging in to their social media platforms of choice. And if I happen to be live as they're doing that, when they come across my live stream and they say Cliff Ravenscrafters live and it says join me as I'm doing a behind the scenes recording of episode 499 of podcast answer man and they kinda see that I'm live.

Cliff Ravenscraft (28:45): They can click through and start watching. Now remember I told you if I showed up in their feed and it's like, hey, I just published the episode four ninety nine and it talked about this topic blah blah blah. They would most people, 99% of the people would continue to scroll on. But if I'm live, they'll click play and they'll catch me. Maybe I've been live for maybe they caught me right when I go live and maybe they saw that I scheduled a couple hours before I I chose to go live today at 03:30 and they said I'm I'm gonna be there at 03:30.

Unknown Speaker (29:21): Or maybe they just came in and said, you know what? Let's see what Cliff's got going on. Oh, wow. He's been doing this and maybe I've been going for fifteen, twenty minutes. Maybe I've been going for forty seven minutes.

Cliff Ravenscraft (29:32): But if anything that I'm doing or saying is interesting to them, they're like, maybe I'll come back and watch this later. They make a note. They they add it to their playlist to watch later or whatever. Or maybe they just remember that I exist. It's like, that guy, Cliff Ramos Grant, he's still creating content these days.

Cliff Ravenscraft (29:56): That's pretty cool. So or somebody who maybe just heard about me as a mention of it's like, oh, so this is Cliff Ramos. So this is what he do, and this is how he creates a podcast, that's interesting. By the way, I have been doing this in the way that I'm doing it right now, and the way that I'm doing it right now is far more compelling as content than just watching me as a camera on the wall kind of bird's eye view of me recording in the studio. It's definitely more compelling than me just sitting here and let me I'm gonna saying, you know what?

Cliff Ravenscraft (30:37): Here's me talking into the camera. I'm now looking straight into the camera and it's just me in the studio, just a talking head the entire time. If I take away the shared screen showing the Adobe Audition in the background and the outline and the little window of me down there, This is to me, this is not as compelling as content. You might as well just go ahead and close your YouTube app and hit play and listen to the audio because this there's really nothing going on here. But when I switch over to the screen and you see all of the the you see the the layout and you get to see the sausage being made, you get to see the behind the scenes, you get to see just how much of the the script I've completely skipped through this entire process.

Cliff Ravenscraft (31:24): Like, Cliff had his script up there. I he definitely was winging that. But you you get to see how it's made. It's content and I'm like, this is amazing. Essentially, what I'm doing solves all three of the problems that I experienced.

Cliff Ravenscraft (31:43): Now before I hit record to start the audio production of this episode, I had already been live. And I shared with folks that I already created a rough outline of this. And then I showed them the livestream viewing audience or those who watched the replay later because that's another benefit. Maybe some people don't catch me when I'm live. Maybe they're not checking their social media feed of choice when I'm live.

Cliff Ravenscraft (32:17): But they will see the thumbnail and it's a clickable play button that they can see from the very beginning and and it captures their attention. That is a possibility as well. But before I did all of this, I shared the outline that I had and I showed my process of going over to ChatGPT, say here's my outline for this episode. I want some teachable moments. Rather than just sharing what I'm doing, what are some of the insights?

Cliff Ravenscraft (32:47): What are the teachable insights that can be pulled from this content? And it gave me all sorts of insights that are valuable that you might wanna take away from me sharing all of this story with you. And it's of course gave me entire scripts of things that I could say and how I could frame it and all this other stuff. And of course, I do not like to be directed on what to say by ChatGPT. I like it as a thinking partner.

Unknown Speaker (33:14): But I did ask it to give me the the bullet point items. And I think do I have the ability to how do you oh, don't allow. How do you do zoom in? Actually, you know what? I'll be able to read it.

Cliff Ravenscraft (33:34): I'm just having a hard time reading my notes here because I don't have my glasses on. Let's let's do this. So here are some insights for you. Documentation can become content without becoming performance. This for me is an a way that I'm creating content.

Cliff Ravenscraft (33:53): I'm creating compelling, not just talking head content. I'm creating compelling video content. There is a purpose. There is there is a value to having video as I'm streaming live because these people get to experience the behind the scenes look of how this is made. When I make a mistake and I stop, I sometimes will narrate to the livestream audience.

