PROMOTE YOU VS PROMOTE YOUR GUEST

When interviewing others on your podcast, it can become difficult to tell your story and promote your business. On this episode, we discuss 3 ways to monetize your podcast interviews.

CHALLENGE WITH INTERVIEWS

Using interviews is a great way to create content on your podcast, because when you create an interview, you don’t have to do a lot of the heavy lifting.

When you create an interview, you simply need to ask some great questions of your guest and then be a great listener. Allow your guests to tell great stories.

It’s a super convenient and easy way to create great podcast episodes.

The challenge with podcast interviews is finding a way to highlight your expertise and demonstrate your authority on the podcast episode while making your guests look great.

Dave Jackson over at the School of Podcasting says, “If you want to grow your influence and authority, do a solo episode. If you want to grow your network, do an interview episode.”

I prefer to combine the two and do both formats.

Occasionally, I’ll do solo episodes. Occasionally, I’ll do interview episodes.

INTERVIEWS CAN BE EFFECTIVE

But I don’t think those interview episodes need to just be a write-off where you can’t demonstrate your expertise and authority in your space while also making your guests look great.

It is a benefit to you when you make the guest the star. You benefit by association with the guest.

When you make your guest look great, you look great in return. You look great by association. When you interview amazing people on your show, you benefit just by being associated with those great people.

But you can’t only rely on making the guest look great to drive your business.

When Oscar came to me for coaching, he had a great podcast. He is an expert in listening.

Oscar Trimboli hosts the podcast Deep Listening – Impact Beyond Words. That’s also the name of his book, which is fantastic.

During our initial call Oscar said, “I have a podcast. I love doing it. But it’s not doing anything to grow my business.”

Can you relate to that?

So many coaches tell me they struggle to attract clients with their podcast.

I listened to an episode of Oscar’s podcast. He did a great job interviewing his guests because Oscar is a great listener. Of course, he does a great job interviewing.

The problem was there was nowhere in the episode where Oscar told me what he did or how I could work with him, And that’s the challenge.

3-STEP PROCESS FOR INTERVIEWS

How do you create space for yourself to demonstrate your expertise and authority while making your guests the star and making your guests look great?

Create space for yourself by teaching a little bit before you get into the interview.

I use a 3-step process.

First, record the interview first. Sit down with your guest. Have a fantastic conversation. Make your guest look great during that conversation.

Then when the interview is over, record an introduction to the interview. It might last 5 or 10 minutes where you demonstrate your expertise and authority on the subject matter.

This introduction could be a broader topic.

AN INTERVIEW EXAMPLE

On last week’s episode, I interviewed Kimberly Crowe. She is an expert when it comes to speaking to sell. Kimberly runs Podapalooza and Speaker’s Playhouse.

She’s fantastic. If you didn’t check out the last episode, go back and listen to Episode 469 with Kimberly Crowe “Speaking to Sell”. It’s amazing.

Kimberly does a great interview on speaking to sell. Then I do a little teaching on speaking in general and the different kind of stages you could land for speaking gigs.

My teaching a little broader than what Kimberly talks about. I use her as a small micro example of the bigger topic I teach on the episode.

You might teach on something and use your interview as a case study for what you just taught. Take 5 to 10 minutes before the interview begins to demonstrate your expertise and your authority before you get into the interview.

Once you get your teaching done, you can allow your guests to shine. You’ve already done your work and heavy lifting.

The teaching allows you to make yourself the authority and the expert in your space. The teaching directs people to your call to action, getting them to your lead magnet, getting them to on your email list.

Do that all up front before you get into the interview.

Now the interview can still allow you to grow your network. It can still allow you to create great relationships with your guests. But it also allows you to demonstrate your expertise and authority in each and every episode.

So what are the 3 big ways you can use interviews to monetize and grow your business?

AUDIENCE TO CLIENTS

The first way to monetize interviews is to monetize your audience. Turn your audience into clients. Sell your own stuff.

When you get great guests on your show, demonstrate what it is that you have to offer, and lead your listeners to doing business with you.

I discovered 6 reasons your podcasts don’t make money, and the very first reason is you don’t have anything to sell. If you don’t have anything to sell, it’s difficult for you to make money.

NO SPONSORS

A lot of podcasters come to me and they say, “Erik, I wanna generate some revenue with my podcast.”

I say, “Fantastic. How do you wanna do that?”

And they say, “I want to sell ads and sponsorships.”

