Tag Archives: listener

Attract Clients With Your Podcast [Part 1] – PTC 320

January 23, 2021 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Roger Killen and the Vancouver Business Network recently invited me to present to their group. I taught them how to attract clients with a podcast.

Over the course of an hour, these entrepreneurs learned how to grow a podcast audience and attract their ideal clients with their content. I thought you might benefit from the content as well.

This presentation was an hour long. Rather than doubling the length of my typical episode, I’ve divided it into two episodes.

COURSE CREATION SUMMIT

I have a few great resources for you this week.

When I built Audience Explosion Blueprint, I already had four paid participants before I even launched the course. To make it even better, they told me what I should put in the program to make it easy for them to give me money for it. How great is that!?!?!

Would you like to learn how to fill up your classes with paying clients before you have even launched your program? Join the upcoming Course Creation Summit FOR FREE! Experts will share with you their secrets for how you can create profitable online courses.

In fact, I will be part of the summit on Thursday, January 28th around 11:30a Central Time.

Courses allow you to do the work once and then sell it over and over again.

Get your free ticket now to course creation summit. The event runs all week. If you want to do the work once and sell it over and over again, a course can help you do that. Come learn how.

You can get your seat for free at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/CreateMyCourse.

LIBSYN

If you need a host for your audio, be careful of the free services. Companies that offer their service for free often have a difficult time making money. If they aren’t making money, they can’t stay in business very long.

If your hosting company closes their doors and goes away, your audio goes away as well. All of your work is down the drain. Find a solid company and pay for great service.

I am now an affiliate of Libsyn. My show has been hosted on Libsyn since it began back in 2013. They also have fantastic support to help you set up your feed and move your show if you need it.

You can get your first month free using the coupon code PTC at Libsyn.com.

PODCAST EDITING

If you are spending too much time editing and posting your podcast and not enough time trying to attract listeners or building a business around your show, I now have a team ready to takeover your editing.

There are three packages available. You can start with the basic service that includes simple editing, mixing and mastering. Or you can go all in with the premium service that handles YouTube video, promoting, SEO, timestamps, show notes, and more.

You can find all of the packages at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/editing.

MENTORSHIP

Finally, this is the last call for my Podcast Profits Mentorship. This opportunity is very limited.

This is a special no-risk opportunity for a very limited number of podcasters.

You won’t have to pay thousands or even a few dollars to join this exclusive group. However, you will need to be a great fit.

In this group, I will help you grow your podcast and make money with your show. It comes with no risk to you.

I am looking for 6 podcasters to join Podcast Profits Mentorship.

In this exclusive group, you will …

Grow your audience and influence
Develop a product or service to sell
Build a framework to make money with your show
Participate in a small mastermind to help you reach your goals

Membership in this group comes with no risk. You pay me nothing up front. I only get paid a commission of 20% when you make money with your show, similar to most affiliate programs.

To keep the group small, 6 podcasters will be selected from all applications. I want to be sure I have time to give each member the attention they need to succeed.

To qualify for the group, you must …

Have published 25 episodes
Be willing to attend a 90-minute call every week
Be willing to spend 30 minutes a day to grow your audience and business
Share with me your download and revenue data during the program
Allow me to use your success as a case study

The program begins February 2, 2021. Application deadline is Thursday, January 28, 2021.

If you fit and you’re hungry to grow and win, click here to apply:

www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/mentor

TRAINING

In this training, you will discover three ways you can use your content to attract your ideal clients.

You will discover why now is the ideal time to begin using your podcast to turn your ideal listener into your ideal client.

In this training, I also give you a way to repurpose your content across multiple platforms without adding a lot of extra work to your week.

On the next episode, I will show you the 3 big challenges most podcasters face when growing their audience and how you can overcome those challenges.

The 6 reasons podcasts don’t make money are laid out in the next episode.

Many people make podcasting more difficult than it needs to be. I will show you how to make it much easier.

You also will learn the three Ps necessary for successful content. These are secrets most podcast gurus don’t teach you.

That second part of the training comes next week.

LAUNCH HELP

If you haven’t launched your podcast yet, I offer a free mini-course in this presentation as well. You can find it at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/launch.

I also mention 7 ways to attract your ideal clients using a podcast. You can find that free training at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/attract.

Enjoy the session.

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

7 Places To Find Your Clients – PTC 314

December 12, 2020 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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If you are trying to make money with your podcast, this series of episodes will help you create your plan. Last week, we discussed defining your ideal target listener. Today, I want to help you find those listeners and potential clients.

This started in episode 312 where we discussed your 2021 podcast roadmap. That is the foundation for these next few episodes. If you haven’t listened to that show, I would suggest you start there.

This series of episodes will help you create big things in the coming year if you take action and do the things I’m putting in front of you.

I have created a workshop to find your money making idea. It is “6 ways to attract your ideal clients with a podcast”. This free training will happen on December 30^th. Register for free at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/growth.

Let’s talk about 7 places to find your ideal clients.

GROUPS

Social media groups can be a great way to get in front of your ideal clients. However, you need to obey the rules.

You cannot get into a group and become an instant salesperson. You need to provide value.

If members of the group get tremendous value from your posts, they will seek you out for more. One way to offer value is to reply to many of the posts. Even replies of encouragement help.

Every time you post in the group, you create an opportunity to be seen. You are creating top-of-mind awareness for your potential clients.

Studies show that a person needs to be exposed to a marketing message three times before it registers in the mind. Create frequency to the target by being seen often. Engage and interact.

Join 3 groups in your niche and offer value.

PODCASTS

Landing interviews on podcasts isn’t as difficult as it seems if you do it the correct way.

How many times have you been approached by a potential guest or representative of a potential guest asking to be interviewed on your show? I’m sure there have been times when you read the summary of the guest and realize it isn’t anywhere close to being a fit for your show.

I get these all of the time. It was especially true when I didn’t do interviews on my podcast. They would e-mail me about their latest book and say, “I think it would be a perfect fit for your show.”

Really? I don’t usually interview people. I especially don’t interview people about that topic.

That is the wrong way to land interviews.

First provide some value. Pursue fewer shows that are right in your roundhouse.

Last week we talked about your ideal target listener. One of the reasons we define our listener is so we can find them. Here is where that comes into play.

Find 5 to 10 podcasts that also speak to your ideal client. Actually listen to a few episodes of each.

Reach out to those hosts and tell them what you love about their show. Ask if there is any way you can support what they are doing. You might even provide a resource you love or a blog post from another creator that talks about a similar topic.

Start the relationship and conversation. When you have developed some rapport, mention that you speak to a very similar audience. Ask if you might get on a call to discuss how you might help each other.

Do this on a call and not over e-mail. If you are willing to commit the time to a discussion, you appear much more willing to help and partner.

On the call, find ways to support each other. This might be interview opportunities. It might be other ways. Get creative.

Work to land interviews on 3 complimentary podcasts.

GIVE

Creating content is hard work. Offer to help a content creator do just that.

You have great content that can be repurposed across other platforms.

Offer to create guest content or conduct an ask me anything for a complimentary content creator in your niche.

This should not simply be a reposting of something you already used. Either create something new or refine one of your pieces specifically for their audience.

By offering to create content for another creator, you lighten their workload and get in front of their audience. Everybody wins.

I first learned of Erik Fisher on Cliff Ravenscraft’s podcast. Erik would do a weekly segment on Cliff’s show where he would highlight a new tech resource he discovered, such as an app.

This added content to Cliff’s show while getting Erik in front of a new audience.

Find opportunities to provide your content to other content creators.

CROWDS

Empowering your audience to help you is a viral way to find new clients. Let your audience help you create an episode.

Dave Jackson does this on his School of Podcasting show every month. He presents the question of the month at the beginning of the month. Listeners are then invited to submit audio of their answer.

The final episode of the month is a collage of the answers Dave has received. Each submission gets highlighted on the show and is allowed to promote their own podcast.

By creating this episode, Dave helps his listeners. He gets great content for an episode. Dave also creates the opportunity to get his listeners talking about his show. “Hey, Mike! I heard you on Dave’s show last week.”

This creates goodwill between Dave and his listeners. It also gets his listeners in the habit of reaching out to Dave if they need help with something.

Create a crowdsourced episode of your own around your solution to their problem.

VIDEO

Do the work once and use it many times over. You would hard to create your podcast every week. Don’t make it a one-and-done.

Find ways to repurpose your content. If you start with a video of the show, you can then use the audio as the podcast. You can also use the transcript as a blog.

Now, you are doing the work once, you are creating the content once, but using it in three different ways. You can also use pieces of it on social media and in your newsletter.

People like to consume content in different ways. Allow them to consume your content in the way they enjoy most.

To get in front of new clients, repurpose your content on YouTube.

NEWSLETTERS

I hope you have an e-mail list. This is one connection to your audience that you actually own. Facebook can kick you off anytime they would like. You own the list of e-mail addresses of people who signed up with you.

Leverage this list to get in front of new listeners. The people on your list already know you. How can you use it to find new clients?

Partner with other creators in your niche. Just like you would include their segment on your show, include their content in your newsletter. They could do the same for you.

This should be part of your conversation when you reach out to partner. If they have an e-mail list that they send to frequently, swap content.

You can give them great content for their newsletter. They can give you great content for your newsletter. You both win.

Swap newsletter mentions with two complimentary content creators.

STAGES

The final way this week to find your clients is stages. I don’t mean physical stages. We are talking about any opportunity to get in front of an audience.

Summits are a great way to get in front of a new audience and build your e-mail list. A virtual summit involves various experts giving presentations around a specific topic.

People submit their name and e-mail address to get access to the summit. Sometimes you are allowed to offer your lead magnet during the summit to build your list as well.

Find a summit where you can give a presentation.

TWO-WAY STREET

Remember with any of these ideas, you need to give first. Seek ways to help the other person succeed. It will come back around.

If your partner knows you are there to help them, they will be more willing to help you.

It needs to be a win-win-win situation. Your partner needs to win. The audience needs to win. Then, you need to win. Provide great value and everybody wins.

Use a few of these ideas this week to get in front of your ideal clients.

Then, come join me at the workshop I’ve created to find your money making idea. It is “6 ways to attract your ideal clients with a podcast”.

This free training will happen on December 30^th. Register for free at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/growth. I’ll see you there.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Why You Should Clearly Define Your Target – PTC 313

December 5, 2020 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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There are many reasons why you need to clearly define your target listener. Today, I want to show you six really important reasons you should be able to visualize that ideal target listener before you ever begin recording an episode.

Last week we discussed your 2021 podcast roadmap. That is the foundation for these next few episodes. If you haven’t listened to that show, I would suggest you start there.

This series of episodes will help you create big things in the coming year if you take action and do the things I’m putting in front of you.

To help you clearly define your ideal target listener, download my Listener Development worksheet. www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/listener.

This tool will help you be able to visualize that single individual you are talking with on every episode. You content will be much more powerful and connect in a deeper way.

FIND THEM

By clearly defining your ideal target listener, you know where to find them. This is the first benefit.

When you are trying to grow your audience, you need to get in front of people who are not aware of you and your show. You need to let them get to know you. Then, you need to invite them to listen.

It is difficult to get in front of the right people if you don’t know who they are.

Imagine if I wanted you to market a new vehicle that has been developed by a new auto company. How would you begin to market it?

I believe you would begin by trying to figure out the typical driver of a vehicle like this. That driver would be different if it was a pickup truck or high end sports car or an entry level sedan.

Marketing for a Porche Carrera would be much different than advertising for a Ford Fusion. You would look for those ideal customers in different places.

The same is true for your podcast. Know your audience, so you can find them.

HELP THEM

By knowing your ideal target listener, you know how to help them. When you clearly define your listener, you know exactly where they struggle and how you can help them solve those problems.

If you are in the finance niche, the financial problems of a 23-year-old just out of college are probably much different than the problems of a 58-year-old empty nester.

When you can speak directly to those problems, your content becomes much stronger and more powerful. It is like you are reading my mind.

Now you can attract those people to your podcast and offer them additional help with your products and services.

You can’t help everyone. You want to help the right people.

RESULTS

That brings us to the third benefit of defining your ideal target listener. When you know exactly who you are speaking to, you know you can get them results.

If you help people with an online business for instance, you need to decide where they are in the life cycle of that business. Are you helping people who are just starting and trying to make their first dollar? Or, are you helping people who are making $100,000 per year and are trying to scale to $1 million?

Those are much different conversations. When coaches and information experts already have a podcast and have produced at least 25 episodes, I know I can help them grow their audience and drive their business. I’ve done it and know it works.

Does that mean my content isn’t helpful for brand new podcasters or those who do it as a hobby? Not at all. The info is still helpful. But, it is most helpful for those information experts like coaches and speakers who are ready to take it up a notch.

Define your ideal target listener based on who you know you can help.

CONTENT

The fourth benefit of defining your ideal target listener is your content filter. When you know your listener, you know what content they want.

Creating content every week for your show becomes easy when you have defined your listener. You have determined their wants, needs, fears and goals. You know their struggles and problems.

Speaking directly to those areas each week becomes so much easier when you have them defined. Again, your content is much more powerful.

As we discussed earlier, if you are in the finance niche, the financial problems of a 23-year-old just out of college are probably much different than the problems of a 58-year-old empty nester. The same is true for their goals, fears and wants.

You can create a content calendar all around these areas when you have clearly defined your listener.

When you don’t have a clear picture, you start saying things like, “If you’re new, you should do A. But if you’ve been doing it for awhile, you should do B.” Now you are trying to be all things to all people. In reality, you’re serving no one well.

Pick a target so you can hit it with solid content.

CONTEXT

Once you have the content, you need the context. This is the fifth benefit of defining your ideal target listener.

With a clear definition of your ideal target listener, you understand the context in which your content needs to be presented.

I often hear the big internet marketing gurus talk about going to a conference in the Philippines or when they were at their $100,000 mastermind that only meets twice a year at Expert X’s beach house in the Bahama’s.

Those are people who either don’t understand their target audience or their target audience is other big time gurus and not renegades like us. The context is all wrong for people trying to find their way and make their first dollar online.

The first dollar people want to hear from the husband and wife who did it around their passion and have the message of “you can, too.” That is context.

If I know you are trying to create a side hustle around your podcast, I can’t talk about flying to New York and spending ten thousand dollars to do a 30-minute interview with some famous person. It is the wrong context.

Know your ideal listener, so you can create the right context.

STORIES

Finally, when you know your ideal target listener, you know how to frame your stories.

Stories allow your listener to get to know, like and trust you. Through your stories, you listener will know what you believe and value. You trust them with details of your life. They trust you in return.

When your stories elicit that “me, too” response from your listener, they stir emotion. That’s powerful.

In his book Storyworthy, Matthew Dicks teaches the art of storytelling. Matthew is a professional storyteller who has competes in and wins the Moth StorySLAM. These are open-mic storytelling competitions. He is fantastic at telling stories.

Matthew has died twice in his life and had to be brought back to life. He has stories he tells about these two instances. However, neither story is about dying.

One story in particular talks about how his parents don’t come to the hospital immediately after the crash. Instead, they check on the car first. He feels all alone. He then realizes all of his friends have come to the hospital to ensure he is ok and provide their support, and that is the best gift anyone could receive.

Matthew says the story isn’t about dying, because the audience would never say, “Oh yeah, I remember the time I died too.” That doesn’t happen.

Instead, the story is about feeling all alone in the world and then his friends supporting him when he least expects it. Listeners are much more likely to say, “Yeah, I’ve been there. I’ve felt all alone before.”

That is the power of knowing your audience and framing your stories. The fact that his heart stops catches your attention. But loneliness and friendship stir the real emotion in his listeners.

GET STARTED

There they are. Six reasons you really, really need to define your ideal target listener before you record your next episode. Know as much about that person as you possibly can.

If you haven’t listened to episode 312 from last week, go check it out. We talk about your 2021 podcast roadmap.

This series of episodes will help you create big things in the coming year if you take action and do the things I’m putting in front of you.

To help you clearly define your ideal target listener, download my Listener Development worksheet. www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/listener.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Your 2021 Podcast Roadmap – PTC 312

November 28, 2020 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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When podcasters come to me for guidance, we start with a free strategy session to see if and how I can be of help. During this session, we develop a roadmap for the next 12 months. If it then makes sense to work together, we discuss what that could look like.

Today, I want to help you create your 2021 roadmap. This roadmap will be a fill-in-the-blank roadmap, because you and I aren’t sitting down to discuss your specific show and goals. You’ll need to do a lot of the work on your own.

YOUR STRATEGY SESSION

If you have created at least 25 episodes and would like to apply for a free strategy session with me, visit www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching. You can apply right there.

If you are disappointed with all of the work you’ve been putting into your show but seeing very little ROI, and you would like 2021 to be different – the year you begin making money with your podcast – apply for your strategy session. We’ll see what is possible.

This could be your opportunity. I’ll show you how you can get more reach and visibility. Plus, I’ll show you how to leverage the work you’ve already done to grow a business around your show.

www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching.

Let’s talk about your roadmap. Get a sheet of paper and a pen.

Yes, go old school. The physical act of writing does something to the brain as you are creating. It activates the brain in a way that typing does not.

FOUR STEPS ROADMAP

There are four steps to create your roadmap. We will go through each.

On your paper, draw a line straight down the middle of the paper from top to bottom. Now, draw a line right across the middle of the paper from side to side.

You should now have four quadrants on the page. We will fill each of the four quadrants with different ideas and evaluations for your roadmap.

TOPIC

In the upper left corner, write topic. This is the first step.

To be a podcast success, you need to create your show around a topic that you love. This needs to be something you can talk about for days and never get tired.

I know. You’re saying, “Erik, of course this is my favorite topic. Why else would I be doing the show?”

Well, maybe. I’m not talking about a topic you think is cool. This needs to be a topic that really gets you excited. People should be saying, “Enough already – can’t you talk about something else?”

You talk about this all the time. You eat, drink and sleep this topic.

Here is how we find out. Set a timer for 10 minutes. In the topic quadrant, write as many show topic ideas as you can. Don’t evaluate the topics. Just write as many ideas as you can in 10 minutes.

Pause the episode, set the timer and write. Then come back and push play.

HOW MANY TOPICS?

Ok, count the number of topic ideas you’ve created. If you wrote down over 50 ideas, you are on the right track. This topic comes easy to you.

If you created between 35 and 50 topics, there is a good chance you have a topic you love. Your creativity or self evaluation might be holding back the ideas. Still, 35 is pretty good.

If you were able to only come up with 20 to 35 topic ideas, you may want to try this exercise again. You are walking on thin ice. Struggling to come up with topic ideas will create what appears to be writer’s block.

Passion kills writer’s block. If you love the topic, you have no issues creating topic ideas.

Think about what new people in this niche need to know. Discuss terms, resources, thought leaders, how to get started, where to find the best tools and other similar topic ideas. Now, try the exercise again and see what happens. If you still struggle, you should consider a different topic.

Now if you came up with fewer than 20 topic ideas, you are in the wrong niche. I don’t want to be the one to call your baby ugly. However, you are going to struggle every week trying to create your show.

If you have trouble deciding were to start, you won’t start. Your podcast will fade away quickly. Then you are going to proclaim podcasting doesn’t work. No, your topic didn’t work for you. Don’t start down a path that you don’t love. It is too much work.

BUILD THE AUDIENCE

In the upper right quadrant, write audience. Once you have a topic, you need to build an audience.

When I have a strategy session with a podcaster, we talk about goals. Most of the time the goals will always include “grow my audience”.

You need to understand that size is relative. It is more important to have a passionate audience who wants what you have to offer rather than a big yet passive audience.

People search out the Apple store. Those fans are passionate. Many more people shop at WalMart. However, very few people have a WalMart sticker on the back window of their car or on their laptop.

You want to create fans who will become clients. Lots of listeners are great. Lots of listeners who will buy your stuff is even better.

According to Canalys Worldwide PC Analysis in October 2019, Apple ranked 4^th with 7.8% of the world computer market behind Lenovo, HP and Dell. Apple was almost 10% behind number 3 Dell.

When was the last time you saw anyone lining up outside a store waiting for the new HP to be released?

Dell Technologies has a market cap of $52 billion. Apple’s market cap is almost $2 trillion. Now, Apple phones drive that cap. But it is four times bigger.

FIND YOUR IDEAL CLIENTS

You want to find people who want everything you have. In that upper right quadrant, start listing people who are already talking to your ideal clients. This could be podcasters, bloggers, YouTube creators, event coordinators, associations, manufacturers, magazines, radio shows, people with big e-mail lists and anyone else talking to your potential customers.

Where can you find these people? Where do they hang out online? How can you get in front of your ideal clients?

In order to build your audience, you need to find people who aren’t aware of you and your show. Then, invite them to come listen.

SOLVE A PROBLEM

After you have built the audience, you need to create something of value for them so they can give you money. Both of you need to win here.

The best way to offer value to your audience is to help them solve a problem. What are their struggles? What hurdles are they trying to overcome?

When you have a topic that you love, finding their problems shouldn’t be too difficult. You’ve been there. You have been through the struggles.

Determine how you can help your tribe overcome those struggles. Then, create something to sell around your solution.

Solve one specific problem for your listener.

If you know exactly who you help and what you help them do, your single solution should be clear. You can now find those people and offer to help.

In the lower left quadrant, write problems. Now list all of the problems that exist for your ideal customer. Remember, you only need to solve one. Let’s find the right one. The one most would be willing to pay money to solve.

As you brainstorm problems, think of the things people always ask you about. How do you do this or how do you fix that? Where are they struggling?

What questions do you see most often in Facebook groups or online forums? What problems are people in your niche complaining about most often?

These are all signs of problems that need to be solved, and you’re just the person to do it. Find your solution.

SELL IT

Your final step is to get people to buy your solution. In the lower right quadrant, write system.

There are three parts to your system. How can you promote your solution? Where will you sell it? How will you deliver it?

Those are the three things you need to determine. Create a system to promote, sell and delivering your solution.

If you are selling a physical product, many Amazon is right for you. Maybe you’ve created a course and something like Teachable is your delivery.

In this quadrant, write your solution to these three parts. You need ways to promote your solution. You will definitely mention it on the podcast. Where else can you promote it? What affiliate partners might be able to promote it for you? List all of your ideas.

Write down how you will sell your solution. Is there anything you need to learn to do this? Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Finally, how will you deliver your solution?

Stay focused on one problem and one solution to that problem. You can’t create multiple streams of income until you have the first one flowing first.

START YOUR ROADMAP

Those are your four steps to your 2021 podcast roadmap. Get started today. If you want different results in the next 12 months, you need to start doing different things. Now is your time.

If you would like some help creating your specific plan, let’s talk.

If you have created at least 25 episodes and would like to apply for a free strategy session with me, visit www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching. You can apply right there.

This could be your opportunity. I’ll show you how you can get more reach and visibility. Plus, I’ll show you how to leverage the work you’ve already done to grow a business around your show.

www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

The 3 Secrets to Grow Your Podcast Audience – PTC 286

June 13, 2020 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Almost every podcaster who comes to me for coaching has the same struggle. They want to know how to grow your podcast audience. There are 3 keys to grow your audience.

There are many gurus and YouTube videos that will tell you have to drive more traffic and get more listeners. What they don’t tell you is how to keep those listeners.

If you have listeners coming in the front door, but you are doing nothing to keep them, your audience won’t grow. It is like bringing people into your party, but not having any food or entertainment to keep them. Why would somebody stay at your lame party? It is the same with your podcast.

AUDIENCE EXPLOSION BLUEPRINT

I am launching a new coaching program to help you grow your audience. This will teach you what all the other gurus miss. And since it is new, you can get in at a great deal.

The program is called Audience Explosion Blueprint. It is a step-by-step live coaching program to explode your podcast audience in 6 weeks or less.

You can get the full details and enroll at PodcastTalentCoach.com/audience.

Do you want to build a podcast audience that you can monetize?

Would you like to build the right audience in a way that doesn’t take hours of your time every day?

Do you want to design a marketing plan around your strengths that fits your personalityand defeats the Impostor Syndrome?

Audience Explosion Blueprint is a program designed around my 30 years of experience building successful radio stations, coaching talent, developing marketing campaigns and growing audiences. Unlike all the gurus on the internet only teaching you how to get new listeners, this program will help you attract the right audience and keep them listening by developing your show and personality like a radio star.

THE PROGRAM

In this program you will get access to:

6 Live group coaching/training calls including Q&A sessions to plan, create and launch your audience growth blueprint for your podcast, including access to the recordings of the presentations in case you missed any live sessions.
Lifetime access to a full, online training portal containing worksheets and other tools to show you how to organize your blueprint, execute your plan in just a few minutes a day, and methodically grow your downloads (including all updates).
Transcription and audio recordings of the modules.
Life time access to Audience Explosion Blueprint Facebook group to help you continue to develop new audience attraction ideas.
Daily e-mail reminders during the 6 weeks of coaching to help you consistently take action and execute your plan.
1 one-on-one call with me to ensure your plan is clearly defined and efficient.

By the end of this program you will:

Have a clear, step-by-step plan to grow your audience of ideal listeners
Consistently attract the right listeners to your podcast every week
Execute your plan in minutes a day
Have more time to spend creating great content and monetizing your show
Have more time to spend with your clients, building your business, and enjoying life

WHO IS IT FOR?

This program is for a podcaster who is willing to consistently take action a few minutes each day to work to grow your audience by following a plan. This program is not for those who expect to build their audience to thousands of listeners in just a few days, like a “get rich quick” scheme.

Because this is the first time I am launching this, you get in for half price. It is a steal for six weeks of training. Registration closes on June 22^nd, because we need to start the coaching. Sign up today before it is too late.

Get enrolled at PodcastTalentCoach.com/audience.

THRE THREE LEGS OF THE STOOL

You see, building your audience requires you to attract new listeners who are not already familiar with you. Then, it also requires you to keep those listeners coming back for more to grow your audience.

You need to build awareness, get them to come listen to your show, and keep them coming back episode after episode while you go find even more listeners. If you miss one piece, your growth plan falls apart.

There are three legs to the stool for your audience growth plan. Those three legs are personality, programming and promotion. Without one of the legs, your stool won’t stand up.

It is not enough to simply bring people to the show. You need to keep them listening.

The promotion creates the awareness. Your programming creates great content that attracts them to the show. When you add your personality to the information, the content becomes unique and keeps people coming back.

YOUR NICHE

How many people have a podcast in your niche? Let’s say you create a podcast around making money online. How many podcasts talk about creating an online course? Probably thousands.

There are three steps to making money with an online course. Determine your expertise, create your course, and get people to buy it.

All of the experts have a little difference in their program. Russell Brunson is all about funnels and the marketing. David Siteman Garland talks about accelerating your creation process. Jeff Walkertalks about launching the course and the promotion piece.

Each of those experts talk about a piece of the process. But, it is all about making money online.

What makes each of them different? It is their personality.

Russell and his wresting background and hyperactivity is much different than Jeff Walker and his down-to-Earth Rocky Mountain laid back approach. They are both different than DSG’s quirky approach.

To be unique, add your personality to your content. It is your secret ingredient.

DEFINING YOUR PERSONALITY

The first step to define your personality is to describe the persona you want to project on your show. How do you want to be perceived by your audience?

You might want your persona to be quirky, or fun, or inspirational, or in-your-face, or supportive and loving.

Don’t pick a persona that isn’t you. Be yourself. If you are naturally supportive and loving, you cannot be the in-your-face host. That isn’t you.

It might be possible to adjust from in-your-face drill sergeant to tell-it-like-it-is inspirational host. You could move from the knowledgable nerd to be the quirky expert. Those moves aren’t a big swing.

Next, list twenty adjectives that describe that persona. If you want to be the quirky expert, what words describe that person? It could be odd, off-the-wall, unexpected, unconventional, wacky, unorthodox, experienced, skilled, well-read, and clever. List 20 that describe your persona.

Finally, select five words from that list that you would like to highlight and bring to life on your show. One or two of these words might need to be developed a bit. At least 3 and probably 4 should already exist in your personality.

You might be a little off-the-wall, wacky, experienced and clever. On the other hand, you might need to develop unexpected.

SHOW PREP

In your show prep, you then build a few opportunities to create something unexpected. You might take a story in an unexpected direction. Some sound effects might be added in a unique way. There might be an unexpected question you ask during an interview.

A little unexpected will go a long way. Be sure it isn’t forced. Add it where it naturally fits and the reputation will grow.

We are already a personality. Each of us has a unique personality. You just need to define it.

This is something you have probably never done. If you need to find someone who knows you really well to help you, ask them.

The key to defining your personality is to decide which aspects of that personality you will choose to highlight, stress and grow on your show. You don’t need twenty. You only need the right five.

CO-HOSTS

Defining personalities and roles is especially important when a show has multiple hosts. If two hosts have the same personality, opinion and perspective, one of you isn’t necessary. If all you say is, “Yeah, what he said,” you’re not needed on the show. You are wasting time.

Think of any show that has multiple characters. They are all different.

Consider the show Friends with Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, Chandler, Joey and Ross. Each are different characters. The three ladies are the smart one, the superficial one and the dingy one. The guys are funny one, the ladies man and the nerd.

You say, “Yeah, but that is a tv show, not real life.”

Let’s consider other shows. On the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Johnny was different than Ed McMahon. On the Elvis Duran Morning Show, he has 10 people and they are all different. Elvis, Danielle, Froggy, Skeery, Ghandi and Dave Brody all have different personalities. Howard Stern is complimented by Robin Quivers. Even on a sports show like Mike & Mike, one was a player and one was a scholar.

Think about the original cast of American Idol. If you had to describe each judge with one or two words, what would you choose? Simon was the rude one, Paula was the dingy one and Randy wanted to be everybody’s friend.

Do you think those three faked their way through the show or is Simon really a blunt, sometimes offensive, tell-it-like-it-is individual? Those are their true personalities. The producers cast the show in that way.

THE 3-PERSON SHOW

Many 3-person shows have that set up. One is nice, one is the nerd and one is naughty. Or one is the dork, one is the doll and one is the disruptive. Everyone has their role true to their personality.

Work this week to define your personality. If you would like help growing your audience and developing your show to keep your listeners, check out the Audience Explosion Blueprint.

It is a step-by-step live coaching program to explode your podcast audience in 6 weeks or less. Since this is the first time I am launching it, you get in for half price. Enroll today to grow your audience before we close it down on June 22^nd, because we need to start the teaching.

You can get the full details and enroll at PodcastTalentCoach.com/audience.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Keys To Podcast Client Attraction With Ed Erickson – PTC285

June 6, 2020 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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When it comes to using your podcast client attraction, you must make time during your episode to demonstrate your authority and invite your clients to work with you.

RESOURCE FOR CLIENT ATTRACTION

I have a great resource for you this week to help you with your client attraction.

When trying to get someone to work with you, have you every heard, “Ohhh, that’s a bit expensive for me. Anything you can do on price?”

How many times have you heard some version of that from prospects? Prospects whom you know desperately need your solution.

Here’s the thing. Your solution isn’t too expensive. They aren’t understanding the value they will get – and that it far exceeds the cost.

And that’s on you. But there’s some good news…

There’s a much better way that will get your prospects to see the value – and it doesn’t involve cutting the price.

My friend, Ed Erickson, is hosting a free online training session, where he’s going to show you the three key things you can change that will not only obliterate price objections, but will lead to your prospects clamoring to pay premium fees for the privilege of working with you.

There are 3 session times available – so pick the one that’s best for you. You can register at PodcastTalentCoach.com/essential.

NO LEADS

I was on a coaching call the other day when the podcaster asked why his podcast wasn’t attracting any leads for his consulting business.

When I listened to the episode, he did a great job interviewing his guest. However, he didn’t mention his website or consulting one time during the entire episode. He wasn’t doing anything to create client attraction.

You need to make sure there is time for you. Just because your episode is an interview episode, that doesn’t mean the entire episode needs to be the interview. You can use part of the show to teach a little bit and demonstrate your expertise.

This question has come up two other times over the past week. How do we let people see our expertise when we are interviewing somebody else?

FIND THE ROOM FOR CLIENT ATTRACTION

This past week, I have been part of two different groups of podcasters in a bit of mastermind setting. In both groups, somebody asked how they could better use their interviews to attract clients.

As I mentioned earlier, when it comes to the price of your product or service, your solution isn’t too expensive. They simply aren’t understanding the value they will get from your stuff.

You need to demonstrate your expertise. That is how you get your listener and potential client to see that your product or service far exceeds the cost.

So, when you have an interview on your show, take some time to discuss the topic.

Before the interview happens, you could show your listeners what you know by teaching a little bit around the topic. You could answer a few questions from listeners about the subject. A case study is a great way to demonstrate your knowledge.

After the interview, you could take time to include your big takeaway from the discussion. Present a quick recap of the discussion. Link the conversation to a case study or real world example from your product or service. This is another great place to demonstrate your expertise.

SOLO SHOW

If you do a solo show with no interview, it is much easier to show your stuff. You could answer questions from the audience. Telling your stories is a very powerful way to demonstrate your authority.

When you are doing a show by yourself, ensure you that you continue to offer your message on a consistent basis. Just remember to mix it up in the way your present it every week.

Think of the Dave Ramsey Show. Dave talks about his baby steps on every show. Every call he takes relates to the baby steps in some way. Over and over again, it is the same thing.

However, the context around the baby steps changes. Those unique stories keeps the content fresh. Be consistent with your message while varying the context.

ACTION

Finally, include your powerful call-to-action in order to get your clients to come work with you. Just telling them you are a coach or have a book isn’t enough. You need to ask them to buy it to create client attraction.

Include the call-to-action at the front of the show and again at the end. Many of your listeners will never make it all the way to the end of the show. They stop listening when they finish doing whatever they are doing. That could be driving, exercising, mowing or something else.

If you wait until the end of the show before you offer a call-to-action, you will miss a big opportunity to help your listeners.

TEACH THEN INTERVIEW

This episode is a great example of teaching around an interview. Today, we talk with Ed Erickson, head of Erickson Business Coaching, about client attraction.

As an EMyth Certified Business Coach, Ed helps owners get control over their business. He helps develop the skills, mindset, and leadership traits to transform businesses. The result is a business that achieves the owner’s goals and creates the life they want to live.

Ed Erickson has worked in and owned small businesses for over 20 years. He has seen first hand many of the challenges owners face. And has spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to fix them.

Today, he helps us learn how to take our podcast audience and build a business around that audience. We learn the biggest mistakes to avoid and where to find our ideal clients.

TRAINING

It is such a great conversation with Ed. If you are trying to build a business around your podcast, client attraction is a critical piece to your plan.

Find the true problem your audience faces. Determine what they want and need to solve that problem. Offer them the solution, not the tool. Define your ideal clients. Finally, determine your solution and message that will help them achieve their goals.

If you want to learn more about client attraction, get signed up for the free training. Ed is hosting that free online session, where he’s going to show you the three key things you can change that will not only obliterate price objections, but will lead to your prospects clamoring to pay premium fees for the privilege of working with you.

There are 3 session times available – so pick the one that’s best for you. You can register at PodcastTalentCoach.com/essential.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

What You’re Missing For Audience Growth – PTC284

May 31, 2020 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Most podcasters think the key to audience growth is attracting more listeners. However, that is only half of the equation. You have to work to keep the listeners you already have.

FIX THE LEAKS

If you are trying to fill a bucket with water, it becomes very difficult when your bucket has big holes in the bottom.

There are 3 keys to keeping your listeners and achieving audience growth.

Be unique and make them remember you.
Give them a reason to come back.
Get them to actually listen.

Today, let’s talk about being unique. Your listeners will remember you by the stories you tell. That is how they get to know, like and trust you.

You can get my Podcast Talent Coach Story Development Worksheet at PodcastTalentCoach.com/story.

IRELAND BOYS’ AUDIENCE GROWTH

My son watches a show on YouTube created by Ireland Boys Productions. These are videos created by a two brothers and their friends. They do crazy stuff like spending 72 hours in a WalMart, sneaking pumpkins into shopping carts of other people and ordering the entire Popeyes Chicken menu.

IBP has posted 201 videos and has 3.78 million subscribers. There have been 6.1 million views on the WalMart video.

These videos aren’t short, either. They are 20-30 minute videos.

These kids even go on tour, because they have created a tremendous following.

The brothers make their fans part of the show. Their viewers get to suggest crazy stuff to do on the show. You can even buy their merch on their website.

Most importantly, their fans know their story. Watching their show, you meet their parents. You see where they live. You see the awards YouTube has given them for their online success.

It is all about their story and the plot of the episode. Each time, you wonder if they will succeed or get busted by store security.

WHO AM I?

When I started in radio, I just copied the other big personalities on the radio. I was using their phrases and mannerisms. I wanted to be them.

One day, I was reviewing my show with my program director. She was helping me find ways to improve my show.

As we were listening to the show, she stopped the audio. She asked why I was using a particular phrase. It was a phrase that was used by the morning guy on our sister station. It was the rock station I was on before I got the gig here.

When she asked, I had no answer.

She said, “Why don’t we leave that to the other guys. You be you.”

That was the day I started being true to myself and defining my own story and personality. I started sharing who I am with my audience. That began my climb to the top.

YOU’RE NOT GARY

Many podcasters hear Gary Vaynerchuk and try to be Gary Vee on their podcast. So, they start dropping F-bombs and living the hustle.

The problem is … they aren’t Gary Vaynerchuk. They weren’t born in Belarus. These people didn’t immigrate to the United States unable to speak English.

Podcasters who want to be Gary Vee didn’t spend their youth working in their fathers’s liquor store. They didn’t grow up learning how to sell by hustling baseball cards. You can’t be Gary Vaynerchuk unless you’re Gary Vaynerchuk.

Stop trying to be Gary Vaynerchuk and start being yourself.

WHO ARE YOU?

What is your story? Where did you come from? What makes you unique?

Let your personality come out on your show. Make a list of your unique characteristics that make you different from everyone else.

Maybe you’re brash, or caring, or cold, or inspiring. People might find you matter-of-fact, or welcoming, or take-no-prisoners, or comforting.

Define your personality. Then, put all of your content through that filter.

Be true to yourself and your listeners will remember you.

With your content, tell your stories. Use your personality to make your listener feel something. People remember emotions. Get them invested emotionally. This is critical to your audience growth.

When you tell stories on your show, define what do you hope to make the listener feel with your story. Always start with the emotion.

FIND THE EMOTION

Once you know have defined the emotion, you will know how to tell the story.

The more stories you tell, the more your listeners will get to know you. They will get emotionally invested with your show. Your listeners will remember you and come back time and again.

As you are working for audience growth, be sure you are working to hold onto the listeners you have.

You can get my Podcast Talent Coach Story Development Worksheet at PodcastTalentCoach.com/story.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

An Inch-Wide Engagement – PTC 282

May 16, 2020 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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What is the one thing you struggle with most with your podcast? If you are like 90% of the people who come to me for coaching, it is growing your engagement.

That might mean growing your downloads. It might be getting more feedback from your listeners. Engagement might mean attracting more clients.

Connecting with our listeners is an important part of what we do. You need to ask yourself what you’re doing to create engagement.

YOUR PLAN

Have you created an engagement plan? Are you taking consistent action?

You can get my list of 75 free engagement tips. Find it at PodcastTalentCoach.com/engage.

These tips will help you engage your audience with your content. There are ideas to increase your podcast downloads. You also get a few ways to encourage the audience to visit your website.

Before each coaching call, I get a form that talks about your goals and current situation. Then, I listen to the show to determine what needs to happen to accomplish those goals.

Get coaching details at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching.

I was on a coaching call the other night. The form listed the struggle as growing downloads and increasing engagement.

As I listened to the show, the host did a great job interviewing his guests. The content was great. The production value was solid.

However, the show was missing any element that encouraged engagement. The only call-to-action was “subscribe and review the show”.

THE BENEFIT

Simply asking your listeners to subscribe isn’t going to move the needle. There needs to be a benefit. What’s in it for me?

Start the relationship with your listener. Provide value. Serve. Then, ask for the subscribe. Give them a real reason. “In every episode, we deliver … If you want to continue to get this, subscribe.”

Be sure to get my list of 75 free engagement tips. Find it at PodcastTalentCoach.com/engage.

IDEAS

Here are four of those ideas.

– In your show notes, add a link with an upgrade/resource with each episode.

– Ask questions on other podcasts to get in front of other audiences.

– Offer a bonus for people who share your podcast.

– Create a contest or giveaway

– Don’t blow your first impression.

Ready to get your 75 FREE engagement tips? Learn to engage your audience with your content, increase your podcast downloads, and encourage the audience to visit your website.

Download the list at PodcastTalentCoach.com/engage.

Next week we will dive into your first impression. You can’t catch up to a slow start. We will create your intro next week.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How Zoë Routh Attracts Ideal Clients – PTC276

April 4, 2020 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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On this podcast, I haven’t interviewed many people in the past. However, lately I have been asked quite often how to make money with your podcast. On this episode, I would like to show you how one entrepreneur uses her podcast to connect with her ideal clients and drive her business.

ZOË ROUTH

Zoë Routh is one of Australia’s leading experts on people stuff in leadership. She helps her clients, including leaders and teams, overcome silos and turf wars to work better together.

She has worked with individuals and teams internationally and in Australia since 1987. From the wild rivers of northern Ontario to the remote regions of Australia, Zoë has spent the last thirty years showing teams struggling with office politics and silos how to work better together.

Zoë is the author of three books: Composure – How centered leaders make the biggest impact, Moments – Leadership when it matters most and Loyalty – Stop unwanted stuff turnover, boost engagement, and build lifelong advocates. Her fourth book, People Stuff – the power of perspective for better leadership, is due out mid 2020.

Her past leadership roles include Chair of the Outdoor Council of Australia, President of the Chamber of Women in Business, and Program Manager at the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation. Zoë is also the producer of the Zoë Routh Leadership Podcast.

Zoë is an outdoor adventurist and enjoys telemark skiing, has run 6 marathons, survived cancer, is a one-time belly-dancer, and loves hiking in the high country. She is married to “a gorgeous Aussie and is mother to a few garden-wrecking chooks”.

You can connect with her here:

https://www.zoerouth.com

https://www.facebook.com/zoe.routh

https://twitter.com/zoerouth

https://au.linkedin.com/in/zoerouth

INTERVIEW

In this discussion, you will learn …

How to use your podcast to demonstrate your authority and attract your ideal clients
How to overcome the impostor syndrome and beat back that little voice in your head
Where most people struggle when dealing with “people stuff”
The “people stuff” you can use to help your audience
Why now is a great time for podcasters
How to keep your podcast production efficient and prevent your show from eating your entire week
How the advice “they’re not listening and you don’t matter” changed Zoe’s life
Where to start attracting your ideal clients

If you would like to get more information about my coaching, head to PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Better Audience Engagement – PTC 271

March 1, 2020 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Would you like to create a deeper connection and relationship with your listener?

There is one adjustment you can make to your podcast to help you achieve your podcasting goals. Whether you’re hope to motivate your audience to action, entertain them with a story or simply get them to listen again, one change to your approach can help you succeed.

This small modification to your approach will have a big impact on creating a trusting relationship with your audience.

It is this. Treat your listener as an audience of one.

FREE WORKSHEET

I have a powerful free resource that will help you define your ideal target listener. This will help you frame you content, words and communication style.

You need to communicate differently with a 25-year-old single guy who is willing to spend money on a BMW than you would with a 51-year-old married female who has grown children and is saving heavily for retirement.

You can get the free download at PodcastTalentCoach.com/listener.

NO GROUPSPEAK

When creating a podcast, it is critical to your success to address each member of your audience as an individual rather than a group, regardless of the size of your audience.

Many podcasters and broadcasters address their audience as a group. “Hello, everyone.” “Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen.” “You guys are the best.”

Your listeners are not engaged with your show as a group. They are each listening as individuals with unique imaginations. You need to treat them that way.

Addressing your audience as a group is impersonal. Your listener doesn’t feel special. Speaking to a group allows each listener to feel like you are speaking to someone else. It is typical for your listener to feel like it’s alright to not take action, because another member of the group will handle it.

RADIO BEGINNINGS

This style began back when radio began. When radio broadcasting started, station owners needed something to broadcast. The content was typically stage performances broadcast over the airwaves.

The “Ladies and Gentlemen” salutation was meant for the live audience in the theater. It was not intended for the listening audience at home.

At the time, radio was the primary source of entertainment at the family home. Prior to the introduction of television, families gathered around the radio in the family room each evening for their entertainment. Addressing the audience as a group made sense. Listening was taking place as a group.

As radio broadcasts moved from stage performances on the radio to “made-for-radio” dramas that were produced in a studio rather than on the stage, the salutations didn’t change. The live audience was no longer present.

The audience however was still gathered together in the family room. The announcer continued to address the listening audience as a group, simply because it had always been done that way.

THEN TELEVISION

When television was introduced to the family room, long-form radio programming moved to television. Great radio stories like The Lone Ranger, Abbott & Costello and The Green Hornet left the radio for the promised land of television. Radio was quickly being replaced as the nightly family activity in the home.

Eventually, the radio performance was replaced with a disc jockey playing recorded music for the listening audience. Radios also progressed with the introduction of the transistor. Small, portable transistor radios took the place of the large console radios that once occupied the family room.

Listening moved from being a group activity in the family room to being a personal experience with these portable radios. Even as listening changed, most on-air personalities continued to address their audience as a group. It had always been done that way.

NOW PODCASTING

Today, podcast listening has become even more personal. Podcast listening typically takes place alone in a car or with headphones. People are no longer listening as a group. They are alone with your voice.

Even if your listeners are with others while they are listening, each individual is creating unique images in their head. Those images are different from the images created in the imagination of any other person in the audience. Audio is a very personal medium.

Since they are listening as individuals, you should address them as such. Your show should be a one-on-one conversation with your listener.

If most of your listeners are listening alone, it sounds out of place when you say, “Hello, everyone.” Your listener is then saying in their head, “Everyone? It’s just me. Who are you talking to?” “Everyone” is directed at no one. Adjust your language to fit your audience.

If I describe a car making a left turn at a busy intersection, you will envision it much differently than any other person listening to the same story. Television leaves very little to the imagination.

Audio helps create wonderful stories and stirs the imagination. The more personal and individual you can be with your stories, the stronger your connection and relationship will become.

TAKE ACTION

Finally, when you address a group, it is easy for your listener to shirk their responsibilities while expecting somebody else to take care of the tasks.

Let’s say you want your audience to visit your website. You say, “I would really appreciate it if you guys would log onto my website this week and let me know what you think.” Who exactly do you want to take action? You’re addressing the entire group. I don’t need to do it. There will be plenty of others that take action. It won’t make much difference if I don’t do it.

Unfortunately, most listeners are thinking the same thing. When you check your web stats, they’ve barely moved. Very few have taken action. Why? Because you didn’t address them individually. It was easy to assume somebody else would handle it.

THREE STEPS

There are three steps to treat your listeners as an audience of one.

First, get rid of the groupspeak. Change your nouns and pronouns from plural to singuar. Instead of using “ladies and gentlemen” or “you guys”, use “you”, “me” and “I”. Talk to one person. Most everything you say will apply to one person just like it will apply to a group of people.

Second, be personable. Reveal things to your audience that you would reveal to your friends. When you have trust in your listener, she will begin to feel appreciated. Your relationships will become stronger and more meaningful.

Finally, be real. Speak like a real person and not an announcer. Replace announcer words with words real people use. Instead of using “good evening” like a network news anchor from 1975, use “hi” like you would use when you call a friend.

If you hope to make your call-to-action effective, you need to create strong relationships with your listeners. If you want to create strong, meaningful relationships with your audience, you must treat each person in your audience as an individual.

Make each listener feel special. Talk directly to them one-on-one. Use words that sound like you are speaking to one person. Be personable. Be real. Create wonderful relationships as you create multiple audiences of one.

Get the free resource that will help you define your ideal target listener. You can get the free download at PodcastTalentCoach.com/listener.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

More Podcast Audience Growth – PTC270

February 22, 2020 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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We are all looking to grow our audience. Who doesn’t want more podcast audience growth? You need a strategy and multiple ideas.

MULTIPLE STREAMS

Multiple streams of income help grow your revenue. Those streams also protect you from any one source going away. If all of your revenue comes from one source, you are at risk of losing most of your revenue if that source disappears.

The same is true with your audience growth. If all of your new listeners are coming from the same source, your growth dries up if that source goes away.

I have a free resource for you. If you would like 75 ways to drive engagement with your podcast, visit PodcastTalentCoach.com/increasedownloads.

Finding ways to get in front of new audiences is a great way to grow your show. A podcast with a similar audience is ripe for collaboration.

LARRY THE CABLE GUY

I was on a free strategy call the other night with a podcaster. We were discussing how she could use a podcast to promote her books and speaking opportunities.

A podcast is a great way to promote your services and demonstrate your authority.

We talked about her concept, and we realized she didn’t really want to do all of the work to create a podcast from scratch. She really wanted to get a jump start by partnering with an established brand.

That brought to mind Larry the Cable Guy. Back in the early 90s, Dan Whitney was getting his start in stand up before he became better known as Larry the Cable Guy.

If you check out YouTube, you can find stand up routines by Dan. His career was just like every struggling comedian until he found his unique bit and partners to help him grow it.

One of my radio buddies was friends with Dan. Chris and Dan were both coming up through the comedy circuit as Chris was getting into radio.

Dan would call into Chris’ radio show and do his “Larry the Cable Guy” bit. It was commentary on society and hilarious.

This turned into Larry doing the same bit on stations across the country. By being featured on many radio shows, Larry’s comedy career took off.

