#224: Promote Your Podcast Like a Pro

Welcome back to another episode of the Course Creation Incubator podcast. I am so excited to have you here to talk through your courses, your workshops, your group coaching, whatever it is that lychee up that you are building right now. And today we’re talking podcasts and specifically how to grow them and scale them. And I’ve got a new friend, Melina Audio on here, who’s a professional podcast manager just launched her own podcast to talk about what it takes to create a successful podcast.

And she should know she works with clients and students all the time as a top consultant to help people launch and grow their podcast. So I wanted Melina on to talk about what are some best practices when we’re launching a podcast. She talks about having seasons a great way for you to dip your toe into the podcast realm without going for it all the way.

And she talks about how to grow your podcast in a really, really effective, thoughtful way. So I’m going to shut up and let’s listen in. Melina Welcome to the podcast. So thrilled to have you on today. Thank you so much. Gina I’m excited to be here. All right, let’s dive in, because that’s what we do on this podcast.

I’m about to start a podcast. We know the gift of podcasting. You and I, both big fans of it. I talked about it in the intro. What are some best practices that you preach when you’re first starting out with your podcast? Yeah. So I love this question because when you’re starting out podcasting, you might not know where you should start and you’re like super excited.

You have a microphone, You’re like, I just want to be a podcaster, right? So I would say, just back up a little bit. We want to start with strategy first. We want to think about who we’re talking about, what this podcast is going to do for you and your business. So those are the things you want to think about before you start just talking.

And this is going to help you to create a direction for your podcast because you know who you’re speaking to, what goal and why you’re podcasting. So those are some things that you want to think about. And also when you’re starting out podcasting, I don’t know if you’ve heard about podcast seasons that I really love and seasons I see that it has helped my clients to have a built in break and a direction with their podcast.

They’re able to create a season around a core topic and run with that all season and go really deep and help people understand what their point of view is on the topic. And also, you can utilize seasons in any way that you choose. I really like a 12 episode, see at 12 episode season or a 24 episode season.

It could be as long or as short as you would like. And I would also say that another thing to think about is to not overcomplicate the tech. I see a lot of podcasts out there. A lot of people ask me questions and say, I want to have a studio vibe. I want, you know, the lights, the camera, everything set up.

And I think that’s all really wonderful. But if that’s getting in the way of you getting started, just nix that because all you need is a nice and clear video, a mic and a message, and you don’t need all of this extra staff to get in your way. And eventually you can have this. But you can take steps to get there.

 

And also you want to know the call to action that you want your listeners to take after they listen to your episode, because that is often very forgotten and you have an episode and you’re feeling the energy and then you get to the end or or wherever you want to put that call to action. And you might have forgotten.

But giving them an action to take whatever that might be is just a good practice to have. When you have your podcast. Oh yeah, we definitely need a good call to action. And that ties back into why are you doing this right for your business and making sure you’re getting that outcome. I love what you’re saying about don’t overcomplicate the tack, so I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have, of course, creators who say I’m going to start a podcast and right there, like I’m going to book out a studio, I’m going to do all these fancy things.

I’m like, Can we just start small? You know, like get a simple let’s get a simple mike, borrow someone’s mike, you know, and then and then roll from there and see if you like it. MM Yeah, definitely. I agree with that. I love what you’re talking about with seasons, because to me, this is a way to dip their feet and without going whole hog.

Right. I just did so many awful metaphors there. But there we are. So when you talk about season, I want to go back to I decided to launch a podcast. Okay. See, say I’m a teacher. I don’t know what we get. I coach CEOs, okay? I coach women CEOs, New women CEOs or high level managers. I want to speak to them in a podcast.

My call to action is my mastermind. I want to put out a season. Do I focus on a specific theme and then go with it? Okay, so I’ll pick I’ll pick one message, like work life balance or something, and then I’ll riff on that for 12 episodes. Is that what you would recommend? Well, yes and no. So what I would do.

