31: Educating Your Audience About Podcasts
In this episode, I explain the importance of educating your existing audience, following, and/or network about what podcasts are and how they can listen.
I also provide some examples of the main objections you'll likely run into when trying to educate people about podcasts and explain how I personally overcome them.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Android Devices | Spotify | iHeartRADIO | RSS
Podcasting for Coaches Facebook Community (UPDATE: This group is no longer active. Please connect on Facebook or Instagram using the links below.)
Edison Research's 2018 Podcast Consumer Report
Podcasting for Coaches | Episode 30: What Link Should You Use When Sharing Your Podcast?
Podcasting for Coaches on Instagram
Podcasting for Coaches on Facebook
My Launch Consultation Packages
Online Course | How to Start a Podcast (For Your Coaching Business)
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 31 podcasting for coaches in this episode we're going to discuss a topic that is rarely talked about when discussing launching a podcast it's so easy to get distracted by the equipment that you have to purchase and the software that you need to learn how to use and how to get guests and all of these really exciting and intimidating aspects of the process but all of that doesn't really matter unless you can get your show in front of new people so we're going to discuss how you get your show in front of already existing podcast listeners and a future episode but right here i want to discuss something that's going to be very important during the launch process and that is the fact that most americans which are generally who your audience is going to be i'm assuming don't listen to podcast currently so that's not to panic and say that there isn't room for you here that this podcast won't do you a lot of good and you won't find new people because you absolutely will there are still millions and millions that are listening but the average person currently does not listen to podcasts so what a lot of people miss when they are going through the launch process is the fact that they need to educate people on what a podcast even is and how they can listen edison research is a very well known market research company and every year they put out something called the podcast consumer report this podcast consumer report is put together based off of a survey that they do a random survey of united states residents above the age of 12 years old in their 2018 results which by the way i will have a link to in the show notes for this episode if you want to dive more into this it is extremely in depth and will provide you with a lot of insights into podcast listeners but they discovered that 64% of the us again above the age of 12 years old are aware of the term podcasting now that's 180 million people that's pretty incredible however only 44% of us citizens above the age of 12 have ever listened to a single podcast meaning out of those 180 million people 56 million of those are aware of the term podcasting but have never once listened to a single episode you guys that was me that was me all the way back in 2015 i had heard the term podcasts and i had all of these kind of assumptions about it and didn't really know what it was and just kind of ignored it and consumed content the way i was already doing which was online and television and you're most likely going to find that a vast majority of your audience who may be following you on social media but that's it they're just kind of consuming your low level content they're not really diving in they're not really connecting with you maybe they followed you for one reason or another but you're not really on the radar all the time these are people that you want to educate about your podcast and how they can listen because we want to get them more engaged with you so some of the objections that you're going to encounter when you start talking to people about having a podcast and you start advertising that you're launching one are going to be pretty standard and those are typically that they don't know what a podcast is they don't understand the value of a podcast or the variety of topics available so they don't really feel like they're missing out on anything they don't have an iphone and they assume that they have to have one in order to listen they don't know how to listen and they just don't really want to learn they're intimidated by the process and they think it's probably too complicated for them to figure out and some of them even think that you have to pay because they're so used to hearing people say check out my podcast on itunes which is where a lot of people are used to purchasing music so they assume they have to purchase a podcast as well so to run through these really quickly these are how i approach these situations whenever somebody comes to me with these objections whenever somebody says they don't know what a podcast is i generally explain it in the terms of it's like a talk radio show but you can listen to it at any time on any device and when i say it like that they generally get the idea of what i mean i also make sure that i let them know that there is a podcast on literally any topic in the world that they want to learn more about any hobby they have any interest they have television shows movies books business animals literally anything that they want to consume more information about they can find in podcast form for the people who come to me with the objection of the fact that they don't have an iphone and then you'd want to listen i of course inform them that they absolutely do not you can listen on any device and then i recommend and i find with them i will even help them get the app on their phone for android users i personally recommend google podcasts so if i'm with someone and they say well i don't really know how to listen i don't have an iphone i say hey you don't need that here let me see your phone real quick we're gonna download this free app google podcasts then i usually even say what's something you're interested in and i will do a quick search for that topic find a podcast for them and go ahead and subscribe so they can take a listen that also covers the basis of them not knowing how to do it or being intimidated by the process once they see me just type