Branding and Marketing Your Podcast: Lauren Nelson Interview Today on episode 543 we talk with fellow podcast Lauren Nelson who is the Marketing Manager for Crowdspring.com She produce the audio drama podcast "The Box" and share her insights on how podcasts ban boost their marketing efforts to stand out. Realize there are no rules to podcast. For Lauren she takes as much as she needs to tell her story, and that's it. Your iTunes artwork is your first impression, have someone who is a graphic person create yours. Consistency can boost your brand by never missing an episode, or by announcing (if you take a break) your planned absence. People may want t-shirts, mugs and other "Swag" items, so keep this in mind when making your artwork. The Apple company broke the rules in their advertisements (so have companies like All Spice) Don't be afraid to think outside the box. Thin about how "a show about nothing" is one of the top televisions shows of all time. Lauren's Favorite Marketing Podcasts Startup Smart Passive Income Marketing Over Coffee Duct Tape Marketing Special Podcast Marketing Guide Go to  www.crowdspring.com/sop free guide promoting your show, and your design needs. Blue Yeti - A Hands On Review The Blue Yeti is quoted WAY TOO MUCH as a great podcast microphone. It is a condensor microphone, and if not used properly can make really bad sounding recordings. It can pick up what is right in front of it, what is behind it, or everything around it. You want to "Cardoid" setting for your best  recording of a solo podcaster. To avoid sounding like you’re in a tunnel you need to turn the gain down, and get close the the microphone. When you do this, you will have what most people call “popping p’s” when you say worse that start with P’s, B’s, H’s, etc as the from your mouth goes into the microphone. The solution is to purchase a pop filter. Due to it’s unique size you need a specialized pop filter. You can purchase the Blue Pop Filter for $59, or you can grab a perfectly good one for $22 from Auphonix . The other thing you need is a shock mount. The reason for this is ANY touching of the desk that the Yeti is sitting on will pick up the vibrations. So you can purchase the shock mount from Blue for $56, or this one from for Auphonix for $30. So the price of a Yeti goes from $89 to somewhere between to $$141 to 204. The shock mount is going to need a stand so I recommend either the Rode PSA1 ($99) or the Heil PL-2T ($130) This is why the Audio Technica ATR2100 is the Best Podcasting Microphone NOT the Blue yeti. The Audio Technica us a dynamic microphone (which means it will pick up less noise than the yet) While the stand that comes with the ATR2100 is very simple, it will pick up less thumping (but I would still recommend a shock mount. This unit is a shock mount and pop filter in one for $9. Because its more of a “traditional” microphone you are a little more open to pop filters and shock mounts. The ATR2100 works via USB and XLR ( can work with a mixer) so if you’re flying solo, or need to plug into a mixer you’re good to go. So to get the same features you would need a Blue Yeti ($199), Pop Filter ($22), Shock Mount ($30), so would be out $251. Where is the ATR2100 is $77, the pop filter shock mount is $9, so you would be out around $86. Podcast Glossary "G" Garageband Grageband is a free software on the Macintosh platform that can be used to create a podcast. While great looking and equipped with some powerful tools, I feel its great for assembling podcasts, but not the best for editing out “Ums, and ya knows.” "Glenn the Geek'd it" Glenn "the Geek" Hebert runs horseradionetwork.com and is doing a great job getting advertisers on his show. He gets sponsors to help promote his show and other actions. An example Jim Collison got a sponsor to pay for a custom app and said, "I Glenn the Geek'd it." To hear Glenn talk about his techniques check out http://www.schoolofpodcasting.com/glenn1 Podcast