That is the worst way you could monetize your podcast. You do not want to clutter up your show with ads and sponsors.

There are four reasons ads and sponsorships are bad for your podcast.

LARGE AUDIENCE

First, ads require a very large audience. Over 5,000 downloads per episode is usually what it takes to land a sponsor for your show or sell advertising.

This threshold is especially true if you’re working with the larger ad agencies. They want podcasts that are over that 5,000 downloads per episode in order to be in that stratosphere to sell ads and sponsors for your show.

According to podcast audio host Libsyn, only 7% of all podcasts on Libsyn achieve that number. That means 93% of all podcasts on Libsyn don’t hit the 5,000 download per episode number. It’s very hard to sell ads and sponsors when you’re not over that number.

So, the 93% of us that aren’t over that number need to find Some other way to monetize. That would be selling your own stuff.

TOO MUCH TIME

The second reason that podcasts, suffer when it comes to ads and sponsors is that selling ads requires a lot of time and energy to get out and sell an ad or a sponsor.

Let’s look at radio. A radio station has a staff of 15 or 20, each working 40 hours a week to sell advertising on the radio station. You don’t have that kind of time.

And then once you sell the ad or the sponsor, you then have to go do it again and again and again. Even if you sell them for a quarter or for a year, you still have to go out and do it again.

If you create your own stuff and you sell listeners into a recurring revenue model like a membership, then you sell them once and you’re making money over and over again.

When you create a course, you do the work once and it generates revenue over and over again without you having to do the work again. And it’s much easier to sell a course than it is to sell advertising and sponsorships.

TOO MUCH CLUTTER

The third reason that ads and sponsors are bad for your podcast is because it clutters up your show.

Studies of traditional media, television and radio show people are fleeing traditional media. They want to get away from all of the commercials on radio.

People are running toward podcasting because there isn’t the quantity of ads and sponsors that you find on traditional media.

I was listening to Brendon Burchard’s podcast the other day. I love Brendon’s content, but my finger started to get sore from fast forwarding through all the commercials.

His podcast had probably four minutes at the beginning, another four minutes in the middle, and another four minutes at the end.

I had to fast forward through all of them, because it clutters up the content. I just want to listen to the show.

That’s why I enjoy podcasting. I can get away from the deluge of ads and sponsors.

Now if Brendon were just selling his programs, I wouldn’t have a problem. His programs are great. I’ve invested in many of his programs.

But, I don’t need to hear ads about Kajabi and all the other stuff that he has in there.

12 minutes of commercials doesn’t make for an enjoyable experience.

THE CEILING

Finally, ads put a limit on the amount of revenue you can generate. That makes it bad for your podcast.

All of that work you put into creating great content and all of the work you put into selling a sponsor, only to limit the amount of revenue you can generate.

Even look at Brendon. It is one of the biggest podcasts in the business spectrum, and he has twelve commercials on his podcast. Twelve is overload, and he’s only got 12.

How much money can you possibly make on an annual basis if it’s limiting your inventory? You have a ceiling on the amount of revenue you can generate.

SELL YOUR STUFF

So instead of ads and sponsors, market your own stuff. Use your podcast as a marketing tool for your products and services.

If you’re going to advertise anything, advertise your stuff. Or at least an affiliate product so you’re getting paid every time a product sells.

INTERVIEWS WITH CURRENT CLIENTS

To use interviews to turn your audience into clients and generate revenue, interview current clients. Interview clients who have already gone through the transformation that you offer.

Have a conversation with current clients about where they were, the transformation they experienced, and where they are today.

You talk about the transformation you offer, and then invite your listeners to come experience that same transformation by becoming your client.

Shane and Jocelyn Sams host the Flip Lifestyle podcast. It is mostly Shane now. Jocelyn in there occasionally.

The 2 of them are a husband and wife team. They run the Flip Lifestyle membership. I believe the Flip Lifestyle podcast is now transitioning into the Make Money Online podcast. He changes it every now and then.

On the podcast, Shane typically interviews current members of the Flip Lifestyle community. They talk about where the guest was when they started building their membership.

Shane asks the guest about their experience and transformation going through the Flip Lifestyle community. They talk about what did they discovered, what they learned, the things they implemented, their transformation, and finally where they are today.

He talks about all of these great individuals who create these fantastic memberships and make a ton of money online. Then he invites his listeners to come and join the community.

It’s a pretty simple process. Turn listeners into clients by interviewing current clients and demonstrating the transformation those current clients have experienced. It’s a great way to turn your interviews into revenue.

