Podcasting is a fantastic medium to reach more people with the unique stories your brand has to tell.
The Yukon, North of Ordinary podcast exists in parallel with a magazine of the same name, which is all about life in the Yukon territory in Northern Canada. The podcast is a deeper dive into the magazine’s most popular stories, showcasing the Yukon’s extraordinary people, culture, and outdoors.
So how do you move from traditional media to podcasting?
Our guest Karen McColl, has extensive experience in both print and broadcast media, so combined her talents to create Yukon, North of Ordinary.
She shares how the podcast has helped them reach audiences they never expected to, how they utilised resources already available to them and the brand awareness it has created across the Yukon and further afield.
If you’re a marketer looking to learn how to effectively tell your unique story, this is a must-listen.
THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT
- Combining print and podcasting
- Telling the unique stories of Canada’s Yukon territory
- Utilising topics and guests that are already available to you
- Taking on a helping hand for recording and editing
- Reaching unexpected audiences through promotion
- Knowing the purpose of your podcast
LISTEN NOW
GUEST DETAILS
Karen McColl is the producer and host of the podcasts Yukon, North of Ordinary, winner of “Outstanding Branded Series” from the 2023 Canadian Podcasting Awards; and Frisky North of 60, which was nominated in the “Outstanding Adult Series” category. She’s the former managing editor of Yukon, North of Ordinary magazine and previously worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as a reporter, web writer, and radio news announcer.
As a freelance writer, her work has been published in The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Up Here magazine, and Canoeroots. Her intrepid nature has sent her chasing stories up in the Arctic, down the Mackenzie River, and into the Yukon’s vast backcountry.
MORE INFORMATION
Listen to the Yukon North of Ordinary podcast here: https://northofordinary.com/the-podcast/
See Karen on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-mccoll-83992454/
If you would like to find out more about how a brand podcast could work for your business visit our website www.dustpod.io.
You’ll find guides on how podcasts work specifically for brands, along with lots more examples of award winning brand podcasts to inspire you. Working with us means you do all the fun stuff, and we do everything else. Find that information on our website www.dustpod.io.
QUOTES
We already have access to these really interesting people and these really interesting stories. Now, how can we distribute these stories a little bit more widely while also promoting our brand. – Karen McColl
I think what makes a good story and what draws me to a story are the same, whether it’s for print or audio. – Karen McColl
We’re going in a new direction. It’s a lot more work, but I’m learning more, and we are taking it to another level too. – Karen McColl
I can say that the general manager is happy with the podcast. We’re kind of in it for the long game, overall brand awareness is doing well, and so we’re happy with it so far. – Karen McColl
KEYWORDS
#podcast #Yukon #brandawareness #magazine #content #audience #engagement #storytelling
TRANSCRIPTION
For your convenience, we include an automated AI transcription
Dusty Rhodes 00:00
Right now on Award Winners, we’re about to hear how a Canadian magazine is using podcasts to share their unique territory stories.
Karen McColl 00:07
Really the podcast was about bringing these stories to a wider audience. It’s like we already have access to these really interesting people and these really interesting stories. Now, how can we distribute these stories a little bit more widely while also promoting our brand
00:23
Worldwide, brands are engaging with customers through podcasts. These are the stories behind outstanding brand podcasts so you can listen, learn and be inspired by the best. These are the Award Winners from dustpod.io.
Dusty Rhodes 00:41
Yukon, North of Ordinary, from the magazine of the same name is a podcast highlighting the best of the Yukon Territory in Northwest Canada, offbeat and extraordinary stories appeal to listeners both from the locality and further afield. In this episode, we hear from the magazine editor turned podcaster about how it’s had a positive impact on the message that they want to share. It’s a delight to welcome presenter and producer Karen McColl.
Karen McColl 01:08
Thanks for having me here.
Dusty Rhodes 01:11
I started by asking Karen about the magazine and why they decided to combine print and podcasting for their message.
