KC Smith
Digital Marketing Portfolio
Team Pocket LLC is a media company that I created to make video game podcasts, websites, and communities full of great people who are as passionate about games as I am.
Its roots go back to 2007 when I made my first gaming podcast and website, The Pallet Tribune. Considered by many to be the first dedicated Pokémon podcast, over three years it amassed a following of over 8,000 weekly listeners. This helped us build a large and engaged community through our website, forums, chatroom, and Facebook group.
At its peak, The Pallet Tribune forums were home to over 3,000 registered members, creating over 15,000 threads and 250,000 posts. With the help of the site's co-founder, Joseph "Jowy" Romano, and volunteers like Justin "JV" Venture, we organized community meetups (online and in person), a "Trade Station," tournaments, art contests, and Q&As that were often incorporated into the podcast.
We also implemented features that were relatively new to forums at the time, meetups (online and in person), a "Trade Station," tournaments, art contests, and Q&As that were often incorporated into the podcast. We also implemented features that were relatively new to forums at the time, including a currency called "Pallets" which users were given every week. These could be exchanged to unlock features like custom signatures and account badges, or traded to other users for services such as Pokémon training.
Though still tiny compared to the global Pokémon community, The Pallet Tribune made a lasting cultural impact. As recently as 2020, the podcast was featured on the popular DidYouKnowGaming YouTube channel for a viral April Fool's Day joke we created. Even the most popular Pokémon Podcast today (PUCL) still pays homage with an intro inspired by The Pallet Tribune.
In 2013 I finally decided to make this kind of content creation a profession. So I teamed up with JV to create Team Pocket LLC. Our first show was The Pocket Players Podcast, a show dedicated to the mobile game explosion of that time. But on October 20, 2016, we found our true calling. That was the day Nintendo unveiled the Nintendo Switch to the world, and we acted quickly to jump on the massive new market this would unleash.
That night, we recorded our first episode of The SwitchCast. And though we had naught but rumors and a few scant details of the product, we made monthly episodes that quickly attracted a following more fervent than any I had experienced before. In total we published nearly 300 episodes, reviewing games, discussing topics, and interviewing many great developers, big and small. We attracted over 20,000 weekly listeners, with hundreds pledging support on our Patreon page, some as high as $50 per month.
Because of our early appearance on the scene, we were in a strategic position to dominate the Switch podcast market. In one of my proudest displays of SEO, I managed to cement the show in the #1 spot on Apple Podcasts and Google Play when searching for "Nintendo Switch," beating out even Nintendo's own official Nintendo Power Podcast and IGN's Nintendo Voice Chat podcast. We also were the top Google result for "Nintendo Switch Podcast" for several years. This was helped by the fanbase of over 20,000 weekly listeners loving the content, keeping us at 4.8 Stars with over 300 reviews.
To expand our audience and revenue sources, we began a Twitch channel for live streaming games. JV and I split our program schedule, each covering different genres and audiences on different days. I covered slower, strategic games, while JV specialized in fast action and fighting games. We also did a weekly co-op session where we played multiplayer games together. The formula worked, and we soon reached an audience of over 100 concurrent viewers. This all combined to form a robust network of weekly content.
To keep our community engaged, we posted "Community Pulse" questions every week on our social media channels. This ignited conversations among followers (over 1,000 on Facebook, and 2,000 on Twitter) in the comments and gave the audience a sense of investment in the brand, since we read many of these responses on the show.
But the real action happens in the Discord server. This is where over 1,000 member gather daily to hang out. We have dedicated channels to discuss the latest podcast, different game genres/series, fan art, deals, news, and special events like this tournament we hosted to introduce new players to competitive Pokémon.
We may have come a long way with Team Pocket, but many people still know me as "The Pallet Tribune guy." It's a personal brand that I wear proudly, because it comes with a following supports every project I have worked on since. I will continue to live up to their expectations of honesty, fun, and quality content.