How to build a profitable podcast.
The secret to getting more downloads for your podcast FAST... is to unlock access to the people that listen to your podcast guests. Here're 11 ways to do this...
Podcast guests are great...
They introduce your audience to a whole new perspective, can entertain and inspire. We all know that.
That said, few podcasters maximise the true value of their guests. This is post aims to change that.
Over the past five years, our team has worked with HUNDREDS podcasters and thousands of guests... we've seen partnerships made, deals closed and lifelong friendships formed through podcast interviews.
We also surveyed the bCaster community: Profitable Podcasts and have come up with the biggest and best list of methods you can use to get more from your guests.
So read through and choose JUST one to implement with your next guest... you never know what may happen ;)
This is now widely accepted in the podcast space... you jump on a podcast as a guest, you share afterwards.
This immediately gets you, your business and your podcast exposed to the audience of that guest. bCast will send each guest an email when the episode goes live with share links to the major social platforms.
If you don't use bCast... do this yourself and remember to follow up ;)
This is a no-brainer.
If your podcast is going to thrive in the coming months and years, you need to get better.
You get better by:
A REALLY good way to understand what to improve is to get honest feedback from the people that have experienced your podcast process — your guests.
You want to ask:
If you do this with every guest, soon your podcast will be a will oiled, lead generating, attention machine :)
This is more rare...
Your site will only rank in Google for keywords if you get other relevant and authoritative sites in your niche to link to you. And who better than your podcast guests?
There are two ways we can do this:
If they don't do either of these, then offer to link from an article of yours, with them linking back to your interview from an article of theirs.
And BOOM — you're getting a backlink with each episode.
This is a simple one.
Good guests will know other good guests, it's as simple as asking the guest post interview if they know anyone they think would be a good fit. Then you just reach out to the new person saying:
"X mentioned that you would be an awesome podcast guest... shall I share more info? ;)
The ninja trick here is to include the referral IN THE INTERVIEW itself with a question like:
Who is one person within [[podcast niche]] that you would LOVE to take to lunch?
And now, you can reach out to that person asking them to be a guest AND share the interview in which they are featured.
Personal intros are effective.
They essentially say:
This person is safe to work with, I approve of them.
And this can be MASSIVE in sales process. Your competitor may be bigger, better funded and have a better brand than you. But if they don't have an intro, you'll be the first to get the meeting.
So if there is someone within the network or business of your guest, don't be afraid to simply ask:
Hey, would you be happy to introduce me to X? It would be great to talk to him about Y.
When you're in the post podcast interview love bubble, this request will get a 90% success rate.
This is the holy grail.
We've had Fame clients start a podcast with us and have their first guest reach out asking to buy their product:
Obviously that is the ideal set up, but most of the time it doesn't happen like that — you need to seamlessly move your guests down that process.
How?
Well first we must ask... what is a VERY low commitment and relevant step that you can take with your guest towards solving their problem post interview?
Note that I say... only if they have a problem you can solve. If they don't have a problem you can solve then there is no point in trying to sell to them.
This could be:
Anything that adds value but will also move the guest down through your sales process, it must be:
If you do this right, and you add value with this step — you will be one step closer to converting from guest, to customer.
Now not every podcast guest will be a perfect customer.
But what I can say is that most guests will be either a perfect customer or a perfect partner. E.g. they will either be able to buy your product or will have an audience or a network of people that could buy your product.
So if they have the latter, the same process as #6 applies — what is the next step you need to take with them to forming a partnership with the guest?
The guest may:
Normally the next step post interview is to set up another chat to see how you could help each other...
Now if you don't want to move a guest down the sales or partnership process - the least you can do is maybe get their feedback on what you're trying to do right?
For this, simply ask the guest post interview for 15 minutes of their time so you can ask them a few questions about your niche and for them to review your product/service.
80% will agree and you never know... if your product truly solves a problem they have, they may even move into the sales process anyway ;)
This is a no-brainer.
We advise clients and bCast users to create a community around their podcast:
It's great to bring the guests in there to answer questions about their episode to add more value to your audience.
Maybe the guests will get elevated status in the community, such as a Moderator in a Facebook Group or you will link out to their content from the pinned post.
Few people use this one...
But when you are trying to book a guest you are selling. You are selling them your audience and exposure and you are buying their time.
And when you normally sell something, you normally include a testimonial from someone else that has bought... right?
So why not do this with your guests?
Again, remember when you reach out to a guest to bring them onto your podcast — you are selling.
What is another trick sales people use when selling?
Social proof.
When you get a big name guest, use their name or their businesses name in your outreach or conversations with new potential guests.
This reduces risk for them as they think:
Well if X did this podcast, then it must be good enough for me!
Alright...
Have you chosen the one you will implement?
If not, go back through the post and select one — implement this with your next guest and start the ball rolling towards a more profitable podcast.
Once implemented, jump into the community or hit us up on support@bcast.fm to let us know how it went...