Karen McColl 01:19
So Yukon, North of Ordinary is first and foremost, a magazine of which I was the editor of for three years. It’s a magazine about the Yukon Territory, which your listeners would be forgiven for not knowing that much about, but you’ve probably heard the name. There’s lots of sort of brand connection or name connection to the Yukon. So it’s a territory in northern Canada, next to Alaska. A lot of Canadians don’t even have a really good idea of where it is. But our little magazine is sort of the flagship magazine for the territory. It shares about the arts, the culture, the people, the outdoors, sharing stories about the territory. And it’s also an airline magazine, so it’s on the air North airline, which flies to a lot of the Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, the cities that people access White Horse Yukon from. So the podcast I started in November 2021, and it is a reflection of the magazine. We’re basically taking a lot of stories that are in the magazine and telling them in a podcast format.
Dusty Rhodes 02:21
A lot of people will look at a magazine and they kind of go, it’s something that, unfortunately, is not as common as it was, or it’s getting harder and harder. So when you’re marketing what, what is the message that you’re just trying to get across to people when you’re marketing the magazine?
Karen McColl 02:35
I think that the Yukon has a lot of unique stories, unique, interesting stories that people want to read about. The Yukon on its own is sort of its own brand, and then it has this sort of like aura, or this sort of mystique around it that people want to know more about, because, you know, they’ve heard about the gold rush and they’ve heard about the wilderness, hopefully, now they’re hearing more about our first nation, culture and history, but it’s just sort of this place that people are interested in, and I think so the magazine, we’re really pushing these stories that really tell the story of the interesting people and places in the Yukon. So
Dusty Rhodes 03:13
a magazine is one format, podcasting completely different format. What made you go down that road.
Karen McColl 03:21
At the time, when I started the podcast, we didn’t have any magazine stories online, which is a little bit old school, so it was only available. It’s a quarterly magazine. The only way you could read the magazine was if you were holding it in your hand. Now, we do have some of our stories online, which is great to see, but really, the podcast was about bringing these stories to a wider audience. It’s like we already have access to these really interesting people and these really interesting stories. Now, how can we distribute these stories a little bit more widely while also promoting our brand? And
Dusty Rhodes 03:56
did you find that the podcast helped tell the story, but in a different way.
Karen McColl 04:03
Definitely, we kind of started saying, Okay, we’re telling a more in depth look at the stories in the magazine, but really the podcast could kind of start anywhere with, say, the character who’s in one of the stories, but then it can really go in any direction from there. So while we are borrowing from the magazine, you don’t at all need the magazine for the podcast to be relevant or vice versa. It’s its own thing. We’re kind of just borrowing from the ideas that are already there.
Dusty Rhodes 04:35
So tell me then about the mix of traditional print and audio. I mean, what do you think that they have in common?
Karen McColl 04:43
I think when I get excited about a story or a person, I want to be in the story that translates to both print and podcasting, but with podcasting, especially as well maybe talk coming up that now we have re released, we’re focused. A lot more on the audio components of storytelling. So with so now, when I think of a story, I’m thinking more about like, Okay, how? How can we incorporate sound into this storytelling? But the actual Well, I think what makes a good story and what draws me to a story are the same, whether it’s for print or audio. You’ve
Dusty Rhodes 05:18
done quite a lot of episodes. Now at this stage, I’m not going to ask you for your favorite, but are there two or three that kind of stuck into your mind as you go? Yeah, that was, that was good.
Karen McColl 05:30
I think, I mean, maybe I’m just drawing from the audience here. The ones that I think of are mostly the ones that have the most downloads and that seem to have gotten the most reaction. One is one that came out last spring, and that was actually my story. It was a story about a bear encounter I had in a national park here, and I interviewed a Conservation Officer about the encounter, and we basically debriefed what what my friends and I did and what the bear did, and use it as like a learning experience.
Dusty Rhodes 06:00
Let’s take a listen to a short excerpt from that.
