37. Repurpose Your Masterclasses into Podcast Episodes

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If you’re thinking of launching a podcast, you’re in the right place

Laura: Welcome to Podcasting for Business Owners. I’m Your host, Laura McCrae, a podcast consultant, educator, and self confessed podcast nerd. If you’re thinking of launching a podcast or want to grow the one you have, you’re in the right place. Hold on to your headphones and let’s go.

Laura: Hello and M. Welcome back to Podcasting for Business Owners, the podcast that helps you share your story, lead your industry, and grow your network through podcasting. I’m your host, Laura McCrae, and today’s episode is especially for you. If you’re sitting on a pile of masterclasses, webinars, or live trainings and you’ve been thinking about starting a podcast, but you’re not sure where to begin, here’s the good news. You might not need to start from scratch. In fact, I’ve helped clients launch their podcast using content they’d already recorded. And chances are, you could too. So often I hear people say, I don’t know where to start, or I don’t have the time to record a whole season right now. But what if you’ve already created some incredible content and all it needs is a little polish? One of my clients, Carmen, had recorded a series of high quality masterclasses with brilliant guest experts. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we repurposed those sessions into season one of our, podcast. Once we cleaned up the audio, trimmed the live Q and A, and removed anything that didn’t make sense to a podcast listener, it worked beautifully. Most listeners had no idea those episodes weren’t originally recorded for a podcast. In one of Carmen’s masterclasses, her guest spent a moment describing her earrings. They were beautiful, by the way. But for a podcast listener, that kind of visual detail doesn’t really translate. So we simply cut that section out. That’s something to keep in mind when repurposing video content. Remove anything visual that won’t make sense without context, and cut time sensitive live references. Another example of this, she had a social media expert and she was giving tips on Instagram that were outdated. So again, we simply just cut that part out of the podcast episode. Just make sure to keep your podcast episode focused and clear for someone who’s just listening.

Using existing content to create a professional podcast is easy and inexpensive

So what content can you use? If you’ve ever hosted a webinar or online workshop, a Facebook or Instagram Live, a guest expert session in a membership or group, or recorded a keynote or internal training, then you’re sitting on podcast gold. All you need to do is extract the audio, give it a light edit, and, maybe record a short intro and Outro to help frame it for your listeners. Here’s a few quick things to keep in mind as you repurpose if someone refers to slides, charts, outfits or what’s on screen, snip that part out. Cut the fluff. You don’t need the long intros, the shoutouts to a live chat, or the bits where you ask can you hear me? Or when you’re talking about waiting people for joy in those moments. These make sense in a live setting, but they interrupt the flow In a podcast. Make sure to add context. You might want to edit in a short intro from you at the beginning that can help your listeners understand what’s going on. Use editing tools like Descript or Audacity to tidy things up or hand it over to someone like me and I’ll sort it out for you now. If you’re wondering how to get the audio out of your video in the first place, I can recommend a tool that I love. It’s called allphonic. You can upload a video file, even a zoom recording or a Facebook Live download and it will pull the audio out for you. It also levels the volume, reduces background noise and makes it sound more professional. All ah automatically. There’s a free version which is perfect if you’re just getting started. And honestly, it’s one of my favourite tools to recommend to clients who want to clean up content without using complicated editing software. So if you’ve got some training video sitting on your hard drive, try uploading one to allphonic and see how it sounds. You might be surprised how podcast ready it already is now. Just because you’re using older content, it doesn’t mean it has to feel random. Here’s how to use your existing material strategically so your podcast still supports your business goals. Link it to your offers if you’re currently selling something like a course, a one to one offer, or an event, choose a masterclass or training that naturally leads into that offer. Think of it as your pre sell content. Think about your ideal

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listener. Who do you want to attract right now? Use episodes that speak directly to the kinds of challenges your ideal client is facing today, even if the recording is from last year. Build themes across episodes. If you’ve got three to four repurposed trainings on related topics, group them into a mini series. It’ll feel intentional to the listener and help you stay consistent. Remember, you can add commentary to bridge the gap, so you can always record a new intro and outro that gives listeners context. For example, you can add an intro that says something like this this session was originally recorded as a masterclass for my email list, but the content is still incredibly relevant for photographers who want to start their own business. And then you put your masterclass audio in. This not only sets expectations, but also makes the listener feel like they’re getting special access to something valuable. So if you’re feeling stuck on what to say in your podcast, remember you might already have hours of valuable binge worthy content just waiting to be shared. You don’t need to start with a blank Google Doc, you might just need to dig through your old videos. And if you’d like help turning your existing content into a polished, professional sounding podcast, you know where to find me. Thanks for listening and I’ll catch you in the next episode.

Laura: If you found value in this podcast, please leave. A five star rating and a review would be even better. Your support shows that this is a good show which will attract high profile guests and in turn deliver greater value to you. This podcast is produced and edited by me. Don’t waste your time on editing.

Laura: Let me help you with your podcast.

Laura: Check out the links in the show notes to get in touch.

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