Larry didn’t need to create his own radio show. He just found established partners who could help him jump start his career.

FIND A PARTNER

As I was talking to this podcaster, and we realized she didn’t want to start from scratch, I told her the story of Larry the Cable Guy. She has a friend who would let her do a feature on his show each week. This is a perfect way to get started.

When Cliff Ravenscraft was doing the Podcast Answerman Podcast, Erik Fisher would do a technology segment on the show each week. Erik now has BeyondTheToDoList.com. Finding a podcast partner is a great way to create audience growth.

BENEFITS

There are a few benefits of using a partner for audience growth.

Somebody else creates the bulk of the content
No need to edit. You can just show up, record and be done
It is a jumpstart. You start a few rungs up the ladder
You get in front of a whole new audience

DRAWBACKS

There are also a few drawbacks of this strategy

You don’t control the entire content of the show
Somebody else’s platform gets the benefit from promotion
You don’t control the promotion of the show
You don’t control the brand and image of the show

AUDIENCE GROWTH STEPS

If you want to try this approach, three steps.

Find someone with an audience you’d like to attract
Determine how the main host will benefit from your feature
Create a simple agreement in writing, including how often, how long, when you record, compensation (plug your site, etc), how the agreement ends, what happens if one party doesn’t live up to the agreement.

FREE RESOURCE

If you would like 75 ways to drive engagement with your podcast, visit PodcastTalentCoach.com/increasedownloads. These ideas will help you create audience growth for your podcast.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Creating Anticipation – Episode 254

October 27, 2019 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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ANTICIPATION

When you want your listeners to stick around and listen to what you have to say, you need to give them a compelling reason. Your listener needs to anticipate what is to come later in the show. You need to excite them. You need to tease them. Create anticipation.

Dave Jackson of School of Podcasting and I were coaching a podcaster on an episode of the Podcast Review Show the other night. At the end of the episode we were reviewing, the host said, “In the next few weeks, we will be interviewing great guests like A, B and C.”

I told him it was great that he was enticing people to come back to future episodes. However, he wasn’t really creating any excitement about those shows. Do any of those guests give a piece of content you cannot get anywhere else? Let’s tease that.

MORE THAN PROMOTING

If I say, “Next week, we will be interviewing Dave Jackson”, I do very little to create any anticipation for you. It is just another interview.

If I say, “Next week when we talk to Dave Jackson of School of Podcasting, he is going to give you the one trick he uses to land the really big interviews for his show and it works 92% of the time”, that creates some anticipation for the episode. A true tease creates intrigue and a little excitement. It makes your listener ask, “I wonder what it is.”

Anticipation is a key feature to storytelling. Your story should build just like a good plot builds in a movie. You need to make your audience anticipate the content that is on the way.

Your story is similar to a vacation you are planning to take. The fantastic anticipation for the trip is almost as pleasurable as the trip itself. You can’t wait for the trip to arrive. You want your listener to feel the same way about your story.

When your listener can’t wait for the story to arrive, you have created some great content with an powerful tease. Your listeners will get more enjoyment from your show when they get the tease payoff more often. The pleasure of the “oh wow” factor will be increased. The joy of anticipation will keep your audience coming back for more.

EFFECTIVE TEASE

There are three steps to creating an effective tease.

#1 – Intrigue me.

When you promote content that is coming up later in the show, you must give your audience an intriguing reason to stick around. It isn’t enough to simply say, “A great story about this weekend is coming up.” Few will stick around for the payoff. The tease lacks stickiness. It doesn’t hook the listener.

A creative tease produces anticipation. Instead, use something like, “You’re never gonna believe what I found in the attic this past weekend. My world is about to take a wild turn.” With that statement, your imagination begins to work.

What could it be? A wasp nest? An antique? A structural problem with the house? Imagination is the magic of a creative tease. Stir the imagination of your audience to truly engage them with your content.

When possible, intrigue by incorporating the listeners world. “This weekend, I discovered a way to save $100 a month on my grocery bill by changing one thing in the way we shop. I’ll tell you how you can do it too.” It answers “what’s in it for me” for your listener.

#2 – Give them 80%.

To create an effective tease, give your listener 80% of the story while leaving out the most important 20%. It is similar to giving the setup for a joke without providing the punch line. Lead your listener right up to the line, but make them wait to step over.

The key to an effective tease is to withhold the most important 20%. Let’s use our previous example of the attic weekend. I could say, “You’re not gonna believe it, but I found a $25,000 antique painting in the attic this weekend. I’ll tell you what’s on it coming up.”

This is a perfect example of withholding the wrong 20%. Who cares who is on it. If it’s worth $25,000, it could be a painting of the sky. It wouldn’t matter to me. I’d only be asking where I could sell it.

$25,000 is the most exciting piece of information in the entire story. That is the piece that I need to withhold to create some excitement. To properly tease, I need to say, “In the attic this weekend, I found an antique painting of Napoleon. You’re never gonna believe how much it is worth.” You are more likely to stick around to see if I can retire on my winnings when I set it up in this fashion.

Make it impossible to search online.

#3 – You need to get creative to make your tease unsearchable.

Let’s say I have a story about Joe Celebrity getting drunk at High Profile Bar in Las Vegas over the weekend where he got arrested for assault. I could say, “Another movie star got arrested this weekend after he got in a fight with a customer at High Profile Bar in Las Vegas. I’ll tell you who it is coming up.”

Celebrity name is part of the correct 20% I’m withholding. However, I can look this story up on Google in a heartbeat. If I search “Arrest High Profile Bar Las Vegas”, the chances are good that I will find the story in the first few search results. The tease isn’t effective. It is too easy to search.

RELATIONSHIPS

The three steps to powerful teases will help you begin to engage your audience on the way to building powerful relationships. Use the three steps in your show recap to entice people to listen to the episode. Then, use them again during the introduction of the show to get listeners to enjoy the entire recording.

You’ve worked hard to create your content. A lot of effort has been exerted on your part while writing and recording your show. Make your content intriguing by using these three steps in the art of the tease.

When you use the art of the tease, your listeners will spend more time with your show. The increased frequency of the tease payoffs will help your audience enjoy your content more. When your show is more entertaining, it becomes more engaging. When you truly engage your audience with your content, you can begin building powerful relationships. That’s where trust and influence with your listener begins.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Engagement Tips – Increase Downloads – Episode 251

October 5, 2019 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Are you like most podcasters? Are you trying to find ways to increase downloads of your show?

I am building something that will help you increase your downloads, build your engagement and create some revenue with your podcast. I’m putting the finishing touches on it. It should be ready for you soon.

Part of this project will help you develop ideas. You can use these ideas every day to increase your downloads.

In the meantime, get my full list of 75 Ways To Drive Engagement With Your Podcast.

www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/increasedownloads

INCREASE DOWNLOADS

Tease upcoming topics on future episodes. This will help listeners find other episodes that might be of interest.
Ask for reviews and make it benefit your listener. Listeners don’t do much for you. However, reviews teach your audience to respond and engage. Recognize them on the show.
Everything interesting is about people. Find the angle for your content. Tell stories about others that relate to the content.
Ask listeners what you should ask your next interview guest. This will get your audience invested in the show. Acknowledge who submitted the questions.
Highlight a new resource each week. Then tell the resource creator about it. This helps listeners. You also may get some free publicity if the creator acknowledges your mention to her audience.
Promote your website with a benefit. Create instant gratification. “Sign up for my newsletter” is no real benefit. “Get a tip each week” is a benefit. If you are promoting your website, make sure you promote the benefit as well.
Have listeners submit a tip of the week. This gets listeners invested in the show. When you acknowledge their idea, tip or submission, they feel rewarded. They may also tell others.

Get the full list of 75 Ways To Drive Engagement With Your Podcast.

www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/increasedownloads

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

IS PODCAST CHIT CHAT EFFECTIVE? – EPISODE 250

September 29, 2019 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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CHIT CHAT

Some podcasts start the episode with some chit chat. This is the small talk at the beginning of the show that really has very little to do with the show topic.

“Hey, how are you?” “What have you been up to lately?”

The small talk at the beginning of the show is sometimes between co-hosts and sometimes between host and guest. But, should it be there? Should chit chat be part of your episode?

Mentioned in this episode:

Podcast Review Show: http://podcastreviewshow.com

Podcaster’s Kit: http://podcasttalentcoach.com/kit

If you believe the Facebook discussions and episode comments, you would think chit chat is causing all of your listeners to leave your show in a stampede.

Some small talk could actually help you if you package it correctly.

First, let’s agree. Chit chat for the sake of hearing yourself talk does no one any good. That is definitely not the small talk I am recommending.

Your chit chat at the beginning of the show must support the content of the episode. It should add context to the discussion.

WHAT IS YOUR TURNOFF

There was a post in a podcasting Facebook group the other day. The question was, “What makes you turn off a podcast or click unsubscribe?”

As soon as someone said “Too much rambling before the subject i’m actually listening for gets going”, everyone jumped on the bandwagon.

Other comments include …

“I don’t like super long intros, bad sound quality and when hosts get too ‘in jokey’.”

“I hate when there is too much faffing about getting to the point of the episode. All that ‘so how was your week?’ stuff going on 12 different tangents for 15mins before we get to the meat.”

“BORING PREEEE AMBLE! – I don’t mind if your opening chit chat is fun or relevant or interesting, but if it’s you just you and your guest warming up – commmmmme onnnn! EDIT!”

“Boring interview babble at the beginning.”

“Episodes that don’t get quickly to a takeaway. I find many podcasts that meander around too much, especially co-host and Interview formats.

YOU CAN’T CATCH UP

The thing to remember is that you cannot catch up to a slow start. You need to give value right from the start.

When your show opens, tell listeners exactly what they will get from this episode. If they stay to the end, how will they benefit? Tease it by creating some anticipation for your listener.

Now, if you want to include some chit chat here, it should add some context to the content. This could be a story about something that happened to you this week and how it relates to the topic of the show.

Let’s say you are doing an episode about shaping your effective chit chat. You could start with a story about being on Facebook and the way everyone jumped on the bandwagon. If you had a co-host, you could talk about your feelings and opinions of small talk.

This story adds context to the show. This is the reason we have decided to discuss this topic on this episode.

There is one important thing the story does. Your chit chat allows your audience to get to know you.

People do business with those they know, like and trust. This part of your show allows your audience to get to know you and what you believe and value. You simply need to frame it correctly.

FOUR STEPS

Here are the four steps to add valuable chit chat to the beginning of your show.

First, open the show with “what’s in it for me”. Tell your listeners exactly why this episode is valuable and how they will be better when it is over. Make them want to listen to the entire episode. Create some anticipation.

Next, add a story and some chit chat that relates to the content on this episode.

Then, start the story and chit chat by making the connection between the story and the episode subject.

If your episode is about chit chat, start the story with something like, “Some small talk could actually help you if you package it correctly.” Make it a powerful headline.

Finally, don’t overstay your welcome. Once you make your point with the story, get into the meat of the content.

You can’t catch up to a slow start. If you are going to include some chit chat and small talk, make it valuable so it supports the content of the show.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

60% of Your Listeners Are Here – Episode 244

August 17, 2019 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Podcast Movement 2019 is in the books. Thousands of podcasters hit Orlando, Florida for another great year of learning, connecting and sharing. The sessions were full of podcast stats.

One of my favorite sessions each year at PM is the State of Podcasting presented by Rob Walch, VP of Podcaster Relations at Libsyn. “Yes, that marketing advice for your podcast is BS – 2019.”

Rob always offers great podcasting statistics. This year, many other sessions provided podcast stats of their own.

SHOW LENGTH

A few podcast stats provided by Rob:

84% of shows with over 100,000 downloads are over 51 minutes long.

Of the top 100 podcasts, the average length is 67 minutes and the median is 55.

People love to dive deep with your content. Just make sure you stay engaging. Don’t make your show long just for the sake of being long.

APPLE PODCASTS

Rob said 59% of podcasts are downloaded via Apple Podcasts.

Tim Street “Growing Your Audience”. VP of Influence and Production for Authentic. Tim said Apple dominates the podcast market. Apple Podcasts account for 62% of podcast listening.

Let’s say roughly 60% of all podcasts are downloaded via Apple Podcasts. 3 out of every 5 podcasts are downloaded here. If you are not on Apple Podcasts, you are missing half of your potential audience.

On the other hand, Apple Podcasts cannot be your only home. Be sure you are available to android users.

Ensure you are not only on Apple Podcasts, but people can find you.

STAND OUT

There are over 700,000 podcasts. Make your brand stand out in every way possible.

Create great cover art. Make sure the show description is engaging and communicates a clear benefit. Most of all, write your headlines to attract new listeners.

Gregg Clunis “How to double your downloads using behavioral psychology”. He is a writer, entrepreneur, and content creator. He is the host and author of “Tiny Leaps, Big Changes”, a podcast, book and community dedicated towards bridging the gap between the knowledge of what to do, and the act of doing it.

DOWNLOADS

Of the podcast stats that Gregg provided, one stood out. He said the median number of downloads for a podcast is 129 per episode. Only 20% have more than 1,000 downloads per episode.

Realize there are many things that factor into your download numbers and podcast stats. Podcasts in the big 3 topics will get more downloads than shows in the small niches. Money, relationships and weight loss typically have larger audiences than small niches like gun collecting, gardening and chemistry. The larger topics are just more mass appeal.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Turn Podcast Listeners Into Customers – Episode 241

July 27, 2019 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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I was hopping around on Facebook this weekend checking out a lot of podcast Facebook groups. The questions keeps coming up. “How can I make money with my podcast?” Regardless of the vehicle you use to generate revenue with your show, you will make no money unless you get your listeners to take action.

There are many ways to make money with your podcast. You could sell sponsorships and advertising. Joint ventures are a possibility. Affiliate programs are an option. However, each of these ideas usually work only if you have a audience of a decent size.

If your audience is small, you could create courses or a membership program. You could sell coaching and consulting. If your platform is speaking, you would write a book and use the podcast to promote both.

I have a free resource that can help you with your ideas. It is called, “6 Ways To Make Money With a Free Podcast”. Get it at PodcastTalentCoach.com/MakingMoney.

ACTION

Making money with your podcast is a great idea. However, it won’t happen unless you get your listeners to take action.

“Join my membership.” “Sign up for Audible through my affiliate link.” “Download my free resource.”

None of it happens until your listeners move and do something.

Getting your listeners to take action begins with solid show prep. Before you do anything with your content, you need to define a goal for your show. What do you want your listeners to do after they are done listening to the episode?

Your call-to-action could ask your listeners to buy your product. It could encourage them to visit your website or the website of your guest. Maybe you ask your audience to just provide feedback on the show.

What is the strategy? In the long run of this relationship we are creating with the listener, what is the ultimate goal?

Let’s say you have a one-on-one coaching program. You would like to get listeners into that program. What is the step right before that program?

Maybe you have a group coaching program that feeds your one-on-one program. What is the step right before that?

Your $19 short course on your superpower might be the step just before the group coaching. How do you get people aware of and interested in that course?

The free download on your website might describe how your superpower can transform the lives of your listener and why they need to do it now. The free download helps them take the first step in that transformation.

Now, you need to get people to download the free resource. How do you do that? You create a great call-to-action on your podcast.

SHOW PREP

Now that you know what you want your listener to do after this episode, you can begin to create the content.

What are the interesting topics you want to address on this particular episode? Maybe you are interviewing an expert in the area of your superpower. He is going to describe to people why the superpower is so important and how he used it in his life.

Next, determine what you hope to accomplish on the episode. With this guest, we hope to get our listeners excited about the transformation. We want to get them to the point where they have to have the free resource now.

How will you treat each specific topic you hope to address? What will you do with the content? In addition to your interview, you might be answer listener questions, doing a demonstration of some sort, playing some example audio, presenting data and case studies or giving an example of your programs.

Take all of this content and create an outline for the flow of the show topics. This is important for the show introduction. Your intro should tell listeners exactly what they are going to get from the episode.

What supporting information will you need for the show? Organize and highlight for easy access during the show.

Make sure your call-to-action is clear. I suggest you put it at the open and close of each episode. Not all of your listeners will make it to the end. You don’t want them to miss it.

There are a few things to keep in mind with your call-to-action. First, ask your listeners to do one thing.

Make your call-to-action easy for them.

Be clear with the call-to-action. Tell them exactly what to do.

I have a new coaching program that will help you begin making money with your podcast.

POWERFUL, PROFITABLE PODCASTING

12-WEEK COACHING PROGRAM

Each week, you will get a module of videos to help you build your podcast business.

Once a week, you also get access to a workshop where I teach some of the nuance of building your podcast business and I answer any of your questions regarding the modules.

To make sure you are making progress specifically for your business, you and I have a one-on-one coaching call once a month.

The 12 modules include …

1. YOUR MONEY BASE

The show focus and foundation for your business

2. ATTRACTING YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER

The more you know about your listener, the better you will be able to communicate.

3. THE PODCAST AND PROFIT CONNECTION

Each episode must have a goal in mind that builds your authority and moves your listeners closer to becoming clients.

4. GET YOUR LISTENERS TO TAKE ACTION

Defining a goal for your show

5. THE POWER OF STORY

Use storytelling to engage your audience

6. GROW YOUR AUDIENCE

How to use interviews to grow your audience

7. MONEY MAKING IDEAS

Using your podcast to build a business

8. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AND GROWTH

Review your show with a purpose

9. GROW YOUR NETWORK

Creating engagement and building relationships

10. ATTRACT MORE POTENTIAL CLIENTS

Building ideal lead magnets

11. SHOW ME THE MONEY

Tying it all together

12. THE LONGEVITY PROCESS

Podfade prevention

Are you ready to connect your podcast to a business and start making money? Let’s see if this program is right for you.

Take advantage of my free podcast strategy call. We can develop a strategy for your podcast to build your structure and reach your goals.

The strategy call is free. There are no strings attached. It isn’t a sales pitch in disguise. I just help you get clear. At the end of the call, if you feel like Powerful, Profitable Podcasting coaching program is right for you, we can talk about it. That is up to you.

Visit PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching. Let’s get you started today.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Use Your Podcast Avatar – Episode 238

July 6, 2019 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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So many gurus tell you to create your podcast avatar. They might even tell you how to define your target listener. However, very few teach you how to use that podcast avatar once you have it created.

THE IDEAL LISTENER

Why do we create an avatar or ideal listener?

Dave Jackson and I do a podcast together called “The Podcast Review Show“. Podcasters join us on the show to have their podcast reviewed. It is basically a coaching session with the two of us for 60 to 90 minutes. If you would like to be on the show with us, visit PodcastReviewShow.com.

We were talking to two engineers the other day reviewing their show. We asked them about their target listener. They are like most podcasters. They said, “Our show is really for everyone.”

I realize you want a large audience. I know you want to get as many listeners you want without alienating anyone. However, your show cannot be for everyone.

These two create a show that highlights engineers, mostly civil, and the great work they do. The content and discussion is great.

Is their engineering show for 12-year-old girls who love ballet? Is it right for 60-year-old guy who sells newspaper advertising? Would 33-year-old professional athletes be interested in it? Maybe, but probably not.

As we talked, we determined the show is probably for a 20-year-old university student who is trying to define her path through the industry. This doesn’t mean 45-year-old executives wouldn’t be interested in the fascinating conversation. This simply means we are creating content custom designed for the college student.

When we focus the content, the guy that is 45 still enjoys the conversation. However, the college student gets so much more out of it, because we are answering the questions he is asking. We are giving him exactly what he needs. The show means something to him.

DEVELOP YOUR TARGET LISTENER

One of the Podcast Talent Coach worksheets available to your for free is the Listener Development Worksheet. This tool will help you develop your avatar to make your show more powerful and create more engagement.

With a podcast avatar that is clearly defined, we are discussing his wants & needs. The stories we tell and details we share are relevant to him. The desires of your podcast avatar create a filter that will help you decide what examples to include.

To help you define your podcast avatar, get my free Listener Development Worksheet. By completing it, you will have a clear picture of your ideal listener. Download it for free online at PodcastTalentCoach.com/listener.

THE STUDY

I really started understanding target listener when I read a study by Arbitron (the radio ratings service) and Joint Communications (a radio consulting firm). The study was called “What Women Want: Five Secrets To Better Ratings”.

This study really got into the differences between men and women. The interviews revealed the reasons women spend time with radio. The reasons were very radio-centric and don’t really apply to you.

What is relevant is the differences between the genders. When I realized there were variances between listeners, I understood the importance of really defining the ideal listener. Who is that one, ideal person we hope to attract to our content?

When we began developing the ideal listener, when then learned the more we focused on the ideal listener, the more our overall audience grew. This even included the listeners that didn’t necessarily fit the ideal mold.

Our content became better focused and relevant. It was a turning point for me.

The target listener of our radio station helped us decide what music to play. It shaped the contests we did. Our ideal listener helped determine who to hire to be on the air and what content should be included. It was a filter for everything we did on the radio.

INCLUSION

People want to feel part of the discussion and not like they are sitting in a lecture.

How do you create that atmosphere on your podcast?

First, download the Listener Development Worksheet at PodcastTalentCoach.com/listener. Then, let’s have a discussion about your show.

Take advantage of my free podcast strategy call. I can help you define your podcast avatar, your target listener. We can then develop a strategy to reach your goals.

Your strategy call is free. No strings attached. Visit PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Develop Your Ideal Target Podcast Listener

April 22, 2019 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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As we develop our business around our podcast, we strive to build trust. In order to build trust, we must develop relationships with our listeners. Friendships are created when you truly know everything about a person. This is the reason it is crucial that you define your single target listener.

Many podcasters refer to their target listener as their avatar. This person is the single individual around which you create all of your content.

To develop your business, you need to define your niche. Your focus on your niche helps grow your community. The ideal customers within that niche gives the focus the power.

Download my free Ideal Target Listener Worksheet at PodcastTalentCoach.com/listener.

TRUST

We have heard it said many times before. People do business with those they know, like and trust. This trust is what our friendship with our ideal listener is developing.

To build trust with our podcast, we need to have a conversation with one person. In order to do that, we need to define that ideal listener. Our target listener.

I have created a Listener Development Worksheet. This template will walk you through the development of your target listener step-by-step.

Use this worksheet to create your ideal listener. The more you know about your listener, the better you will be able to communicate. Keep this person in mind while recording each show.

YOUR AVATAR

In this episode, we walk through the worksheet. By the end of the show, you should have your ideal listener well defined along with a visual image in your mind.

A few characteristics of your ideal listener we will define today include age, gender, income, interests and fears. These are only a few of the 17 characteristics we will examine.

Be sure you have downloaded the worksheet. It will be a tremendous help with this episode.

Your ideal listener will evolve over time. The more you learn about your target listener, the more you will fine tune your definition.

RESEARCH

You can learn more about your audience by using a survey like Survey Monkey. Be careful that you ask questions that your audience will be comfortable answering. Specific income might be too personal. A range might be better.

Let me know how it turns out. I would love to help you any way I can.

Let’s have a conversation. People want to feel part of the discussion and not like they are sitting in a lecture. How do you create that atmosphere on your podcast?

Talk to me, not at me
Treat your audience as an audience of one
Let your listener live vicariously through you
Use your regular voice
Do everything in your own style

TALK TO ME, NOT AT ME

When you are podcasting, talk “to” your listener. Don’t talk “at” her. You are not announcing. You are having a personal conversation and building a relationship.

Podcasting is an intimate conversation with one person. The conversation is typically one person speaking into a microphone addressing another single individual.

There may sometimes be hundreds of thousands of people listening. However, they are all listening by themselves. Even in an automobile with others listening via communal speakers, the members of the audience are listening by themselves in their own head. Each listener is developing their own unique, mental images.

Have a conversation directly with that individual. Put your listener in the moment. Avoid addressing the group. Instead of using “hello everyone”, use “hi, how are you?” Make her feel like you are talking directly to her. It will make your podcast relationship much stronger.

AUDIENCE OF ONE

As you are creating your podcast, treat your audience like you are talking to each person individually. This is critical when creating a trusting relationship with your audience.

I hear many shows address their audience as a group with comments like “hello everyone” or “hey guys”. Each person in your audience is listening to you as an individual. Audio is a very personal medium. Many times, they are listening with headphones. It is just you and her. Talk to her just like that.

Addressing a crowd on the radio began when radio began. As radio was just being created, station owners needed content to broadcast. Radio programming began with rebroadcasting live, theater events. The person on the stage would address the crowd as “ladies and gentleman”.

As radio progressed, live audiences were eliminated. However, people on the radio continued to address the audience as a group. It was fitting. The family still gathered around the radio before television was introduced to the family room. An on-air personality could address the audience as a group and be justified in doing so.

Radio then became a personal medium. The television replaced the radio as family entertainment. In-car and headphones became the preferred method of radio listening. Each listener was now creating images and visions in his or her own head that were unique to their imagination. Their thoughts were different from those of any other listener. The conversation was now between the person on the air and the individual listening.

Unfortunately, radio personalities continued to address the listener as a group. “It has always been done this way.” The disconnect began.

Podcasts are even more individualistic than radio. Most people select a podcast because of their own tastes. Groupthink does not play a factor as it would to select a movie or television show for the family. It is one person listening on their own to a show that interests them.

If you are talking to your listener as if they are in a group, using plural terms like everyone and you guys and you all, your listener will wonder who you are addressing. They will think, “You guys? I’m listening by myself. Who are you talking to?” In the end, they will not follow your call-to-action, because they will think someone else in your “group” will handle it. Talk to an audience of one and build that relationship with each listener individually.

Nobody like to be lectured to. Data and facts get dull & boring. Engage by being conversational. Tell stories. This is a conversation, not a lecture.

CAN I BE YOU?

Vicarious. Voyeurism. Eavesdropping.

Those are three main reasons people listen to your podcast. Tell stories to help fulfill those desires.

People dream about having a different (and usually better) life. They want to experience those things others are experiencing. The grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence. People crave living the lives of others.

Your listeners want to live vicariously through you. They want to experience your success. They wish they had the courage to do the things you have done. Your fans want to be you in some way or another.

Voyeurism is a reason many people watch the shows they watch, listen to the stories they hear, or read the books they read. They want to experience the lives of others.

People eavesdrop on the conversations of others for the very same reasons. They can experience the life of others without the risk of failure. Eavesdropping doesn’t take the courage that it takes to actually live the life.

By telling great stories about your experiences, you help your audience fulfill the desire to live vicariously through you. If your show contains audio of your feats and experiences, you allow your audience to become the voyeurs they desire. When you interview people on your show, you allow your listener to eavesdrop on your conversation.

When you simply lecture as the content of your show, you fail to help your listener experience any of those three desires. Find new ways to deliver your material to your audience. You will make those important connections that turn into friendships. Those relationships will foster loyalty to your show. Your tribe will follow you wherever you go. That’s a powerful thing.

Tell stories of self-revelation. See where it takes you. You’ll be surprised how many people wish they could be you.

USE YOUR REGULAR VOICE

The scoop is that fake announcer voice that you hear quite often. It’s like a slow start with a gradual build.

“Wwwwweeeelllllcom to the big show.”

It sounds like your voice is going up and down as if it is on a yo-yo.

Real people don’t talk like that. You are trying to build trusting relationships with your audience. You want to sound real and authentic.

When you sound like a supermarket announcer, you sound fake. Your listeners will find it hard to trust you, because they know that isn’t really you. The audio they are hearing sounds like a character you are portraying.

Don’t let your voice bounce like a ball. You can be excited and enthusiastic. You can also be real and natural at the same time. Just be yourself.

When the inflection of your voice bounces up and down, you will find it difficult to truly engage your listener. Be real. Avoid the scoop.

YOUR STYLE

Create everything you do in your own style. You can only stand out among all other shows when you create your own unique style. You must then make sure everything you do is consistent with that style.

Many new broadcasters try to emulate the style of their hero or mentor. They attempt to imitate the styles they hear from other broadcasters. Unfortunately, copying doesn’t create a unique style. Copying typically creates a watered-down version of some other style. When creating your content, be yourself and find your own style.

Some of the greatest broadcasters didn’t start the ascension to the top until they abandoned the attempts to broadcast in the style they thought others desired and began being true to themselves.

Oprah Winfrey quit trying to be a traditional news anchor. She also quit doing the typical tabloid, daytime talk show. When she began to create the show she always desired, she went to the top of the game.

Howard Stern began as a radio DJ sounding like every other radio DJ. He was playing the records and spouting the lines written by management while going nowhere. When Stern decided he was going to do radio his way, he began to make a name for himself. He also went to the top.

Rush Limbaugh followed a very similar path. He had a cheesy radio name. He followed the format designed by somebody else. Limbaugh made every attempt to fulfill the typical radio DJ stereotype. He also got fired again and again. When he decided to broadcast in his style and true to his beliefs, he began his rise to the top.

Adam Corolla made his climb when he took full control over his style and show. He was climbing the DJ ladder in Los Angeles. Corolla had some decent television work. He then decided to create his own show in his own style via podcast. That began his rise as one of the biggest podcasters in the world.

All of these broadcasters made the decision to stop copying others. They all created shows that were true to their style.

They each also stay true to their style in everything they do. You will never hear Rush sound like Howard. You’ll never mistake something Oprah says as something Adam might say. Being true to their style isn’t something that takes conscious effort. It comes easy to each of them, because it is true to who they are as people.

Be true to yourself. It will make it easy to create everything you do in your style.

Download my free Ideal Target Listener Worksheet at PodcastTalentCoach.com/listener.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Capture Attention – Episode 219

February 11, 2019 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Have you noticed a lot of the business interview podcasts sound the same? We are hearing the same guests answer the same questions time and time again. How do you become unique in this sea of sameness and capture attention?

Storytelling can transform your podcast.

I was on a coaching call with Arman the other day. He is a great public speaker who is launching a podcast to compliment his business.

Arman has a knack for telling stories in his speeches. His past life experiences create compelling tales. We were discussing the power of stories in his show.

There is a subtle difference between telling stories in a speech and telling stories in a podcast. During a speech, few people will get up and leave if you don’t hold their attention.

While listening to a podcast, if you are captivating, there is a good chance your listener will go find something else to enjoy. There is no guilt in turning you off.

Therefore, you need to capture their attention right out of the box and hold it.

Stories can be a powerful tool with your podcast.

People do business with people they know, like and trust. Stories help you develop that knowledge, likability and trust.

Your stories define you and will touch many more people. The stories you tell and the details you include reveal many things about you. That begins to develop that like and trust.

It can be a bit scary to reveal things about yourself on your podcast. Develop the ability to recognize your unique thoughts and the courage to reveal them on your show.

Two radio coaches have influenced me greatly over the years. They each have similar views on storytelling.

Radio consultant Randy Lane says use stories to “make it human by making it humorous, compelling or tragic”.

Radio talent coach Bill McMahon suggest you decide what you hope to make your audience “Laugh at, marvel at or better understand.”

How do you want your audience to feel after hearing your story? Frame that feeling in your engaging introduction. Decide what you hope to reveal about yourself with the story.

Stories help you connect, motivate and inspire.

There are four parts to the storytelling structure.

ENGAGING INTRODUCTION

This pulls your listener right into the story. Your introduction should tell your listener exactly where the story is headed.

VIVID DETAILS

How will your emotion be revealed in the story? Use vivid details to make your story come to life in the theater of the mind.

POWERFUL CONCLUSION

Wrap up the story with a reframing of your engaging introduction.

WHAT ELSE?

Asking “What Else” will transform your show. Don’t let the story simply end and fade away. Turn it into something powerful.

“What Else” can we do with a compelling story? You could create a video, continue the conversation on social media, follow up with listener input in the following episode or various other things. Let your story lead to something bigger.

Ask “what else can we do” and see where it leads.

Do you want help?

Dave Jackson and I host thePodcast Review Show together. Our guests appear on the show to have their podcast reviewed by the two of us.

Typically, hiring the two of us individually for an hour would be hundreds of dollars. This opportunity saves you a ton of money. Not only do you get an hour of consulting from us on this show, you get to plug your show for a sixty minutes. And, we get great content for a podcast.

We would love to have you on the show. Get the details here:

GET REVIEWED – CLICK HERE.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Increase Your Podcast Downloads – Episode 209

November 5, 2018 Erik K. Johnson 4 Comments

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How To Increase Your Podcast Downloads – Episode 209

Get more podcast downloads — Increase Your Podcast Downloads

Most of us want to grow our audience, increase podcast downloads and become more influential in our niche. I recently conducted a survey asking about your biggest challenges with regard to your podcast. The most frequent response revolved around ways to increase podcast downloads.

If you were to list your top three struggles with your show, would one hurdle you list be getting more listeners and engagement?

A few weeks ago, I created a download challenge for a small group of people. For the few that took action, the results were impressive.

When podcasters reach out to me for their free strategy session, I ask them how I might help with their podcast. Promoting the show, gaining listeners and increasing podcast downloads is most always part of the answer.

You are not alone. We all want a bigger audience. Whether you have 100 listeners or 10,000 listeners, I’m sure you would like a few more.

Before we jump into the ideas and a couple case studies, I’d like to invite you to take me up on my offer to you of a free podcast strategy session. It is my goal to directly help 1,000 podcasters reach their goals in 2019.

You and I will get on the phone and discuss your podcast, your challenges and your goals. Let’s create a clear plan of action to help you get where you want to go in 2019 with your podcast and business. It’s free. What do you have to lose?

Find the details at PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching.

This isn’t a big sales pitch in disguise. I’ll help you create a plan. At the end of the call, if you want information on how I might help you with that plan, we can discuss it then. If not, no problem.

Will you be one of my 1,000 over the next year? Go watch the video at PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching. I’d love to talk with you.

THE TRUTH

Let’s start with a few truths.

First, you are not alone. Growing your audience to increase podcast downloads is usually somewhere in our goals regardless of the length of time we have been podcasting. We are all in this together.

Next, it will not happen overnight. Your podcast growth will take time. If you take consistent action over time, the number grows. Keep your head down and do the work required.

You also need to realize that the average podcast episode gets about 214 downloads per episode. That is the median number according to Rob Walch over at Libsyn. Only 20% of all podcast get over 2,000 downloads after they have been out for a month. Therefore, don’t sweat your numbers. Most people are lying to you.

Finally, it is simple, but not easy. As you will see, the concepts are simple to understand. Being disciplined enough to do the work is not as easy as it sounds. We’ll help.

CONSISTENCY

In the episode where I introduced the download challenge, we talked about creating habits. It takes consistent action to build an audience.

In 1960, Dr. Maxwell Maltz said it takes patients “a minimum of about 21 days for an old image to dissolve and a new one to jell.” Dr. Maltz published that theory and his thoughts on behavior change in a book called Psycho-Cybernetics.

As with many quotes, over the years it was taken out of context. The stat was eventually quoted as, “It takes 21 days to form a new habit,” leaving out the important “minimum”.

A new studyby colleagues at University College London and published in the European Journal of Social Psychology says it takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit.

That is why consistency and accountability are important. If you want people to remember your brand, it takes frequency to the target.

6 STEPS

In our download challenge, our goal was to hold each other accountable and take daily action. Let’s run down the six steps we used to increase podcast downloads.

1. ENGAGE

As we went through the month, we wanted to reach out and engage in our niche on a daily basis. We saw results. Spend 15 minutes a day being active and present online. Leave feedback for other shows. Everybody loves attention.

The best way to grow your network is by making contact with others. Start by commenting on podcasts, blogs and discussions of influencers.

Don’t simply be a lurker, reading all the other posts. Get involved. Take action. A small “congratulations” or other acknowledgement is just fine.

You want to be seen as someone who gets things done. By taking action and engaging with others, you send the message that you are active.

2. NETWORK

Next, network with other shows in the same genre. Help each other. Other influencers in your niche probably have similar goals.

Find people in your niche who compliment what you do. Team up to help each other grow. Look for ways to share each other’s content.

3. HELP OTHERS

Help other people. This help is intended for your listeners. Be seen as someone with the answers, or at least someone who knows where to get the answers.

Do Facebook Live “ask me anything” sessions. Prove that you are willing to help them achieve their goals. Give them direction.

If you become the go-to resource who knows where to find the answers, you become the authority in your space.

4. BE SOCIAL

Use social media to spread your message. Be active on Facebook & Twitter. Don’t simply lurk around. Post positive comments and be helpful.

Consistently interact with others on social media. Avoid always asking and taking. Offer to help. Don’t simply look around. Get involved. Be active.

5. FIND GROUPS

Get involved in online groups. Find people who are interested in your niche and start getting involved.

Groups are a great place to find like-minded people. If you want to create brand awareness, these groups are a great place to start.

Again, be active. It does you very little good to be a member of a group if you are not going to actually participate. Members won’t know you are there unless you speak up.

6. BE CONSISTENT

You need to be consistent if you want to build brand awareness. This involves interacting online on a daily basis.

CASE STUDIES

So, how did it all work? I would like to highlight three members of the download challenge. These will help you see the power of consistent engagement.

Andy was part of our group. He is host of the Veteran Gamer Reenlisted podcast.

This podcast isn’t for the meek. I’ll tell you that right now. That’s what I love about it. Andy and Ray are two military veterans who talk about Warhammer 40K and other table top games. They talk a lot of trash and have a lot of fun.

Andy and Ray are about 64 episodes in. They know exactly who listens to their show. Looking at their website, you will know as well.

When Andy started in the group, he was hoping to grow his audience by 10%.

At the end of the month, Andy was up 46% by taking consistent action.

Andy says, “It works if you work it.” He told me, “Between myself and my co-host, we engage with our community everyday. We like to invite our listeners to feel like they are part of the group and we encourage engagement and they respond. We reward the engagement by sharing much of it on the show. We also belong to many other groups in the related community and are seen as influencers in some of those groups. Its just a part of our everyday business.”

His growth was four times what he had hoped. It all came down to being present and active every day.

Tim does a show with his wife called “The He Said, She Said Movie Reviews Podcast“. As you can tell from the title, they review movies.

April and Tim have only been doing the show for a few months. They have just over 30 episodes published. They have seen over 3,500 movies together and love talking about films.

Since the podcast is new, Tim wanted to see a big increase with the download challenge. He wanted to see his podcast downloads grow by 30%, which equated to about 125 downloads for the month.

The pair took daily action. They got involved and saw their downloads increase by not 30% but 61%. Their podcast received an increase of 226 downloads. Nearly twice the 125 goal.

Tim says, “We had great results. It really works.”

When I asked him about taking action, Tim said, “I’ve taken action every day. I joined two Movie groups on Facebook and have been commenting on them both. Also, in Instagram someone created a Group Message of about 40 movie people and we have been talking movies daily. Still have not hooked up with other movie podcast yet. Just have not had the time (bad excuse) but it’s on the list to do.”

The key is daily action. Tim only did half of what he had planned and nearly doubled his downloads. Be present and active.

One of our other members reported that his podcast downloads actually decreased over the course of the month. He said the results were not as good as he had hoped.

We dug in a little bit. I asked him if he was active daily. He said, “Not often enough. I haven’t built that habit muscle very well yet. And I’ve been pretty scattered.”

That is the tough part. Easy to understand. Difficult to execute. Consistent action is tough when you are doing it alone.

Consistent action is like going to the gym. You go for a few days and stop. You start again for a little longer and stop again. Eventually, as long as you keep going back, it becomes a habit. You have to keep at it.

When you are going to the gym, it is easier to do it on a regular basis if you are going with an accountability partner. You make sure each other is going regularly. You can’t let your partner down.

It is the same with your consistent action with your podcast. If you have someone there holding you accountable, it makes it much easier.

That is part of Podcast Talent Coach coaching. We talk every week. I hold you accountable to the plan. We make sure you are consistent with your actions.

It is tough to do it alone. I get that. You are not alone. You have many other things going on in life and business. Take focused action on a regular basis to reach your goals.

Check out the video at podcasttalentcoach.com/coachingand see what it can do for you. The strategy session is absolutely free. Be one of the 1,000 podcasters I help over the next year. Let’s lay out your plan.

The video is at podcasttalentcoach.com/coaching. It explains the whole process to you.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Define Your Ideal Target Listener For Your Podcast – Episode 207

October 17, 2018 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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How To Define Your Ideal Target Listener For Your Podcast – Episode 207

How To Create Your Ideal Target Listener

So many people talk about creating your avatar or ideal target listener. They talk about why to do it. Rarely do they explain how to do it. That is what I want to talk about today.

When I ask people to tell me about their target listener, they usually tell me they are targeting business owners, salespeople, dog lovers or some other generic group. They say things like, “My show is for everyone who likes hockey.”

ONE PERSON

Your podcast is for people, not groups. You are talking to a single person, not an industry. If you want to make your show exciting, relevant and meaningful for your audience, talk to one individual. You will be surprised how your connection with your audience improves.

I have a tool that will walk you through the process of defining your avatar. Download the Podcast Talent Coach Listener Development Worksheet.

There is a reason we create one, well-defined, target individual. We want to be specific in your stories. Specifics are more believable than generalities. Stories make connections. Connections make relationships.

STORIES

All the great philosophers teach through stories. They have for generations.

Zig Ziglar was a master at using specifics. When he would bring a red pump out on stage and talk about not giving up too early, you would just anticipate water streaming from the pump. You knew the pump wasn’t connected to anything. It was a prop. Yet, you were fixated on that pump waiting for the water.

After you define your ideal client, you will be able to shape and mold your content to be specific for that listener.

When I coach clients, we typically start with the Listener Development Worksheet. We can then use that ideal listener as a filter for our content.

As you create your content each week for your show, you can ask, “What would this one listener like to know about this particular subject?”

Think of the person who is most likely to buy from you. Think of the one person who exemplifies your best customer who buys everything you sell. We want to create our content specifically for that person. When your listener feels like you are speaking directly to them, the listener is more likely to act upon on your call-to-action.

Many times people complete the Listener Development Worksheet only to find their avatar looks exactly like a current client. When that happens for you, get a photo of that person. Hang it where you record your podcast. Then, talk to her every time your record. What does she need to know to take the next logical step in her process? How can you help her?

GET SPECIFIC

Dig deep into the profile of your ideal listener. Age, gender, income, profession and location are only the surface. Dig deeper.

Determine what content your ideal listener already consumes. This will help you understand his interests. Figure out what websites she visits, where he spends his free time, with whom she associates and how she spends her discretionary income.

Many people fear they will leave people out if they are not broad in the scope of their content. When you define these things and shape your content through this filter, you make a much deeper connection with your ideal listener.

THE BIG FOUR

If you want more confidence in your content, the final four questions on the worksheet are the most important. These questions help you get into the head of your ideal target listener to determine what they really, really desire.

What is his greatest want? What does he want more than anything?

Making more money is NOT his want. What the money allows him to do is the want. Maybe it is spending more time with his kids. Maybe is it more time to knit. Maybe it is the resources to travel.

What is her greatest need? Need is much different than want. She may want to be admired by her children. She needs the tools to help her do that.

What is your ideal target listener’s greatest fear? People want help to overcome their fears.

What problem does he need solved? People buy aspirin more than vitamins. People will pay money to have their problems solved. Some studies show that people will pay up to six times more to have their problem solved than they would to gain a benefit. This is where your business can thrive.

The only way to determine this is to talk to your audience. Ask them.

WANT HELP?

Download the worksheet. If you would like help, check out my FREE podcast strategy session. Watch the video. It explains everything for you.

The FREE podcast strategy sessionis no sales pitch in disguise. We just talk about your show, create a strategy and see how we work together. I will give you info about my coaching only if you really want it.

Either way, the FREE podcast strategy sessionis designed to help you create a strategy for your podcast and get you headed in the right direction.

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Podcast

The Most Important Step To Building Your Audience – Episode 201

August 14, 2018 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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The Most Important Step To Building Your Audience – Episode 201

Do The Work To Grow Your Audience — Copyright: photopiano / 123RF Stock Photo

In working with a new client the other day, he wanted to build his audience. He had a few dozen listeners and wanted to know how to build it to a few thousand. I explained the best way to grow was to put in the work.

There are three activities you can do regularly that will get you in front of potential listeners and grow your audience. You can build your e-mail list, participate in Facebook groups and appear as a guest on other podcasts. Whichever you choose, you need to put in the work.

[GET REVIEWED ON THE PODCAST REVIEW SHOW]

[GET REVIEWED BY ERIK K. JOHNSON]

OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

I know many podcasters don’t want to hear it. Why can’t I be huge today with a big audience? Look at all these other kids who launched and became the overnight success.

Overnight success is usually a farce. Most overnight successes put in years of work before they became the overnight success.

Pat Flynnlaunched Smart Passive Income in 2010.

Gary Vaynerchukstarted Wine Library TV on YouTube in 2006.

Chris Guillebeaustarted the Art of Non-Conformity in the early 2000s and published his first book in 2010.

Shane & Jocelyn Samsare just hitting their stride. Their Flipped Lifestyle podcast began in 2014.

Dave Ramseyhas been doing his show for 25 years.

Dave Jacksonhas been podcasting since 2005.

DO THE WORK

If a podcast has 100 episodes, they have been doing it for about 2 years if they are producing the show once a week.

To reach your goals and grow your audience, put your head down and do the work. If you work to get better every episode, and you are active in the communities within your niche, you will grow. It just takes time.

My son is an ice hockey goalie. He started playing hockey when he was 6. He began playing goalie when he was 8.

Because he started a year later than the other kids, he was always the odd man out. His small size has also been a hurdle to overcome. Through the years, he never got a shot at the top travel team. He just wasn’t part of that tight knit group that typically forms in youth sports.

Year after year, he attended goalie camps and clinics working with various goalie coaches. He put in the work and kept learning and continued doing. I told him he just needed to continue to work toward his goals.

He is now 14. It has been 6 years of hard work.

This is the first year he really broke through. This year, he will be the goalie for the JV team as a freshman.

If you want it and work for it, success will come. Put in the work.

SCHEDULE IT

To build your audience, create a schedule for yourself and your activity. Set aside time each day to participate in online groups. Set a goal and work toward it consistently.

Work to build your e-mail list, so you can communicate with your tribe often.

Finally, find ways to appear on other shows. Work to get your name out there.

If you work consistently, your audience will grow over time.

Would you like my help with it? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Struggle With Stats, Difficult Guests and Lost Audio – Episode 193

May 20, 2018 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Struggle With Stats, Difficult Guests and Lost Audio – Episode 193

I recently asked my tribe about the one thing they struggle with most with their podcast. This week, we answer the questions and help you get over a few hurdles.

On this episode, we answer questions about dealing with lost audio, boosting your stats and dealing with stiff and difficult guests.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

FORGETTING

I do a show called The Cinema Guys (WeAreTheCinemaGuys.com) and I do all of the show. My co-hosts show up record and leave. I do all the tech, recording, editing, posting and so on. Well tonight we recorded and I didn’t realize until we were done that I had the recorder set wrong and it only recorded one of the 3 mics and to top that off I forgot to set up the back up recorder. So long answer to your question I think the biggest struggle sometimes is the technical side mostly the set up and hoping everything works.

Love your show. Yours and Dave Jackson’s are my top weekly listens.

Thanks,

Brad

WeAreTheCinemaGuys.com

EKJ: Ugh! I feel your pain, Brad.

Two things can help you prevent losing a show like this. The backup recorder is a great idea. However, it only works if you remember to hit record.

First, create a preflight checklist. What are the things you need to do before you record? This probably includes show notes, audio levels, water to drink, mute your phone and a few other things.

Create this list and use it EVERY time you record your show. This is the only way you will remember everything necessary.

Bad things happen when you fail to prepare.

Next, test your gear and levels. Make sure the gain isn’t up too high creating distortion. Garbage in equals garbage out. If the levels aren’t right to start, there is nothing you can do to save it.

Make sure every sound source is feeding the recording. This includes mics, sound effects, calls, software and any other sound source you will use.

If you use these two steps before every show, you will be much more likely to avoid losing a show.

SOCIAL MEDIA

I struggle most with learning how to effectively use social media to grow audience.

Thank you,

Joel

A Band of Gamers Podcast

ABOGpodcast.com

My listener stats have plateaued. I have only been at it for about 6 months and we have grown to listener ship of between 150 and 200 downloads per show. The listeners we do have are loyal and engaged. Similar and more established podcasts are getting 20 and 30 times that download number though. Maybe its my content or maybe we are not marketing correctly or enough to grow our listeners.

Andrew Gonzales

EKJ: Social media is a great way to promote the show. However, it isn’t the only method you should be using.

When using social media, get involved with others. Offer help in communities similar to your community. Join Facebook groups and communicate.

Share, repost and retweet other content. Be seen on social platforms. You don’t need to create all of the content. Be a resource.

Make sure your social media profile includes your podcast prominently. Make it easy to find you.

The more people see you, the better the chances are that they will come check out the show.

Find other ways to promote the show. Check out episode 188 “Leverage Your Audience To Grow”. Asking your audience to share your show and help you grow is very powerful. If they love you, they will tell others. Don’t wait for them to think of it. Ask them to share it.

In episode 176 “How To Grow Your Audience By 10x”, we talk about many other ways to grow. You could host events for your community. Guest blog and appear on other podcasts.

Create a lead magnet for every episode that also contains the podcast information. Then, encourage listeners to share it with their friends.

Growing your audience is an ongoing mission. Drip, drip, drip. Eventually, you’ll have a nice, little puddle. Over time, it will grow. I don’t think you will ever get to a point where you think, “Ok, I have enough listeners.” Make this part of your regular daily routine.

STRUGGLE WITH STIFF GUESTS

Some of my guests become stiff or experience stage fright during the first 10 min of the cast, also how do you keep more Domineering guests from taking over the discussion?

