What To Look For In a Professional Podcast Studio

Not all podcast studios are created equal. Learn how to differentiate a true podcast studio from a place that's faking it, what questions to ask, and why the details matter for your content’s success.

The Problem: Not Every “Podcast Studio” is a Podcast Studio

Podcasting is booming, and with it, the demand for studio spaces. But not all studios claiming to be “professional podcast spaces” are what they seem. In Episode 2 of The Skutch Media Podcast, they tackle why some so-called studios fall short, and how their philosophy sets them apart.

Many “podcast studios” are actually multi-use event spaces, transformed music recording studios, or even poorly lit closets with the bare minimum equipment. These spaces may throw up a camera, plop down a microphone, and call themselves a podcast studio The result? Clients wind up with subpar experiences, terrible audio, unusable video, and stories of disappointment, sometimes even difficulty getting their content files at all.

What Sets Professional Studios Apart?

Focus & Expertise

The core difference, as Pete and Marnie highlight, is focus. At Skutch, the entire space is designed and maintained for podcasting and content creation, not as a side project or afterthought. There are no comedy nights or unrelated events taking over the setup; it’s content, all the time, at the highest level.

Purpose-Built Equipment and Design

A real podcast studio invests in quality equipment and intentional design. As the hosts explain, it's more than just having a mic and a camera. Look for:

• Quality Lighting: Are you seeing cheap ring lights or professional-grade lighting that adds depth and dimension?

• Camera Setup: Are they using webcams, or do they have proper multi-camera angles and quality lenses?

• Acoustics & Sound: Is the room designed for optimal audio? Are microphones carefully selected and is the sound treated to have clarity and warmth without echo?

• Preview & Approval: Do you get to approve your shots and sound before you record, or is it a one-size-fits-none process?

Why Sound Still Reigns Supreme

With the rise of video-focused podcasting, it’s easy to ignore audio quality. But as Marnie and Pete remind us, sound is still king—most people consume podcasts by listening, not watching.

A professional studio should have deep knowledge of sound production: the right mics, cables, and mixing, an environment that avoids echo, and technicians who know how to make your voice sound its best. Little touches, like encouraging guests to wear headphones, can dramatically improve delivery and clarity—something many newcomers have never experienced before stepping into a true studio.

The Human Touch: Service, Coaching, and Accountability

What truly differentiates a top-tier studio is the human element. At Skutch Media, the philosophy is to get the absolute best out of every client. This means taking the time to coach nervous first-timers, helping them feel at ease, and giving actionable advice for on-mic performance, such as mic technique, vocal clarity, and conversational flow.

Accountability is also key. When a studio cares about your final product as much as you do, they strive for results that reflect well on both parties. The process should never feel rushed or impersonal.

Critical Questions to Ask Any Podcast Studio

If you’re looking to book a studio (especially if you can’t make it to Atlanta to visit Skutch), Marnie and Pete suggest you ask:

• What equipment do you use? Make sure the gear is professional, not just consumer-grade.

• Are there dedicated techs on-site, for both audio and video?

• Is the space designed for podcasting, or is it multi-use? Is the setup permanent or thrown together for each client?

• Where do my files go after recording? Who handles the editing—trusted in-house talent, or random freelancers overseas?

• Do I get to approve my camera shots and audio before recording begins?

• Will the studio’s branding appear in my content, or is it all about my brand?

The Bottom Line: Invest Wisely in Your Podcast

A real podcast studio gives you more than a recording, they deliver a full experience, ensure your content is high-quality from the start, and become a partner in your podcast journey. It doesn’t need to cost a fortune, Skutch’s own packages start at just $250 for a 3 camera angle video podcast shoot with an edit. Most importantly: do your research, value expertise, and work with people who care about your success as much as you do.

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  Marnie Joseph [00:00:00]:

  Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Skutch Media podcast. I'm Marnie.

  Pete Joseph [00:00:04]:

  And I'm Pete.

  Marnie Joseph [00:00:05]:

  And we are the owners of Skutch Media. And we're going to talk to you today about why a lot of professional podcast studios aren't really podcast studios at all and what makes us different.

  Pete Joseph [00:00:16]:

  But first, do me a favor like and subscribe if you're listening to us or watching us on YouTube and if you're listening to us on any of those audio platforms, Spotify, Apple, Podcast, leave us a review. It really, really helps a lot. Do us that favor. Thanks. Thank you. All right, let's jump into this because we've been seeing a lot of clients coming to us just with absolute horror stories.

  Marnie Joseph [00:00:37]:

  A lot of professional podcast studios, at least from what we see here, and we're in Atlanta, aren't really podcast studios at all. And they are multi use event spaces or in some cases, you know, music.

  Pete Joseph [00:00:53]:

  Recording studios that have been transformed. That's a big one we're noticing.

  Pete Joseph [00:00:57]:

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:00:58]:

  That have been transformed into podcast studios. Meaning they put up a couple cameras and go from there. Yeah, exactly.

  Pete Joseph [00:01:05]:

  Just kind of sits you in there.

  Marnie Joseph [00:01:06]:

  Yeah, yeah. So I think one of the things that we hear a lot is like, I booked what I thought was a podcast studio. I show up, it is a closet with some cheap equipment and a ring light.

  Pete Joseph [00:01:22]:

  You're seeing people that think that they can just throw up a camera and a microphone and say it's now a podcast studio.

  Marnie Joseph [00:01:28]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:01:29]:

  And it's not.

  Marnie Joseph [00:01:30]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:01:32]:

  Anybody that has space, we're seeing it in co working spaces. Audio studios that have been transformed, event spaces, they always have podcast studio.

  Marnie Joseph [00:01:42]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:01:43]:

  It's a second or third thought.

  Marnie Joseph [00:01:45]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:01:46]:

  By far. At Skutch, this is our primary.

  Marnie Joseph [00:01:50]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:01:51]:

  This stays like this. We don't throw parties, we don't do comedy nights. We don't do any type of hey, you want to learn to be a comedian? Or we don't do any of that. All the stuff we do is content driven and at its highest level.

  Pete Joseph [00:02:05]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:02:06]:

  So that's what a lot of people out there need to watch out for. Because I feel it's kind of making our. It's down, kind of. It's making our industry look bad.

  Pete Joseph [00:02:15]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:02:15]:

  Cause a lot of our clients are going into things with or people were coming across with these grand ideas of what they're gonna get and they're sold this bag of goods. And then when they get their files back, if they get their files back, that's my favorite. They're either out of frame, out of focus, Too hot, too dark.

  Pete Joseph [00:02:34]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:02:35]:

  Nobody really takes the time to really kind of focus. Cause like I said, it's their second or third focused. It's not really what they do.

  Marnie Joseph [00:02:43]:

  Right.

  Marnie Joseph [00:02:44]:

  They're just trying to maximize the use of their space.

  Pete Joseph [00:02:47]:

  Absolutely.

  Marnie Joseph [00:02:48]:

  Right where we're actually making podcasts.

  Marnie Joseph [00:02:51]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:02:51]:

  That's what we do.

  Marnie Joseph [00:02:52]:

  So what is the difference in the studio space? Like, what do we have that they don't have? Why don't we clarify that a little bit?

  Pete Joseph [00:02:59]:

  Well, a lot of places you're going to go into are going to, you know, they're going to say they have podcast views. So you see microphones, you're going to see some lights. You know, look at what these lights are. Are they ring lights? Are the same lights you could buy on Amazon.

  Marnie Joseph [00:03:11]:

  Right?

  Marnie Joseph [00:03:12]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:03:12]:

  Are your cameras just webcams?

  Pete Joseph [00:03:15]:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:03:15]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:03:16]:

  How are they? Are you shoved into a tiny room that there really aren't decent camera angles? Is your set not lit correctly? Is it not giving types of like dimension, Other types of things? These are all things to look out for. When you're looking at like a big name podcast, you notice the set had some thought put into it.

  Marnie Joseph [00:03:34]:

  Right?

  Marnie Joseph [00:03:35]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:03:35]:

  We've seen one of our good friends, you know, come in and he showed us some of the footage that he shot. It's them sitting on like benches.

  Pete Joseph [00:03:42]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:03:43]:

  Like they just like, oh, there's three people here. Just throw a mic in this guy's hand. One guy's half in frame. It was so bad. And you talk thousands and thousands of dollars for this stuff. A lot of people, it's a guessing game. They don't even know what they're getting.

  Marnie Joseph [00:03:55]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:03:55]:

  They don't see it.

  Marnie Joseph [00:03:56]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:03:57]:

  Like we preview our stuff with all of our clients, they know what their shots going to look like.

  Marnie Joseph [00:04:00]:

  Right.

  Marnie Joseph [00:04:01]:

  They approve their shots before and their sound roll.

  Marnie Joseph [00:04:04]:

  Right?

  Pete Joseph [00:04:04]:

  Yeah. Like so. And it's. These are the little things that, you know, are these people caring about. Like, we've noticed this too. What's this content being used for?

  Pete Joseph [00:04:14]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:04:15]:

  Why am I shooting this?

  Marnie Joseph [00:04:16]:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:04:17]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:04:17]:

  Is it because I'm using it for Instagram? I'm using it for TikTok. I'm just putting it strictly on YouTube, actually. This is all for in house for our company, whatever that is, it changes how you do it.

  Marnie Joseph [00:04:29]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:04:29]:

  Changes how you shoot it, how you light it, what the. The post production could be, which we also do too.

  Marnie Joseph [00:04:36]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:04:37]:

  It's these little questions that change how you attack and approach a podcast or studio content.

  Pete Joseph [00:04:44]:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:04:45]:

  I Think that's a really good point that you bring up, because I think a lot of people think that to record a podcast, all you need is to set up a mic and a couple cameras and sit down and just start shooting the shit with your friend. And the reality is that it's garbage in, garbage out, right?

  Pete Joseph [00:05:01]:

  Absolutely.