Cliff Ravenscraft (34:23): This is what I'm doing. This is where I messed up. Here's what I'm gonna say next. Let me start that over. They get to see the sausage being made and at the same time, I'm not performing for the camera.

Cliff Ravenscraft (34:35): I'm not looking at the comments waiting to see what's going on there. Now if there are comments that come in, when I do make a mistake or whatever, and by the way, I'm gonna leave that in as well. I'm not gonna edit that one out. But when I do make a mistake, I can hit stop and I could address a comment that's just come in for the livestream but it won't make it into the audio production because I had stopped to to do a correction. And I can engage with people.

Cliff Ravenscraft (35:01): This this is compelling content but what I love about it is I'm not performing perfection for the camera. I'm not trying to do a polished production for video for my YouTube channel or for my live streams. It's the raw, real, authentic Cliff Ravenscrafter. Mistakes and everything. Here's how this thing comes together.

Cliff Ravenscraft (35:27): And there's the compelling educational experience of how Cliff produces his podcasts. This is awesome. So it's not necessarily that you need to go and do your own behind the scenes documentation but I can tell you that not just sharing the information that you know but actually letting people see how you work is content and it's valuable. Alright. The next one is the behind the scenes streaming builds trust differently than the finished episode.

Cliff Ravenscraft (36:03): One of the things I love about this is that people get to see the raw super messed up crazy all over the place. This is this is what it really looks like behind the scenes. But then if they want to, they could go and subscribe to the podcast Answer Man podcast and at Friday at 12:01AM, they could actually see not see, they could actually listen to the polished episode. They could hear how the finished product sounded. Another insight is that this strategy that I'm using honors the difference between a podcast subscriber, a social media follower, and also live stream observers.

Cliff Ravenscraft (36:53): It kind of reaches people where they are and this is something I've all when I think about somebody who is creating an audio podcast but they felt like they needed to create a video version of their show and the reason one of the reasons they need a video version of their show is so that they can have all of these clips that they can put on Shorts on Instagram and they can put it on Shorts on YouTube and Reels on Instagram and TikTok videos so that they can actually put some sort of compelling, you know, check out this short little clip and if you want the full thing, come check out my podcast. And and my feeling is like, there maybe somebody's getting results from that and and that that there may be some value to it. But there's a whole lot more value when you are creating content that is meant to be consumed on the platform that people have chosen for which they are actually scrolling. So for example, if I wanted to create content on TikTok, I wanna make sure that people don't have to leave TikTok to truly experience the fullness of the value that I'm trying to give them at this moment in this way.

Cliff Ravenscraft (38:05): I don't like the idea of, hey, now that I've got your attention on your platform of choice, can I send you over to my platform of choice and ask you to listen to the full thing I've got to share with you? I don't like that. So when I show up on Facebook, when I show up on LinkedIn, when I show up on the X platform, and when I show up on YouTube, these people are scrolling and they saw me there and they can consume this entire thing from beginning to end in the platform for what they don't need to go subscribe to my audio podcast. It's not essential that I put a call to action that they do it. Guess what?

Cliff Ravenscraft (38:44): Those who know what a podcast is, those who know what the value of a podcast is, those who maybe used to subscribe to my podcast years ago when I showed up every single week but then I didn't for a while and then they unsubscribe to hear and see that I'm back when they see that I'm creating this content and they know that this content is there, oh my gosh, I'm totally gonna go resubscribe. I don't have to ask. It just happens. And those people who had never subscribed to my podcast but they heard about me because somebody else mentioned me and they're following me on social media as a result of that, If they are podcast consumers and they see a livestream video or a replay of a livestream video of the behind the scenes making of an audio podcast, guess what? If they are podcast consumers, they will go seek out my show.

Unknown Speaker (39:30): I don't even have to ask. This is brilliant. I am there giving you the full value of my message in all of the different platforms. You you could stay right here wherever you are. Wherever you are hearing my voice right now, you don't have to go anywhere else for you and I to have this relationship.

Cliff Ravenscraft (39:51): That's awesome. The next insight is that friction determines consistency. And there's a reason why people when they have created so many episodes of their podcast I've talked to so many people who have created hundreds of podcast episodes over years and then switched over to video and then stopped because of all of the friction that was there on the video production side of things. This, what I'm doing, allows me to create video. Now, I'm an incredibly technical person.

