“How to Become the Center of Influence Through Podcasting” with Bradley Thompson of the Living the Canadian Dream Podcast
As part of my series of interviews about “How to Become the Center of Influence Through Podcasting”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bradley Thompson.
Bradley is a creative digital marketer, podcaster and content creator from Toronto, Canada that loves creating content and telling funny stories. He is dedicated to educating and inspiring people through his blog and podcast, “Living The Canadian Dream” by providing insights and showcasing interesting guests. Bradley is also a contributor to a variety of online publications such as Social Media Examiner, Social Media Today and Influencive.
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Can you tell us the “backstory” about why or how you got started as a podcaster?
Starting a podcast was always a dream of mine because I have always been a podcast nerd and I truly thought it would be the perfect medium for me as a content creator. In addition, I regularly have fascinating conversations with people crushing it in their fields and I wanted to do this more while showcasing these inspiring individuals.
Before starting my podcast I had a personal blog called, Living the Canadian Dream which was already gaining popularity thus I wanted to make my podcast an extension of this brand in regards to content and values. Thus, I finally decided to give podcasting a try and guess what? I absolutely loved it!
Can you share a story about the most interesting thing that has happened to you since you started podcasting?
Since I started my podcast I have had the opportunity to interview many amazing individuals and attend a variety of influencer events. I recently had the opportunity to speak on a digital marketing panel at my old college which was an incredible experience. I spent so many hours grinding away at school when I attended Sheridan College; both on school projects and my side projects, so it was awesome to have everything come full circle.
Can you share a story about the biggest or funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
One of the biggest mistakes I made early on in my podcasting career was related to audio production. Since I was organizing, producing and editing everything myself I had to make sure all of the pieces were flowing properly but unfortunately sometimes that didn’t work out. For example, the first few episodes from my podcast had some SERIOUS audio issues! I didn’t know the difference between mono and stereo recording and how it actually affected playback — turns out it affects the playback experience drastically! So after a lot of research, I was able to diagnose the issue and figure out a resolution a few episodes into my podcast.
P.s. In case, you are starting off; mono is one mic and stereo is two mics!
Additionally, every episode that I recorded of my podcast I learnt something new in which I could adjust for the next episode in regards to editing or production and this is honestly still happening! This is one of the benefits of doing everything yourself, you learn the entire process and figure out new ways to improve your content.
How long have you been podcasting and how many shows have you aired?
I have only been podcasting since 2018 so I am still a baby in the podcasting universe but I have been blogging for years (as I explained earlier). I currently have over 30 episodes of the Living the Canadian Dream podcast out in the world and I will continue recording at least 1 episode a week for the foreseeable future! Furthermore, I have been able to develop a very scalable and sustainable podcasting strategy which will allow me to continue producing high quality content and growing my audience in the future!
What are the main takeaways or lessons you want your listeners to walk away with?
The whole idea behind the Living the Canadian Dream podcast is to help creatives, entrepreneurs and goal getters on their journey to greatness. How do I do this? Well, my goal is to help my listeners learn something new every single episode whether it is practical or completely random. When it comes to growing as a person, constant learning is a crucial piece of the puzzle. For example, I once had a guest on who was a professional photographer and he explained a phenomenon which photographers refer to as golden hour and gave an app that notifies photographers when it is. Although, I’m not a photographer and looking for the optimal time to take photos, the whole idea behind learning the sophistication of the photography process was fascinating.
Furthermore, I find one of the best was to learn new skills is by learning from people in a variety of fields because most skills can be used in a variety of environments. For example, every episode one of my goals is to provide listeners with a diverse range of tools and resources to help them optimize the foundation of their life; their fitness, career and personal life!
Additionally, one of the most important goals of the Living the Canadian Dream podcast is to inspire listeners to go after their creative passions even if they seem crazy. I think this is where the diverse range of guests is helpful because people are able to see that their are individuals succeeding in competitive and creative fields which are terrifying to the average individual.
Check out the full interview in Tracy Hazzard’s Authority Magazine article about Bradley Thompson!
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Podcaster Influencer, Bradley Thompson of the Living the Canadian Dream Podcast shares the best ways to:
1) Book Great Guests. When it comes to booking great guests my most valuable tip would be don’t be afraid to reach out to people even if they seem too busy or famous. You’d be surprised how many people want to talk about themselves and get in front of a new audience! Trust me, I have a variety of guests lined up for the future which I never thought I would have the opportunity to sit down with!
2) Increase Listeners. If you are looking to increase your podcast audience it is important to do a few things such as consistent quality promotion. It is crucial to promote your episodes consistently on social media, online communities, at events, by meeting new people and by reaching out to influencers. If you are a new podcast, people won’t know who you are and at the start most people won’t care but that shouldn’t stop you. It takes time to build something great so my advice is to have the right mindset and start a podcast for the right reasons. Then when you actually start one make sure you promote it properly, put the time in to make different types of content from episodes, videos and more! If you put in the time to create AND promote, you will see results!
3) Produce in a Professional Way. If you are just starting your podcasting journey that is fine but production quality is still important even though you might not have a huge audience. It is important to get the right gear even if it is a cheaper version of the stuff that the pros are using. When it comes to gear, functionality is the key, seriously learn how to properly use the gear, experiment with different techniques and upgrade it along the way. But to be honest, even if you are new you should definitely invest in a microphone at the very least because audio quality is super important to this medium.
4) Encourage Engagement. When it comes to encouraging engagement from your audience it is important to ask thought provoking questions, have guests on that your audience can relate to or guests that they might be interested in, ask some questions you think your audience would have themselves when listening to the episode, tell them to connect on social media and finally, promote your podcast on social media. All of the above tactics will help you create engagement and buzz! For example, one of the segments I have on my podcast is “book of the week” and “app of the week”, where the guest provides a recommendation for each. People will often have thoughts on the recommendation whether it is that they love it or that they will check it out.
5) Monetize. When it comes to monetization, I think it is important to not monetize right away because this might deter your audience. You can’t truly make money from a field like blogging and podcasting right off the bat, it takes time so don’t rush it. But if you are ready to start monetizing it might be beneficial to reach out to certain brands or if you are lucky, brands might start reaching out to you! But when it comes to monetization I am currently not monetizing my podcast but I do have one sponsor for the podcast! Our main sponsor right now is DigiHype Media Inc. a local marketing agency because we record every episode in their studio!
What makes your podcast binge-listenable? What do you think makes your podcast unique from the others in your category? What do you think is special about you as a host, your guests, or the content itself?
Check out the full interview in Tracy Hazzard’s Authority Magazine article about Bradley Thompson!
