Hey, what is going on? It is the follow-up media podcast. Today we are going to break down how to launch cadence with content, how it affects podcast success, why dropping multiple episodes is the gold standard, and how to set a sustainable publishing rhythm.

Okay. Uh, my name is Christian Lee, CEO of Followup Media. My co-host as always, Zoro Wy Austin. Jeez, you call me a different name every time. I know. That's what's funny. And I was going to um introduce you as something much worse. Maybe it's the facial hair. How are you, dude? I'm doing good. Doing

good. Good. So today, this episode is inspired by real life client nightmares. Not every client is a nightmare. We love our clients. Clients are great. clients feed our business and we lug nothing more than executing for our clients and getting them the success that you know

the ROI, the success they deserve and you know putting their marketing dollars to work in an effective way that produces results. But that being said, sometimes we deal with clients who just won't get out of their own damn way.

They come to us as the experts, but yet sometimes chefs in the kitchen have other ideas. And I'll be honest with you, some of their ideas suck and make absolutely no sense. And when we hit them with logic, there is no such thing. You know, and you know what? We can only nudge. you

know, we're we're not going to beat a dead horse. I mean, I don't want to beat anything, but anyway. And so, today we're going to be talking about rhythm when it comes to dropping episodes, dropping content, and the importance, just like ideiation, which is what we talked about last week, which is

inspired by a client as well about having and knowing your why, who your audience is. All that goes in to the grand scheme of things and and really it that's going to go to the point of is your content worth a damn when you do roll it out. But now we're going to talk about the strategy behind rolling it out

and we are going to give you followup media's 10 by10 rule. Yeah. And there's a difference with there's a fine line between being prepared for your either episode or being prepared and I guess having a a little bit of a a say in what's going on as far as what we're putting out and being prepared. And then

there's the fine line of you're just trying to do everything and it's like you hired us to do some do what like take you guys to the next level and all of a sudden you want to just do it yourself. It's like why I even asked in the first place. Why are you here?

Like really, did you want someone to just, you know, whisper in your ear that you're doing a good job? You're doing great, buddy. You know, I mean, but anyway, so that's what we're going to talk about today. And so, here we go.

You've got your podcast idea. Okay, your artwork's tight, the mic is hot. Now, it's time to launch. Or you might be thinking, how do you launch? Okay. And we're going to unpack one of the most overlooked secrets to any content success. Whether it be podcast, um, it could just be a video series, it could

be some oneoffs, but when you're talking about optimizing a YouTube channel, and you're talking about really getting into these ecosystems, algorithms, cadence. Okay? And if you've never heard of the 10 by 10 rule, hold on. I'm about to tell you.

Ready? Sure. Cadence and why it matters. Here it goes. Bottom line, the tempo and rhythm of content delivery and why cadence sets the tone for your audience's trust, retention, platform algorithms, love consistency, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, all reward predictable

engagement. Say that again, Riley. What do they reward? They reward predictable engagement. Thank you, man. I'm so glad you're listening. Here we go. Here's a quick analogy. You've got Netflix. They drop shows. We'll call those binge drops for the most part. I know some things on Netflix on occasion you might see a

weekly release, but you know, they're a binge dropper, right? And then you've got um you know your weekly episodic TV, you know, or you know, you can call them ghost podcasts. People think podcasting it's all about this talent. I mean, it is, but you're not showing up regularly.

You're just talented but in silence essentially. Yeah. And so the 10 by10 rule when it comes to cadence. Now, this is a kind of a readiness test, right? Um and follow-up media. I'm gonna say we coined it, so don't try to steal it. I made this up. Actually, I didn't.