  Marnie Joseph [00:05:02]:

  So you gotta. You gotta have that strategic lens going into it. You. You gotta. You gotta, you know, know what you're doing going into it. And to your point, it changes. It will predict how it comes out afterwards based on how it goes in.

  Pete Joseph [00:05:21]:

  Absolutely. I remember being back in the day when we were. We would record, my band would record in a studio. We first went in and the producer came and saw us practice and said, you guys aren't ready to record yet.

  Pete Joseph [00:05:32]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:05:33]:

  And we're like, what do you mean, man? We're going to the studio and you can fix everything. It'll all look great. He's like, garbage in, garbage out.

  Pete Joseph [00:05:38]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:05:39]:

  If it's not tight, if it's not in time, if everything's not perfect, it will sound amplified worse.

  Marnie Joseph [00:05:44]:

  Right, right.

  Pete Joseph [00:05:46]:

  And if I took that basic principle and kind of looked at all the stuff and said, we can't do that, like, we have to simplify the process for people that. They know they're getting the right stuff. They know it's going to look good.

  Pete Joseph [00:05:58]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:05:58]:

  And it's letting them know from. I don't expect everybody to walk in here to be a cameraman and a sound guy and lighting tech, and they need to have approval and know I care. We care.

  Marnie Joseph [00:06:09]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:06:10]:

  How that finished product comes out. Because in the end, I think a lot of businesses now have forgot that it really reflects on them.

  Pete Joseph [00:06:16]:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:06:17]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:06:18]:

  I think that's a lost art of, Of. Of actually being accountable for what you put out.

  Marnie Joseph [00:06:22]:

  Service.

  Pete Joseph [00:06:23]:

  Yeah, Service. A lot of people now just like, I don't care.

  Pete Joseph [00:06:25]:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:06:26]:

  Well, we. We hear that a lot from people who come in and shoot with us, is that they went someplace else. They went to another studio and they just kind of were like, okay, you guys are all set here. Record, go.

  Pete Joseph [00:06:37]:

  And.

  Marnie Joseph [00:06:39]:

  And they really didn't care what came out. And the story that you just told about the producer, like, that producer could have just continued to take your band's money.

  Pete Joseph [00:06:47]:

  Yep. He could have done it. You know, it was up to him to come and see us. For the pure fact of. He's like, you know, you guys are in your mid-20s, you're young. God, the days. But I don't want you to just. He took that little bit of.

  Pete Joseph [00:07:01]:

  Just a little bit of time to come out and go. And actually, the funny part was, we recorded where the studio was, so the man literally walked out a door and walked into our. It wasn't like he was going across town or anything. He just took a second to go.

  Pete Joseph [00:07:13]:

  You're right.

  Pete Joseph [00:07:14]:

  You might want to take another couple months.

  Pete Joseph [00:07:15]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:07:16]:

  Before you blow 20, 30 grand right. On this.

  Marnie Joseph [00:07:18]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:07:19]:

  You know, that's what we try to tell people when they first come in. They have these grandiose ideas, and they want to do it so big, and I want four people, and I want this and that. I tell them all the time, start small. And to your point, like, a lot of people just think it's a camera and a mic. You know, some people could start out that way, and that's great.

  Marnie Joseph [00:07:37]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:07:38]:

  Like, you. That's you controlling. But if you come into my universe and you give us money to produce something for you, it will be a top quality.

  Pete Joseph [00:07:47]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:07:47]:

  But I can only do as well as you give me.

  Marnie Joseph [00:07:49]:

  Right, right.

  Pete Joseph [00:07:50]:

  And that's kind of what I think the heart of Scooch is, is I want to let you know, I just don't want to. I'm not here to just take your money.

  Marnie Joseph [00:07:58]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:07:59]:

  Because if it comes out bad, that. That's pretty much a loser for me.

  Marnie Joseph [00:08:02]:

  Right.

  Marnie Joseph [00:08:03]:

  It's. I think what makes us different is our philosophy is we really. We want to get the best out of you. Absolutely. Like, we want to make you look. Absolutely. We want to make you look as great as possible. And I think I was thinking about the young kids.

  Marnie Joseph [00:08:23]:

  I'll call them kids. The young gentleman and his girlfriend who came in here and shot with us. And it was the first time that they had ever done anything like this. And they came in and they were incredibly nervous.

  Pete Joseph [00:08:34]:

  Oh, my. I've never seen they were so nervous. And he's a professional athlete, too.

  Marnie Joseph [00:08:39]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:08:39]:

  And he, like, he's been in front of hundreds of thousands of people playing, and he was just very nervous.

  Marnie Joseph [00:08:44]:

  And, you know, you sat down with them. You know, you. You want some. You want some coaching here? Like, here's some advice. Let's talk this through. This is what you want to do. You want to. Look here.

  Marnie Joseph [00:08:53]:

  You can move your mic around here. Gave them all the etiquette.

  Pete Joseph [00:08:57]:

  Look here to this. You know, feel free. How do we get in? That was the. How do we start?

  Pete Joseph [00:09:01]:

  Yep.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:02]:

  Start.

  Marnie Joseph [00:09:02]:

  Just start.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:03]:

  Have a conversation. Talk to each other.

  Marnie Joseph [00:09:05]:

  And they fell right in.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:07]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:08]:

  It's just. And it's like, I'm not saying we're miracle workers. I'm just saying we give a shit.

  Marnie Joseph [00:09:12]:

  Right.

  Marnie Joseph [00:09:12]:

  And that's what's different.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:14]:

  I care. Like, I just. And I can't. You know, we've had this conversation a lot because it also comes both ways. You know, you feel. You get kind of, you know, people push towards sometimes, like, wanting certain stuff and. And, you know, you get to weed out who really wants to. To work.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:27]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:28]:

  On stuff and.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:29]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:29]:

  But it really comes down to I want to put out the best product for someone.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:33]:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:09:34]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:34]:

  Because I really do think that that reflects on us, and that's how Scooch was built. It just. Why does your studio look different? Why does your studio. Because it's. We. I kept. We kept kicking that level up.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:44]:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:09:45]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:45]:

  We kept noticing stuff and go, boy, that would look great. And then we do it.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:49]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:49]:

  And it looked great. Or, boy, that would sound. And we do it.

  Marnie Joseph [00:09:51]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:52]:

  Does. And people notice when they come in.

  Marnie Joseph [00:09:55]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:09:55]:

  And it's just. It's a very unique space. It's unbelievably welcoming. You know, everybody seems to love it. We've never had a problem with anybody coming in. They've been like, I just. I don't feel. In the beginning, it's a bit odd.

  Pete Joseph [00:10:08]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:10:08]:

  Right. It's weird because, like, it's in. It's in a house.

  Pete Joseph [00:10:11]:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:10:11]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:10:11]:

  It's in a. It's in this weird house. And nobody can kind of, like, put it together. But once you kind of settle into it, you know, I like to think of ourselves as like the Sound city.

  Pete Joseph [00:10:22]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:10:22]:

  Of. Of podcast.

  Marnie Joseph [00:10:23]:

  Tell everyone what Sound city is.

  Pete Joseph [00:10:25]:

  Sound City was a studio that was in, I think, California somewhere. And it was very unassuming.

  Pete Joseph [00:10:32]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:10:32]:

  Like, the way it was built, it was very. It's like it was built like a warehouse. And the way the. That the studio designed it wasn't supposed to sound good at all. Like, it's just the design of it. Like, everybody. All audio engineers, like, this should not sound, but it just had this unbelievable sound. Like, apparently when they recorded the drums there, it's like the drums were just like a sound city drums.

  Pete Joseph [00:10:52]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:10:52]:

  And I kind of modeled us after. In the sense of, like, how do you. It's such a unique space, but everybody in there, you know, Fleetwood Mac recorded there. Like, all these big bands recorded. Because it had this allure and this mystique that it could. Of what it was. And it wasn't like. Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:11:08]:

  Built to be a sound studio and professional, but it just happened to weirdly Right. Work.

  Marnie Joseph [00:11:14]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:11:14]:

  It was just like the stars aligned. And that's kind of how. That's how I feel about Scoot Studio.

  Marnie Joseph [00:11:19]:

  Sound is very important in podcasting, and I think that now that podcasting has become so video focused, which it's. Video is incredibly important. Every podcaster needs to use video. We know this. But sound can sometimes be overlooked now. And it's definitely something that we see and hear from clients that they. That they, you know, that they've had trouble with elsewhere. It's like people can get the video.

  Marnie Joseph [00:11:48]:

  The sound is harder and it is more important. I think most podcasts are still just listened to the sound audio.

  Pete Joseph [00:11:59]:

  Oh, yeah. We have friends that tell us all the time. Oh, you guys sounded great.

  Pete Joseph [00:12:02]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:12:03]:

  Did you like how it looked? Oh, I didn't watch it.

  Marnie Joseph [00:12:05]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:12:06]:

  No, it's. Sound is a lost art and it's. We run into people all the time that'll tell us. I could do the camera stuff, but this.

  Marnie Joseph [00:12:13]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:12:13]:

  And you're just like. Like, it's a. It's. So what's old school?

  Marnie Joseph [00:12:17]:

  So what's the difference with our sound?

  Pete Joseph [00:12:20]:

  The difference with our sound is I know what I'm doing, and I don't mean that rudely, but in the sense of I took a lot of my old school knowledge of, you know, miking things and being in bands and working with, you know, different stuff for years and just kind of applied it right. We treat the studio to just give just enough kind of reverb response that it sounds real, you know, but we're not getting big, giant echoes.

  Pete Joseph [00:12:48]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:12:50]:

  You know, running it, you know, the right microphones, the right cables, setting things correctly.

  Marnie Joseph [00:12:55]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:12:55]:

  You know, just running right good levels. It's just. It's being on top of it. The problem with audio for a lot of people is it's not as plug and play as cameras have become. Like, we try to keep it as real and robust as possible. Like, I want you, when you. When you hear our podcast, want to be like, wow, wow. I can literally hear that guy's.

  Marnie Joseph [00:13:14]:

  You can tell the difference.

