Episode 10
· 17:19
Hey, welcome to 3:03 by Reply
Two, a hooman and AI collab,
powered by Notebook LM.
Hey, you thinking about new
ways to connect with your
people, maybe, uh, new channels?
Yeah.
Especially if you are,
say a newsletter creator.
Have you considered the power of
audio, you know, maybe landing
your own show on Spotify?
Hmm.
Interesting idea.
It's just, it's a chance to reach
your audience in those moments
when their eyes are busy, but.
Well, their ears are free.
Exactly.
I mean, we know you're
putting out incredible content
already in your newsletters.
This is really about smartly
extending that reach.
Right?
Not necessarily more work, but different.
Totally.
Think of it as unlocking a whole new
way for your audience to engage with
what you're already doing and crucially,
without feeling like you're adding,
you know, a mountain of extra work.
Okay.
Okay.
So whether you've been actively, um.
Mulling over launching a podcast,
or maybe you're just kind of
curious about how it all works.
Yeah.
Like what are the real
benefits for creators?
Exactly.
We're gonna break that down.
We'll even be looking at
a cool example out there.
A podcast called 3:03.
Ah yes.
specifically created for
newsletter folks, actually.
And what's really smart about their
approach, the 3:03 approach, is
they're not reinventing the wheel.
Not at all.
How so?
They're taking their existing long
form written content, the stuff
they've already researched and crafted,
and well cleverly transforming it
into engaging audio conversations.
Okay, so let's get right to it then.
You're already rocking your newsletter,
putting in the effort there.
Why should you even think about
adding a podcast to the mix?
That's the million dollar
question, isn't it?
I mean, think about your
own listening habits.
When are you consuming audio?
Uh, commute, definitely.
Maybe walking the dog doing dishes.
Right.
Probably during your commute while
you're working out, maybe even doing
chores around the house, like you said.
Yeah.
That's precisely where a huge
chunk of your audience is too.
Ah, okay.
So podcasting lets you
tap into those moments
Exactly.
Those times when reading
just isn't really an option.
And the numbers, I've seen some stats.
They're pretty compelling, aren't they?
We're talking about a
massive global audience.
Oh, it's huge.
Hundreds of millions of people
tuning into podcasts every year,
and that number's only growing.
It's really quite something.
What's really interesting though, is how
dedicated these listeners seem to be.
That's the key point.
Many are listening to multiple episodes
a week, often for hours at a time.
These are like.
Properly engaged folks actively
seeking out audio content.
Right.
Not just passively scrolling.
Absolutely.
And it's not just about the
sheer number of years, it's the
potential for growth and even, um,
generating new revenue streams.
The whole podcasting landscape.
It's a multi-billion dollar industry now.
Wow.
And what's fascinating is the
level of listener adoption.
More and more people.
Something like over half the US
population over 12, listen monthly now.
It's the highest it's ever been.
So that kind of consistent and
engaged audience, that must be
attractive to sponsors, right?
Naturally.
Yeah.
Sponsors love that loyalty and engagement.
It
totally clicks.
You know, think about your subscribers
who might say, oh, I love your
newsletter, but I just don't always
have time to sit down and read it.
We hear that all the time.
A podcast becomes the perfect solution.
Then it lets them absorb your insights
while they're, you know, on the
go or tackling their to-do list.
Exactly like something like half of
podcast listening happens right at home
during chores and another big chunk, maybe
40 something percent during commutes.
You're essentially giving
them back valuable time to
connect with your content.
You are.
But look for many creators, the thought
of starting a podcast just feels daunting.
Oh, like
a monumental task, right?
Yeah.
Whole new world of production editing.
Yeah, totally.
Sounds like a lot.
But the folks behind 3:03, they found
a surprisingly efficient way to do it.
And it leans heavily on leveraging
the content they're already creating.
Okay, tell me more.
Here's where it gets really smart.
I bet
it is quite clever.
They're using Google's Notebook
LM as a key tool in their workflow
Notebook LM.
So instead of staring at a blank
screen trying to figure out
what to say for the podcast,
right, the blank page fear.
Exactly.
