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This episode is devoted to current trends in retail experience. Learn how to empower your consumers on this episode of Tell Me Something Good About Retail.  -----Key LinksDan Hodges LinkedinRetail Store Tours website-----Manifesting magic in store designHow does your retail environment reflect your brand? Implement habits that produce revenue resultsUtilizing seven habits is predictive of success Anticipate the future and innovate accordinglyStrategic advice for increasing engagementMore details at: https://www.retaildoc.com/podcast/404-dan-hodges-on-the-design-of-experience-retail Signup for our weekly newsletter here https://www.retaildoc.com/newsletter-signup-old Tell Me Something Good About Retail is a product of The Retail Doctor and is produced by Simpler Media Productions.

One of the things I'd like to do with my show is to do the occasional check-in with you, the working podcaster, trying your best to survive under conditions forced upon us by a stupid virus. And vice versa. I’ll start, and then I’ll share a couple of clips sent to me. Today, they come from Sam Walker from Sam Walker’s Desert Diaries as well as Thom Rigsby from 7 Minutes In The Morning.My turn first: Obviously, we're on lockdown. And by “we” I mean me, who always works the studio I’ve built in our home, as well as and my lovely wife, Sheila Dee, who’s been on Work From Home orders for a couple of weeks now. We’re both doing great, getting along just fine in close-quarters. The less-than-great news is that we’re both presenting slightly elevated fevers. But that’s it. And yes, we have called into our local COVID19 hotline and described our symptoms, travel history, and possible exposure vectors with medical professionals. They’ve advised us to do what we're doing: quarantine at home. So we are. We're reading to the grandkids a couple of nights a week, but via video. Much in the same way we’re staying in touch with friends and family, as well as how I stay connected with clients. Which is always the way I’ve interacted with clients, as clients of my firm are scattered around the world.Sam Waker reports lots of changes and challenges, from helping her clients struggle to grasp remote recordings, retooling shows for more frequent releases, to dealing with tiny “co-workers” who aren’t very good at respecting their boss’s need (read: their mother’s need) to get some work done.Thom Rigsby has also increased the frequency of his show, reworked the format of his program, and is helping his listeners -- mostly business owners -- not only get through the immediate pandemic, but also prepare for the bounce-back in the economy. Most encouragingly, he’s seeing an increase in downloads. Woot!I wish both Sam and Tom the best and express my thanks or sharing their thoughts. And yes, I want you to share your story with me. Send me your audio clips of how you're doing as a working podcaster. What does the pandemic mean to you? And how have you been impacted? Keep the clip to a minute or two and send it to me at evo@podcastlaunch.pro.I shall be back on Monday with yet another Podcast Pontifications. -----Share this with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/podcasters-powering-through-the-pandemicPodcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

We working podcasters have a responsibility to the people who listen to our shows. We have responsibilities when we choose to lend our voices beyond our podcast. And for those of us who help produce podcast content for others, we have responsibilities for the content we helped bring to the world.Ethics come into play for podcasters who interview guests. Yes, it can be oddly fun and entertaining when guests with kooky ideas come on your show. But where do you draw the line between kooky and offensive or harmful? What if you've agreed to appear on someone else’s show only to find out during the interview that the host of that show is a racist, crazy person? If you knew before, would you go on? Even if they had a really, really big audience?For consultants, would you work for a client -- a paying client -- who was putting out wrong information that could result in serious harm? Are you complicit in that misinformation spread?Maybe you’re only responsible for audio engineering episodes and you encounter something factually incorrect or unverified that could cause harm. Do you cut it out? What if you’re presented with an opportunity to use some grey-hat marketing tactics that border on the darker side. If these slimy-but-effective tactics get results, do the ends justify the means?Are you working against the cause of “making podcasts better” by letting content out to the world that, if not bad, then certainly is not good? What about the ethical decisions around advertising dollars? Big companies have their fingers in lots of different pies. How far down the slippery slope are you willing to go when you vet advertisers? As a listener, do you have an ethical responsibility to reach out to the hosts of the shows you listen to, telling them that you like what they have to say, but I just wish they said it better? Does that become easier if it’s less a quality issue and more a question of spreading misinformation? Does your silence make you complicit?I didn’t give you an answer to any of these on purpose. This show is designed to make you think, and only you can answer these questions of ethics for yourself. I have to answer this question every day for my own work and the work of my agency. I like to think I get it right most of the time. Chat with the other working podcasters you communicate with on a regular basis and bring up an ethical dilemma you’re facing and get their opinions. And, of course, tell them it was this episode of Podcast Pontifications that sparked the topic. I can always use a listener or two more, so please spread the good news.If you want, you can tell me about your thoughts on ethical dilemmas. I'm curious about what do you do? Send me an email at evo@podcastlaunch.pro.-----Share this with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/ethical-dilemmas-of-working-podcastersPodcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

In an effort to “lemonade” our current global situation, I’m declaring April 2020 as Podcast Experimentation Month. No, there’s no “official” proclamation from anyone other than me. But someone has to be first, right?Because if we’re gonna be locked inside, we might as well try some different things! Location-based podcast experimentsI saw a great post on Reddit that showed someone’s podcasting set-up their garden. You could also change up where you podcast from by changing to a different room or section of your house. Each area will have a different tonal quality on your voice. Or try recording from inside the car you haven't driven in two weeks. Assuming you’re not under a shelter-in-place order, go take a walk and take your recording gear with you. Just be sure to stay six feet away from people as you’re out in your neighborhood. Experiment with different podcasting equipmentGot too many mics you haven’t used in years? I do. So why not try them out? You could also use this time to get to know aspects of your equipment you might not be completely familiar with. Those settings and switches all do different things to the sound they record. Crack open the manual and learn how to use the equipment the way it was designed!Experiment with voices other than your ownKids at home make it hard to replicate your old kid-free sound? Bring ‘em on the show!  Incorporating their voices on purpose could be fun for them, for you, and for your listeners. If you produce a monologue show like mine, maybe you could try adding some additional voices, either as guests or co-hosts.Experiment with better podcasting softwareIf you’re using Audacity, GarageBand, or some other free service, now is a great time to download the fully-functional trial versions of Hindenburg or Reaper. It's also a great time to download trials of amazing plugins from Waves or iZotope that make your podcasting efforts sound better or be done more efficiently.Experimenting with your formatThat might mean trying your hand at making shorter episodes. Let's say, by way of example, that you normally do a 10-minute show. Do you think you can get out what you need in a little more than six minutes? Maybe you should just end the episode there and see what your listeners think?Great idea, me.In the meantime, share this episode with your podcasting friends who find themselves with some free time on their hands. Tell them that April is Podcat Experimentation Month. I can’t wait to hear what you come up with.-----Share this with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/april-is-podcast-experiment-monthPodcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy