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This post is part of an ongoing series that is based on the ebook 'Top 21 marketing methods for membership websites published by The Subscription Coach Amanda Northcutt.
Download the whole series as an ebook >
Create your own podcast
The process of starting your own podcast is an immense undertaking, and your capacity to go the plan week after each week is something to consider before making a decision. Many membership site owners struggle with the decision to begin a podcast, or not because just like your SEO method is a marathon not a sprint.
The marketplace for podcasts is inundated at this point, but If you focus deep within your niche, you're likely to build a significant number of fans who will be qualified members for your site over time. The creation of your own show is one of the best ways for you to connect with influencers as well as to be one of them!
You must make a 12-18 month commitment to release 1-2 podcasts each week, to give this marketing channel an opportunity to succeed. It's almost the polar opposite of creating a short Facebook campaign that's easily measured over a brief period of time. As with other kind of content I suggest recording your episodes in batches of 4-10 minutes in one session to ensure you don't have to work every week, or multiple times a week to produce the same episode.
Podcasting is among the most personal ways you can connect with potential customers on every level Sometimes, greater than writing the word. Be attentive to your viewers. Be empathetic and show that you understand their struggles and can solve it: your membership!
The topics you cover in your podcast should attract people with the ability to grow into powerful users of your membership site. Everyone else is irrelevant. Similar to other efforts to market Casting a broad net will attract unqualified prospects that will clutter your mailing list or, worse yet, get churned out quickly. It is also important to stay in a narrow, deep area of expertise is essential to your successful results.
Do not fool yourself into believing that the number of episode downloads is the most important metric you need to track, either. What questions should you be asking yourself in order to gauge whether your business is succeeding include: Are listeners following my CTA and getting into my funnel for marketing? Are new members citing my podcast as the reason they signed up or how they first heard about me? Is the authority I'm building by my show helping establish relations and build trust with the influentials in my field? Do I use my podcast as a way to build relationships with others through having appropriate guests on my show?
Promote your podcast to your existing email lists, members via your social channels and influential people. Podcasts should be a thoughtful part of your strategy for content marketing, though because it's such an enormous undertaking, it's worthy of its own category in my top 21 list.
The podcast you host could be an effective instrument in your marketing. Don't get started until you're able to keep it going. It's a good idea to consider the alternative thing to hosting your podcast is to maintain continuous presence on podcasts of other hosts.
Be a podcast guest
The principles that govern guest blogging could be used here pretty seamlessly. Anyone who has committed to hosting podcasts of their own are confronted with the same content production task that bloggers do. If you reach out to the best hosts using the proper approach will likely result in the granting of a number of great guest spots and help ease the burden of hosts.
And, if you do have your own show, being a guest to other podcasts can enhance your results with your podcast. For all we know, people who listen to podcasts, listen to...podcasts.
However, regardless of whether you host an own show or not, you must always add the CTA when you have an opportunity to guest. CTAs might be for downloading your lead magnet, to offer a discount on the cost of your membership, or a brief review, or something else that's relevant to your site. If you own your own podcast, certainly encourage listeners to the podcast(s) where you are guests to sign up to yours as well.
Begin by making some podcasts in which you could provide value and insight for the listeners. They will be likely to be industry influencers' podcasts that have an audience similar to the target market. Podcasts hosted by guest hosts can be part of your organic influencer marketing strategy.
Do not make the error in reaching out the hosts with 100,000 subscribers first. Beginning small, you can gain knowledge and build a CV, and begin to climb the influencer ladder.
The email you send to an outreach host should include some praise for them, your qualifications for you (in an honest manner) as well as examples of other podcasts you've been to and/or links to your own blog posts and YouTube channel. Perhaps the topics you'd love to speak about in the interview.
Do not quit even if you're rejected. If you are rejected by an influential person in your field in the first, second or even the third time, go to the section on organic influencers here to try to build social capital with them prior to attempting another time.