They simply drop their existing
newsletter content right into Notebook LM.
Copy paste
pretty much.
But what's particularly insightful
here is how they then use specific
customization instructions.
They tell Notebook LM how to create
what it calls an audio overview.
Ah, okay.
So you guide the AI
Precisely,
yeah.
You guided it in transforming
that written text.
Into something that sounds natural and
conversational when it's read aloud, you
know, not like a robot reciting an article
and the results.
How quick is that?
Apparently it generates a first
pass audio version in about five
minutes, which is pretty amazing.
Wow.
Five minutes, but surely
you need to check it.
Oh, absolutely.
They stress that The crucial
step is actually listening to it.
Yeah.
And making any necessary tweaks
maybe to the original text you fed
it or refining the instructions
to ensure it sounds just right.
That human review sounds vital.
It's so important.
Yeah.
Especially for things like pronunciation.
Mm-hmm.
For example, making sure 3:03
is actually spoken like that.
Not 3:03 or something.
Right.
Or names.
Exactly.
Or a name like Ambreen, which
they mentioned they pronounce like
Um-breen that needs a human ear.
To catch and correct any
ai uh, misinterpretations.
Makes sense.
They also mentioned that while Google
offers a free tier, which gives you
like three audio overviews a day.
Okay.
Enough to try it out.
Yeah.
But they quickly saw the value in
upgrading to Google Workspace Plus for.
Heavier usage.
Okay, so you've got your raw audio
from Notebook LM. Now how do you
make it sound like a polished
podcast, you know, without needing
a fancy studio or a sound engineer.
Right?
Because that's another
potential hurdle, isn't it?
Right?
This is where some clever, um.
Production tools come into play.
The goal here really is getting
your valuable ideas into your
audience's ears without getting
bogged down in weeks of editing.
Keep it simple.
Exactly.
The creators of 3:03, they
use a paid tool called Script.
Script.
Okay, I've heard of that.
What's really powerful about
Descript is it lets you edit.
Both the audio and the text
transcript simultaneously.
It's like editing a word doc.
Whoa.
Okay.
That sounds incredibly time-saving.
So you edit the text
and it edits the audio?
Precisely.
You cut a word in the text, it cuts the
audio, fix a mistake in the transcript.
It helps find the audio.
And I've heard script has some
AI smarts built in too, right?
Like helping with show notes.
Oh, yeah.
Exactly.
Mm-hmm.
Their ai, I think they sometimes call
it under lurd or something similar
under lurd.
Okay.
It can generate a pretty solid first
draft of show notes based on your
audio, which is another huge time saver
for sure.
You can then easily go in and refine
those notes, maybe highlight the key
takeaways for your listeners, plus
Descript handles, exporting, subtitles,
you know, the standard SRT format
that's important for accessibility,
crucial.
And it can even boost discoverability
on platforms like YouTube.
It can also help you quickly pull out
little audio snippets and highlights for
promotional clips, social media fodder.
Nice.
And they just add some music.
Yeah, they mentioned adding some
background music often from royalty
free libraries like Audio Jungle and
creating a simple intro and outro.
It just gives their podcast that
professional feel, you know.
Alright, so you've got your audio sounding
great thanks to Descript or similar tools.
Now how do you actually get it out
there onto Spotify, Apple Podcasts?
All the places people listen,
this is where the magic of, uh,
streamlined distribution comes in.
It's much less painful than it used to be.
Good to hear.
The 3:03 team uses a paid service called
Transistor FM. I think it usually offers a
free trial period, so you can test it out.
Transistor FM Okay.
Setting up their podcast on Transistor
was reportedly well a breeze.
Super easy.
They even got a basic podcast
website hosted on Transistors
domain as part of the service,
and that's where you get
that all important RSS feed.
Right.
That's the thing I always hear
about with podcasts that feed
precisely.
Nailed it.
Yeah.
The RSS feed is essentially this special
web address that tells all the podcast
platforms, Spotify, apple, everyone,
were to find your latest episodes.
It's like the central pipeline.
How long did that take them?
They set around 15 minutes to get that
set up in Transistor pretty quick.