Karen McColl 06:04
When I kind of think of the fight or flight or freeze reaction that people have, I kind of at some point was like, hey, like, we just have to show this bear who’s boss. And I almost, like, bluff charged the bear, because I just was like, Get out of here. And I realized, like, hey, then I’m going to be separated from my friends, and that’s probably the worst thing you can do, right? Like, it’s just interesting kind of where that where the mind goes in these situations, yeah,
06:28
yeah. And I think, no, you’re far better off. What you did was staying as a group, just being big and loud and for lack of better term, mean, right? Memory, remember, you’re trying to convince in that situation. Again, it’s 100% non defensive, trying to convince that bear that, like, if you keep going down this road, you’re gonna get hurt. And as a group, yeah? Like, that’s a big that’s a big, powerful tool. So stay as a group 100% Yeah. And use that to your advantage.
Karen McColl 06:59
That episode got picked up quite widely, to the extent that we actually saw someone post on social media that they had listened to this podcast, gone into a Yukon Park, had a very similar type of bear encounter, and found that the sharing that we did in the podcast helped them have a safe outcome from this experience. So that was like, Oh, wow. Like, maybe we helped save some people’s lives, or at least help them have a less harrowing experience. So that was like a very direct cause and effect that felt pretty good
Dusty Rhodes 07:29
having decided to pursue a new form of media. I asked Karen how they went about starting the podcast, which focused on making use of what they already had in their reach.
Karen McColl 07:40
Man, I remember it was a summer day. I’d been thinking about doing a podcast for the magazine for a while, but it was on the summer day when I just all of a sudden, I think I was trying to make it too complicated, of like, how are we going to make this a podcast? And then I was just like, Ka Ching, like, we’ve we’ve got the stories in front of us, like, we’ll just turn that into a podcast format. And the first stories we did were just, I basically, like, from every issue of the magazine, I would just pick, like, three or four stories that I thought would translate really well and be the most interesting and in an interview format on a podcast. And the first one we did was with an adventure photographer, just talking about the different sports that he’s been photographing, and sort of his adventures of how he how he got to do those, and how he tackled that. And the next one we did was about ice fishing and why ice fishing is fun. And so it was basically just a chance to talk to people more about their interesting stories. And I know that I get jazzed up when I talk to people and hear their stories. So I hope that the people listening also are interested in what they’re saying,
Dusty Rhodes 08:41
and were these people that you had in the magazine anyway, or did you approach them specifically about the podcast and asked them to be on that
Karen McColl 08:50
often there were people that were going to be in the magazine anyway. So I would just then approach it, approach the person after and be like, Hey, do you also want to be on our podcast? This is what we’re trying to accomplish with the podcast. I would also approach the writer who wrote the article too, just to make sure I’m not stepping on their feet, to be like, Hey, I’d like to turn this into a podcast episode, and just to make sure we’re working together. And sometimes, there was a couple times, too, where I actually brought the writers onto the podcast to talk about their story and what they learned during the story, and because I thought maybe they were the best people to tell the story versus a character in the story, or also, I wanted them to have a bit more of the credit for for the research that they had done into that story. So
Dusty Rhodes 09:28
just on a system side of things. Then, did you actually record the podcast as part of the interview process for the magazine? Or did you do the interview process for the magazine and then separately do the podcast.
Karen McColl 09:42
I separately did the podcast for a lot of the episodes. It was a different writer working on the story, so basically, I was able to use the story they had written as the background as part of my research when preparing for the podcast episode. Now I’m in a bit of a bit different. Position where I’m not the editor of the magazine, but I’ll still be contributing to the magazine as a writer, so I’m I’ll be doing the podcast, and using my interview for the podcast for the article, but actually it has been a little bit of a different thing in my head to play with, because I think I actually approach things a bit differently, whether I’m recording or whether I’m just doing a played old interview for print. So yeah, it is a bit of a different process in in my head. So I’m hoping I can tackle them both at once.
Dusty Rhodes 10:29
Tell me about the name of the podcast, because I actually think this is quite brilliant. What did you call it?
Karen McColl 10:36
The podcast is called UConn north of ordinary what’s the name of the magazine, Yukon, north of ordinary
Dusty Rhodes 10:46
did you find that people just found it really easy to find the podcast because of that?