Thanks Ken Morris

EKJ: If your guest is inexperienced, it is critical that you define the expectations right up front. People are usually nervous, because of the unknown. They aren’t sure. They don’t know what to expect.

Lay things out for your guest right up front. Do what you can to put them at ease.

If you want answers that are around 30 seconds long, let them know. If you need answers that are full sentences, let them know. If you want short stories, tell them before the recording begins.

It is important to let them know you will do your best to make them sound great. Tell them you will edit out any answers they don’t like. If they want to start an answer a second time, you will be happy to edit that as well. This will usually help them relax.

Stiff guests are usually solved with creative questions. Ask open-ended questions that get your guest to tell you stories. “Tell me about a time when you ____.” “What did it feel like the first time you ___.” “When did you realize you were ____.” “Tell me about the person who gave you the best piece of advice you ever received.” This will help your guest give you more than one or two word answers.

With domineering guests, you need to be very clear with your guest right up front that you want this to be a conversation without their agenda. It helps when you can assure the guest you will give them plenty of time to plug their stuff.

You can also ask if there are particular points they would like to cover. Assure them you will offer questions that allow them to cover those points.

Let your guest know that when the interview is over, you will ask them if there is anything you didn’t cover. This will allow them to touch on points that may have been left out. You can then edit that question into the show. This rarely happens. However, it does help your guest get comfortable and drop the script.

Finally, tell your guest you will edit the show. It is perfectly acceptable if they feel the need to stop and begin an answer again. You can edit that out to make them sound great.

You guests will sometimes follow a script, because they are nervous and inexperienced giving interviews. Set their mind at ease by letting them know you will make them sound great.

In the end, it is your show. There will be times when you need to stop the interview and be demanding. If you find your guest is following a script and doing nothing but pitching, stop the interview and explain your goals for the show.

Use something like this. “Rick, I can appreciate you have a new book and would really like to plug it. Believe me, we will get to that. If we make this conversation nothing but a prolonged infomercial, people will tune out. They will take no action, and it will be ineffective. Please allow this to become a conversation. After we engage our audience with a great discussion and get them to trust your authority, we can get to the book with a strong call-to-action. However, we need to make it a conversation first. Do me a favor and set the talking points aside. Let it flow. Trust me. You’ll sound great.”

If you need to stop a second time and get more demanding, use something like, “Rick, I’m losing confidence that this interview will be something I can use for the show. My listeners will benefit more by natural answers from the heart. I need to ask you to set aside the talking points and simply have a discussion. Otherwise, we need to cut this interview short. Can you help me there?”

If that doesn’t work, move on to the next interview.

Do you struggle with your podcast? I can answer your question on a future show. E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Leverage Your Audience To Grow Your Podcast Downloads – Episode 188

March 27, 2018 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Leverage Your Audience To Grow Your Podcast Downloads – Episode 188

The most common challenge I hear podcasters facing is growing their audience. We all want to drive our podcast downloads and grow our audience. This week, I have 9 things you can do this week to steadily gain more podcast downloads.

There was a presentation at Podcast Movement 2017 called “How People Really Listen To Podcasts”. This study showed two primary ways people find new podcasts. Most respondents in the study (60%) said they find new podcasts from social media. Friends was the next biggest way (57%) people discover new shows to try. Both of these traffic sources come from word-of-mouth.

What are you doing to get others to talk about your podcast?

If you want to grow your podcast downloads, you need to get in front of other people and then get those people to talk about your show.

1. Grow your Facebook following.

As of the fourth quarter of 2017, Facebook had 2.2 billion monthly active users. As of September 2017, Instagram had reached 800 million monthly active users. As of the fourth quarter of 2017, the Twitter averaged at 330 million monthly active users.

Facebook is currently by far the largest social media platform. Find ways to be present on Facebook and grow your following.

2. Comment on other social posts to be seen.

This is the Law of Reciprocity. Give to others and they will feel compelled to give in return.

I am in 19 Facebook groups for podcasting and business. I am frequently in those groups looking for ways to help other people.

Find groups you can join where you can offer help and answer questions.

3. Ask your friends to share.

You never know who might know somebody.

Dave Jackson and I do the Podcast Review Show. We are joined on the show by a podcaster who receives joint coaching from us.

On the episode we recorded the other night, Lionel from A Modelers Life podcast. It is a show for and about model railroaders.

Dave wondered how big the niche could be. Lionel told him that you would be surprised who could be model railroaders. That’s when I told Dave that I was into model railroading back in the day. My dad got me into it when I was a kid.

You never know who might be interested in your niche.

4. Ask your guests to share.

Guests are your most powerful resource. Using the circle of influence of your guest has the potential to grow your audience exponentially.

Make it easy for your guest to share your podcast. Write the Facebook post for the episode on which they appear. Do most of the work for them and allow them to make edits if they wish.

5. Be a guest on other shows. Make an invitation easy.

Are you willing to be on other podcasts? Have you told anyone?

Make it easy to find you and invite you to appear. Put a link on your site. This could be on the contact page or a stand-alone invite page.

See my contact page at PodcastTalentCoach.com for an example.

6. Write guest columns in publications or on websites.

My relationship with Dave Jackson at School of Podcasting began after he discovered a few articles I wrote for the New Media Expo site back when that event was still happening.

7. Ask your audience.

Your audience loves you. Let them help you.

You never know who is listening to your show. A small ask could gain huge growth in your podcast downloads.

One of my favorite shows we would do each year on the radio was during Christmas. We would ask listeners to call in with gifts they were having difficulty finding. Then, we would ask other listeners to call in if they could help.

We just served as the liaison between those that needed and those that had the knowledge. Everybody felt good after that show. Most people want to help.

8. Ask others in your niche to recommend your show.

Make it worth their while.

Help each other. Again, this is the law of reciprocity.

What do your counterparts need? How can you help them?

If you are helping others, karma will bring it around to you eventually.

9. Host meet-ups and have your listeners bring friends.

If ten people attend the first one, and you have each of them bring a friend next time, you double your group.

Texas country artist Aaron Watson came to town to perform. He is an artist that can attract large crowds in Texas. However, he was quite unknown in our city.

When he was on stage, Aaron said he completely understood that the audience wouldn’t be nearly the size here as it was in Texas. But, he would continue to come as long as the audience continued to bring their friends.

Aaron told the audience if there were 100 people in the crowd that night, and he gave a great show so each person would bring a friend next time, he would eventually have large crowds here as well. He understood the power of leveraging his audience.

BASICS

Use these 9 ways to grow your podcast downloads this week. When you distill it down, it is basically three basic concepts.

1. Help people.

2. Make it easy to share your stuff.

3. Make it worth their while – what is in it for them?

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Draw Your Listeners Past The First 60 Seconds Of Engagement – Episode 185

March 6, 2018 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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How To Draw Your Listeners Past The First 60 Seconds Of Engagement – Episode 185

Listener Engagement — Copyright: alphaspirit / 123RF Stock Photo

When a listener hits play on your podcast, how can you get them to listen to the end? Or, at least past that critical first few minutes of engagement?

HOW LONG DO THEY STAY?

When a listener hits play on your podcast, how long do they stay?

Studies show about 47% of those that consume podcasts listen to the end of the episode.

Roughly 23% of listeners say they listen until they are bored.

Studies also show the biggest drop off of those who do not listen to the end comes in the first five minutes of the show.

This means a quarter of your listeners to any episode get out before you are five minutes into the show.

Think about how you consume podcasts. Where are you and what are you doing when you listen?

Put yourself in the shoes of your listeners. What are they doing? Have you asked them?

When I listen to my favorite podcasts, I am typically driving. During the summer, I listen to a lot of podcasts while I am mowing the lawn. This allows me a lot of time to try new shows.

New podcasts don’t get a lot of my time. I fall into that five-minute group. If the content and host hasn’t really pulled me in, I am off looking for something else.

How can we keep listeners around for the entire episode? How do we create quick engagement?

When I attended Podcast Movement 2017 in Anaheim, there were a few session that discussed this very subject. Podcast Movement is a fantastic opportunity to not only learn more about our podcast industry, but networking and masterminding with so many other podcasters is priceless.

There were many great sessions at PM17. I actually teamed up with two other podcasters in my Mastermind to divide and conquer. We each took notes in separate sessions and then swapped when it was all over.

One of the sessions was “Why Public Radio Excels At Podcasting”. Public radio has created some amazingly successful podcasts such as “Serial“, “How I Built This“, “TED Radio Hour” and more.

How are they so successful?

START STRONG

First, you need to start strong. Create quick engagement.

The biggest drop off your podcast experiences is in the first 5 minutes. You simply cannot catch up to a bad opening.

Create that intriguing introduction like we talk about when storytelling. You learned it in speech class. Find that hook, and lead with the headline.

You cannot spend the first five minutes of your show with mindless chit-chat. The content must be powerful.

Talking about the weather or the thing you have to sell will not deliver content that will create engagement and make your listener want more.

CREATE FOMO

What makes a great introduction? An intriguing introduction creates some anticipation. Tease your audience with what is coming up on the show.

A powerful tease is more than simply promoting the content coming up. “Today, we are going to discuss the pros and cons of e-mail marketing” does nothing to create anticipation.

Sell the sizzle, not simply the ingredients.

“Today, I’m going to give you the five headlines that received by far my best open rates over the past year” creates some intrigue. Listeners begin to experience the fear of missing out if they don’t listen to get all five.

DELIVER GREAT CONTENT

After you start strong, you then need to continue to be great.

Just because a large group drops off in the first five minutes doesn’t mean you will not lose listeners throughout the show. Therefore, you need to re-engage your listeners every two to five minutes to slow the drop off. Find ways to catch their attention again.

During the entire episode, you need to always be great. You cannot fill for time’s sake. The fact that you always do a 30-minute show doesn’t give you permission to tread water and fill with less-than-stellar content. Be great the entire show. It is continuous engagement.

A great aspect of podcasting is the freedom of time. You have no clock determining how long you need to talk or when you need to wrap up. As radio coach Valerie Gellar says, “There is no such thing as too long, only too boring.”

If you want people to listen to the end of your episode, you need to be more entertaining than anything else they could be doing right now. Your competition for their attention isn’t simply other podcasts. Your competition is all other entertainment they could be consuming right now.

Are you more entertaining than the radio, or audiobook or conversation they could be having? It must be if you want them to stay.

Learn how to create an intriguing introduction. A powerful opening is your only hope to get your listeners past that 5-minute drop off.

Create engagement. Start strong. Stay strong.

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Make Friends Using Your Stories – Episode 183

January 29, 2018 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Make Friends Using Your Stories – Episode 183

Powerful Stories — Copyright: kasto / 123RF Stock Photo

Our goal with our podcast is to create meaningful relationships with our listeners. Powerful, profitable relationships.

People do business with those they know, like and trust. That is the definition of a relationship. The best way to create meaningful relationships is to use engaging content.

One of the best ways to create content that is engaging is to use stories. Tell stories.

Stories reveal who we are and what we value by the pieces of ourselves we reveal within those stories. This is how your listeners get to know and like you. Your stories tell your audience why they should trust you.

TELL STORIES THAT REVEAL

What did you reveal about yourself on your podcast this week?

My radio coach taught me that from self-revelation comes friendship. Can you think of a true friend that you know very little about? Friendship becomes stronger the more you share with each other.

How can you use the stories you tell to solidify your brand and strengthen your relationships?

We have discussed storytelling in past episodes. Check out “Essential Elements of Powerful Storytelling” in episode 129, “Can You Tell Stories Like Walt Disney” in episode 130, and “How to Tell Better Podcast Stories” in episode 169. We cover the power of great storytelling, the parts of a great story, and how to structure a story.

Today, I want to teach you about three other areas of storytelling that can help transform your podcast into powerful, engaging entertainment.

How can details elicit fantastic imagery in the theater of the mind of your listener?
How can the words you use become memorable?
How can you create anticipation that will hook your listeners and make them listen to the end?

VIVID DETAILS

When you tell stories on your podcast, you reveal things about yourself. Vivid details are critical elements of great storytelling.

Details are more believable than generalities.
Details reveal specifics about your thoughts, beliefs and character.
Details put your listener in the moment helping them envision your story in their mind.
How can details elicit fantastic imagery in the theater of the mind of your listener?

My wife and daughter are big fans of the Harry Potter book series. They read all of the books long before the movies hit the theaters.

Have you ever read a book and then seen the movie? The experience isn’t quite the same, is it? My wife and daughter have that issue with Harry Potter.

The movie doesn’t include every part of the book. More importantly, the scenes in the movie didn’t look like the images in their head. They would tell me, “That wasn’t what I thought the room would look like.” My daughter would say, “I didn’t picture the professor like like.”

That is the wonderful thing about audio. Everyone sees their own personal, mental images in their own way. Those differences add to the enjoyment and entertainment of the story. Each listener can enjoy the unspoken details in their own way. The listener is not at the mercy of the interpretation of a movie director.

Coaches often use stories to inspire their team. I’ve done it myself with teams I have coached in hockey, baseball, and lacrosse.

Growing up, I played a few sports. I competed in baseball, ice hockey and bowling. I was a national champion in bowling. That is something no one can ever take from me. It is pretty cool. That is exactly what I told the hockey team I coach as we were headed into the state championship game. Win and you will always be a champion.

My bowling championship came when I was a freshman in high school. I was in a child-adult doubles tournament with my dad. We had won the various stages at the local house, city, district, and state levels. That got us to the national tournament where one team from each state competed.

After three series of the national tournament, which are 3 games each, we were in the lead going into head-to-head competition.

The head-to-head finals put the fifth place team against the fourth place team for one game. The winner of that would play the third place team. That winner would play number two. Finally, we would face that winner in one game for the championship.

We got to the last frame of the final game. It was close the entire time. When the last pins fell, we won by 3 pins. The championship was ours, because we did the little things right. When we knew we could not get all 3 pins in a split, we would get the two. When we didn’t strike, we focused on the spare. Step-by-step we won.

As my players on that high school hockey team sat there before the championship game, I told them that story. They were preparing to face a team who had only lost two games over the past two seasons. One of those games was to our team the night before. Winning a second game in a row against this level of competition was a very challenging task.

That group of boys dominated the game from start to finish by doing the little things right all night long. They won the races to the puck, finished their checks, and didn’t give up when bad passes didn’t connect. When the final buzzer sounded, they became state champions. Once a champion, always a champion.

The details make your stories intriguing and believable.

Tell great stories. Use vivid details. What will you reveal on your podcast this week?

MEMORABLE WORDS

American children’s author Dr. Seuss (Theodor “Ted” Seuss Geisel) was more interested in telling a good story than he was in telling a true story. He often exaggerated. He always used wonderful, colorful words.

The good story approach is even described in his biography at www.Seussville.com. Dr. Seuss and his wife were unable to have children.

“To silence friends who bragged about their own children, Ted liked to boast of the achievements of their imaginary daughter, Chrysanthemum-Pearl. … He included her on Christmas cards, along with Norval, Wally, Wickersham, Miggles, Boo-Boo, Thnud, and other purely fictional children. For a photograph used on one year’s Christmas card, Geisel even invited in half a dozen neighborhood kids to pose as his and Helen’s children. The card reads, ‘All of us over at Our House / Wish all of you over at / Your House / A very Merry Christmas,’ and is signed ‘Helen and Ted Geisel and the kiddies.'”

Part of the magic that was Seuss was created by the words he used. Oftentimes, he used words he created himself, like whisper-ma-phone, fiffer-feffer-feff, and schloppity-schlopp. His words were memorable and unique. His words have sounds that catch your attention.

If you want to catch the attention of your audience, use great words like Dr. Seuss. You don’t need to create your own vocabulary. Simply use words that stir emotion. Your words do not need to be long, flamboyant words. They simply need to be emotional.

Betraying. Jubilant. Downtrodden. Passionate. Unmovable. Use words that paint pictures.

Great storytellers use delightful details created by fabulous words.

Use delightful details.

“It was a muggy, hot lunchtime. We had ducked into the cool, dark shade of the woods where the sun was barely visible through the dense leaves. My eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the leave-covered path when I lost my footing near the edge of an embankment. I ended up landing on my hip, a fall that was sure to leave a strawberry, rolling head-over-feet down the fairly steep, 10-foot drop where I promptly landed on my butt in the muddy mess below. My legs were completely covered in mud as if I had been rolling in it for hours.”

With the delightful details of that story, you can almost feel yourself in the woods. You can see the muddy mess in your mind. You can smell the thick, wooded area. Details help your listener experience the story rather than just hearing it.

Capture the attention of your listener by putting your listener in the moment. Always include delightful details in your story. Use fabulous words that paint pictures. Grab attention like Dr. Seuss.

CREATE ANTICIPATION

Anticipation is a key feature to storytelling. Your story should build just like a good plot builds in a movie. You need to make your audience anticipate the content that is on the way.

Remember when you were planning a vacation? The fantastic anticipation for the trip is almost as pleasurable as the trip itself. You can’t wait for the trip to arrive.

You want your listener to feel the same way about your content. When they can’t wait for the story to arrive, you have created some great content.

Teasing is the art of creating anticipation for your audience to entice them to stick around for the payoff to your setup. It is a critical element of your show. Teasing helps create momentum for your podcast.

When you promote parts of the show that are coming up, you must creatively tease your audience. You must give them a reason to stick around. It isn’t enough to simply say, “A great story about this weekend is coming up.” Few will stick around for the payoff. Tease. Create anticipation. Instead, use something like, “You’re never gonna believe what I found in the attic this past weekend.”

Television news does a wonderful job at teasing. Create anticipation. Tease me.

Tell stories including these three essential elements.

Use details to elicit fantastic imagery in the theater of the mind of your listener.
Use memorable words
Use stories to create anticipation that will hook your listeners and make them listen to the end

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Get More Listeners For Your Podcast – PTC Episode 181

November 18, 2017 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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How To Get More Listeners For Your Podcast – PTC Episode 181

More Listeners and Engagement — Copyright: iqoncept / 123RF Stock Photo

How do I get more listeners? How do I grow podcast traffic? How do I create more engagement. How do I get more people to my website?

I hear those question quite often. It is a battle every marketer faces. How do I bring more customers in the door?

I knew the subject was a hot topic, because I see discussions everywhere. How many product launches have you seen that promise to teach you how to get more traffic?

HOW TO FAIL

In 1962, Time Magazine called David Ogilvy “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry.” David Ogilvy is quoted as saying, “Great marketing only makes a bad product fail faster.” Be careful what you wish for.

If we use the premise that great marketing simply makes a bad product fail faster, we first must make your product great. Then we can bring people to the party.

We are going to take a look at both steps to this process.

GREAT CONTENT

Let’s make your content engaging and memorable before we invite your prospects to the show. If you create a unique experience, your engagement will be much more effective when people come to the party.

When I first started programming radio stations, I failed. We didn’t win, because I didn’t create a unique, memorable experience for our listeners.

We were playing the best music at the time. Our on-air talent was solid and experienced. The station was at all of the concerts and bar events. We were checking all of the boxes that made great marketing.

There was only one problem. The content between the songs wasn’t entertaining. It was simply content.

When you listened to that station, there was no fear of missing out. We weren’t doing anything unique that you couldn’t get somewhere else. It was very pedestrian.

Fast forward 4 years when I was creating another brand new station. This time, we were going head-to-head with a radio station that had been in the market for 20 years. We had our work cut out for us. But this time, we would be unique and end up at number one.

The other station had been around forever and was very arrogant. They didn’t respect their listeners. They played average music. They were too lazy to be on the streets at the right events. Listeners couldn’t get on the air. The station also sounded old.

Our strategy with this station was to create a radio experience that made the listener feel like they had ownership in our station.

As we created the experience between the records, listeners would introduce our new music, so it sounded like friends turning other friends on to new music.

Our contests were centered around listener experiences. This allowed listeners to live vicariously through their friends.

Listeners hosted our countdown shows and gave shoutouts to their friends on the air all the time. The station truly felt like the listeners had input and control.

And it worked. After launching the station, we were number one in the market in 12 months. We did it by becoming unique.

Let’s discuss how you can become unique. Then, let’s discuss a few organic ways to get more listeners.

BECOME UNIQUE

Start by creating your own style. Be you.

Don’t try to be somebody else. You are best at being you. Nobody can copy you or do it better than you can.

Create your own show structure. There are enough knockoffs. Just because every other podcast does the “lightning round” doesn’t mean you need to do a round as well.

Highlight your sense of humor. Why do your friends hang out with you? Let those characteristics come out on your show.

Tell stories that define your character. Telling stories will allow your listeners to get to know, like and trust you.

Discuss topics that interest you. You become interesting by being interested.

Remove the clichés from your dialogue. Words become clichés, because they are used too much.

Here is the definition of cliché: a trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought or idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse.

Clichés are words that have lost their originality. How can you be unique if you have lost your originality?

If you want to sound unique and original, replace your clichés with something fresh.

Avoid these top business clichés:

Thinking outside of the box
Win-win situation
Giving 110%
Best Practices
Synergy
Paradigm Shift
Low-hanging fruit
Push the envelope
Take it to the next level
A leading provider of…

When you use the same phrases used by everyone else, you become vanilla and unoriginal.

If you want to be unique, grab a thesaurus and find some new words.

BE MEMORABLE

What can you do on the show this week that hasn’t been done before?

Listen to Dave Jackson on his 400^th episode of “School of Podcasting” where he was hi jacked by the Binky & The Wiz morning show. You won’t hear that on any other show.

Some loved it. Some hated it. Everyone that heard it remembered that episode.

Removing every flaw and sterilizing your show will not make it memorable.

Be audacious. Be adventuresome. Be creative. Be boisterous … sometimes. Be tender other times.

Do everything in a way that only you can do it.

Brainstorm until you have something exciting.

SELL THE SIZZLE

People do not buy products. They buy what the product can do for them.

You don’t go to a restaurant to buy a steak. You go the restaurant, because you’re hungry and want one of your favorite dishes. You want that tender piece of meat that you can cut with a butter knife. The one that will just melt in your mouth, because it is the best steak around. It is cooked perfectly.

You are not rushing into the restaurant because the cow was corn-fed and aged to perfection. Who cares. Those are attributes, not benefits.

Does it taste great? Will it fill me up? Does it remind me of the great family dinners we used to have when I was a kid? I’m in. Those are the benefits.

Sell the sizzle, not the steak.

Apple does this really well. When you hear a commercial for Apple, it is about the experience and why they do what they do.

Other computer companies tell you all about the features. Their dual-core processors and RAM. I don’t even know what that means. I just want to be cool like my friends with the iPhone Ten or X or whatever it is.

MARKETING FOLLOWS PRODUCT

Now that we have a great product, how to we get more listeners?

Sure you could buy all of those expensive products or a bunch of Facebook ads. I’m sure they work.

There is an easier way. And, it is free.

Get more listeners by getting involved.

How many podcasts do you listen to that beg you to get involved with the show? Email us. Leave us a voicemail. Post on our Facebook page. Find us on Twitter. Don’t forget that we have a Speakpipe link on the website. Use a carrier pigeon. There are a million ways. Everyone wants engagement.

When you reach out and engage with others, they include you on the show. This does two things.

First, it puts you in front of the audience of that podcast. That could bring a new audience to your show.

Second, through the Law of Reciprocity, the host of the show may be more inclined to engage with your show. A little thank you gesture. What goes around comes around.

Reciprocity in social psychology refers to responding to a positive action with another positive action, rewarding kind actions. When you do something nice for someone, they feel inclined to do something nice for you in return.

Gary Vaynerchuk spends an great deal of time discussing this in his book “Crush It“. It is a great book that I highly recommend.

Gary basically says, “Put your stuff out there. Then, go engage with everyone else.” Be seen. Meet people where THEY live.

Then, be patient.

You won’t get 100,000 listeners immediately. Grow slowly. Adjust and get it right as you progress. Build the foundation.

As Gary says, “Do it again, and again, and again, and again.” Keep engaging. They will come. It only takes your time.

Schedule 30 minutes a day to interact with your audience where they are. You will eventually build the traffic you desire and get more listeners.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Tell Better Podcast Stories – Episode 169

July 29, 2017 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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How To Tell Better Podcast Stories – Episode 169

4 Key Elements To Storytelling — Copyright: ivelinradkov / 123RF Stock Photo

Do you want to create better podcast stories? Start with the end in mind. Then, start with the end.

Start with the end? It sounds crazy, I know. Let me explain.

Stories do great things for your podcast and business.

When you tell stories, your audience gets to know details about you and your life. That’s how friendships are born. Your listeners discover you have things in common. They realize you have been through similar struggles. Maybe you’re from the same area or visited a common destination.

After multiple stories, listeners begin to feel like they know you. That is when the magic happens.

Stories help you build trust. And as it is with all business, people do business with those they know, like and trust. People don’t do business with companies. They do business with people. Trust is the essence of relationships and business.

CHARACTER

Better podcast stories define your character.

I’m not simply talking about your integrity. By character, I mean all of the attributes that create you, as in character in a play.

The purpose of your show is to attract an audience. Whether you want to monetize that relationship, encourage a call-to-action, or simply create an following for your ideas, creating the audience is where you begin.

The stories you choose to tell reveal how open you are to others. Your openness is a sign of trust. Trust is a big piece of a relationship. Reveal things about yourself through your stories, and you’ll begin to build trust with your listener.

The details you include tell your listener what you value. If the listener feels you value things they too value, you solidify the relationship. People like to hang out with similar people. If your values are opposite of your listener, you may also attract them. It is like a love/hate relationship. They may dislike it, but they continue to listen. This often happens when talking politics.

What you find entertaining will be evident by the stories you tell. Since people like other people who have similar tastes, revealing those things you find entertaining will also build the relationship.

Stories also have the power to demonstrate your vulnerability. Stories can show that you are a real person. Your listener will see you as approachable. They also may begin to see you as a friend. That is when true relationships begin to form.

Next time you watch a late night talk show, notice how the great, memorable interviews contain great stories. Interviews that focus on facts and information rarely cut through. Those guests come off more as a lecturer than as a friend. The guests that tell stories appear more personal, warm and friendly. Their stories reveal things and help you feel like you know them personally. Take note next time you watch.

Foster a relationship with your listener by revealing things about yourself through stories. Stories will define your character.

MY STORIES WERE HORRIBLE

In the past, my stories were horrible. I struggled to hold the attention of people while I was telling a story. I couldn’t figure out why they would fade half way through the tale.

One day, in a coaching session with my radio coach, it hit me. The person listening had no idea where I was going.

The stories I was telling sounded like ramblings with no real purpose or destination.

My coach basically told me to open with the punchline. I thought he was crazy. If people knew the punchline, why listen to the story. That made no sense.

He explained that opening with the point of the story was similar to telling your passenger where you are going on your journey. Nobody wants to sit next to you in a car wondering where they are going to end up and when they are going to get there. They want to enjoy the journey.

I began opening my tales with the point of the story. Right up front, I revealed the whole purpose of the story to create better podcast stories. My opening began serving as a bit of a headline.

“I can’t figure out why people can’t signal their turn before they are actually in the turn lane.”

“My dog got sick and had my up 4 times last night.”

“If you want more traffic, you need to be more traffic for others first.”

Opening with an intriguing introduction will also provide a framework for the story. You will know exactly where you are going and what details are necessary to get there. This helps shorten your story while including only the important parts.

In addition to the intriguing introduction, there are three other elements to better podcast stories. After you open with the intriguing introduction, provide wonderful, vivid details while telling the story. Close with a powerful conclusion. Ask yourself, “What’s next?”

THEATER OF THE MIND

Create theater of the mind by using vivid details.

The use of active language will stir the imagination of your listener and help you connect to your audience. Put the listener in the moment. Make the listener see the action you are describing.

“I’m walking in the bustling restaurant and shaking off the cold without even watching where I’m walking.” That is active language. In your mind, you can see me walking in.

Sure, your restaurant may be different from my restaurant. That difference is what makes theater of the mind great. You see it the way you think it fits best for you. Your scene doesn’t need to match my scene in order for the story to make sense. It is your theater.

Active language connects each listener to the story in his or her own way. It will create strong audience engagement. Active language during storytelling is a powerful tool you can use while you’re building your podcast.

Create a great podcast brand. To create better podcast stories, create theater of the mind.

THE FIRST EXIT

Take the first exit.

When you are discussing a topic, take the first opportunity to get out of the bit or interview question. You will keep your audience engaged. You will maintain the momentum of the show. You will also avoid repeating yourself and becoming boring. Take the first exit.

There are clues in your show that let you know you’ve missed the opportunity to end the bit. When you find yourself saying things like “as I said”, “like I was saying”, or “as we’ve discussed”, you have missed your exit. Those phrases are simply additional ways to say, “let me repeat this again”. Once you have reached that point, you are stating your introduction point again. This should be your conclusion. Move on to the next discussion.

If you miss the exit, you begin retracing your steps. You begin offering information you’ve already provided. You listener then begins thinking of other things, because they have heard this part before. I got it. Let’s move on.

Only you will know when you’ve offered enough information to make your point. Once you hit that point, keep the show moving. Get to the next topic. Keep your audience engaged. Take the first exit.

To create better podcast stories, conclude your story by simply reframing your intriguing introduction.

ASK “WHAT’S NEXT?”

Include a call to action.

If you want to make money with your podcast, you must include a call to action. It seems logical. However, many podcasters believe, “If I build it, they will come.” It simply doesn’t happen that way.

Odd as it may sound, your podcast probably isn’t your product. Unless you are charging for your podcast, your show is only the marketing vehicle for some other product. Most podcasts are free. The show itself isn’t generating revenue. You need to create another product you can sell.

In his book “Free: The Future of a Radical Price”, Chris Anderson lists many ways to create revenue using the power of free. Many of these can be used to generate revenue from your podcast.

[EPISODE 167 – HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH A PODCAST THAT IS FREE]

Some think access to the audience can be sold to advertisers as if it were traditional broadcasting. Unfortunately, audiences are not typically large enough for this model. Listeners also do not expect the traditional twelve minutes of commercials within their favorite podcast hour. Advertising is a very difficult path to revenue.

To generate revenue with your podcast, you need to create something else to sell.

You could make money by making your podcast a small portion of a larger show, which is available to paid members only. The free podcast becomes marketing for the member content.

You could turn your knowledge of some “how to” subject into a book, e-book, study course or other product. Your podcast could be the “why” behind your philosophy. The show would then promote the “how” that your listener will learn when they purchase the product.

There are many other ideas described in Anderson’s book. You could give away the product while charging for the service, such as consulting or coaching. Give away the content while making money referring people to retailers.

Rather than traditional advertising, you could give away the content while charging advertisers to be featured in it, similar to The Home Shopping Network. You could even take a cut of sales. You could podcast generic advice while selling specific, customized advice.

There are fifty ideas in the book. To make money with your podcast, I suggest you give the book (or at least that section) a read.

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If you build it, they may come. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will become instantly wealthy. You need to create something to sell. You need to tell your listener to buy. Then, you need to show them the way. If you desire to make money with your podcast, make sure your podcast includes the call to action.

Build trust with your audience by telling better podcast stories. Start at the end. Create great theater of the mind. Use a powerful conclusion. Then, give them something to do when it is over. Implement a strong call-to-action.

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Steps To Create New Podcast Relationships – Episode 160

May 21, 2017 Erik K. Johnson 2 Comments

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Steps To Create New Podcast Relationships And Grow Your Audience – Episode 160

Create new podcast connections and relationships — Copyright: madpixblue / 123RF Stock Photo

In the recent weeks, I have really found a new energy. My productivity has increased in both my podcast and business. I believe this is all due to new relationships I have created in the mastermind I recently joined.

The mastermind was formed through connections I made as a member of Internet Business Mastery. (Find my affiliate link HERE.)

These three guys are in online business, but completely different niches than me. They hold me accountable and push me to succeed. It has been a great experience.

Over the next few episodes, we will dive deep into the process of creating new relationships.

This week, I want to help you develop new relationships. Though I have found the experience very helpful, your new connections do not need to include a mastermind.

In the next episode, we will discuss making connections at events.

The third episode of the series will involve masterminds and a list of listeners’ favorite podcasting events.

If you are interested in getting connected to like-minded people in a mastermind, e-mail me. I’ll try to connect as many as I can.
Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com

NEW RELATIONSHIPS

Let’s talk about the five steps to create new relationships.

1. Find New Relationships

Get involved with Facebook groups by answering questions
Join podcast memberships, like Podcasters Society (of which I am a mentor) and School of Podcasting (led by Dave Jackson, with whom I occasionally partner)
Network at conferences
Ask your interview guests
E-mail hosts of complimentary podcasts that are not in the Top 10 or “On Fire”
Invite your listeners to chat and ask them
Interact on blog posts
Form a mastermind with people from other industries, both in person and online
Ask your vendors or suppliers
Connect with your customers

2. Make Contact

Introduce yourself with “I help _(niche)_ do _(talent)_ so that _(benefit)_.”
Send an e-mail with, “I find your business/podcast/product interesting. I would like to learn more about it and see if there are ways we might help each other. Would you have 30 minutes for a phone call?”

3. Find Ways To Help Each Other

Use the abundance mentality. There isn’t one pie that needs to be divided between everyone. There is a flame that can be shared an unlimited number of times. That is the power of an idea.

4. Stay In Contact And Give

If it isn’t on your calendar, it will not happen
Find reasons to make contact with your new friend, and schedule that contact
Share useful articles
Share affiliate opportunities
Wish them happy birthday
Ask if they are attending conferences you are attending
Interact in their groups – Everyone is looking for engagement

5. Create mastermind groups

When you find the right 3 or 4 people, create a mastermind group
Find people with different backgrounds and perspectives
Give the group structure
Shape it in a way that will help everyone
Check out Dan Miller’s mastermind course HERE.

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

7 Steps To Create More Podcast Listener Engagement – Episode 156

April 7, 2017 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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7 STEPS TO CREATE MORE LISTENER ENGAGEMENT – EPISODE 156

Copyright: bogdanhoda / 123RF Stock Photo

Are you happy with your level of listener engagement?

When podcasters contact me for coaching, our first call is always a free fact-finding call. We chat about their struggles and how they hope to improve. The whole call is designed to lay out a plan and see if we are a good fit for each other.

I recently wrapped up a series of coaching sessions with two hosts of a podcast. On our last call, they said my greatest strength was understanding their struggle and helping them reach their goal. I really believe that first call to get focused is the key to our coaching success.

The one struggle that I hear most often is the desire to gain more listener engagement. How do we get more listeners? How do I increase my download numbers? How to I create more listener engagement?

The problem may be worded differently, but the struggle is the same.

TOO DIFFICULT?

Are you making the problem more difficult than it needs to be?

I am offering a few listeners a FREE Engagement Explosion coaching session. It is explained in this episode.

If you have been working got grow your podcast for awhile now, and things are not happening as fast as you would like, then I would like to help you create a MAJOR breakthrough.

For a limited time, I would like to invite you to take advantage of a special “Engagement Explosion” coaching session where we will work together to …

Create a crystal clear vision for your “ultimate listener engagement success” and the traffic you’d like to create.
Uncover hidden challenges that may be sabotaging the growth of your podcast and keeping you struggling to gain traction.
Leave this session renewed, re-energized, and inspired to turn your podcast into an engaging show with increased traffic, a growing community and a healthy e-mail list.

If you would like to take advantage of this very special, very limited, and totally FREE 30-minute “Engagement Explosion” coaching session, click here.

In this episode, we talk about the 7 steps to listener engagement.

The solution is easy to understand, yet difficult to execute properly.

Through all of my research and years of experience in both radio and podcasting, I’ve discovered a few key steps to create interaction. This week, let’s cover 7 steps to create more listener engagement with your podcast.

Some of these steps may sound a little too simplistic. Just remember … don’t make it harder than it needs to be. Step back and ask yourself if you are truly executing on each step to the fullest.

1. Ask Them To Engage

How do you expect your listener to know you want her to be part of your show if you don’t ask?

Be sure to make your request specific. Tell your listener exactly what you want her to do.

Create listener engagement by asking for it.

2. Make It Easy To Engage

You may use social media, your website, an e-mail address, voicemail, or a number of other methods to reach you. Simplify it.

Create one contact page on your website containing the info to avoid the need for a laundry list during your show. Then, always provide that one contact source. By using that one source, you also prevent your listener from getting caught in the decision paradox.

Make the questions specific, so they don’t have to think. Give your listener a question to answer or specific piece of information to provide. If he isn’t forced to be creative and “work” to create content for your show, you will have more success creating listener engagement.

Create listener engagement by making it easy.

3. Be A Storyteller For Success

As you create your podcast, become a great storyteller. Great storytellers create fans. Stories create engagement.

Interest in your story never remains constant. Your information can only become entertainment when interest is rising. If interest is falling, the show is becoming boring and is no longer entertainment. A great story continues to develop the plot and raise the interest.

Have you ever sat through a long, monotonous story that never seems to end? You stare and wonder if the speaker actually has a point to this monologue. You pray for your cell phone to ring and save you. That scenario is exactly what you want to avoid.

Practice becoming a great storyteller.

If you are successful hiding your true self, you simply are not telling great stories. Vivid details and interesting points that stir emotions in your listeners can only come from your true feelings. Reveal your true character. Storytellers create raving fans.

Create listener engagement by telling great stories.

4. Focus On Helping Others

Zig Ziglar had many great quotes. One of my favorites is, “You can have anything you want in life just as long as you help enough other people get what they want in life.” How true that is.

As you turn your information into engaging entertainment with your podcast, keep in mind that helping people is part of the foundation of a strong relationship. If you take, take, take, your relationship won’t last long. If you are there to give and help, you will develop friends for life.

Ziglar is a great example of helping people. His speeches always offered great tips to improve your life, sales or attitude. He also had great books, CDs and other products he sold. However, most of his time was spent on helping others. There is a lot of free Ziglar information available. He would always help others and eventually sales would come his way.

Get what you want out of life.

Create listener engagement by being focused on helping others.

5. Make It About Them

If you want people to engage, there has to be something in it for them. Make them care.

Here is a great video about making your message about your audience. This is from BJ Bueno, author of “The Power of Cult Branding”.

Create listener engagement by making it about them.

6. Tease And Set Up The Next Episode

Prepare your audience to participate. Let them know the topic for next week. Then, ask them if they have a question about that particular topic.

If you have a guest, ask if there is a question they would like you to ask. Michael Hyatt does a great job at this on his podcast.

Create listener engagement by properly teasing the next episode.

7. Thank Your Audience

Thanks for listening. I appreciate the help you give me.

It is such an easy way to strengthen your relationship with your audience. Your listeners have given you something they can never get back. That is their time.

Show your appreciation. A simple thank you will go a long way with your listener. If they know you are honestly grateful for their time, the chance they will listen again goes way up.

It must be honest and authentic. You can’t thank them in a gas-station-attendant-I’ll-never-see-you-again kind of way. You must deliver it from the heart. It should be the kind of thank you that you would give a stranger who stopped to help when you ran out of gas.

Your listener is your lifeblood. Without your listener you have no show. She has many, many choices when allocating her time. Let her know you appreciate her for spending her time with you.

… And thank you for stopping by. You have done a ton for me just by being here.

Create listener engagement by thanking your listener.

Next week we will discuss how to properly review your own show to see if you are meeting your goals and expectations. We’ll get specific. If you have questions about that topic, head to www.PodcastTalentCoach.com to get your questions answered.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. Please let me know how I might be of assistance. You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Effectively Use Your Podcast Avatar Information – Episode 154

March 22, 2017 Erik K. Johnson 2 Comments

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How To Effectively Use Your Podcast Avatar Information – Episode 154

How To Effectively Use Your Podcast Avatar Information Copyright: nicoletaionescu / 123RF Stock Photo

Why do we create a podcast avatar or ideal listener?

One of the Podcast Talent Coach worksheets available to your for free is the Listener Development Worksheet. This tool will help you develop your podcast avatar to make your show more powerful and create more engagement.

[DOWNLOAD IT FOR FREE ONLINE AT PODCASTTALENTCOACH.COM.]

When you get that worksheet, this episode takes that tool to the next step. Why should we create our podcast avatar and how do we actually answer the questions on the worksheet?

This study really got into the differences between men and women. The interviews revealed the reasons women spend time with radio. The reasons were very radio-centric and don’t really apply to you.

When we began developing the ideal listener, we learned the more we focused on the ideal listener, the more our overall audience grew. This even included the listeners that didn’t necessarily fit the ideal mold.

Our content became better focused and relevant. It was a turning point for me.

It clicked. Let’s have a conversation.

People want to feel part of the discussion and not like they are sitting in a lecture.

How do you create the conversation atmosphere on your podcast?

First, download the Listener Development Worksheet at PodcastTalentCoach.com to create your podcast avatar. Then, follow these three steps.
1. Treat your audience as an audience of one
2. Talk to me, not at me
3. Let your listener live vicariously through you

AUDIENCE OF ONE

As you are creating your podcast, treat your audience like you are talking to each person individually. Talk specifically to your podcast avatar. This is critical when creating a trusting relationship with your audience.

Unfortunately, radio personalities continued to address the listener as a group. “It has always been done this way.” The disconnect began.

THE PODCAST MISTAKE

Nobody like to be lectured to. Data and facts get dull & boring. Engage by being conversational. Tell stories. This is a converstaion, not a lecture

TALK TO ME, NOT AT ME

When you are podcasting, talk “to” your listener. Don’t talk “at” her. You are not announcing. You are having a personal conversation and building a relationship.

Podcasting is an intimate conversation with one person (your podcast avatar). The conversation is typically one person speaking into a microphone addressing another single individual. There may sometimes be hundreds of thousands of people listening.

However, they are all listening by themselves. Even in an automobile with others listening via communal speakers, the members of the audience are listening by themselves in their own head. Each listener is developing their own unique, mental images.

CAN I BE YOU?

Vicarious. Voyerism. Eavesdropping.

Those are three main reasons people listen to your podcast. Tell stories to help fulfill those desires.

Voyerism is a reason many people watch the shows they watch, listen to the stories they hear, or read the books they read. They want to experience the lives of others.

People eavesdrop on the conversations of others for the very same reasons. They can experience the life of others without the risk of faliure. Eavesdropping doesn’t take the courage that it takes to actually live the life.

INCORPORATE STORIES

By telling great stories about your experiences, you help your audience fulfill the desire to live vicariously through you. If your show contains audio of your feats and experiences, you allow your audience to become the voyers they desire. When you interview people on your show, you allow your listener to eavesdrop on your conversation.

Tell stories of self-revelation. See where it takes you. You’ll be surprised how many people wish they could be you.

HOW DO I GET THE INFO?

So, where do we get the podcast avatar info?

I received that very question from Alessandro.

Hi Erik, thanks for your awesome podcast. I have one question for you You define your avatar with a bunch of well-crafted questions, but where do you get the data to answer them? Is it hard data you have got from your following (if any)? Is it just a fruit of your imagination? Is it a mix of both? How much of the avatar is based on hard data, and how much is a projection of yourself defining it? Thanks and keep up the awesome work!
-Alessandro

Great question! It is actually a little bit of both. It will evolve over time.

Step 1

If you are just starting out, you need to create your ideal customer (podcast avatar) out of your imagination. Who would you like your ideal customer to be? Start there.
Who do you want?
Who will listen and get involved
Who will be best served by your content
Who will buy your stuff

Step 2

Once you begin to get some feedback from your audience, refine your target with that information.
Who is posting in your comments
Who is sending your e-mail
Who is asking for more information

Step 3

Finally, when you have an audience of decent size, survey them.
It does not need to be a formal survey.

One of strongest is an e-mail often used that simply says “where can I help you?”

To get specific demographic info, you will need a formal survey. Ask questions that will help you know and serve them better. Do not ask questions that will not give you info you can use and will only waste the time of your listener.

Overall, you want your podcast avatar to represent that individual that in most engaged with your show and likely to take action when you make that request.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How The Pros Create A Powerful Call-To-Action – Episode 150

January 21, 2017 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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How The Pros Create A Powerful Call-To-Action – Episode 150

Copyright: ninamalyna / 123RF Stock Photo

Are you looking for more listeners? Are you trying to build your list? Do you have a product you are trying to sell? How is it going creating that engagement?

Are you actually asking your listener to do exactly that? Why would they join your list or get your lead magnet or buy your product of you don’t ask?

Let’s figure out how to get your listeners to act.

It was 2006 when I fell in love with “The Power of Cult Branding” and the work of BJ Bueno.

That was the year I attended Dan O’Day’s PD Grad School. It was a unique conference for radio program directors. One of my favorite conferences every year. I’m bummed that it isn’t around any longer.

Dan would get some of the best minds as speakers. His guests were not only radio thought leaders, Dan would guests in the worlds of branding, marketing, online and research. The conference was amazing.

BJ Bueno’s session was “The Power of Cult Branding”. It is also the title of his book.

As I sat in that hotel ballroom with 100 other radio programmers over ten years ago, BJ flipped the way I thought about branding and marketing.

For ten years, I had been selling the great features of my station. We were more entertaining. We had your favorite music. We had the best contest. We had longer music sweeps and fewer commercials. And, we were telling our listeners all about it

Then, BJ showed a video his company produced. It featured Bob out on the sidewalk in front of the office building. Bob was wearing a sandwich board that was simply a huge photo of himself. We was telling everyone that passed by about his attributes. And … he was doing it with a bullhorn.

It was classic. At the very end, the video stated, “People are more interested in themselves than they are about you. That is why ads that work are more like mirrors than bullhorns.”

See it here: MIRRORS-VS-BULLHORNS VIDEO

The Importance of Effective Communication from The Cult Branding Company on Vimeo.

It is ten years later and we hear it a lot. Make your marketing outward-facing. Focus on your target listener. Sell the benefits of your product rather than the features.

There are many ways to say it. But BJ was the first that really opened my eyes to it.

When you are creating your call-to-action, make it a mirror. Focus on the needs of your avatar. That ideal listener. What do you want them to feel? What problem are you solving for her? What benefit are you delivering?

SELLING IS EASY

Great marketing makes selling easy and unnecessary. That is according to Joe Polish.

As we discuss this, think of selling as simply getting your listener to take a particular action.

Joe does a few podcasts. You can hear him on the “Genius Network”, “10x Talk”, and “I Love Marketing” podcasts.

Each issue of Success magazine is accompanied by an interview CD. On one particular disc, Success publisher Darren Hardy was talking with Joe when he made that very statement.

You may not be selling in the traditional sense of products or services in exchange for money. However, you are making a call-to-action within your podcast. It may be selling for money. It may also be inviting your listener to come again, asking him to visit your website, requesting that she join your mailing list, inspiring him to get involved with a cause or any other action. It all involves selling yourself.

Polish’s statement was bold. As he went on to explain himself, Polish made perfect sense. In fact, his comments were very similar to the marketing and branding information we’ve been discussing with regard to your podcast.

We have discussed the call-to-action in previous episodes of Podcast Talent Coach. We simply need to determine what we hope to accomplish with our podcast episode before we begin recording.

In summary, Polish said great marketing gets people properly positioned, so they are pre-interested, pre-motivated, pre-qualified, and predisposed to do business with you (or act on your call-to-action). Great marketing therefore makes selling easy and unnecessarily.

If you have truly engaged your listener and created that strong relationship we’ve been discussing, the selling should take care of itself. Selling becomes difficult when you are trying to get your listener interested. Selling before your listener is motivated is a challenge. Trying to sell to a listener that isn’t qualified is hard work. If your listener isn’t predisposed to taking action, you will need to sell hard.

Building relationships with your podcast involves telling great stories. Revealing things about yourself through stories makes you real. Your listeners get to know and like you. As you continue to help them over time, you build the trust they seek.

When you have taken the time to build the relationship, your listener will be pre-interested, pre-motivated, pre-qualified, and predisposed to do business with you. They will be ready to buy. Selling, in terms of convincing your listener to buy, will be unnecessary. Your marketing and engaging relationship will have them ready for your call-to-action.

Do the hard work up front to make selling easy.

SHOUTING WILL NOT HELP YOU

So, how do we build that relationship? We go back to the bullhorn video by BJ Bueno. We focus on our listener rather than ourselves.

You can’t shout your way into a person’s trust circle. They only way to gain trust is to add value. Give them something they can use. Building trust is the foundation of revenue generation for your podcast.

As you build trusting relationships with your podcast, continue to ask yourself, “How am I helping my listener?” Continue to give, and the trust will develop over time.

When you begin every discussion with your product, needs or wants, people will tune you out. You will begin to sound (and be treated) like advertisements for used cars. Shouting doesn’t work. Your listener won’t care and will rarely return.

Serve first, many times over. Then and only then can you effectively sell.

Shows like the “Dave Ramsey Show”, “48 Days To The Work You Love” and “Smart Passive Income” are all designed to help their listeners first. Sure, they all have products to sell as the end result. However, they never begin with their product. The discussions on these shows always begin with the listener’s needs in mind first.

As you prepare for your show, find great ways to help. Your help may come in the form of entertainment. You may serve as companionship for your podcast listener. Help them find other forms of companionship as well. If your podcast is only one hour per week, there are 167 more hours in the week that aren’t occupied by your show. Your listeners will surely need more companionship to fill a few of those hours. Help your audience fill those hours, too.

Are you building trust, or are you shouting?

ASK FOR THE SALE

After you’ve done the hard work building the relationship, don’t forget to ask for the sale.

One afternoon last week, I stopped by the quickie mart to get something to drink. As I waited in line at the cash register, the gentlemen in front of me set his purchase on the counter.

Among his items was a 2-liter bottle of soda. The bottle of soda was $1.69. The clerk said, “Did you know these are on sale two for $2? You can grab another and save yourself some money.”

The customers responds with, “Looks like I need to grab another bottle.”