Hmm.
They use design tools like,
uh, Canva and something called
Doodad for their podcast artwork.
Simple stuff.
Then the really impressive part
is the distribution with what
they describe as essentially one.
Click within Transistor
one click.
Seriously?
Yeah.
Basically their podcast was sent out
to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube,
Amazon Music, Audible, and a whole
bunch of other podcast directories.
I think they said around
18 others in total.
Wow.
That sounds unbelievably simple.
Much easier than I imagined.
It really has become streamlined.
They mentioned that.
Well, one of them, uh, Sam
handled the initial technical
setup, the other Ambreen.
Remember pronounced Um-breen.
Got it.
Ambreen
Ambreen focused on crafting the show
description and the overall branding,
getting the feel right and the
podcast page on their own website.
Hmm.
It updates automatically whenever a
new episode goes live via Transistor.
Super convenient.
Nice.
Okay.
Automatic updates are great.
Now let's zoom in on getting onto Spotify
specifically since that was in the title.
Right?
Once your podcast is being distributed
through a service like Transistor,
you just need to claim it on Spotify.
It sounds technical, but the process
is surprisingly straightforward.
How does that work?
You head over to creators.spotify.com.
Log in with your regular Spotify account.
Choose the option to add an existing
show or something like that.
Okay?
And then you just paste in that RSS
feed link you got from Transistor.
Simple as that,
and Spotify just knows it's yours
almost.
Spotify then sends a quick verification
code to the email address that's
associated with your podcast's.
RSS feed, the one you put into Transistor.
Ah, the security step
exactly.
You enter that code back on the
Spotify site and boom, your podcast
is linked to your Spotify creator
account, get stats and stuff there.
How long does that part take?
They mentioned this whole
verification process, took them
maybe three minutes for Spotify,
three minutes.
That's nothing.
Right.
And the process for Apple Podcasts through
Apple Podcasts Connect is similarly
quick and easy using the RSS feed.
Okay.
So distribution isn't the monster it
once was, but you know, it's not just
about reaching a broader audience, is it?
Yeah.
What about the potential
to actually, well.
Make some money from this new venture.
Absolutely.
That's a big driver for many creators.
Beyond the significant benefit of
audience growth, podcasting definitely
opens up new avenues for monetization
like ads.
Ads are a big one.
Yeah.
The projections for podcast
ad spending are substantial.
We're talking billions of dollars
worldwide in the coming years.
It's a serious market.
And what about the listeners themselves?
Are they a group advertisers wanna reach?
That's another really interesting point.
The profile of typical podcast listeners.
They tend to be, um, often
early adopters of technology.
They often have higher levels of education
and frequently have household incomes.
In the higher range, say
a hundred dollars or more,
so you're already engaged.
Newsletter audience, if they fit
that profile, might also be a
really attractive demographic for
potential podcast advertisers.
You're serving up a valuable audience
exactly right.
By launching a podcast, you're
essentially creating an opportunity to
potentially double dip on monetizing
your existing loyal audience.
Double dip really
without having to create entirely
new content streams from scratch.
You leverage what you have.
Okay.
Let's talk brass tacks then.
The actual costs involved.
It sounds like these helpful tools,
Notebook LM upgrade, Descript,
Transistor, they come with a monthly fee.
Yes, there is some financial investment,
absolutely, but it's relatively modest.
I think especially when you consider the
potential return in terms of audience
reach, engagement, and maybe even revenue.
So what did the three A three
teams say their costs were roughly?
They cited costs of around, uh, $15 per
month for a Google Workspace, plus per
user, roughly $35 a month for scripts
creator plan, and about $50 per month
for a Transistors professional plan.
Okay.
So just under a hundred bucks
a month for the core tools?
Yeah, in that ballpark.
And on top of that, the time investment
they estimated it takes them about
half an hour of their time per piece
of long form content to go through
this entire repurposing workflow.
30 minutes per newsletter
issue, basically?
Yeah,
roughly.
Yeah.
So look for under a hundred dollars a
month in out-of-pocket expenses plus
that half hour per piece, you can
essentially transform your existing
written work into a whole new audio
format and distribute it globally.
