Former BBC reporter Guy Kilty talks to Simon Cronin about how he used his journalism skills to set up a business helping people enter the world of podcasting.
With almost a decade of interviewing and producing experience at the BBC under his belt, Guy now advises businesses and other organisations on developing their own podcasts.
After eight years in IT developing websites and then three years teaching English abroad, Guy later re-trained as a journalist, working mainly for the BBC in Salford on radio and TV shows, including Wake Up to Money on BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Breakfast on BBC One.
In 2019 he decided to use the skills he had acquired to set up his own podcast production company, Dap Dip, to service the growing demand from businesses at the time.
He says: “I'd started a company a few years ago which had stopped for various reasons, but I'd really enjoyed the experience and had learnt a lot from it and I'd always wanted to do the same again. The podcast industry was really maturing and there was more money going into it, both in terms of sponsorship and advertising, but also in terms of companies spending money on their own podcasts. I felt that setting up a podcast production company would be a really good opportunity.”
Lockdown Launch
Guy’s aim was to make original podcasts and help companies and organisations make their own branded podcasts. He initially built the business while working freelance before going into business full-time in the Summer of 2020.
The Covid lockdowns were a tough time to start a business but the upside for Guy was that with more people working online during the pandemic, they were more open to doing a podcast.
“Covid really forced people to work differently,” Guy says, “A great example is BBC Radio 5 live. Before Covid, lots of interviews would be done remotely. But with the vast majority of presenters, interviews would be done using radio equipment and the interviewer would go into people’s offices or have them taxied into the studios, but that changed overnight. The entire Five Live operation went remote almost overnight.
“It made recording podcast remotely seem normal. It made people recognise that you could create content remotely or from home and that's then carried on for a lot of people.”
From the outset, Dap Dip has operated like a full-service production agency, developing the concept of each podcast and then helping to produce and publish it.
Guy says: “We’ve found that the best way to do it is not just to take the idea and start recording, but to really think about the idea in depth before you start recording and get all the ducks in a row. You get your plan in place in terms of the target audience, the name of the show, the format of the show, the music and the artwork, You look at how you’re going to record it and how many episodes you’re going to do. You make all those decisions and create a fully formed concept before you start recording.”
Finding Your Audience
“What we always say to every client is it's about identifying who you want to speak to and making a show for them, giving them something really useful in every episode so that they associate you and your company with something that’s helped them,” Guy says.
“That's the whole basis of what we do with every podcast. It's about identifying a group of people and that’s not always customers. With Talk Talk, for example, the podcast that we developed for them was aimed at prospective employees, so the podcast was their employees talking about how Talk Talk had helped them.
“There was one interviewee who was blind who spoke about how they’d been helped to work by using technological tools. So, if someone in the future is thinking of working for Talk Talk, they see it as an inclusive workplace and great place to work.”
Other clients have included Interactive Investor which advises people on managing their ISAs and other investments. Dap Dip developed a show aimed at prospective customers with the target market being professional people with young families who were at the age when they were starting to plan for their family’s future. The show was called 'The ii Family Money Show' and featured Gabby Logan interviewing different people about their relationship with money when they were growing up, how they talked to their own children about money how they were planning for their family’s future.
Dap Dip also worked with Best Invest to develop a podcast. In this case, presenter Kirsty Gallacher interviewed people about how they set their financial goals as they’ve got older. Another podcast featured Oliver Cookson, founder of Myprotein, talking about some of the lessons he’d learned as an entrepreneur and providing inspiration to the entrepreneurs of the future.
The concept process usually takes six to eight weeks and by the end of that the client has a full plan on how the podcast will look.
Guy explains: “What you end up with it as at the end of the process is a comprehensive plan. You know who the target audience is, the name and format of the show. What the art work will look like. This is the music we’ll choose. You end up with a plan of action and you've got everything you need to start producing, recording, editing and publishing.”
His years of interviewing experience means he has a keen sense of the pitfalls to avoid when broadcasting and he believes the best type of podcasts are conversational.
“It's important not to try to be someone else,” he says, “It's important to be yourself. It’s encouraging people to be themselves. You need to be prepared as much as possible but without over-scripting everything. You don't want to make it so that there's no spontaneity, but you want people to feel that they are comfortable going into the conversation and they know what they want to get out of it and they know roughly how long they want to talk for.”
The Price of Football
In addition to advising people on launching their own podcasts, Guy also produces two original podcasts – ‘The Price of Football’ and ‘The Price of Music’.
The ‘Price of Football’, which has two or three episodes a week, looks at the money behind the beautiful game. The two presenters are Kieran Maguire, a football finance expert and the ‘go to guy’ for the media and Kevin Day, a football-loving comedian. The podcast, which was launched in 2019, has been listened to more than 10 million times and been turned into a book and a series of live shows.
“The premise was that Kevin would ask the questions that the average football fan, who doesn’t know how to read a balance sheet, would ask, “Guy says, “The way it works is that every Tuesday we answer listeners’ questions. There are seven or eight listener questions, and we've got a massive back catalogue of hundreds of listener questions to get through as they’ve been building up from day one. That’s a big part of the show and a big part of podcasting in general – interacting with the listeners.”
The Thursday episode analyses all the football stories with financial angles making the headlines, whether they are about the Premier League, the National League or the Bundesliga. The week is usually rounded off with a Friday episode featuring an interview with a leading figure from the world of football – recent interviewees have included the Head of the PFA (Professional Footballers' Association) and the Head of the Scottish Professional Football League.
The ‘Price of Music’, which works in a similar way to the ‘Price of Football’, looks at the money behind the music industry. The podcast is co-hosted by Steve Lamacq of Radio 6 Music and Stuart Dredge, who is Head of Insight at music industry news website Music Ally. As well as exploring the financial side of the music industry, the podcast also interviews musicians and record label businesses. The ‘Price of Music’ began early this year and is already listened to by thousands of industry insiders and music fans every week.
Guy says: “Both of these shows come from my background as a business journalist. They look at the money side of those industries, so they’re very niche. They don’t necessarily appeal to all football fans or all music fans, but we’re not trying to appeal to all fans only those who are specifically interested in the money behind those industries.”
Starting Your Own Podcast
If reading this feature has inspired you to think about launching your own podcast, email Guy at contact@dapdip.co.uk for an initial consultation via video call. He will then come back with a quote for the cost of concept development.
Podcasts: A New Opportunity?
You can hear from Guy in person at an event hosted by the Chamber on 7 October at Elliot House. The event will dive into the success story behind The Price of Football podcast and discover how it became a hit. We'll also discuss why having your own podcast can be a game-changer for your business and how Dap Dip can turn that vision into reality. Don't miss out on insights that could transform your brand voice – book your place here.
Find out more about Dap Dip at www.dapdip.co.uk