By simply asking for the sale, the clerk doubled the purchase. The customer also benefitted by saving some money.

In fact, everyone wins in this transaction. The store is paying the clerk an hourly wage whether he sells one bottle of soda or 100. The cost of the clerk’s time to the store remains constant. Wages are the biggest expense to the store when figuring cost of goods sold. Therefore, by adding another bottle of soda to the purchase, even at the lower price, the store makes more money also.

It all happened because the clerk asked for the sale.

This week, review your show to ensure you are building those relationships.

Start with the listener instead of your product or service
Determine how you are going to help your listener with this episode
Put a strong call-to-action at the end of the episode

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Make Best Use Of Your Podcast Co-Host – Episode 136

April 13, 2016 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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How To Make Best Use Of Your Podcast Co-Host – Episode 136

Today, we will open the Podcast Talent Coach mail bag and answer a few content questions I have received. The first questions is about making effective use of a co-host. The second is about consistently helping your listeners with your content.
I would love to hear an episode on involving a highly effective style with a cohost. – Rick Sizemore – VR Workforce Studio

CO-HOST BASICS

Different point of view
Distinct styles and perspectives
Different voices
One needs to be the leader

I was listening to a business podcast the other day. It is a show that is hosted by two marketing gurus. They typically offer business advice to listeners who write or call the show.

The hosts had received a question regarding unique ways to market a product. The listener had included a few methods he had used. Host number one rattled off his critique of the methods used and offered a couple of his own. Host number two basically said, “I agree with your assessment and really have nothing further to add.”

When a second host (or guest for that matter) isn’t offering any new information or differing opinion, the second host is unnecessary.

If your podcast involves more than one person on the show, you need to have a justifiable reason for each of you to exist on the show. When there are multiple voices on a show, each voice needs a role. One of the hosts is unnecessary if two voices are offering the same information, with the same opinion persona.

There are many podcasts hosted by two co-hosts. Many of those are successful, such as “On The Media” with Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield, “Manic Mommies” with Erin and Kristin, and “Mike & Mike in the Morning” with Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg.

Not all two-person podcasts are structured quite as well as these. It seems two friends who have similar interests get together and start a podcast without much planning. The similar interests of the hosts seem to spawn similar opinions and positions on topics.

If you and I are hosting a show, and we are both saying roughly the same thing, one of us isn’t necessary.

A great example of two hosts that compliment each other well is “Mike & Mike in the Morning”.

Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg host “Mike & Mike in the Morning”. You can find the show broadcast on ESPN television and radio as well as their “best of” podcast online. The show recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary.

Both Mikes have an interest in sports. That is the commonality that brought them together. A general interest in the topic is necessary for the subject matter and foundation of the show.

The differing opinions create the magic within the show.

Mike and Mike come from very different background. Their different experiences have developed differing opinions, attitudes and approaches to various sports topics. These differences make the show compelling.

Mike Greenberg was born to a Jewish family. He grew up in New York City. Greenberg went on to study journalism. He worked his entire career in broadcasting, beginning in Chicago, the third largest city in the United States.

Mike Golic was born in suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. He played American football in College while studying finance and management at Catholic university Notre Dame in Indiana. Golic played professionally in the NFL. He then began his broadcasting career after his playing career ended.

Where Greenberg approaches topics from the researcher/journalist perspective, Golic tackles those topics from the real life experience angle. Greenberg comes from the big city. Golic comes from the suburbs. Greenberg worked big-time radio in the nation’s largest cities. Golic made big-time hits on one of professional sports’ biggest stages.

There are multiple approaches you can take on a show with multiple hosts.

Good cop/bad cop is a common show structure.

This is approach would position one host as the nice guy. He is there to help. Always encouraging and supporting the listener.

The second host would be a bit of a jerk. He might have a big ego. This host would be in your face and telling you like it is. He wouldn’t necessarily be mean. However, he would be the antagonist in the show.

There is a three-person version of this called “The Dog, The Doll and The Dork”. This show involves the bad guy (the dog), the good guy (the dork) and the sweet girl to round it out (the doll). The female typically plays mediator between the two guys. This show is heard quite often on radio morning shows.

You can also see “The Dog, The Doll and The Dork” in America’s original version of “American Idol”.

Simon Cowell was “The Dog”. He was the bad guy with the big ego. Simon was the guy everyone loves to hate.

Paula Abdul played the role of “The Doll”. She was sweet while often siding with one of the two guys. She was very likeable. Paula was almost the antidote to Simon.

Randy Jackson was “The Dork”. He would often play the nice guy, even while providing tough criticism. You would hear Randy say something like, “You know you’re my dog, but that just wasn’t good.” Randy could be seen considering the feelings of the contestants.

“American Idol” is currently not as strong, because they’ve lost the role identity of each judge. When you watch the show, you really don’t know what to expect from each judge. Is Randy going to be the nice guy or suddenly play the part of “the Dog”? Roles are inconsistent from show to show.

There are many other varieties of show roles. You could use nerd/jock where one host has “studied it” and one host has “done it”. Liberal/conservative is an option if you can find a co-host with the opposing point of view. Corporation/entrepreneur could offer diverse points of view on business. Male/female is pretty clear. You simply need to select the differences that work for you.

Think of some of the best duos in history. What makes them different (and therefore valuable)? McCartney & Lennon. Abbott & Costello. Siskel & Ebert. Bert & Ernie. Sonny & Cher. Milli Vanilli. Ok, maybe not that one.

Each member in those great partnerships offered something different than their teammate. Often, that difference was the opposite of their counterpart. Sometimes, it was simply a different approach. Find those differences that make each of you unique.

The goal of your show is to entertain your audience. Listeners have come to your show to learn something, laugh at something, or be amazed by something. Your job is to create compelling content.

Debates and differing opinions are a great way to stir up emotion with your audience. It doesn’t always need to be an argument. Multiple hosts simply need to offer different information. If both hosts are offering the same content, one of you are just wasting the time of your audience. You are repeating yourself when you could be dishing up new content.

If you host a show with multiple people, find each individual voice and use those differences to entertain your audience.

HELP OTHERS

How can I help others with every show. I am so grateful for your show, keep up the good work, I point all my podcasting friends your way! You have a devoted fan on Oahu, if you need any ideas for family adventures on Oahu…. I’m your Man! – Dave Tupper – Kids Adventures Hawaii

Start with the goal of your show. What is it that you want people to take from this particular episode? How will your content help them?

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “what’s in it for me?”
Your audience will be asking this very question every time they tune into your podcast. Your introduction better tell your listener exactly how your topic will affect them. You need to hook them right at the beginning with an intriguing introduction. If you don’t hook them early, they will be gone in search of something more captivating.

When your audience knows what is in it for them, they begin to care. Making your listener care is the only way to get them to listen and more importantly come back again.

As I was listening to a podcast recently, it suddenly hit me. How does this apply to me, and what am I getting out of this podcast? I was having a tough time answering those two questions.

It was an entrepreneural podcast. The host and guest were recounting the launch and growth of the guest’s company. It was a decent story. There were a few highlights about growing out of a basement and finding industry partners. The most interesting part of the story was the fast growth of the company.

After twenty minutes of the show, it hit me. I really have nothing in common with this tech company. The stories being told were very specific to the guest’s company. Most of all, neither the guest nor the host were making the connection between the tale of the company and lessons that could be gleaned by the listener. They were not incorporating the audience into the show at all.

To truly engage your audience, you need to make the listener the star. Nobody wants to watch your home movies unless they are in them.

Your listener doesn’t need to be part of the show to be the star. The content could give them hope, help them envision the future, or relate to their situation. You need to help them make that connection.

The key question is “what’s in it for me?” Your listener isn’t attracted to your podcast by your content. They listen to your podcast because of what your information can do for them. They don’t buy products. They buy benefits.

If your podcast is only focused on you, your product, or your guest without making a connection to the listener, the size of your audience will shrink. Engaging content must be listener focused. Keep your audience engaged by making your listener the star.

Connection, put them in the show, one-on-one communication and teaching without being condescending.

This week, check out the free video I have on PodcastTalentCoach.com about one-on-one communication. We discuss how to make your listener feel like they are part of the show and that your content is specifically for them.

Next week, we will start a series on interviewing. How do you make the most of the time with your interview guest? What is more effective at attracting traffic, interviewing others or being interviewed? In the next few episodes, we will cover that, along with interview terms, and tips to help create powerful interviews.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Get Podcast Listeners To Return Next Week – Episode 132

March 17, 2016 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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How To Get Podcast Listeners To Return Next Week – Episode 132

Anticipation is a key feature to storytelling. Your story should build just like a good plot builds in a movie. You need to make your audience anticipate the content that is on the way.

When your listener can’t wait for the story to arrive, you have created some great content with a powerful tease. Your listeners will get more enjoyment from your show when they get the tease payoff more often. The pleasure of the “oh wow” factor will be increased. The joy of anticipation will keep your audience coming back for more.

There are three steps to creating an effective tease.

#1 – Intrigue Me

#2 – Give Them 80%

#3 – Make Your Tease Unsearchable

Make it impossible to search online.

You want your listener to keep listening for the payoff to your set up. If I can simply search on Google for the answer to your tease, there is no reason to keep listening. I can just look it up and be done with it.
The three steps to powerful teases will help you begin to engage your audience on the way to building powerful relationships. Use the three steps in your show recap to entice people to listen to the episode. Then, use them again during the introduction of the show to get listeners to enjoy the entire recording.

I would love to help you with your podcast. E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Using Theater of the Mind to Create Powerful Podcast Engagement – Episode 131

March 9, 2016 Erik K. Johnson 2 Comments

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Using Theater of the Mind to Create Powerful Podcast Engagement – Episode 131

CREATE THEATER OF THE MIND

The use of active language will stir the imagination of your listener and help you connect to your audience. Put the listener in the moment. Make the listener see the action you are describing.

“I’m walking in the bustling restaurant and shaking off the cold without even watching where I’m walking.” That is active language. In your mind, you can see me walking in.

Create a great podcast brand. Create theater of the mind. Here is the way to create amazing images in the theater of the mind of your listener.

MAKE THEM FORGET

There is a primary reason most people seek entertainment. They want to escape reality. Help your listener make their escape by making them forget they are listening to a recording.

People want to forget about their troubles of the day. To get away, they watch movies, go to concerts, watch television, listen to radio and spend time with your podcast. People get wrapped up in another time, place and story. This makes them forget about their reality, even if it is only for a short time.

Take them to another place with your podcast by using stories. Make your storytelling so strong that their imaginations put your listener in another time and place. That’s what great storytelling is all about. That’s what great relationships are all about. It is engagement.

So, how do you make them forget? How do you engage and entertain to the point where your listener is so engrossed with your content that they forget about everything else? What are the steps to create a great story?

Take a few tips from movies and television. Tell compelling stories just like the movies.

Here are the five things you need to remember in order create great tales for your podcast.

HAVE GREAT CHARACTERS

Every story has great characters. You may love them. You may hate them. Either way, you remember them, because they stir emotions within you.

The characters are well-defined. You feel like you know them. During the story, you find yourself either rooting for them or against them.

Podcasts create these characters in various ways. It may be the host that is the character. The host may tell stories about others. The people defined in the e-mail questions answered during the show could be the characters of the stories. You could take phone calls or voicemail questions from people. Their voice alone helps define their character. Live guests with colorful backgrounds are also a source for great characters.

“Billie Jo, single mother of two who works as a waitress in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to make ends meet” is somebody you can begin to envision in your imagination. “She uses her kids to shoplift” completely changes your perception of her.

Great characters get your audience wrapped up in the story, so they forget they are listening to a recording.

CREATE SOME TENSION

All good stories have a plot. As we learned in composition class, great drama and tension create a solid plot. The protagonist must overcome the dilemma. Your listener begins to wonder what will happen next.

Podcasts that answer listener questions create some tension. The listener typically has a problem they need solved. This typically isn’t an Earth-shattering problem. However, it is a form of tension.

Great guests have usually overcome some obstacle to achieve their success. These obstacles create great tension in the story. Help your guests define that tension.

Tension in the story gets your audience wondering what will happen next. Once your listener gets focused on your story, they begin to forget about their reality. That’s what great stories are all about.

UNIQUE, VIVID, MENTAL IMAGES

When someone tells a story, on the radio or in a podcast, it is theater of the mind. When you hear the old time radio show describe the dim light on in the servant’s quarters, the scenery is playing out in your mind in a unique way unlike the way anyone else could envision it. No other person is imagining the clothing of the characters the exact same way you are imagining them. That mental theater is unique to you. You are listening and imagining by yourself.

Podcasts make the one-on-one approach even more important. Podcasts are often enjoyed through headphones. Your audience is truly listening by themselves. The headphones block out all other sounds and distractions. You have multiple “one person” audiences at the same time. Yet, it is still one person.

Connect with your “one person” audience by creating a great theater. The theater will be different for each listener, because they are using their individual imagination. Create a movie and put the listener in it. Make the story an individual experience for the listener. Engage the listener with vivid details and a fantastic storyline. Make them forget they are listening to a podcast. Create great theater of the mind. Create unique, vivid, mental images.

USE GREAT DETAILS

Details make stories come to life. When you use vivid details, your listener can smell the air. They see the colors. They can hear the sounds. Your details put the listener in the moment.

You can tell a story in one of two ways.

The first way would have no details.

I stopped at a diner to grab some dinner.

That line does very little to stir the imagination and transport you to another time and place.

The second way incorporates vivid details.

Dinner would be the first meal I would have that day. I stepped into the roadside diner and shook off the snowy, December cold. The beat of the jukebox and bubbly chatter of the locals began to warm me even before I could take a seat on a barstool at the counter to order my biscuits and gravy.

The detailed story begins to stir your imagination. You can feel the cold. You can hear the jukebox and crowd. You can almost smell the diner food. When those senses are activated, you begin to forget you’re listening to a recording.

HAVE A RESOLUTION

The resolution is the payoff to every great story. It is the climax to the movie plot. It is the “happily ever after”. The resolution puts the bow on the whole package.

Your resolution comes when you follow through with whatever you were hoping to make your audience feel. It could be the answer to the question. It could be the breakthrough success of your guest. You could wrap up the story with the punchline to the funny tale. Your resolution is where you solve the conflict and tension.

ME, NOT US

Talk to your audience one-on-one. Make your podcast personal by treating every listener as an individual. The more personal you get, the more engaged your listener will become.

Notice the tone of this writing. I’m talking directly to you. I’m helping you with your podcast. I’m not addressing “you guys”. I’m not talking to “all of you”. Sure, I’m writing for many. But when you read this, I’m writing for you and only you.

If I’m talking to you, you will in turn feel responsible to listen. If I’m talking to “all of you”, it becomes easier to assume somebody else will listen if you want to stay focused on something else. Engage by speaking one-on-one.
When you record your podcast, you need to create that wonderful theater of the mind. It doesn’t matter if you’re reading fiction or talking about gardening, put your audience in the moment. Transport them to another time and place.

Make your podcast entertaining by creating great stories using the five elements. Great stories have great characters. Engage your audience with some tension. Spark the imagination of your audience with vivid details. Wrap the story up with the resolution. Finally, speak to your listener with a one-on-one tone. Stories help your listener forget about their troubles of the day.

Try to incorporate stories in every podcast. Stories will help them escape reality. Make your listener forget they are listening to a recording.
Next week, we will cover how to get listeners to return to your show week after week.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Essential Elements of Powerful Storytelling – Episode 129

February 24, 2016 Erik K. Johnson 2 Comments

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Essential Elements of Powerful Storytelling – Episode 129

WHY STORYTELLING

Have you noticed a lot of interview podcasts in your niche sound the same? We are hearing the same guests answer the same questions time and time again. How do you become unique in this sea of sameness?

Storytelling can transform your podcast.

THE POWER

Stories let your audience get to know, like and trust you. These are critical elements in any business relationship.

Out of stories come knowledge and friendship. Great storytellers create fans. Your stories help define you, your character and your personality.

Stories also touch many more people. The appeal of stories is nearly universal.

When you reveal things about yourself through stories, you begin to connect with, motivate and inspire your listeners.

Don’t fit in, stand out.

Personal experiences are the only way to make the content your own. No other podcaster can recreate your stories the way you can. Your stories are unique to you.

STORYTELLERS ARE EVERYWHERE

There are examples of great storytellers throughout everyday life.

You find great storytellers in songwriters.

Movie makers are usually great storytellers rather than story writers. Many great movies are based on books written by someone else. These include movies such as Harry Potter, the Hunger Games, The Help, the Notebook, the DaVinci Code, and any of the John Grisham books.

Great teachers and speakers are usually great storytellers. You can see examples of this in the bible and in fables that have been passed down through generations. Storytelling is also used by great speakers such as Zig Ziglar.

ENGAGEMENT

In podcasting, you cannot afford to be boring. Interest in your story never remains constant. When you tell a story, interest is either rising or falling.

Your information can only become entertainment when interest is rising. A great story continues to develop the plot and raise the interest.

Have you ever sat through a long, monotonous story that never seems to end? Interest is definitely falling with these stories. Keep your plot moving.

CREATE TRUST

Date your listeners.

The privilege of talking to people who want to be talked to and selling things to people who want to be sold to is earned over time. Work to build friendships.

After consistently building the friendship, you will earn the privilege to talk to your audience.

Practice becoming a great storyteller. You will soon be developing friendships.

BECOME A GREAT STORYTELLER

To become a great storyteller, listen to yourself. Hear your thoughts. Have courage to record your personal connections.

Once you have recorded your thoughts, reveal those thoughts through great stories.

Think of your podcast as a friendship. Ask yourself, “Would I enjoy taking a one-hour car ride with this person every week?” Your listener is asking the same thing. They are deciding to spend quality time with you just like they do with friends.

Stories allow others to live vicariously through you. They can experience the highs without putting in the work. Listeners can experience the lows without suffering the pain.

Friendships develop over time. They create trust. Friendship comes from self revelation. This is where your stories become powerful.

Next week, we will cover the elements of great stories and what you can learn from Walt Disney, one of the greatest storytellers of our time.

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

The Deconstruction Of A Podcast Episode – Episode 127

February 11, 2016 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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The Deconstruction Of A Podcast Episode – Episode 127

In a previous episode of Podcast Talent Coach, I shared 7 ways to drive listeners away from your show. One of the main points suggested you treat every listener as if they are new to the show. We need to continually feed the funnel.

Joshua Liston from The Deadly Arnold podcast was checking out my back catalog when he stumbled across this particular episode. He took exception to one of this particular suggestion.

THANKS

I must say that I do appreciate Joshua for a few reasons. One, he took the time to comment on the episode. Two, he was listening to my back catalog. Finally, he provided some great thought starters for a few solid episodes. I truly appreciate Joshua allowing me to use his comments to help others learn. That is what this community is all about.

In that episode, I suggested one way you drive listeners away is being the podcaster who assumes listeners have heard the show before.

POWERFUL INTRO

If you’re not explaining your podcast purpose each and every show, it will be difficult for new listeners to understand the show. Your audience will feel like they are joining a conversation in the middle. They will be lost.

In this episode, we review an episode that Josh mentions to see how they do these things.

I have selected one of the podcasts Joshua mentions with less of a national platform. Rather than tell you the name, we just jump in to see if the intro pulls you into the episode.

As we discuss the introduction and care for new listeners, please do not interpret this as something you should do at the expense of your current fans.

Sure, the content of your show must be great to keep listeners around. That is simply the price of admission. To get people to subscribe, create great content. That should go without saying.

In order to keep people engaged, you need to make them feel like they are part of the club. This is especially true for new listeners.

SHOW REVIEW

In the episode of Back To Work that I review, the hosts do a few things to make new listeners feel included.

They use each other’s name often. This helps us get to know the voice.

We find out Merlin is 40-something and has a daughter. By sharing his life, his listeners get to know him.

Merlin refers to the same five books quite often. Though he is obviously well-read, these books seem to have been very influential on him.

Merlin knows a bit about Hollywood and the process of making movies. We learn this by his discussion of the four quadrant theory.

Merlin is a Democrat.

Merlin is confident and has little fear of speaking in front of large crowds. Dan admires that quality.

IS THE INTRO NECESSARY

On the other hand, there is no introduction to the show. I listened as a casual listener and had no idea what this show was about. There was nothing to suck me into the episode.

Merlin’s 355,000 Twitter followers along with his writings in magazines like Wired, Popular Science and MacWorld probably go a long way in driving listeners to the podcast.

Since the average podcast has roughly 170 downloads per episode, those podcasters cannot assume listeners will stick around if there is no clear benefit.

So many podcasters want to play the part before they are the part. It is similar to living like a billionaire before you are a billionaire. You cannot buy the Porsche, mansion and private plane until you make the money. You cannot act like a podcaster with 100,000 downloads until you earn the attention.

Make everyone feel welcome, supply your listeners with great content, and make your material unique. Then, watch your subscribers grow.

Find Joshua C. Liston at The Deadly Arnold Podcast and at BraverByTheDay.com.

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Focus On Current Or New Podcast Listener? – Episode 126

February 3, 2016 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Focus On Current Or New Podcast Listener? – Episode 126

Photo Copyright : Eduardo Huelin/123rf.com

In a previous episode of Podcast Talent Coach, I shared 7 ways to drive listeners away from your show. We work so hard to gain listeners. Why would we ever drive them away.

But … should you focus on the current or new podcast listener?

Joshua Liston from The Deadly Arnold podcast was checking out my back catalog when he stumbled across this particular episode. He took exception to one of the 7 ways I mentioned.

In the episode, I suggested one way you drive listeners away is being the podcaster who assumes listeners have heard the show before.

Have you ever felt left out of a conversation due to inside jokes. Two other people are chuckling about something, and you have no idea why. “Oh, it’s an inside joke” they say. Why aren’t you important enough to be in on the joke? Why is it inside only to them? Those situations are a bit offensive. You’re not included.

When you are not explaining your podcast, you are not allowing your listener to understand the nuances of your show. They won’t feel like part of the club. Your listener will not feel important or that you care about them. It is quite possible they will leave.

The opening of your podcast should explain the purpose of your podcast and let your listeners know exactly what to expect as if this is the first time they have ever heard the show. We discussed this in the past two episodes when we reviewed the importance of a strong introduction.

A well-crafted introduction serves two purposes.

First, it tells the brand new listener who is hearing the show for the very first time exactly what to expect from the show. You know exactly what is coming your way, even if you have never seen the show before.

Second, those that have heard the show before are confident that they are in the right place. Those regular listeners will find comfort in the opening of the show they hear each time they tune in. Fans will also feel like they are “in the know”. This is similar to singing the theme song of your favorite sitcom. As soon as you hear the first few notes of the theme song, you know you’re on the right channel. Your show intro should elicit the same response.

As you create your show open, treat it as if every listener is saying, “Hey, I’m new here. What’s going on?” You’ll make everyone comfortable as the show begins.

Here are Josh’s comments on the subject:

I must stress that I do disagree with your ideas around “making new listeners feel welcome in every episode”.

Personally I think Podcasters focus too much on their new audience and far too little on those already listening (which is where the majority of engagements and downloads come from for most podcasters). Those same things that you suggest make new/new listeners feel left out (in-jokes, personal references, etc) are the very things that make a longtime listener feel even more part of something special, and exclusive.

If you reference great podcasts that have stood the test of time “Back to Work” “Joe Rogan Exp” “Roderick on the Line” “Nerdist” “Hardcore History” “FOFOP & TOFOP” “Monday Morning Podcast” “Welcome to Night Vale” “We Are Alive” “The Dollop” “99% Invisible” “This American Life.” they make little to no intentional effort to morph their shows personality/language/individuality to entice new listeners to stay – they work incredibly hard in embracing their longtime listeners and fans though!

I can see how your ideas applies to a more transient audience like those of commercial radio stations where listeners are after the content within the content (music, news, score-lines, financial data etc) but for personality driven podcasting I think this falls purely into speculative theory.

-Joshua C. Liston
The Deadly Arnold
BraveryByTheDay.com
In this episode, I offer my assessment of Joshua’s position.

Sure, the content of your show must be great to keep listeners around. That is simply the price of admission. To get people to subscribe, create great content. That should go without saying.

In order to keep people engaged, you need to make them feel like they are part of the club. This is especially true for new listeners.

Should you focus on the current or new podcast listener? The answer is both.

Make everyone feel welcome, supply your listeners with great content, and make your material unique. Then, watch your subscribers grow.

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Are You Losing Listeners? (Pitfalls Disrupting Podcast Traffic) – Episode 125

January 27, 2016 Erik K. Johnson 2 Comments

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Episode 125 – Are You Losing Listeners? (Pitfalls Disrupting Podcast Traffic)

In a previous episode of Podcast Talent Coach, I shared 7 ways to drive listeners away from your show. We work so hard to gain listeners and podcast traffic. Why would we ever drive them away.

Joshua Liston from The Deadly Arnold podcast was checking out my back catalog when he stumbled across this particular episode. He took exception to one of the 7 ways I mentioned.

In the episode, I suggested one way you drive listeners away is being the podcaster who assumes listeners have heard the show before.

You work so hard to attract listeners to your podcast. Growing the audience is a constant challenge for most podcasters. You do all you can to bring more people to the party.

In this episode, we discuss the 7 ways you could be driving listeners away.

In the episode next week, I will dissect one of the episodes suggested by Joshua and demonstrate how successful podcasters eliminate these traps.

There are seven common mistakes podcasters make that drive listeners away. Here is a brief overview of each. See if you recognize these within your show.

THE PODCASTER WHO TALKS AT YOU

Great podcasters are not announcers. Great podcasters are conversationalists. If you can have a conversation with someone you cannot see nor hear, you have the ability to create a great podcast.

Instead of talking at me, talk to me and with me. Let’s have a conversation. You won’t be able to hear my responses. However, how many times have you found yourself talking back to the radio or podcast host? When the listener is responding out loud, you know the host has the ability to be conversational even when the other party isn’t present.

Be personal and talk to your listener, not at her.

THE PODCASTER THAT WASTES YOUR TIME

The wider the focus of your podcast, the better chance your topic will not interest me. It sounds counterintuitive. If you want more listeners, you need to narrowly focus your topic.

When you are too broad, your listener doesn’t know what to expect from your show.

Instead, pick a niche. Make it a tight focus. Pick the segment of your topic that you most enjoy and really focus there.

Focus is powerful. When you are focused, your audience knows exactly what to expect. Your focus builds loyalty, because you aren’t attracting listeners who have no interest in your niche. Since the niche is only focused on the slice of information that that interests your listener, your audience will almost always feel like you are delivering great content. You’ll never be wasting their time.

THE PODCASTER THAT DOES NOT MAKE YOU CARE

When you only deliver the what, the listener has no real reason to care. You are only providing information. Facts are lifeless. You must provide the why before you can provide the what. The “why” makes your listener care.

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “what’s in it for me?”

Your audience will be asking this very question every time they tune into your podcast.

When your audience knows what is in it for them, they begin to care. Making your listener care is the only way to get them to listen and more importantly come back again.

Provide the “why” early in the podcast. Make them care.

THE PODCASTER THAT DOES NOT GET YOU INVOLVED

A podcast that is only focused on the host quickly becomes a very lonely podcast. “Enough about me, let’s talk about me.” Listeners surely won’t stick around for that very long. If listeners are not involved, they feel like the host doesn’t care about them.

Make your listener the star. It is your show. You know where it is going. When listeners are involved in your show, it is always your job to lead your guest and make them the star.

Get your listener involved wherever you can. Provide opportunities for listeners to interact with you. Even if you receive very little feedback, the opportunity to do so will send the message to your listeners that you care. The opportunity for involvement goes a long way.

THE PODCASTER THAT DOESN’T HELP OTHERS

Focus on helping others.

Zig Ziglar had many great quotes. One of my favorites is, “You can have anything you want in life just as long as you help enough other people get what they want in life.” How true that is.

Get what you want out of life. Focus on helping others.

THE PODCASTER THAT TRIES TOO HARD TO BE FUNNY

Many podcasters painstakingly try to be funny. Jokes are never funny when the joke teller tries too hard. The forced punchline is uncomfortable. The timing is off. He will lead with something like, “This is funny” or “Here’s a good one” or “You’ll love this”. If I’m going to love it, do you really need to tell me? Won’t I know I love it once you tell me?

The good news is you don’t have to be funny. Stop trying so hard. The funny will come. You are focused on the wrong thing.

Funny follows fun.

THE PODCASTER WHO ASSUMES LISTENERS HAVE HEARD THE SHOW BEFORE

A well-crafted introduction serves two purposes.

First, it tells the brand new listener who is hearing the show for the very first time exactly what to expect from the show.

Second, those that have heard the show before are confident that they are in the right place.

As you create your show open, treat it as if every listener is saying, “Hey, I’m new here. What’s going on?” You’ll make everyone comfortable as the show begins.

Next week, we will review a podcast suggested by Joshua to learn how these ideas are put to use in the real world to attract listeners and drive podcast traffic.
As I mentioned in this episode …

Here is the link to the Podcast Talent Coach Worksheets.

Here is the link to the Podcast Talent Coach Workbook.

Here is the link to Podcast Talent Coach Coaching.
You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Construct a Powerful Podcast Introduction – Episode 124

January 20, 2016 Erik K. Johnson 1 Comment

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How To Construct a Powerful Podcast Introduction – Episode 124

(DOWNLOAD: Topic Development Worksheet)

On a recent episode of the Podcast Review Show that I do with Dave Jackson, we got into a discussion with a podcaster who struggles with the introduction of his show. This happens with so many hosts. How do you properly begin an episode? What are the important elements of a solid podcast introduction? What is the purpose?

We were talking with Doug Salamone of Mind Drippings podcast. On this particular episode, Doug was interviewing Taylor Pearson, author of “The End Of Jobs”. Doug said he was having trouble forming the introduction of his interviews.

Before you begin your show, determine what are you hoping people will take from the interview. What is the point?

Many podcast introductions are a waste of time. They host wanders into the episode rather than creating anticipation and setting up the content that is to come.

“Tell us a little about yourself, who you are and what you do.” It is such an overused first questions.

Do your homework. Know the important facts about your guest that support the topic. Provide those pieces of information right at the beginning. Then, hit the ground running with great questions.

Make your podcast introduction compelling. It should make your audience want to stick around for the payoff. I hear so many shows begin with their standard show open immediately followed by a bunch of housekeeping. Don’t waste the time of your audience. Your introduction should make a promise (tell the audience what to expect). You should then follow through on that promise (give them the content they expect).

Last week, we discussed the purpose of a strong podcast introduction. This week, I want to walk you through the steps of creating your powerful purpose and intriguing introduction.

These steps come straight from the Topic Development Worksheet online at PodcastTalentCoach.com.

13 STEPS

What do you hope to make the audience laugh at, marvel at or better understand?

What is in it for them?

Why is the topic relevant to your audience?

How will you make the audience care?

What is the source of the topic?

How will the source lend credibility to the topic?

What do you find intriguing about the topic?

What emotion do you hope to stir?

In what context will the story be set?

Where will you take the topic? Where will the story go?

What details will you use?

What is the one thing you hope your listener will remember about you/your show?

Write the intriguing introduction to your topic.

Before you begin your show, determine what are you hoping people will take from the interview. What is the point?

Do your homework. Know the important facts about your guest that support the topic. Provide those pieces of information right at the beginning in your podcast introduction. Then, hit the ground running with great questions.

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

The Critical Piece To A Great Podcast – Episode 123

January 13, 2016 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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The Critical Piece To A Great Podcast – Episode 123

On a recent episode of the Podcast Review Show that I do with Dave Jackson, we got into a discussion with a podcaster who struggles with the introduction of his show. This happens with so many hosts. How do you properly begin an episode? Why are the important elements of a solid introduction? What is the purpose?

START WITH WHY

Here is Doug’s first question: “Taylor, why don’t you introduce yourself a little bit more, and start off at the beginning with what brought you to decide to write this book and I’ll just let you roll with it and we’ll get the questions going.”

Doug needs to make us care about the author as he introduces him BEFORE he brings Taylor on the show. Then, Doug needs to make us care about the subject.

Before you begin your show, determine what are you hoping people will take from the interview. What is the point.

When you use, “Tell us about yourself”, it sounds like you didn’t do your homework.

The show is about big ideas. What is the big idea in this episode? The world of jobs is coming to an end. Start there.

Later in the interview, Doug asks, “What are people to do … if the opportunities are limited … and every single year we have thousands upon thousands of people graduating from universities across the country … what are people to do to protect themselves from becoming obsolete in this current economy that we’re seeing everyday increasing where jobs are being eliminated or being exported to countries across the world?”

This is the essence of the conversation. Let’s start here.

Many introductions are a waste of time. They host wanders into the episode rather than creating anticipation and setting up the content.

“Tell us a little about yourself, who you are and what you do.” It is such an overused first questions.

Do your homework. Know the important facts about your guest that support the topic. Provide those pieces of information right at the beginning. Then, hit the ground running with great questions.

Make the introduction of your show compelling. It should make your audience want to stick around for the payoff. I hear so many shows begin with their standard show open immediately followed by a bunch of housekeeping. Don’t waste the time of your audience. Your introduction should make a promise (tell the audience what to expect). You should then follow through on that promise (give them the content they expect).

When a show begins with, “I’ll show you how to make a million dollars in 4 easy-to-understand steps”, followed by, “But first, let me plug 14 things and chat a bit about why I didn’t post an episode last week”, you are losing your audience. Your fan tuned in to hear your secrets, not your problems.

If you have housekeeping notes to pass along, sprinkle them within the show throughout the content. Lead with your strongest material. Housekeeping is not it.

Your introduction should set up your podcast. It should be an intriguing introduction that tells the listener exactly what the podcast is all about. What will I get when I listen? It doesn’t matter whether your podcast is 10 minutes or 60 minutes long. You need to tell the listener what is to come.

“Welcome to Podcast Talent Coach Podcast. My name is Erik K. Johnson. This is where we help you transforming your information into engaging entertainment so we can turn your podcast into powerful, profitable relationships.”

With that quick introduction, I told you exactly what to expect. You know the name of my podcast. You know the name of the host. You know the goal we are setting out to accomplish. I’ve also put you in the mix by referencing your dreams and how my podcast will help you. In those brief seconds, I’ve given you who, what, when and why.

That content should be followed immediately by a creative tease of this particular show. It might be something like, “We will help Steve figure out how to gently end a bad interview. Shelly asks about incorporating a call-to-action without making the show sound like an infomercial. And finally, we will hear a clip for the ‘The Golden Garden’ podcast and help Chris increase the energy and forward momentum in the show. Let’s get to it. First up …” This goes right into the show content. We start delivering on the promise made in the introduction. The show is moving forward.

If I said, “Before we get to it, let me explain the new look of my website”, I would only be relevant to a small portion of my audience. Who cares about my new layout? That would assume first that most of my audience has visited my website prior to this show, and second that they can’t find their own way around the new layout. That’s a pretty big assumption. If is important enough to include, put it at the end, or somehow incorporate the information into an answer.

Don’t waste the time of your audience. Make your introduction intriguing and get to the content immediately.

MAKE THEM CARE

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “what’s in it for me?”

Your audience will be asking this very question every time they tune into your podcast. Your introduction better tell your listener exactly how your topic will affect them. You need to hook them right at the beginning with an intriguing introduction. If you don’t hook them early, they will be gone in search of something more captivating.

When your audience knows what is in it for them, they begin to care. Making your listener care is the only way to get them to listen and more importantly come back again.

Lead with an intriguing introduction.

This is true for your podcast in general as well as each individual topic. Your intriguing introduction should hook your audience, let them know exactly what to expect, and allow them to enjoy the story.

What do you hope your audience will take away from this particular discussion? Your introduction should spell it out. It should set up what is to come.

If your goal is to make your listener laugh at your misfortune over the weekend, lead with it. “This weekend was so disastrous, I wouldn’t have had time for anything else to go wrong even if I tried.” The audience will now have time to enjoy the vivid details of your horrible weekend rather than trying to figure out what point you are trying to make.

When you begin your story with the details, your listener spends energy trying to determine the point you are trying to make. They are trying to figure out what the story is about.

Have you ever been stuck listening to someone tell a story while you’re thinking, “Will he ever get to the point?” That is what we are trying to avoid.

Here is an example of a story you might hear. “This weekend we went to the mall. It was just the two of us. We were looking for a gift for my dad.” Are we telling a story about finding gifts? Is this story just recapping the weekend? Maybe it is about my dad. You don’t know. I haven’t told you. There is no lead to this story.

To hook your audience and allow them to truly enjoy the story, lead with an intriguing introduction.

EMOTIONALLY POWERFUL?

A successful podcast is built on a strong relationship with the listener. It could be called a tribe as defined by Seth Godin in his book of the same name. The strong relationships with your listeners begin to develop your brand. You can then monetize your brand and associated relationships with an effective call-to-action. But it starts with the brand.

Powerful brands are more than just recognizable names. Powerful brands are full of emotion. A brand is a collection of perceptions, creating emotional connections, while consistently delivering on a promise. The more powerful the emotional connection, the more powerful the brand.

Take a moment to think of some very powerful brands and the associated emotions of the rabid fans of those brands. Nike. Volkswagen. Star Trek. Starbucks. Apple. Harley Davidson. Fans will go out of their way to interact with their favorite brand. These brands are unique, because they create powerful emotions within their fans that are not found in ordinary brands.

Ordinary brands lack emotion. Keds. Buick. Battlestar Galactica. Dunkin’ Donuts. Hewlett Packard. Honda. The powerful emotions are not present for most people in these brands.

An amazing book entitled “The Power of Cult Branding” by Matthew W. Ragas and B. J. Bueno describes the seven golden rules to cult branding. Emotion is the key to all seven. Social Groups, Courage, Fun, Human Needs, Contribution, Openness, and Freedom. All emotional. None are functional. It’s not the best, biggest, brightest, loudest, or #1 product. Cult brands are focused on emotion, not hype.

If you want to turn your podcast into a powerful brand that you can monetize with a strong call-to-action, stir emotion every time.

Next week, we will walk through the steps in creating a powerful introduction. I’ll give you a step-by-step process.
Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

WHY PODCAST AVATAR GENDER MATTERS – PTC EPISODE 122

January 6, 2016 Erik K. Johnson 1 Comment

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WHY PODCAST AVATAR GENDER MATTERS – PTC EPISODE 122

There is a big difference between marketing to men and marketing to women. The book “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus” by John Gray, Ph. D. discussed in great detail the communication and relationship differences between men and women. These differences are critical in marketing. They are also important elements to your podcast strategy.

When I have discussed this in the past, I have been labeled a chauvinist. I’ve been called narrow minded. People have said I am simply promoting the stereotypes.

Let me first say these are generalities. Stereotypes are called stereotypes for a reason.

The definition of stereotype is “a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group”. There are times when the stereotypical case will not hold true for a specific situation. There is always an exception to the rule. Most of the time, these generalities will be the case.

Today, we are going to cover five major differences between men and women that you need to consider when marketing to the different genders. Keep these differences in mind when you are shaping your podcast content.

These differences also reinforce the importance of defining your target listener. You can find my Listener Development Worksheet to help you define your avatar or target listener online at PodcastTalentCoach.com.

THINKING

In a broad sense, men tend to think very linearly. Women usually think very spatially. To be effective communicating with each gender, you must understand these differences. You must also select one to target. The same message will have difficulty reaching both genders effectively.

When handling tasks, men tend to be single-minded and focused on one goal, while women usually multitask well.

Men tend to appreciate change more than women. Women will tolerate repetition much more than men, because they are not as focused on one item at a time. It may also take more messages in different ways to effectively reach and influence a woman.

Men and women also differ in the way they remember things and events. Again, men are linear. Women are spatial.

PROBLEM SOLVING

Men and women also take different approaches in the way they solve problems. Because men think linearly, men focus on the solution. Men try to determine what steps are needed to reach a successful outcome.

COMMUNICATING

Women use communication and problem solving for much different purposes. Women use both as a way to strengthen the relationship. Women seek understanding when tackling a problem.

RELATIONSHIPS

Men and women also handle relationship problems differently. Just like problems in any other area of life, men typically seek the solution (linear) while women tend to use problems to strengthen the relationship (spatial). Understand these differences as you build your relationship with your audience.

MEMORIES

When men remember events, they tend to remember in a linear fashion. They will remember events in sequence as one thing happened, then the next and finally the last. It is a sequential time line.

Women typically remember events in a very spatial way. The memories will be more centered around relationships, people involved and the experience.
These differences between men and women will play an important role as you define your target audience. Will your communication be spatial or linear? This is something you’ll need to decide before you can move forward to create the structure and content of your show.

Gender is only one characteristic of your target audience. There are many others to consider. Just as if you were describing one individual person, gender would only be one characteristic of that person.

Remember, these are generalities. True is most situations. There is always an exception to the rule. You can send all the hate mail you would like. Or, you can get to work assessing your approach to ensure you are reaching your audience in the best way possible.

Find my Listener Development Worksheet online at PodcastTalentCoach.com.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Where To Find Podcast Topic Ideas – Episode 121

December 31, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Where To Find Podcast Topic Ideas – Episode 121

Content creators struggle with topic ideas. It is natural. There are days when few ideas are coming to mind.

The other day, I was listening to the great motivational speaker Les Brown. He says speaking is natural. You don’t hear of people facing speaker’s block. Why do people run into writer’s block?

You simply need to find topics that pique your interest.

These topics could stir any sort of emotion within you. They could make you laugh, cry, or simply say hmmm.

The good news is that you can find topics everywhere. We tend to limit ourselves to our niche or genre. Expand. Topics are everywhere.

YOUR INTEREST

During my 25-year radio career, I’ve attend many, many seminars on creating great radio. One session eventually led to a coaching relationship with Bill McMahon.

Bill had been coaching radio talent for quite some time. He had coached Jeff & Jer in San Diego along with many others. He had a great process for creating great radio.

In our sessions, Bill would always encourage us to determine what we hoped to make the audience laugh at, marvel at or better understand. Then, start there.

Before we could get there, we needed to find the topic.

TOPIC GENERATION

The idea for topic generation came from another radio mentor of mine. Dan O’Day is probably more famous in radio circles for creating great advertising. However, he did a radio session one time on finding great topics from everyday articles. Any article could spur a topic.

Find any magazine or blog or paper. Scan through it until a headline catches your eye. As you read the article, highlight any sentence or word that captures your attention. When you are finished reading the article, find the one sentence or word that grabs you most.

With this sentence or word, spend three minutes brainstorming and freeform writing about that sentence. Set a timer. Write everything that comes to mind. Put it all on the paper. Write instead of typing. It will let the ideas come more freely.

At the end of the three minutes, look through the words on the sheet. Find the one idea that really jumps out that can be turned into a great podcast topic.

Use articles out of everyday periodicals.

PLAN IT

The third tip came from internet marketer Ryan Diess. He suggest creating a planner that includes publish date, post type, your category, your offer and the headline. Ryan offers a list of over 40 post types. You can find that link HERE.

Finally, I’ve created a worksheet that will help you ask questions to develop your topic. Once you find the sentence that piques your interest, use the worksheet to flush it out.

EXAMPLES

Here is an example of how I would use this method in my podcast.

USA Hockey – “The Meek Shall Inherit the Ice” p20 June/July 2013
“When the nation’s top quarter of college hockey teams hook up at a neutral site, only one gets to go home with a shiny gold trophy” – What makes a winning podcast. – Dissect the winners of the podcast awards – What industry events are available to learn?

“Going back to the 1950’s, when college hockey was a relatively new thing…” – Where podcasting began. – How podcasting grew from broadcasting and the theater. – What makes great theater? – What can we learn from those that came before?

“But, every now and then, a smaller school … would crash the party.” – What can we learn from some of the fastest growing podcasts? – Review some new, undiscovered podcasts. – Review a show on the show.

TOOLS

Ten Questions from the Topic Development Worksheet

1. Why is the topic relevant to your audience?
2. How will you make the audience care?
3. What is the source of the topic?
4. How will the source lend credibility to the topic?
5. What do you find intriguing about the topic?
6. What emotion do you hope to stir?
7. In what context will the story be set?
8. Where will you take the topic? Where will the story go?
9. What details will you use?
10. What is the one thing you hope your listener will remember about you/your show?
Finally, write the intriguing introduction to your topic.

Don’t settle for the first idea. Work and mold your topic.

It is easy to do an interview exactly like you do every other interview. Just like you’ve heard everyone do every other interview. Unfortunately, it will sound like every other interview.

It is easy to approach a topic just like everyone else.

Do something different. Stand out. Make your show different. Find new questions. Find ways to ask questions differently. Gain attention by being unique.

If you are discussing an article, do something different. If most hosts would simply read the article and comment, zig when they are zagging. Grab the phone and call the subject of the article. Interview the author. Act it out. Create a parody of it that is so over-the-top that it becomes memorable. Find that unique way to rise above the rest.

If you continue to settle for the first idea when presenting an idea, you’ll keep delivering typical content. We want to make you memorable. We want you to stand out and get noticed. When your content is vanilla and just like everyone else, you become wallpaper that nobody notices. You also become easy to replace.

Push yourself. Brainstorm until you find something that is great. Then, run with it and make it engaging and memorable. Don’t settle for the first idea.

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Use the Podcast Talent Coach Topic Development Worksheet to discover new podcast topics all around you.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Case Study: How To Set Your Price – Episode 119

December 16, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Case Study: How To Set Your Price – Episode 119

If you are like me, and many others in the online space, you struggle with pricing. You don’t want it to be too low and leave money on the table. On the other hand, you don’t want it to be too high and not make any sales.

So, where do you set the price?

Pricing is tricky. There is a lot of art to setting your price. Most is trial and error.

There really is no “correct” price. Price is determined by supply and demand. The price of anything is that point where a seller is willing and able to sell AND a buyer is willing and able to buy. It is a continuum.

If a seller is not making much money on a sale, she will focus on another area of business that is creating more profit. If she is a public speaker on self defense and earns $2,500 per speaking opportunity on the weekends, she is creating decent income.

If she then creates an online course teaching other women self-defense and creates sales of $3,000 per week with an hour of work online marketing the course, she may opt to do less speaking and more work online.

Her speaking gigs require her to find clients, travel to the location, give the presentation for an hour or two (depending on dinner and other presentations), possibly spend the night, travel home and miss time with her family. That is a lot to give up in order to make $2,500 when an hour a night on her schedule could earn $500 more.

People may be willing and able to buy her speaking at$2,500. However, she may not be willing to sell it for that. She may do a few speeches. It may just be less frequent. If her price increases to $5,000, the decision may be different.

HOW DO YOU DECIDE?

When I began coaching podcasters, I came to that very problem. I was in that place so many entrepreneurs find themselves. A price needed to be set for my services.

What would podcasters be willing and able to pay that I would be willing to accept?

In this episode, I take you step-by-step through the process I took to set the pricing for my podcast coaching.

So, how do you set your price.

OVERVIEW

First, ask your customers what they will buy. This could be a survey of your list. You could simply study the market and determine what they are already buying. Find a few people that could use your help and ask five or ten of them.

Next, determine what problem you are solving for your audience. People buy benefits and solutions. People don’t buy mops. They buy clean floors. Solve a problem they know they have.

Then, price on value. Know what value you have to offer. Your experience, knowledge and ability all play into your value. This will determine why it should be you rather than anyone else.

You can now set a price by looking at the market and seeing what they charge. Buy a few similar products to see what is included if necessary. You want your price to be competitive, but not necessarily the cheapest.

Your price does not need to be less than everyone else. It should probably be more expensive than others in order to stand out. Make it a great value for the price to justify being at the top end.

If you tell your audience what to do, you can charge a low price. If you teach them how to do, you are able to set a mid-level price. When you do it for the, you can be at the high end.

To be at the top of the range, go all out and solve all of their problems. Be a full-service machine. Prove the value and then add a bit more.

Most importantly, have a sales process. Know how you will attract people to your process. Define how you will demonstrate your value and benefits. Give your audience a ton of value, then the opportunity to buy.

I am not guaranteeing you will make money. I am not promising you that you will get rich, or even make a dime for that matter. I do not know you or your abilities.

I am saying this process worked for me. You may find a few helpful tips here that could help you in some way.

If you show your visitors the value of your product or service while giving them more than they expected, there is a good chance they will buy.

As in my example, there are times when the price doesn’t make sense. This is when you need to review your process.

Is the issue the price tag as it was with my program at the beginning?

Does the roadblock appear due to the structure of the product or service as it did with my 12-week program rather than weekly calls?

Are your clients looking for a product or service tailored to their needs, like my calls ever other week?

Rather than launching your product to thousands of people at one time, launch to a few. See if they are interested at that price and value. Gather some feedback. Make adjustments. Launch again to a few more people.

As you adjust your sales process, you will find a spot where clients are willing and able to buy your product at a price you are willing and able to sell. If you are not selling enough, add more value or lower the price. If you are selling too much, raise the price.

Tinker until it feels right. There is no correct price. There is only a price with which you are comfortable and that pleases your audience.

See the info page for my coaching services HERE:

PODCAST TALENT COACH COACHING

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How Radio And Podcasting Are The Same – Episode 118

December 9, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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How Radio And Podcasting Are The Same – Episode 118

The podcast “elite” will sometimes say, “This isn’t radio, this is podcasting. It’s different here.”

Well, I have news for you. Podcasting and radio are more alike than some will admit. You could benefit a bit by recognizing the similarities and borrowing the best practices.

There are many ways that radio and podcasting are the same.

The Same …

1. Same Tools

Both create with audio equipment.

This one is pretty obvious. Both are creating shows using a mic and other audio equipment.