Karen McColl 10:52
I think so. We do have some people who are like in Portland, Oregon, who were probably googling like they were planning a summer trip to the Yukon, and they’re like, hey, I want to learn about it or hear some stories about it before I came. And they did find it that way. The funny thing is, I always the kind of the name of the magazine kind of always irked me, Yukon comma, north of ordinary. It just seems like such a mouthful. And so I was always like, why can’t we just drop the Yukon and call it north of ordinary or that sort of thing. But I think you are right that the Yukon there is, it is helping people find us, and it’s very obvious, like, Hey, this is what we’re about. We’re telling stories about people doing interesting things in the Yukon
Dusty Rhodes 11:36
with the idea and the content ready to go. How did Karen implement her background in broadcasting to get the technical side nailed.
Karen McColl 11:45
Yeah. So I did have a background. I worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for several years, as in radio and print, well, not print, digital and all that. So I knew my way around a recording device and a microphone and audio editing software. I mean, I guess, like many new podcasters, though, I did my little research about what equipment I needed to actually set up, like a home, home setup. And yeah, I have this, like my friend Mark makes fun of me because I bought this, basically this big briefcase off a buy and sell online. And it’s like, it says hunting gear on it, or something, and I paid $10 for it. And anyways, that’s what I keep my mic in, and my mic stand in my recorder. And, you know, he’s got this, like, $300 Pelican case that he uses to haul around all his gear. But I just, I’m just basic, yeah, and then I have my little recording machine. And actually, I was working out of a, like a co working space, and so I do a lot of my interviews there. They have a little podcast studio, and I’ve also used their boardroom there. So that was a nice space to record out of, because I didn’t have to be like, Hey, let’s meet at my house or your house and deal with sound issues there. I always had sort of a consistent and professional place to meet, too.
Dusty Rhodes 12:58
And do you do ever do any recording online.
Karen McColl 13:02
I have, yeah, and I played around with different softwares, and I actually found zoom to be pretty good for audio quality. Of course, like in the north like and being a bit more rural like, our internet is not always the greatest, so we have had some problems with the quality, not sounding great. So I do try to do do most of our interviews in person, but obviously that’s not always possible. White Horse is the capital of the Yukon. We have 42,000 people in Whitehorse. Something like 80% of the population of the Yukon is in Whitehorse. So it’s often that we are interviewing people who are in the city, or if people are in one of the communities, they probably have to come to Whitehorse, like every month or something to get supplies or whatnot. So so it is lucky that I can often catch people when they are in person. Let
Dusty Rhodes 13:49
me ask you about the editing, because you get a very nice recording sound when you when you chatting to people, which is great. But then you can’t just pop that out unedited. You need to craft it a little. Did. How did you go about that?
Karen McColl 14:02
Yeah, I think the benchmark, or the number I’ve heard, is that for every say, hour of recording you do, you have four times that amount in editing. So I’m always very conscious of that. So we’re putting out episodes that are roughly half an hour. So I would always try to keep the recording to basically almost the length of what I’m looking for, kind of keeping in mind, okay, I’m not going to use that. So I could go like, a little bit longer, up to 45 minutes, but I would really try to make the recording short and sweet, so that also with the editing would be easier. I found I did spend a lot of time actually, like, adjusting the actual audio levels, which, now there’s a lot of software programs that can do that for you, which I’m starting to use a little bit more, and that’s a big time saver. But yeah, definitely, I’m very conscious about saving the time in the in the production, the editing stage,
Dusty Rhodes 14:56
and then speaking of time, the preparation for the actual recording. Mean, does that take you long?
