Show notes:
Key ideas:
Podcasting as a lead generation channel
– The podcast was first used as a user retention tool and quickly became a source of leads.
– 76% of new leads have heard about the website via Youtube, the podcast, or the TV show.
– They know this because they explicitly ask for this information in their lead forms.
Download milestones
– For an entire year, there was hardly any growth.
– She noticed the settings on Libsyn were set to cap the number of episodes available on podcast apps. She lifted that limit to open the back catalog all the way to 2016.
– It helped foster binge-listening.
– They only release one episode a week, so people hooked on the show have to go back and listen to old evergreen episodes.
The biggest challenge working on the show
– There are a lot of regulations in the finance industry.
– They are not allowed to ask for ratings and reviews.
– Requirements for data storage make interacting with comments unworkable.
Tactics that work for Andi and YMYW
– Ask people to share the show. A lot of emails they receive show WOM works well.
– WOM is a great listener acquisition mechanism because the recommendation is personal.
– The hosts read the negative reviews on air and laugh. It makes super fans post reviews to defend the show.
– Having guests and appearing as guests on YMYW is a great driver (the audience of the shows you collaborate with needs to be on your level to be worth it).
– Emailing. The show is released on Tuesdays, and the newsletter goes out on Fridays. This gives them a reasonably accurate estimate of the number of downloads from the newsletter.
– Compilation episodes: repackage content you’ve already made and present it in a new way.
What Social Media platform do they leverage?
– Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, but Youtube is the biggest deal for them.
– They post full videos and video clips of individual questions daily.
– That helps with SEO because youtube videos are often featured high in Google search results.
– Your audience’s demographics should guide the choice of platforms to focus on.
– The demographics of your audience can change over time. As the FIRE movement gained traction, its audience became younger.
– Make sure people can watch without the sound on. Add captions. It’s also great for Youtube SEO.
– Don’t hesitate to feature old episodes on social media if they are evergreen.
KPIs Andi monitors
– Number of followers on podcast apps.
– Average consumption.
– Subscribers on YT.
– Number of leads (people downloading their lead magnets such as white papers).
Podcast Visibility Optimization
– Podcast visibility optimization is a challenge for them since they cannot change the title of their show.
– Optimizing your title is fine as long as it’s a light touch. Don’t use keyword stuffing.
– One elegant way to do it is to add a hyphen and a short 2-3 word descriptor.
– Optimizing your publisher name for visibility might be more problematic if you reach the overall top 200 on Apple.
– A grey hat tactic involves changing your publisher name to an aptly chosen network name (e.g., the financial advice network).
– Andi changed the publisher name to the actual names of the hosts: Joe Anderson and Alan Clopine CPA. They started ranking for CFP on Apple, which is incredibly valuable to them.
– 76% of podcast app users have used the search bar of their app.
Resources:
Tools mentioned:
– Voxalyze (sign up for a free trial)
– Social media schedulers (Solal has used Eclencher in the past)
– Chartable (used as a tool to easily let users choose on which platform they want to consume the content)
Content mentioned
Andi’s article on the tactics she’s used to growing the audience of YMYW by 535%