The different ways the equipment is used makes it art. One sculptor may work with wood when another works with rock. Both are still sculptors and artists.

2. Same Approach

Both sit in a room alone trying to entertain people they cannot see.

It sounds crazy when you say it out loud. Both podcasters and broadcasters sit alone in a room talking with people they can neither see nor hear. Both try to predict the reaction of the listener while creating the entertainment.

3. Same Conversation

Both have real conversations with the listener.

Being authentic is critical to success of both podcasters and listeners. Both try to build knowledge and trust with the audience in order to develop a relationship.

4. Same Visions

Both create images in the mind of the listener.

When you tell great stories, your listener gets to know you. This is part of the “know, like and trust” philosophy of doing business.

Stories with vivid details allow the listener to develop images in the theater of the mind. These stories allow her to enjoy the story in her own way.

5. Same Experience

Both are individual activities.

When two people watch the same video, little is left to the imagination. When the same two people hear audio, each will develop individual images in their mind.

No two images will be identical. Listening is an individual activity.

6. Same Connection

Both try to make a one-on-one connection and create a following.

The podcaster and broadcaster are both trying to create a tribe for their content. If you are not trying to grow your audience, you will eventually be talking to yourself.

7. Same Episodes

Both produce episodic content that keeps listeners returning.

This is especially true in talk radio. Content is regularly produced by both podcasters and broadcasters. Those episodes of content build upon each other to create an ongoing show.

8. Same Goal

Both hope to capitalize on the attention using a strong call-to-action.

Content is created by both in order to attract an audience. Once the audience is built, both try to activate that audience with a call-to-action.

The goal may be monetization, support or simply returning for the next episode. Either way, both hope to move a group of people.

9. Both Can Interact

Both are able to interact in real time.

This wasn’t true a few years ago. However, now that technology has come such a long way, both podcasters and broadcasters can interact with the audience in real time.

Podcasters chat with their listeners in real time using phone systems, Google hangout, chat rooms, and other methods. No longer is this feature limited to broadcasters.

… And Sometimes Different

There are a few features of podcasting that differs from broadcasting.

1. Podcasters Time Shift

Podcasting can be time shifted. This can be a benefit over broadcasting.

Podcast listeners can enjoy the show anytime they would like. They do not need to be next to the radio at a given time in order to hear their favorite show.

This is a feature and not necessarily something that makes podcasting inherently different from broadcasting. When we are talking about the art and goal of the audio, this is just a different way of delivering.

2. Podcasters Benefit From The Beginning

Podcast listeners start at the beginning. Mark Ramsey did a great session on this at New Media Expo 2015.

Some broadcast listeners join the show at the beginning and some join in the middle of the show. Podcast listeners all start at the beginning of the episode.

Rarely will a podcast listener download a show, scroll through to the 17:00 mark and begin listening there unless there is a specific direction to do so.

3. Podcasters Can Niche Down

Podcasting can afford to be more niche. By nature of the medium, broadcasting must be mass appeal. This is definitely a benefit for podcasting.

4. Podcasting Is Inclusive

Almost anyone can create a podcast. Podcasting requires a minimal investment. This makes it easy for most to get involved. There is no limit to the number of podcasts that can be created.

Getting on the radio requires getting through the gate keeper. Your other option is to buy your own station. Both are quite difficult.

Again, advantage podcasting.

The nine similarities between the two formats are largely foundational. The essence of the art is the same. The goal, methodology and tactics are identical between the podcasting and radio.

Podcasting enjoys a few benefits over broadcasting. The few differences are hardly enough to proclaim podcasting much different than radio.

I’d love to know what you think. E-mail me anytime at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

7 Thanksgiving Concepts To Drive Your Business And Podcast – Episode 116

November 26, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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7 Thanksgiving Concepts To Drive Your Business And Podcast – Episode 116

As this episode is posted, it is Thanksgiving in the United States. It is a day of the year when we pause to give thanks to those treasures in our lives. Whether you are celebrating in America or just working another day somewhere else in the world, I would like to thank you for all you have done for me by simply being part of this community. Thank you.

This week, I would like to share with you 7 Thanksgiving concepts to drive your business and podcast any day of the year.

1. New Relationships

Take a few minutes today to plant the seeds of new relationships. Reach out to five people you do not know, and thank them for what you have learned from them. This could be authors, podcasters, business people, pastors or any other people who have given you a bit of their knowledge.

Only thank them. There is no hidden agenda. We are simply reaching out to give thanks.

If the quick note leads to a relationship down the road, that would be great. If it generates no response, that is ok as well. Our only goal is to give. Send good vibes into the universe. It will make you feel good. You never know what might come back.

2. Old Relationships

Next, take a few minutes to strengthen the relationships you have already built. Reach out to five people you know, and thank them for enriching your life.

This is a great opportunity to rekindle a few relationships that have gone dormant. Send a note to just say thanks. It will make the day of the recipient.

We all enjoy hearing that we have influenced someone in some way. It gives us validation. When you take time to thank someone for all they have done for you, the good will created by the note will go a long way.

The new conversation may also lead to new opportunities. Do not expect it. But, you never know what might happen.

3. What Gets Scheduled Gets Done

Use a day off to plan the next 12 months. This year, Thanksgiving is 36 days from the end of the year. It is a great time to look forward.

It doesn’t necessarily need to be the beginning of the year to set your goals. Your 12-month plan can begin at any point in time. Don’t let the calendar dictate your actions. Use today to look forward and plan.

As the old saying goes, what gets scheduled gets done. A goal without a deadline is only a dream. Set your goals for the next 12 months, and then add deadlines. Schedule the time.

Set goals at various lengths. Define big, 12-month goals. Decide what you will accomplish each month. Determine what steps need to happen each week to reach those goals. Let each goal build toward the next bigger milestone.

4. Great Offers

Black Friday and Cyber Monday bring great deals. This is especially true in the online world. It seems everyone has a great deal.

Just as with goals, the calendar shouldn’t dictate your strategy. It doesn’t need to be the day after Thanksgiving in order to make a great offer to your tribe.

Create something of tremendous value, add a little more, and offer it to your community. Thank your followers for being part of the group. As a “thank you”, present your great offer.

You do not need to wait for a particular day of the year to be generous to your tribe. Make your great offer today.

5. Fill Your Heart

Take pause and ponder all of the things in your life for which you are thankful. Fill your heart. Be grateful.

When we consider all of the wonderful things in our lives, it will naturally make us feel better. In business, we tend to think of all the things that need to be fixed. The items on our “to do” list. We look for the ways we can improve. We focus on our weaknesses.

Take time to focus on the treasures present in your life. It is wonderful that we have access to the internet. That we can determine our own future with the effort we put forth. We have amazing gifts in our lives. Count your gifts.

Let’s fill our hearts by giving thanks for all we have. It will relieve some of the stress we bring upon ourselves. Life will be a little happier.

6. Walk Away Wednesday

We need to take time away from the “to do” list and devote it to a bit of housekeeping. This is a concept I learned from radio great Mike McVay.

In radio, we tend to get too close to the product to be able to truly evaluate the quality. We live with the product every day. Knowing too much about the station handcuffs a program director.

The same is true with your podcast. We get so focused on the next episode that we forget to review the content we have already published. The website needs to be cleaned up. The autoresponder needs to be freshened. We never take time.

Mike created “Walk Away Wednesday” for radio program directors. It was a day to get away from the radio station and just listen. We would listen to everything to ensure it had a purpose. The goal was to review the radio station from top to bottom.

Take a day to review everything about your podcast and business. Look over the website. Check all of the links. Proofread the copy. Sign up for your newsletter. Make your “about” page forward-facing. Ensure everything works as it should.

Check your iTunes description to ensure it is still valid. Look over your Facebook “about” section. Listen to your podcast like a listener. Check the podcast on various devices. Review for quality in every aspect of your podcast and business.

7. Give

Pretty simple. Help someone. As Zig Ziglar always said, “You can have anything you want as long as you help enough other people get what they want.”

It is true. Giving does something to us. Giving makes us more attractive as a person. Serve people.

We do not give expecting something in return. We are giving, because it is the right thing to do. Giving helps society. We have been given gifts to share with the world.

Send out the good vibes. You never know what you will get in return.

Take time this week to put a few of these concepts to use with your podcast and business. You never know what good things might come your way in the next year.

Thank you for being part of this community. I truly value the time you give me every week. My hope is that you find value and some useful nugget in the content I provide in each episode.

I would love to help you with your podcast. E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How Do I Market My Podcast ? – Episode 114

November 11, 2015 Erik K. Johnson 1 Comment

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How Do I Market My Podcast ? – Episode 114

Thank you for allowing me to help you with your podcast. I get a great deal of joy helping podcasters achieve their goals.

A few weeks ago, I asked you for questions and ways I can help you with your show. I received some great questions from you. This week, I want to go through a few with you.

How do you market your show? How can I get to the point of launch? How do I fight the Impostor Syndrome? How do I name my podcast?

I’m struggling with promotion/marketing and spreading the word.
-Greg from the “I Want To Know” podcast

There are many ways to market and promote. Most of it takes time.

I learned a lot about marketing from Paige Nienaber from CPR Promotions. He often refers to this drip style of marketing as dog crap marketing.

Paige lives in Minnesota, where it snows a lot every year. The ground is typically covered with snow from November to March.

Paige also owns a dog. If you are a dog owner, you know all about cleaning the back yard. The dog makes deposits. You clean it up.

Just because there is snow on the ground doesn’t mean the dog doesn’t need to go out to do his business. It just makes it tougher to clean up.

When the snow finally melts in March, you find the results of all the hard work of your dog. It wasn’t done in a few days. It built up slowly over months of productive work by the dog.

The same is true for your marketing. Work on it daily and let the results build over time.

Here are six tips you can use.

1. Know your most frequent listeners by name and use them.
2. Use stories to stand out and be remembered.
3. Host events to create community.
4. Make it easy to share your content.
5. Don’t blow your first impression.
6. Write great show notes with helpful links that your audience can use.

You can find a worksheet of 52 podcast marketing tips at PodcastTalentCoach.com.

I am a beginner, not even live yet, in fact having problems getting from intro, outro, episode and artwork to live. So frustrating, feeling like I am THIS close.
– Corrine

This is a matter of finding the courage to launch. Fight the impostor syndrome. Learn as you go.

If you have your intro, outro, episode notes and artwork, you are ready to go live.

Create a WordPress site and sign up for a Libsyn account. This should put you in a great position to launch.

If it is belief in yourself that is holding you back, take baby steps. Record three episodes telling yourself you won’t really post these. You are just practicing. Get them recorded.

Once you have the episodes recorded, put them on Libsyn and post to your WordPress site to ensure the technology works. Test the links. Listen to the shows. Submit it to iTunes. Just tell yourself you can always change it if necessary.

After you are sure everything works, move on to the next few episodes. Changing those first three episodes is posible. However, it is more work. I think once you get them posted, you will be more excited and interested in working on the next few episodes rather than tinkering with the first three. Move forward in baby steps.

If it is the technology that is holding you back, check out Dave Jackson at the School of Podcasting. He has great tutorials that will help you create a website, set up a Libsyn account and submit your show to iTunes. He also has a great offer where he will set up your site if you order your hosting through him.

Dave always says if you can post on Facebook, you can create a website with WordPress and launch a podcast. Don’t let the intimidation stop you. There are many resources that can help.

I want to launch a show I can be proud of. I quickly get into my own head and get slapped down by the Nobody’s Going to Like This Fairy. Stupid fairy. Any tips for shutting that voice up?
– Greg

I began my broadcasting career when I was 19. It was completely by accident. I was going to college to get my architecture degree. Since I was 12-years-old, I had been tailoring my education to be an architect or engineer.

In college, I had the same fear of public speaking as most people. In our design classes, we had to do presentations in front of a panel of judges. I absolutely hated doing these presentations.

During class, four or five students would present during the hour. It would take about a week to get through the entire class. That was the worst part. The anxiety would build for presentation day only to not get your name called. I would have to live through the anxiety again in anticipation of presenting during the next class.

I never envisioned being a public speaker, radio talent or any other presenter.

My younger brother worked for a radio station at the time. I was home for the weekend doing nothing like most college students. That was when the phone rang. It was the manager of the radio station looking for my brother to fill in during a shift. My brother wasn’t home and I was offered a part-time job.

My career in radio started just running the board for long-form programs. I only talked on the radio between the 30-minute shows. I might give the time or temperature. Otherwise, I would sit around while the show played. Speaking was minimal.

As an elective for my architecture degree, I took a class called “Broadcasting For The Non-Major”. I figured being in a radio station for a part-time job should make this class a little easier. It would also help me learn more about my job.

That class eventually led me to become the music director of the college station.

That position got me a job working overnights at a commercial station. Suddenly, I instantly found myself talking to 10,000 people. I was no longer talking between long-form programs to a handful of old people. This was real radio.

Over time, I started to get comfortable talking on the radio. It took a little time. I eventually got there.

As I started picking up more hours on the air, my boss started to send me out broadcasting live in front of a crowd. I was being sent onstage to introduce concerts in front of 10,000 people. These were no longer people I couldn’t see. They were right in front of me.

It took me years to figure out how to overcome those butterflies I would get each time I stepped in front of a crowd. There were tips and tricks I learned along the way to help me. It was a combination of things I learned over the years that helped me defeat the jitters. Here are a few ways to shake the butterflies out of your system. It could save you years of trial and error.

Preparation is the key idea in the process.

Here are four steps to properly prepare for your show.

1. Overcome Jitters
– Prepare your material
– Rehearse
– Focus on one person – preferably your single target listener you have defined
– Tell yourself you are an expert at your opinion
– Making people either love you or hate you only means you are making people care.

2. Create Great Notes
– Bullet points – don’t script
– Tell stories
– Give examples – play audio
– Determine your open and close, intro and outro for show and each topic … “now it’s time for” is not an appropriate intro

3. Set the Room
– Get the temp correct – be comfortable
– Get some room temp water
– No distractions – phone, family

4. Prepare Your Equipment
– Close other programs
– Prepare your software
– Turn off your phone, close e-mail, close IM
– Test your mic and set your levels
Contact and prepare guests & co-hosts

The places I am struggling with my future podcast is mainly the what to name it. I have ideas for about 3 different podcasts (though I only want to start with one). The main problem is naming them also i.e. website name and so forth. I have an idea about formats but with never having done a podcast, they seem to escape me. I know I won’t be perfect at first and I am okay with that. But at the same time I would like to be somewhat in order. A little more guidance on this would be greatly appreciated.
– Richard

The name of your podcast sets up your brand. It should tell people exactly what they will get from your show. Don’t get cute.

If you name your show “Outside the Lines”, nobody will know if that is a show about paint-by-numbers, football or off roading. “School of Podcasting” is pretty clear. You know what you are going to get.

Take five minutes and brainstorm. Start writing every name you can think of that relates to your niche. There are no bad ideas here. Every idea will lead to another. Don’t critique. Just write as much as you can.

After the five minutes is up, review the list. Highlight the names you like.

These names should be clear about your content. Find names that capture the imagination. Look for names that sound interesting.

Once you have narrowed the list to five to ten names, ask others for their opinion. Explain the criteria of a great name. Have them give you their top three choices.

Read over the five or ten lists of three. Look for the names that get the most mentions.

Now, take action. Pick a name and run with it.

What is the worst that can happen? You get a year into it and need to adjust it. That’s ok. On a podcast the other day, I heard someone say, “If you wait until all of the stoplights turn green before you begin your journey, you’ll never start.”

Just begin. Don’t wait for things to be perfect. That will never happen. Just start.
Thanks for all of the questions. If you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Is This Causing You To Lose Podcast Listeners? – Episode 111

October 14, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Is This Causing You To Lose Podcast Listeners – Episode 111

There are two elements of your podcast that will help you create podcast engagement with your listeners and keep them coming back for more.

Focus and consistency.

Impress your listeners by making one big splash. Then, do it so consistently that your listener comes to expect it.

FOCUS

Focus on the one thing you do best. When you try to be all things to all people, you fade into the wallpaper. Those with focused intensity stand out.

Be great at something. People will take notice.

Rather than being consistently good with your podcast, be occasionally great.

Your listener will remember one big thing from your show. They will not remember every detail, every comment or every e-mail answer. They will remember that one thing you did. Each show, try to make one big splash that will be memorable.

Swing for the fence.

Many know the great Babe Ruth as one of the greatest home run hitters in baseball. Many also know that Ruth struck out roughly twice as often as the league average. He struck out 1,330 times.

Babe set out to do something exciting. He wanted to be memorable. Sometimes, that meant striking out.

People don’t remember all of the singles Babe hit. Even though he is 2nd all-time with his on-base percentage of .474, nobody talks about all the times Ruth got on base. He had 1,517 singles and 506 doubles to his 714 home runs. That is nearly twice as many singles as homers. Doubles and home runs were just about equal.
Why do people remember all of the home runs? Because they were exciting.

Babe was occasionally great. He was great often enough to be memorable.

You don’t have to set records. Simply make your podcast occasionally great. Nobody remembers your strikeouts. Don’t worry about them. When you finally hit the home run, people will remember.

Every now and then, swing for the fence.

When you try to be all things to all people, you end up being nothing.

Focus your topic on what you know best. Be opinionated. Be passionate. Pick a side. Be unique.

CONSISTENT

Once you have focus, add consistency.

When you try to discuss an industry in general, your audience won’t know what to expect when they visit your show.

Stick to your focus. Simply find new ways to communicate it.

Let’s take Dave Ramsey for example. During the opening of “The Dave Ramsey Show”, Dave says, “Where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid-off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice.”

Dave’s show is a personal finance show. Moreover, it is a show about getting out of debt. Dave helps people find ways to pay off their debt and become financially stable.

“The Dave Ramsey Show” doesn’t discuss particular stocks or mutual funds. Dave doesn’t discuss how to go about investing other than simply suggesting you sock away 15 percent of your income for retirement and then some for college.

On his show, Dave recommends 7 basic steps to financial security. He has been doing a show on these 7 steps for over 20 years. Every show, everyday, every call. It’s all about these 7 steps in some way or another.

When you tune into “The Dave Ramsey Show”, you know what you will get. Dave is focused. He is consistent with his focus on a daily basis.

Now, if Dave talked about the benefits of real estate investing on one show and the pitfalls of no-load mutual funds on another, you would never know what to expect. You wouldn’t know what the show would be about on any particular day.

There are times where Dave will focus a particular hour on entrepreneurs. Even these shows are centered around the 7 steps. He helps businesses launch and operate debt free.

The focus of “The Dave Ramsey Show” is consistent, but not predictable.

When you listen, you cannot predict the questions. However, the answers are consistent.

Give your podcast focus. Consistently deliver on that focus. Your audience will find comfort in the known. These two elements will help you build podcast engagement and a solid foundation on which to build your audience.

Here is a link to the FREE show review I mentioned. Yes, it is free. No, there are no strings attached. However, there are a few criteria you need to meet. See if you qualify:

COMPLIMENTARY COACHING
I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Erik@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Turn Podcast Topics Into Creative Content – Episode 110

October 7, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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How To Turn Podcast Topics Into Creative Content – Episode 110

Before we dive in, here is the link to the Podcast Review Show I mentioned.
PODCAST REVIEW SHOW

You can turn your clever podcast topics into creative content by answering a few easy questions.

Developing your overall podcast strategy involves determining how you will uniquely address each topic on your show. Whether you are presenting information, answering questions or interviewing guests, there are many ways to address each topic.

So many podcasters follow the herd. They create interview shows that sound like every other igniting interview show.

You do not need to do it the same way every other podcast does it. Be unique. Find the way that will stand out.

If you are interviewing, do you really need to ask the same questions that every other podcast asks? When you actually listen to the answers coming from your guest, you will be surprised by the new questions you can discover.

Play a game. Do a contest. Get your guests to tell stories. Different stories than every other show. “How did your mom influence you?” “What was your first business?” “When did you know you wanted to be an artist as a career?” “What is a unique talent you have that few people know?”

Here is a tip many people forget. This is show business. You are here to entertain. Create compelling entertainment?

How do you do make it engaging?

First, you know where you want to go and what you hope to accomplish. Then, you map out how to get there. Don’t just wing it.

Do you think the actors in “Modern Family” or “The Walking Dead” ad lib their lines? Of course not. Do you find it less entertaining when they follow the script? Of course not. There is no reason you cannot add a little show biz to your show.
Just be sure to always be true to the show.

9 QUESTIONS

There are nine questions on the Podcast Talent Coach Topic Development Worksheet that will help you transform your podcast topic into creative content.

RELEVANT?

How is your topic relevant to your niche?

This question will help you begin to shape your topic. If we can determine why your niche needs to know this material and how it fits into the overall concept of the show, we can make sure it fits the show.

I love hockey. However, hockey isn’t relevant to this particular podcast niche unless I’m discussing a hockey podcast. There is no relevancy.

WHO CARES?

How are you going to make your audience care about this topic? What is in it for your listener? If we can determine why they would care, we can begin in their world.

Every listeners asks, “What’s in it for me?” Care about your listener first. You will be well on your way to engaging content.

SOURCE

What is the source of the topic? Does the source matter with regard to the context and credibility of the information?

There are times when the source will help shape the context of your story. Other times, the source was simply the spark to the idea and doesn’t really matter.

We discussed it a bit last week. If I read a story about the correlation between bars and churches and it sparks the topic of “everyone wants to constantly change the rules”, the source really adds nothing to the context.

If I read a Gallup report covering the President’s approval rating which leads me to the discussion of where it is trending, the source adds context. It also adds credibility.

INTRIGUE

What do you find intriguing about the topic?

We have discussed this before. If you want to be interesting, be interested. You are only interested when you find topics that are intriguing to you. Determine what parts of the topic pique your interest. If you creates a spark in you, it is likely that it will do the same in your listener.

EMOTION

What emotion do you hope to stir?

Content is always most powerful when you stir emotion. You can make money when you sell things people need. You can get rich when you sell things people want. Why? Wants come from an emotional place.

Find ways to get your audience emotionally involved in your content.

CONTEXT

In what context will your story be set?

Determine how you will approach each topic. Will you play audio examples? Will you play voice messages from your listeners? Are you going to read e-mail? Maybe there is a guest contributor. Determine each approach before the show begins.

Add some context by making the topic personal. Drugs mean different things when you add context. Are we talking criminals or pharmacists? That is context.

JOURNEY

Where will you take the topic? In other words, what is your point?

This is like your headline. It is the one thing you want to drive home about this particular topics. With this episode, I want you to understand there are defined steps you can take to create shape your content.

Your point (or intriguing introduction) is where your episode will begin. Take time to define it.

DETAILS

What details will you include in your episode?

Vivid details make your stories come to life. Find great words and details that make visions dance in the theater of the mind.

YOUR ONE THING

What is the one thing you hope listeners will remember about this episode?

Your “one thing” goes hand-in-hand with your point. The one thing you want to drive home to your listener is very similar to the one thing you want them to remember.

My point here is the fact there are steps you can take. What I want you to remember is that you can do it, and the steps are easy to understand. The point is the “what” and the one thing is the “why”.

Start with your intriguing introduction. Lead with the headline. Then, shape the content to support your point with some passionate “why”.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

3 Key Elements To A Rockstar Podcast Brand – Episode 108

September 23, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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3 Key Elements To A Rockstar Podcast Brand – Episode 108

Why is a brand so important for your podcast? Your brand communicates the essence of you, your podcast, your business and everything you represent.

There are many, many definitions of a brand. Basically, it is your identity.

When people think of you and your podcast, what comes to mind? There are usually a couple words that your brand represents in the mind of the consumer.

Apple is Think Different. Nike is Just Do It. Ford is Built Ford Tough.

Those brands are more than just slogans. They mean something to the consumer. Different is part of the fabric that makes up Apple. Everything they do is different.

Many companies try to add slogans thinking it will become their brand identity. Most of the time, the words just become throw away tag lines.

IBM is currently using “building a smarter planet” as their slogan. What does that mean? There are many articles written on the brilliance of this campaign. However, most of the writing centers around the cool logo, the social aspect of the idea and Watson, the mega computer. How does that change my life? What’s in it for me? How am I smarter because of that slogan?

An iPod is different. The iOS platform is different. Apple is different. When I interact with the product, I am different as well. We can be different together.

“Different together” is one element of a cult brand as described by B.J. Bueno in “The Power of Cult Branding”. We’ve discussed that in a past episode.

I truly enjoy studying branding. When I was completing my M.B.A., I studies branding all I could. I have read many books on branding in addition to “Cult Branding.” Those include “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding” by Ries & Ries and “Brand Like a Rock Star” by Steve Jones.

“Different together” brings us to the first element of a successful brand.

Consistent

To create a solid brand, you need to be consistent. Consistent with your message. Consistent with your promise. Consistent with your image.

When you think of great brands like McDonald’s, Coca Cola and Nike, you can see the evidence of solid consistency. When you walk into McDonald’s, you know exactly what you will get. You’ll get inexpensive hamburgers fast.

It doesn’t matter if it is a McDonald’s in Missoula, Montana or Mexico City, Mexico. The brand will be the same. You may be experience some small differences in the menu. For the most part, you’ll still get hamburgers, french fries and a Coke.

And of course the Big Mac. If you head into a McDonald’s and suddenly find fish n chips or bratwurst as the main entree, your trust in the brand will be destroyed. You won’t be sure what you’ll get next time you visit.

Your podcast must be just as consistent in order to create a great brand. Your listener must know exactly what they will get each time they listen. They come to your show to receive your promise. Deliver every time. Deliver consistently.

Consistency doesn’t mean lack of variety. It simply means that you always deliver your promise. McDonald’s offers different sizes. They offer chicken and fish sandwiches. You can get McNuggets. Either way, it is always inexpensive food fast when you want it. And the burgers are always there.

You are creating a brand when you are creating your podcast. You need to deliver consistently each time your listener tunes into the show. Foster that strong relationship with your audience. Be consistent.

Benefits

Your podcast should contain some sort of call to action. You might ask the listener to visit your website. You may ask them to contribute to a cause. Selling your product is a definite possibility. Simply tuning in again is a call to action. Whatever it happens to be, the call to action is part of the relationship building process with your listener.

In your call to action, be sure to sell benefits, not features. If you are selling a cookbook, the large print, stain-free cover and fact that it will stay open are all features. The ease at which the cook can read the book at a distance, the way it will stay clean to hand down to the next generation and the hands-free help it provides are all benefits. People don’t buy products. They buy what the product will accomplish.

How often does Starbuck’s promote their fine coffee bean. The answer is very little. Starbuck’s spends their time creating the Starbuck’s experience. They market the way Starbuck’s makes you feel. They aren’t promoting the warmth, color and robust flavor of their coffee.

Starbuck’s creates a relationship and true experience. They sell the way the coffee experience makes you feel. It is the barista, the smell, the music, the drink names, the cup, the sleeve, and even the lid. It isn’t warm, dark caffeinated beverages.

Find the true benefits of your podcast and product. Then, promote them heavily. People buy benefits.

Last week, we discussed changing your show introduction to better reflect your benefits.

Unique

Great brands are unique. Not simply a different shade of gray, but truly unique. To be remembered, you must stand out.

You stand out when you are loved. You are remembered when you are hated. You fade into the background when you are plain, vanilla and trying to avoid upsetting anyone. If you don’t stir strong emotions, you are easily forgotten.

When we create, we expose our perspective. We open ourselves to criticism. It is natural to want your thoughts, views, art and creation to be accepted by everyone. To avoid being disappointed, we often play it safe.

Those fantastic, memorable brands are usually both loved and hated. Apple is loved and defended by the converted and outcast by the PC crowd. Harley Davidson is loved to the extent that the converted tattoo the logo on their bodies.

Rush Limbaugh is loved by the conservatives and hated by the liberals. Dave Ramsey is loved by the conservative investor and hated by credit card companies and whole life insurance salespeople. Dr. Laura would consistently be critical of her callers. Yet she would receive more callers than she could handle on any given show.

Safety lacks creativity. It is risky to be truly creative. Taking a chance is really the only way to get noticed. Safe blends in. Risky stands out. Great brands are unique.

Take this week and review your brand. Look for consistency, the benefits and the uniqueness. Are you succeeding at all three elements of powerful brand? Where can you improve?

Successful brands do not happen overnight. It takes time. We are creating a relationship. Continue to build your consistency each week. Keep your listener at the forefront of your content. Then, find ways to be unique.

I would love to help you with your podcast. E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

* Please know that book links are affiliate links for Podcast Talent Coach.

Podcast

6 Ways Stories Make Your Podcast Powerful – Episode 106

September 9, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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6 Ways Stories Make Your Podcast Powerful

The art of storytelling can be powerful. A story can pass life lessons from one generation to another. Tales can help people remember information. Stories bring words to life.

There have been thousands of great storytellers throughout time. You don’t need to be Chaucer or the Brothers Grimm to use stories to make your content come alive. Use stories wherever possible, and your information will become engaging and entertaining. It will also be memorable.

Here are six ways stories help the information in your podcast become powerful, engaging content.

A LAND FAR, FAR AWAY

Stories help your listener escape his everyday life. A tale that is told well will transport your listener to another place and time through their imagination. You help them forget their problems.

When you tell stories in your podcast, you give your listener hope. Tales of success help your listener see what is possible. Tragic stories make him thankful for what he has. Stories that simply make your listener think help her better understand something.

Stories that contain wonderful, vivid words create fantastic pictures in the mind of your listener. When your listener is intently focused on your story, she forgets she is listening to a podcast. She is so engrossed by your story, everything around her has disappeared. Your content has become her sole focus.

HEY, I KNOW YOU

People trust people they know. If you’re selling a product or service, people buy from people they trust. If you hope to make that sale, you need to create strong, meaningful relationships with your audience. Stories will help you develop those powerful relationships.

When you tell stories about yourself and your experiences, you reveal things about yourself. Revelation is a natural part of storytelling. Self-revelation allows your listener to get to know you. Your listener spends time with you every week as you tell him more and more about yourself. Then, even if you have never met him, your listener feels like he has known you for years. You’re building a relationship without ever meeting. Stories of self-revelation help those friendships develop.

A great anecdote helps define your character. Your listener wants to know what to expect from you and your show. The stories you tell help define who you are. Your listener will get to know you. After some time, she will be able to predict how you will react to things. You become familiar. Familiarity is another ingredient to a healthy friendship.

HUMANITY

Stories are either compelling, humorous or tragic. A great narrative will make your audience marvel at, laugh at or better understand something. Feelings make you human.

When you evoke emotions in your audience, your listener feels like you are just like her. Your stories reveal real-life experiences. You are telling her you’ve had similar things happen in your life. She can relate. She thinks in her head, “You’re one of us!” Your relationship continues to strengthen.

I REMEMBER THAT

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Grimm’s Fairy Tales are so memorable, because they are lessons disguised as wonderful stories. Over 200 lessons were included in the books from the Brothers Grimm. Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Hansel and Gretel are all stories that are remembered well nearly 200 years after they were written. Stories link words to pictures in order to make the words memorable.

Great stories will make your information memorable as well. Use the tale of your latest saga to make your point. It will help your listener remember your content.

LIVE VICARIOUSLY

Your listeners can live vicariously through you when you tell them a great story. If you tell you listener how you made a fortune with your information, he gets to experience your joy almost as if he made the fortune right along with you. Your words help create the imagery in his mind.

Help people dream. Create fantastic stories that people can see in their own theater of the mind. Paint great pictures with your words. Your listener will see your story in his head.

Stories allow your listener to feel they joy without experiencing the risk. Your audience can walk through your hardships and feel the elation as you survive without actually living the pain. Delightful stories entertain listeners, because they can experience so much in a short period of time through you.

TAKE A CAR RIDE

Your podcast is 30 minutes long. That’s quite a bit of time to spend with someone. Will your listener want to spend 30 minutes in a car with you each week? When you record a podcast, you are asking them to do just that.

Your listener will spend meaningful, personal time with you each week. You better do all you can to create a strong relationship with your audience. Get listeners to like you.

When you reveal things about yourself through your stories, people will decide if they like you or not. Be real. Don’t force your story or change the details simply to make people like you. Tell the truth. If you bend the truth this time, you may forget next time. The truth will always come out. When it does, your relationship will be tarnished for good.

Reveal the truth. People will see you as a real human being. They will get to like you for who you are, flaws and all. The friendship will develop. Next thing you know, you’ll be taking a 30-minute car ride with them every week. Stories can make that happen.
Stories are powerful tools. They help your audience escape their problems.

Anecdotes help your listener get to know you. That’s where relationships begin. Your tales will show you are human. You are a real person with real flaws, just like your listener. Stories will make your information memorable, by drawing pictures in the mind of your listener.

Your audience can live vicariously through you when you tell them about your experiences. When you create that friendship, your listener will be willing to take that 30-minute car ride with you every week.

AUDACITY WORKSHOP

Click Here!

I would like to thank Steve Stewart over at MoneyPlanSOS.com. He has created a wonderful learning tool called the Audacity Workshop. This past week, he included me in one of the modules.

Our webinar was called “How To Create Killer Podcast Outlines”. We covered all of the steps laid out in the Show Prep Planning Worksheet available in the Free Worksheet Section at PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Then, I added another 30 minutes of bonus content exclusive to the Audacity Workshop. That bonus material covers ways to really refine your content in the planning stage in order to deliver killer content.

We discuss how to structure your introduction. You’ll learn how to effectively tease and promote the content in your episode, how vivid details bring your stories to life, and what content to include in your powerful call-to-action.

The best part … that is just one module. The workshop is packed full of great material and guest instructors. It is worth a look.

If you would like access to the content, here is my Audacity Workshop affiliate link. Take a look. I think you will be impressed by the depth of the instruction.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Begin creating great stories today, and make your podcast powerful.

Podcast

Have You Tried These 6 Audio Imagination Tricks? – Episode 104

August 26, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Have You Tried These 6 Audio Imagination Tricks? – Episode 104

Imagination. It is the wonderful result of recorded audio. When you listen to the radio, podcasts, audiobooks or other recorded audio, the imagination is in full motion. Your imagination belongs to you and you alone. You have full control. Your imagination is unlike any other.

Your imagination is used for your sole benefit. The characters and scenes created in your “Theater of the Mind” are exactly how you want them to look. The images are created in your mind in a way that gives you the greatest pleasure. It is all to benefit you.

The wonderful details in a story can stir the imagination in magical ways.

Last week, we talked about the element of surprise and delight within your podcast. Pieces of audio can add a wonderful element of surprise.

Video typically doesn’t stimulate the imagination the way audio does. When you see a car in a video, you know exactly what it looks like. If you and I both see a car in a video, we would both describe it in very similar ways. There is not much left to interpretation.

If I describe a cherry red 1968 Ford Mustang to you, I couldn’t possibly describe every detail. What does the interior look like? Where is it parked … or was it moving? Is there anybody in it? What kind of tires are on it? Hard top or convertible? There are many details to the story left to your interpretation.

Your imagination creates the car in a way that adds the most to your story and vision. That is the magic of recorded audio. Vivid details take your stories to another level of engagement that video cannot.

WAR OF THE WORLDS

You and I often discuss the incorporation of stories within your podcast. Stories reveal a lot about you as a storyteller. Stories also bring your content to life in the “Theater of the Mind”. Audio simply makes those mental images even stronger.

“War of the Worlds” was an incredible radio broadcast in the 1930s that brought mental imagery to life a little too well.

The episode by the great Orson Welles changed the way broadcasters approached their on-air responsibilities to the public for years to come. The show became famous for allegedly causing mass panic, although the reality of this mass panic was disputed.

Regardless, broadcasters changed the way they presented information on the air in order to keep the government off their backs. The audio was that powerful.

“War of the Worlds” was an episode of an American radio drama called “The Mercury Theatre on the Air”. This particular episode aired as a Halloween episode on October 30, 1938 when shows of this nature were performed live.

The story is an adaptation of the H. G. Wells novel “The War of the Worlds”. The story was shortened to fit a one-hour performance. It was presented as a series of fake news bulletins reporting an actual alien invasion.

The audio and effects added to the realism and the ensuing panic.

Later that evening, a few hours after the show aired, Orson Welles was standing in Times Square in New York City. Staring up at the New York Times building, he read the news bulletin, “Orson Welles Causes Panic.”

The media and politicians were in outrage the next day. They called for regulation by the Federal Communications Commission that would limit material allowed to be broadcast. They were upset that the broadcast was TOO REAL and therefore deceptive to the public.

The production was TOO GOOD. How crazy is that?

Over the years, Welles rose to fame as a producer and actor. This particular episode added to his meteoric rise.

Audio has that power to supercharge the imagination.

How are you using audio in your podcast to spark the imagination?

There are different ways to include recorded production elements within your show that will enhance your listener’s imagination and experience. When you add recorded elements, the imagination of your listener will be further stimulated. You will help create elements within your listener’s “Theater of the Mind”.

Here are a few recorded elements you could easily add to your podcast to spice up the listening experience.

1. INTRO/OUTRO

This is showbiz. Your podcast is created to entertain just as much as inform. It is just as much “show” as it is “business”. Add some sizzle to your show.

A produced “intro” and “outro” for your podcast is easy first step. The “intro” opens the show, as in “introduction”. The “outro” closes the show, similar to a conclusion.

At a minimum, find a great piece of music that will open and close your show. You can find many sites on the internet that sell music clips for just a few dollars.

Check out THIS SITE for an example.

2. INTERVIEWS

Guest interviews are a great way to add depth to your audio. A second voice on the show will stir the imagination. Listeners will wonder what your guest looks like. The stories told during the interview will create visions in the mind of your listener.

Listeners enjoy eavesdropping on other conversations more than listening to a lecture. By adding interviews to your show, you allow your listener this pleasure. Sure, you could provide the information yourself rather than going through all the work to secure, arrange and conduct the interview. If you are hoping to develop a relationship with your listener using content that will be engaging, go the extra step by including interviews within your podcast.

3. LISTENERS

Adding listener audio to your show will add additional depth to your podcast. When you simply read a listener e-mail, the question typically lacks the passion that would come from the listener. The inflection is a little different than the caller would use. The question is also asked in the same cadence, style and voice that you ask every other question.

When you add listener audio, a second dimension is added to the show. Though the caller isn’t actually there, the second voice almost creates a conversation. Your audience is now listening to a conversation rather than a monologue. The question will also be asked in a way unique to the caller.

Similar to the way interviews stimulate the listener’s imagination, callers can add to the “Theater of the Mind”.

You don’t need to include the entire phone call. It is show biz. Use the part of the call that will most add to your show. If the call includes a bunch of details not relevant to the question or the show, feel free to edit those parts out of the call. As long as you are not changing the intention of the caller, or making it sound like they are saying something they didn’t say, editing the call is perfectly acceptable.

4. AUDIO EXAMPLES

When you make reference to a piece of audio, play a sample. If you are talking about an interview that Jimmie Johnson gave after a race, play a clip of that interview. Your listeners will be further engaged by the additional voice. Audio examples are just another way to add that additional level of production to your show.

Additional audio will take your listener to another place. An interview clip will transport your listener to the interview location. An old television clip with create memories of seeing the show. A sample of a classic speech may elicit visions of the orator. Use audio to enhance the listening experience.

5. CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

People like to have their decisions validated. That is why many companies hire celebrities to endorse their products. If Michael Jordan wears Hanes, it should be alright for me to wear Hanes as well. I don’t feel like I’m the only one doing it when I see Michael Jordan doing it.

You can use this concept to benefit your podcast. If you can get a well-known name in your area of expertise to record a quick endorsement for your show, that piece of audio will add an element of credibility to your podcast. Your listeners will feel like they are not alone in liking your show. They will be validated.

6. SOUND EFFECTS

Sound effects can easily enhance the imagination. You need to be careful that you don’t overuse sound effects. Too many effects can make your show sound amateur. However, a well-placed effect here and there can add to the delight of listening.

Adam Carolla has a producer who is responsible for adding sound effects to the show. If you haven’t spent time with Adam’s podcast, listen to one episode simply for the production elements. His content may not be your cup of tea. However, the production of the show must be admired.

The magic of recorded audio comes from the imagination. When you stir wonderful visions in the “Theater of the Mind” of your listener, you will truly begin to engage your audience. You can then begin to build meaningful relationships with your listeners and keep them coming back again and again. Use these ideas to add a little “show biz” to your podcast today.
If you have never subscribed to the Podcast Talent Coach podcast, please spend two minutes to do so. I would truly appreciate your generosity. Click the LINK and then the subscribe button in iTunes.

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Define Your Avatar Or Target Listener – Episode 102

August 12, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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How To Define Your Avatar Or Target Listener – Episode 102

Many podcasters refer to their target listener as their avatar. This person is the single individual around which you create all of your content.

To develop your business, you need to define your niche. Your focus on your niche helps grow your community. The ideal customers within that niche gives the focus the power.

TRUST

We have heard it said many times before. People do business with those they know, like and trust. This trust is what our friendship with our ideal listener is developing.

To build trust with our podcast, we need to have a conversation with one person. In order to do that, we need to define that ideal listener. Our target listener.

I have created a Listener Development Worksheet. This template will walk you through the development of your target listener step-by-step.

Use this worksheet to create your ideal listener. The more you know about your listener, the better you will be able to communicate. Keep this person in mind while recording each show.

YOUR AVATAR

In this episode, we walk through the worksheet. By the end of the show, you should have your ideal listener well defined along with a visual image in your mind.

Download the Listener Development Worksheet along with six others at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

A few characteristics of your ideal listener we will define today include age, gender, income, interests and fears. These are only a few of the 17 characteristics we will examine.

Be sure you have downloaded the worksheet. It will be a tremendous help with this episode.

Your ideal listener will evolve over time. The more you learn about your target listener, the more you will fine tune your definition.

RESEARCH

Let me know how it turns out. I would love to help you any way I can.

You can find these worksheets in the free Worksheet series online at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

I would love to help you with your podcast. E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

What If I Get Too Much Engagement? -Episode 101

August 6, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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What If I Get Too Much Engagement? (Listener Questions Part 2) – Episode 101

THANK YOU!

We have made it through 100 episodes. With your help, I have been creating this podcast for nearly two years. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

On this episode, I want to finish the special show we began last week. This is part two of the questions I have received from listeners.

NEW PATHS

I have never had another person on the show. Up to this point, I have simply been sharing my 25 years of broadcasting knowledge with you.

For the 100 episode milestone, I invited a few listeners to join me on the show to share their questions about podcast content and creation.

The response and questions were so great, I had to split the show into two episodes in order to keep it to about 30 minutes each. This week is part two. If you missed the first half, subscribe to the show and give it a listen.

A few questions allow us to dive into some new material. A few help us explore a few topics a little deeper. There are even a few twists along the way.

FRIENDS & INSPIRATION

Here are the people who join me on this episode and inspire me to do this each week.

Kim Slusher – DIStracted Life Podcast
“How do I stand out without being someone I am not?”

Alex Exum – The Exum Experience
“What’s the one mistake podcasters are making?”

Rem Lavictoire – The Sci-Fi Movie Podcast
“How do I include listener feedback if I get too much?”
I truly appreciate all of the support you have given me over the past 100 episodes. This podcast would not exist if it wasn’t for you. Thanks for being part of this great community.

Next week, we will talk about defining your avatar and using that target listener as a filter for your content. Find that worksheet here.

-WORKSHEETS-
Do you have a question? I would love to help you with your podcast. E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How Do I ___ On My Podcast? – Episode 100

July 29, 2015 Erik K. Johnson 3 Comments

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How Do I ____ In My Podcast? – Episode 100

THANK YOU!

Welcome to Episode 100. With your help, I have been creating this podcast for 100 episodes.

On this episode, I want to do something special.

NEW PATHS

I have never had another person on the show. Up to this point, I have simply been sharing my 25 years of broadcasting knowledge with you.

Today, I have invited a few listeners to join me on the show to share their questions about podcast content and creation.

The response and questions were so great, I had to split the show into two episodes in order to keep it to about 30 minutes each.

A few questions allow us to dive into some new material. A few help us explore a few topics a little deeper. There are even a few twists along the way.

FRIENDS & INSPIRATION

Here are the people who join on this episode and inspire me to do this each week.

Dave Jackson – School of Podcasting
“How do you get used to talking to the wall when doing a solo show?”

(I also do a podcast with Dave called “The Podcast Review Show”. Wanna get reviewed? Click HERE.)

Steve Stewart – Money Plan SOS
“The impostor syndrome seems to be creeping in. How does somebody get into the right mindset where they actually feel like they can bring some value even though they may not be the best in the industry?”

Megumi Takeda – Working on her first episode
“Do you have any advice to help smooth out the moments when interviews come to a dead end line of questions and need to transition into another topic?”

David Freeman – Authors Pay It Forward
“What is the most comfortable level of preparation for a podcast interview?”

Next week, we will hear from a few other listeners with more great questions.

Do you have a question? I would love to help you with your podcast. E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

4 Ways To Make Your Podcast Different Starting Today – Episode 098

July 15, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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4 Ways To Make Your Podcast Different Starting Today – Episode 098

When you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. Make people take notice. You are an expert at your opinion. Give it to people.

Take A Stand

Pick a side.

Some of the nicest people make the worst podcast hosts. They try to please everyone in the audience. Those people tend to blend into the background and go unnoticed.

I once coached a radio host who was one of the best storytellers I had ever met. When he and I would meet one-on-one for coaching, he would tell me some of the funniest stories I had ever heard. He would tell me stories of his dad that would have me crying from laughing so hard.

He once told me his dad was absolutely convinced the PT Cruiser was the best car ever made. As much as my host would try to explain that the PT Cruiser was basically an incarnation of the Dodge Neon, his father wouldn’t believe it.

The two of them would get in these heated arguments in public about this car. Of all the things in life you could argue about, this happened to be the PT Cruiser.

The way the story was told was full of fabulous details. The host really had the ability to make the stories come to life.

As much as I would encourage him, the host would not tell those stories on the radio. He didn’t believe the audience as a whole would be interested.

Instead, he played it safe. He only discussed vanilla content that would not upset anyone. Unfortunately, the show never took hold.

Ray Romano is a great example of success stemming from the stories of real life. Ray used stories of his family in his stand-up comedy. That routine eventually became the hit TV show “Everybody Loves Raymond”.

Upset Someone

If you are not upsetting someone, you aren’t trying hard enough.

I would much rather have half the audience hate me and the other half love me rather than the entire audience have no opinion one way or the other. If the audience doesn’t have an opinion, they don’t care. I’m doing nothing to stir their emotion if I’m not making them pick a side.

If you haven’t picked a side and really focused your topic, people won’t care. They will not be passionate about your show.

Speak your mind. Be different. Get noticed. Make people care.

4 Steps

Here are four ways to make your podcast different from other shows in your niche.

1. Be real. Be yourself. Do no simply try to be an imitation of another show or host. Above all, tell the truth. It is much easier than remembers a character you have created.
2. All people to know you through stories. The details within your stories will reveal who you are. People do business with those that they know, like and trust. This is the first step.
3. Pick a side. Stand for something. That is the only way to stand out.
4. Avoid shades of gray. Be drastically different.
I would love to help you with your podcast. E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

3 Steps To The Art Of The Tease – Episode 097

July 8, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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3 Steps To The Art Of The Tease – Episode 097

Anticipation is a key feature to storytelling. Your story should build just like a good plot builds in a movie. You need to make your audience anticipate the content that is on the way.

There are three steps to creating an effective tease.

#1 – Intrigue Me

A creative tease produces anticipation. Instead, use something like, “You’re never gonna believe who I was introduced to this past weekend. My world is about to take a wild turn.” With that statement, your imagination begins to work.

Who could it be? Was it a celebrity? An investor? A mentor or hero? Imagination is the magic of a creative tease. Stir the imagination of your audience to truly engage them with your content.

#2 – Give Them 80%

Make it impossible to search online.

#3 – Make Your Tease Unsearchable

To make the tease more powerful, make it impossible to search. “Another bar fight over the weekend landed another celebrity in jail. The story is coming up.” This tease makes it much more difficult to search. If you entered “celebrity bar fight weekend” in Google, 70 million results show up. It will be much easier to wait for my payoff than to begin searching 70 million Google entries.
The three steps to powerful teases will help you begin to engage your audience on the way to building powerful relationships. Use the three steps in your show recap to entice people to listen to the episode. Then, use them again during the introduction of the show to get listeners to enjoy the entire recording.

When you use the art of the tease, your listeners will spend more time with your show. The increase frequency of the tease payoffs will help your audience enjoy your content more. When your show is more entertaining, it becomes more engaging. When you truly engage your audience with your content, you can begin building powerful relationships. That’s where trust and influence with your listener begins.
I would love to help you with your podcast. E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Six Tips To Land Better Podcast Interviews – Episode 095

June 24, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Six Tips To Land Better Podcast Interviews – Episode 095

How do you land the big interview guests? This is part four of my series on interviewing.

In Episode 092, we talked about interview priority #1. We talked about making your guest look good. When you make your guest look good, everyone wins.

In Episode 093, you learned two steps to powerful interviews. To create unique interviews, be sure you ask creative, interesting questions. Then, be sure to actively listen to the answers.

Then, in Episode 094, we discussed the three skills of great interviewers. To create engaging content that stands out in the sea of sameness, great interviewers learn to lose the script, know their guest and not just the bio, and keep the interview focused on the guest.

Before we get into finding guests for your show, let’s talk a bit more about great questions. When you develop the ability to find engaging, unique questions, you are well on your way to creating a podcast that will stand out.

Turn Over The Interview Rocks

How do you find great questions for your guest during your interview? Look in unlikely places. If you want to truly engage your audience, you need to ask engaging questions of your guest.