  Marnie Joseph [00:13:16]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:13:17]:

  And it's also from a lot. We try to encourage people that come in, especially first timers, use headphones, like a lot of people. Like, it's like, just trust me, you're gonna completely. You talk more, you emphasize you are talking clearer. You can hear your voice. And a lot of people, you could see them kind of be like, it's going to mess up my hair this. Then, hey, whatever you want to do. But get used to yourself.

  Pete Joseph [00:13:45]:

  Like, I Can kind of do it now without headphones in the sense. I still would much rather.

  Pete Joseph [00:13:49]:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:13:50]:

  Same.

  Pete Joseph [00:13:50]:

  I think I go into a different. My voice sounds different. I drop into it. I. It feels. It's like putting on the equipment to play a game.

  Marnie Joseph [00:13:57]:

  Right.

  Marnie Joseph [00:13:57]:

  And. Well, that's the advice that we give people. Starting out too. Right. Like, do it with headphones because you. You. It changes the way you speak. You pay attention to how you enunciate words.

  Marnie Joseph [00:14:08]:

  You're very much. It allows you to be very dialed into the conversation. More so than when you don't have.

  Pete Joseph [00:14:14]:

  Absolutely.

  Marnie Joseph [00:14:14]:

  On.

  Pete Joseph [00:14:15]:

  Absolutely. I mean, it puts you in the. In the game.

  Pete Joseph [00:14:18]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:14:18]:

  In the arena.

  Marnie Joseph [00:14:19]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:14:19]:

  Like, it's not like it's a true transparent. It's like going in and seeing imax and you're like, geez, I'm in the experience. When you put the headphones on, it just.

  Pete Joseph [00:14:27]:

  Yeah, yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:14:28]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:14:29]:

  You have the illusion because you can hear your voice in that sense. You're getting a little bit of processing on the back end. So everything's warm and fat and like buttery. And it's just kind of. It takes you just like with everything else. Like, play good, feel, look good, feel good, play good.

  Marnie Joseph [00:14:43]:

  Right, right.

  Pete Joseph [00:14:43]:

  It's the same thing. Like, if you can. It just puts you in that.

  Marnie Joseph [00:14:46]:

  It's like the difference between watching a movie in the theater versus watching one on your laptop.

  Pete Joseph [00:14:51]:

  Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. But like, put it. Put a movie on to the sound down.

  Marnie Joseph [00:14:55]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:14:55]:

  It's kind of almost comical. Remember we saw the Titanic thing where the guy put. He put funny music. He put the Benny Hill thing. Da. Behind the scene of Titanic where everybody drowning. And it was comical.

  Marnie Joseph [00:15:12]:

  And it. It just proved that the music just completely change anything.

  Pete Joseph [00:15:17]:

  Can change anything.

  Pete Joseph [00:15:19]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:15:20]:

  And it's the same thing with audio.

  Marnie Joseph [00:15:21]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:15:22]:

  Like, if we don't. If your audio. And that's a big thing. I'll say to people at home. You see a lot of people at home on their computer shooting, and they have their earbuds. In majority of time, they're only hearing the guest.

  Pete Joseph [00:15:35]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:15:35]:

  They're not hearing themselves back.

  Marnie Joseph [00:15:37]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:15:38]:

  That's some of the things like, oh, my podcast. Get an inner audio interface.

  Pete Joseph [00:15:42]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:15:42]:

  Get one that can. Now you can hear yourself and the guest.

  Pete Joseph [00:15:46]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:15:47]:

  Your. Your. Your whole perspective will change.

  Pete Joseph [00:15:49]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:15:50]:

  And it's a lot of things that they don't. They never thought about.

  Marnie Joseph [00:15:53]:

  No. Because why would. Why would they?

  Pete Joseph [00:15:55]:

  We literally. We had a kid committed. We put the headphones on, we started talking. He was like. Like his mind was just we're like, wow, really? Like. But it's not his fault. No one's told him.

  Marnie Joseph [00:16:07]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:16:07]:

  This is why.

  Marnie Joseph [00:16:08]:

  Right, right.

  Pete Joseph [00:16:09]:

  And it's. It's that I think we just kind of hit on what makes good different because we have no problem explaining to you why.

  Marnie Joseph [00:16:15]:

  Right, right.

  Pete Joseph [00:16:16]:

  We have the time, right, to tell you this is why it's different. This is what's going to make it. And you see people go get it.

  Marnie Joseph [00:16:24]:

  Well, and when we tell you this is why it's different and this is why you should do that, you get better results, get way better. So again, it goes back to our philosophy of we just want to get the best out of you, and that's going to get the best out of you.

  Pete Joseph [00:16:36]:

  Well, it's. We want to get the best out of you and I want you to come back.

  Marnie Joseph [00:16:39]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:16:39]:

  Podcasting isn't something you do once. Right, Right. You want to do it multiple times. So how do we keep enforcing that? We keep enforcing that by giving them great sound, giving them a great experience. When they come in, it's turnkey for them. Their stuff set up, they're pretty much done. Also, it's our post production. So once it's shot, then what? We've been running into all these people that say, yeah, I got this stuff shot.

  Pete Joseph [00:17:05]:

  And it's just sitting there. You're like, well, yeah, right. So even on our most basic packages, we give you an edit.

  Marnie Joseph [00:17:13]:

  Right.

  Marnie Joseph [00:17:15]:

  So that's another thing. That's another differentiator for us, big time. Right? Because I. Yeah, to your point, it's. It's the timing too, right? Because we get a lot of. We hear a lot. We hear this all the time.

  Pete Joseph [00:17:31]:

  All the time.

  Marnie Joseph [00:17:32]:

  I mean, it took me like five weeks to get an edit or I didn't get an edit at all, or I can't get my files back from these guys in. In Pakistan that have them or whatever it was.

  Pete Joseph [00:17:46]:

  Qatar was the one. It was actually two story.

  Marnie Joseph [00:17:48]:

  Sorry, wrong country.

  Pete Joseph [00:17:50]:

  Nothing against Qatari. No, just a lot of people farm their stuff out. They just do. It's a thing fiverr. And it's become common and we hear from our clients all the time. I didn't get my stuff back or I told them to do it this way and this is what I got. And my favorite comment to that is, well, what did you expect? You have no recourse. You've never even been in the room with this person.

  Pete Joseph [00:18:13]:

  They're sitting in Pakistan. You know how far they could just be like, f you.

  Marnie Joseph [00:18:17]:

  Right?

  Pete Joseph [00:18:19]:

  Like, take it or Leave it.

  Marnie Joseph [00:18:20]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:18:20]:

  And a lot of these people keep taking it and giving more money than you're just like.

  Marnie Joseph [00:18:25]:

  Well, and it's not just. It's that. It's that. Yes. But then also it is the frustration about the constant back and forth with a freelancer that they found on Fiverr or Upwork or whatnot. That, you know, you can have the tightest brief forms. Form or sops or whatever. You know, you have to instruct the people that are doing your post production.

  Marnie Joseph [00:18:52]:

  But there's still that, that tug, that kind of back and forth.

  Pete Joseph [00:18:58]:

  I'll say it as it is. They don't know American culture.

  Marnie Joseph [00:19:00]:

  Right?

  Marnie Joseph [00:19:01]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:19:01]:

  Like we get. We work with people on stuff. We don't shoot. We just do their production for them.

  Marnie Joseph [00:19:06]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:19:07]:

  But we're here, right? We understand. If you said to us, hey, this is what I'm going for. This is the look or this is the sound of the. We get it.

  Marnie Joseph [00:19:15]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:19:15]:

  And if not, you can pick up the phone and call us.

  Marnie Joseph [00:19:17]:

  Right?

  Marnie Joseph [00:19:18]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:19:18]:

  It's not three days between an email, right? Oh, I'm sorry. It's whatever. We were getting bombed. That was one we actually heard. No joke. I swear to you. Like here, you pick up the phone, you call, it's us, right? And like even, like I said, our most basic package comes with an edit. Because I don't.

  Pete Joseph [00:19:37]:

  Who buys something it doesn't. It's not put together.

  Marnie Joseph [00:19:40]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:19:40]:

  Unless you're a model enthusiast where. But this stuff, you want to see it, right? You want to go home, see what you paid for and get it right. And most of the time we can turn. If you shot with us, you have an edit within 24 hours. Yeah, it's not incredible. It's not a bunch of. But it's a basic edit, basic color.

  Marnie Joseph [00:19:58]:

  Audio, camera angle switched, Everything you need, everything you need. If you want to take it from there and chop it up or whatever you want to do with it, you can do it. You can do it, but it's.

  Pete Joseph [00:20:09]:

  It's in enough form to where then you can then show everybody what you just spent your money on.

  Pete Joseph [00:20:13]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:20:14]:

  I think that's a huge. Everybody's always said, wow, I get it. You know, I, man, I got all these raw files. I don't know what to do with it. They. They bring them to us sometime. You're like, man, this is gonna be more expensive than this is worth. You know, some of our friends coming by today, right, they.

  Pete Joseph [00:20:26]:

  They're sitting on piles and 36 episodes of worthlessness.

  Pete Joseph [00:20:29]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:20:30]:

  It's like Man, I have to charge you more to put this all back together again than if you just. And. And you see that the light come on. They're just like, oh, man. And you just. And I'm so passionate about this because this is our industry. You know, people are making. They're making this stuff look bad.

  Pete Joseph [00:20:45]:

  And it's not as easy, guys, as just finding a kid with a camera. Trust me.

  Marnie Joseph [00:20:51]:

  So what are some questions then? People should ask studios if they're looking to run a studio and they're not in Atlanta, so they can't come to us.

  Marnie Joseph [00:21:01]:

  It's true.

  Pete Joseph [00:21:01]:

  Because.

  Marnie Joseph [00:21:02]:

  Because if you're in Atlanta, you're coming to us.