Cliff Ravenscraft (40:25): I've been playing around with video since 02/2007 and for me to open up Ecamm Live and just start navigating and talking about what I'm doing and then just sitting here in the studio. I'm not even looking at the camera 94% of the time. I'm not paying attention to anything other than this microphone doing what I would doing would be doing even if the camera would but it's compelling content. It's like this there's no friction here for me to do this. But if you're but if if setting up a live stream piece of software and trying to pull off what I'm doing here, if that adds friction, it's going to determine your consistency.

Cliff Ravenscraft (41:05): And I will tell you right now, consistency is more important than showing up on video. Consistently producing value. You know, you you don't have to have this video and or live streaming content strategy for you to reach those people. You could actually, and and I wanna speak to those of you who do not want to do what I'm doing, you could take the transcript of your polished podcast episode, the audio podcast. You could run it through your large language model of choice and say, listen, take this transcript and I want you to create a compelling narrative, powerful email newsletter that could be read in no more than five minutes.

Cliff Ravenscraft (41:53): I want it to contain the essence of the message contained in this hour long podcast episode. I want it to also contain all of the key insights and all of the value that anybody who listens to the podcast episode will get. I want all of that to be included in the written email newsletter without them ever having to listen to the podcast episode itself. I want you to assume and presume that nobody reading this email newsletter will ever listen to the episode but they should get just the same of warm, fuzzy, like, oh my gosh, this I needed to hear this today. I'm so glad this email came in.

Cliff Ravenscraft (42:44): I need them to have that experience when they read the email. And then at the at the very end, only put that this this email newsletter is a summary of what I shared in my most recent audio only podcast episode such and such of such and such podcast. If and only if you're interested in hearing the full episode, click here. But that that that's just like the little it's at the end. And you know what?

Cliff Ravenscraft (43:13): You could just send that out as your email newsletter. You could put that on your LinkedIn newsletter. You could put that as a Facebook post. You could take that, create an image on Instagram and post that as your post description for the photo. You can reach those people without doing video and without doing live streams simply using the written word.

Cliff Ravenscraft (43:34): So friction determines consistency. Remove the friction. And if video is friction for you, don't do it. The other insight that ChatGPT gave me, it says this, it said, do not build a content strategy that punishes you for having standards. You see, I do have standards.

Cliff Ravenscraft (43:56): I want what I do to be valuable. I want it to be worthy of the platform for which the content I am publishing hold on. I'm losing my train of thought. So I want the content to be worthy of the platform for where it's being published. Did I say that right?

Cliff Ravenscraft (44:17): You know what I'm saying. If I'm publishing this in video form, I want it to be worthy of being consumed in video. That's the way that I would say it. I have high standards. I want it to be valuable and I don't think a talking head of me on video for an hour is incredibly valuable.

Cliff Ravenscraft (44:39): Showing up is valuable, but my production value is not is much higher. It's like, gosh, I I want something more in the background and I already have equipment. I already have a studio with lighting. I used to have about $20,000 worth of equipment in the next level studio and I've really overly simplified things today. I've made it so much more simple.

Cliff Ravenscraft (45:01): But today, even though I have high standards, the highest standard I have is for the audio podcast production. I want this thing to sound cohesive from beginning to end. And if I tried to create the content for the audio listener while trying to perform for a camera and keep the energy up and trying to make it compelling. Make sure I've got the smile on my face and all the you know, it's like all this it's just like, it changes how I show up for you, the listener, to this audio only podcast. And and so my standards are so high and for me to want to create video as a video podcast, I'd be punishing myself to do that.

Cliff Ravenscraft (45:48): I like that little insight. Anyway, the livestream does not have to be consumed from beginning to end to be valuable. In fact, I will tell you right now, there are a number of people who have been in and out as I've been doing this livestream. So as I'm looking at Adobe Audition right now, I am at forty six minutes and six seconds. But I've been livestreaming for one hour and thirty eight minutes.

Cliff Ravenscraft (46:14): There have been plenty of people who have come and gone throughout here. But you know what? 100% of everyone who watched even for five seconds, ten seconds, fifteen seconds, and those who have been watching ever since they first came across it, and some of them for the entire one hour and thirty eight minutes and forty two seconds now. You know what all of them have in common? They didn't wake up this morning thinking about Cliff Ravenscraft and now they're aware that Cliff Ravenscraft is still out there in the world creating content.