The guest’s website or news release is a decent place to get familiar with your guest. However, if you only use these common sources for the basis of your questions, you will be asking the same questions every other interviewer is asking. Your interview won’t be different and will not stand out from the crowd.

One source I like to use is the people traveling with the guest. Ask your guest’s traveling companion if anything amusing has happened lately. It will sound wonderfully spontaneous when you ask about it during the interview.

Country artist Miranda Lambert once joined me on my show before her performance as opening act for Kenny Chesney. Before she arrived, I asked her record label representative what she had been doing lately. He told me she had injured her leg night hunting a few days earlier.

After Miranda and I exchanged typical interview pleasantries, I said, “It looks like you have a little limp in your step. What happened?” She really wasn’t limping and was a bit surprised that I had noticed.

Miranda now got the chance to tell me a great story about falling down a small ravine while night hunting with her husband Blake Shelton. It was a wonderful question that included a story about her well-publicized relationship with Blake without asking typical interview questions. I didn’t ask, “So, what have you and Blake been up to lately?” I’m sure she gets questions like that often.

Be unique. Be original. Make your interview engaging for your audience and guest. Turn over the interview rocks.

Fish For Interviews With Bigger Bait

How do you land that big guest for your podcast? Here are a few 6 useful tips.

1 – FIND THE INTRODUCTION

Find people that know your prospect. See if they will introduce you.

Just the other day, a radio colleague came to me seeking an interview with Taylor Swift. I have interviewed her a couple times. He knew I was able to make an introduction for him.

2 – THE GATEKEEPER’S FRIEND

There are times when big names have people that run their schedule. This could be a personal assistant. It might be a booking agent. You need to make friends with these people.

In the music business, I always go through the record label. I need to create a strong relationship with that person in order to be at the top of the list when interview opportunities come about.

3 – WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

To score a guest interview for your podcast, you need to begin by explaining how the interview will benefit your prospective guest. The fact that your audience will love it has no bearing. It really doesn’t matter to your guest if your show or your audience will benefit from the guest’s appearance.

When your guest makes the decision whether to appear on your show, they will only consider how the appearance will benefit them personally.

Are they promoting a new book? Do they have a new product available?

What is in it for your guest? Make it easy.

4 – SHOW THEM WHAT YOU’VE GOT

Provide your prospects some examples of your great work. If you have endorsements, share those as well.

Create a short sizzle reel containing some of your best work. Provide some social proof that they won’t be alone in accepting your invitation.

5 – SIZE ISN’T THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS

Many podcast hosts use their audience size to lure guests. If you have a reasonable audience size, surely use it to your advantage. However, don’t stop there. You may be overlooking many other ways you could benefit your guest.

You could offer to give your guest exposure on your website. You may have visitors to your site that do not listen to the show. Promote your guest on the site with a link to their content. This will be an additional benefit.

Mention your guest and interview in your blog. Again, your guest will be reaching additional audience. You are helping them spread their message beyond your podcast.

Your audience for any one of these avenues may be small. However, when you combine the benefit of each distribution method, your proposal for the interview will be more appealing to your guest. Use every audience you have to your advantage.

Offer to promote the interview and your guest’s information to your mailing list. You may have many people that receive your newsletter who may never listen to your podcast. By including a link to your guests website in your mailing, your guest will reach additional people. Take credit for that.

6- DON’T TRIP OVER THE NAMES YOU DROP

Play to your guest’s ego by dropping a few names. If you have had other notable guests on your show in the past, let your guest know. Tell your prospective guest they will be among good company. They will feel more comfortable saying yes to your request.
Use these six tips to help land some of those elusive, big guests for your podcast. Before you know it, you will be chatting it up with some of the best.
If you have never subscribed to the Podcast Talent Coach podcast, please spend two minutes to do so. I would truly appreciate your generosity. Click the link and then the subscribe button in iTunes.

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

2 Steps To Powerful Interviews – Episode 093

June 3, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Two Steps To Powerful Interviews – Episode 093

Last week, we discussed the #1 priority of your interviews. That episode was part one of a series on interviewing.

This week, I would like to share with you the two steps to take in order to create powerful interviews.

Over the 25 years I have been on the radio and coaching radio talent, I have had the opportunity to interview many, many people. More importantly, I have had the chance to discuss the art of interviewing with celebrities, managers, coaches, consultants, radio talent and many others in the industry.

Time and time again, I hear the same thing. There are two elements that create successful interviews. Now, you can use these two steps to create great interviews on your podcast.

Don’t Ask That Question

If you have a decent guest on your podcast, they have probably been interviewed many, many times about the same subject. Popular guests often get bored with the same questions being posed to them over and over again. To make your interview truly engaging for all involved, find unique ways to ask questions that serve the guest as well as the listener.

Often, you will hear a host ask their guest stale, typical questions. You know the questions. “So, how did you come up with the name of your latest project?” You may hear them ask, “What have you been up to lately?” Guests truly dread these questions. They serve no real purpose, yet everyone asks them.

I have had musicians confide in me off the air how much they hate doing radio interviews, because they are all the same. When I once asked a question taken from the band’s website, my guest said, “Oh, I see you’ve read my bio.” He called me out right there on the air. Most hosts take the easy way out and just skim the bio or news release and take their questions straight from there.

Using typical methods lead to stale questions. “When does your album come out?” “Where did you get the name for the band?” “How did you guys meet?” Pop group Ben Folds Five began making up answers for the question “Where did you get the name for the band?”. In fact, they almost had a different answer every time the question was asked. They had to make the interview interesting for themselves.

Every guest is looking to benefit in some way from the interview. Usually, they have come on a show to promote their latest book or new product. You can help them do that without asking painful questions.

Let’s say you are interviewing a musician who has a new album coming out on July 1st. You ask, “When does the new album come out?” Your guest will instantly think, “Didn’t this guy do any homework before he set up this interview?” Your guest will also be saying in his head, “Oh, not this line of questioning again.”

Instead, make your questions interesting. Ask, “When you album comes out on July 1st, what will you be doing to celebrate?” You could also ask, “The album is released on July 1st. Who have you slipped some advanced copies to?” How about asking, “When the album hits stores on July 1st, where will you go buy your first copy?” Believe me, every artist buys a copy of their first album in the store. They just want to see it on the shelf.

By asking creative questions, you’ve helped the guest promote their goods without sounding stale. You have also avoided the mistake of stealing their answer. Be unique.

Country artist Little Big Town was recently a guest on my show. By reading information about the band on the internet, I knew all four members have kids. I also knew all of the kids travel with them when they tour. I could have asked, “What are the names of your kids.” How about, “Is it fun traveling with the kids?” I’m sure they get asked all of the time.

By getting a little creative, I asked the members of Little Big Town, “When the kids travel with you guys, what is the craziest kid thing you have on the bus?” They had just purchased a new kiddie pool for the summer that would fit on top of their gear. They also have a pink pottie for toilet training. It gave them a great opportunity to talk about their kids without asking the same, lame questions.

Keep your interview engaging. Be creative. Find unique ways to ask questions that serve the guest as well as the listener. By all means, don’t ask that question.

Did You Really Hear That?

When you are conducting an interviewing on your podcast, really listen to the answers your guest is giving. Don’t be in such a hurry to move on to the next question. Engage with your guests in order to make your show engaging for your listener.

I’m sure you probably think you are listening. In reality, you are probably thinking about the next great question you can ask. Even if you aren’t asking it, you are preparing the question in your head.

Stop. Be in the moment. Really listen to the answer of your guest. Let the answer spark your next question. If you truly listen to the answer, you will then ask the next logical question your listener is asking in their head.

When you are more concerned about the next question rather than the answer coming your way, you will miss the magic. Your guest could be giving you great question leads that you won’t find in their bio, on their website or in their news release.

If you don’t make it through your entire list of questions, nobody will know but you. The goal of the interview is to engage your audience. It doesn’t matter if that takes three questions or twelve from your list.

In every interview, intently listen to the answers. Did you really hear that?
To create powerful interviews, ask unique questions and then actually listen to the answers. Your podcast interviews will improve and be better than most other interviewers in your niche. Using these two steps will help you create engaging content and a respected podcast.

I would love to help you with your podcast. E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Top 12 Takeaways From NMX – Episode 087

April 22, 2015 Erik K. Johnson 1 Comment

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Top 12 Takeaways From NMX – Episode 087

Photo bombed by Mark Harmon. Rob Greenlee, Rob Walch, Erik K. Johnson, Seth Resler and Dave Jackson.

Before we jump in this week, can I ask a quick favor? If you have never subscribed to the Podcast Talent Coach Podcast, can you please take two minutes to do so and leave a review? It will help us get exposed to new podcasters and grow our community. Thanks a million. CLICK HERE.

New Media Expo 2015 wrapped up in Las Vegas last week. What an amazing event.

As Director of the Podcasting Track at NMX, Dave Jackson from the School of Podcasting put together an amazing line up of talent.

Though the sessions were packed full of great information, the relationships created at these events make it more than just a learning opportunity. I had the chance to connect with great people I have known for a bit. Here are just a few:

Dave Jackson – School of Podcasting
Rem Lavictoire – Sci-Fi Movie Podcast
Daniel J. Lewis – The Audacity To Podcast
Bill Conrad – New Media Gold

I also had the chance to meet a few new people and connect with those I have only known over e-mail. Here are a few of those great people:

Rob Walch – Libsyn
Rob Greenlee – Spreaker
Nick Seuberling – Inside The Jungle
Corey Fineran – Ivy Envy
Pat Flynn – Smart Passive Income
Seth Resler – SethResler.com

There were many others that I met and created valuable conversations. New Media Expo is such an incredible event for our podcasting community.

After I attend a conference like this, usually on the flight home, I like to review my notes to find the big points I can put to use as soon as I arrive home. This week, I would like to share with you my top 12 takeaways from NMX.

This list isn’t nearly exhaustive of the things I learned. Some are not even new, but great reminders. We dig into each one in this episode.

1. Schedule it, so it gets done.

2. If advertising is driving people away from traditional media, why are so many podcasters so anxious to add commercials to their show?

3. From Mignon Fogarty: E-mail newsletter is the #1 way to reach your audience. Make sure it has a personal tone.

4. From Chris Ducker: There seems to be a lack of originality in the online business space. Stop being lazy and come up with your own (stuff).

5. From Rob Walch: iOS usage crushes android devices 6:1 in download ratio. (In this episode, we also discuss a few tips for iTunes search he provided.)

6. From Lou Mongello: Don’t forget the importance of face-to-face contact and communication.

7. From Mark Ramsey: Beginnings matter. Radio listeners always come in somewhere in the middle. Podcast listeners always come in at the beginning.

8. From Pat Flynn: I’d rather live a life full of oh wells, than a life full of what ifs.

9. From Dave Jackson: When you wonder why anyone would ever listen to you, remember that you are special (neat). Then, embrace your uniqueness, and understand the bar isn’t set very high.

10. From Daniel J. Lewis: The description in iTunes does not help SEO, but does help the PERSON. Make your episode titles appealing, as if they are your portfolio.

11. From David Hooper: People aren’t paying you to podcast. They are paying you to help solve their problems.

12. From Cliff Ravenscraft: When growing your audience/community, connect to your existing audience and make the experience great for them. Get word of mouth to spread.

Thanks for spending another week with me. I truly appreciate your time.

I also want to thank Joshua and Mercy for the amazing feedback regarding the last episode about your “why”. Many of you sent feedback, which I greatly appreciate. I had wonderful exchanges with Joshua and Mercy that helped me create a great plan. Thanks for all you do for me.

If you have never subscribed to the Podcast Talent Coach podcast, please spend two minutes to do so. I would truly appreciate your generosity.

Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

What Is Your Why? – Episode 086

April 8, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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What Is Your Why? – Episode 086

What is your “why”? Why do you do what you do?

WORK ON YOUR BUSINESS

I’ve been doing a lot of work on my business over the past few weeks. In “The E-Myth Revisited”, author Michael Gerber talks about moving your business forward by spending more time working on your business rather than in it.

That is exactly what I’ve been doing lately. Am I going down the right path?

I thought you and I could review my progress with the hope that it will help you with your process.

We all face the little voice inside our head telling us we are not good enough. Whether we have been doing this for six months or six years, we all need a little confidence boost every now and then. It is only natural.

I will be speaking at New Media Expo in a week. (Last week to save $100 HERE.) My review of my business was inspired by NMX. I want to be sure things are in place to make the most of the opportunity.

As I have stepped back to look at the big picture, I have been reviewing a few great books like “The E-Myth Revisited”.

START WITH WHY

Another book that has helped my review is “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek. The book is focused on the theory that people do not buy what you do. They buy why you do it. Turn your customers into fans by making them believe in your mission and purpose.

Have I sufficiently defined my why? I thought I had. Even after refining it a few times, I am not quite sure.

Podcast Talent Coach is just over 18 months old as a podcast. From the limited feedback I have received from you, I am not quite sure my “why” is clear enough to truly inspire you to create great work.

Podcast Talent Coach was launched to help podcasters gain more confidence in their content. When you open the mic, I want you to truly believe that your voice matters. I want to arm you with the confidence you need to beat back the butterflies and excuses in order to create powerful content episode after episode.

With the information I provide every week, you should be able to take your information and turn it into entertainment that is engaging for your audience and unique to you.

MY STORY

I have been in radio for 25 years. I have been coaching radio talent for 20 of those years. As I listened to podcasts, I realized so many podcasts could improve with a few tips I have learned and used over those two-and-a-half decades.

The coaching experience I have gained could easily be used to help podcasters create amazing content that could replace other entertainment sources if I could only reach those podcasters.

Eighteen months in, I have only connected with a handful of podcasters interested in making that amazing entertainment a reality.

As I step back and examine the progress, I come up with four possible explanations.

1. ALREADY GETTING IT

One reason could be you get all you need from this podcast and the free worksheets I offer. You don’t feel one-on-one coaching is necessary.

If this was the reason, I would see more downloads of both.

2. SPREAD THE WORD

Another explanation could be I haven’t done a good job spreading the word about the show.

When I launched, the show got a solid start. I hit a few hundred downloads quickly. Things slowed down quite a bit after that. A few hundred downloads is about average and nothing to sneeze at. I am grateful for each person that joins me every week. Thank you for being here.

As I continue to produce content for you each week, I am not seeing further growth. That concerns me.

3. PROBLEM SOLVING

A third reason I may not be seeing continued growth could be the market. Maybe I have not done a good job creating a solution to a problem my audience knows they have.

This is a likely reason. Most podcasters who have the confidence and ego to open the mic and create content every week believe they are good enough the way they are. They may not realize that there are steps they could take to create more powerful content.

It is also possible the problem I am trying to solve does not exist. As I help radio broadcasters improve their shows, many of them fear the critique then love the feedback and growth after the fact.

4. THE “WHY”

The final reason may be my “why”. It is very possible that I have not sold my “why” well enough.

I have defined what I do quite a bit. But have I really defined why I do it for you? Maybe not.

My love for great radio and creative podcasts drive me to do this show every week. I love being able to create great audio that people look forward to every week.

More importantly, I love sharing my knowledge of that process with others. You can create amazing visual images in the theater of the mind to inspire your listener with your podcasts. Inspire them in such a way that they cannot wait for the next episode.

That incredible anticipation of future episodes is what makes this medium so wonderful. Holding the attention of a listener to the point where they cannot get enough of you is an amazing feeling.

FIND THE GOOD

Dave Jackson and I do a show together called “The Podcast Review Show”. Each episode, we invite a podcaster on the show to have his or her podcast reviewed by the two of us. It takes a great deal of confidence to have two coaches review your show right in front of you.

Every guest is a little nervous coming on the show. They are not quite sure what we will say. They fear we are going to tear their podcast apart and affirm their belief that they are not good enough.

During the show, Dave and I look for areas of the episode that are really good. Our goal is to help podcasters do more of the good. In turn, that will replace the stuff that isn’t as strong. In the end, the podcast gets better.

Every guest fears coming on the show, but truly appreciates the actionable feedback at the end of the process.

JUMP THE HURDLE

Here lies my problem with Podcast Talent Coach. It is not easy to get you over the fear of being critiqued in order to get you the joy of the improvement. That fear at the front door is a pretty big barrier. It is very similar to the fear of getting in the roller coaster line in order to enjoy the exhilaration when you finally get off of the ride.

The anticipation and fear could be preventing Podcast Talent Coach from growing.

Then again, I am not sure what is holding me back. Maybe it is a bit of all four. My gut tells me it is probably the lack of communicating my “why”.

WHAT IS YOUR WHY?

Have you communicated your “why” well enough? Have you inspired your fan with the reason you create your content every week?

I haven’t come up with the answer to my problem quite yet. I’ll continue working on my business until I find the solution.

I would love your input. As a frequent listener to Podcast Talent Coach, what do you hear? What brings you back every week? What has prevented you from getting more involved with coaching?

E-mail me anytime you would like at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let me know what you think. How can I better help you?

Thanks for being here. I truly value your attention every week. You mean the world to me. I will help you any way I can.

Podcast

7 Ways To Improve Your Podcast This Week – Episode 085

April 1, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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7 Ways To Improve Your Podcast This Week – Episode 085

There are many ways to improve your podcast. This week, I have 7 ways for you that should be pretty easy to implement.

To help you in various ways, I have selected 7 different areas for improvement. You will feel the need to make different improvements at different times. The different areas should help.

Start with the one suggestion that interests you most. Then, work your way though the remaining tips.

Improve Your Audio

The easiest way to improve your audio is to begin using a pop filter. This is a simple screen that goes over or in front of your microphone.

A pop filter prevents puffs of air from attacking your mic as you speak. You can find inexpensive pop filters online. You can also make your own out of nylons and a wire clothes hanger.

To cut down echo, record in a smaller room. In the past, I’ve used a large closet. Not only does the small room cut down the bounce of the sound waves, the clothes hanging around you will cut down on any echo.

If you do not have a closet, find the smallest room you can. A smaller room equals less echo.

Once you have a small room, hang baffling to absorb the sound waves. You do not need to spend a ton of money for expensive baffling. I have used packing foam, sleeping bags and folded, corrugated cardboard covered with blankets. Find any soft material to absorb the sound.

Improve Your Content

To improve your material, you need to review your show. Professional athletes watch game film to improve. Learn to do the same.

Listen like a listener. Pick a show from a few weeks ago and listen on the way to work or while you are exercising. Make note of the pieces that jump out at you and those that need work.

Do more of the good stuff. Replace the rough parts with more good stuff.

You will only truly hear the good and bad when you listen like a listener.

Improve Your Show Notes

Make your show notes valuable for your fans. Incorporate links listeners can use.

Create beneficial links. Sure, link to your own content. Then, link to tools that you use. Link to great articles. Link to helpful resources. Create value.

When your listeners benefit from your show notes, they are likely to come back more often.

Improve Your Interaction

If you want your listeners to interact with the show, make it easy for them.

Focus your call-to-action on one thing. When you add more than one, you force your listener to make a decision. Decision making is too much work.

Decide what you want your listener to do after listening to this specific episode. Then, add that call-to-action at the end of the show.

Your call-to-action can be different for each episode. Even so, only include one per episode.

Improve The Value To Your Listener

What do you want your listener to gain by listening this week? Have a goal for every episode.

How will the listener benefit? When you know this before you begin recording, you can better ensure your listener gains something by listening.

The only way to know that you have achieved your goals is to prepare properly. You need to define your goals and listener benefits before you begin recording. This should be part of your show prep.

This particular episode of Podcast Talent Coach empowers you with seven ways to improve your podcast. That is how you will benefit. I defined that goal before I began recording. It was part of my prep.

Improve Your Consistency

Consistency builds trust. When your listener expects your show to be posted every Friday, you need to post every Friday.

Listeners are creatures of habit.

When your show does not show up, it is just like you have missed an appointment with a client. You are destroying the trust you have built with your fan.

To improve consistency, develop a show schedule and stick to it. Know when you will record. Know when you will post. Now, stick to it.

Improve Your Engagement

Engagement is different than interaction. A listener that cannot turn your show off is engaged. A fan that is providing feedback is interacting.

If you want to engage your listener, talk to that person as an individual. When you address your audience as a group, your listener does not feel special. Talk to one person.

When you talk to your listener as an individual, she feels special. She feels like you are having a conversation with her.

When you address your listeners like a crowd, your fan can get up and leave without feeling guilty. It would be just like walking out during a concert. Nobody is going to notice. No engagement.

Here is the checklist:

1. Improve your audio by using a pop filter, a smaller room and baffling.
2. Improve your content by reviewing your show like a listener.
3. Improve your show notes by incorporating links your fans can use.
4. Improve your interaction by using one, focused call-to-action.
5. Improve the value to your listener by defining the benefit before you begin.
6. Improve your consistency by developing a schedule and sticking to it.
7. Improve your engagement by talking to one individual.

Pick one of these improvements, and get to work this week. Your podcast improves little by little. The more steps you can take moving forward, the more improvement you will make.

Have a great week. Let me know how I can help.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

The Real Reason People Listen To Your Podcast – Episode 083

March 11, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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The Real Reason People Listen To Your Podcast – Episode 083

Why do people listen to your podcast? Why would anyone spend the time to listen to your show?

Have you ever paused to give that question some consideration?

Why do people spend time with audio at any given point in time?

THE REASONS

There are two primary reasons people listen to audio. Companionship and dreams.

It is human nature to desire companionship. People do not want to be alone. Whether they are driving, jogging, biking, mowing or doing something else by themselves, they want to do it with someone else.

Audio serves the role of companion.

DREAMS

The other reason people spend time with podcasts is to dream. People want to live vicariously through your dreams, stories, challenges and successes. They want to enjoy your success without needing to suffer the pain of your failures.

Tell stories to help fulfill the desire of your listener to dream.

Voyeurism is a reason many people watch the shows they watch, listen to the stories they hear, or read the books they read. They want to experience the lives of others.

MY STORY

Architecture was my original career path. It wasn’t until three years into my architecture degree that I realized radio was the profession I was designed to pursue. I was able to work in a profession I absolutely love. Now, after 25 years in radio, I have taken the talent coaching facet of radio and turned it into a path helping podcasters create amazing content.

That path has now led me to be a speaker at some of the best podcasting conferences in the country. I was a speaker at Podcast Movement 2014. This year, I will give a presentation at New Media Expo in Las Vegas in April. My life is full of amazing events, because I dared to dream and follow my passion.

DREAMS

Your listeners want to dream. Help them.

When you simply lecture as the content of your show, you fail to help your listener experience any of those three desires.

KNOW, LIKE & TRUST

Find new ways to deliver your material to your audience. You will make those important connections that turn into friendships. Those relationships will foster loyalty to your show. Your tribe will follow you wherever you go. That’s a powerful thing.

Tell stories of self-revelation. See where it takes you. You’ll be surprised how many people wish they could be you.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

5 Ways To Use Social Media To Drive Engagement – Episode 082

March 4, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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5 Ways To Use Social Media To Drive Engagement – Episode 082

Using social media to drive our businesses is nothing new. However, there are a million different philosophies about how to properly use the platforms.

At the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville recently, social media was the topic of quite a few panels, presentations and discussions. I gathered some facts and quite a few tips and tricks for you to use.

There is quite the difference between Facebook and Twitter. Many see the two platforms as similar and equally important. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

83% of people use Facebook everyday. 17% use Pinterest. 12% use Instagram and only 8% use Twitter on a daily basis.

Facebook is personal. The platform is used to connect with family and friends to share life. This is often the first thing people do when they wake up in the morning.

Twitter is interesting, real time communication. The platform allows you to interact with others. Twitter is a discussion when used effectively.

Facebook and Twitter should be used differently. Content lives and is relevant longer on Facebook. Twitter is the here and now.

Here are five ways to use social media more effectively to drive your podcast engagement.

ACKNOWLEDGE

To create community and engagement using social media, make those that follow you feel interesting. Retweet their content. Acknowledge them. Get involved in the discussion.

STOP YELLING

Use social media like you are a fan instead of a marketer yelling at people. Get excited about the things that get your fans excited.

Use the 90/10 rule. 90% of your content should be entertaining and helpful. Only 10% of your posts should be selling anything.

BE PURPOSEFUL

Keep three goals in mind when you are using social media to engage your tribe. Seek to either inform, entertain or appreciate. “Hey, buy my book” is none of the above. You can promote your book while accomplishing one of the three goals. You simply need to be creative.

Most people unfollow someone because of uninteresting content.

STIR EMOTION

Stirring emotion within your tribe will get them excited. Play to their heart instead of their head.

Use positive feelings most of the time. Stir a mix of motions, but always bring it back to a positive, happy ending or hope. Finally, surprise your tribe.

YOU ARE ON CAMERA

Video is really driving engagement on social media. Figure out how to incorporate a little of that into your strategy. Inform, entertain or acknowledge using video once in awhile.

Make personal connections and interactions to drive your engagement. Social media is a great way to accomplish those connections.
The Country Radio Seminar taught me so much. It is also an amazing way to meet new people and make connections. You can do the same. Join me at New Media Expo April 13-16 in Las Vegas. I would love to see you when I present my session on powerful storytelling.

Learn how to use stories to create that engagement and powerful call to action. Meet a ton of new people to help you move your business forward. Use my affiliate link and promo code to save $100 on your registration here.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Create Results Without A Big Mailing List – Episode 081

February 28, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Create Results Without A Big Mailing List – Episode 081

This week I am at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, Tennessee. It has been an amazing week so far. I am learning so much about audience engagement and am looking forward to sharing it with you in the coming weeks. That photo is me with the amazing Tim McGraw.

A few years ago, I saw an amazing presentation that debunked the 80/20 principle.

The 80/20 principle proposes that 80% of your results is created by 20% of your efforts. This could be 80% of sales from 20% of customers. It could also be 80% of success attributed to 20% of efforts.

This particular session focused on a study done in 2008 by Catalina Marketing that found that 80% of your results are driven by 2.5% of your efforts. Specifically, it found that 80% of sales at large companies like Coca Cola are driven by 2.5% of their customers. You can find the entire study here.

The study really proved that consumers no longer strive to be part of the crowd, but rather seek products that reflect their personal preferences, needs and lifestyle choices. Examples of companies that have built successful business models that appeal to the “me” consumer include Starbucks®, Apple®, Facebook® and Dell™.

This theory is perfect for podcasting. We can truly niche down and focus on the 2.5%. We can move the needle with a group of super fans much smaller than we once thought.

What are you doing to reach the 2.5%? How can you create results without that big mailing list?

Your podcast is a great vehicle to do just that. Let’s find the content to move your 2.5%.

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

Develop your brand by developing an emotional connection. Stories will help you create that connection by revealing things about yourself. Hype will not sustain a brand. You need to be true to who you are.

A brand is a promise. You must deliver on that promise every time.

A brand is a collection of perceptions. You must deliver those perceptions consistently.

Speak the language of your audience when you deliver on your promise and your perceptions.

USE YOUR ASSETS

Use your podcast and other digital assets to drive your 2.5% to your website with a powerful call to action. Make sure you convert the visits with a very specific call to action every time.

In order to create a powerful call to action, create your plan. What is the goal of your show? Use your goal to create content that helps your audience. Create fans with your great content. Then, move them with your call to action.

You do not need a huge audience or a big mailing list. You only need a very passionate few percent. What are you doing to motivate your 2.5%?
The Country Radio Seminar is teaching me so much. It is also an amazing way to meet new people. You can do the same. Join me at New Media Expo April 13-16 in Las Vegas. I would love to see you when I present my session on powerful storytelling.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

6 Ways To Land Big Interview Guests – Episode 080

February 18, 2015 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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6 Ways To Land Big Interview Guests – Episode 080

Many podcasters conduct interviews as part of their show. If you fit that category, and you are like most of us, you probably struggle to convince those top shelf names to make an appearance on your show.

What is the trick? How do you land that big guest for your podcast?

Let’s face it. Asking a busy, successful entrepreneur to give up an hour of their time to give you an interview is a tough ask. Their time is money. How can your podcast be more valuable than their other options?

Here are six useful tips to help land those big names.

FIND THE INTRODUCTION

Find people that know your prospect. See if they will introduce you.

Just the other day, a radio colleague came to me seeking an interview with Taylor Swift. I have interviewed her a couple times. He knew I was able to make an introduction for him.

Use the same process to help yourself.

THE GATEKEEPER’S FRIEND

There are times when big names have people that run their schedule. This could be a personal assistant. It might be a booking agent. You need to make friends with these people.

In the music business, I always go through the record label. I need to create a strong relationship with that person in order to be at the top of the list when interview opportunities come about.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

When your guest makes the decision whether to appear on your show, they will only consider how the appearance will benefit them personally.

We were able to help a very sick young girl meet Taylor Swift … from her hospital bed.

Lolo was a young 11-year-old girl. Her wish was to see Taylor Swift in concert. She was getting tickets for Christmas. However, when Taylor came to town, Lolo was in the hospital fighting for her life. She was in Children’s Hospital fighting leukemia.

I passed along Lolo’s wish to Taylor’s record label. It wasn’t only the story that got Taylor. I know she loves giving back in very special ways. The Taylor Swift tour was coming through town for two days. I knew there would be some down time the day of the second show.

I made it as easy as possible for Taylor to make Lolo’s dreams come true. That is exactly what happened. You can see the story here:

What is in it for your guest? Make it easy.

SHOW THEM WHAT YOU’VE GOT

Provide your prospects some examples of your great work. If you have endorsements, share those as well.

SIZE ISN’T THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS

Mention your guest and interview in your blog. Again, your guest will be reaching additional audience. You are helping them spread their message beyond your podcast.

DON’T TRIP OVER THE NAMES YOU DROP

If you conduct interviews as part of your podcast, use these six steps to land the bigger names. It will not happen overnight. However, consistent fishing with this better bait will surely land you some larger fish.

I’m speaking at NMX 2015. Save $100 on your registration with coupon code Ejohnson20 when you use my affilate link HERE.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Creating Word Of Mouth – Episode 071

December 17, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Creating Word Of Mouth – Episode 071

How do you create a show that people remember? My theory is simple. If you want word of mouth do things worth talking about.

That particular phrase is one I learned from Seth Godin. However, I learned that theory years and years ago.

Learning From Radio

When I started in radio 25 years ago, my goal was to make every break a home run. Creating a show that creates buzz appears to be a daunting task.

A typical radio show is four hours. With an average of four talk breaks or bits an hour, a daily show would include sixteen bits a show. At three minutes a bit for a morning show, we talking about 48 minutes of material. That would roughly equal to an average podcast.

After a few years in radio, I realized that creating sixteen different pieces of content that are stellar and buzz-worthy is nearly impossible on a regular basis. It is also unnecessary. Your listener will not remember all sixteen things you do on the show this week.

People remember one big thing. Create the one killer bit that will create some buzz.

You can’t manufacture marketing and make people talk. The buzz is created when you do something amazing. To discover what is amazing, you need to continue to try different things.

You will be surprised by what moves people. People will mention hearing things on your show that you never dreamed would make a connection. The more you receive that feedback, the more you will be able to recognize it when it happens.

Be occasionally great rather than consistently good.

You don’t win by removing mistakes. You win by giving your audience a reason to listen. Occasionally great bits will give your listener those reasons.

If you conduct interviews on your show, you do not need to make every question Earth shattering. You need one or two great questions that people will remember. Your listener will say, “Did you hear what she asked her guest?” The answer will be one great question, not the entire interview.

Make your listener remember one thing. Consistently good is admission to the game. Occasionally great wins.

Examples of Occasionally Great

Let’s looks at some examples of both.

In baseball, who are some of the players that come to mind?

How about Willie Keeler and Jimmy Rollins? They hold the record for most Major League Baseball consecutive games with a hit.

Willie Keeler is #2 with 45 hits in 1896. Jimmy Rollins is #8 with 38 in 2005.

This means they consistently get on base. Valuable to the team. But hardly memorable.

How about Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and Alex Rodriguez? These are the Top 5 of the list of players with the most Major League Baseball home runs.

Other than Babe Ruth at .342, the other four had batting averages between .298 and .305. In comparison, Keeler hit .341 in his career.

These home run guys got a hit less than one out of three tries. Less than stellar, yet memorable. Occasionally great.

Maybe American football is your sport.

Would you consider Chad Pennington one of the most memorable quarterbacks to every play the game? He holds a 66% career passing percentage in the National Football League over 10 seasons playing for 2 different teams. That puts him at #2 on the list.

Pennington completed 2 of every 3 passing attempts. Pretty consistent. Not quite memorable.

Could you put Bart Starr and Joe Namath on a list of great quarterbacks?

Bart Starr was the QB of Superbowl 1 & 2. Joe Namath was also a Superbowl quarterback. Their stories are legends.

Starr is #71 on the passing percentage list at 57% over 15 seasons. Namath is #163 on the same list at 50% over 8 seasons. Less consistent, but memorable.

Let’s talk acting.

Christopher Lee has made 276 movie and acting appearances. He has been in Dracula and The Lord Of The Rings.

Robert Loggia was in Scarface and made 223 other film and acting appearances.

You saw Ernie Hudson in The Crow. If not there, he was in 190 other movies and productions. You wold probably recognize him if you saw him.

All three are solid, consistent actors. They are hardly household names.

Every heard of Tom Hanks. He has only made 37 films and other appearances. Less than 20% of the number Hudson has appeared in. Less than 14% of Lee.

On the other hand, to date, Tom Hanks’ films have averaged $96.3M per movie. A few have been occasionally great and won Oscars. Not nearly the number of appearances. His home runs make up for it.

Will Smith has made 29 theatrical appearances. His movies average $127M. Fewer films. More blockbusters.

Will Smith is also known as a hip hop star. However, he has only released 4 solo albums. Two of his albums went gold. One is 2x platinum. One is 9x platinum.

Will Smith actually released more albums as half of DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. That act released 5 albums. Three of those reached gold, one platinum and one 3x platinum.

These guys are all huge, because they are occasionally great.

Find Your One Thing

Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Be the best at one thing.

What are you known for? What is the one thing you can do on the episode this week that your listener will remember?

Find your one thing. Create word of mouth. Be occasionally great.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Erik@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Podcast Interview Resources – Episode 070

December 10, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 1 Comment

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Episode 070 – Podcast Interview Resources

Two e-mails came in recently that might help you with your content. This week I would like to share a few podcast interview resources, to help you create better podcast interviews. We will also review the benefits of an outside perspective.

The first e-mail comes from Josh.

Podcast Interview Resources

Hi Erik, Really enjoying the show.

Question. I’ve been interviewed on many different podcasts and I’m amazed how often I’m asked identical questions to those asked of every other guest that appears on their show. I understand as podcasters, there’s always so much work to do. The research required and creating unique questions can be a scheduling challenge – but this feels so lazy to me to just rely on a one-size-fits-all approach. When I think of some of the best interviewers I know, I can’t imagine they would *ever* do this.

In addition to your podcast, coaching, and resources, are there any books you would recommend for how to be an awesome interviewer? I’d love to recommend them to many of our peers in the podcasting world – and quite frankly, this is a skill that I would love to grow in.

I know you recently covered interviewing – but I would love to hear your take on this practice, in particular, and would love to hear even more on the subject!

Many thanks,
Josh Elledge – 90 Days to Abundance podcast – SavingsAngel.com
Everyone has their own approach. In my coaching, I always encourage podcasters to develop their own style.

A “one-size-fits-all” approach to interviewing rarely leads to unique questions or answers. When an interviewer follows a script, they miss the opportunity for great follow-up questions. Let the conversation flow naturally. Don’t simply stop at the list of typical questions.

If you make yourself truly present in the interview, you will listen to and hear the answers your guest provides. You will then ask the natural follow-up questions your listener would ask if they were sitting right next to you.

Remember, you can always edit out the pauses. If you hit a dead end and need to look for another question, a quick edit will make the interview sound seamless.

Interviewing might very well be my next book.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find the one perfect resource for interview instruction. Over my 25 years in radio, I have accumulated tips from many, many people.

There are a few good radio books that touch on interviewing as part of an overview of radio programming and talent development. Two radio books I would recommend are “Creating Powerful Radio” by Valerie Geller and “Morning Radio” by Tracy Johnson. Both have been influential on my coaching style.

There is also much to learn from the greats. I have found wonderful tidbits in the autobiographies and biographies of Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite and Larry King among others. Learn more about the interviewers and reporters that you enjoy.

Over the years, I have learned quite a bit about the business and art from two individuals. Dan O’Day is fantastic at creating audio that moves people to act. Mark Ramsey is a brilliant mind that asks wonderful questions about the future of the medium.

Two podcasters have provided great content with regard to interviewing on different episodes. Check out “The School Of Podcasting” by Dave Jackson. You will also find great information with “The Audacity To Podcast” with Daniel J. Lewis.

Most interviewers have their own style. The commonality amongst the greats is the natural sense of curiosity. You will find that you ask wonderful questions during an interview when you let your curiosity take over.

Podcast Coaching

Hi Erik,

My name is Rudy Vaughan and I began my podcast several weeks ago. I’m on episode 3 now. It’s called the Word Outreach Podcast, which focuses on ‘Encouragement for the Christian Walk’. Each episode includes a missions emphasis with missionary interviews.

I’ve listened to your podcast for about 6 months and found you through your buddy, Dave, over at SOP.

I appreciate your content, coaching and enthusiasm!

Rudy
Thanks for the great feedback, Rudy.

Congratulations on your launch. Getting started is quite a big step. Many people plan and plan and plan without ever launching. Keep on creating.

Thanks for including Podcast Talent Coach as part of your learning. I am honored to be part of your journey.

Coaching is an important tool for improvement. Whether you get that from one-on-one coaching, group coaching, podcasts, books, blogs or another podcaster, let feedback help you.

Having a partner help you with your podcast can do two primary things for you. First, an outside perspective on your content can help you see things you do not see. Then, coaching can hold you accountable for progress.

Dave Jackson and I host The Podcast Review Show. We invite podcasters to appear on the podcast to have their show reviewed and their website critiqued. We also provide feedback on their business.

I am happy to hear that you are finding value with my content. Keep publishing your episodes. Let me know how I can help.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Thankful Podcast – Episode 069

December 3, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 2 Comments

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Thankful Podcast – Episode 069

We celebrated Thanksgiving here in the United States last week. It is a wonderful time of year when we step back and give thanks for all we have. This week, I would like to share a few things for which I am thankful with the hope that I might help you discover some inspiration.

Three years ago, I began my journey to help podcasters refine their art. I was not sure where I was headed. I only knew that I wanted to follow my passion.

Podcasting wasn’t my original passion. It was architecture. From the time I was 12, I knew I wanted to be an architect. Through middle school and high school, my classes led me down that path.

While getting my college degree in architecture, after working two years as a draftsman, I found my way into radio. The architecture degree required a few electives. My younger brother worked at a radio station and with me as a disc jockey. I thought radio sounded like an entertaining elective.

The class was Broadcasting For The Non-Major. The class led me to become the music director of the campus station. After a few months, I had a part-time job at a local radio station.

Since I was so close to finishing, I decided to complete my architecture degree. Once complete, I continued to work in radio and pursue my passion. Broadcasting become my life.

Architecture and radio are actually quite similar. Both require the ability to be creative within a set of guidelines. Both professions require a combination of creative and analytical skills.

After a few years in radio, I discovered my true passion was helping talent refine their craft and content. I fell in love with creating content that captured the imagination of people and created effective calls to action.

The world of podcasting is like the new frontier. We are able to create with very few parameters. Along with that freedom comes responsibility. You must set your own rules.

That is my passion. Each day, I have the privilege of helping wonderful podcasters hone their craft and create amazing content to reach their goals. For that, I am truly grateful.

That is the foundation of this thankful podcast.

I didn’t get here on my own. There are quite a few people that helped me achieve all that I have. This Thanksgiving, I want to thank those that have helped me. As you continue your journey, you may find some inspiration here as well.

This is my thankful podcast.

My Family

The support I receive from my wife and two wonderful children is priceless. They encourage me with every step I take. Find inspiration in the ones you love. Let that love and encouragement lead you to great things.

You

You are the reason I do this show every week. Knowing that I help you with your content, your art and your passion drives me to create every week. The fact that you give me 30 minutes of your time every week means the world to me. Please know that I am thankful for that gift every time it comes my way.

Dave Jackson

When I began down this path, Dave Jackson was the first to reach out to me and offer help. Most of my achievements were partly due to the help Dave provided.

Dave runs the School of Podcasting. His knowledge of podcasting and resources have helped me every step of the way. I cannot possibly thank him enough.

Jeff Beals

Before I even discovered podcasting would be my path, Jeff Beals was an inspiration. As part of my mastermind group, Jeff was my sounding board. His words and guidance always motivated me.

Jeff has a great book called “Selling Saturdays”. He interviewed football coaches regarding recruiting, selling and inspiring. The book contains wonderful stories. No matter if you are selling ideas or widgets, this book will help you achieve.

Rem Lavictoire

When I am stuck in a rut, Rem Lavictoire is always there with a few words of inspiration. I’m not sure how he knows. His e-mail shows up in my e-mail box just at the right time.

If you have attended New Media Expo or Podcast Movement in 2014, I am sure you have seen Rem. He is usually the first to the microphone after a session with some of the best questions you will ever hear.

Rem has given me inspiration and motivation through his friendship. I am grateful for all the support he has provided over the years. Rem has a great podcast call the Sci-Fi Movie Podcast. Find him at www. Sci-FiMoviePodcast.com.

Kenn Blanchard

Kenn and I met through Dave Jackson. Kenn Blanchard has a podcast that has really inspired me in my faith and fatherhood. His podcast is called “Black Man With A Gun”. Kenn offers words of wisdom and inspiration every week. His Father’s Day show is one of my all-time favorites. Check him out when you can.

A few men have inspired me from afar. Through their teachings, they have inspired, mentored and taught me along this journey.

Dan Miller inspired me through his “48 Days” teachings. His podcast and books have motivated me to pursue work that I love.

Gary Vaynerchuk and his book “Crush It” showed me the way to structure and achieve all that I have.

Brendon Burchard helped me launch Podcast Talent Coach through his teaching in the “Millionaire Messenger”. His book and CDs inspired me to share my knowledge with the world.

This Thanksgiving, these are the people for which I am most thankful. Without you, I would not be able to do this every week. Thank you for being part of my journey. Let me know how I can help you in any way possible. To you I dedicate this thankful podcast.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Erik@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

The Magic Of Know, Like And Trust – Episode 067

November 12, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 1 Comment

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The Magic of Know, Like And Trust – Episode 067

It never ceases to astonish me how our podcasts create friendships with people we have never met.

My family and I were at a hockey game a few weeks ago. A couple came up to us and started chatting about the game as if they knew us. We had a great conversation with them as if we had been good friends for years.

When the couple moved on, my wife was a little irritated with me when she asked why I didn’t introduce her. I told her I didn’t know who they were.

These people knew me from being on the radio. I am part of their lives on a daily basis. I share things with them everyday on my show. These people feel like they know me and we are good friends even though we have never met.

This happens all of the time. As podcasters and broadcasters, we have a strange friendship with our listeners. That friendship give us influence.

How can we develop those friendships with our podcast?

Here are five tips.

1. Reveal Things

Reveal things about yourself on your show as you would to your good friends.

2. Include Your Listeners

Make your listeners part of your show. Don’t distance yourself from your listeners with e-mail and text messages. It is much more compelling to hear the words of another individual in their own voice than it is to hear someone else tell the story (or ask the question).

The passion of the message, story or questions isn’t contained in the e-mail. Inflection and meaning are always different when read by another individual. A scripted e-mail lack spontaneity.

I believe this is why interviews are so powerful. You can talk about a book, or you can interview the author. Which is more compelling?

3. Make Your Listener Feel Something

Emotions are powerful.

4. Be A Companion

Make your listener feel comfortable, as if they are spending time with a friend. They will come back time and again. You are their companionship.

5. Help People

Helping others should be your first priority.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Can You Make Money With Your Podcast? – Episode 064

October 22, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Can You Make Money With Your Podcast?

People love to buy. They hate to have people sell to them. Create interest and desire. Make your fans want to buy. The hard sell rarely makes your fan feel good about making the purchase. How do we use our content to develop the desire to buy rather than the method to sell?

I believe it is possible to make money “with” your podcast. To make money “from” your podcast is much tougher.

Are You Important In The Life Of Your Listener?

The most important marketer in a person’s life is someone they know, like and trust. We all know this.

I used Dave Jackson’s affiliate link to build www.ErikKJohnson.com. This was after I got to know, like and trust Dave and his information at the School of Podcasting.

As I started in Podcasting, I hit Google to find information. That is where I originally discovered Dave. Then, I began seeing him in blogs and hearing him referenced in other podcasts. I began listening to his podcast to get to know him.

One day, I got an e-mail from Dave. He wanted to chat with me about podcasting to see if we might be able to help each other. It was great. That is where my trust really started.

After a few months, I used his affiliate link to build out my website for my podcast. It all started with the relationship.

This is the primary reason word-of-mouth is so powerful. The recommendation that comes from word-of-mouth usually only comes from a friend. A friend is someone you know, like and trust.

If the recommendation comes from someone you don’t know, the message is no longer word-of-mouth. The suggestion is now called “marketing”, or “sales” or “a pitch”.

If you want the call-to-action within your podcast to be effective, you need to build that trusting relationship with your listener. From your stories will come self-revelation. This will allow your listener to get to know you. By being yourself and sincere, you will become likable. Finally, if you continually help your listener get what they want by putting their interests first, you will build trust.

On the Dave Ramsey Show, Dave helps people with every call he receives. Out of six or eight calls in an hour, he may mention his books, websites or seminars once. He will always mention his “baby steps” philosophy. However, he will rarely suggest people buy his products.

Dave reveals many personal things about his past and his family. The listener gets to know him. He is often blunt and honest. Dave’s tough love makes him likeable. The help he provides his callers builds trust. These steps make Dave’s manta become a true following. His listeners spread the word to the point where The Dave Ramsey Show has around 5 million listeners.

If you have built a true friendship with your listener, where they know, like and trust you, your call-to-action will be powerful. Spend time creating that relationship between your brand and your listener. Then and only then can you effectively use word-of-mouth.

Are you important in the life of your listener?

After you build the trust, you can then create a powerful call-to-action.

Is That You Calling?

To create a successful podcast, you need to create an effective call-to-action within your show. So, how do we measure success? If we are trying to get our audience to do something by using a call-to-action (listen again, buy our product, visit our website, support our cause), our call-to-action should be our determining factor of success. Measure what counts.

When you create your podcast, you should measure your success not by the number of listeners or downloads, but by conversions to whatever you want them to be or do.

Let’s say your goal is to get people to visit the store on your website. If you have 1,000 people listening to your show, but you only get 2 of them to act and actually visit the site, you really haven’t been successful.

However, if you only have 200 listeners, but 100 love everything you do and visit your site regularly, I would consider that a success. Having 1,000 listeners may sound better than 200. By closer evaluation, I would much rather have 100 fans than 2.

Don’t get fooled by measuring the incorrect statistic. Measure what counts. Measure your call to action.

Create an effective call-to-action, and measure it.

Selling Is Easy, Right?

I was listening to an interview CD that accompanies each issue of Success magazine. Publisher Darren Hardy was talking with Founder and President of Piranha Marketing, Inc. Joe Polish. During that interview, Mr. Polish proclaimed great marketing makes selling easy and unnecessary.

You may not be selling in the traditional sense of products or services in exchange for money. However, you are making a call-to-action within your podcast. It may be selling for money. It may also be inviting your listener to come again, asking him to visit your website, requesting that she join your mailing list, inspire him to get involved with a cause or any other action. It all involves selling yourself.

This week, review your podcast. Let’s discover ways to make money with your podcast.

Are you building trust and properly positioning your listener to do business with you?
Have you developed something to sell (other than advertising within your show)?
Have you developed your strong call-to-action?

Let me know how I can help you with your podcast. E-mail your questions to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let me teach you how to turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

When Did Marketing Become Taboo? – Episode 063

October 15, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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When Did Marketing Become Taboo?

I was listening to Daniel J. Lewis on “The Audacity To Podcast” Sept. 15th episode “How To Deal With Negative Feedback Toward You”. When did commercials become bad?

Here is the comment/quote:

“I feel like I just listened to an hour long infomercial. Daniel, I recognize your need to cross-promote and I realize that your income comes from podcasting. I feel overloaded with commercial information and have quite a difficult time separating out the real content from the commercial content. It’s just too much. Sorting out the things I would consider using from the things I have tried in the past but didn’t work from the commercials just wasn’t worth the hour I wasted this afternoon listening to your podcast today.”

Daniel goes to great lengths to avoid being self-promotional. He mentions his products at the end or when it is contextually relevant. Hence the “I have a tough time separating out the real content from the commercial content”. If one blends into the other, it fits with the content. Daniel hardly creates his podcast to be one big commercial.

On the other hand, why are the product mentions so bad? How do you find out about great products? How did you find out about the last great movie you saw? How did you discover the last great book you read? Didn’t someone tell you about it? Regardless if that person was a friend or part of a marketing message, that communication helped you discover new things. That is what marketing is all about.

Sure, not every marketing message is going to be tailored to your needs. There will be some that might miss the mark. It could be the mass mailing you received from the pizza joint down the street because you have a family of 4. It could be the political flyer you received because of your party affiliation.

Is it that difficult to ignore the irrelevant? Throw it out.

So, how do we make our marketing message relevant? How do we make the message valuable instead of an interruption?

Are You Shouting?

As you build trusting relationships with your podcast, continue to ask yourself, “How am I helping my listener?” Continue to give, and the trust will develop over time.

