The Business of Podcasting Ep013: Being The Sponsor Of Your Own Podcast For Maximum ROI with Steph Taylor

Sponsoring Your Show for Maximum ROI

Steph Taylor and the Socialette Podcast

• Marketing her business by running Facebook ads and through social media wasn’t adequate in the competitive marketing space.
• Starting a podcast was a solution to rising as an authority in the competitive marketing space.
• She runs her business under her brand, Steph Taylor, where she helps entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life through high-impact launches.
• Her business is supported by her podcast, which is her most significant social lead.
• Through her podcast, she shifted from service to digital products to help business owners on a larger scale.

Podcasting Versus Blogging

• You spend long hours with a blog—writing, editing, uploading, making graphics.
• The work involved in blogging is far bigger than what people may think, and you only end up with words on pages.
• Launching a 5-minute podcast, on the other hand, which is almost 1,000 words, comprises an entire blog post.

Solo Versus Guest Episodes

• When Steph first started, she posted 5- to 10-minute episodes three times a week to build a connection with her audience.
• Along the way, she realized that there are so many topics she’s not qualified or doesn’t know enough about to teach. That’s when she started bringing guests onto the show.
• Having interviews take a lot of content creation pressure off. It saves you from having to come up with ideas all the time.
• Interviews tend to get more downloads, which is a growth tactic because you gain a more extensive reach with the guest and their audiences sharing it as well.

Episode Strategies

• Scripts are vital when you’re starting, but eventually, as you gain confidence, bullet points and a loose text will suffice.
• Steph says that she writes down the exact sentences she wants to include, but it doesn’t take a lot of time.
• Separately doing the intro allows you to touch on things covered in the episode accurately.
• Mentioning a download or a program in the introduction assures that the audience is still at their maximum attention.

Growth and Bringing Listeners

• Steph utilized her email list to hype up her podcast launch.
• She got into Facebook groups and started telling people that she’s launching a bite-sized marketing podcast.
• She asked them to comment on questions about marketing, which became her content ideas.
• She also replied to each comment on when she will be covering these topics. Hence, they had a reason to tune in and listen to the podcast.
• To keep growing her audience, she goes into a Facebook group and searches for a topic keyword, and if somebody has asked a question around that, she mentions her episode. 

Pinterest as a Marketing Strategy

• Pinterest is an excellent source of free website traffic.
• Rather than promoting links directly to the podcast, it sends the audience to the blog post version on your website.
• About 5,000 hits out of 214,000 website visitors come from Pinterest.
• Her approach: She puts up a blog post for an episode, creates a pinnable graphic, which she has a template for, and then adds it onto the blog post. 
• You don’t need to have a big following; you just need to have a well-optimized keyword.
• Think simply about what people would like to search for.

Finding What Works and What Doesn't

• Facebook ads can either work extremely well or not at all.
• The ones that work are mostly videos.
• Video elements make it more engaging and are great for discovery and marketing.
• In the audio-only podcast, you get to look at other things and take notes easily.
• However, the extra effort versus the return that you get will be worth it.

Understanding How to Launch Podcasts

• The first step is figuring out your potential listeners.
• Do not simply copy what everybody else is doing. Figure out what will make your podcast unique.
• You’re going to struggle to resonate with everyone because you’re never going to be everyone’s cup of tea.
• A very narrow niche will get you sponsors who are always willing to work with you.
• The more narrow your niche is, the more valuable your podcast will be.
• Making your podcast stand out is a fusion of what the market needs and what makes you unique.

Monetisation

• Sell your own products and services.
• Get sponsorships.
• Do affiliate partnerships.
• It's a combination of podcasts and email marketing.

Resources

• Tailwind app