Interview current clients and show your audience the transformation you offer. Invite the audience to come and work with you. That is the first way to monetize podcast interviews. Monetize your audience.

INTERVIEWS WITH POTENTIAL CLIENTS

The second way to monetize podcast interviews is to turn your guests into clients. Interview potential guests.

If you do strategy calls or discovery calls for your coaching business, this is a fantastic way to turn those calls into interviews and convert clients.

Instead of just doing a generic interview on your podcast, invite prospects to be on your podcast.

Give them a free coaching session. That coaching session is your strategy session or your discovery call, and it allows you to start building the relationship with your guests to turn them into a clients.

How often do you struggle with getting people on your strategy call or on your discovery call?

When you invite people to be a guest on your podcast, the perception of the sales call fades away.

OPEN DOORS

Zoë Routh is an expert on people stuff. She helps businesses break down the silos, so different departments work better together.

When Zoë came to me, we talked about her podcast and how she could make it more effective.

I asked Zoë how many downloads she was getting.

She said, “I have no idea.”

I said, “Really? You don’t know what your downloads are? I thought we were all obsessed about our downloads.”

Zoë said, “Yeah. I’m not really worried about it. That’s not how I use my podcast.”

She expanded on that a bit.

Zoë continued, “I use my podcast just to open doors to potential clients who wouldn’t normally take my call.”

In her consulting business, Zoë works with high level CEOs to help them restructure their business. They break down the walls of the silos, and help departments work better together.

Zoë told me, “A lot of times, those CEOs are busy and don’t have time to take my call or meet for coffee for a sales pitch. So instead, I call and I invite them to be a guest on my podcast.”

She said, “It makes it a lot easier to get past the gatekeeper. It makes it a lot easier to have a conversation with that CEO, and it makes it a lot easier to start building a relationship with that individual. So I use the interviews as a way to open doors to potential clients.”

I thought that was absolutely brilliant.

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS

Now, Zoë has the opportunity to have a conversation with the CEO when she invites that CEO on the podcast as the guest.

Next, she has a conversation with the CEO on a pre-call.

Then she has the interview with the CEO, so she’s on for a third time having that conversation.

Finally when the episode is ready to publish, Zoë has a fourth conversation with the CEO. On this call, she explains to them how the episode is published, how they might share it, and how they might benefit from it.

At this point, she’s had four conversations with that CEO before they ever even start talking about doing business together.

She’s building the relationship. By the time she’s done with that fourth call, they are ready to talk about working together.

Now they know each other. They have a bit of a rapport going on. That CEO is much more likely to have that conversation and take that meeting with Zoë than they were if it were just a cold call.

She uses her in her interviews to turn guests into clients.

And here’s the benefit. When you do it this way, it also accomplishes that first way to monetize by turning listeners into clients. When you interview a potential client, and you give them that coaching call or that discovery call or that clarity call, it also shows your listeners what is possible by working with you. It shows listeners what it’s like to sit down and have a discovery call with you.

When you invite listeners to a discovery call, they understand how it works and what it looks like.

Show listeners what’s possible by interviewing potential clients.

INTERVIEWS WITH PARTNERS

Finally, the third way to monetize your podcast interviews is to interview joint venture partners.

Interview partners who can put you in front of your ideal target listener, and interview partners who have great opportunities for your audience.

Interviewing partners will help you generate affiliate income by marketing what your JV partner has to offer. But, it also gives you a platform and a stage to swap with that joint venture partner so they can put you on their stage and give you an opportunity to make your offer to their audience.

You win twice.

YOUR JV PACKAGE

Marc Mawhinney is the host of Natural Born Coaches podcast. It’s a great podcast. He was my coach for awhile, and he’s fantastic.

Marc also runs the Coaching Jungle. It’s a Facebook group of about 25,000 members.

To generate revenue with his interviews. Marc does a really unique joint venture program. It’s called the flat fee JV. He charges joint venture partners a flat fee.

When you typically work with a joint venture partner, you get a commission from everything that sells through your affiliate link.

You interview JV partners on your show. They make an offer through your affiliate link. Whenever somebody buys through that affiliate link, you get a commission. It’s pretty cut and dry.

Nobody loses in that situation. When people buy, you get paid. If people don’t buy, you don’t get paid. When people buy, your JV partner wins because people enroll. If people don’t buy, your JV partner doesn’t lose because they are not out any money.