  Pete Joseph [00:21:03]:

  Should be coming to us, period. So to me, first thing you gotta ask is equipment they're shooting on. Are there techs on site for everything? And not just like, oh, yeah, we got like a camera guy, but he isn't. No audio. We got an audio guy, but he isn't. No lighting. They shouldn't be able to know all of it.

  Marnie Joseph [00:21:24]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:21:25]:

  You know, a lot of stuff, to me, I look at when I walk in, is this a fly by night? As in, is a lot of the stuff mounted? Yeah, we working with, like, something that was. That looked like it was put together or looked like it was thrown together.

  Marnie Joseph [00:21:37]:

  Right, Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:21:38]:

  There's built and then there's thrown together.

  Marnie Joseph [00:21:41]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:21:41]:

  And so when you come into Skutch, you can tell you're walking into a place. Like, we have a separate control room. We're not in the room with you. Like, a lot of these things that, you know, do. Here's my favorite. People will sit there and they'll. They'll book a studio and go in and go, oh, yeah, we don't have the cameras. Or it's just a raw, empty space.

  Marnie Joseph [00:22:01]:

  Right.

  Marnie Joseph [00:22:02]:

  You have to bring your own.

  Pete Joseph [00:22:02]:

  You have to bring your own equipment, your cameras, your back, your light. And then it's like, oh, my God. And I'm paying to set up at this time. Yeah, it's the one stop. It's making sure all the equipment is there. And I understand people won't know, but if you're afraid to show or tell what it is, more than likely there's an issue.

  Pete Joseph [00:22:21]:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:22:21]:

  I also think another one that people need to ask is where are your files going afterwards? So if you're.

  Marnie Joseph [00:22:27]:

  If.

  Marnie Joseph [00:22:28]:

  If they're editing for you, like, where. Where are they going? Are they using just talent off of Fiverr or, you know, people around the world, or are they doing this in house with trusted and vetted talent?

  Pete Joseph [00:22:45]:

  It's Big. It's big. It's so big. It's almost the most important thing where these go when I'm done.

  Marnie Joseph [00:22:51]:

  Also, do they let you, do they let you approve your sound and your shots ahead of time too? We get that approval right on camera. But that's something that they should ask.

  Pete Joseph [00:23:04]:

  So.

  Marnie Joseph [00:23:05]:

  Right.

  Marnie Joseph [00:23:05]:

  If you're renting a podcast studio and they don't have you approve your shots, it's terrifying. It's a problem.

  Pete Joseph [00:23:14]:

  Yeah, it's a big problem. And guys, it really comes down to just do your research.

  Pete Joseph [00:23:19]:

  Yeah, right.

  Pete Joseph [00:23:20]:

  And don't look at, don't look at reviews as much. Take the time, pick up. If someone's not willing to talk to you, then you got an issue.

  Marnie Joseph [00:23:26]:

  Right?

  Pete Joseph [00:23:26]:

  Like, yeah. And if it's. We, we do a lot where people book straight through the, the website and they don't even talk to us, we go, why is that? Because our website gives them every single thing they need. Frequently asked questions you can go through. And if you want more, by all means.

  Pete Joseph [00:23:41]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:23:41]:

  I've never turned down anybody that wants to talk to either of us. Right. About post production, production, pre production.

  Marnie Joseph [00:23:47]:

  Right, right.

  Pete Joseph [00:23:48]:

  It's. It's just knowing that there's someone there and if, if you're right, if you're with the right team, everyone out there, and if you go to the right producer of your podcast, they will become by default pseudo family. Because you're going to see these people a lot.

  Pete Joseph [00:24:04]:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:24:04]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:24:05]:

  So ask yourself this too. Do I want to work with these people? Because I'm going to see them twice a month. Do I really want to work with these people? Do they have my vision and my best interests at hand? And if they don't.

  Marnie Joseph [00:24:21]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:24:22]:

  Like that to me is the big thing and it's.

  Marnie Joseph [00:24:25]:

  Do they at least act like they care about the type of content that I'm putting out, about what the content is doing for my business, about how I'm using it?

  Pete Joseph [00:24:35]:

  It's very hard.

  Marnie Joseph [00:24:36]:

  These are all important things.

  Pete Joseph [00:24:38]:

  If you're not asking these questions, you're wasting your money.

  Marnie Joseph [00:24:41]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:24:41]:

  And frankly, guys, I don't want to take money to fix somebody else's mistakes. I just don't like. I mean, we will, I will, I'll take your money all day long, but you're not going to like it. Like when I, when you see what I have to do to repair something, that's. So it just comes down to make your choice. Because if you do it right, it can be, it can be rather affordable.

  Marnie Joseph [00:25:01]:

  Yeah, it absolutely can. I Think that's a good point to bring up, like very, very affordable.

  Pete Joseph [00:25:06]:

  Our.

  Marnie Joseph [00:25:08]:

  Package that we have for creators, business owners, whatnot, our basic package, you know, you get a one hour rental, beautiful three camera shoot just like this and a full edit, coaching, pro, sound, lighting, audit, technicians, running, doing everything. $250.

  Pete Joseph [00:25:33]:

  Find a better deal.

  Marnie Joseph [00:25:34]:

  Find a better deal. So if you, you can do it affordably, very affordably. It is just finding the right place.

  Pete Joseph [00:25:45]:

  Well, it's finding the right place. And then in hand in hand with that, it's coming in prepared. Yeah, right. Like we get some people that come and go, oh yeah, we're just winging it. And I'm just like.

  Marnie Joseph [00:25:57]:

  Well I think that's what we like to take. We, we want to take all of that work off your hands so that you can come in prepared, you can come in focused on your content and you don't have to worry about, worry.

  Pete Joseph [00:26:11]:

  About any of the, any of the bs, right?

  Marnie Joseph [00:26:13]:

  Is the sound good? Is the lighting, you know, are the shots in focus? Like you don't have to worry about any of that. Like how am I going to edit this? You don't have to worry about any of that. You just come in focus on your conversation and in 24 hours you have your content back.

  Pete Joseph [00:26:28]:

  You have your content back and then you can batch it and do whatever you want. And it's what I mean, be prepared. Take just, it's not. Take 30 minutes.

  Pete Joseph [00:26:35]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:26:36]:

  40 minutes. Like sit down, schedule out your podcast, look for your pillars that you're going to hit on whatever that information that you want to get out is there, put it into something that is just be bullet points. Bullet points that you can read on your phone. Yeah, just make sure your phone's on, you know, airport, just so we don't get any weird signals. But like that's something that's. We have, we have clients come in all the time and read from their phone.

  Marnie Joseph [00:26:59]:

  Yeah, right.

  Pete Joseph [00:26:59]:

  And they're not, they're just cuing themselves. What's my next.

  Marnie Joseph [00:27:02]:

  Watching their notes.

  Pete Joseph [00:27:02]:

  Yeah, what's my. And it's. It to me is the biggest thing that I think a lot of people just think that they can come in here. Yo, everybody says I'm so funny and I can just sit down. I don't give a shit if you don't have some type of schedule. Like we were working on this before, right before we started this. Like we had to. Where, where was this going?

  Marnie Joseph [00:27:19]:

  Right, right.

  Pete Joseph [00:27:20]:

  What was. Here's the bullet points we need to hit and go and you do stuff like that and you're going to end up with. Because it's all really about the shorts and the reels, right? So if you're not going into this.

  Marnie Joseph [00:27:31]:

  Well, at least for growth.

  Pete Joseph [00:27:32]:

  Yeah, for growth.

  Pete Joseph [00:27:33]:

  But if you're not going into this for any type of looking at that, going, what am I, Am I placing myself to get these good reels? Am I placing myself out of this hour podcast to get at least, you know, seven or eight.

  Marnie Joseph [00:27:43]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:27:43]:

  Decentral.

  Marnie Joseph [00:27:45]:

  Have I set myself up?

  Pete Joseph [00:27:46]:

  Have I set myself up for success?

  Marnie Joseph [00:27:47]:

  Right, Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:27:48]:

  And if you tell yourself no.

  Pete Joseph [00:27:51]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:27:52]:

  Then you have a serious problem.

  Marnie Joseph [00:27:53]:

  Right?

  Marnie Joseph [00:27:54]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:27:54]:

  Not a serious problem, but then you shouldn't be here. To my point, you guys need some more time before you come in. Garbage in, garbage out.

  Pete Joseph [00:28:00]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:28:00]:

  And it doesn't take much. Guys, like if you, whatever your concept is, pop culture, this or that. But we had a, we had a couple postmen that want to do one Going postal. Who knows what it's going to be called, but to the point, have your stuff. Crazy stories, this and that, news in, you know, news and whatever it could be, right. Like upcoming, whatever. It's very, very simple.

  Marnie Joseph [00:28:22]:

  Right?

  Pete Joseph [00:28:22]:

  Just organize your thoughts because sitting in that control room, we know we could tell if it's going to pop or not. You just know. They hit on certain things and they just know. And it's something you grow into. Honestly, it comes with practice. But if you don't schedule and actually put out some type of a. We call it a run of show. Yeah, you're.

  Pete Joseph [00:28:43]:

  I'm not saying it's not possible, but.

  Marnie Joseph [00:28:46]:

  Oh, it's possible.

  Pete Joseph [00:28:47]:

  It's possible to do it. Anything possible you could do it.

  Marnie Joseph [00:28:51]:

  Exactly.

  Pete Joseph [00:28:52]:

  But you just want to keep burning money. I mean, if you want, I'll take it.

  Marnie Joseph [00:28:58]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:28:58]:

  But like I much rather see you do real well.

  Marnie Joseph [00:29:00]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:29:01]:

  So that's. That to me is the big stuff. It's like, do they really care?

  Pete Joseph [00:29:06]:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:29:06]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:29:06]:

  Does somebody really. And it's like nowadays, man, you're lucky if you get anybody to care at the hospital. No one gives a. About anything. Like, so, like, how is it, how do you get people to actually care about.

  Marnie Joseph [00:29:19]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:29:19]:

  What you're doing? And it's, it's. You have to have someone that, that truly loves what they're doing. We love what we do. Right. Nothing makes me happier than watching people show.

