Donovan Johnson : Welcome to another episode of the podcast breakdown and we look at what we're going to do today is we're going to be looking at some changes that we've made.
Donovan Johnson : We renamed and rebrand your podcast without losing listeners and how it can help you to make your podcast grow so we're learning by doing.
Donovan Johnson : Can you elaborate.
Gregory Coleman: So what we did was originally this podcast had a different name.
Gregory Coleman: And we decided to we decided to change the name of the podcast change the change the look and change the feel, and I think that's pretty scary for a lot of people because they think.
Gregory Coleman: they're going to lose the audience, how do they go and make sure everything's updated and we want to talk about what happens when you do it, and what has happened to us when we did it.
Gregory Coleman: So.
Gregory Coleman: So.
Donovan Johnson : we're we're talking over each other but go ahead and then i'll keep my thought.
Gregory Coleman: Okay we'll cut that out okay.
Gregory Coleman: So what we're going to look at so originally we were we had a different name.
Gregory Coleman: and
Donovan Johnson : Our main podcast back then.
Gregory Coleman: It was called the unnamed podcast because we didn't have a name.
Gregory Coleman: So now we we do have a name it's called podcast per account, and you can you can visit us at podcast breakdown that info.
Gregory Coleman: For a website, but I just wanted to walk through some of the processes that we had to do when we're changing the name.
Gregory Coleman: So, in one of our previous episodes I talked about the technical part of what makes a podcast how everyone actually host their own MP3 files themselves there isn't like a big server out there.
Gregory Coleman: That does everything.
Gregory Coleman: There is going to be.
Donovan Johnson : And you have your we have our own server so.
Gregory Coleman: yeah we have our own surfer.
Donovan Johnson : kinda Nice. Thanks, so there isn't.
Gregory Coleman: yeah so there isn't a big server but what everything goes through is what's called an rss file an rss feed.
Gregory Coleman: That feed is just a taxable real simple real simple sentence real simple syndication and it's just a text file and that that's all it is it doesn't really do anything.
Gregory Coleman: But it has the information on where your podcasts located your name your email address all that all that kind of stuff if you're going through a hosting company the hosting company will will do that for you so say you're using um can you name a podcast, as you can they can.
Donovan Johnson : set a.
Gregory Coleman: neighbor podcasters yeah like anchor or something like that so so you're using anchor they're going to have a web interface you're going to go in there you're going to change everything.
Gregory Coleman: And then their software is going to make the rss feed for you, this is the, this is the thing that happens in the back end.
Gregory Coleman: And one thing that since we do our own hosting we we really manage our own rss feed a lot more than other people do because you know we're sort of old school and it comes to that.
Gregory Coleman: So, so the thing is that rss feed that one text file that's your whole podcast right that that shows everything about it.
Gregory Coleman: And the only thing that that apple and spotify and all those that's, the only thing they keep track of is that one rss found at one point of the Internet that one place of truth.
Donovan Johnson : And how large is that file.
Gregory Coleman: it's pretty small it's it's a few K it's not even you know 10th or a 10th of what an image would be or even 100 of what an image would be.
Gregory Coleman: So it actually.
Gregory Coleman: yeah it's actually very tiny, so these these companies, they just scan all the time.
Gregory Coleman: And Google, as a matter of fact, just scan the Internet for any rss feed.
Donovan Johnson : That is real simple.
Donovan Johnson : I wonder okay so real simple and real small so.
Gregory Coleman: Real simple syndication.
Gregory Coleman: So so.
Gregory Coleman: i'm gonna if your audience i'm sure you can't see this, but on audio on video you can actually see it, so we originally the unnamed podcast.
Gregory Coleman: You know, we haven't changed our rss feed or anything like that, if you actually do the feed the feed actually says the unnamed podcast name of the file.
Gregory Coleman: But everything else inside the file I change.
Gregory Coleman: automatically.
Gregory Coleman: or I changed it inside the file.
Gregory Coleman: Okay, so let's let's look at apple podcast So when I change the file, you can see it on your screen if you're a video when I change the file I change the image, so I change I change the logo.
Gregory Coleman: And I also change the name of the actual podcast in the URL and actually change this, for us, so we were subscribed to the end, a podcast.
Gregory Coleman: In my APP apple subscription actually changed itself podcast breakdown.
Donovan Johnson : yeah change automatically.
