10: Determining Your Main Call-to-Action
If you've been listening to podcasts for a while, you've probably been asked to "leave a rating and review" at least a hundred times by the hosts.
In this episode, you'll find out exactly why you DON'T want to do this in your podcast.
You'll also find out what you should be using as your main call-to-action at the end of every episode instead of asking for ratings and reviews.
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Transcript
Welcome to podcasting for coaches. I'm Britany Felix and I'm a podcast launch consultant who specializes in helping coaches and consultants utilize the power of podcasting as a way to build brand awareness and generate new leads for their business. I realize not every new coach or consultant can afford to hire someone to help launch their show. So I created this podcast as a way to guide you through the process of launching and utilizing your very own podcast to help you grow your business and reach a new audience of adoring followers and potential clients. If you're ready to get your voice and podcast out into the world, head over to podcasting for coaches.com to learn more. Welcome to Episode 10 of podcasting for coaches. As promised last week, in this episode, we are going to determine the main call to action for your podcast. This main call to action should be placed in the outro of your show, which is the little segment that's at the end of every single episode that you do. Or if you choose to just enjoy your show with a little bit of music, your main call to action should be the last thing you say whenever you record, an episode or an interview. So if you have been a podcast listener for a while, I'm sure that you have realized or noticed that at the end of a lot of podcasts, almost all of them as a matter of fact, people pretty much beg and plead for ratings and reviews on iTunes. This is a huge mistake. I cannot stress that enough. This is a terrible call to action. The reason I say this is because it is a huge, huge myth that ratings and reviews help your rankings and help other people find your show, which is how a lot of people stated ratings and reviews basically have nothing to do with your rankings inside iTunes. The only way that they are beneficial is they are basically social proof. So if there is somebody who has just so happened to stumble across your podcast, in the iTunes directory or in the app, and they want to learn a little bit more, what they'll do is they'll click on the show, and then they'll read the description, maybe look at a couple of episode titles. And then they might look at the ratings and reviews to see what other people are saying. In that situation. If the ratings and reviews are good, they may go ahead and give it a listen. That is a pretty rare situation that doesn't happen nearly as often as people think it does. That's not really how people find new podcast episodes. That's how some people find it. Sure. And maybe people will find yours that way. But that is absolutely 100% not the most effective use of that very valuable piece of real estate at the end of your episode. Your outro is the final thing that people hear. That's what stays in their mind. That's what stays in their ear. And that's what they go do next. Leaving a rating and review can actually be a pretty complicated process for somebody, they generally don't know how it works, you got to go through a couple of different steps, and most people just are not going to do it. However, if your main call to action instead is to join your free Facebook community where they can connect with you further and become friends with like minded people who are going through the same thing they are or you offer valuable resources or you do a live training session every week, that's so much more likely to be something that they take action on than just leaving you a rating and review. And that's also going to be so much more powerful for you. Because that takes the connection a step further. That takes them from just being a listener to now being a member of your community where you can actually start interacting with them. So again, I'm going to stress that your call to action in your outro your main call to action for your show should not be to subscribe, because if people like you, they're going to do that anyways, yes, mentioned it occasionally. But that should not be your main call to action. And it should also not be to leave you a rating and review. Your main call to action should be the most important next step that you want them to take to continue the relationship with you. If it's a Facebook community, then that's great. If it is to go to your website and sign up for your newsletter. People are bombarded with newsletter these days, they need something a little bit more, they need a better incentive than to just get more content from you. So you can provide a free download. If you want to keep the outro evergreen, you can just say to get my free download where you'll get more resources about whatever the main topic is that you coach people on. You can say something specifically, if you have a PDF that includes your top 10 essential oils for people who have a stressful life, you know, whatever it is, if that's what your niche is, that's good, as long as that's what your download is, if you ever change your download, you'll need to change your outro. So if you are concerned about not having any ratings and reviews, what I recommend that you do is then reach out to your community and ask them to do it if they are listener of the show, because then that will bring people who have not yet listened to your podcast into somebody who has and then they'll write a review. Or if you do get a rating and review. You can read those off live on your show. They can be included in an episode outro if you conduct interviews if you do solo Episode, you can just build it right into your recording. And you can read off that review. And then people get really excited they hear their name called their words are spoken out loud on a very public platform, which generally makes people feel very special. And then they know hey, maybe I should leave this person review, maybe I'll get mentioned on the show. So that's a great way to organically get ratings and reviews without taking up the space of your main call to action. If you have any questions about this, or if you're not sure if whatever your call to action is, is good enough for your outro feel free to reach out to me You can email me at Britany at podcasting for coaches calm and that is Britney with one t A ny or you can submit your call to action to me via the contact form on my website podcasting for coaches calm or Lastly, you can connect with me on my Facebook page facebook.com forward slash podcasting for coaches. Thank you so much for joining me this week. And I want to invite you to come back next week where we are going to talk about where and how you can purchase the music to use in your show. Have a fantastic week. And that wraps up another episode of podcasting for coaches. If you're ready to see of starting a podcast the next logical step for your coaching or consulting business, head on over to podcasting for coaches.com where you can schedule a free 15 minute strategy session with yours truly. During this call, we'll discuss your business and see a starting a podcast will help you generate more brand awareness and more leads. Thank you so much for tuning in today and I hope that we are able to chat soon