Prologue
"Don't you know who I am?!"
It's nice to see people having success online, but I always get a kick out of folks who live in a bubble and think the world is aware of what they're doing, just because they get a few "likes" on a social media post.
I recently heard the story of a well-known podcaster get mad at the receptionist of a hair salon because she didn't know who he was when he walked in.
Boo hoo.
Not everybody has to listen to your podcast (or know who you are) for you to be successful in podcasting, but if you want to go "big" with your podcast, you may find it helpful to expand how you're keeping in touch with listeners and marketing your podcast.
In this episode of Big Podcast Insider, I've got some thoughts on how to use email and texting to better connect with listeners and grow your podcast. I've also got a warning for those who are banking on a single distribution and/or marketing method. I've made that mistake in the past and you definitely don't want to be in that position.
Podcast Marketing
Should your podcast have a phone number? Text messages?
Right now, before you go any further in this newsletter, I want you to call me at 615-488-4321. It's an automated message, so don't worry what time it is – call it now.
Should you do something similar for your podcast? Yes, if you want to get more subscribers.
Believe it or not, most people have no idea how to subscribe to a podcast. Or many don't even know how to listen to a podcast.
So we have to make it easy on them.
It's also good to have an easy way to communicate with listeners that isn't affected by social media algorithms, email filters, or policy changes.
You saw what happened with OnlyFans this week, right? More details on that mess below... You need to be aware of this, even if you're not the type of person to be on OnlyFans.
But if you are the type of person to be on OnlyFans, check out my page there.
Why you should be using email to grow you podcast audience...
Like texting, email isn't going to go away. And once somebody has an email address, they're likely to keep it, unlike trendy social media accounts that come and go.
Here are three more reasons you should consider email as a way to market your podcast:
- There are 4 billion daily email users
- 78% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months
- 4 out of 5 marketers said they’d rather give up social media than email marketing
NOTE: The cheapest way to send a lot of email is SendFox, which lets you have a list of up to 5000 people for a one-time cost of just $49.
Review Bombing (and Extortion Scams)
There are people who don't like your podcast. You could give a million dollars to a homeless charity today and somebody would have a problem with it.
Deconversion Therapy (not to be confused with "conversion therapy") is one of those podcasts that makes a lot of people mad. And because of this, there have been some organized campaigns of people leaving one-star reviews for them.
Do one-star reviews hurt a podcast? Probably not as much as you think.
Most people can see through hateful reviews (like the ones mentioned in the article) and, in some cases, these "bad" reviews actually help a podcast to find its authentic audience – it sets the foundation for a great "us vs. them" scenario.
Still, "review bombs" are something for you to be aware of...
Podcast Hosting Skills
You Got Your First Negative Review? Now What...
I released my first book about 20 years ago and I still remember my first negative review:
"A joke – just like David Hooper himself."
Was it hurtful? Sure. But I've gotten a lot of use out of that review since then, which made it all worth any moments of pain it caused.
And it was somewhat true. I put together a book that was pretty sloppy. But I didn't know any better at the time.
I also didn't know how to handle "bad" reviews. Do you ignore them? Respond? Use them in an ad campaign?
Something I've seen a lot of podcasters doing lately, especially with negative YouTube comments, is trying to engage the comment/review authors. I've even seen podcasters go so far as trying to get people on the phone to win them over.
"I'm so sorry this video disappointed you. Could we set up a time to talk on the phone, so you can get to know me and I can explain why I'm not a scam?"
Stop it! You'll have a lot better luck talking to the people who "get" you rather than the ones who feel it's OK to unleash on you because they didn't like a free podcast episode or YouTube video. You don't want to deal with crybabies.
More in the article. I love #1 – Is this reviewer even real?
The Business of Podcasting
You got kicked off a site. Now what?
A couple of weeks ago, OnlyFans, a site known for porn explicit content shocked everybody when they announced they would no longer allow this material on their site.
Top earners make a million dollars per year on the site.
Imagine this – you're making a ton of cash doing your thing, then you get booted. You go from "comfortable" to zero, in seconds.
I've had it happen. I've had successful projects be kicked off both iTunes (music) and Amazon simply because somebody there decided to pull the plug. And we've all seen this happen to creators on YouTube.
Earlier this year, Amazon removed an electronics company entirely for some shady review practices.
Let me be clear – I'm not talking about crazy-ass, right-wing theories about "big tech censorship" or playing victim here. I'm simply saying that, if you're going to rely on one point of distribution (or promotion, or income...anything), you're taking a risk.
Diversify, regardless of the type of podcast (and other content) you release. And if you're on OnlyFans selling explicit content, realize you got lucky – they just announced they're going to let you keep doing what you do.
The Wrap Up
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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.