 

No, Gina, that is not right. Mainly. And I tell you what’s right. All right. So what I would do is first. Yeah. So first few episodes, maybe five episodes you’re talking about maybe why it’s important to you, first of all, and the benefits you’ve seen from it, also, maybe the myths that people have around it. So after then you’re thinking about the the obstacles that might get in their way and how they can approach it in your methods, that’s how you’re going to get them from point A to point B, And then after that, this is where I would bring in maybe clients that you’ve already had and then showcase their transformation.

And after that, this is kind of then the next few episodes are just about kind of a little bit more just about the masterclass and trickling in some of the mastermind, what you do in there and then have episodes just that are Q&A that you’ve gotten about your mastermind and then talk about those. And that’s how I kind of would finish up.

The season is focusing just on the benefit of the mastermind overall with maybe more interviews with your clients. Okay, I love this. So you just like took mine and turn it upside down in the right way with a marketing focus instead of I’m guilty as anyone. I just want to give value on this, on this podcast and workshop workshop, workshop.

And then okay, I need to do my call to actions. Right? And I love this idea of bringing on case studies and interviews. I love this idea of like, here’s a sneak peek of the mastermind and I know I don’t do that enough, so I love you just gave us an arc, right? Basically of, of a first season and then once I put out that 12 episodes, for example, I see how it goes.

I see if I want to make another season. When do I know if I go out there weekly or you just think, Can you do the seasons? Yeah, I think continue to do seasons because that gives you that built in break and you’re able to maybe take in the data that you have from that first season, right. And see what really resonated.

And maybe there’s a topic you didn’t even think was going to do well, did really well. So then maybe focus your next season around that or take part of that season and focus on that. Okay. I love it. Okay. I want to switch gears a little bit here for us to for those of us who have had a podcast ongoing, so much of the fun as you now is producing is like creating your own content.

And and I’m yelling at my clients and I’m yelling at my students all the time and I’m yelling at myself that we should be spending 80, 20, right? 80 marketing, 20% content. And it’s really sometimes the other way around because we love our content so much. But how, how do I grow my listeners to make sure that putting out a podcast is worth it and get the right listeners?

Yeah. So I love that. And what I see that really works right now with podcast growth and making sure that you’re speaking to the right people is, number one, creating content that is strategic. I see a lot of podcasters go out and away it, and what happens is that they, they don’t your episodes don’t feel like a solution to your listeners.

It just feels jumbled. There’s all sorts of topics going on. So what I really like to do is think about my audiences real problems. Think about the obstacles, like I just said, the obstacles that they have to working with you and maybe some of the myths in that industry. How can you bust those myths in a different way that makes them really come back to your podcast, makes them come back to your podcast because they know that you’re giving them so much value?

Also, I would say that you want to repurpose like a pro, and I know that you might have heard it so much, but your podcast is so much more than just a podcast. You can use it for reels, carousels, newsletters, emails. So much. What I love is when a podcast is use it as their content hub and they are just repurposing continuously with their podcast.

And what I want you to do, if you have a podcast and your episode came out this week, I want you to talk about your podcast three times this week. I know a lot of podcasters don’t do that enough, and that’s one thing that I would definitely say that will help you because these small actions will help the bigger picture.

And also I would say you want to make sure that you’re optimizing your titles and your descriptions. This is key because when you have a search engine friendly titles and descriptions, I mean, half of the work is kind of done for you because people are going to be searching those things and your podcast is going to be coming up.

So that is discoverability right there. That is easier to get then maybe some other ways of, you know, marketing your podcast. But I would say that what I love to do is focus on how your listeners look at your podcast when especially because they’re mostly on their phone, right? And think about how those titles are laid out. And what you usually see is like, you know, 4 to 5 words.

So make sure that your solution is right there in the beginning of that title. That is key. Yeah, okay. I love that. So and then you mention talk about it three times this week, same platform, different platforms, like does that mean do a YouTube short, do a real Instagram, go on, like go on X? What what do you think about that?

Yeah, I think it could go either way if maybe you’re just on LinkedIn, talk about it three times on LinkedIn. If you’re just on IG, talk about it three times on IG. I do it on about 3 to 4 platforms. And yeah, I do. I do promote three times on each platform. But if that does feel too much for you, start creating that content and start scheduling it.

That’s what’s going to make that feel less daunting. Okay, I love this. I don’t do this enough either. Theme of this episode, you have some thoughts about guest versus workshop episodes, right? So and some some podcasts are just guests, right? And then I’ve been really weighing heavily on workshop episodes of late, and mostly because I can’t shut my mouth and I just want to rant and I see things that are happening.

What are your thoughts on Gas versus Solo? Yes, so I, I love solo episodes because I feel that they build trust and authority faster than anything else. Aggression is. Yeah, right. Because your listeners are able to hear your voice, your frameworks, how you’re going to answer those questions, what you think about A-To-B Yeah, even maybe some part of your daily life, right?

That kind of stuff converts, and that’s why I love solos so much. But also I see the value in guests having guests as expert on your show as well, because you are able to possibly reach a whole new audience when you have guests on as well, and they are bringing value that you don’t quite have. Maybe they have a similar niche, but they’re a totally different value than you are, and so it’s going to benefit you.

That’s how you want to be thinking about when you do have guests on someone who could speak to your audience, but also can bring them value as well. And what I really love is a mix of both. I think both really work and I used to be on the only solo train, but I think mixing it up can be the best of both worlds because you are able to strategically think about what kind of guests you want to have on.

Like I said earlier, you can interview your own clients and that’s having guests on as well. Or you can bring on experts that just are shining in a totally different way than you are, but help your niece. And so that’s what I would say about having that. But also solo episodes helps positioning you as the expert and guests episodes can help you grow and support your show.

But the most important thing is your voice and your message getting out there. I agree. I agree 100%. And you’re speaking my language because that’s exactly what we do. We have a mix. I also want to know if you do this, but say I want to partner with someone or have an expert on my podcast. I always go to their podcast to listen to their content, right?

And then you’ll get those podcasts that only have guests. And I never hear their point of view of this expert that I’m doing research on, right? I don’t know what you’re about. I don’t know the value you’re bringing. You’re to me, that’s kind of a waste. Like if you’re only having guests every once in a while, just pop in and say, Hey, here’s here’s some stories about me.

Here is my point of view, because otherwise I don’t know what you’re about. I don’t know your voice. Right. Right. Exactly. And I think a lot of podcasters do that because they’re a little afraid. I think it’s so much easier to have guests, to have some fun, you know, back and forth conversation. You don’t have to do as much prep as well when you’re doing just guesting.

So but I invite, you know, you podcasters who are out there just doing guest interviews, try a little mini series of maybe six solo episodes and really go deep into what your point of view is and why you do what you do and see how those episodes do compared to your guesting in episodes. Okay, I love this idea of testing the waters.

If you’re not out there already with your workshop episodes. And I think sometimes I agree with you, it’s fear and I feel maybe it’s confidence a little bit to who am I to share my expertise? I can have a platform and bring someone else on to share their expertise. It’s like I have the confidence that people are listening to you for a reason and really go for it.

Oh, can I ask about length of episode? I know you didn’t talk about this beforehand. We do short episodes except for our guests. These are going to go longer. What do you think is a great length? Yeah, so it’s anywhere for solo episodes 5 to 20 minutes. Thank you for saying that amount. Yes. Okay. Yeah. I see so many different kind of point of views of length, but you know where the podcasters and we have our own shows, so whatever works for us is what we should be doing.

Okay. I love that. Sometimes I hear that people are doing housework and they’re just letting podcasts run. And I think to myself, Oh my gosh, my is going to run out. It’s only 15 minutes, but then they can listen to the next one, right? So, okay, so just focus on what works for you. Is that what you’re saying?

Yeah, definitely. Okay. All right. So before we wrap up, I want to talk about some biggest mistakes and we’ve talked a little bit about it. I loved you did this post about getting all the good stuff in the first minute. When you’re talking about your podcast. Can you talk about that a little bit? And any other mistakes you want to share with us?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s actually one of the biggest mistakes I see is that people are wasting that first 60 seconds on, you know, having their intro with the music. Yeah. And they have that right and then they say, Welcome to the show, and then they record their episode and they forgot that. They said, Welcome to the show and introduce themselves.