Cliff Ravenscraft (46:48): They're aware that he's actually got a new content strategy that he's doing. They're aware that his podcast is an audio only podcast that he's producing. They're aware that he's showing up, adding value to people's lives. They're aware that he's engaging with people. They're aware that he still has that heart of service.

Cliff Ravenscraft (47:07): Every single one of the people who have stopped by the stream, even if it's only fifteen seconds, I'm top of mind. That is something that without this strategy and how I'm doing it, I I just wouldn't have that. Now again, I could do that strategy with the emails and and I do do that. I will admit not as consistently as I could And I'm proud of myself for not saying should. But anyway, you get the idea.

Unknown Speaker (47:38): This right here, this is my thing. This is my jam. I'm in my sweet spot. I am loving this. And and I I think it shows and this is why I'm excited.

Cliff Ravenscraft (47:50): It's like, I am now going to be having I'm now going to have content on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, and the X platform twice a week, every week minimum. Now the thing is is there may be times when I'm out of town and I just do the audio only in another way or maybe I batch it ahead of time and maybe I'll be more incentivized to do it as I'm doing it live. But anyway, I am enjoying this. I love it. Okay.

Cliff Ravenscraft (48:18): And the insight there though is that the livestream does not have to be consumed from the beginning to end to be valuable. The next one is that this is a way of reactivating dormant trust. This is the key for me as somebody who used to create consistent weekly content and people used to follow that content all of the time, the 15,000 plus subscribers of Podcast Answer Man before I shut down Podcast Answer Man eight and a half years ago. Most of those people are not yet aware that I've brought Podcast Answer Man back six months ago. More and more people on a weekly basis now are going to be aware that that show is back.

Cliff Ravenscraft (49:03): And I can tell you right now, there's a lot of people get really excited when they see it's back and and I love that. It's it's the the reconnections have been amazing. So I am reactivating dormant trust with this strategy. And the next insight is that this strategy is really about reducing the distance between my creative work. The message that I work so hard to put into these audio podcasts It is reducing the distance between this content and the people it can serve.

Cliff Ravenscraft (49:39): And so now people can consume this message without going and subscribing to the audio podcast. And then finally, this is my 2026 version of letting people sit in the studio with me. And I love the technology we have to do multi streaming to multiple social media platforms. I love the Ecamm Live makes it so easy for me to share different views of my software on screen. I love the fact that when I make a mistake and pause, I can engage with the folks who are leaving comments.

Cliff Ravenscraft (50:17): This is such it is so amazing and I'm thrilled that I am back to creating livestream behind the scenes making of content. If you are interested in checking out some of my behind the scenes making, if you'd like to see the behind the scenes making of this episode, check the link in the bio. I'll put a direct link to the replay on my YouTube channel and you could see what this was like. Because you're getting like a fifty some odd minute episode. You will see the full one hour and forty four minute plus making of this episode.

Cliff Ravenscraft (51:00): And if you're interested in that link in the bio. By the way, real quickly, if you are an entrepreneur, if you're a content creator, if you are a thought leader and you are looking to gain more visibility in the world, if you are creating change in the lives of the people that you serve, but you don't necessarily have people in your life who you can bounce ideas off of. If you don't have somebody who can help you see the blind spots, the things that you are not currently seeing that are available as your next clear aligned actions that you could take. If you don't have anybody who could ask you questions about your commitments of when you're getting things done, if you don't have somebody who can just not necessarily hold you accountable, it's like when you said you were going to do that, but actually just ask you when are you going to do that? And then there's a next appointment with that person if you don't have that.

Cliff Ravenscraft (51:55): If you don't have a there's a next Mastermind meeting where you're gonna check-in and give an update on how things went related to that commitment you made. If you don't have that in your life, I'd like to invite you to experience that environment with me. There are two ways that I do this, one on one coaching or through my next level mastermind environments. If you are resonating with the type of content that I'm creating in the world, if you are looking to have a profound positive impact in the lives of the people that you serve and you'd like to surround yourself with other people who think like you, reach out to me. My email address is cliff@cliffravenscraft.com.

Cliff Ravenscraft (52:44): Until next time, I encourage you to take everything you do to the next level. Podcast, add some men.