How To Get More Listeners For Your Podcast - The Podcast Report With Paul Colligan Episode #76

How to get more listeners for your podcast it's the podcast report, episode number 76 show notes, links, conversation and more@the podcastreport.com 76. If you think there's a formula to get new listeners to your podcast, you don't understand where listeners come from. Hey, this is Paul Colligan. I have been in podcasting since 2005 and I show podcasters yeah you how to reach more with your message and how to profit more with your content. This is the Podcast Report. This is actually episode number 76, the podcastreport.com we're gonna be chatting about this whole idea of where audience members come from and what you do to get more of them on today's episode. It'll be short, sweet, like we do with the rest of the episodes of the Podcast report. If you want a little bit more in depth training on how to grab new listeners and increase profit from all four of these areas, go ahead and head out to the podcastreport.com 76 and sign up for our extended training on these four points. But with that said and done, let's get to the. This topic is a big one and it's vital to understand it. A lot of us got into podcasting because of some bad advice at some point, or we heard something wrong at some point that we thought was too good to be true, and we joined in and lo and behold, guess what? It is too good to be true. Podcasting is a different game sometimes than what we want it to be. Podcasting is sometimes a different game from what their gurus have taught it to be. But you see, here's the thing. If you want to see results, you have to do in podcasting what works. Not what you want to work, not what you hope works, but what actually works. And that's what this conversation is going to be about. So it starts with where audiences don't come from. And in my notes I have an asterisk by this because occasionally, once in a while, an audience member will come from this area. And occasionally, once in a while, one of these ideas that I give you will not work. But on the grand scheme of things, in the world of averages, when you do the 8020 thing that you want to be doing with podcasting, you definitely want to do what's smart. So let's first chat about where podcast audiences don't come from. The first place they don't come from are podcast search engines. There's this idea that all I have to do is get my podcast up in the search engine. All Of a sudden, I've got a whole audience. Well, here's the thing. The average podcast listener doesn't go to a search engine. The average podcast listener doesn't go, I wonder if there's anything about my topic. The average podcast listener listens to a show, and we'll talk about that in a second. About a topic and makes a jump from there. But it doesn't start with the search engines. I mean, think about podcasting. You don't get in your car and say, I wonder if there's any content about acts. You get in your car and say, ah, yes, this is the show I want to listen to. So they don't come from podcast search engines, they don't come from new podcast platforms. There's the idea that somebody pops up, hey, I've got a new podcast platform. Hey, I've got millions of listeners. Hey, they're all going to listen to you. That's not going to work. I've got a client with millions and millions of downloads opened up on a new podcast platform, an exciting one. An exciting one with lots of listeners and lots of attention and lots of exciting stuff. And lo and behold, about 20 downloads. They don't come from new podcast platforms. They don't come from reviews. Reviews are important. Reviews are good. Reviews work on the social side of things, and they definitely work on social proof. But the fact of the matter is, you don't get new audience members from reviews, and you don't get new audience members. You don't get new listeners. You don't get new subscription from listings. This idea that in order to see success in your podcast, you got to go out and make sure you're in all the directories just isn't the truth. The fact of the matter is people don't go to listings to find shows. That's not how they work. That's not how you listen to podcasts. It's not how the public listens to podcasts. So if they don't come from there, where do they come from? Well, first of all, they come from. They start with those who already know you. I've got a client right now who's also a friend who's seeing some success in his podcast because he just told the people he knew about his podcast. They're starting to listening. They're coming to him and saying, wow, I'm listening to your show. It's changing my life. It's affecting what I'm doing. I'm ready to spend some time, some money, some effort. And that's on a Small scale, but another scale. Yeah, I got clients with massive mailing list who launched their podcast to number one in the charts because they mail their existing list now. Paul, what if I don't have a list? Well, that's fine. We'll build one, we'll get one for you. But the fact of the matter is, the number one place to get a new audience, to get a podcast audience is from people who already know, like and trust you. Maybe this is social, maybe this is blog, maybe this is your book. Maybe this is you standing up in front of the PTA and handing out business cards to everybody about your show. But the fact of the matter is they come from people who already know you. Don't forget this when you teach them to subscribe. They become your audience. They become the most loyal, wonderful audience. Look at Michael Stelzner from Social Media Examiner. I've got a link to this in the podcastreport.com 76 did an interview with him in the past. He did his podcast knowing darn well that it was going to support it, was going to be part of his existing audience and part of what they're already doing. And he's seen great success for it and he's not going to move away from it. In many ways he's found it's almost a. I don't want to say better, I don't want to put words in his mouth. Definitely listen to the conversation that we've had. But the fact of the matter is he knew he would get his audience from his audience. And if you head out to thepodcastreport.com 76 I've got a link to that interview with him and we'll do more about this in the extended training, which I'll chat about in a second. Where do they come from? They come from audiences come from people who already listen to podcasts about your topic. If you are an underwater basket weaver and you were able to get on underwater basket weavers on fire, these are people who listen to shows about basket weavers who like the world of underwater basket weaving. You come in, you introduce yourself, you give them a reason for them to come over to your show and they will come over to your show. This is a great way to do it. A couple months ago I was in an event where a guy had filled the room with $2,000 ahead people because he was on a podcast for an audience just like his. Very powerful stuff, very viable stuff, very doable stuff. More about that in our extended training. Where do they come from? They come from audiences come from those who are looking for content about your topic. There's this idea that people want to listen to me. No, they don't want to listen to me. They want to know how to reach more people with their podcast, or they want to realize how to see more money from