I'm on the WatkinSofa up in Grantham and Chris Watkin turns to me. "Talk to me about the content secrets that estate agents could learn from DJs."
So I start where it started for me. "I grew up with a music obsession, and I grew up with a desire to become a DJ." By about 12 I'd worn my parents down. "I'd pestered my parents enough that I had a couple of secondhand record decks and a really cheap mixer from Tandy."
I grew up on old school hip hop like Grandmaster Flash. I used two copies of the same record to stretch a two-bar drum beat for as long as I could, so people had something to rap over. (There's more of that in Bedroom decks, 1987.)
What I told Chris was that at some point it clicked. I make content the same way I DJ. I'd started explaining it to clients and they liked it.
Where's the sample?
Most dance music starts with a sample, and you often find it by playing a slightly curveball record in a set. "So you're playing stuff that people expect you to play or whatever, and you drop one slightly unusual record in there, and you see if people dance." If they do, there's something in it. Could be the drum beat or the hook. Could be a bassline. You take it and build a song around it.
So when someone says they've run out of ideas, I ask what happened in their day and who they spoke to. Did they read someone else's book, or watch someone else's video? "Where's the sample?" "Because there's always a hook in there somewhere."
Chris pushed back a bit. "But this requires self-awareness to be almost having a radar of looking for things." It does. But the more you create, the more you notice. I mentioned James Altucher and his idea of being an idea machine, writing a list of ideas every day even if most of them are rubbish. For content, that's just the Notes app on your phone and a running list.
I also told him something a bit more advanced. "Occasionally I'll make videos that aren't for anybody else." When something gets a strong reaction out of me, I record how I felt in the moment. It's personal, so it's probably not one to put out. When I come back to the topic later, I can watch it and remember exactly how it felt.
Remix it, then watch who dances
Next you take one line from someone else and spin off it. I told Chris I'd done it with his posts a couple of times. "I'm going to give it my own little twist, my own little version." That's your remix.
Then you look at which songs people are singing and make more like that. For an estate agent, dancing might be comments. Often it's the phone ringing. I said that "sometimes the thing that actually creates the most business is the thing that's got almost no comments, no likes, no nothing."
Chris knew what I meant. He said he can get engagement any time he likes with a Rightmove pie chart. "But that doesn't make the phone ring."
Play your greatest hits
Longer stuff works the same way. Guides for landlords or first-time buyers, seminars, webinars. DJs and standup comedians test their material. If people love a few of your tracks, they expect them in your set. Yet so many people sit down to write a 90-minute presentation and think it all has to be new.
"People want to hear your greatest hits." If they're used to you always talking about something, they're disappointed when it's missing. "Now throw in the odd new bit, but don't make the whole thing completely new or it waters down your message." The pieces that work best earn an annual update.
When we recorded this, Kate Bush had shot to number one after a song of hers turned up in Stranger Things, and almost every DJ was doing their own edit for festival season. Each setting needs its own version too. I don't want the same mix at a beach bar as I do at a festival. Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and your podcast are no different.
Watch the full chat
Start with the demo
Chris said it all sounded awfully complicated. It isn't. "You won't find out what your best song is until you start singing it."
"The first stuff you put out is probably going to be pretty terrible. But at least you've put it out." Hardly anyone sees it while it's rough, and by the time you get good you've got an audience.
I'd just seen that for myself. After a scheduling clash, my co-host and I needed an episode quickly, so we put out a minute from each of our first 10 podcast episodes. A few people messaged to say it had got so much better. More relaxed, more comfortable.
So pick one platform and one format. A song doesn't come out with 10 remixes. "It has a demo." If the demo's good, polish it, then make versions for everywhere else.
At least record the demo and let someone hear it. Then see if they dance to it, and work off that one.
First published October 2022 on Christopher Watkin's Letting Agent Podcast.