Karen McColl 15:01
Ah, I think. I mean, I definitely put us some time into into researching. I mean, I don’t know. Maybe it’s only an hour, or sometimes a little bit more. And then, of course, there’s some back and forth with the person. Sometimes there’s a pre interview too, not as often, but yeah, I find you def definitely better to go into the interview with as much kind of background knowledge. And also, I guess there’s the research on the person, but then there’s also, sort of the storyboarding in my head of, how do I want the story to be told? And, you know, I write out my questions, and I don’t follow them to a T, but I like to have this sheet that I can refer back to if, if I need to, or if I have a brain fart, which usually happens once per interview, at least
Dusty Rhodes 15:44
several times. For me, it comes to a crawl to a crashing end. It’s like, where what am I doing? What am I doing? So overall, a lot of people looking at a podcast, and they kind of think, okay, great. This is a nice little add on for me, and then they realize that it takes a lot more than meets the eye, time wise, then overall, from the preparation, the recording, the editing and then actually publishing it and promoting it. How many hours do you think it takes? I
Karen McColl 16:15
think I estimated once that probably every episode takes about eight hours to put out, and that’s with even just with social media and the kind of other promotion. So even though I produced this podcast, when I started, it was just me doing every single aspect of the podcast. And so it was something that we could do fairly cheaply. It still is quite a lot of like human labor. And especially, I was putting out one episode every two weeks for a year. And yeah, I mean, it’s, it is a lot of time in the end. And I mean, some episodes are so tedious and you kind of wish you never started them, and some go really smoothly. It kind of just depends.
Dusty Rhodes 16:56
Although the time commitment of the podcast was manageable, Karen realized that two heads are better than one. She shares how taking on another producer has enhanced the process
Karen McColl 17:08
well, actually. So my co producer, his name is Mark kepke, and he had produced an episode for us in the past, so I knew that. And he has his own podcast, actually. And so basically, running this conversation one day, and he was pitching another episode he wanted to produce for the podcast. And I was like, You know what? Like, why don’t you come on as a producer? Like, it was just, like, very spontaneous in that moment. I was like, Oh my gosh, you have a lot of really good skills and skills that I don’t have. I think you could be a really good compliment to this podcast. So in July last year, I took a break from the podcast, and I was transitioning to a different job, and so brought him on as a co producer. And really now I think he is the brains of the operation. He He has a lot of great ideas his he’s very good with sound, or not sound rather, but like music and just the production side of things, where I’ve always kept things very basic. So he’s adding a lot in that way. And actually, the last episode he made, I said, okay, the only problem is, is this is too good now, and I can’t make an episode that’s that good, so he’s gonna have to help me out, probably with just like, making my episode sound at his his level. But anyways, it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s an asset, and he, he’s a contractor too. We’re both kind of, this is like passion projects for us, that we get to produce these audio, audio pieces, and they’re going to become a little bit more documentary style with with our re release now. So anyways, so we’re going a new direction. It’s a lot more work, but I’m learning more, and we are taking it to another level too. So
Dusty Rhodes 18:40
it’s less time for you, but the quality of the podcast has gone up, which is fantastic. Last question on time for you. You mentioned that the podcast goes out every two weeks, which is quite an undertaking for a brand podcast. Was it worth doing that? Many
Karen McColl 18:57
that’s a good question. I don’t know that I really came at that with a lot of research. I think in my head, I was just thinking that the podcasts I like, you know, back in the day when cereal was the big podcast everyone was listening to when we were you wanted to digest that week after week after week, but, you know, we’re not a podcast that has like a continuation to it, so it doesn’t really matter. I don’t think so. To be honest, that’s still something I’m playing around with, is, do we release bi weekly for a few months and then take a break, or do we release less often? I think releasing more frequently keeps our overall listenership up, but whether that’s sustainable, I don’t really know, especially now that we are doing these increased productions, it is a bit more time consuming, so we might have to scale back in terms of what we’re actually putting out now. I
Dusty Rhodes 19:44
think I’ve found that it depends on what your goal is, and if you want to be part of people’s lives regularly, you really need to be gone at least every two weeks, whereas, if you’re doing something, as you say, more detailed documentary, like once a month is fine. It
Karen McColl 19:58
depends. But. Well, and I should mention too that we were now we’re putting out more like feature episodes, or still like interviews, but then we’re also putting out some sort of smaller, more like a Proust questionnaire, sort of this Yukon questionnaire. So anyways, some shorter episodes that are easier for us to produce, kind of intermix. So we we stay in people’s headphones, but we’re not doing the huge every time. So you’re
Dusty Rhodes 20:21
getting the regularity without having to do a mountain of work for every single episode makes a kind of mix. Exactly
Karen McColl 20:27
another one of Mark’s good ideas
Dusty Rhodes 20:30
Still to come on the award winners podcast, we’ll hear about the promotional channels that helped with the launch of Yukon north of ordinary and how they reached an audience they weren’t quite expecting