Gregory Coleman: yeah it did.
Donovan Johnson : As I was, I was looking for it, as you know, because you didn't tell me what day it was going to change this and I was looking for that name and I went I was so surprised that he just changed it there it is.
Gregory Coleman: yeah.
Donovan Johnson : I guess break down with donovan Johnson and Greg Coleman House like.
Donovan Johnson : That was quick so.
Gregory Coleman: It was very quick.
Gregory Coleman: yeah, but most of these most of these hope podcast hosts because there's no there's no one central place right everyone.
Gregory Coleman: Everyone to host a podcast hosted on their servers the directories reach from their servers there's no one central you know podcast company.
Gregory Coleman: So it just it just does what he needs to do so yeah so apple apple podcast change really, really quickly it just change straight over from the podcast the podcast breakdown.
Gregory Coleman: which will it was it was much quicker and I thought it would take.
Gregory Coleman: And he kept.
Donovan Johnson : You brace yourself what I was, I was not expecting I when I say it's already changed.
Gregory Coleman: changer.
Gregory Coleman: And I I did not have to go to each place and change it, so when we were registered in all these places.
Gregory Coleman: um it changed automatically so that was like apple podcast they change really quickly Google podcast which I never really subscribed to.
Gregory Coleman: It just sort of found it it's sort of found it and just started put it in its Google podcast directory.
Gregory Coleman: That changed it to you can't really tell them the feed because Google doesn't use names in their feed, did you really long computer oriented strings.
Donovan Johnson : And what about.
Donovan Johnson : Amazon, is it on Amazon.
Gregory Coleman: yeah so it's on Amazon Amazon they changed it also.
Gregory Coleman: One thing is, you can tell us we changed our logo we change the image.
Gregory Coleman: to match the website it's it's I like it it's very understated image.
Donovan Johnson : So it I like I like it as well.
Gregory Coleman: It all picked it picked up the new changes right so.
Gregory Coleman: If you're gonna if you're going to change your artwork just be assured your artwork is going to change Everywhere you don't have to go to to all these directories and change it here so.
Gregory Coleman: The most interesting one.
Gregory Coleman: Was spotify yeah um I like the fact that that they put our background and read the metro the metro average, I wonder how they did that, but one thing is, if you look at our old episodes it actually has our old image in there.
Donovan Johnson : I see it.
Gregory Coleman: yeah so so it kept the old image for so for the new episodes it's going to have the new image, but for the old episodes it actually it actually kept it.
Donovan Johnson : Okay, so it doesn't sync up.
Donovan Johnson : It yeah.
Donovan Johnson : Well that's that was then, and this is now.
Donovan Johnson : When you go back you get to see what it was before.
Gregory Coleman: Brian if you want to hear old really cluttered artwork you can go back and let's not look at old episodes on spotify.
Donovan Johnson : And it was cool I liked.
Donovan Johnson : We didn't know what we're doing and that's the whole process of this thing that we're.
Donovan Johnson : we're putting together positivity which means we're being positive, even though it's like whoa.
Donovan Johnson : So many things that you know can come up when you're doing a podcast but you know we just stay positive, because when you don't know anything you're going to learn, by doing and that's our our model.
Gregory Coleman: Well, no, we don't know.
Gregory Coleman: Well, even that I mean you know I I fully understand the process and the technology behind changing it but.
Gregory Coleman: it's not like there's one company so it's it's like you have to do it once you have to see exactly what happens, you have to see how fast it goes.
Gregory Coleman: So even if you if you know everything behind it it's still good to go through it and see what happens that's what we did.
Gregory Coleman: So the rebranding what went really well, I believe, so we went from not having to say, to have an old site we changed the images and at some point, you know we're probably going to change the look and feel again, you know but but who knows, but I think people rebrand all the time. yeah.
Gregory Coleman: Because.
Donovan Johnson : you're feeling it and sometimes say okay it's time change.
Donovan Johnson : Let me change it.
Gregory Coleman: yeah you do I mean if you think about I mean how many people started like you know Facebook groups or something.
Gregory Coleman: Right, you know it's not growing away when it's like okay it's time to change the name but.
Gregory Coleman: You know you've got those hundred subscribers you get those 200 subscribers you don't want to just ditch all of them.
Gregory Coleman: Right um.
Donovan Johnson : You know what i'm searching for you say, well, what where are they.