Daniel does the opposite in “The Audacity To Podcast”. He usually starts by helping his listener. Then, if it fits, he will recommend a product or service to his audience.

Serve first, many times over. Then and only then can you effectively sell.

Shows like the “Dave Ramsey Show”, “48 Days To The Work You Love” and “The Audacity To Podcast” are all designed to help their listeners first. Sure, they all have products to sell as the end result. However, they never begin with their product. The discussions on these shows always begin with the listener’s needs in mind first.

Why is it bad to sell? Why must podcasting be only altruistic? If I have something that might help you solve your problems, why would it be wrong to recommend it to you while making a few dollars at the same time?

If you loved mowing grass, would it be right to expect you to mow my grass for free? You love to do it. Why should I pay you? If it is acceptable to charge you for mowing your yard, why isn’t acceptable to earn some money for helping you with your business?

Are you building trust, or are you shouting? Develop the friendship by delivering companionship.

Are You Delivering What They Seek?

People listen to podcasts, the radio and other audio for companionship. They don’t want to drive alone. People have an inner desire to be around other people. Companionship is the reason people listen to your podcast, even if you are selling something. Your listener will always ask, “What’s in it for me?”

Make your listener feel comfortable, as if they are spending time with a friend. When people listen to guys like Adam Carolla, they feel like they know him. Women feel like they could actually hang out with Ellen DeGeneres when they watch her show. Leo Laporte comes across as your friend when you listen to his tech podcast. Each of these shows are about that comfortable connection.

When you make your listener feel comfortable, they will come back time and again. You are their companionship. Are you delivering what they seek?

This week, start with your listener in mind. Ask yourself, “What is in it for them?” I want you to feel confident about your content. You will not please everyone. Focus on your one target listener you have defined using the Target Listener Worksheet at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

If you upset a few people, they either get over it or they would never be your customer in the first place. At least you are doing something to make them care.

Let me know how I can help you with your podcast. E-mail your questions to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let me teach you how to turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

7 Common Podcast Mistakes That Drive Listeners Away – Episode 060

September 24, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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7 Common Podcast Mistakes That Drive Listeners Away – Episode 060

Listeners have many, many options for their entertainment. When you create your show, you are not simply competing with all of the other podcasts in the space. You are competing with all of the other entertainment options available to your listeners.

TV, CDs, radio, satellite radio, on demand video, Youtube, audiobooks. The options are endless.

It is only a start to create great content that attracts your listener and is better than every other options available to your listener at that time. You also need to ensure that the things you do within the episode do not drive your podcast listeners away. Many podcasters give their audience reason to leave without even realizing it.

This week, we will discuss 7 most common podcast mistakes that drive listeners away. There are many others. See how many of these 7 common podcast mistakes you recognize from your show. Then, let’s figure out how to fix them to make your show even stronger.

You Focus On Yourself

You can have anything you want in life as long as you help enough other people get what they want. Make your show less about you and more about helping your listener. You can tell your story and then frame the result around the listener’s perspective.

You Are Not Engaging And Use No Stories

Stories are powerful. We discussed this power in the past few episodes. Pull you listener into your content by making it personal. Then, turn the mirror on them. How can your stories help your listener?

You Are Talking At Me, Instead Of To Me

Treat your listener as an audience of one. Audio is a personal medium. People listen by themselves while creating personal visions in their own head. Have a one-on-one conversation with your listener. Talk to your listener and not at them.

You Are Unfocused & Unprepared

Know your goal. You cannot get to your destination unless you know where you want to go. Develop your goal. Then, be prepared. Gather your material and information before you begin recording.

You Open The Door

Let your content flow from one topic to the other like a conversation. Avoid “now it’s time for …” When you are having a conversation at a party, you don’t say, “… and that is what my kids are doing. Now, it’s time to talk about my golf game.” You just flow into the next topic organically. Also, be sure to take the first exit so you do not overstay your welcome.

You Are Not Interested

Be interesting by being interested. Get rid of the stale questions and content. Make your self unique by being curious.

You Lack Show Biz

This is show business. Use theater of the mind. Make your audio powerful by transporting your listener to another place and time. Add some flavor with creative sound effects, powerful production elements and some audio magic.

Let me know how I can help you with your podcast. E-mail your questions to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let me teach you how to turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Solutions To Boring Podcast Guests – Episode 059

September 17, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 3 Comments

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Episode 059 – Solution To Boring Guests

Thank you so much for all of the great feedback recently. I am happy to hear this content is having a positive effect on your show. You are truly beginning to transform your information. Congratulations.

This week, I would like to share two notes with you hoping you can use the information and answers as well.

JOURNALING

Hi Erik,

Just a quick note of thanks for your latest episode of ‘Podcast Talent Coach’ where you talked about story telling and using a journal as a tool. Somewhat skeptical that it was something I needed, I sat down yesterday and gave it a shot, using the 5 minute time limit you mentioned and writing my thoughts out using a pen and paper. I did this to capture something personal that I could use in my next episode of ‘Evolution Talk’. I am extremely happy to say that it worked. I was able to produce a couple of powerful thoughts for the show that I am certain I would not have captured otherwise. Suffice to say, it’s now going to become part of my show preparation for every episode going forward.

Just wanted you to know that you are making a difference.

Kind regards,
Rick Coste
Writer,Producer,Podcaster
http://evolutiontalk.com
http://philosophywalk.com

Thanks so much, Rick.

If you missed the past two episodes, you may want to check them out as a series. In Episode 057, we discuss the four elements of storytelling. In Episode 058, we explore how to explore your personal connections within your stories and use those connections to build trust with your listeners.

It is a common feeling of skepticism. When I first learned the method of journaling to discover my own personal connections, I found it a bit hokey and beatnik. After journaling for a bit of time, it became natural. There is true power in discovering your personal connections.

If you would like help creating your journal entries, mining them for personal connections and turning those connections into powerful, engaging content, shoot me an e-mail at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

BORING GUESTS

Hello Erik,

I have a question for you about interviews. I’m sure you have had the opportunity to interview many popular music artists over the years in your radio career. Have you ever had to deal with someone who was not very cooperative? Comes across as a bit annoyed or just doesn’t put any effort at all into the conversation?

Is there anything you can do to get them to actually give a substantial answer without coming across as being rude? Especially when it is an artist that you may be a fan of?

I’d love to know your thoughts on this. Thanks!

J.D. Sutter | Porchlight Family Media
New Media Consultant & Content Producer
http://porchlightfamilymedia.com/

Thanks for the note, J.D.

This is a common problem with podcast guests. There are times when we have such high hopes for and expectations of our idols. When we finally meet them, they simply are not as amazing and flawless as we had built them to be.

When you get a podcast guest on your show who is less than excited, there are a few possible reasons for their sourness. They could be having a bad day. Maybe they just got off a bad interview. It is possible they don’t enjoy being interviewed.

One thing to remember is that it is your show. You are in control of everything. It is your responsibility to make sure the content on your show is the best it can be. Make your podcast guest the star. Set them up to look good and everyone wins.

Here are six suggestions to improve an interview with a troublesome podcast guest.

1. Make sure your interview style is top notch so they see you as a professional. This includes before, during and after your interview.

2. Be sure you are asking unique questions. Know the hot buttons of your guest. Talk about things that stir their passion.

3. Take your guest off guard. Pull something out of left field.

4. Ask your guest “list” questions. For instance, “What are the three most important things to remember when booking a gig?”

If your guest simply won’t cooperate …

5. Don’t use the interview on your podcast as a traditional interview. Create a narrative and insert drops from the interview, similar to the news shows like “60 Minutes” or “Dateline”.

6. Cut your losses. Sometimes people have a bad day and just need to move on. Cut the interview short, thank your guest for their time, and find a better interview.
Let me know how I can help you with your podcast. E-mail your questions to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

How To Build Trust – PTC Episode 058

September 10, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 2 Comments

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How To Build Trust – Episode 058

Last week we discussed the four essential elements of storytelling.

As I gave that presentation at Podcast Movement, some had questions about turning personal connections into stories that actually had something to do with their podcast subject. In fact. Josh Elledge of “90 Days To Abundance” suggested I do an episode on it. Find him at “SaveingsAngel.com”.

Today, we dive into the “how” of storytelling.

Journaling

The use of journaling will help you dig deep into your thoughts to reveal your personal connections to the subject matter. Journaling can be done for a specific length of time or output. You can do it for 3 or 5 minutes, or an entire page of thoughts.

Whether you choose time or output, it should be set and consistent. Set a timer and write until the timer goes off. You want to write to the point where if becomes free-flowing without any conscious thought.

Understand that no one will ever see this journaling. You can even throw it out after you create the episode. There is no need to keep it once we find the personal connection.

Your Personal Connections

After you journal, read over your writing. Highlight the thoughts and personal connections that really jump out and grab your attention. Those are possible starting points.

Engaging Introduction

Once we have highlighted our personal connections, we need to pick one to use for our show. We then turn that personal connection into our engaging introduction to our powerful story.

An Example

I want to show you how we can find great stories for an episode using Journaling. In this example, I want to create an episode that teaches the power of storytelling. The goal of the episode is to have my listeners understand the importance of stories if they hope to have their audience know, like and trust them.

Here is my journal entry. These are never shared with anyone. I am sharing it with you as an example. There are some connections here that reveal my vulnerability that I typically wouldn’t share with anyone. I’m laying it all out with hopes it will help you find the courage to open up to yourself.

JOURNAL ENTRY

How do I create great stories by journaling. Max’s great story about his father. Find deep connections. When we tell these great stories, we reveal things about ourselves. I learned a lot about this from Bill McMahon. I’m sometimes afraid to reveal what I truly believe, because I worry what people think about me. Once Bill instilled in me the courage to recognize what I truly believe and present it on the air, I began creating great friendships with listeners I don’t even know. As the public address announcer of the Omaha Lancers hockey team, I often run into people who act like they know me, because they kind of do. It used to really creep out my wife. People would come up to me and start having a conversation about something I talked about on the air. After they would walk away, she would ask why I didn’t introduce her. I would tell her that I have no idea who that was. She couldn’t understand how I could have these conversations about personal stuff with somebody when I had no idea who it was. That is very common when you talk about personal connections on your show. How do you reveal things? People will get to know you. You never know what will connect. Listeners grab onto the most everyday stuff. It is something that happened with your kid. Or the hockey rink in your backyard. Or the pothole you hit on the way to work today. If you are doing a show about gun control, how do you link potholes to gun control? Journal until you find the link. It doesn’t need to be perfect. Journal. There is a connection there. My story here links Josh to storytelling. It was a great conference. I love when people ask great questions. My lectures really get into conversations. That’s what it is all about. That’s why I do this. I feel like we are developing a relationship. They actually trust me enough and care enough to ask questions. We are beginning to develop something here. The feedback and questions really make me feel like my presentation was validated. Even after the presentation, many came up to ask additional questions. Probably 10 or 12. Which was great, since it was the final presentation of the day. What a great way to finish the weekend.

Four different personal connections in that journal entry.

Now, let’s look at each personal connection and turn that into an engaging introduction. My topic for this episode is the power of great storytelling in podcasts. I want to encourage podcasters to use stories to get their audience to know, like and trust them. What stories can I use to make my point?

Before we create our introduction, we need to determine what we hope to make our audience feel.

Max’s great story about his father.

Like many of us, Max couldn’t find the courage to share his stories about his father. He didn’t feel anyone would care. Max eventually left my station to work at one of the big stations in Chicago.

With this connection, I hope to make the audience gain confidence and know that even the radio personalities in the biggest markets in the U.S. have some self doubt. It is natural. Let’s begin the story there.

“Fearing what people will think about you when you share personal stories is natural. Even radio personalities in some of the biggest cities in the U.S. have that self doubt. I once had a morning guy working for me who would tell me these great stories about his father …”

I’m sometimes afraid to reveal what I truly believe, because I worry what people think about me.

This is very similar to the the previous story. I can use the same style. Even I get a little nervous about what people will think. Using this connection, I again hope to give my listener confidence.

“Fearing what people will think about you when you share personal stories is natural. Even I encounter that self doubt. At Podcast Movement, I was a little nervous how my presentation would go over with the group of my peers.”

She couldn’t understand how I could have these conversations about personal stuff with somebody when I had no idea who it was.

With this personal connection, I want you to understand that you will be surprised what connects with your listeners. Some of the smallest asides will endear you to your listener. There will be times when your listener will mention things you do not even remember talking about. We can begin our story there.

“There are times when listeners will stop me to mention some of the must mundane things mentioned on my show. My wife and I were walking through the arena where I announce hockey games. We were stopped by a listener I didn’t know personally.”

The feedback and questions really make me feel like my presentation was validated.

With this personal connection, I want listeners to see the payoff that comes with powerful storytelling. If you use storytelling correctly, the end result can be very fulfilling and inspiring. I want this story to empower and encourage you to share your stories. Let’s start the story there.

“Have you ever been unsure about sharing your thoughts and opinions? I was a little nervous about giving my Podcast Movement storytelling presentation to a group of solid podcaster. By the time I finished sharing my stories and real life examples like Lee Brice and Walt Disney, I received some great questions that really validated my process. I was even more excited about helping people with my knowledge and information.”

There are four examples of how I journal to create great stories for my show. There are really four steps. Journal for 5 minutes. Find the personal connections within your writing. Determine what you want to make your audience feel and the point you want to make. Finally, turn that into your engaging introduction.

Telling great stories within your podcast will help your listener know, like and trust you. The details and personal connections you include will tell your listener about your beliefs, morals, dreams, dependability, experience, reputation, honesty and reliability.

As your listener begins to know you through these stories, she will determine whether or not she likes you. It is better to have some love you and some hate you rather than have a bunch of people on the fence. If they rate you a 3 on a 1-to-5 scale, they are basically saying they don’t care.

Create some passion. As long as you have more “loves” than “hates”, you’re on the way to a win.

Not everyone loves Harley Davidson motorcycles. There are people who love Harley and wear their colors proudly. Then, there are others who wouldn’t be caught dead riding a Harley. It doesn’t fit their personality. Nobody goes shopping for a new vehicle and says, “Oh, maybe I’ll buy a Harley or maybe I’ll buy a Volvo. I’m ok with either one.” Create a passionate tribe.

You can then build trust after your listener has had a chance to know you and decide if they like you. By trusting your audience with your personal feelings, they will begin to trust you by the law of reciprocity. When you give to someone, they will feel compelled to give back to you in return.

The process sounds easy. However, it takes practice. If you would like my help, let me know. I would love to teach you the process.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

If you would like to have your show reviewed on The Podcast Review Show with Dave Jackson and me, click here. We are looking for great guests who would like to improve their shows.

You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

The Secret To Know, Like And Trust – PTC Episode 057

September 3, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 2 Comments

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Secrets to Know, Like and Trust – PTC Episode 057
Four Essential Elements of Powerful Storytelling

WHY STORYTELLING

Storytelling can transform your podcast. Your personal experiences and stories make you unique. No one has experienced the things you have experienced in the same way you have. If you want to stand out from every other podcast, share your personal stories during your show.

People do business with other people they know, like and trust. Your stories create that knowledge. That is where true friendships begin.

Stories help define your character and personality. If you want your listener to get to know you, share those personal connections. Connect, motivate and inspire your audience with your stories.

Don’t fit in, stand out.

Your personal experiences are the only way to make the content your own. Great songwriters do it. Great filmmakers do it. Share your stories and stand out.

ENGAGEMENT

In podcasting, you cannot afford to be boring. Interest in your story never remains constant. Your information can only become entertainment when interest is rising. A great story continues to develop the plot and raise the interest.

To create engagement, tell great stories. Keep the interest of your listener rising.

Date your listeners. You need to earn the privilege of talking to people who want to be talked to and selling things to people who want to be sold to. To earn that privilege, you need to build friendship.

Great friendships are developed through self revelation. When you share your personal thoughts and feelings with an individual through stories, you begin to create a bond with that person. It is life enrichment. Making our lives better through friendship is the reason we do not live is seclusion.

Over time, sharing stories will begin to build trust with your listener. Your stories share your values and beliefs.

Practice becoming a great storyteller.

GREAT STORYTELLERS

Practice being a great storyteller. Have the courage to listen to yourself. Hear and have courage to record your personal connections to the events happening around you.

When you use your podcast to create friendships, you are asking people to spend time with your every week. People share time with others that they like. They are asking themselves, “Would I enjoy taking a one-hour car ride with this person every week?”

People listen to audio while they drive, run and workout so they are not alone. They use the audio as companionship. Let your listener get to know you.

Your stories will also let others live vicariously through you. Your listener can enjoy your story of struggle and success without enduring the hard work and pain. Let them enjoy your stories.

ELEMENTS OF GREAT STORIES

There are four essential elements of great stories.

Engaging introduction
Reveal the details
Powerful Resolution
What else?

Engaging Introduction

Give them a reason to care. What do you want the audience to feel? Your stories make you human. Will it be humorous, compelling or tragic. My talent coach Bill McMahon would always ask, “What do you hope to make the audience laugh at, marvel at or better understand?”

Your listener can experience various emotions through your stories. You could elicit joy, sympathy, empathy, anger, tragedy, tenderness, humor, rage, patriotism or many others. Emotions make that personal connection to your story.

Pull your listener into the story. Your engaging introduction is a roadmap. It should be a solid headline that tells your listener exactly where your story will go. “Tell me if I’m gonna go to Hell for this…”

Reveal the details

Details are more believable than generalities. Your details will make your story come to life.

When you develop your details, use all 5 senses. Draw the picture in the mind’s eye of your listener. Make the story come to life. Put your listener right there in the moment. This is theater of the mind.

Your details reveal specifics about your thoughts, beliefs and character.

Resolution

Your resolution should be a powerful reframing of introduction. Your will know when you reach your conclusion when you have successfully achieved the emotional goal set at the beginning. What did you hope to make your audience laugh at, marvel at or better understand? When you’ve achieved that goal, get to the resolution.

What else?

Asking “What Else” will transform your show. Let your story lead to something bigger. Maybe you turn your story into a discussion on Facebook. Maybe your story leads into an interview. What else can you do with it? Create some great entertainment.

HOW YOU CAN BE A STORYTELLER

What do you want to make your listener feel?
What is the engaging set up?
How will it be revealed in the story with vivid details?
What is the resolution?
What else can you do with it?

I’d love to help you create great stories with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Top 11 Takeaways From Podcast Movement – PTC Episode 056

August 28, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 4 Comments

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Top 11 Takeaways From Podcast Movement 2014

Podcast Movement 2014 was held in Dallas, Texas August 16th & 17th. For an inaugural event, PM14 was well run and full of great information. The guys did an amazing job putting it together.

Earlier this year, Dan Franks reached out to me and asked if I would present a session at PM14. I was truly honored. My session on the power of storytelling went over very well. Many people came to the stage after my session to tell me how useful they found the information. I really appreciated the feedback.

I am already looking forward to Podcast Movement 2015 in Fort Worth, Texas.

My notebook filled with great notes from PM14. On this episode, I want to share with you my 11 top takeaways from the event. I hope these spark a little something in your to move your podcast forward and transform your content.

1. Have a plan to make money.

This came from Chris Brogan’s Keynote “Podcasting As A Business Driver”. If you want to support your habit/hobby, have a plan to generate income. This could be from your product, service or other income stream. Figure out how to cover your cost at a minimum.

2. Copy = Pale Imitation = Ignored.

Srinivas Rao offered this insight in his Keynote “Genuine Curiosity – The Fuel Behind The Fire”. Chris Brogan said, “No one ever won a race looking sideways.” Be brave and have the courage to be unique. Tell some great stories.

3. What is your brand personality?

Who are you really and who do your clients need you to be? Kristin Thompson asked these questions during her session “Rock Your Talk & Profit Big … Beyond The Podcast”. Define your brand personality. Then, thread it through everything you do.

4. Don’t use white in your logo.

This was mentioned during “Top Podcasters Share Three Success Secrets For Podcasting”. It was a panel discussion with Michael Stelzner, Cliff Ravenscraft, and Chris Brogan. If you want it to stand out in iTunes store, get rid of the white. Make your logo pop.

5. Involve others.

During his session “10 Ways to Take Your Podcast From Average To Amazing”, Daniel J. Lewis suggested you use interviews, conversations, and shared presentations to get others involved with your show. Empower your audience to share your content. Delegate others to help you achieve tasks.

6. #1 goal of podcast marketing is opt-in.

Tim Paige mentioned this in his session “The Top 7 Ways To Grow Your Podcast And Turn Listeners Into Leads”. We’ve heard it many times that the money is in the list. Use your podcast to grow your list every opportunity that you get.

7. Think of your avatar in the car or excercising. What can you provide to make the experience better?

This was a great piece of advice from Jaime Tardy during her Keynote “The Future Of Podcasting”. If you want to connect and engage with your audience, put yourself in their shoes.

8. Learn what the knobs do.

To learn your equipment and what it does, press record and narrate your actions as you turn knobs. Hear how it sounds. This was a tip offered by Dave Jackson in his session “The Art Of Editing Audio – Finding The Diamond In The Rough”. What better way to figure out what all of those knobs do other than tinkering with it.

9. Ask your tribe questions about what they struggle with.

Jessica Kupferman’s session was titled “Your Commmunity Of Kindred Spirits: Why, How and When To Build One”. She offered this tidbit while helping us discover the power and connection of a community.

10. Give your guests resources to promote your show after they are on.

This came during a panel discussion called “Promote Your Podcast The Right (And Unique) Way”. If you want your guests to promote your show after they appear, make it easy for them. Give them graphics, quotes or audio clips they can use to help spread the word.

11. Comfort and awesome usually do not overlap.

I loved this line. It was another from Chris Brogan during his Keynote “Podcasting As A Business Driver”. Be brave. Try something new. Be unique. Have the courage to step out and tell personal stories that cannot be copied. That’s when you’ll get noticed. Don’t be comforable. Be awesome.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

3 Step To Create Your Avatar – PTC 055

August 21, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 1 Comment

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3 Steps To Create Your Avatar – PTC Episode 055

Great question, Alessandro! It is actually a little bit of both. It will evolve over time.

Our goal is to create a vision of that one, unique, ideal listener.

There are really three steps to creating your ideal listener. Each step relates to the life cycle of your podcast.

Step 1

If you are just starting out, you need to create your ideal customer out of your imagination.

Who would you like your ideal customer to be? Start there.
Who do you want?
Who will listen and get involved
Who will be best served by your content
Who will buy your stuff

Step 2

Once you begin to get some feedback from your audience, refine your target with that information.

Who is posting in your comments
Who is sending your e-mail
Who is asking for more information

Step 3

Finally, when you have an audience of decent size, survey them.

It does not need to be a formal survey
One of strongest is an e-mail often used that simply says “where an I help you”
To get specific demographic info, you will need a formal survey
Ask questions that will help you know and serve them better
Do not ask questions that will not give you info you can use and will only waste the time of your listener

Overall, you want your avatar to represent that individual that in most engaged with your show and likely to take action when you make that request.

Audience Of One

Knowing your target audience will allow you to treat your audience as an audience of one.

As you are creating your podcast, treat your audience like you are talking to each person individually. This is critical when creating a trusting relationship with your audience.

Unfortunately, radio personalities continued to address the listener as a group. “It has always been done this way.” The disconnect began.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Never Know Who You Help – PTC Episode 054

August 13, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 2 Comments

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You Never Know Who Your Podcast Might Help

PTC Episode 054

Who You Help — Tough to bathe with no thumbs

I received a piece of feedback from Kenn Blanchard the other day. He said he was inspired so much by my “chit chat” episode that he went back into the studio to completely rerecord his latest episode.

Kenn creates a few podcasts. I listen to “Black Man With A Gun” He recently launched a second called “Motorcycle Radio”.

We talk a lot about the help you provide people with your podcast. As you create your content, keep in mind that you never know who you might be helping or how much that help may mean.

Gary Vaynerchuk has an entire chapter in his book “Crush It” devoted to care. It is probably the easiest chapter you will ever read. It is also possibly the toughest chapter to execute well.

Extra Mile

It is unfortunate in business today that “going the extra mile” isn’t even necessary to stand out most of the time. Being consistent and delivering on your brand’s promise will usually make you better than most of the competition.

It amazes me that delivering a simple recap after the job is complete to one of our clients can create astonishment on their part. They are so numb to the average lack of care from their other suppliers that any sense of attention will get them to take notice.

I’ve seen many, many bands go through the motions. I am not trying to make excuses. However, It’s like a couple trying to get back together after a breakup. The relationship ended for a reason the first time. Getting together again may be good for a beer. Any longer will probably only make you realize why you broke up in the first place … even when you’re making hundreds of thousands of dollars to do it.

Trust Circle

As you build trusting relationships with your podcast, continue to ask yourself, “How am I helping my listener?” Continue to give, and the trust will develop over time.

Serve first, many times over. Then and only then can you effectively sell.

Shows like the 48 Days To The Work You Love, School of Podcasting and Internet Business Mastery are all designed to help their listeners first. Sure, they all have products to sell as the end result. However, they never begin with their product. The discussions on these shows always begin with the listener’s needs in mind first.

Let’s Help Each Other

I would love to answer any question you might have. I have been in broadcasting for well over 20 years. Coaching on-air radio talent has been part of my day-to-day role since 1995. Studying and developing marketing and promotional campaigns for our radio stations and clients is also something I do on a regular basis.

If you could use some help in any of these areas, please shoot me an e-mail at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Your questions will help me refine my show. You will help me select topics. It will also make the show much more enjoyable for you. I would love to hear your questions and offer you podcast help.

If you could take a minute to shoot me an e-mail, or even comment on any of my posts that may have helped you, I would truly appreciate it. Making this show better is always my goal.

Let me know how I can help you. In turn, let’s help each other.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

You Are An Expert – PTC Episode 053

August 6, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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You Are An Expert – PTC Episode 053

As I was grabbing a quick bite to eat at the local fast food restaurant earlier this week, I was reminded we are all an expert at something to someone.

After ordering my food, I pulled up to the drive thru window of the fast food restaurant to pay. My total came to $4.38. I handed the kid in the window $5.38. The amount completely puzzled him.

He looked at the currency for quite some time. I was beginning to think he didn’t realize I needed change. After what seemed like two minutes, he looked around for his manager.

When he realized his manager was helping another customer, he looked back at the money trying to devise a plan B.

The kid finally stuck his head into the window and asked, “Are you good at math?”

I said, “The total was $4.38, right?” He replied with, “Yeah.” I said, “You owe me a dollar.”

“Oh, that’s what I thought,” he replied with relief as he ducked to the register to retrieve my dollar.

At that point, I realized we are all an expert to somebody. Even people who do not normally deal in American currency could probably guess that $5.38 minus $4.38 equals $1. To this kid, I could have been Newton or Archimedes or Pythagoras.

You may not feel you are an expert in your field, because you don’t have the experience or success equal to others. On the other hand, realize you have more experience than the beginner.

If you think about where you were two years ago, you are much more experienced than a person in that position now. Help those folks make the two-year journey to get to the point where you are now.

Six Ways To Demonstrate Your Expertise

Help people learn what you know.

Help people find the tools you have discovered through your journey.

Help people find the right people in the industry where they can learn more.

Find people who are in a position that you have conquered.
Share your stories of triumph and woe to encourage those following behind you.

Help those that do not have quite as much knowledge and experience that you have.

If you have been in your field for any length of time, there will always be somebody with less experience than you. Find those people, and help them succeed.

You may not be number one in the field. That doesn’t matter. You can always be seen as an expert in the eyes of someone at some point. You simply need to find them. Then, help them in your expert sort of way. Who knows, maybe you are good at math.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

At Last, The Secret To Podcast Chit Chat Revealed – PTC Episode 052

July 30, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 1 Comment

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At Last, The Secret To Podcast Chit Chat Revealed

PTC Episode 052

Chit Chat at the beginning of your podcast has long been discussed. Is it appropriate? How much is too much? When are you wasting the time of the pirates listening?

I was listening to a marketing podcast once. I just about gave up and moved onto another show. I had to force myself to stick with it. You would have thought they may have uploaded the wrong show.

Here is the opening of the podcast. I’ve eliminated the names and other identifying parts. I really don’t intend to call out anyone. I simply want to show you how chit chat can destroy your engagement.

Show host: Welcome to (marketing podcast). I’m your host (host name). (website). We’ve got a couple people hangin’ out in the live chat with us. (chat link) And you know, I shouldn’t say that, because I’ve taken the link down from the site. But if you’re listening and wanna see the schedule, it is fairly current. Although, not exactly throughout the summer. I am joined today, as I frequently am lately, by (co-host name) of (other show name). How’s it goin’ (co-host name)?

Co-host: It is wonderful up here.
Show host: Is the … uh … now you guys probably didn’t have a lot of snow like we didn’t have a lot of snow, which I’m still bummed about. But, I’m trying not to talk about it. How’s your … how’s your weather in ____?
Co-host: It’s pretty good. It’s, uh … it’s been a pretty warm winter.

They proceeded to discuss the Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion for the first 10 minutes of the 30-minute show. At 10:45 into the show, host says, “Should we get into some questions?”

This is a show designed to coach businesses to attract more customers.

How did we get lost down some path about temperature conversions?

I’m not even sure I can say it got lost. The show never laid out the expectations of the show. Neither does the show title. As I’ve written before, the opening of the show must tell your audience what the show is all about right at the beginning. Let your listener know what to expect. Assume they are listening to the show for the very first time.

Six minutes into the show, they actually say, “You’re safe by now skipping over the first 10 minutes” of the show. What!?! You’ve got me, now you’re actually telling me this isn’t worth my time?

At this point they aren’t really lost. They are well aware they are wasting my time. There are over 100,000 podcasts available. These shows are all trying to attract me. These guys actually have me paying attention (the tough part) and are wasting the incredible opportunity. What are the chances I’ll actually be back?

In addition to the chit chat that has absolutely nothing to do with the topic, they gave you info at the open of the show that you can’t even act on. They gave you a chat link that isn’t even active anymore. They gave you a schedule which is “fairly” current, “although not exactly”. Then, they tell me I can skip over this part of the show.

This sort of chit chat destroys your credibility and trust. People have come to hear you deliver on your promise of your topic. Talking for ten minutes about the weather does not accomplish that, unless you are the Weather Channel podcast.

Your show must deliver on the brand promise right out of the box. That is the key to audience engagement. Your listener has come to your show for a reason. If you get lost on some tangent, your audience will be gone in a heartbeat.

In this case, there are many podcasts available dealing with marketing. Instead of continuing to listen to this podcast, I moved on and found the “Unpodcast” with Scott Stratten. Scott was one of the keynote speakers at NMX2014. Scott has a bit of chit chat in his episodes. The difference is the relevance of Scott’s chit chat to his topic.

Chit chat during your show is appropriate if you can link it back to your topic. Let’s say you open your show with, “My local television news did an amazing marketing job getting in front of 100,000 people this weekend at the sporting event simply by keeping fans up to speed on the weather.” If you follow that with some chit chat about how crazy the weather has been and how the station used that to their marketing advantage, you have linked it to your topic.

Chit chat here is perfectly acceptable. It makes sense.

If you are talking about the new studio you have built on a show about podcasting, that would be completely understandable.

If you are talking about your weekend fishing and have no way to link it to your podcast about automobile parts, you are wasting time.

It is a fine line. If the information supports your topic, you are on the right path. If it does not fit with the subject matter at hand, find another story that does.

Lay out the expectations in your introduction. Deliver on those expectations immediately. If you find you’re getting off on a tangent, get back on track as soon as possible.

You will quickly find you are talking to yourself if your listener says to themselves, “I think we’re lost.”

Intriguing Introduction

Use a great, personal story to lead with an intriguing introduction. This is where chit chat comes in handy. It is a personal, chit chat story that will engage people. Your chit chat brings them into the topic for this episode.

What do you hope your audience will take away from this particular discussion? Your introduction should spell it out. It should set up what is to come.

When you begin your story with the details, your listener spends energy trying to determine the point you are trying to make. They are trying to figure out what the story is about.

Have you ever been stuck listening to someone tell a story while you’re thinking, “Will he ever get to the point?” That is what we are trying to avoid.

To hook your audience and allow them to truly enjoy the story, lead with an intriguing introduction.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

8 Questions To Better Podcasts – PTC Episode 050

July 16, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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8 Questions To Better Podcasts – PTC Episode 050

Today, we discuss how you can follow 8 questions to better podcasts.

On the Podcast Review Show the other night, Dave Jackson mentioned he was reviewing his own episode and discovered something he could do to make his show better. I’m a big proponent of show reviews in real time in order to get better. One of my free worksheets at PodcastTalentCoach.com is dedicated to reviewing your show. Here are eight of the questions on that worksheet that can help you improve your podcast.

Pick an episode from a few weeks back. Listen to it in real time. Then…

Ask yourself these questions

Did you accomplish the goals you set for this episode?
How did you make the audience care?
How did you include the listener, making them part of the story?
Where were the “oh wow” moments?
What was memorable about the show?
At what points did you introduce and reset the show/topic?
What stories did you tell?
Where did you use active language? (walking instead of walked, eating, not ate)

There are 19 total questions on the review sheet. You can find it online at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

If you would like the workbook that will walk you through all of the worksheets, find that at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Stories Transform Your Podcast – PTC Episode 047

June 25, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Storytelling Transforms Your Podcast

Storytelling transforms your podcast.

People do business with people they know, like and trust. Stories help you develop that knowledge, likability and trust.

Your stories define you and will touch many more people than typical information. The stories you tell and the details you include reveal many things about you. That begins to develop that like and trust.

It can be a bit scary to reveal things about yourself on your podcast. Develop the ability to recognize your unique thoughts and the courage to reveal them on your show.

Two radio coaches have influenced me greatly over the years. They each have similar views on storytelling.

Radio consultant Randy Lane says use stories to “make it human by making it humorous, compelling or tragic”.

Radio talent coach Bill McMahon suggests you decide what you hope to make your audience “Laugh at, marvel at or better understand.”

How do you want your audience to feel after hearing your story? Frame that feeling in your engaging introduction. Decide what you hope to reveal about yourself with the story.

Stories help you connect, motivate and inspire.

There are four parts to the storytelling structure.

Engaging introduction

This pulls your listener right into the story. Your introduction should tell your listener exactly where the story is headed.

Vivid details

How will your emotion be revealed in the story? Use vivid details to make your story come to life in the theater of the mind.

Powerful conclusion

Wrap up the story by reframing of your engaging introduction.

What else?

Asking “What Else” will transform your show. Don’t let the story simply end and fade away. Turn it into something powerful.

Many treat a subject in a similar manner. That is why we hear the same style of interview. If you want to stand out and be different, transform you content by using your unique style.

Ask “what else can we do” and see where it leads.

Storytelling transforms your podcast.

A few housekeeping notes this week.

Coupon code ends this week!

Get a one-hour coaching session with Dave Jackson and me for only $50 if you act before June 30, 2014.

Dave and I are now hosting the Podcast Review Show together. Our guests appear on the show to have their podcast reviewed by the two of us.

Typically, hiring the two of us individually for an hour would be hundreds of dollars. Not only do you get an hour of consulting from us on this show, you get to plug your show for a sixty minutes.

Our guests typically pay $99 to be featured on the show. Dave and I have decided to cut you a break. By using the code “coach50”, you can appear on the show for only $50.

You get half off. Still an hour. Still feedback from both of us. Still plugging your show. Half the price.

The code is “coach50”. This deal ends June 30, 2014. Get in on it now before we close it.

GET REVIEWED – CLICK HERE.

Podcast Movement

If you are truly serious about building your podcast, improving your show and increasing your traffic, you should also be attending the Podcast Movement in Dallas on August 16 & 17.

Find my affiliate link online at PodcastTalentCoach.com. We are only 8 weeks away from the Podcast Movement. Register today.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Where To Begin Podcasting – PTC 046

June 18, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Where To Begin Podcasting – PTC 046

Let’s help you determine where to begin podcasting.

I recently had lunch with the guys from the “200churches” podcast. Jeff Keady and Jonny Craig are pastors at a 200church in Northwest, Iowa. They want to encourage and support other pastors of “smaller” churches.

As we were having lunch, Jeff was telling me about their start in podcasting. They had all of the equipment and were ready to roll. As they were about to record their very first episode, Jeff said he didn’t know where to start. What was the first thing he was supposed to say? How do you figure out where to begin podcasting?

Where to begin is a natural problem. You know what you want to say. You simply don’t know where to start it all. How far back to the beginning of your message should you go?

You have all the equipment. You have set up the technical details of the podcast. How does the show content begin?

Whether you are a brand new podcaster, or someone with hundreds of episodes under your belt, this episode will help you with your content. If you are just beginning, this will help you create your framework. We will walk through content preparation as you lay out the show.

If you are an “old pro”, this content will be a great refresher to help you step back and evaluate your progress. When we have done something for a long time, assumptions begin to creep into the content. We sometimes take small details for granted as if our listener has been with the show from the beginning.

There are six steps to defining your content and preparing your podcast. These six steps will help you determine where to begin podcasting.

1. What do you hope to accomplish?

This includes both the topic and the show overall. Set a goal for each topic, the episode and your podcast in general.

2. What are the interesting topics you hope to address on this particular episode?

As you determine your topics, look for a theme to develop.

3. How will you treat each specific topic you hope to address?

What will you do with the content? You could answer the question, demonstrate the answer, play some audio, show charts to support your answer, or use some other treatment. Find a way to make it your own. Your approach should be unique to you.

4. Create an outline for the flow of the show topics.

This is important for the show introduction. Bullet points should suffice. Do not script your content.

5. What supporting information will you need for the show?

Organize and highlight for easy access during the show. This will help you sound prepared as you begin to build credibility with your audience.

6. Write your introduction. Write your conclusion. Include your call to action.

If you would like a worksheet to walk you through this process and others, visit the worksheet section at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. These worksheets will further help you determine where to begin podcasting.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Your Effective Call To Action – PTC 045

June 11, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Effective Call To Action – PTC045

I was listening to an interview CD that accompanies each issue of Success magazine. Publisher Darren Hardy was talking with Founder and President of Piranha Marketing, Inc. Joe Polish. During that interview, Mr. Polish proclaimed great marketing makes selling easy and unnecessary. It makes your call to action powerful.

Selling is Easy

We have discussed the call-to-action in previous episodes of Podcast Talent Coach. We simply need to determine what we hope to accomplish with our podcast episode before we begin recording.

Do the hard work up front to make selling easy.

Shouting Will Not Help You

As you build trusting relationships with your podcast, continue to ask yourself, “How am I helping my listener?” Continue to give, and the trust will develop over time.

Serve first, many times over. Then and only then can you effectively sell.

Are you building trust, or are you shouting?

Ask For The Sale

After you’ve done the hard work building the relationship, don’t forget to ask for the sale.

One afternoon last week, I stopped by the quickie mart to get something to drink. As I waited in line at the cash register, the gentlemen in front of me set his purchase on the counter.

Among his items was a 2-liter bottle of soda. The bottle of soda was $1.69. The clerk said, “Did you know these are on sale two for $2? You can grab another and save yourself some money.”

The customers responds with, “Looks like I need to grab another bottle.”

By simply asking for the sale, the clerk doubled the purchase. The customer also benefitted by saving some money.

It all happened because the clerk asked for the sale.

This week, review your show to ensure you are building those relationships.

• Start with the listener instead of your product or service

• Determine how you are going to help your listener with this episode

• Put a strong call-to-action at the end of the episode

Let’s Work Together

I would love to help you with your podcast. If you would like to improve your content, call-to-action and business, I have a few openings for coaching clients.

You need to be serious about making some money with your podcast. It may not be millions. However, you need to have the desire to make a little money.

We will work together to build a customized plan for you, your show and your business.

We have to date before we can get serious, right?

I’m offering a complimentary coaching call to a few candidates who are serious about their improvement. We need to see if we are a good fit for each other.

There will be no high pressure sales pitch. We can review your show to see if we work well together. If it clicks, we can lay out a coaching plan for you. If the call is not all you had hoped, no harm. We’ll just continue on as friends.

There is only room for a few. My calendar simply will not allow me to coach everyone.

If you are interested … and serious … e-mail me at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. We can get the conversation started.

Find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Your Podcast Brand Revisited – PTC 044

June 4, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Your Podcast Brand Revisited – PTC044

This week, we revisit my most popular episode. This episode has been downloaded almost twice as many times as any other episode I have released.

Maybe you missed it. Maybe you caught it and this will be a great refresher. Either way, I have received great feedback on the content and I am sure you will enjoy it.

On this episode, we discuss how to turn you, your content and your podcast into a brand. How do you create that powerful podcast brand to stand out amongst the sea of podcasts that are available online?

Find the original show notes HERE.

A few housekeeping notes this week.

Get a one-hour coaching session with Dave Jackson and me for only $50 if you act before June 30, 2014.

Dave and I are now hosting the Podcast Review Show together. Our guests appear on the show to have their podcast reviewed by the two of us.

Typically, hiring the two of us individually for an hour would be hundreds of dollars. Not only do you get an hour of consulting from us on this show, you get to plug your show for a sixty minutes.

Our guests typically pay $99 to be featured on the show. I’ve convinced Dave to cut you a break. By using the code “coach50”, you can appear on the show for only $50.

You get half off. Still an hour. Still feedback from both of us. Still plugging your show. Half the price.

The code is “coach50”. This deal ends June 30, 2014. Get in on it now before we close it.

GET REVIEWED – CLICK HERE.

If you are truly serious about building your podcast, improving your show and increasing your traffic, you should also be attending the Podcast Movement in Dallas on August 16 & 17.

Find my affiliate link online at PodcastTalentCoach.com. We are only 10 weeks away from the Podcast Movement. Register today.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Powerful Podcast Stories – PTC Episode 043

May 28, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 1 Comment

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6 Ways Stories make your podcast powerful

PTC Episode 043

Zig Ziglar used great stories in every point he made. He was a wonderful storyteller.

Dave Jackson and I spoke with the Contractor’s Secret Weapon podcast this week on the Podcast Review Show. They hosts told a great story about earning the #1 spot on Google. The story really helped solidify their points.

You don’t need to include constant stories in your podcast. You only need a few memorable stories to make your podcast stronger.

6 ways stories make your podcast powerful.

Transport your listener to other places using stories

Visual words
Theater of the mind

Would I enjoy taking a one-hour car ride with this person every week?

Develop friendships
Like a one-on-one conversation in a car

Do I know the host by listening to the show?

Reveal things about yourself
People get to know and like you

Stories define your character

People begin to trust you

Let others live vicariously through your stories

They can enjoy your journeys without the risk
May be the reason there are so many entrepreneur podcasts

Stories make you human

Humorous, compelling or tragic
Laugh, marvel, sympathize
Put yourself on the same level as your listener

There are worksheets available on the Podcast Talent Coach website that will help you develop your stories. These worksheets are free. The Show Prep and Topic Development worksheets will be most helpful with your stories.

You can receive further help walking through the worksheets by getting the Podcast Talent Coach Workbook. It is available in paperback HERE and on the Kindle HERE.

To discuss my personalized, one-on-one coaching, you can reach me at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

If you are truly serious about building your podcast, improving your show and increasing your traffic, you should also be attending the Podcast Movement in Dallas on August 16 & 17. Find my affiliate link online at PodcastTalentCoach.com. Prices increase by $40 on June 1. Act now!

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Memorable Podcast Brand – PTC Episode 042

May 21, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Memorable Podcast Brand – Episode 042

Have you noticed all of the interview shows popping up lately?

It seems everyone wants to have an interview podcast. Many simply copy the other successful interview podcasts and hope to stand out. How can you be different while being the same?

Jared Easley and I were talking the other day. He publishes the wonderful podcast “Starve The Doubts”. We were discussing his approach to make his interview show stand out amongst the sea of sameness.

Jared creates a unique approach to the interview show in a couple different ways. First, he not only has a guest to interview on his show, he also has a guest interviewer join him to ask the questions. This gives the show an extra dimension. The questions on every interview have a little different perspective.

Second, Jared asks unique questions. He opens every show asking about the guests favorite concert. He then sprinkles in “would you rather” and “fill in the blank” questions. Jared does his homework on every guest to create questions that are well-informed.

These two steps help to create a unique interview experience and overall solid, memorable podcast.

Be Memorable

If you want to keep your listener coming back show after show, you need to make them remember to come back. You need to remain top-of-mind for your listener. That is the purpose of audience engagement. Make your listener remember you for something specific about your show.

As you build your show, make it about one thing. Find one particular thing that will be remembered. If you try to be all things to all people, you will water down the show. Everything will be nice. However, isn’t usually truly memorable. You will get lost in the millions of messages your listener receives on a daily basis.

Find one point that you can make amazing. Take it over the top. Make it the “goodbye” scene in “Titanic”. Make it the “I am your father” scene in “Empire Strikes Back” between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Your particular point could be the point where you assure your caller that everything will be ok. It could be the fantastic story of your brush with celebrity. It is your show. Find the magic.

Stir emotion. Make it amazing. Bring your listener back. Be memorable.

Do They Remember?

When you consider the entertainment options podcast listeners have, the importance of creating a powerful brand really becomes apparent.

I searched iTunes for podcasts about hockey. There are hundreds of hockey podcasts available. Thousands and thousands of episodes exist that deal with hockey. You can find various topics, including drills, NHL teams, coaching, fantasy hockey and many more.

How do you stand out? How do you get noticed?

Your listener needs to remember your podcast, so they can return and listen again. That is the way to build a following. It really doesn’t matter how many people listen today. What builds a strong podcast is the number of listeners that come back the next time, and the next time, and the time after that. You build your audience slowly with more listeners this week than you had last week. Get your listener to remember to return.

Using your brand to create strong relationships with your listeners is critical to the health of your podcast. If you are bland, you will get lost in the sea of average. There are over 100,000 podcasts available for consumption. Most of them are average or worse. If you refine your content, turn your information into entertainment, and transform your podcast into powerful relationships, you will easily stand out from the crowd. It is a must not only for your success, but your mere survival. Begin your brand today.

The Memorable Podcast Brand Uses Cows

The unexpected is amusing, delightful and memorable. Being direct assumes your listener cares about your marketing message. They don’t. Your listener cares about his or her needs, wants and desires. Attract their attention by doing the unexpected.

To engage your podcast listener and create a relationship, you need to be memorable. In order to be memorable, you must be unique. Be distinct, unusual, and unexpected. If you sound like every other show, you will not stand out and get noticed.

Chick-fil-a could have easily become another fast food restaurant lost in the sea of mediocrity. Founder Truett Cathy wouldn’t let that happen. The company pays great attention to the details and does the unexpected at every turn.

The Chick-fil-a mission statement is, “Be America’s Best Quick-Service Restaurant.” Sure, every fast food joint wants to be the best. Few are willing to put in the work.

One Saturday, we were on a road trip. We were passing through Des Moines, IA at 8:45p as we pulled into the mall to grab a quick bite. We found out the mall closed at 9p. As you can imagine, most restaurants in the food court were cleaning up. We were one of two parties there to eat.

We stepped up to the Chick-fil-a counter and apologized for cutting it so close and causing them extra work. The gentleman behind the counter assured us it was no trouble at all. We received our (fresh) food quickly and grabbed a table in the middle of the food court.

About five minutes later, the Chick-fil-a employee came to our food court table to make sure everything was alright. This was a mall food court. Few fast food restaurants ever check on you in their own establishment. You especially do not receive this sort of attention 10 minutes before closing.

That level of service is the norm at Chick-fil-a. They always take the extra step to surprise and stand out. It is carried through to the careers they offer, the scholarships they provide to their employees and the process of accepting partners and franchisees.

The company uses cows in their commercials to promote chicken sandwiches. The Chick-fil-a website even has a special section devoted to the cows. When a cow parachutes into a football game promoting chicken sandwiches, it us unexpected. Chick-fil-a is memorable.

If you can create unique, memorable experiences for your listener by incorporating the unexpected, you begin to create powerful, meaningful relationships.

Are you using your own cows in your podcast?

The Memorable Podcast Brand Swings For The Fence

Rather than being consistently good with your podcast, be occasionally great.

Swing for the fence.

Many know the great Babe Ruth as one of the greatest home run hitters in baseball. Many also know that Ruth struck out roughly twice as often as the league average. He struck out 1,330 times.

Babe set out to do something exciting. We wanted to be memorable. Sometimes, that meant striking out.

Why do people remember all of the home runs? Because they were exciting. Babe was occasionally great. He was great often enough to be memorable.

You don’t have to set records. Simply make your podcast occasionally great. Nobody remembers your strikeouts. Don’t worry about them. When you finally hit the home run, people will remember.

Every now and then, swing for the fence

Risky Stands Out For The Memorable Podcast Brand

As we develop meaningful relationships with your podcast, we in turn build credibility that will support our call-to-action within your show. To develop strong relationships, you need to create engaging entertainment that will get you remembered by your listener. To be remembered, you must stand out.

You stand out when you are loved. You are remembered when you are hated. You fade into the background when you are plain, vanilla and trying to not upset anyone. If you don’t stir strong emotions, you are easily forgotten.

Those fantastic, memorable personalities are usually both loved and hated. Rush Limbaugh is loved by the conservatives and hated by the liberals. Dave Ramsey is loved by the conservative investor and hated by credit card companies and whole life insurance salespeople. Dr. Laura Schlessinger would consistently be critical of her callers. Yet she would receive more callers than she could handle on any given show.

Safety lacks creativity. It is risky to be truly creative. However, that is really the only way to get noticed. Safe blends in. Risky stands out.