their podcast. They don't care about Paul. Paul's holding the conduit to do it. Paul's only the conduit that makes it happen. Paul's only the guide, the Yoda, the Haymitch, if you will. It is your work, it is your job, and it is your topic. The thing is, it's not the Paul Colligan show. It's not the podcast report. It's extending reach. It's leveraging tech. It's profiting more from content. People who look for that are much more likely to come out to the show. Now, where would they look for that? Well, they might type into Amazon how to podcast. Lo and behold, a book comes up that tells them about this podcast. They might go into itunes. They might type how to podcast. Lo and behold, an app comes up that teaches them how to podcast. See, those who are already looking for content about your topic, they're yours if you make it available to find. And then you don't have to worry about the SEO, unless you're this generic thing where there's a thousand podcasts with what you're doing. If you are unique and you've got a unique audience looking for you, it's pretty easy to find you. Once that all set up, let's admit it, podcast is a great way to learn. We get in the car, we got to drive to the airport, we got to drive to work, we got to do these things. And if we're interested in a topic and a guy or a gal has a show about that topic and we hear about it, we're going to join up. And then finally, the last place. And I want to be careful here, I want to focus here. But those who are looking for your show, there are people who have heard about your show, not about you, but not about your topic, but about your show. Maybe you've been mentioned in a book, maybe you've been mentioned on another podcast. Maybe you've been mentioned somewhere on social media. Hey, Paul has a show about X. Hey, Linda has a show about X. Hey, Paige has a show about X. People looking for the show, they got to be able to find it. And this is great. Could you just title your show something obvious, something clear, something that they're looking for. Now, if you want to put your name in the title or put your name at the end because they're not looking for you. The topic, very important. Put the topic in the title. The podcast report, YouTube strategies make it very clear what you're doing in the show. And I've chatted about that in the past, and we've got the whole back catalog of the podcast report to listen to if you want that. And of course, I've got some more about that on the extended training. We'll chat about the extended training in a second. So what do you do? Well, you got to understand where they come from and where they don't come from. Because the thing is, if you spend all your effort trying to get an audience from a place that an audience simply doesn't come from, it's not going to happen. But once you understand that, then you can take action. And instead of being a podcast based on what you wish would happen, you become a podcast based on what you know will happen, what the industry has showed you will happen, and you'll be in a much better place. You take those issues, you start at the top, you work your way down. You start with those who already know you. Now, if that's a small list, well, it's not that hard to get to them. Work your way down. If you've got a large list, go there, focus there, pound there, work your way down. Those who know you, those who listen to podcasts about your topic. And that's all about finding shows, getting on shows, getting relationships with other shows. Then you find out for people who are looking for content about your topic. Then you put that content everywhere. Not just a blog, not just a website, but you maybe consider the book, you maybe consider the app, you maybe consider the YouTube video and some of the different options there. And then finally, once you've covered those three areas, then you do some optimization for those who are looking for your show. But you only do that at the end. Now, I'm trying to make the podcast report shorter. That's the COVID that's the topic. But obviously it goes a little bit deeper. If you want to head out to thepodcastreport.com 76, I'll give you access to a longer set of audio ideas about these four points and what to do, but trying to keep the show short. Trying, trying to keep the show concise. That's what people seem to like. So there we go. You want more? Head out to the website. If you're ready to go, you are ready to go. That's right, everybody, we're back. It's season two of the Podcast Report. Doing a couple of tests this season, but I'll tell you, one of the themes we're doing is trying to keep things short. We'll have extended training from time to time. You'll be able to pick it up at the website, always for free. This particular case, the episode is thepodcastreport.com 76 your input and we'll give you ways to reach us on social and whatnot in a second. Got a couple links out at the website this round we've got the new version of the podcast book. I'm no longer giving the year of the Book because I don't know when you're going to be listening to this, but we've got a new version of the book out. Head out to www.grabthebook.com. you'll see all the different options for picking up the book. I've also got a link to the Michael Stelzner interview that I chatted about during this presentation. Mike's got a great model for taking an existing audience and building a podcast out of it, which is never a bad idea for podcasts. Then we've got links to the two apps. We've got a link for the podcast report. I mean, we've got an app for the podcast report. We've got the how to Podcast app. Android versions are coming. They are being worked on at the time of this recording. It's iOS only, but trust me, those will be coming soon. Most of you listening to this, they will already be out there. So you can head out to the podcastreport.com 76 and then of course, as you know, at that place is the ability to get some more audio content on these four ways of building out your audience with some very specific ideas and implementation. There we go. That's what's at the site. Hope to see you there soon. Bye. We love to get social at the Podcast Report. Every page of the Podcast report website has the ability for you to make comments. We read them, we interact with them. So does the rest of our audience. If you're that social type, head out to the podcastreport.com Twitter or thepodcastreport.com Facebook to hit the social network of your choice. Now, in addition to subscription, we like not just listeners, but we like an audience. We like subscribers. If you don't know about subscribing to a podcast, that's one of the most powerful things about podcasting. You don't have to come out and check if there's a new episode. Every time there's a new episode, we send that right to you. A couple of ways to subscribe the big one's iTunes the podcastreport.com iTunes. But here's the thing. We're also at Stitcher the podcastreport.com Stitcher we're also at TuneIn the podcastreport.com TuneIn all those places where you can subscribe, all those places where you can get set up to get the next episode automatically. We don't care which one you go to. That's the power of podcasting. We just want to have you back every week to give you all of the good stuff. So interact with us. Definitely. But for sure, subscribe to the show so we can chat with you next week. Sa. Sam.