Tag Archives: promotion

The Power Of Public Relations – PTC 352

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There are a variety of ways to bring listeners to your podcast and clients to your business. However, many people confuse marketing, advertising, promotion and public relations.

There is a difference between the four. Yes, you need to use all four. However, understanding the difference is critical.

MARKETING

When I got my masters in business administration at the University of Nebraska, we took a marketing class. As I was going into it, I thought marketing was advertising. I thought they were one and the same.

The first night of class, our professor asked, “What is marketing?”

We started answering with advertising. Then that expanded to promoting.

As she kept asking clarifying questions, we kept expanding the definition.

What about your logo? How about interviews?

By the end of the discussion, we had the definition. Marketing is the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.

Therefore, marketing is the overall process. It encompasses everything it takes to bring your product or service to market. Once you have your “thing”, how do you get people to buy it?

Your marketing includes everything from branding to advertising. It also includes design, packaging, research, advertising and public relations.

That means anything you do to promote and sell your products and services is included in marketing.

ADVERTISING

Now if that is the definition of marketing, then advertising is a subset of marketing. Advertising is the activity or profession of producing advertisements for commercial products or services.

These are typically the ads you buy. Advertising involves an exchange of money or something of value for the exposure of your product or service.

You benefit with the exposure. The other party benefits by receiving financial gain.

PROMOTION

Promotion is typically free exposure. This part of marketing usually involves leg work. You hustle and get exposure.

The definition of promotion is the publicization of a product, organization, or venture so as to increase sales or public awareness. You get in front of people and publicize your stuff.

That means promotion is usually the exploitation of opportunity. It could involve holding up a sign in front of a TV camera at a rally. And promotion could also be handing out flyers at a conference.

This form of marketing also includes your activity on social media. You are doing the work and getting noticed.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

The other way to get exposure is through public relations. How does this differe from the first three?

No money is exchaged. Both parties typically benefit by the arrangement.

Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.

When you give an interview to another podcast or media outlet, you benefit by the exposure. The other party also benefits with the content. It is a mutually beneficial relationship.

Many people think public relations, or PR, is simply sending out news releases to media organizations. It is so much more than that. It is all about relationships with other influencers.

ABIGAIL SINCLAIRE

Abigail Sinclaire is the founder and CEO of Human Network Connection. She is hired by Entrepreneurs and Virtual Media Hosts to skyrocket their impact and income. Abigail helps these pro through interviews and collaborations that reach a wider audience and generate multiple streams of income.

Abigail joins us on the show today to show us how to leverage public relations to grow our podcast audience and build our business.

You can sign up for the Celestial Starprenuer PR Audit Call with Abigail. Combine your Public Relations with Collaborative Partnerships that will elevate your presence, generate more income, and expand your business. You can grab your call at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/PR.

If you don’t have a mentor who can take your hand and walk you every step of the way, go to www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/apply, click the button and apply to have a chat with me. We will develop your plan and see how I can help and support you to achieve your podcast goals.

Increase Podcast Downloads With One Strategy Change – PTC 296

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How do you increase your podcast downloads? That is the magic question. It seems everyone is asking. It also seems everyone has the magic answer. Unfortunately, many podcasts are trying to increase downloads with a flawed plan.

Today, I want to help you adjust your strategy in a way that will help you amplify your download growth in a big way.

LET ME INTERVIEW YOU

First, I’d like to interview you. Would you be interested in having me introduce you to the audience of this show?

I’m looking to interview you if you have used your podcast to attract your ideal clients and grow your business. I want to help you learn by bringing you real life examples of using your podcast as part of your business plan.

If you are interested, send me an e-mail at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. I cannot interview everyone. So, tell me what would make you a great interview and we can talk about it to see if it makes sense.

Let’s talk about the growth of your podcast downloads.

BE REALISTIC

First, be realistic. The number of podcast downloads isn’t huge for many podcasts.

Let’s go back to math class. Do you remember the difference between median and mean?