Donovan Johnson : yeah.
Gregory Coleman: You know, so you know you did it you did a cooking show called you know.
Gregory Coleman: You know, South la cooking you want to change it till you know donovan cooking right.
Donovan Johnson : yeah.
Gregory Coleman: it's still cooking you know people are still interested.
Donovan Johnson : But it's all based on those different genres or it just.
Donovan Johnson : You know you just want to keep it kind of like General.
Gregory Coleman: I think it, I think, if you want to rebrand you know it's it's not a totally new brand right it's it's going to be the same brand is going to be your same audience, because you know you spent all this time getting listeners and followers.
Gregory Coleman: yeah and you don't just want to suddenly dump them.
Gregory Coleman: In so it's like out there they're all gone on one star from I want to start from ground zero you know because getting your first hundreds hundred subscribers that's like the hard part.
Gregory Coleman: Oh yeah yeah.
Donovan Johnson : You didn't know first so you want to keep them you do.
Gregory Coleman: Getting from you know zero to 100 is hard getting from you know 100 to 1000 you're getting from 1 million to 2 million new is.
Gregory Coleman: um.
Gregory Coleman: But.
Donovan Johnson : But we're going through this we're going we're breaking down the steps that it takes to get there and that's where the name breakdown. comes from so.
Donovan Johnson : we've learned quite a bit and some of the things came quickly and some things didn't quite say Okay, what are we going to do.
Donovan Johnson : And it's, to the point to where you know i'm going to branch out in and do a podcast myself, now that I feel a little confident but we're we're growing and we grow by knowing.
Donovan Johnson : When we learn so.
Gregory Coleman: In philly so one one of the thing about about rebranding is.
Gregory Coleman: You really have to think about.
Gregory Coleman: Where you're going with your brand and how you're going to monetize it and all that, so I think.
Gregory Coleman: When people are when people are starting out like we were starting out you're not really sure where you want to go, but we have a much better idea of what we're doing where we want to go with this.
Gregory Coleman: You know, we we're not we're no longer newbies we do, we do know a lot more about what we've been doing me doing this for a few months.
Gregory Coleman: And i've been doing it for now.
Gregory Coleman: i've been doing the technical part for a few years.
Gregory Coleman: yeah but, but during the actual podcast we're just doing it.
Gregory Coleman: we're doing this podcast for a few months and and we did learn a lot but it's always you're always there to change and you're always here to grow.
Gregory Coleman: And I think that.
Gregory Coleman: I think if you're looking to rebrand you don't have to worry about it because the whole the whole podcast ecosystem is going to take care of it but you're going to have to worry about.
Gregory Coleman: Are you are the same people listening right are you changing the format, are you going to you know move to an interview show in the scene ask yourself is the show going to be better than was before.
Gregory Coleman: You know and that's that's really the that's really the reason you do it, and like you said, we want to talk about breakdown we don't want to be, you know, an education so i'm going to talk to you about you know how we feel when we.
Gregory Coleman: didn't write it because that's what you're going to go through and.
Donovan Johnson : Overcoming the challenges, you know, because some people want to give up.
Donovan Johnson : You know the thing is just keep doing it keep going.
Donovan Johnson : keep going and you'll get better.
Donovan Johnson : I heard a good quote this last week experiences, the key.
Donovan Johnson : You know, once you learn something now, you can change, and you can evolve and you can broaden your horizon get better.
Gregory Coleman: And I think it's like you know when Java is really popular podcast is is like the crime mystery stories.
Gregory Coleman: You know I guess it's popular intelligent also.
Donovan Johnson : But piano as an ad that was that the number to over that number one.
Gregory Coleman: Common things that.
Gregory Coleman: Ultimately, the number one number two top podcast category, because it is, it is really, really popular so say you have a crime podcast a true crime podcast you're doing stories about true crime you don't want to change to like a home DIY podcast.
Gregory Coleman: You know it's not going to work.
Donovan Johnson : Now.
Gregory Coleman: You know, at that point.
Gregory Coleman: You know, you need to branch out, you know your your main podcasting oh we're starting a second podcast.
Gregory Coleman: You know, go over here like when you're starting your podcast we're we're definitely going to you know tell people about this podcast because that's that's how you go, you know, do you want to evolve, or do you want to split.