20:41
if you feel a brand podcast could work for you. Here are three simple things you can do today to get started. One, visit our website to get more information and guides on how podcasts work specifically for brands, along with lots more examples of award winning brand podcasts to inspire you. Two, you can call us with your questions, and we’re happy to help. Three, you could consider working with us so you do all the fun stuff and we do everything else. Find that information on our website@dustpod.io
Dusty Rhodes 21:15
as a brand, you most likely have access to already existing promotional channels. We hear how Karen used what was already at her disposal to spread the word about Yukon north of ordinary
Karen McColl 21:33
we kind of took a lazy approach, because I guess backing up Yukon north of ordinary magazine is owned by north of ordinary media. North of ordinary media, they have a retail store, they have TVs, so they have two digital ads throughout the Yukon. So basically, we already had all these avenues for advertising. So we advertised on these digital TVs. We advertised in the magazine itself, and we put logos we have, like a little like we have advertisements in the magazine, but then also next to the stories that have an associated episode, we have a little logo next to them, says available by podcast. So we didn’t do any and then, of course, on social media, and we sent out a press release when we started a new season, but we didn’t do any other advertising, which, in retrospect, maybe we should have, because I did find that it took a while for Yukon ers to know about the podcast. I think we did a good job at reaching people outside the Yukon, people who read the magazine, or people or who are traveling to or from the territory, but locals took a longer time to know about the podcast. And so maybe we do that a little bit differently next time, but we went the cheap route and just used our existing channels.
Dusty Rhodes 22:44
But that’s using your existing channels. Is not the cheap route, because you had digital display advertising, which is fantastic, and a lot of routes that a lot of podcasts, a lot of brands might have to pay for. You had it there for free. So, so no, it worked well. Did you find that through the advertising and through social media and and through putting stuff in your own magazine and associated con. Was there any particular tactic that worked better than the others?
Karen McColl 23:12
I think, um, I don’t really know. But when I started looking at the stats and it’s it’s still this way that about 75 or 80% of our listeners are outside of the Yukon Territory, so a lot of them are in Canada, but we also have listeners in the US and some in Europe. So I think once I realized that it was more, I guess, I don’t know if we have any way of really targeting that market. I guess our digital TVs don’t exactly, but it’s more just like, Okay, we do need to have the advertisements in the magazine and on social media, because that’s how we can meet reach the markets outside the Yukon.
Dusty Rhodes 23:47
So are you finding then that you’re getting the wrong audience? I Is it an audience that you’re looking for in North America and in Europe, or are you more looking for local people?
Karen McColl 23:58
Well, that’s a good question. The magazine has a very strong like local attachment, like people. Every time I talk to people, people be like, I love the magazine. And I think it’s because when people open the magazine, they they always see somebody. They know there’s only, sorry, I think I said 42,000 people in the Yukon, in the White Horse earlier, but there’s 42,000 people in the whole territory. And so anyways, you open the magazine, you always see somebody, you know, so there’s a lot of connection that way. But I think it’s okay to be reaching people outside the territory, because we have such a finite market in the territory. And hopefully the people reaching outside of the territory are people who are planning to come to the Yukon at some point, so that there will be, you know, if we’re looking at direct financial gain, these are people who will be maybe, like, picking up the magazine when they’re in town, supporting our advertisers, and also maybe going to our retail store and buying some some swag. Obviously, we don’t know that for sure, but that would be kind of the idea. And especially right now we don’t have advertising on. The podcast, but that is a long term goal. We haven’t put a ton of effort into it so far, but eventually we’ll probably have advertisers who are targeting potential travelers to the Yukon, and so that would be our market, is people who want to come and visit here and learn about the territory. So is
Dusty Rhodes 25:17
your goal, then, as a magazine and an online entity and a podcast to get people to come to the Yukon, or people in the Yukon to spend money with local businesses, is that they always say, follow the money. Okay, so what’s the point of the magazine and the podcast? For you guys, this
Karen McColl 25:36
is a good question. Our magazine is really, it’s, it’s showcasing the Yukon, and I think it can be a little bit of column A and column B. We want Yukon ers to pick up the magazine. We want them to be looking at the advertisements supporting local business. But also, like I said, the Yukon is a small place population wise, so we do rely on people who are coming to the territory our tourism market to come and also support our local businesses and put the money in that way. So I guess we sort of have a split approach in that. It’s not like we’re trying to get everybody, but we’re trying to get the people who have an interest in coming to the territory. Once your
Dusty Rhodes 26:17
podcast is out in the world, it’s important to consider what success means for your brand. Success comes in different forms, from brand awareness to awards, and it’s important to be patient in waiting for them.