Mean is the average. Add up all points and divide the total number of points.

Median is the middle. Stack them up smallest to largest. The median is the one right in the middle. There are 50% higher than the median and 50% lower.

I like median much better. The number isn’t as easily skewed by outliers. If you have 5 shows that have downloads of 50, 100, 250, 400 and 2,000, your mean or average would be 560. Add them up and get 2,800. Divide by 5 and get 560.

Now, 560 isn’t quite representative of those podcast downloads of 50, 100, 250, 400 and 2,000. 4 of those 5 podcasters would feel like they aren’t as good as everyone else.

The median is the middle number. When you put them in order of 50, 100, 250, 400 and 2,000, your median or middle number is 250. That is a more realistic representation of those downloads. 4 of those podcasts are much closer to 250 than 560.

Bunch of numbers, but let’s compare apples to apples. Don’t let a few big podcasts make you feel inferior.

THE REAL DATA

Rob Walch at Libsyn releases real download data from all podcasts hosted by Libsyn. This data will give you a realistic view of how your podcast compares to all other podcasts on Libsyn.

On Episode 172 of Libsyn’s The Feed podcast, Rob presented his monthly report for May 2020.

This data is based on episodes on Libsyn released in the month of May 2020. Podcast downloads are measured from the time of release in May to the end of June 2020. The average time each episode had been available was 45 days.

The median podcast downloads for each episode in this sample is 120. That was down from April 2020 mark of 123 downloads per episode.

This means if at the end of June your May episode had 120 downloads, you were better than half of the pool. Half of the podcasts also had more downloads than your show.

120 is the number. Not 7,000. Not 4,500. In fact, if you had 1,000 downloads per episode, you were better than 80% of the podcasts available on Libsyn.

This number has been declining over the years. There are a lot of new podcasts. Therefore, the median continues to decline as the new shows try to find an audience.

PATIENCE

The second thing I want you to do is be patient. Your downloads will not grow overnight. This takes time.

I know we live in an instant gratification society. We want to microwave everything and have it now.

Weight loss doesn’t work this way. Podcast download growth doesn’t work this way either. It takes time.

You should keep your head down and work for about a year on growing your podcast downloads before you start checking the stats.

I was talking with a client this week and he was getting frustrated with his slow growth. His numbers weren’t growing.

He has been doing the show less than 6 months. He has just over 20 episodes. And, he checks his download every day or two.

This is like stepping on the scale to check your weight everyday. The scale isn’t moving. You won’t see big jumps.

This is like watching your tomato plants grow. If you check on them every hour, nothing happens. If you check on them once a week, you see some change.

Give you podcast downloads time to grow before you start checking the stats. Just keep your head down and do the work. Trust that it is working.

If you can’t wait a year, make it 6 months. Just don’t check it all the time expecting the needle to show big growth. Grow slowly and be comfortable with that.

FIND YOUR PODCAST DOWNLOADS

So, how do you find those downloads?

I was on a podcast strategy call with a podcaster the other day. These strategy calls are free for you. I help you design a podcast strategy for the next year. If you would like to sign up, go to PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching.

So, I was on a call with this guy and we were talking about his goals. My first questions is always, “Where do you want to be a year from now?”

His goal was to grow his downloads. We determined where he is now and where he wants to be in 12 months.

Then, we talked about the activities he is trying right now. He told me he was posting it on his social media and sending out an e-mail to his list every time he published an episode.

And there lies the problem. Those people already know about him and his podcast. He is preaching to the choir. Those 2 activities are not going to attract new listeners to his show.

Here is the strategy for you. If you want to grow your downloads, get in front of people who are not aware of you or your show, yet want what you have to offer.

THE FORMULA

The Podcast Talent Coach Formula for building a successful podcast consists of 3 stages: Promotion, Programming and Personality.

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.

The promotion of your show creates the awareness.

Your programming creates great content that attracts people to the show.