Donovan Johnson : yeah and you want to keep it on on the same level, because one thing about podcasts as opposed to what we did in radio what I was doing and radios radio, you had to catch it.
Donovan Johnson : And what's going on in radio on a daily when you when you get back next week next month it's old news, you know, but you can go back to your podcast and it's new and it's fresh and it's not like time date.
Gregory Coleman: stamp.
Donovan Johnson : or anything you know it's like we're not going to like talk about anything that happened in the summer and now it's next winter.
Gregory Coleman: and
Gregory Coleman: And I think in a future episode, we really have to talk about the real differences between radio and podcasting.
Gregory Coleman: Because you know.
Gregory Coleman: You know, because ready we can't you know you got a radio station right wk rp whatever.
Gregory Coleman: You can simply change it it's like no that's.
Gregory Coleman: that's that's your callers but radio stations and they got bought and sold in correct me if i'm wrong you're the expert in how the radio industry word, but they were changed like from you know, a country music station to like a talk station, or something like.
Donovan Johnson : That so format, you know, can they can change the format because whoever owns it, they can say Okay, now we want to do, sports radio.
Donovan Johnson : did before they might have been easy listening.
Donovan Johnson : or they could have been talk radio, you know, and so you say okay Well, now we want to do it bilingual you know, we want to, we want to have in Spanish.
Donovan Johnson : You know, on on the owner and.
Donovan Johnson : You know it's the signal is going to change is not going to change you're going to stay the same signal it sometimes we do swap signals to.
Donovan Johnson : You know, down to the dial but that's rare so yeah it's a lot of differences, so we can probably bring up some of those and future episodes we can talk about a difference.
Gregory Coleman: it's either broadcast or their actual bilingual rate efficient.
Donovan Johnson : yeah Los Angeles.
Gregory Coleman: yeah i'm from the Midwest right so.
Gregory Coleman: So.
Gregory Coleman: So the Midwest is different, I know this, we have a Spanish radio station i've never heard.
Gregory Coleman: A bilingual I think it'd be I think it'd be really interesting.
Donovan Johnson : yeah they you know there's normally Spanish and then there's normally you know, like side band some of the radio station is that there's other bands, you know the.
Gregory Coleman: Age.
Donovan Johnson : And so, those are ones that haven't noticed of late they've done bilingual you know, English and Spanish but.
Donovan Johnson : For the most part.
Donovan Johnson : The ones who don't know English they're gonna they're going to tune in for the Spanish speaking.
Gregory Coleman: yeah.
Gregory Coleman: I think it's been about it for this episode and then you know why don't the next episode, we talked about the differences between podcasts and radio.
Donovan Johnson : sure that sounds good.
Donovan Johnson : Okay well.
Donovan Johnson : It was a good experience, I hope you learned something.
Donovan Johnson : I know I do every time I try and learn something new every day and Greg you're such an expert in and all the different systems and things and it's been it's been a experience fun experience so.
Donovan Johnson : Thank you for listening to this episode and you can you know we thank you for taking a chance on us.
Donovan Johnson : Infotainment but uh you know you have so many other things you could be doing with your time we thank you for spending your time with us and you can reach us on wherever you get your podcast Google podcast apple podcast.
Donovan Johnson : Greg.
Donovan Johnson : Give me the other ones.
Donovan Johnson : apple spotify Amazon.
Gregory Coleman: Please like and subscribe.
Donovan Johnson : Now, and we'll check back with you on the next episode thanks for letting us break it down on the podcast breakdown.
Gregory Coleman: Okay, stop recording.
Donovan Johnson : Okay.
Gregory Coleman: yeah it was we're getting sort of getting sort of boring there so i'm like okay.
Donovan Johnson : Okay, I didn't hear what you say, can I turn the MIC down, I want you to be able to.
Donovan Johnson : Are you hot in there is it.
Donovan Johnson : look like it looked like you were in a tent that's all.
Donovan Johnson : Like i'm outside.
Gregory Coleman: So let me make sure we get that recording.
Gregory Coleman: Okay, but you're recording in progress right.
Gregory Coleman: You get here recording in progress, so it should be there.
Donovan Johnson : I saw yes, just as recording still it's got the flashing light.
Gregory Coleman: weight loss is recording right now.
Donovan Johnson : i'm still showing it ready for recording.
Gregory Coleman: Oh, it is.
Gregory Coleman: That was that oh there it is.