Prologue
A Cat Named Roo
Three months ago, my wife saw a 14-year-old cat that had been put up for adoption because his owner had died.
His name was Roo.
We took him in. The animal rescue that facilitated everything told us he was the oldest non-purebred cat they'd ever placed.
Two nights ago, Roo became ill, throwing up a couple of times and not being himself. He's the first cat either of us has ever had, so we're still new to figuring out what's "normal" and what's not, but we decided, at almost Midnight, to take him to the emergency vet.
That was a good decision. He was severely dehydrated and needed IV fluids. But an x-ray and blood tests showed nothing wrong.
Still, he's not feeling well. So today, in addition to more fluids, he's getting an ultrasound.
What does a sick cat have to do with podcasting?
You make the best decision at the time, with the information that you have available. Sometimes you make a "wrong" decision, but in general, it's almost better to do something and move forward on whatever is next than sitting around and waiting for conditions to be perfect.
Conditions are rarely, if ever, perfect.
This is true whether making medical decisions for your cat, launching your podcast, or producing a single podcast episode – if you're waiting for "nice weather" to move forward, you're going to be waiting a long time.
An ultrasound exam is a weird thing. This one is $725 and, on one hand, you want to see something from it to know it was worth the money. On the other though, finding "nothing" is likely a much better outcome for Roo.
Then what? You move on to whatever the next step is. That's how we got to "ultrasound level" in the first place. The blood work and x-rays didn't tell us anything, we know something is wrong, so we're using other options to find the problem.
Same for your podcast. You're probably doing some things to get more listeners that aren't working. OK, so now you know what doesn't work.
Keep going!
This issue of Big Podcast Insider is about finding ways to get more subscribers for your podcast that do work. And if you follow the advice that's linked here, I promise you "more listeners" will be the result for you.
As far as Roo and his results, we don't know yet. But I expect to have more details by the time the audio version of this newsletter is released. To make sure you get it, subscribe here or call the subscriber line now at 615-488-4321.
Podcast Marketing
3,500,000 Subscribers in Six Years
This is a template you can follow to grow your podcast subscribers. It's about newsletter Morning Brew, but everything these guys are doing applies to your podcast and will help you to get more listeners.
Look at the simple way they got their first subscribers:
“In the really early days, so to speak, my co-founder and I, we’d go to clubs, classes, getting people signed up. We were college students. We had zero money to invest in growth.”
It's not rocket science, but you will have to get your hands dirty. If you're willing to do that, the listeners you want are there for you.
HINT: You've got to make it easy to subscribe to your podcast. For example, a QR code people can scan that will take them to a subscribe page like this one.
Even better, set up a "call-to-subscribe" hotline like this one >> 615-488-4321
Why is nobody subscribing to your podcast?
Maybe it's because your podcast isn't that interesting. Or helpful. Or entertaining.
This is a four-step process to validate your podcast idea and communicate its value to listeners in a way that gets results and will make people want to hear more from you.
Podcast Production
How good does your podcast sound? Check your audio quality here...
The better your podcast sounds, the more people will trust it. That's not just an opinion, it's a study from USC that says the quality of audio influences whether you believe what you hear.
But how good does your podcast sound? This is a cool, automated tool that will tell you.
if you get a low score, don't freak out – follow the advice it gives and listen to this short podcast with Marcus dePaula to learn how to make the most of the recording space and equipment you already have.
The Business of Podcasting
Read This Before You Launch a Paid Podcast (If You Want It to Work)
I've been hearing so much talk about Apple's new "paid podcast subscription" option that I felt it was worth mentioning what almost nobody is talking about:
You have to have something people want.
That sounds obvious, I know, but if it were obvious, we wouldn't see so many people coming out with podcasts (and other things) people have absolutely zero interest in.
Don't let it happen to you. Read this. It will dramatically increase the chances that people subscribe to your paid podcast.
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.