This series is all about libsyn podcasters. Its sole purpose is to introduce these awesome podcasts to the world as well as share their podcasting insight to empower the community!
Q & A’s with Ronald and Donte’ from BRNDD
When did you start podcasting?/Why did you start podcasting?
Ronald: I started Podcasting about 10 years ago. I [was] a radio major at Towson University. I worked at XM doing traffic and weather and while I was there I started a Podcast called, The Tempo Tandrum and I did one with a friend of mine called, Ron and John and I currently do one called Movie Schmovie and the BRNDD podcast. So I been doing this for a long time. Before it was cool, I was talking into a mic in an empty room about random stuff.
Donte’: And for me, this’ll be the first year that I’ve actually done podcasting. I’ve listened to them forever, probably almost 10 years at this point, but the past two years I’ve really gotten heavy into it and listening to a lot of different shows and getting different content. But just sitting down and taking in a lot of different information and deciding that there was a gap that was missing as far as stories being told, so decided to put the BRNDD podcast together.
What’s your show about?
Donte’: So the show is about conversations with creatives, so we sit down and we interview designers, musicians, store owners, pretty much anyone that has a brand around them. Whether they’re the brand themselves, or you know something they created is a brand and just have them tell their stories, ups, downs, triumphs, experiences. And kinda inspire people from those stories.
What’s your podcasting set-up? Hardware, software, CMS, etc.
Donte’: So we have 2 computers here, we run everything through Adobe Audition, we got 3 mics
Ronald: 3 Blue Mics
Donte’: Yeah, we do! They are great, I recommend them if you don’t have one. A lot of different controls you can use, gain, volume, and they have different settings, whether you’re doing a round table discussion or doing a solo podcast. So you know it’s a really good investment. I think if that’s what you are looking to get into.
How have you promoted your podcast?
Donte’: So far, we’ve done a lot of social media things, right?
Ronald: Yeah, we have an Instagram, Facebook. And through Instagram and Facebook and twitter, guests have promoted us too. So it’s kind of like a chain effect, right? Promotion equals promotion. So we’ve been doing it through that. I’m open to new forms of promotion, so if anyone has any ideas, I would love to know.
Donte’: Yeah, we have a mailing list for the brand, Debonair Material as well. And we put all the podcast stuff in that when we send those out. And we’re actually going to do some like, word of mouth, canvassing, get some flyers printed out and just talk to the community and try to get them to support what we do. I think that’s, you know, very important to build an organic audience.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
Donte’: How hard it was to get guests to come on the show doing a guest-based show. ‘Cause we try to put them out weekly and sometimes we run into issues as far as scheduling so we have to push some things back or you know, running into holidays, we had to get adjusted to that.
Ronald: Yeah, I mean this is a guest-based show, so that is the heart of the podcast, so it’s really hard when you don’t have a guest to do a podcast if that’s what it kind of revolves around so.
Donte’: Also I didn’t think about the level of guests [that] we get and possibly having to edit the show and kind of protect all parties involved because we’ve had some guests say some things they may not have wanted to get out [due to contractual agreements] you know, just trying to be civil about the situation. I think that’s very important when you’re doing a guest-based show.
If you’re ready to go deep into the world of creatives doing things IN the world you must subscribe to the BRNDD podcast! And if you wanna follow the guys on Twitter, click here for Ronald and Donte’. You can also hook up with the BRNDD Facebook Page.
If you have a story that needs to be told and are feeling podcasting is the way to go, give it a shot! We’d love to host your media!. Now, if you happen to wanna do it but are a little stuck in the how to actually podcast, check out our free monthly Podcasting Quickstart.p