  Marnie Joseph [00:29:26]:

  I love this.

  Pete Joseph [00:29:27]:

  I've learned new stuff all the time.

  Marnie Joseph [00:29:29]:

  Yeah, right.

  Pete Joseph [00:29:29]:

  I get to see comedians, I get to see people that build houses. Athletes, like plumbers. Plumbers, roofing Guys, Multif family, housing development. People like lawyers. Lawyers, doctors. Doctors what? Reality TV stars.

  Marnie Joseph [00:29:48]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:29:48]:

  Like we've had them all. We've had a lot. And it's, it's just comes down to. That's what, that's what's great about our job is you never know what we're gonna watch.

  Marnie Joseph [00:29:58]:

  Right.

  Marnie Joseph [00:29:58]:

  We get to watch other people. We get to listen to other people's.

  Pete Joseph [00:30:00]:

  Stories at its origin.

  Pete Joseph [00:30:04]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:30:04]:

  Which is pretty unbelievable.

  Marnie Joseph [00:30:06]:

  It's super cool.

  Pete Joseph [00:30:07]:

  It's the neatest thing ever. Like, it's just like, it's like watching. It's like watching TV firsthand, like watching something happen firsthand and you're just like.

  Marnie Joseph [00:30:16]:

  It is.

  Pete Joseph [00:30:17]:

  It's unbelievable. And if you don't get that feeling from the people you're shooting with, go shoot somewhere else. Come shoot here. If you also are shooting with people that seem to want to put their logo in your stuff, shoot somewhere else.

  Pete Joseph [00:30:31]:

  Yeah.

  Pete Joseph [00:30:32]:

  This is your time. This isn't about their logo in the background or their studio or their brand. This is about your brand.

  Pete Joseph [00:30:40]:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph [00:30:41]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:30:42]:

  So just remember that too. If, if it's. If someone wants to be all up in your video, if they want to.

  Marnie Joseph [00:30:48]:

  Be, I'm gonna fight. I'm gonna find that clip.

  Pete Joseph [00:30:50]:

  They want it in here. They want to be dancing all up in the video.

  Marnie Joseph [00:30:54]:

  If you don't want your producer, you.

  Pete Joseph [00:30:55]:

  Don'T want producer dance up. Come on over to. Come on over to Skutch media. But that's just it.

  Marnie Joseph [00:31:00]:

  Putting that clip.

  Pete Joseph [00:31:01]:

  We should. But look for that. This isn't their time.

  Marnie Joseph [00:31:04]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:31:05]:

  So be careful of that. If you see somebody trying to throw their logo into something or you know, hey, shoot. You might have. Yeah, no, Right. This is very non discreet. You could change it your way. Do what you want to do with it. We have three or four different set designs, chair colors, different things.

  Pete Joseph [00:31:20]:

  You can piece it together, make it yours. You can bring in different stuff to do signage to make it look almost like a complete setup.

  Marnie Joseph [00:31:26]:

  You can kind of brand it for yourself.

  Pete Joseph [00:31:28]:

  Yep.

  Pete Joseph [00:31:28]:

  But if anyone is trying to shove in their logo, get out.

  Marnie Joseph [00:31:32]:

  Not a good sign.

  Pete Joseph [00:31:33]:

  Run immediately. Like, it's, that's, that is not their point. That is not their place. You don't go to a wedding and the caterer is sitting there putting up signage going, hey, I put the food out. Just eat it. Right, Right. It's, it's, it's just not about you, caterer. It's not about you.

  Pete Joseph [00:31:48]:

  And that's what. Not about you people out there shooting these podcasts.

  Marnie Joseph [00:31:52]:

  Right.

  Marnie Joseph [00:31:52]:

  Not about You.

  Pete Joseph [00:31:53]:

  Other than this, we really, we don't, we're, we can do podcasting, but this isn't our, our places. And I'm very, very happy to be a producer.

  Marnie Joseph [00:32:01]:

  I love being a producer.

  Marnie Joseph [00:32:03]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:32:03]:

  Like this is. We do this for the business. But we went to an event one time and we heard overheard a guy going, oh, you have this. This is your studios. Like what podcast you have? Which one? And it's like, well, how do you have time for anyone else's.

  Marnie Joseph [00:32:15]:

  Right, right.

  Pete Joseph [00:32:16]:

  How do you have time to focus on like I.

  Marnie Joseph [00:32:18]:

  Right.

  Pete Joseph [00:32:18]:

  My focus is that. And like I said, I'm, I'm bashing some of you guys. I don't care. And that's where people need to, to know. Spend your money wisely because there's a lot of scams out there. Really there just is. Kids with cameras, fake places, you know, it makes it look all, you know, lot.

  Marnie Joseph [00:32:36]:

  A lot of podcast studio cosplay out there.

  Pete Joseph [00:32:39]:

  Just be very careful.

  Marnie Joseph [00:32:41]:

  Yeah, I love it. Before we get out of here, everyone do us a favor. If you're watching this on YouTube, hit the subscribe button. Ding. If you are listening on Apple podcasts or Spotify, please leave us a review. Follow the show.

  Pete Joseph [00:32:56]:

  Check it out.

  Marnie Joseph [00:32:58]:

  You can Visit our website www.scmedia.com Skut.

  Pete Joseph [00:33:03]:

  C H media.com Follow us on social media.

  Marnie Joseph [00:33:09]:

  We're at Skutch Media. Let us know like what, what if. What has your experience been? Have you tried to. Have you rented a studio before? Have you looked for professional production help before and gotten less than what you wanted? Send us a dm. Leave it in the comments. Shoot us an email info@skutchmedia.com. Let us know what questions you have, what experiences you've had and maybe we'll use it on an upcoming.

  Pete Joseph [00:33:39]:

  Sounds all sounds pretty awesome. Awesome guys. Thanks so much. We'll be talking to you soon.

🔗 Connect

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How Small Businesses Can Get Found By AI Search Tools

Introduction: Marketing in a Whole New World

The digital marketing world is evolving at a breathtaking pace, and nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of search. On a recent episode of the Skutch Media Podcast, host Marnie Joseph sat down with Nick Tapp, founder of Taptico Solutions, for a deep dive into how AI-enhanced search is changing the game for small businesses, especially local businesses here in Atlanta, but with far-reaching implications everywhere.

What follows is an exploration of their insights: what’s changing, why it matters, and how your business can thrive in this new landscape.

The Rise of AI-Optimized Search

Gone are the simple days of stuffing blog posts with keywords and racking up clicks. As Nick explains, AI-driven platforms like Google Gemini, Perplexity, and ChatGPT are quickly becoming the primary “answer engines” for users’ questions. Increasingly, consumers no longer click through to websites—instead, they rely on AI-generated summaries that pull answers from across the web.

This phenomenon, called “zero-click searches,” means your small business needs to orient its digital presence towards being understood by AI—not just seen by humans.

Key Takeaways:

• Traffic is now a vanity metric; conversions matter most.

• AI will only cite and surface your content if it’s clear, structured, and answers exactly what people are looking for.

• Traditional SEO isn’t obsolete, but it’s evolving: clarity, structure, and semantic consistency are now more crucial than ever.

Structuring Your Content for AI Discovery

If your website content is a random jumble of tips, stories, and jargon, AI isn’t likely to know what your business actually does. Both Marnie and Nick emphasize that clarity and unified messaging across platforms are essential.

What does AI-optimized content require?

• Clear hierarchy: Use H2 and H3 headings, concise schema markups, and structured data to “teach” AI what your business does.

• Semantic consistency: Make sure your business, services, and expertise are described in the same way across your website, blog, newsletters, and social platforms.

• Cross-platform alignment: Instagram, Reddit, newsletters—everywhere your brand appears needs to sing the same tune. This “semantic content web” ensures AI gets a clear signal about your business.

Nick offers a practical tip: check your AI visibility by searching for your business on Perplexity or similar tools. If you don’t show up, neither will your customers.

The End of the Click? The Importance of Brand Awareness

With fewer people actually visiting business websites, it’s natural to worry about declining traffic. But Nick reframes the issue: “Brand awareness is the crux of all of it.” If people—and AI—don’t know or trust you, it doesn’t matter how many site visits you get.

Brand Affinity is King

• Trust and recognition fuel conversions, not pageviews.

• Today’s brand awareness must stretch across multiple digital touchpoints, from podcasts to video, to maintain presence and credibility.

• Being cited by reputable sources (publications, podcasts, etc.) still boosts both human and AI trust in your business.

Content Creation in 2025: Blogs, Podcasts, and AI Synergy

An eye-opening insight from the conversation: what blogs did for SEO in the past, podcasts and video are now set to do for AI searchability. Automated tools can turn a blog post into a podcast episode and then into social snippets—all reinforcing your business’s semantic signal across the web.

Actionable Approaches:

• Integrate audio and video content to enhance discoverability.

• Use tools (like Fireflies AI) to automate transcription and action-item capture from meetings and podcasts, streamlining the creation of searchable, structured content.

Getting Started: Action Steps for Small Businesses

Change can feel expensive, but Nick argues that “the wise businessperson spends money to save time.” For self-starters, there are free or low-cost resources—getting familiar with AI tools (and treating them as collaborators, not just instruments) is key.

Start Here:

• Dedicate time to learning how platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity work.

• Subscribe to AI industry updates and set alerts for the latest tools.

• Audit your own business through AI search queries and adapt based on your visibility (or lack thereof).

Most importantly: don’t wait until this "trend" becomes unavoidable. Early adopters will have a significant advantage as AI search solidifies its dominance.

Conclusion: Embrace the Change, Stay Human

AI is changing how people find and engage with businesses, but it’s not about leaving humanity behind. As Nick and Marnie highlight, real success comes from blending human creativity and oversight (“human in the loop”) with the efficiency and reach of AI tools.

Now’s the time for small businesses to get curious, get structured, and get found, in Atlanta and everywhere.