So then they do that before they get into the episode. So we’re double dipping here. Yeah, we’re doing it twice. So what I really love and works the best right now is if you do want to have that music intro, you’re going to have it, or you could have it with the audio over it, but make sure that it’s really quick and then have a nice little hook and then go into Welcome to the show and who you are and then episode.

Get straight into the episode after that. Okay All of that dilly dally on. Yeah, a couple stories. Just get into the value after that and you know you can add your stories at like a little bit after you get maybe the first point you’ve done, then add your story, then you have your second point and then you have your third point and then that is your episode.

So I’ve been doing and since I especially since I saw this post from you, I will make sure I get the value upfront and tell them the benefit and what we’re what’s in store. And then I tell a story and then I dive in. Do you think I should be adding more value, though, before I go into that story?

Yes, that’s going to help your retention just a little bit more people staying and listening for a little bit longer. You’re going to see maybe a little uptick because I love I love stories and we need storytelling in our episodes. But if we’re going to have a story, we want to make sure that it is bridge to what we’re talking about.

 

When we have a story that doesn’t it doesn’t align at all. That’s where we kind of lose people listening. Okay, good. Good to know what what other mistakes. Marlena Before. Yes. Or anything else you want to cover. Yeah, sure. So I talked a little bit about Call to Action before, but I think the call to action thing is when people don’t do it, it’s because they have this fear and they’ve heard this in the podcast industry, Don’t sell in your episodes.

Don’t sell your own stuff. And I’ve heard maybe, you know, you need 50 to 100 episodes before you start selling. Oh, please, that’s different. I’ve heard that about courses. Don’t sell your courses. Do you have 1000 people on your list? Like where do those myths come from? So that I know. And so, I mean, I just don’t think that this is your platform.

So why are we, you know, waiting? Yeah, What are we waiting for? Right. So to be honest, this is your podcast. So, you know, talk about your offers or your launches or whatever you’re doing because you are helping your listeners. You you have the solutions for your listeners, right? But even if it’s a small call to action like.

DM your thoughts on this episode, those are really great for retention and also share this episode with someone who might may need it. Those calls to actions are important, as well as talking about your offers and your launches and what your books, whatever you’re doing. So just make sure you do have a call to action. And every episode, don’t be afraid.

Put yourself out there. Yeah, definitely. Right, Right. And I would just say one more thing. Stop treating your podcast like it’s just content. It is so much more. It’s so much more for your business. It’s your marketing, your content hub, your discoverability, your visibility. It can do so much for you and help your business. So stop treating it just like, Oh, I have to go and do this podcast week after week.

And that’s also why I love the seasons, because I get I think you are able to not burn out as much and keep that momentum going because you’re more excited, you have more direction in what you’re talking about. And so that’s yeah, I love that. And when I made the switch, the podcast for us is one of our clients.

So and acting like it’s one of our clients then gives it priority, right? And importance. Yeah. So, so making it like in base camp or whatever way like it’s how we would treat another client. Yeah, I love. I really like that. Yeah, that’s a great way to think about it. Yeah. All right. Melina, thank you so much for coming by.

Tell us how we can learn more about you. Yeah, sure. So I am on LinkedIn and IG, but I’d come and say, Hi, I’m at Vibe and Voice Media. I love voice notes and talk about podcasting. So to me and then also if you are looking to grow your podcast more strategically or launch your podcast with strategy, I have a membership called Pod Star, so go check that out.

 

If you need support in that area and if you just want to know a little bit more about me, I have my podcast podcast to grow. And yeah, so I’m there. Okay, awesome. Well, we’ll link to your socials on the show notes. Thank you so much for stopping by and dropping the knowledge. Thank you so much, Tina. This has been so much fun.

All right. What did you guys think? Did you have some ideas about maybe launching a season of a podcast or growing your own and putting yourself out there in a bigger way? I know for me, she talked about quite a few areas that I want to grow in terms of this podcast. And speaking of this podcast, if this has impacted you in any way, I would love for you to leave me a review.

 

It would really mean the world to me. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss one episode. There’s a reason we don’t do seasons because I’m dedicated and committed to you guys week to week. So we’d love to make sure you are subscribed. Until next time, go create, be you and be brilliant and get it done.