Karen McColl 26:30
I started this as something that I wanted to do, to tell more Yukon stories in a different format and reach new audiences. But the publisher, bless his heart, and the general manager of North ordinary media, he was on board for this, and we didn’t actually set specific metrics. So of course, I look at download numbers as sort of the main thing. And to be honest, like I kind of thought at first that the podcast would pick up more quickly than it did. I was like, Hey, we’ve got all this, we’ve got all these channels to advertise through. You know, we’ve kind of got a corner on the market of UConn storytelling, but it did take a while to gain traction. And I think we kind of started to gain that traction when I when I took a break in July. So we’re we’re getting back up to where where we were when I left off. But I feel like we’re kind of reaching a tipping point now where we are getting those numbers. So, so that’s definitely a metric of success. Like we’re not really, you know, if I asked the general manager, like, have we gotten more magazine subscriptions, or have our retail sales gone up? Like, I know our retail sales are doing well, but we haven’t directly tied those back to the podcast, but I can say that the general manager is happy with the podcast. So I think we’re kind of in it for the long game, and we’re just, uh, overall brand awareness is is doing well, and so, so we’re happy with it so far.
Dusty Rhodes 27:44
So brand awareness has really worked for you. That’s the impact of the podcast has had about the awards, because you’ve talked a lot about the Yukon, and you make it sound like the moon in some ways, that it is a more remote location. Yes, you have been honored at the Canadian podcast award. So what do you think made this particular podcast an award winner for them?
Karen McColl 28:11
I mean, I don’t want to say it’s tokenism, but I would, I do. I do think that just the fact that we are in the Yukon and people are like, Oh, wow, this little place in northern Canada is making a podcast they’re kind of impressed by because, I mean, I do think our competitors, say, for the Canadian Podcast Awards, also are making making good podcasts, but I think we just have a unique product in terms of this place that people are interested in. Like, 90% of the Canadian population lives within 150 kilometers of the US border, right? And then here we are 2000 kilometers north. And, you know, so people are just curious about us so, and I think that in the in the awards too, it’s kind of like, okay, this is sort of something unique that we don’t hear all the time. That’s what, that’s what I’m guessing, which was nice, and obviously, hopefully they, they liked our stories as well, and thought that it was well produced. We also did win an award from the International regional magazine Association, and that is a group of there’s podcasts from Ontario and podcasts from the US. And so it was nice to be recognized on that scale, too. And again, they thought that we were just doing a good job storytelling and with our production. So so that’s nice to be recognized there as well.
Dusty Rhodes 29:23
What I think is funny is that you’re wandering around Yukon is just this is life. This is what I do every day. This is boring. This is B whatever, all right, whereas I’m chatting to you and you’re putting pictures in my head, I go, Oh, that’s amazing. Oh, my God, that’s fascinating. Ice swimming and fighting bears and driving on ice roads that go on fire hose. It’s like, for me, it’s like, wow. And you’re probably Oh, no, I’m not talking. And I actually think, but for the for the awards and stuff like that, is we never think about what’s in our. Own circle. Do you know what I mean? And we never think that it might be of interest to other people. Do you know, like you and I probably listen to podcasts where people live, living in New York, and trying to think of what was the name, Casey nice at the YouTube guy. And he would go around New York on a skateboard, like, you know? And I’d be like, Oh, well, girl, is that? I’m sure he’s gonna right?
Karen McColl 30:21
Yeah.
Dusty Rhodes 30:22
I mean, it’s funny.