But, um, a lot of, uh, wiser people have come before me, but I adopt what makes sense from not only a, uh, common sense perspective, which a lot of people sometimes just have that lack Yeah. of common sense. Um, and so if you can't come up with 10 episode titles and 10 bullets under each

one, this is going to be profound. Mhm. You're not ready to launch. Oh. And why this matters is because when you sit down just like ideiation and you really dive into what your content's going to be, your why, you know, what you are bringing to the audience, what value are you going to provide somebody for them,

taking their attention off of a million other choices or a million other things going on in their life and giving their attention to your content. And so when you go through and you really define your 10 titles and your 10 bullets, it's going to reveal a lot of topic depth and content potential, right? It is going to

protect you against burning out after a few episodes. Not only does it sharpen your format, your value proposition, and your target audience. What else, Riley? What else does it do? And it helps structure your show with content. gives your marketing team a real content calendar to really work from so you're

not all all over the place. So let's use this as an example, okay, why you might not be ready to hire yet. Okay, so if that's your topic, yeah. Okay, let's get some bullet points. Premature delegation. Okay, that's one hidden cost of a bad hire. Onboarding failures, delegation myths, capacity

versus urgency, real client examples, red flags in your workflow, solo verse team energy. When hiring slows you down, and scaling without support. If you can't see 10 episodes in front of you, you're not launching a show. You're essentially launching what we call a scramble. This rule has saved clients,

tons of them, in wasted launch attempts. You can't fake preparation with your content, right? You either show up ready or you're going to fade after episode six. Oh, for sure. And that is why not only ideiation, you know, determining once again your why, who your audience is,

what value you are bringing to a listener's life, right? like what are they getting? Is it entertainment? Is it education? Is it a bit of both, which it should be, but so you need all those, but now we're talking about showing up ready and having your your calendar, your content calendar kind of laid out.

And when you go through the 10 by 10 rule, it really helps you think about how prepped you'll be for your first 10 episodes. Oh, for sure. Right. And can I say something? Yeah. Or no, you can.

Yes. You can't start off a series of episodes with what you have in the bank for episode three. And why why is that? Why can't you start off? Well, technically, Riley, I mean, you can do whatever you want. I mean, you know, and Ben, you know what? I'm over telling people what

they can and can't do. Yes. I will advise my clients on best practices and I will give them the reasons why. Yeah. And all the strategy and all of the information behind making that decision.

But you raise a great point. So, in this particular case, as what my co-host here, VP of sales, Zoro, is referring to is we have a client who has no idea what they're doing.

Absolutely no idea. Okay, that's zero. Zero. Okay. He's got a big following, huh? Does he? Anyway, good. So, and I'm not bashing clients, but here's the deal.

There is a kind of strategy and a really good rule of thumb that when you launch a content series, you launch with a three episode roll out. Yeah. And there are a number of reasons why. Yes. You're launching one, two, and three. And we normally advise our clients to make your

first episode, especially if your content is more towards a a guest. You know, most of your content is going to is going to be rolled out having guests on, whether they're thought leaders or experts or celebrities or, you know, just big names. Um, and so you might be tempted

to want to roll out the big celebrity on episode one. Well, here's the thing. You're dropping three. And so if you're dropping three at the same time, normally what we recommend is the first episode be about you. Yeah. Be about your why and what the audience is going to get from

listening or subscribing or following you. Right. Episode two, have on that celebrity. Fantastic. Episode three, have on your mother or whoever. I mean, or another celebrity. Using that as an example, hope your mom can bring the heat and the

content. So, they're all three going to drop at the same time essentially. Yeah. So if someone chooses to not listen to episode one and wants to go to the celebrity version, great. That's their choice. But you're giving them three episodes to binge on.

We just referenced the Netflix vertical. You know, their strategy. It's the binge factor. But see, here's the thing. We're not Netflix. You're not Netflix. Okay? You don't have a subscriber base like Netflix. So Netflix could roll out whatever the hell they wanted and if it was good enough they'd

be hooked. Yeah. But what we are trying to do is create a binge factor. New listeners want to go deeper right away. Don't give them one episode and leave them I mean there is a good thing about leaving them wanting more if it's really good. But what if it isn't? What if it doesn't make that impact? Well, now you

don't have a second or a third to go have them go, "Oh, I see." Or maybe episode two is for a different audience than episode three. Right. Right. So, you're giving the listener the ability to go, "This is awesome. Now, I'll wait for the for the cadence moving forward, whether that's

weekly, whether that's bi-weekly. Now, besides the binge factor, okay, more episodes, higher total downloads, better algorithm signals, and this will establish your tone, format, and brand early. Okay. What else does it let you do, Riley? Let you market at multiple angles, like straight out of

the gate. helps you convert curiosity into long-term subscribers, meaning they're going to be able to not only be with you from the beginning, middle, and end. And true, but I mean, what you know, one episode, maybe they'll subscribe, but if you drop three that are really good, you're going to

subscribe. They're going to follow whatever platform they listen on, and now they'll be notified when you drop your next episode, right? And then they'll go, even if it's two weeks later, they'll go, "Oh, yeah, I forgot.