When you add your personality to the information, the content becomes unique and keeps people coming back. It is not enough to simply bring people to the show. You need to keep them listening. In Episode 286, we discussed Personality.

Let’s talk about promotion. How can you get in front of people who love what you love, but are not aware of you or your show?

Get on “stages” to get in front of new audiences. This is how you get exposure.

Don’t get scared of “stages”. I don’t mean only actual live stages giving speeches in front of a live audience. That is only one piece of it.

By “stages”, I mean any time you can speak to an audience.

STAGES

Here are five different types of stages that can help you get in front of a new crowd and increase your downloads.

The first makes most sense for you. That is podcasts. Find ways you can get on other podcasts in your niche.

Look for podcasts in the niche that do something complimentary to you. If you have a weight loss podcast and focus on healthy eating, find a podcast on exercises. If you have a business podcast that focuses on courses, find a podcast that is centered around product launches.

The next is newsletters. If you are sending out a newsletter, highlight someone in your niche in exchange for them highlighting you in their newsletter. Help each other grow.

EVENTS

Summits are a great way to demonstrate your authority in front of a new audience. Summits are like online conferences. There are usually a group of speakers that present over a number of days.

When you present on a summit, you can teach and help people grow. You can often tell them how to find you and your show. Replays are also often available for those who sign up for the summit.

The fourth ways is a to crowdsource an episode. Get a few experts to share ideas on your episode. Then, get those experts to share the episode. Rather than an interview, all experts answer the same questions or teach a solution to the same problem.

The final way to get in front of new listeners is virtual events. These could be networking events, conferences, presentations and other events like these.

Look for many of these online. Just do a search with your niche. For example, I would search for podcast summit, coaching conference and online business networking. There are many ways to find these.

For the podcasts, newsletters and crowdsourcing, you simply need to connect with podcasters in your niche. Reach out and ask, “Can we have a chat to see how we might help each other?”

CONNECT FOR PODCAST DOWNLOADS

Remember to connect when you get in front of this new audience. You want them to come back to your material.

If your goal is to grow your downloads, get them to listen to your show. Ideally, you would capture their e-mail address. Then ask them to listen with a nurture sequence where they get to know you.

Offer something for free with an opt-in. Use that opportunity to grow the relationship.

Remember to also show them your personality. This is what makes you unique.

This promotion will make them aware of you. Your programming makes them say, “That sounds like something that would benefit me – I’ll check it out.”

Your personality grows your relationship and keeps them coming back.

Let’s get on a call and work out your strategy to grow your downloads. Apply at PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching. No charge. We’ll just see what we can develop for you and your show.

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.

The 3 Secrets to Grow Your Podcast Audience – PTC 286

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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 22nd, 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 22nd, 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.

Why Your Podcast Promotion Does Not Work

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Have you ever struggled balancing content creation and podcast promotion? We all want to grow our audience. How do we increase those downloads? Focus.

I was working with a client the other day. He spends a lot of his time during the week creating his podcast and working with clients. However, his goal is to grow his show.

When you’re creating a business around your podcast, even if it is a side hustle, it feels like there is an endless amount of stuff to do.

When you don’t have structured time to do something, it expands to the allotted amount of time. That is where your flexible hours create an issue.

There needs to be time when you work “on” your business.

Michael Gerber’s “The E-Myth Revisited” lays this out perfectly.

First, determine the activities that actually drive downloads. This could include online activity in social media, marketing to your list or other activities that get you noticed.

Then, determine the actions that drive your business. Who are your ideal clients? What type of clients make up the top 20% that drive 80% of your business? It is the Pareto Principle. Figure out how to reach those people.

Now that you know the activities that attract listeners, and you know the activities that grow your business, find a day you can dedicate to those activities.

Dedicate time for driving business.

Define the time. Then fill it. You can’t budget your money until you know how much money is there. It is the same with your time. You cannot budget your time until you know how much time you have to work with.

 

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.