Karen McColl 30:24
That is what we try to capitalize though, on, is this, like, this Yukon ism and, and I may have to admit, like Yukon ers, like, I’m not from the Yukon. I’ve lived here for 10 years and, but there’s so much pride in living here. And I think just because a lot of people who live here made the choice to move here. We moved here for a reason, because we wanted to be closer to the wilderness, or we wanted to be in this sort of remote area. And I don’t know there’s just like UConn is love wearing things that say Yukon on them, and I’ve never lived anywhere else that people need to like, promote where they live. But I don’t know it’s just a thing that I guess we think we live in a really cool place, and we’re really proud of it. So the podcast and the magazine kind of like play on that as well.
Dusty Rhodes 31:07
Finally, I asked Karen what the future holds for UConn, north of ordinary,
Karen McColl 31:12
yeah. So we have some now sort of direct connections with with the magazine and podcasts in ways we didn’t have before. So we still have our feature episodes, but now we’re also doing some art specific episodes that are promoting a musician or poet or a writer in the territory, so kind of direct reflection there. And also we have north of ordinary media produces road trip magazine, and that’s an annual publication that comes out providing tribal information for the territory. And so we’re gonna have an episode every so often too, where we actually interview the publisher of the magazine about places he goes to in the Yukon. And he’s going to interview people in the communities as well, because he’s used to driving around the whole territory distributing magazine, so he knows people in all the communities. So anyway, so we’re doing just a bunch of different things, and I guess we’ll see what works and what doesn’t. But I guess my goal for the podcast is that it just keeps growing and getting more numbers. And I don’t know what those numbers are that I want to reach really. I guess we’ll know when we get there, but I think maybe once we have some advertising on board too, that’ll that’ll feel good in terms of just a place that we know is sustainable for the podcast. Let
Dusty Rhodes 32:28
me ask you about video, because this is something that’s become very important for podcast. Video seems to be the be all and end all. What’s, what’s your view on it? Or are you making plans for it?
Karen McColl 32:39
There is somebody in the territory who is starting to do some YouTube video podcasts. So I know our publisher has been kind of gung ho of like we should start doing this. And I’m like, Okay, well, let’s do these other things first. So yeah, it does seem like maybe that will be the way to go. Yeah, I think we’re kind of just getting up, up and running again, and we’ll see. But it’s, yeah, it’s definitely something we’re considering.
Dusty Rhodes 33:06
Karen, finally, can I ask you, for any marketers who are listening to our podcast, what advice would you have for them if they’re thinking of starting a podcast and want to make an impact?
Karen McColl 33:17
I think just knowing, like, what is, what is the goal of your podcast. Like To be completely honest, when I started this podcast, even though it was a branded podcast, in my head, that wasn’t what we were doing. We were just it was a podcast telling stories from the magazine, so I wasn’t looking at it maybe as as strategically. But I think people go into podcasting thinking we’re gonna get all these downloads and it’ll be really easy to find advertisers and and that’s not necessarily the case. I think the goal often with branded podcasts is to build brand awareness, and that hopefully translates into a positive image for the company. And, you know, I guess hopefully there’s some monetary feedback there at some point. But I think just being really clear about what are the goals of what we want to get out of this podcast, and who’s the audience that we’re trying to reach?
Dusty Rhodes 34:03
Karen McColl, thank you so much for telling us about your award winning podcast, Yukon, North of Ordinary.
Karen McColl 34:09
Thanks so much for having me Dusty.
Dusty Rhodes 34:12
Thanks to Karen for taking so much time to tell us about her award winning podcast. You can listen to the podcast by searching for Yukon, North of Ordinary on Apple or Spotify right now, and of course, there’s a direct link in the show notes of this episode on your player right now. If you’re considering a podcast for your company or your brand, remember, you’ll also find great resources on our own website@dustpod.io. If you like you can also arrange a complimentary call see how podcasts could work for your brand specifically, or you might consider working with us so you get to do all the fun stuff, and we do everything else. Until our next Award Winners podcast, from myself, Dusty Rhodes. Thank you for listening.
34:52
The Award Winners is a DustPod production from dustpod.io.