Stay tuned for more insights from the Skutch Media Podcast and consider partnering with experts like Taptico Solutions to keep your business ahead of the AI curve.

Prefer Video?

Check out the episode on YouTube! [click here]

Timestamps:

00:00 From Radio to Entrepreneurship Journey

05:16 AI-Enhanced Marketing Support

09:15 AI Understanding Over Clicks

12:53 Optimizing Content Structure

15:59 "Brand Awareness: The Key"

16:57 "Rise of Zero Click Searches"

19:51 AI-Optimized Content Essentials

24:39 "AI: Collaborate, Don't Just Use"

27:50 Empowering Grads with AI Skills

31:15 Automation & AI: Set, Test, Verify

34:52 Excited About Fireflies Meeting Tool

36:33 "TaptiCode: AI Audits & Content"

• Click here to read the full transcript

  Marnie Joseph:

  Everyone, welcome to the Skutch Media podcast. I think that's what we're calling it.

  Nick Tapp:

  It's very catchy.

  Marnie Joseph:

  I mean, it says what it is, right?

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah, it's very in your face.

  Marnie Joseph:

  It's very in your face. So basically, yeah, this podcast is about bringing information on marketing to small businesses, particularly in the Atlanta area, as we are a small business in Atlanta ourselves. So we're using this podcast to bring you information on the things that you guys are wanting to know, the questions that you're asking about marketing today in 2025 and how that's different. And I'm excited about today because today I'm joined by Nick Tapp, who is the founder of Tico Solutions.

  Nick Tapp:

  That's right, ladies and gentlemen. And I'm doing this for free, so expect a download spike of maybe 12 to 13.

  Marnie Joseph:

  It's a lot, you know, it's a lot these days.

  Nick Tapp:

  What a windfall. You're welcome.

  Marnie Joseph:

  It's a lot these days. And actually that's one of the things we're going to get into. But before we dive in, because there's a number of things we want to talk about, why don't you tell everyone a little bit about yourself?

  Nick Tapp:

  Sure. So, born and raised in Atlanta, north side. Some people, you know, might say that's the suburbs. But I've been in in the marketing, media, PR brand game for close to 25 years at this point. Cut my teeth with Cox media over at 95. 5 the beat for those that represent and remember RIP. But then from there I went, launched 97, won the river with Dave Clapper, who is a partner in this current business along with. Which is awesome.

  Nick Tapp:

  He and I launched 971 the River. Then I got pulled over to 99X, which was my favorite station in the world growing up. So I took that chance and took that opportunity, did that for a while, got tired of paying some of my bills because radio is fun, so that means it doesn't pay anything. And got into sales, did some startups, started my own company a couple times and. And then fast forward. It's hard to encapsulate 20, 20 plus years, but my most recent marketing duties were I was working with gusto. Fresh bowls and wraps, which is love gusto. Phenomenal.

  Nick Tapp:

  Phenomenal.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Big fan of the lemon cookie.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah. Oh, me too. Oh, lemon butter cookie. Oh, so good. Yeah. So helping them, really, that was like. They approached me in 2019 to come on and I started as a, started as a consultant because they weren't sure they needed a full time marketing person yet worked there for about six weeks out of a three month contract. And they were like, we, we want you full time.

  Nick Tapp:

  So did that for close to five years. Grew them from basically three locations. Two, three locations up to 12, I believe is what we finished with. Stepped away from that. It, it was fantastic. The team is amazing there, but I wanted to do my own. Do my own deal, figure out what it was. And AI as a, you know, I was the director of marketing.

  Nick Tapp:

  I started working with a founder, Nate, and basically he and I were working on all the marketing stuff, he and I, you know, just together. But then we built out the team and it becomes management of the team and it becomes the meetings and then, and then all of a sudden you're in meetings and doing the admin work and not actually having enough time or bandwidth or energy to actually execute on stuff. And when I saw AI coming in, I was instructing my team. You guys need to learn this as much as possible. Yeah, we didn't have time that. We're just busy with our day jobs.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  So sets away from Gusto. All amicable is great. But really focused in on AI learning AI because I knew I would need to.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  To not only protect myself, but also because I'm kind of a tech nerd.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  So new technology.

  Marnie Joseph:

  So you wanted to get into it.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph:

  You're like, I want to learn about that.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah. I mean, I was finding myself like going on and trying to learn tools but not knowing how I could implement them because incorporating a new tool into an existing company is so hard. Right. So, yeah, so I was learning them just kind of like for myself.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  So the more I learned, the more I was like, this has a big future. And then, you know, they say, if you want to start a successful business, solve your own problems.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  And I was like, I would hire someone that knew how to do this for marketing, to come in and be the change agent, as it were, to come in and kind of see how we could use it, what tools we needed specifically for our use case, you know, and restaurant in that case, and then implement it and build it out, build out the architecture and then train the team, you know, and this is how you're going to use it and then keep them updated. New tools come out every week and I'm not joking.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah, it seems like. It definitely seems like that for sure. Yeah. So it seems like more than that, actually.

  Nick Tapp:

  It is.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah, it is.

  Nick Tapp:

  So. So yeah, that's. I started doing this, you know, we obviously help small businesses that need marketing. We Help them execute on that. So we're kind of a, an AI enhanced marketing team that if one of our prospects right now that we're on the proposal stage with, they have, you know, over 20 locations and retail stores and they don't really have a marketing team. So a lot of the founder led companies, the founder retains that because it's their baby and I totally get it. But they would need people to come in and you know, execute on the marketing, not just the strategy. Help bring their vision to life and their goals to life.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  But figure out the most, the most precise, efficient way to execute the marketing. So myself, David Clapper and Trouble Reese, the three of us are kind of a marketing department for hire, for lack of a better term. So. But we all bring it. You know, we have an MBA between us. Tribble's got the envy.

  Marnie Joseph:

  You share it.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah, absolutely. And I've got the AI.

  Marnie Joseph:

  But who has it today?

  Nick Tapp:

  Right now? I do because I'm on camera. Okay, good. Microphone in my face.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Good.

  Nick Tapp:

  So yeah, we all have our different. You know, Dave started, started a, a company called Scamper Van, that one startup of the year a few years ago.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  He exited from that and the opportunity for us to work together came up and I was like absolutely. And he was like absolutely. And then Tribble and I didn't really know each other, but I've been a fan of his. He went through reality, he's been on a few reality shows. He's very charismatic, very enigmatic. And one of my major criteria for, for hiring or bringing people in is do I want to talk to this person every day?

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  Right. If the guy is a jackass.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  Or rude or not fun.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  He's not going to, we're not going to work. So yeah. Higher weakness. But also hire someone that, that, that you want to work with every day.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Personality over skills. Any day 100. You can train skills.

  Nick Tapp:

  Skills.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah, absolutely.

  Nick Tapp:

  Can't train experience either. So.

  Marnie Joseph:

  No, that's true.

  Nick Tapp:

  All these, all these people that back, you know, when social media first came out, they were saying, hey yeah, my nephew, my niece can do that. They'll do it. They have no idea about the intentionality that is, is needed for strategic things.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  And it's going to be the same thing with AI. You're going to start seeing a bunch of people saying, yeah, well my nephew knows how to use AI. He's a computer guy.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  But they don't have the experience and the perspective to really put it to good use.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right. So exactly.

  Nick Tapp:

  That's the niche.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Exactly.

  Nick Tapp:

  We're trying to fill.

  Marnie Joseph:

  They know how to prompt AI to make a video that shows, you know, a bunch of puppies playing ping pong or something, but they don't. How does that translate to an actual business?

  Nick Tapp:

  Right. Is that going to help sell puppies?

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right, right, right.

  Nick Tapp:

  So.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Exactly. No, no. All right, well, congratulations on Tapptikov.

  Nick Tapp:

  Thank you.

  Marnie Joseph:

  One of the things I do want to talk about today, you know, we're going to get into a few different things, but first off is search and the, in the current kind of state of search right now, today, in 2025, as AI search becomes more and more of the norm. Right, right. You know, we're, we're seeing clients, you know, my traffic is down. And it's not just like local, small, local businesses that are seeing that, you know, you'll see on, you know, every day there's an article about how major publications, their traffic is down too, like by 50%. And so like what, what actually is going on.

  Nick Tapp:

  So, so hot take Traffic is a vanity metric.

  Marnie Joseph:

  I love it.

  Nick Tapp:

  The metric you should be paying attention to is conversions. Right. Because traffic is tire kickers. Traffic is, I accidentally, you know, put the wrong URL in.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Traffic is not human a lot.

  Nick Tapp:

  Right. Bots and web crawlers and all that stuff. So the change that's going to happen is, you know, tracking conversions is important, but with AI, if you know about Perplexity, you know about Google, Gemini, you know, you've seen Google, we've been doing this for a while. Wherever you show up on the Google, the, the search engine result pages, it doesn't really matter what is going to matter more? And obviously there's a, you know, we're on kind of a, a spectrum. Right. So we're early right now or the early adopters and then we're going to go to main mass and all that stuff. But as those things start to evolve, what's going to matter is not, not really impressing for clicks, but it is clarifying for AI to understand what you do.

  Marnie Joseph:

  It's gone from will they click to will AI cite it. Right?

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah, absolutely. And understand what we do. So top of my head, like if, you know I'm a plumber in Atlanta, I say what's, what's a good, what's.

  Marnie Joseph:

  A good term for a plumber?

  Nick Tapp:

  Well, yeah, like so, you know, plumbers in Atlanta near me, right. As opposed to a plumber putting out a blog post saying, here's how to unclog a drain. Here's how an Atlanta plumber unclogs drains.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  You know, so it's that kind of thing where this, the, the schema or whatever on the back end really dumbs it down as much as possible to the, the very grain of exactly what you do and clarify exactly what it is so that I can find it and then, and then bring that into the search engines.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  The search results.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  So as we're all consumers of media and we're all consumers of the Internet, when we do our searches, I know myself for sure is I just read kind of the AI recap and I, whatever, whatever comes there, I don't scroll through the, the search results.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Not anymore. Right, right.

