Prologue
If people don't hear your podcast, what's the point in making it?
I've run into more than a few musicians who have told me, "I'd be doing this even if nobody was listening."
At the same time, those same musicians were coming to me to help them grow their audiences, sell more albums, and get more attention for their music.
I hear similar comments from podcasters. And I get it – sometimes it's fun just to make something for the sake of making it.
But if you're looking to make impact with your podcast, you need people to listen to you.
This issue of Big Podcast Insider is all about how to get more listeners, including how to get clear on who you want to listen to you, where you can reach those people, and what they want to hear.
Speaking of reaching people, if you have podcasting friends who would be helped by this info, please have them go to bigpodcast.com/newsletter, so they can subscribe. :)
I thank you and my mother thanks you!
Podcast Marketing
One "Feedback Email" Changed Our Trajectory
Feedback is scary. And not all "feedback" is productive or helpful. Because of this, it's easy to neglect asking listeners (or customers) for feedback to help you improve your podcast.
Do you trust your listeners? If you do, consider this strategy. And if you don't trust your listeners, consider my "rebrand" thoughts below to attract listeners you do trust.
As far as how to get feedback, I've got a great (and free) tool for collecting it that I'm going to talk more about later in this newsletter. For now, check out this article and see what can happen to your podcast (and the business around it) when you listen to your listeners.
How to Create an Audience Profile, And Why You Should [+Examples]
Forget making an "avatar" for your podcast listeners. Way too many people screw that up.
This is a much better way to think about the people who are listening to your podcast and how you can reach them. Going through this process will help you create better episodes, attract new listeners, and keep existing listeners.
This process is quick and it's worth it! Only when you know who's listening to your podcast and how to reach them (emotionally and literally) will you be able to grow your podcast and help people with your message.
How to Use Facebook Ads and Organic Content to Build Podcast Awareness
If you've read my book on podcast marketing, you may remember the chapter on "arbitrage" – buying low-cost ads to get people to your podcast, then selling high-priced ads within your podcast.
When you do this, you can grow your podcast quickly and actually make money in the process.
But how do you start? This is a great article that explains how to advertise on Facebook for just a few bucks a day.
Consider it for your podcast! Organic search results come and go. Visibility on social media comes and goes. If you want a guaranteed (and quick) way or growing your podcast, paid traffic is the way to go. This is how 90% of top podcasts are building their audiences.
5 Lessons Podcasters Can Learn from Famous Rebrands
The concept of a podcast rebrand (or even completely renaming your podcast) can be very scary.
What if the change you make doesn't work?
25 years ago, I got out of a relationship my college girlfriend dumped me for some other dude. I remember thinking, "But we have almost six years invested in this!! We can't quit now!"
At the same time, a good friend of mine was trying to get out of a bad (er...abusive) relationship with his boyfriend.
I remember thinking, "Well, at least I've got a friend to go through this with."
But I didn't. My friend decided to stay. He didn't leave until years later. And by that time, it was much harder than it would have been earlier.
If you know it's time to change, it's almost always better to make that change sooner than later. And like a bad relationship, changing anything about your podcast can be complicated – it's never black and white, nor as easy as it might appear from the outside.
Still, if you have something about your life (or podcast) that isn't working, consider making the move.
Need support or help figuring out how to best do it? I've got you covered.
5 lessons from indie publishers on better serving audiences
Did I mention I have a book on podcast marketing? Hell yeah I do. And it's actually on sale at Amazon right now for only $10.95.
Although I'm known for my podcasting/radio work, I've actually sold over 260,000 books on my own. So I know a little something about the book business as well.
And there are a lot of parallels between books and podcasting...
As you know, my background is in the music business. We were the first industry to sell "digital goods" online. Then, once there was a suitable way to read digital books (Kindle) offline, book publishers followed. And then podcasting, audiobooks, television, movies, etc.
I say this to say that book publishers know about building an audience online because they've been here a while. Applying this knowledge in this article to your podcast will help you to do this as well.
Podcasting Tools
This "quiz" tool will help you build your mailing list.
I used to subscribe to several women's magazines, including Cosmopolitan. Once I had a plumber come over to do some work and, seeing a huge stack or these magazines on my kitchen island he said, "You must be married!"
"Nope," I said.
The conversation quickly ended.
I kid, I kid. I actually told him why I had all those magazines, which was because I was doing a lot of marketing to women at the time.
Ask any woman (or man) who subscribes to Cosmopolitan to describe it and one of the words you'll hear is "quizzes" – every issue has at least one, which will tell you all about yourself when you take it.
People love this stuff. And it's not just Cosmopolitan readers. How many people do you know who can't shut up about Myers-Briggs or Enneagram?
Want that same kind of enthusiasm for your podcast? Offer up a quiz. It's a great way to build your mailing list and this free tool is all you need to do it.
This tool can also be used to collect feedback from listeners. It's very flexible! And every time somebody uses it, you will be building your mailing list and strengthening your relationship with listeneres.
ConvertKit | Email Marketing for Podcasters
You set up a quiz and now have people who want to hear from you. How do you send email to them?
Try ConvertKit – like the quiz tool, there is also a free option to get you started.
If you're serious about growing your podcast via email, you want to invest in a good system that will make sure the emails you send land in the "inbox" and not the junk folder. A good email system also allows you to automatically followup with people and will make sure the people you send email to get the right message, not a general, one-size-fits-all blast.
ConvertKit does all of these things and will let you manage up to 1000 people for free. If you want to grow your podcast via email, it's worth a look.
The Wrap Up
Like this newsletter? Tell a friend!
My goal is to better empower podcasters to be more successful spreading their messages and make more money with their podcasts.
I'd love it if you'll help me spread the word about this newsletter by sending your podcasting friends to bigpodcast.com/newsletter.