That really does sound like a smart
way for newsletter creators to work
more efficiently, smarter, not harder.
Right.
That's the idea.
Now, what kind of initial results did the
3:03 podcast actually see after launching?
Was it an overnight success?
Good question.
What did they say?
Well, they were refreshingly
candid about their early days.
Initially, their listener numbers were.
Uh, pretty small
happens to the best of us.
Totally.
In fact, Ambreen joked that her mom
was probably their most dedicated
listener right at the start.
Huh?
Gotta love moms.
But even with that small initial
audience, they started to notice
interesting listening behaviors.
For example, their Spotify
listeners seemed to gravitate
towards their shorter episodes.
Interesting.
While those tuning in on Apple Podcasts
were more likely to listen to the longer,
more in-depth conversations, different
platforms, different habits, maybe.
Fascinating.
So even early on you get data.
Yeah.
But the big takeaway for them
was just how efficient it was
repurposing their existing content
with minimal additional effort.
Yeah, that was the win.
And are there other tools popping up?
You mentioned Transistor, but
yeah, it's worth mentioning that platforms
like Beehive, which a lot of newsletter
creators already use for their emails, ve,
they've actually recently added podcasting
features directly into their platform.
So that gives creators even more
options now to explore audio possibly
within a system they already know.
Good to know.
More choices are always good.
So when we look at the
bigger picture here.
Why is adding a podcast such
a smart move potentially for
newsletter creators in today's, you
know, crowded digital landscape?
Ultimately, I think it comes
down to extending your reach.
It's about connecting with your audience
during those significant chunks of time.
Yeah.
You know, potentially eight or more
hours a week when they can listen,
but they can't easily sit down
and read, capturing those ears.
Exactly.
Considering the continued growth in
podcast consumption and the fact that
well, newsletter engagement rates
might be plateauing a bit for some,
yeah, it's getting tougher.
It's a strategic way to meet
your audience where their
attention is increasingly focused.
Plus studies often show podcast listeners
demonstrate higher conversion rates
when you include calls to action in your
audio content compared to other channels,
really higher conversions
often.
Yeah, and as we've discussed, the barriers
to entry, both technical complexity
and cost are now surprisingly low.
Often under that a hundred dollars
a month mark we talked about.
And there's that other
factor too, isn't there?
That more personal connection
you build with your audience
through audio, it feels different.
Totally.
Hearing someone's voice, their
tone, their passion, it creates a
different kind of trust compared to
just reading their words on a screen.
It's more intimate.
Yeah, I agree.
That voice, trust, connection.
Exactly.
That more intimate conversational
connection can lead to stronger
audience loyalty and ultimately better
results for whatever your goals are.
And the great news is you don't need
to invest in like super expensive
microphones and soundproofing to
sound professional these days.
Your phone mic might even
be good enough to start.
Honestly, for starting out.
Maybe the technology in phones
is amazing and tools like
Descript can clean things up too.
It's really democratized audio creation,
so it's kind of like audience
insurance for the future.
That's a great way to put it.
Audience insurance, ensuring
you're present and accessible
across multiple content formats
as habits continue to shift.
Okay, so the main thing to remember
here, the big takeaway is that launching
a podcast on Spotify isn't this huge
insurmountable task anymore, especially
if you're already consistently
creating valuable written content.
Definitely not.
It's more about sharing your expertise,
your perspective in a different format
and connecting with your audience
on maybe a more personal level.
That's absolutely right.
The technology is now
incredibly accessible.
Really, the focus should always be on
the value bringing to your audience,
regardless of whether it's through
the written word or the spoken word,
the medium supports the message.
Well said.
So as you're thinking about this,
maybe take a moment right now to
consider which piece of content from
your most recent newsletter or even
an older popular one could be the seed
for your very first podcast episode.
Hmm.
Good prompt.
You might be surprised at how easy
it could be to give your existing
ideas a voice and potentially
reach a whole new segment of
listeners who prefer to tune in.
Listen to 3:03 using one of many popular podcasting apps or directories.