Create that memorable podcast brand to keep your listener coming back show after show. Remain top-of-mind for your listener. Make them remember to come back next week.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

The Show Funnel Solution – PTC Episode 041

May 14, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 2 Comments

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The Show Funnel Solution – PTC Episode 041

If you listen to online business podcasts, you’ve surely heard the business funnel discussed. Online marketers move a large group of people into the big end of the funnel. As the price increases, the funnel gets smaller indicating fewer people buying.

Similar to the business funnel, we want to move our listeners through a show funnel. We want to engage our listeners, hook them by piquing their interest, and finally moving them through our content.

The size of the listener pool gets smaller as the group moves through the funnel. Many people will see our headline. A portion of those people will move further to read the description. An even smaller group will continue to move through the funnel by beginning to listen to the show. A subset of that group will actually get to the end of the episode.

How can we move our listeners through the episode more efficiently? How can we get more of our listeners to reach the end of the episode?

In this episode, we discuss five tips to help you with your engaging content and the listener progression through your funnel.

1. Develop A Goal For Your Show

As you develop your podcast, you need to determine what you hope to accomplish with the show. What will the show be about? What do you hope to make your audience feel? Is there some call to action you wish to make your listener take?

After you have developed the goal for your show, stick to it. All content on your show should support your goal.

If your goal is to help consumers get out of debt, don’t spend a lot of time discussing your favorite, new CD. Your listener has come to your show expecting you to deliver on your promise. If you tell her you help people get out of debt, deliver that content to her. When you start discussing anything other than that, your brand promise is tarnished. She will be headed elsewhere.

In his “My Disney Podcast”, Correy Webb discusses all things Disney. He discusses his cruise adventures, visits to the parks and other traveling tips. If Correy suddenly began discussing the poker game he had with his buddies last weekend, you would be disappointed. Poker isn’t the reason you’re listening. His Disney promise would be broken.

A great brand is built slowly with great consistency. Deliver on your brand’s promise. However, before you can deliver, you need to develop a goal for your show.

2. Prepare For Your Show

Before you begin to record your show, you should spend just as much time preparing for the show. It is very similar to mapping out a trip. You not only need to know where you are going, you need to know how to get there.

Many hosts will have an idea of which topics they hope to address on the show. They may have a few e-mail questions to answer or a current event to discuss. That is where most quit. They think, “Well, I have our ideas. Let’s do this.” They then begin recording.

This is a big mistake. You must plan what you hope to do with each topic. How do you hope to answer the questions? What will your opinion be on the current event. Most importantly, how will you present it to your listener.

If you plan to answer an e-mail question only because you think it is a good question, but you do not plan out your answer, you will wade through the answer. It will take you much more time to answer the question than is necessary. Your show will therefore lack momentum. Your listener will become easily bored. When you stumble your way through your answer unprepared, your listener will wonder if you actually now where you are going.

Before you open the mic, plan out your show. Jot down some notes. Write down the few important points you need to mention as you’re answering the question. Then, make sure you stick to your plan.

Dan Miller does a wonderful job of this in his podcast “48 Days to The Work You Love”. He knows exactly which questions he wants to answer in his show. He knows exactly how he wants to answer them. He also has a few solid examples for each answer. Dan tends to over-promise at the beginning of the show with the questions he hopes to answer. He should either stick to a time limit for each answer, or promise fewer with the potential of a few “bonus” answers at the end if time permits.

Give your show more momentum and energy. It will happen when you prepare for your show.

3. Tease Me

Anticipation is a key feature to storytelling. Your story should build just like a good plot builds in a movie. You need to make your audience anticipate the content that is on the way. It is like a vacation you are planning to take. The fantastic anticipation for the trip is almost as pleasurable as the trip itself. You can’t wait for the trip to arrive. You want your listener to feel the same way about your content. When they can’t wait for the story to arrive, you have created some great content.

The evening news does a wonderful job at teasing. Create anticipation. Tease me.

4. Create A Power Intro

The opening of your podcast should explain the purpose of your podcast and let your listeners know exactly what to expect as if this is the first time they have ever heard the show.

A well-crafted introduction serves two purposes.

First, it tells the brand new listener who is hearing the show for the very first time exactly what to expect from the show. It is like the intro to a late night talk show. “From New York. It’s the Late Show with David Letterman. Tonight, Tom Cruise. Larry The Cable Guy. And Katy Perry. Letters from the mail bag. Tonight’s Top Ten list. And Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra. And now, former New York City Medical Examiner … David Letterman.” You know exactly what is coming your way, even if you have never seen the show before.

As you create your show open, treat it as if every listener is saying, “Hey, I’m new here. What’s going on?” You’ll make everyone comfortable as the show begins.

5. Make Your Listener The Star

Make your listener the star. It is your show. You know where it is going. When listeners are involved in your show, it is always your job to lead your guest and make them the star.

There are many ways to incorporate your listeners into your show. Live interviews, live calls, recorded voicemail messages, and e-mail are a few of the possibilities. Incorporating listeners into the show gives your entire audience a vested interest in the show.

With guests, you must remember you always know more about your show than they know. You know the goals of your show. You know the plot and strategy. You are always on the show. They are new. Lead your guest.

Phrases like “great question”, “I’m glad you mentioned that” and “I didn’t realize that” make your guest feel they are adding to the show … as long as you are authentic in your comments.

Financial guru and radio host Dave Ramsey is great at guiding his listeners. When a caller begins to ramble on, he will always step in with, “How can I best help you today?” That is a great way to say, “Get to the point.” You need to remember that your callers are not professional. They are not sure how to adequately edit their question while still providing all of the necessary elements.

Just as you do not need to answer every e-mail you receive on your show, you do not need to read the entire e-mail. When you are using voicemail and e-mail questions, edit them before you use them. Keep the essence of the question while eliminating the unnecessary details. Nobody will fault you for editing a 4 minute voicemail message to a great 30 seconds. They will probably thank you. The edited call is still the call as long as you aren’t changing their words. Your show is entertainment. Edit it as such.

When interviewing a well-known guest, make it easy for them. Open with great questions for which you already know the answer. Talk hosts like Jay Leno and David Letterman have producers that do a pre-interview with their guests. They will ask the guest, “If Jay asks you about ____, what will you say?” The producer then puts the great questions on the blue cards for the host. Jay may not know the answer, but the guest knows the question is coming.

If you know your guest has done some amazing things, ask them about it. Then, let them answer. I hear so many hosts interview guests as if they are trying to show the guest how much they actually know. In turn, they answer the question as they are asking it. This leaves the guest very little to say.

You and your show become great when you make your guests and listeners the star.

Using these five tips will help you refine your content and give it focus. This will help you move your listener through your show funnel. Develop a clear goal, prepare for the episode, tease your listener, write a power intro and make your listener a star. You will be well on your way to transforming your show.

A few housekeeping notes for you.

Dave Jackson and I are now hosting the Podcast Review Show together. Our guests appear on the show to have their podcast reviewed by the two of us. Typically, hiring the two of us individually for an hour would be hundreds of dollars. Not only do you get an hour of consulting from us on this show, you get to plug your show for a sixty minutes.

Our guests typically pay $99 to be featured on the show. I’ve convinced Dave to cut you a break. By using the code coach50, you can appear on the show for only $49.50. You get half off. Still an hour. Still feedback from both of us. Still plugging your show. Half the price.

The code is coach50.

Now, we cannot possibly review everyone. Once we fill the available slots, this deal will go away. We have already had a great response. Just a few openings remain. If you are serious about your improvement and would like to be on the show, get registered today.

We have not made anyone cry yet. At half price, it surely cannot hurt that much. Just use coach50 when you register.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

The Gender Marketing Difference – PTC Episode 040

May 7, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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THE GENDER MARKETING DIFFERENCE – PTC EPISODE 40

I’ll be speaking at the Podcast Movement in Dallas August 16th & 17th. My affiliate link is online at PodcastTalentCoach.com. I will be doing a session on this very topic showing you how to make use of these marketing tactics in your podcast.

Today, we are going to cover five major differences you need to consider when marketing to the different genders. Keep these differences in mind when you are shaping your podcast content.

Please understand that I am speaking in generalities. I understand these statements won’t hold true for every person. These points are are simply how most men and women react in common situations. The definition of stereotype is “a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group” There are times when the stereotypical case will not hold true for a specific situation. Most of the time, this is the case.

THINKING

PROBLEM SOLVING

Men and women also take different approaches in the way they solve the problems. Because men think linearly, men focus on the solution. Men try to determine what steps are needed to reach a successful outcome. If a man is in need of a new car, he will find the solution step by step. A man will review his options, compare the features, determine the best buy for the money that will do the job, and make the purchase. Men typically move through a problem step-by-step. If the steps are all completed successfully, he buys the vehicle.

Because women tend to think globally, they are typically concerned with the way their relationships are affected by problems and the possible solutions. A woman tends to consider how each person in her close circle is affected by each possible solution. If she is in need of a new car, she will typically consider her needs and those of her family. Will her kids be safe? Is there enough room for everyone? Will the features please her family? Are there entertainment features available to keep her kids occupied on trips? She will also consider how her friends will view the purchase and if she is being treated right by the salesperson. If the relationships all benefit from the purchase, she buys the vehicle.

You can see evidence of this difference in the way auto makers market to the different genders. Minivans aimed toward women will play up the features for the entire family. The commercial will depict the envy of the neighbors. The storyline may even show mom juggling soccer practice, shopping, carpooling and work. These commercials tend to be very spatial in nature and focused on relationships.

Commercials for trucks that are targeted toward men will usually tout the problem solving ability of the truck. The script will play up the horsepower, torque and hauling capacity of the truck. The commercial will usually show the truck pulling some ridiculously heavy load, like trees or ships or something. Men will be convinced they can get the job done with this particular truck. The steps are very linear.

When handling tasks, men tend to be single-minded and focused on one goal, while women usually multitask well. This difference probably began with the cavemen. Each had well-defined duties in the household back in the cave.

Cavemen would set out to find dinner and bring it home. He had one task with one goal. Women handled the entire household doing many things at one time. Men needed to be very focused to find dinner without being eaten by a tiger. Women needed to multitask in order to tend to the house (or cave), handle the children and keep the family in line all at the same time.

You can see this difference in society today. When men are watching television, they watch television. When men attend a sporting event, they watch the event. Men are typically focused on the thing they are doing. This is usually true even if they are doing it with friends.

Women, on the other hand, typically have the ability to multitask very well. Women can be cooking 3 different dishes for dinner, talking on the phone, and keeping an eye on the evening news all while being fully aware of what the children are doing in the other room. Women multitask in a way that astonishes men. Men cannot understand why women spend an entire baseball game talking with the people around her rather than watching the game. Men are there to watch the game. Women attend because it is a way to socialize and strengthen her relationships. She enjoys the game for much different reasons.

The tendency to focus on one task or many creates another interesting difference between men and women. Because they tend to multitask and focus on multiple items simultaneously, women do not seem to tire of activities as quickly as men. When men focus on one thing only, they will become bored with that particular item before a woman. Men will want to move on to the next thing. Therefore, men tend to like new and different. They tend to appreciate change more than women. Women will tolerate repetition much more than men, because they are not as focused on one item at a time. It may also take more messages in different ways to effectively reach and influence a woman.

Men and women also differ in the way they remember things and events. Again, men are linear. Women are spatial.

COMMUNICATING

Men typically view communication and problems solving as a way to show their strength and power. Men typically see things as a competition. It is a linear approach. They seek validation by solving problems. When men are communicating with each other, you will often see each attempt to “one-up” the other. You will often hear, “Oh, you think that’s bad. One time something worse happened to me.” Other men do not typically take offense to these comments. These challenges are a way for men to show their power and dominance.

Women use communication and problem solving for much different purposes. Women use both as a way to strengthen the relationship. Women seek understanding when tackling a problem. Rather than seeking validation, women are typically seeking empathy from and an opportunity to bond with their communication partner. You will rarely hear a woman try to “one-up” the person with which they are communicating. However, you will hear, “Oh, that’s terrible. What did you do?”

When I go out to lunch with my buddies, we have a good time. When I get home, my wife will ask me what we talked about. I will tell her, “Nothing really. Sports and politics.” She finds it baffling that we didn’t discuss his son’s birthday or our family vacation. We debate the nuances of professional versus college sports. We might discuss the benefits of one political candidate over another. That’s how men communicate. Men use a friendly challenge to bond. Women tend to see that style as a lack of understanding.

RELATIONSHIPS

Let’s take a typical, hypothetical couple. Tina and Adam have been together for 3 years. Their standard Friday night is eating take out and watching TV. Tina says, “Adam, we never go out anymore.” In Tina’s head, she is thinking, “Our relationship needs more ‘us’ time. We don’t spend enough time together having fun.” Adam replies, “Fine, let’s go out tomorrow night.” Adam is thinking, “Done, problem solved.” Tina then gets a little more aggressive with, “That’s not what I mean.” Now Adam is really confused. “You just said we don’t go out enough. Let’s go out tomorrow night. What’s the problem.” Tina says, “I’m not just talking about going out.”

Conversations similar to these fall apart, because men and women approach the problem in much different ways. Women use the conversation to strengthen the relationship. Men use communication to solve the problem. “Going out tomorrow night” means different things to each of them.

MEMORIES

When men remember events, they tend to remember in a linear fashion. They will remember events in sequence as one thing happened, then the next and finally the last. It is a sequential time line. If a man were recalling a party, they would typically begin with the setting and who arrived first. He would walk through the time line of the party. His description might begin with, “Things got going in the kitchen. We moved downstairs and shot some pool. Paul had a bit too much to drink and after he broke the lamp trying to dance, the party came to a halt and everyone headed home.” It is a step-by-step recollection of the events.

Women typically remember events in a very spatial way. They will remember who attended the party. They will remember the great time that was had by everyone. Women will recall some of the great conversations that took place. The memories would possibly include the laughs, the gathering places and the details of the atmosphere. The recollections of women tend to be global in nature.

These differences between men and women will play an important role as you define your target audience. Will your communication be spatial or linear? This is something you’ll need to decide before you can move forward to create the structure and content of your show.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Focus Of Your Podcast – PTC Episode 037

April 16, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Focus Of Your Podcast – PTC Episode 037

A few notes before the episode this week. I am speaking at the Podcast Movement in Dallas August 16th and 17th, 2014. It is a national podcast conference that has an amazing roster of presenters and speakers. It is less than $135 (including fees) for the standard ticket before June 1, 2014. I would love to have you join me there using my affiliate link. Get your ticket by clicking the logo in the bottom right corner online at PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Dave Jackson recently invited me to join him on the Podcast Review Show. You can find the show and listen at PodcastReviewShow.com. Each week we invite a podcaster on the show for a critique of their entire business from content to website to revenue opportunities.

If you would like to be featured on the show, click the “Get Reviewed” link at PodcastReviewShow.com.

Show Focus

I was listening to the Solopreneur Hour Podcast with Michael O’Neal this week. His show is one of my regular, weekly listens. The podcast frequently features an interview with a successful person in business. Michael does a nice job relating his content to my business.

Many podcasters get lost in the interview and fail to make the important connection to the listener.

When you define the focus of your show, you create a filter for your content. This filter helps determine which content makes the show. It also helps frame your content with respect to your listener.

(Get the “Show Focus Worksheet” HERE.)

To succeed, you need to set yourself apart from the crowd. You cannot simply be better. You must be amazingly different. Make the connection of your content to the needs of your listeners. Help your audience solve their problems and eliminate their frustrations.

Even if you are a seasoned podcaster, it may be time for a tune up. Does your show have a strong focus? Is your content truly helping your listener? Have you defined what is in it for them?

Begin with your passions. When you are creating your podcast, find subject matter that stirs a fire inside you. If you can talk about it for hours, you are probably on target. If you can come up with fifty different topics on your area of interest, you could have a winning subject.

What topics and subjects typically occupy most of your conversations? This is probably where you will find the focus of your podcast. You will be talking about the same subject matter show after show. You better love it. To be interesting, you first need to be interested.

Once you have your topic, define your unique qualities. Remember, you don’t simply want to be better. You want to be amazingly different from the others. My show is focused on content. Where most shows about podcasting center on the technical aspect, I use my 25 years of broadcasting experience to create content you cannot find elsewhere. That is my unique position.

This is where we narrow your topic. Really focus on the niche. You cannot be everything to everybody. Being broad creates a bland podcast that lacks focus. Be specific.

The size of your niche is not nearly as important as the passion of the niche. Help people that are passionate about your topic. This is where you will succeed.

Where can you help? Determine what frustrates your listeners. Figure out what your audience needs to do to double their business or happiness or success. Then, help them accomplish those things. Create solutions with your show.

Finally, use this filter for all of your content. Define the focus of your show. As you prepare for each episode, run your topics and content through this filter to ensure the focus is on your listener.

If you are interviewing people on your show, run it through your filter. What is in it for your listeners? How can they put that information to use?

Even if you are a comedy podcast for entertainment only, your listener is still getting a benefit from your show. They are coming to you for companionship. They want to forget about their problems for a bit. Your content filter should ensure you are helping them accomplish that goal.

Here is your “to do” list for this week.

1. Step back for an overview of your show. Define the goal for your podcast.

2. Determine where and how you are helping your listeners.

3. Ensure your niche is focused enough.

4. Put all of your content through your listener filter.

Next week, we will discuss tips for the two-person podcast. We will examine five areas you should define and develop if you have a show with multiple hosts.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Podcast Negativity Trap – PTC Episode 036

April 9, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Podcast Negativity Trap – PTC Episode 036

A quick note … Dave Jackson of School of Podcasting has invited me to join his Podcast Review Show podcast. Each week, we invite a podcaster on the show and review their podcast with them. Dave and I help our guest refine their content, delivery, production, branding and website. If you would like to find our more, head over to PodcastReviewShow.com.

This week on Podcast Talent Coach, we get a question submitted by Steve Stewart of the “Money Plan SOS Podcast” Steve brings up two questions. With all of the negativity surrounding us and pulling us in, how can we keep on a path of positive messages? How can you be passionate without being negative?

It is good to recognize the negative influence in our content. Negativity surrounds us everyday, making it difficult to stay positive. The nightly news uses the philosophy “if it bleeds it leads”. The political talk shows are typically more about the negatives of the opposition rather than the virtues of their position. The Sunday morning political talk shows in the U.S. Are all a battle with a “sky is falling” mentality.

Negativity attracts people. Many people have a desire to run from the negative rather than toward the positive. Many want to quit their job. However, few have any idea where they want to head. A cynical, sarcastic, mean attitude will simply pull successful people down rather than build anyone up.

If bad news and negativity attract an audience, why change? If conspiracy theories and stories of the world ending keeps people coming back, why get rid of it? If it ain’t broke, why fix it?

Negativity in your life is destructive.

If you believe you are what you think about, then we need to remove the negativity from our lives. This theory is present in many books. You will find it in Napoleon Hill’s “Think & Grow Rich”. It is the main idea in “The Strangest Secret” by Earl Nightengale. It is difficult to have a positive attitude in life if you are talking about negativity in every episode.

In the long run, negative content in your podcast will harm you and your listener.

I have stopped watching the news. I don’t want that negativity in my life. What good does it do me to see pain and agony in the lives of others?

What is the solution? Our content can’t be all tulips and licorice. We can’t look at the world through rose-colored glasses. How do we create the balance?

First, we can’t make your show great by simply removing the bad stuff. We need to replace the bad content with more of the good stuff.

Have you ever tried to stop doing something? Smoking? Eating fast food? The secret is that you can’t stop something without replacing it with something else. Many people that try to stop smoking gain weight. Food replaces cigarettes.

There are four steps you can take to maintain a positive attitude and overtone in your podcast.

Positive Solutions

With your content, lead people to positive solutions. Start by identifying the negative. Then, replace those ideas with positive solutions. Show people better options. Give them help & hope.

Use Proper Planning

Know how to get to the good in the story and where you plan to go before you begin recording.

Review Your Show

Find the parts of your show where negativity appears. Then, determine how you could have lead the topic in a positive direction. Over time, you will become better getting to the positive during the show.

Stick To The Tough Work

The negativity trap is the easy path. Being positive is tough work. In the long run, it will be better for you and your listeners. Your audience will grow more slowly. However, it will be more loyal over the long run. Negativity wears out its welcome quickly. A positive attitude will help your podcast develop longevity.

The negativity trap is destructive to your podcast. It is unhealthy for you and your listeners. Being positive is hard work. Be confident, and stick to it. Over time, it will be better for your show. Help your listener find the positive in her life. Help her overcome her challenges and solve her problems. Lead her to better results. Positivity helps develop long-term success for your show.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Creating Podcast Avatars – PTC Episode 035

April 2, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 2 Comments

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Creating Podcast Avatars

Before you can create a great podcast with meaningful, powerful relationships, you need to define your target listener. Most podcasts decide they are focused on a niche and leave it at that. I hear, “My podcast is for entrepreneurs.” A broad category of listeners isn’t defined nearly well enough to help you focus your content.

When creating content, you will approach fans of the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League different than you would talk to fans of the New York Philharmonic. You will speak differently to young men in college than you would to grandmothers who enjoy knitting. When you define your target audience, you will define your strategy to reach that audience.

If you are creating a podcast around retirement, your target audience may be defined by gender and age, such as men in their early twenties or 50-year-old women. Their age is the commonality.

Your target audience could also be defined by a common passion. The podcast could cater to fans of Harley Davidson who ride at least 25,000 miles per year. Their fanaticism ties them together.

This episode walks you through your listener definition using the Podcast Talent Coach worksheet found online at PodcastTalentCoach.com.

This week, complete the worksheet to really define your avatar. I think you’ll be surprised how it helps shape your content.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. Please let me know how I might be of assistance. You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

More Podcast Engagement – PTC Episode 034

March 26, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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More Podcast Engagement – PTC Episode 034

A few notes this week …

A big thanks to Dave Jackson at The School of Podcasting for having me on his 400th episode. That was quite an honor. We had a lot of fun. Check it out when you have a minute.

The Podcast Talent Coach workbook is now available in paperback. The workbook will walk you step-by-step through my worksheets. You will gain a better understanding of the purpose behind each question and worksheet as you develop your content. Find it at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

I received an e-mail the other day that contained a question I’m asked quite often. For quite some time, I’ve tried to solve the problem myself. I’ve read books, listened to interviews, purchased products and reviewed tons of notes and articles I’ve collected over the years. The question? How do we create more engagement with our podcasts?

Before we jump into engagement, let’s review your checklist from last week. On the last episode, we discussed ways to sound more confident in your content. Your checklist included four items.

– Be yourself. Tell a story on your podcast this week that will reveal something about you.

– Do everything in your own style. Start by defining that style.

– Move beyond information by defining what is in it for your listener. Stir emotion.

– Review a past episode while actually listening like a listener.

Now that you have some time between posting the episode and reviewing it, this might be a good week to listen to your show like a listener. See if you actually accomplished all four points.

I hope the episode helped you and served you to create your podcast with more confidence.

Through all of my research and years of experience, I’ve discovered a few key steps to create interaction. This week, let’s cover 7 steps to create more engagement with your podcast.

1. Be A Storyteller For Success

As you create your podcast, become a great storyteller. Great storytellers create fans.

Stories help define your character and personality. You should always be yourself. It is difficult to play a character consistently and tell great stories. Your true feelings and identity will always be revealed in the stories you tell. If you are successful hiding your true self, you simply are not telling great stories. Vivid details and interesting points that stir emotions in your listeners can only come from your true feelings. Reveal your true character. Storytellers create raving fans.

2. Ask Them To Engage

How do you expect them to know you want them to be part of your show if you don’t ask?

Be sure to make your request specific. Tell your listener exactly what you want her to do.

3. Make It Easy To Engage

You may use social media, your website, an e-mail address, voicemail, or a number of other methods to reach you. Simplify it. Create one contact page on your website containing the info to avoid the need for a laundry list during your show. Then, always provide that one contact source. By using that one source, you also prevent your listener from getting caught in the decision paradox.

4. Focus On Helping Others

Zig Ziglar had many great quotes. One of my favorites is, “You can have anything you want in life just as long as you help enough other people get what they want in life.” How true that is.

Ziglar is a great example of helping people. His speeches always offer great tips to improve your life, sales or attitude. He also has great books, CDs and other products he sells. However, most of his time is spent on helping others. There is a lot of free Ziglar information available. He helps others and eventually sales come his way.

Get what you want out of life. Focus on helping others.

5. Make It About Them

If you want people to engage, there has to be something in it for them. Make them care.

6. Tease And Set Up The Next Episode

Prepare your audience to participate. Let them know the topic for next week. Then, ask them if they have a question about that particular topic. If you have a guest, ask if there is a question they would like you to ask. Michael Hyatt does a great job at this on his podcast “This Is Your Life“.

7.Thank Your Audience

Thanks for listening. I appreciate the help you give me.

It is such an easy way to strengthen your relationship with your audience. Your listeners have given you something they can never get back. That is their time.

Show your appreciation. A simple thank you will go a long way with your listener. If they know you are honestly grateful for their time, the chance they will listen again goes way up.

Your listener is your lifeblood. Without your listener you have no show. She has many, many choices when allocating her time. Let her know you appreciate her for spending her time with you.

… And thank you for stopping by. You have done a ton for me just by being here.

Next week we will discuss how to define your target audience better than the generic avatar you have now. We’ll get specific. If you have questions about that topic, head to www.PodcastTalentCoach.com to get your questions answered.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. Please let me know how I might be of assistance. You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

More Podcast Confidence – PTC Episode 033

March 19, 2014 Erik K. Johnson 1 Comment

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How To Develop More Podcast Confidence

Self-confidence is a battle we all face. Do you feel like you don’t belong amongst the best in your niche? Do you sometimes wish there was somebody that would give you that little boost of validation? Most recently, I received nearly the same question. How do I become comfortable as a speaker?

We have discussed this topic in the past on the Podcast Talent Coach podcast. In episode 012, I offered tips to become more comfortable with the timber and sound of your voice. This week, I would like to give you a few ideas to use to develop more confidence in your content.

I had a coaching call and received an e-mail in the past couple weeks that included this topic. Both podcasters were unsure of their speaking ability. They felt they may lack authority on their topic.

I had a coaching call with a gentleman who had recently launched a new podcast. His career to this point had involved public speaking and presenting. He was self-conscious of how he sounded on his podcast. He asked if he should get a voice coach.

The second question came in an e-mail.

“So far I have interviewed and recorded 3 people and when editing I’m realizing how much I hate my voice and because of that I feel unsure about putting anything out. Though the desire to podcast and be a liable presence is there is it possible to have a nervous sounding voice and still taken seriously? I don’t know why I sound so timid and unsure because these people I’m interviewing are so far of people I know but as soon as I press that record button my presence seems to change. Do you have any tips? I hope there is still a chance for me. I hope this is just a newbie problem and something that I can eventually overcome.”

We all face the inner critic. We are unsure how we can sound like an authority in our niche. What can we do to develop more confidence in ourselves as we create our content each and every week?

This week, we discuss four steps to become more comfortable & confident with your content.

BE YOURSELF

A great podcast is a great relationship. It is just like creating a great brand. In order to develop that solid relationship, you must be yourself. You can’t fake it.

When you try to be someone or something you are not, you will not sound authentic. Eventually, the truth will come out.

Have you ever met someone you had admired from afar, only to have them do something that didn’t fit with your image of them? Maybe it was a baseball player, or a movie star, or a politician or a musician. You met them with great expectations of an encounter with your hero only to find out they were rude and average. It turned out they were only being who they thought they should be for the public when really they were someone completely different in real life.

Everyone has their flaws. That is what makes them human. Howard Stern has flaws. He makes his flaws part of his show. Domino’s Pizza admitted the errors of their ways with their cheap, low quality pizza. They laid it out for the world to see in their marketing. Your listener will accept your flaws. They will feel like you are “one of them” when you admit your flaws upfront. Don’t be afraid to expose yourself.

When your listener discovers you are something other than the character you portray, the bond of trust will be demolished. Your relationship will be forever damaged.

Build a solid brand. Be yourself.

YOUR STYLE

Some of the greatest broadcasters didn’t start the ascension to the top until they abandoned the attempts to broadcast in the style they thought others desired and began being true to themselves.

All of these broadcasters made the decision to stop copying others. They all created shows that were true to their style.

Be true to yourself. It will make it easy to create everything you do in your style.

MOVE BEYOND INFORMATION

The goal of our podcasts is to create strong relationships with our audiences. We can take those relationships and move our listeners with a call to action. To achieve that strong relationship, we need to move beyond information to engaging entertainment.

Dan Miller, author of “48 Days To The Work You Love” could simply explain how you might find a new job. Instead, Dan instills the belief in his listeners that there is more to work than a paycheck. He stirs emotion describing how you can turn your passion into your career. Dan uses that emotion to turn his job finding information into engaging entertainment.

Financial information is turned into entertainment on “The Dave Ramsey Show” when Dave turns debt into the enemy. He doesn’t simply walk you through the steps to become debt free. Dave helps you find that burning desire to escape the shackles of debt. He makes you envision the possibility of “living like no one else”. His help becomes engaging entertainment. That is the reason his show is extremely popular and he is very wealthy.

Our shows can be powerful when we build relationships and move our listeners with a call to action. Those relationships happen when we move beyond information to engaging entertainment.

REVIEW YOUR SHOW

Review your show on a regular basis. Actually listen like a listener. That is the only way to improve.

Many hosts finish recording a show and think, “That was pretty good. What’s next?” They might recreate parts of the show in their head to determine what might make the show better next time. Usually, there isn’t much time spent actually reviewing a show. There are so many other duties to handle. It’s on to the next thing, which is probably editing, posting, and promoting the show.

In order to make your podcast better, you need to spend quality time listening to the show. Play it back. Grab a pad of paper and write down the parts that jump out at you. Jot down the “oh wow” moments. Take note of the sections that didn’t work exactly as you planned.

You will only find these moments when you listen like a listener. The show will sound much different to you when you listen back than it did as you were recording it. You will hear things you didn’t notice as you were focused on creating the content. Words that you overuse will suddenly become noticeable to you.

Once you have created the lists of good and not-so-good, create two more lists. First, determine how can you create more of the “oh wow” moments on the show. How might you incorporate into the show more of the great content that worked? Second, make a list of ways you can eliminate the parts that weren’t polished enough.

Get on the road to show improvement. Review your show on a regular basis.

To Do This Week

1. Be yourself. Tell a story on your podcast this week that will reveal something about you.

2. Do everything in your own style. Start by defining that style.

3. Move beyond information by defining what is in it for your listener. Stir emotion.

4. Review a past episode while actually listening like a listener.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Turn Your Podcast Into A Conversation – PTC Episode 030

February 26, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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TURN YOUR PODCAST INTO A CONVERSATION

PTC EPISODE 030

Let’s have a conversation. People want to feel part of the discussion and not like they are sitting in a lecture. How do you create that atmosphere on your podcast?

1. Talk to me, not at me

2. Treat your audience as an audience of one

3. Let your listener live vicariously through you

4. Use your regular voice

5. Do everything in your own style

Talk To Me, Not At Me

When you are podcasting, talk “to” your listener. Don’t talk “at” her. You are not announcing. You are having a personal conversation and building a relationship.

Podcasting is an intimate conversation with one person. The conversation is typically one person speaking into a microphone addressing another single individual. There may sometimes be hundreds of thousands of people listening. However, they are all listening by themselves. Even in an automobile with others listening via communal speakers, the members of the audience are listening by themselves in their own head. Each listener is developing their own unique, mental images.

Audience Of One

As you are creating your podcast, treat your audience like you are talking to each person individually. This is critical when creating a trusting relationship with your audience.

Unfortunately, radio personalities continued to address the listener as a group. ”It has always been done this way.” The disconnect began.

Nobody like to be lectured to. Data and facts get dull & boring. Engage by being conversational. Tell stories. This is a converstaion, not a lecture

Vicarious

Can I Be You?

Vicarious. Voyerism. Eavesdropping.

Those are three main reasons people listen to your podcast. Tell stories to help fulfill those desires.

Voyerism is a reason many people watch the shows they watch, listen to the stories they hear, or read the books they read. They want to experience the lives of others.

By telling great stories about your experiences, you help your audience fulfill the desire to live vicariously through you. If your show contains audio of your feats and experiences, you allow your audience to become the voyers they desire. When you interview people on your show, you allow your listener to eavesdrop on your conversation.

Tell stories of self-revelation. See where it takes you. You’ll be surprised how many people wish they could be you.

Use Your Regular Voice

The scoop is that fake announcer voice that you hear quite often. It’s like a slow start with a gradual build.

“Wwwwweeeelllllcome to the big show.”

It sounds like your voice is going up and down as if it is on a yo-yo.

Real people don’t talk like that. You are trying to build trusting relationships with your audience. You want to sound real and authentic.

Don’t let your voice bounce like a ball. You can be excited and enthusiastic. You can also be real and natural at the same time. Just be yourself.

When the inflection of your voice bounces up and down, you will find it difficult to truly engage your listener. Be real. Avoid the scoop.

Create Everything In Your Style

Some of the greatest broadcasters didn’t start the ascension to the top until they abandoned the attempts to broadcast in the style they thought others desired and began being true to themselves.

All of these broadcasters made the decision to stop copying others. They all created shows that were true to their style.

Be true to yourself. It will make it easy to create everything you do in your style.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

More Podcast Listener Interaction – PTC Episode 029

February 19, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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MORE PODCAST LISTENER INTERACTION – EPISODE 29

Many podcasters ask me how to get more listener interaction with their show. How can you get more listener feedback and comments? We need to transform your information into engaging entertainment. When your content is engaging, people take notice and take action. If you want your listeners to interact more with your show, make your content engaging.

When you tell stories on your podcast, you reveal things about yourself. Vivid details are critical elements of great storytelling. You are creating theater of the mind. Draw pictures in the mind of your listener.

Details are more believable than generalities.

Details reveal specifics about your thoughts, beliefs and character.

Details put your listener in the moment helping them envision your story in their mind.

Garrison Keillor, in one of his “Stories From Lake Wobegon”, describes a woman who endures crushing loneliness and town gossip. Keillor says, “She got into bed with a dying man – so she could sing ‘Abide With Me’ in his good ear”. You can see the details in your mind. Envision the man’s hearing aid. Can you hear the song? There are so many details in that sentence, many of which aren’t even described.

Lake Wobegon is a fictitious place, yet is believable due to the details. The story details reveal what Keillor finds amusing. The story is also vivid enough that you can see it in your mind.

That’s the wonderful thing about audio. Everyone sees their own personal, mental images in their own way. Those differences add to the enjoyment and entertainment of the story. Each listener can enjoy the unspoken details in their own way. They are not at the mercy of the interpretation of a movie director.

Tell great stories. Use vivid details. What did you reveal today?

1. Tell me great stories

I’m not simply talking about your integrity. By character, I mean all of the attributes that create you, as in character in a play.

The purpose of your show is to attract an audience. Whether you want to monetize that relationship, encourage a call-to-action, or simply create an audience for your ideas, creating the audience is where you begin.

The stories you choose to tell reveal how open you are to others. Your openness is a sign of trust. Trust is a big piece of a relationship. Reveal things about yourself through your stories and you’ll begin to build trust with your listener.

Foster a relationship with your listener by revealing things about yourself through stories. Stories will define your character.

2. Put your audience in the story

If you truly want to engage your listener, put her in your story. This doesn’t mean create a fictitious part of your story where she becomes a fake character. Include details that are so vivid that your listener feels like she is right there in the moment. Stir the passion within your listener with great emotion.

You have probably seen a movie like “Silence of the Lambs” where you completely lose awareness of your surroundings as you’re sucked into the scene. It may have been a movie like “Casablanca” where they say goodbye at the very end. Those are two great stories that put you right there in the moment.

Stories told by great storytellers do the same thing. Garrison Keillor is probably one of the best storytellers of our time. When listening to this story, you can see the guy Keillor describes in a few short seconds. He includes great lines like, “… In the midst of drinking a Bombardier at the Moonlight Bay Supper Club and she’d gone off with him to the Romeo Motel.” The story is short, yet the details are vivid.

If you can create details so vivid that your listeners can almost feel them, you can truly put her in the story. Your listener will be fully engaged. That is where information becomes entertainment. Strengthen your relationship with your listener at every opportunity. Put the audience in the story.

Create a movie and put your listener in it

3. Make them forget they are listening to a podcast

When your audience is listening to your podcast, make them forget they are listening to a recording. Take them to another place. Make your storytelling so strong that their imaginations put your listener in another time and place. That’s what great storytelling is all about. That’s what great relationships are all about.

People seek entertainment to escape from reality. They want entertainment like movies, concerts, television, radio and podcasts to make them forget about all of their problems. Entertainment that succeeds will take the audience member to some other place and time.

When you record your podcast, you need to create that wonderful theater of the mind. It doesn’t matter if you’re reading fiction or talking about gardening, put your audience in the moment. Make your listener forget they are listening to a recording.

4. Intrigue & Suspense

What will happen next?

The evening news does a wonderful job at teasing. Create anticipation. Tease me.

5. Use active language

Your details should contain active language. Words like walking, carrying, and eating are current tense. They create images in your mind. You can see a clown walking. If I am telling a story about a clown that walked, using the past tense, it is more difficult to envision in your mind. It already happened. He isn’t doing it anymore. I can see walking. I can’t see walked.

When you use active language, your story comes to life. Use rich, vivid words that will draw fantastic pictures in the minds of your audience. “The old man, small and fragile, came slowly walking into the art shop gingerly carrying the tattered, leather-bound, black-and-white photo album he had been saving from his depression-era childhood.” You can see the old man. Active language paints those photos.

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Confidence To Begin A Podcast – PTC Episode 027

February 5, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Confidence To Begin A Podcast

I’m Erik K. Johnson, founder of Podcast Talent Coach. I help people refine their content to transform their information into engaging entertainment so that they can convert their podcast audience into powerful, profitable relationships.

Have you ever struggled with your confidence to launch or record an episode of your podcast? Have you worried that you were just pretending to know what you’re doing? That someone might find out that you didn’t really belong amongst the podcast professionals?

I’ve been there. I was at that point when I started in broadcasting. While in college getting my degree in architecture, I became a party DJ to make some extra cash. Music had always been a big part of my life. I had been a musician since I was 11. However, I had wanted to be an architect since 6th grade. Getting my architecture degree was never in question.

Around my junior year of architecture school, I started becoming disenchanted with the field. It was then that I picked up a part time summer job at a radio station where my brother worked. Just to make some extra cash. As my passion for architecture waned, my passion for radio grew. Next thing you know, I’m taking classes in the College of Journalism and becoming the music director of the college radio station.

My music director position at the college station turned into another part time commercial radio job. That position eventually became full time.

Architecture was still part of my life. I was nearly done with my degree and didn’t want to throw it all away at that point. So, I finished my degree in architecture and continued to work in radio. Oddly enough, my only architecture job came while I was still in high school.

When I began in radio, the impostor syndrome heavily kicked in. I had an architecture background. What right did I have to be on the radio? Who was I to think I was in a position to be amongst these radio guys who had been doing it for many, many years and had paid their dues. I felt like I was playing dress up and pretending to be one of them. It took me years to get over that and build the confidence to perform on a daily basis.

After doing it for 25 years, I got to the point where I was programming multiple radio stations at the same time. Some of those station were recognized with national awards from the National Association of Broadcasters. The stations ranked #1 quite often. My own show was regularly #1. I built the confidence within myself to deliver content that was compelling and connected with my audience.

When I launched my podcast, I quickly went back to the beginning. The impostor syndrome kicked in again. Who was I to think I could build a successful podcast amongst these greats that had been doing it for years? Dave Jackson at the School of Podcasting has been podcasting since 2005. I’m just starting. How can I possibly think I belong in the same arena as Dave?

Then, I started thinking about my story. I had been here before. That helped me shake the impostor syndrome and put out my content.

That’s what I want to help you do. I want to be that cheerleader for you if you don’t have the history that I have to overcome that little voice inside your head doubting your ability. You can do it. You belong. You have just as much authority on your opinion as anyone. Let’s get it out to the world.

It is fairly simple to set up a mic, mixer and laptop, load up some software and record some audio. Setting up a website with WordPress, creating a Libsyn account and posting a show isn’t very complicated. Even if you are not very technically savvy, there are great people like Dave Jackson and the School of Podcasting that can help you with every step along the way. He even has a great class at www.HowToPodcast.com. You’ll have a podcast launched in 6 weeks.

Creating the platform is only the first step. Creating great content is up to you. Your content isn’t something you can outsource. You need to find the confidence to put your thoughts and feelings out into the world.

How do I bootstrap to begin? Make it simple. Get an inexpensive microphone, like a $60 ATR-2100 or a $99 Blue Yetti. Pick up an inexpensive mixer like a $99 Yamaha 4-channel. Get a free WordPress site. Create a Libsyn account for $15 a month. You’ll need a computer and some free Audacity software. If you already have a laptop, you’re up and running for under $200. Again, Dave Jackson has a whole list of recommendations for you at www.SchoolOfPodcasting.com. I leave the technical stuff up to him.

My goal is to transform your content and beef up your confidence.

So, how do you define your niche? Will anybody really care? It is easy for the impostor syndrome to sneak in here. Your internal impostor will tell you nobody cares about that topic. Your niche is too small and nobody will come. You’ll be talking to yourself.

Fight it. Your niche size doesn’t matter as much as the passion of the niche community. If you have a group of people that are passionate about and loyal to a particular subject, run with it.

The more narrowly you target your niche the better. If you are interested in fishing, pick a small niche. If you love fly fishing, but create your show around fishing in general, you will find it tough to build loyalty. If your show is only on fly fishing, you will primarily attract those interested in fly fishing. The niche is smaller than fishing in general. However, every show will be of interest to your audience.

If your show is “The Fishing Show” and all about fishing, you’ll be hit and miss. One week you talk about fly fishing. The next week you discuss deep sea fishing. Now, you fly fisher friends only get what they seek on occasion. You aren’t catering specifically to them. People will only check our your show now and then. You will find it difficult to build a passionate tribe.

The audience for “The Fishing Show” looks like a bigger audience than “The Fly Fishing Show”. But, it is deceiving. The passion lies in the niche.

Be confident in your topic. You will start slowly. But, it will grow. Stay the course.

How do you get ready? How do you overcome the pre-launch jitters? Planning your podcast will help relieve a bit of the anxiety. If you know where you’re going, you can stay focused on the goal and fight through the self doubt. Plan your show before you begin.

Let’s discuss the 5 Speech class basics and how they pertain to your show.

1. Lead with a provocative point – capture their attention right at the beginning.

2. Dazzle with details – make the story come to life.

3. Take the first exit – Get out when you have the first opportunity.

4. Don’t repeat yourself and overstay your welcome – In talk radio, it’s called the call circle.

5. Include a call to action – this is the whole reason you’re doing a podcast and creating a tribe.

Have confidence in your content. Fight the impostor syndrome. Do all you can to push forward and get your content out.

When you plan your show, it makes it easier to stay focused on the goal. Know what you hope to communicate on this episode. Lay out how you plan to communicate that information. Then, define your intro, details and exit. Define your call-to-action and determine where you plan to incorporate it into the show.

Now, all you need to do is record the show and post it for the world to hear. The more work you do ahead of recording, the easier it is to believe in yourself while the show is rolling. Remember, because it is fun is the main reason you are podcasting. Enjoy the process.

This week, plan your show.

Determine the topics for the show.

Lay out your intro, details and conclusion for each topic.

Define your call-to-action.

You can find a free show prep sheet online at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let me know how I can help. E-mail me at anytime at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Tell the truth, make it matter and have fun.

Podcast

Podcast Brand Positioning – PTC Episode 025

January 22, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Podcast Brand Positioning – PTC 025

At NMX 2014 in Las Vegas at the beginning of January, I discovered a ton of great podcasts and met many new, fantastic people. Here are a few of the new podcasts I’ve been enjoying lately.

“The Feed” with Elsie Escobar, Libsyn’s podcast
“Unpodcast” with Scott Stratten & Alison Kramer
“Penn’s Sunday School” with Penn Jillette
“Fat-Burning Man” with Abel James
“The Solopreneur Hour” with Michael O’Neal
“Beyond the To Do List” with Erik J. Fisher
“Podcast 411” with Rob from Libsyn

As I was listening to new podcasts, I heard one particular show get concerned over a critical review he received from anonymous individual. I understand podcasters are concerned with reviews. Your show is your art. It is your baby they are calling ugly.

Please remember, one listener is such a small percentage of your overall listenership. There will always be somebody critical of you and your point of view. If you have 100 listeners, that is only 1% of your audience.

If you have people commenting one way or the other, positively or negatively, at least you are making them care. Trying to ride the fence is a lonely place. Stir some emotion.

Your firm dedication to your position is critical for your brand. Stand for something. Politicians aren’t trusted, because they constantly change their mind.

Be concrete in your beliefs. If you love something, shout it from the rooftops. If you really dislike something, be open about it. Either way, stand your ground for the health of your brand.

On the show this week, we discuss …

7 Ways To Protect The Positioning Of Your Podcast Brand

1. Talk about what you care about – Find topics that excite you

2. Show prep – Know your position

3. Have a goal for every episode – When listening to “Smart Passive Income” with Pat Flynn, Pat said podcasters and speakers should always ask, “What transformation do you hope to have happen for your audience?”

4. Make it interesting by being interested – Even with guests

5. Don’t take the first idea, work a topic

Various things to do with a topic
Doesn’t always have to be an interview
Parody song, skit, long form report with natural sound (experience), demonstration

6. Never be boring – Do something unexpected

7. Have a strategy – Not only what you hope to accomplish, but how to accomplish & how it affects the brand.

Shout out to Kathy Kelly at “Special Mouse” podcast. The show is described as “Disney parks and travel planning for guests with a wide variety of health issues and special needs.” www.SpecialMouse.com.

Mario from www.210LocalMedia.com. This show is described as “Art, music, film & entertainment around San Antonio, Texas.”

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.

Podcast

Creating Powerful, Podcast Relationships – PTC Episode 022

January 1, 2014 Erik K. Johnson Leave a comment

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Creating Powerful, Podcast Relationships

It has been said may times before. People do business with people they know, like and trust.

To make your podcast successful, you must create meaningful, powerful relationships with your listeners.

In this episode, we review five of the many ways to improve and foster your listener relationships.

Their Voice Will Always Be More Meaningful

One major purpose of your podcast is to foster relationships with your listeners. Many podcasters use e-mail, texts, tweets and posts to interact with their audience. The podcast host typically reads these on the air.

Unfortunately, using these methods of communication puts distance between you and your listener. (read more)

Assume Your Listener Is New

The opening of your podcast should explain the purpose of your podcast and let your listeners know exactly what to expect as if this is the first time they have ever heard the show.

A well-crafted introduction serves two purposes.

First, it tells the brand new listener who is hearing the show for the very first time exactly what to expect from the show. Second, those that have heard the show before are confident that they are in the right place.

Your audience size is always changing. It is either growing or shrinking. The direction of the movement is your choice. Always work to grow your audience.

Your show will always lose listeners for various reasons. Sometimes they no longer have a use for your content. Sometimes other shows take the place of your show. Maybe they got a new phone and simply didn’t subscribe again. The size of your audience is always changing.

Since listeners are always moving through the “out” door, you need to continuously work to bring listeners through the “in” door. Always work to find new listeners.

As new listeners constantly join your show, treat each episode like it is your first, because it could be the first episode for your listeners.

Your Listeners Deserve a “Thank You”

Thanks for listening. I appreciate the help you give me.

It is such an easy way to strengthen your relationship with your listener. Time is something your listener will never get back. She has just chosen to give it to you.

Show your appreciation. If your listeners know you are honestly grateful for their time, you begin to strengthen your relationship. The relationship is a two-way street.

You must be honest and authentic. You can’t thank them in a gas-station-attendant-I’ll-never-see-you-again kind of way. You must deliver it from the heart. It should be the kind of thank you that you would give a stranger who stopped to help when you ran out of gas.

Your listener is your lifeblood. Your audience is the reason you exist. Without your listener you have no show. She has many, many choices when allocating her time. Let her know you appreciate her for spending her time with you.

Thank you for giving me your time. You have done a ton for me just by being here. I truly appreciate you.

You vs. Me

Great marketing is like a mirror. It is a reflection of the customer, not of the company. Great products that use great marketing are focused on the needs, wants and desires of their customers. To make turn your podcast into a great brand, focus on your listener and not on yourself.

Scheels had a great commercial for their snowboarding gear. The commercial was completely focused on the lifestyle of the snowboarder. (read more)

Be On Their Level

When you’re creating a relationship with someone, you never want to act as if you are better or above the other person. Even if your position allows you opportunities that your counterpart may not receive, you must be humble about those experiences. People like other people who are similar to themselves.

Take the approach of “I’ve been there and know what you’re going through.” You will empathize with your listener. When you come off like “I know everything”, you appear condescending. Nobody likes a know-it-all.

Show respect for your listener and her problems.

Because I am on the radio, I often get the incredible opportunity to meet many musicians. If I were to brag about these fantastic experiences, I would appear arrogant. It would sound as if I believe I was better than you. You probably wouldn’t find it easy to like me much.

Maintain your humility. Keep yourself on the same level as your audience. If you have an opportunity to interview someone famous, be as honored and excited as your listener would be.

You are building a relationship with your listener. Be likable. Be on the same level as your audience.

————

I’d like to thanks Andrew Hellmich and John Hames for their questions included in the show this week.

Find Andrew Photo Biz Xposed. CLICK HERE

Find John at Sound Commentary. CLICK HERE

I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.

You can also find FREE worksheets and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.

Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.