That’s how a typical joint venture partnership works.

FLAT FEE JV

With Marc’s flat fee JV, people pay him one flat fee. In that flat fee, you get an entire package.

The flat fee JV package includes an interview on his podcast. He hosts a webinar for his entire community featuring you. You are allowed to post in his Coaching Jungle Facebook group. Plus, Marc does a few Facebook live videos with you in the Facebook group, and you’re included in his daily email.

It’s all in a complete package. You get it for all for one flat fee.

So you pay him, you get all of that marketing, and he only gets paid the flat fee. You keep all revenue generated.

The downside to Marc is that there’s no increase in affiliate commissions. He doesn’t make more the more people buy. He just delivers on his promise, and he gets one flat fee.

So, his revenue is capped, but there’s also a floor. He doesn’t make any more. He doesn’t make any less. It’s pretty steady income.

On the JV partner side, there’s a risk that people don’t buy anything and you’re out your flat fee. But, there’s also an upside that if people buy more than what the flat fee cost you, you keep all of it.

It is a great upside, but it’s also a great way to leverage interviews to help joint venture partners and to help make money.

Now, you can do the flat fee JV like Marc does. Or, you can do a traditional joint venture partnership where you interview partners. Whenever somebody buys, you make a a commission.

TRADITIONAL JV PARTNERSHIP

Sadie and Sausha over at Meathead Test Kitchen do this. I help them launch their podcast. They talk about all the stuff they love in health and fitness

On the podcast, they direct people to their website to buy all of the stuff they talk about. On their website are all the affiliate links to buy all of the great stuff they talk about.

This is a great way to leverage partnerships to generate revenue through interviews as well.

Sadie and Sausha interview health experts and people who’ve invented things in the health and fitness industry. They interview those experts about their products and services.

Finally, Sadie and Sausha offer those products and services on their website through their affiliate link, and they make great money there.

YOUR STAGE

It’s just one way to leverage partnerships. It also gives you that stage.

When you’re talking to somebody about putting you in front of their audience so you can attract your ideal clients, you now have a stage you can put them on.

You can put partners on your stage in front of your audience, your stage being your podcast. Get them exposure to your audience. You both win.

This is a great way to leverage podcast interviews to grow partnerships and monetize your podcast interviews.

INTERVIEWS – THE THREE WAYS

Those are your 3 ways to monetize podcast interviews.

The first is you can turn your audience into clients.

The second way is turn your guests into clients.

And the third way is to interview partners and generate, revenue through commissions and affiliate fees.

So, get in there and refine your interviews. Refine the way you conduct interviews.

Set up that little, space at the beginning. Leave space for yourself to demonstrate your expertise and your authority in your space so you get people to understand how you are the expert before you get into the interview.

Demonstrating your authority at the beginning will allow you to shine the spotlight on your guest, and make them look great without having to figure out how to weasel your way in and make yourself look great.

Just get in there and show them what you do.

EXPERIMENT

Select your favorite way to leverage your interviews for revenue and get started with it this week. You may need to Experiment with 1 or 2 of these to see what works, to see which ones you like.

Monetizing your audience might take a little longer than monetizing your guests. But when you monetize your audience, you have more than one person in your audience that could become a client.

When you’re monetizing your guest, it’s just the one person sitting across from you that could become a client. However, that one person sitting across from you might become a client much faster than the audience will become a client.

The audience is a little further away in terms of relationship. It’s going to take longer to nurture them and move them along to be your client.

So one comes with speed, figure out which one you want. It’s quality or quantity. Experiment, and see what works. The the biggest thing I can recommend is that you get started today.

This week when you’re creating your next interview episode, decide how you want to monetize that interview. Start doing one of these 3 strategies.

You’ll start generating revenue In the right way, in a in a powerful way. Just get started and take some action.

NEXT WEEK… MINDSET

Next week on the show, we will talk to Merri-jo Hillaker about mindset. Where are you in your mindset?

I know that little voice inside your head creeps in and starts talking about all of the things that could go wrong. The voice tells you why you’re not the right person to do it.

We all struggle with that little voice in our head. We’re gonna help you beat that back next week.

Merri-jo Hillaker has some great tips for us when it comes to mindset and achieving all that we want to achieve.

 

If you don’t have a mentor who can take your hand and walk you every step of the way, go to www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/apply, click the button and apply to have a chat with me. We will develop your plan and see how I can help and support you to achieve your podcast goals.