  Nick Tapp:

  So, and then that's on Google. Right. Perplexity, Grok, chatgpt, Gemini. All these different search tools are going to become the Google of the future.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  Right. So, and a lot of this can be voice, you know, hey, hey, Siri, how do I get my, my plumbing unclogged?

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  You know, this is how you can do it. Do you want to find some local plumbers?

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right, Absolutely. Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  So planning for that is, is really more about clarifying. Exactly. And being very literal so that the, so that the AI can understand and provide the best results to the people that are asking.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right, right, right. It's. It's similar to sort of traditional SEO principles. Right, right. If you think about, you know, when, you know, kind of traditional SEO. Right. It's working the proper keywords into your content and thinking about exactly how people are typing them into a search engine and working them in that way. Right.

  Marnie Joseph:

  So AI, and correct me if I'm, if I'm saying anything out of, if I'm saying anything wrong here, but AI search is kind of similar, but to me, in my opinion, it almost seems like it's, it's, it's traditional SEO, almost like on crack.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right. It's got to be even more structured.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph:

  More the things that matter. Right. The structure, the speed. Right. The performance of how things are loaded, that everything is that things are tagged properly, that you're using the proper, you know, H2 and H3 text. Right. So it's, it changes, I think, how a lot of business owners and creators need to think about how their content is structured when they put it out.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph:

  And, and sort of the days of you can write a blog post on your website and stuff it full of all the keywords you want to stuff it full of, but if it's just a bunch of words on a page.

  Nick Tapp:

  Right. Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph:

  It's going to, just going to be Lost out there. It's. It, there's nothing.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah, it's just fluff.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  One of the main things with AI is also you have to make sure that everything is unified.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah. So exactly.

  Nick Tapp:

  All the same information across all the platforms because AI will pull from all of them.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  And when I say all of them, I mean your Instagram, if you have a Reddit page for your business, your blogs, newsletters, all of that stuff is going to be searchable. So you better be saying the same thing. Right.

  Marnie Joseph:

  We call it a semantic content web.

  Nick Tapp:

  Okay.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Semantic content, that's what we call it with our clients. Right. So that everything, your, your content is structured properly, cross platform and that's what's going to be, that's what's going to win in the AI search world. Yeah. Things like that matter. Things like being cited by major publications are still very important. Right. Like PR mentioned, those types of being quoted.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right. In places, those are still very important for credibility. Exactly. In the AI search world. So. Yeah, yeah. Nick.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yes, ma' am.

  Marnie Joseph:

  I want to go back to what we were talking about, about traffic being down and businesses being scared about that. You talked about conversions and you know, traffic being a vanity metric, which I love. It's, it's about conversions. Where does, where do you think brand awareness plays in there as well? Like how important is brand awareness now with this sort of traffic situation?

  Nick Tapp:

  Brand awareness is the crux of all of it. You know, trust is a very big thing. If people a don't know about your brand, what do you have?

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  A step further for me is brand affinity. Right. So as a marketing person, I always say that my job as a marketing person is to establish a trust built relationship with any, anyone that might need to purchase my product or service.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  And that is a catch all for a million different things come off of that.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  But brand awareness, yeah. If they can't, if they can't find you, if they don't know about you, they're not going to buy from you. So brand awareness splinters out. I know you got some good thoughts on this too. Brand awareness is going to have to splinter out across the digital eco. Ecosphere, if that's the right word. But yeah. So brand awareness will always be king, obviously to me.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  And just the way that you become brand or your, your target clients or customers become brand aware is the marketing, the branding that you do.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah, right, yeah, exactly. And I think that's one of the things that we talk about a lot and that we really love about what we do and what we can offer from, from Scotch is video podcasting is a very powerful tool for both brand awareness and AI searchability.

  Nick Tapp:

  Right.

  Marnie Joseph:

  If it's done right.

  Nick Tapp:

  Right, yeah. So there's a term that we're going to start hearing a lot. It's called, it's called zero click. Let me get it right, because it's so fresh off the press, is zero click searches. Right. So, so think about it, and I kind of talked about it earlier, but that's the term that you're going to be hearing more of. Zero click searches means that people will ask AI for whatever their query is and AI will give them the feedback, give them the answer. Never going to your website.

  Nick Tapp:

  Your website, it needs to exist, but it's not being. That's not the end result. Right. So traffic will drop for everyone because of the, because of this. And the goal is to make sure that AI understands what you offer. Because if AI can't. If AI can't understand what you offer, then no one's going to find you anyway.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah. It's almost like these AI tools are mining what's out there for the right answers for everyone. Right?

  Nick Tapp:

  Absolutely.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  And might be jumping the gun a little bit, but this is. We just talked about this a little bit prior. What blogs used to be for SEO is what podcasts are going to be. Right. So, yeah, so think about that. If you're a business owner and I just spit everywhere, you're welcome.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Don't worry. We sanitize these things in between guests.

  Nick Tapp:

  Dang it. So think about podcasting, audio and visual as blogs.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  It's, you know, it's kind of a pivot of what blogging used to be. Blogs are still important because SEO still exists, but tying them all together, putting out, like we said earlier, unified content that says the same, says the same thing. There are tools that convert your blog into a podcast.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  And it does not take you sitting down and doing it.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  You can automate podcast for this. So all of those things are things that we do, and I'm sure a bunch of other teams and, and, and agencies. I hate that word because we're not really an agency, but a lot of people will start leaning into that. But we are in the very, very, very forefront or in the tip of the sphere of all that stuff. So, yeah, that's why our partnership made so much sense to us and, and to you guys.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah, for sure, for sure. So when we say. I know we, we touched on this a little bit before, but like when we say AI search, optimized content. What specifically, like what specifically does this change in how businesses create content?

  Nick Tapp:

  So the clarity. Right, so. And set it this part out. All right, so I've got a list here and I want to make sure I don't miss anything because this is super important. And I don't think that a lot of business owners, I mean, maybe small, small business owners are doing, doing their own SEO and all that stuff, but for the most part, SEO firms and agencies will need to look into this and this will make sense to them. But AI optimized content, it actually means clear H2S and H3S, the schema markup being completely clear and teaching the AI in a very first grade level exactly what the business does. Semantic linking and then consistency across platforms. Yeah, so it's about, it's about creating a content ecosystem where a blog post leads to a podcast, which leads to social snippet, which leads to the AI figuring it out.

  Nick Tapp:

  So a lot of the tools that we're developing at Tapptico will allow you to write a blog post that will instantly automate it in an automated fashion. Create a podcast. Obviously you need a video podcast, which is why you guys come into play, and then break that into snippets to be pushed out on your social media content. And then that's how the AI finds you. Because if you haven't heard of Perplexity yet, by God, please do. They had a Super bowl commercial last year. So if you haven't heard about it, Perplexity is amazing. I have an affiliate code that I can't say verbally because it's a bunch of X's and and O's and numbers and stuff.

  Nick Tapp:

  But go check out.

  Marnie Joseph:

  We can put it in the show notes.

  Nick Tapp:

  Okay, sweet. Go download Perplexity. They have an amazing app. They do amazing things. They are updating very quickly that will replace Google. I'm sure Google will probably just acquire them because that's what those big boys do.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right?

  Nick Tapp:

  But you'll see, just do a quick search and you'll see that it will pull from dozens of sources and then it will link out to those sources if you want to do a deeper dive. And then not only that will, it will give you four to five next questions that the AI said, okay, if they're searching for this, they might also want to search for this. And it continues the conversation. And where you start with, you know, I'm looking for a new pair of boots in Atlanta. It can take you down a rabbit hole of what's in fashion for men. What size do you, do you have like, I have wide feet. So do they have special sizing and it will take you down and almost lead you to the perfect answer?

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  And in order for your company to show up in that, you have to make sure you have all the, all the T's, cross and the eyes dotted.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right, right, right.

  Nick Tapp:

  You have to be findable and easily understandable.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah. And most small businesses, their content is not. Yeah, yeah, not at all.

  Nick Tapp:

  They think if it's done, it's good enough.

  Marnie Joseph:

  If it's done, it's good enough. If it's out there, it's good enough.

  Nick Tapp:

  Right. And you need to post today.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah, yeah. And if your content isn't structured like this now, it's just not going to show up.

  Nick Tapp:

  Absolutely.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah. And if you want to test and see if your business is, is AI friendly, go to Perplexity and put in a search that your clients or customers or prospects would, would put in trying to find you. And if you don't show up, you're not showing up.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right. Now I would kind of want to talk about some common concerns that we've heard from clients. One potential client asked, like, what does this mean? This sounds expensive. Like, is this only. Like, I'm just a small business. Like, how much is this going to cost me to do now?

  Nick Tapp:

  Well, how much is it going to cost you to not do it? Just going to go ahead and put that out there.

  Marnie Joseph:

  There it is.

  Nick Tapp:

  The good thing about software and if you're, if you're not, everyone wants to learn this stuff. Right? Like, I know how to get a six pack. You know, I know how to get abs. Still really feeling. You know, I like pasta.

  Marnie Joseph:

  I just, you know, I just don't really want them.

  Nick Tapp:

  And so many people are that way about AI, A new tech. I just learned how to use Twitter. Yeah, it's not called Twitter anymore.

  Marnie Joseph:

  It's not.

  Nick Tapp:

  Right. Yeah. So they're still huge on MySpace, but that doesn't really help.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  So first thing I would address is, is it's, it is a, it's a must do for your business. If you're a learner and you understand you're a little bit savvy, you can go in and learn it. I would say just, just work with some tools, start getting an idea of how to incorporate it. The number one thing I would say to small business owners that want to do it themselves is don't treat it like a tool, treat it like a collaborator. Right. You are working with, and I'm not joking. The Smartest entity in the planet that has access to the highest level of information and data and all of it. So treat it as such and if you don't understand how to use it, ask it how to use it.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah, right. Say, hey, chat to bt. I'm trying to do, you know, I'm trying to do this, help me guide you. What's a good prompt for me to use to, to find the best results? So if you're a self starter and a self learner, it will cost you as much as the subscription fees, which is basically 20 bucks a month.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right?

