Turn Email Subscribers into Podcast Listeners | Tracy Beavers

Relying on social media alone to drive listeners to your show is like building your podcast on rented land. Visibility fades and algorithms change! Instead, there’s an alternative you should be focused on. In this episode, Tracy Beavers explains why email converts higher than social, how to stay top of mind between episodes, and the simple calls to action that get listeners to join your list. Get ready to grow your podcast audience faster through an engaged email list!

MORE FROM THIS EPISODE: HTTPS://PODMATCH.COM/EP/375

Chapters

00:00 The Power of Email Lists for Podcasters
06:20 Strategies for Growing Your Email List

Takeaways

Email is a crucial asset for podcasters.
Email conversion rates are significantly higher than social media.
Relying solely on social media is risky for podcasters.
Email allows direct communication with your audience.
Regular emails keep listeners engaged between episodes.
Email lists can lead to increased downloads for new episodes.
Building an email list creates future monetization opportunities.
Calls to action are essential for list growth.
Offering exclusive content can entice sign-ups.
An email list can change the trajectory of your podcast.

MORE FROM THIS EPISODE: HTTPS://PODMATCH.COM/EP/375

PodMatch has officially launched a podcast network for independent interview-based podcasts! To apply to be part of the network, please visit https://PodMatch.com/network and press the "Join Network" button in the top center of the screen. While you're there, be sure to check out some of the incredible shows in the network!