Now a new one's come out." Just like when you forget about a show you're watching and you do have to wait that week, you're like, "A lot of times it's on everyone's mind. Monday morning, I can watch that episode." Exactly. Okay.

So, when we dropped a client's show with one episode, the feedback was okay, but the momentum stalled. We have other clients that we've dropped with three and boom, retention, feedback, and shares all doubled, right? The results doubled. And here's the thing, finding the right cadence for you. What you're

going to want to do is decide how much commitment you got, right? It is a time and it is a money commitment. And and that's important. Weekly verse bi-weekly. Is it seasonal? You know, but either way, you align your cadence with bandwidth, guest availability, and your goals, right? Plan like a showrunner.

Have at least two, three episodes in the bank. And your cadence is your brand reliability. Okay? And so, it is really important and that's why we recommend that 10x10 framework before you hit record. But once you do, plan to always try to stay two episodes ahead. And I try to keep a lot of our clients in

this this kind of banked place because you never know when life happens. And you never know with someone else to go out of town. And if and whatever you commit to, you want to continue to deliver. That's important. Sometimes it's a lot harder, you know, to keep everybody. Um, you know, sometimes we're

I feel like we're paycheck to paycheck when it comes to cadence. Like to provide breathing room and make this a less stressful process, we try to keep them banked. And it's better for planning also because you're not shoving out the content the day after it was edited. And if you have

guests, you can, you know, acquire all the links and give them, you know, you can promote what is coming, right? Um, hey Riley, can you break me down just like a few cadence pitfalls that you probably want to avoid? Uploading inconsistency with no explanation.

That's a good one. Starting without a plan equals fading by at least six episodes. Uh, you mean fading? Yeah. So, fading by like your sixth episode because then you don't have a plan.

Exactly. That makes sense. How about letting guests control your timeline and uh not communicating your schedule to guess who? The audience. Oh, thank you, Riley. God, you're smart. Your cadence is like your handshake. Yep. If it's limp and all over the place. Nobody's coming back.

Hey, that's great. Has anybody ever handed you a limp wrist? I mean, you don't want that. No, you want your cadence to be a firm grip. You think they'll call back? No, they're not going to call you back. If you gave him a wet noodle or a handshake, your mom back. No, seriously

though, that is a great analogy. Nobody wants a limp handshake. No, there's no confidence there. But but confidence and cadence, the two C's, right? And your cadence is your confidence and your confidence is your cadence.

You either way you say it, it applies. And I really like that. You know, follow-up media helps you lock it in. And this is how we do it. We build customized content calendars. We buffer content so you don't burn out. We apply the trademarked coined 10 by10 rule. All

right? As the first checkpoint. And then we just align your cadence with your goals, your lead genen, your thought leadership, branding or community. And that is how you build a system, not just a show. We want to build a system that performs for you. The cadence and the content that we are rolling out for

clients will work while you're not working. Yeah. If it's optimized right, if leads are what you're going for to bring in more sales, more business, guess what? This content will live on these platforms. And if you know, if it's evergreen and it applies like, you know, the limp handshake, right? That'll

live forever. And I bet that applies unless we get into a society where limp handshakes are the new thing. When people are going to remember that, they're not going to want to watch the next episode. They're going to say, "You gave him the limp handshake." Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Or in person, right? You know, but um so whether you're planning a podcast for your brand, your business, or your audience, launch with clarity, launch with consistency, and launch with cadence.

And if you want help mapping out Followup Media's 10 by10, just hit us up at followupmedia.com. Hit the subscribe button on our YouTube channel. Hit the follow button. Stalk Riley over here. He He's a big fan of stalkers. Yeah. Heavy supporter in it.