in a search like they're used to doing in google anyways finding a thing and hitting the subscribe button or a play button which they're perfectly capable of doing it takes all of the fear out of it they now understand that it is as simple as everything else they do online and then of course for people who say they have to pay for it i just tell them no definitely not it's free so that's how you can handle it when people come at you with objections you can have answers ready to go for them when you're doing your general promotions for your launch process don't just stop at saying hey i have this podcast and you're going to be able to listen on all the platforms or podcasts are available here's our launch date tell them what a podcast is include links to those different platforms so that they can check things out include links to some of your favorite shows so that they can get a feel for what a podcast is before yours comes out it's also a good idea to include instructions for at the very least apple podcasts and google podcasts so you cover iphone users and android users what i've seen some people do is actually put together like a little pdf or a one sheet or some kind of an image that shows or explains you know gives the instructions for how to download the app if it's not already on the device in the case of apple podcasts find their show and then subscribe to it that's entirely up to you if you want to work with a graphic designer or if you want to put something like that together but people tend to absorb information in different ways and some people are going to be okay with just a text explanation and some people are going to feel a lot better if they can actually see the process in visual form another thing that some people have done is they've put together a video either of just them talking about the process and explaining it or they actually do a screen share kind of a thing where they have their phone and you can see their screen and you can see them downloading the app mining the show and then subscribing to it this comes in very handy and of course if it's quick enough you can post it on all the platforms instagram facebook youtube you can post a link to it on twitter you can post it on your website it can be everywhere and serve multiple audiences so again as you're launching mix in these kind of educational posts in with your regular basic promotions in with your audio grams and with your teaser clips in with your images in with your quotes that you're going to be sharing from episodes however you're choosing to promote your episodes which you're actually going to talk about next week i have a very special episode for you regarding launch promotion strategy but in the middle of all of that include these educational posts remind people what a podcast is reminds them how they can subscribe remind them that it's free and incredibly easy creating in general subscribe page could also be very handy in these situations so you could tell them hey go sign up for my podcast on apple podcasts or google podcasts and here's this one link that will take you to a page on my website where you can find my show on those different platforms that way it's a little bit less work for you but it still provides all the information that they need as well and if you would like to see an example of what that page looks like on my website just go to the show notes for episode number 30 and of course you can find the show notes for all of my episodes by going to podcasting for coaches.com clicking on the podcast tab in the main menu and then just going to the episode number you're looking for so we don't want to ever exclude anyone there may still be people who just feel overwhelmed with the idea of learning a new platform or a new medium and they just really don't want to download a podcast app or figure out that new technology they're just really not into it but they still want to connect with you further and consume this content so of course always instruct them and they can always listen on your site if you've done as i've advised and included an actual player in the show notes for each episode in this case it's good to tell them where they're going to find notifications about these new episodes because people aren't necessarily always going to remember to go to your website every week and listen to the most recent one so you can tell them that you're going to be posting your new episodes on the day that they come out on your facebook page or in your facebook group or on twitter or on instagram or in an email newsletter or wherever you're going to be sharing these new episodes as they go out let them Know about that so that they can still get the notifications. Finally, before I sign off for this episode, I want to invite you to join my brand new Facebook group for this podcast. And just for coaches or consultants interested in podcasting in general, they don't necessarily have to be a listener of the show. And when I say brand new, I mean brand new, I have not even finished setting this thing up yet. But I want you to go ahead and come and join me because I'm going to start sharing content in there as soon as next week. And I'm not going to just be sharing these episodes, I'm going to be sharing motivational posts and updates and blog posts and articles regarding the podcast industry that I feel is appropriate for coaches and consultants specifically, and then I'm also going to be sharing some personal stuff every now and then so that you can connect with me a little bit better. So the link for this group will of course be in the show notes for this episode podcasting for coaches. com click on the podcast tab in the main menu and go to episode number 31. And that is going to wrap it up for this episode again. I want you to come back next week where we are going to have a very special episode talking about your podcast launch promotional strategy. Thank you so much. Have a fantastic week. And that wraps up another episode of podcasting for coaches. If you're wondering if now is the right time to start a podcast for your coaching or consulting business, head on over to podcasting for coaches.com where you can either take a free quiz or schedule a one on one consultation with yours truly, thank you so much for joining me today and I will see you back here for the next episode.