  Nick Tapp:

  Right. Or you can do the free version and cost you zero. It costs you time. But I'm a big proponent of saying a wise or a wise businessman spends money to save time, whereas poor businessman spends time to save money.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  Obviously we've got budgets, so take that with a grain of salt. But for someone like us, yes, we do, we do have, you know, we have a price tag associated with us and, and we're expensive, you know, but, but we're worth it.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  So I would say if you're a self starter, go in, learn it. It can be literally as little as under a hundred dollars a month to do this stuff. You just have to understand how to use also evolves very quickly so you got to stay on top of it. So the time cost of that would be great. The financial cost, not so much.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  Did that answer your question?

  Marnie Joseph:

  It does, I think, you know, the whole, what's the cost to not do it? I had clients saying that they just didn't believe this Internet thing was going to last and it was just a fad. And so like. Yeah, so don't, don't get like that with this. Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  Same with social media.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah, exactly, exactly.

  Nick Tapp:

  The problem is, is once you be like, oh, this isn't a trend anymore, then you're behind.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  And then you can't catch it.

  Marnie Joseph:

  You're already behind. Right. Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  So we are, this is the early warning system. We are sending out notices to your phone at 3 alert to start paying attention now because it's going to have ramifications that ripple and I'm really worried about the, the kids that are in college and high school right now. Because I feel like a lot of those entry level jobs are going to be replaced.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  And I, I don't like it as much as anyone else does, but business is business, but it is what it is and bottom lines are bottom lines. And if you can, if you can build an AI agent to execute on your research for $20 a month as opposed to hiring someone and giving them insurance and all that stuff. It's, I mean, from a business.

  Marnie Joseph:

  What's going to be done?

  Nick Tapp:

  What's going to be done? So the next few years, when it comes to the, the new college grads going after white collar jobs in an entry level position, I'm worried about that and what that looks like. Maybe we should put together a learning course for recent college grads because there's an opportunity there for them. Sorry, off topic, but there's an opportunity there for college grads to learn AI. We can, they can learn the AI, we can work with them or they can learn the marketing and then very quickly leapfrog the people.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  That have been doing it for 20 plus years. Because they have access to this tool. No, they use this tool. Oh. And by the way, they have access to all the, the knowledge too. Right, Right. So. So we'll see how it evolves.

  Nick Tapp:

  I do think, you know, chat GPT5 should be coming out this month, if not next month.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  That's going to change the game again.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  So as it evolves, no one, anyone that says they know what's going to happen, they're a liar. So I'm not going to sit here and say that I, that I know what's going to happen. But we can set ourselves up appropriately and so can small business owners to be ready for what comes.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  And be adaptable.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  And be open to it.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah. So on that note, what are the things that you think a small business, what are a couple things that you think a small business can do to set themselves up to be ready? Now, what are some actionable steps?

  Nick Tapp:

  Um, actionable steps would be to get, to get comfortable with the tools. These companies understand that the learning curve is going to be pretty steep. So they are offering a ton of free, free courses, free software that OpenAI, which is the parent company of ChatGPT, Microsoft, Google. There are a lot of companies that put out free training for these things because they know that they're not going to have a viable business in a year or two if no one wants to learn how to use it. Right. So. So they are putting things out. I don't know if you do Google alerts, but set your Google alerts for that kind of stuff.

  Nick Tapp:

  I would subscribe to some AI periodicals. There are some amazing podcasts out there that do weekly updates on the new AI stuff, which is how I stay in touch. ChatGPT has a task feature which you can go in and I get daily Updates about. About massive AI updates that I might have missed just so that I can, you know, I want to be able to speak to everything. So every morning in my inbox, I get the top five things that happened in AI last, you know, yesterday. And that's something you can set up through ChatGPT. If you don't know how to do it, what do you do? Ask Chat gbt. How do I set up task.

  Nick Tapp:

  Task with you so that I. I want to get, you know, daily summaries of what happened and in my industry.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  And how people in my industry are using AI. It can do that. If you want to do it weekly, do it weekly. But the easiest thing to do is to ask ChatGPT how to use it.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  Because it's its own best tutor.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right, right, right.

  Nick Tapp:

  So I love it. That's what I would say. I would say just familiarize yourself with the tools. Learn how to work. Work with them. I keep saying tools, but again, I'm going to emphasize that in your brain, you should position it as a, an assistant.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  As a collaborator.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  It's gonna change a lot of jobs, but it's also going to create a lot of jobs.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  So.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  I think with like automations and tying tools together, that's the kind of stuff where, where you set it, you test it and then you forget it, obviously go through every now and again and make sure everything's working. But with LLMs, in any sort of like a chat GPT or strategic AI, you always got to double check the work. There's a term called one shotting, which you probably know about, but that's the lazy part. Right. So one shot means you do your first prompt, whatever comes out, copy, paste, you're done. Another term is coming out called slop, which AI Slop is a thing that you'll start to see. You know, LinkedIn is, is the big place for it, but you'll start to see it in more social media content where this is slop. This is clearly just a copy and paste it.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  And human in the loop is where we, where we tap to go. That's why we're here, is because having a human in the loop, which is what you're just referring to, is having a human kind of check it. Right?

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yes.

  Nick Tapp:

  It's almost like having, you know, a football coach and AI agents and your AI tools and your LLMs and all that stuff for the football players, but you're making sure that they're doing their job right. You have the playbook. This is what we need to do on this play. Okay. The left tackle didn't do the right thing. Coach him up.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Right, Right.

  Nick Tapp:

  So having a human in the loop to. To maintain quality, because without good quality, it's going to die anyway. So I would always thoroughly recommend that a human stays in the loop as much as possible.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Great.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Love it. Let's talk about what you got coming up next at Tapptica.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah. So fired up about our podcast.

  Marnie Joseph:

  I know.

  Nick Tapp:

  This is. This is. This is great. I'm excited about it myself. Dave and Tribble, we will be coming in here regularly to do some podcasting. And through that, Dave is. Is. He's my boy.

  Nick Tapp:

  I love him. He's my brother, but he is not tech savvy. He is actually one reason why. One of the many reasons why I want to bring him in is because he isn't tech savvy. So he really is the end user. So he's kind of our test, our guinea pig when it comes to communicating how to teach these things.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  So what we're going to be doing is this podcast. It's not named yet, but Dave will be interviewing Tribble and I probably alternating on that, on different tools and how to use them.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Cool.

  Nick Tapp:

  So he'll be coming from a very approachable. Probably the same way 99.9 of the world will be approaching AI.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Yeah.

  Nick Tapp:

  With the same questions. And we're going to be walking him through that and answering those questions. Tribble will be focused more on the. The content creation. So, you know, the imagery, the video, the. The 11 labs, the voice stuff, all of those things. Whereas I'll be coming more from the strategic side with. With Claude's Grox, the.

  Nick Tapp:

  The anything else, any of the tools from an operational standpoint, that would make sense for small business owners. And. And, yeah, we'll be doing some live demos for the video podcast, all that kind of stuff. And because things change so quickly, we're going to do these pretty rapidly and getting them out. But also we want to be searchable. So all this stuff we just talked about, we're doing that for our own Search engine optimization, which. Yeah. Answer engine optimization.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah.

  Marnie Joseph:

  So what do you think we're doing here?

  Nick Tapp:

  Exactly. Right.

  Marnie Joseph:

  We got to practice what we preach. Yeah, exactly.

  Nick Tapp:

  Yeah. One thing that I will say is I'm pretty fired up about. I use a tool to record all of our meetings, you know, live and virtual, called Fireflies. And Fireflies AI. It records everything. After the meeting, you can have it send out a summary, a full transcript, and action items based on the Speaker. So it's a full written copy of everything you just talked about. So you can remain in the meeting and in the task tension is what, what we call it, where you're like, yeah, and then we can do this and do this without having to stop and take notes.

  Nick Tapp:

  But then you can, I wish that.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Was around in my corporate career.

  Nick Tapp:

  It's insane. But then you can tie it into Google Docs or Slack and it will send those automated, automatedly send those into your internal task management plan for platforms. And then you can create asana tasks. So it assigns the asana task to the people like on. And this is all through, you know, a meeting recording, which is phenomenal. So there are a lot of really cool tools that will make life a lot easier for people.

  Marnie Joseph:

  That's super cool.

  Nick Tapp:

  Not just life easier, but also more productive and better follow through and execution. Yeah, thought up about that. So we'll probably be putting, putting together some of those workflows and putting those out there on our socials as kind of a, a free and easy way to level up your business if you can't quite afford us just yet.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Awesome. All right, so for businesses listening who want to, you know, learn more, how do they get in touch with you?

  Nick Tapp:

  So our website is tapticode co t a p t I c o dot co and you can follow us on Instagram, TikTok. We're just starting up the TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook. We're on, we're on all the spots. We will be putting out a lot more content. We're just now getting rolling. So a lot of the content is going to be helpful for small business owners that want to learn on their own. Or if you want to touch base with us, we can run an audit on your, on your business right now. An AI audit.

  Nick Tapp:

  You can hit me up directly. Nick@taptico.co or Dave@ Tapptico Co if you want to have a quick call, we can discuss and see if we're good fits.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Awesome. Well, thank you for coming in and hanging out with us. Thanks for having me.

  Nick Tapp:

  This has been great. I can do more if you want, like, but directly in the camera so it's even better.

  Marnie Joseph:

  Rubber baby boogie bumpers.

  Nick Tapp:

  You gotta loosen your face before you do these things vocal. You know, you need unique unite.

  Marnie Joseph:

  But that's good for like lymphatic drainage too.

  Nick Tapp:

  I don't know what that is, but it sounds gross.

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