Transcript

0:22

You're listening to Podcasting Made Simple. Hey there, my friends. Today, we're going to talk about the importance of having your own email list. As a podcaster, now I know the topic of email list growth does not sound super sexy, but stick with me because what I'm going to share with you today has the ability to change the trajectory of your podcast by increasing listener loyalty, increasing downloads, and ultimately your income potential. I am Tracy Bevers, a visibility and list growth strategist, and I am so excited to be here with you. So why is email list growth sexy? Let me count the ways. Email is one of your biggest assets when it comes to your podcast and your business. Gaining visibility for your show, your business, staying top of mind with your listeners, your audience, your clients. Let's talk about why. Did you know that email conversion is four times higher than any social media post? Does that surprise you? It's more likely to be seen, first of all. mean, think about it. The algorithms on social media only share your stuff to a very small percentage of your audience versus you landing in their inbox. Email is going to convert higher. And did you know that 61 % of people prefer to receive their information through email rather than social media? And when we use social media as the only way to build our businesses and to market our podcasts, you've heard me and many others say this. a million times, I'm sure. It's like building your podcast and your business on rented land. We do not own social media. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, those could all disappear tomorrow as we have been seeing in the media. And the other thing that can happen is what's happened to me and other people I know. What if your social media account gets disabled or hacked? Think about it for a second. Would you be able to reach your listenership if social media disappeared tomorrow? If the answer is no, you've got to get the email addresses of your audience and your clients immediately. Email is also fast, cheap, and accessible to most everyone. I mean, my 82-year-old mother has an email account, and she knows how to use it. Not all of your clients and listeners and prospects are on social media. Some of them are on social media, but they don't ever look at it. A very small percentage of our audience actually sees what we post because of the algorithm. But email? Put your information at your client's fingertips, your listeners fingertips, front and center in their inbox, which is what I like to call their living room. You are literally, when you land in somebody's inbox, it is like you are landed front and center in the living room of their house. And once you have your clients emails, it is really easy to email them once a week, twice a week, twice a month, whatever feels authentic to you, to your show, to your business. Just pick a cadence that you can stick with consistently because you want your audience to be able to rely on you. A very easy thing to do is to send an email with teaser content about your next podcast episode or your current episode, letting them know when a future episode is going to drop. You can also include information and a link to a past episode that was super popular. Repurpose your podcast into the email content. Don't think you have to reinvent the wheel with regard to what to say to your audience and your listeners. The whole idea of email. is to use this as a vehicle to gain visibility for your name, your podcast show, your business, and stay top of mind with your audience in a platform that you can control. So when my audience thinks, my gosh, I think it's time that I hire a business coach, I don't want them to have to try to remember my name, the name of my podcast show, hunt me down on social media. I want them to be able to easily remember my name because I have been in their inbox often. I'm right there front and center in their living room. They can find my email, find my contact information, make it really easy on your listeners and your ideal clients to find you, connect with you, hire you. An email list helps you build audience loyalty. A list and emailing your list allows you to keep listeners engaged between episodes, give them regular updates, exclusive content, behind the scenes insights that can turn casual listeners into loyal fans. And your loyal listeners can easily share your emails with their friends who might also be interested in listening, which then grows your listenership even more. You can easily remind your listeners to write you a review or share your show with just one other person. Having an email list increases downloads. Every time you release a new episode, you can send an email notification straight to your listeners inboxes. These notifications often lead to immediate boosts and downloads and help episodes rank better on podcast platforms. It also helps you keep algorithm resistant. Podcast platforms, social media algorithms, they change constantly, but with an email list, you have control. You're not at the mercy of platform changes or unexpected social media limits. Just remember, building your audience only on social media is like building on rented land. Having an email list also offers a place for deeper engagement with your audience. For listeners who want more than just listening, email can be the hub for sharing extra resources, bonus episodes, discussion threads that aren't available to everyone, that would make them feel really special. An email list also creates future monetization opportunities. Even if monetization of your podcast is not in your plans right now, having an email list sets you up for opportunities down the line, whether it's paid sponsors, collaborations, eventually selling something because you can say to a potential sponsor that not only do you have lots of downloads every month and loads of followers on social, but You also have an email list of your audience members with a high open rate showing that they're opening your emails and consuming them. And if I am a potential sponsor, this email stat from you means more to me than a high number of followers on social. Because again, we can't control what the algorithm shows people and we have no idea if our followers will see everything we post. So at this point, you may be thinking, okay, Tracy, you've worn me down. I'm going to look into this email thing. I'm going to get on the email train, but how the heck? Do I get people to want to opt in to my email list? That's a great question that I'm so glad you asked. Let me give you some tips. Calls to action are gonna be your best friend when it comes to letting your listenership know that you have valuable and fun emails you send regularly. You wanna give a call to action both in the audio of the show as well as in the show notes. Let me give you some examples of some simple ways to entice your listeners to wanna join your list. For podcasters with no services to sell, You will want to share that you have weekly emails your audience is loving. Tease them with that content. You could say something like, if you love the behind the scenes as much as I do, then join my list to get exclusive behind the scenes secrets that I only share with my email subscribers. I mean, who doesn't love behind the scenes? If you want to be the first to know when a new episode is going to drop, then be sure to get on our email list. We love to spoil our listeners with fun giveaways. Join our list to get the scoop. I mean, who doesn't want to have the scoop, right? You can set up a very simple landing page for your show that talks about your email content, why they will want to be on your list, and then a spot for them to pop their name and email in and click the join button. For podcasters like me that have products and services to sell, your calls to action will be similar, but you can make a few tweaks. I have a free Facebook group where I invite my ideal clients to join my free community, get help with their online business growth and make connections that lead to collaboration. That's a great call to action. The way I have my Facebook. group entry questions set up makes people joining my group want to land on my email list. So a great call to action for my show is talking about my awesome group and why not join us. Then I put a link for the show in my show notes. Another great way to have your listeners want to join your list is by offering a free lead magnet that allows them to dive deeper into the topic at hand and warms them up to want to get to know you better, to know that they like you, to see your expertise, and to eventually want to buy your offers. So here's an example from my business. I teach online entrepreneurs the importance of having their Facebook personal profile all dialed in with every nook and cranny filled in, every piece of information filled in and their cover photo as an email list growth funnel. I have a podcast episode talking about the nuts and bolts of how they can do this, why it's important and how they can maximize their profile. Then I have a free PDF checklist that they can opt into that lets them dive deeper into the topic. And I give the URL for that opt in during the audio and then also included in my show notes. And don't forget when you are a guest on another show or you're a guest on a live collaboration and the podcast host says, where can everybody find you to connect with you? You want to give a call to action that leads to your list. If your podcast episodes are all dialed in to include calls to action in the audio and the show notes that lead to list growth, then you're good to go on directing everyone to check out your show. So hopefully I have completely changed your mind about email list growth. And you now believe as I do that is the sexiest topic you've heard all day and you're ready to dive in and start growing your list. Remember an email list has the ability to change the trajectory of your podcast by increasing listener loyalty, increasing downloads and ultimately your income potential. For more episodes, please visit podmatch.com forward slash episodes. Thank you so much for listening.