Charley: Alright James, this would have to be my second, most-commonly asked question when it comes to podcasts and shows is, you know, you might get someone to listen to your show, but how do you get them to subscribe to the show or channel or get them on the email list?
Now, previously, you’ve referenced how important your email list has been, and I know you put a lot of effort and energy into growing that. What have you found works best from once you’ve got people in taking to that next level?
James: Well, a couple of things: I mean, an obvious one would be to ask them to subscribe. So you could do that. Occasionally, I remember to do that on my shows, even on videos! It’s good to ask at the beginning of the video. So okay, if you like what we’re talking about today, wherever you see this video, and make sure you hit subscribe. Because of course, we’re putting that across multiple platforms today. So, it’s a bit hard to say, you know, go up to the top left or the bottom right, or click on the actual name of the button, because it’s different on each platform. Generally, platforms have, you know, they can follow a page or they can subscribe to a YouTube channel. Maybe listing them all off gets a bit messy. So ask them to subscribe. Let them know that that’s an option in case they’re not sure.
The other thing I’d say is have a good show! Make sure whatever you’re talking about is respectful of the listeners’ time and commitment. They’re going to listen to the show and they get a great result and they enjoy it, there’s a good chance they’ll listen to another one. But if you fluff around or waffle, I mean, I’ve listened to a couple of podcasts back in the day when I used to listen to podcasts, which I don’t anymore, where they spend the first 20 minutes crapping on about ads and sponsors and irrelevant stuff that I don’t care about, before they actually get to any meat. I think I counted the other day, it was 17-and-a-half minutes before they got into any content. Like there’s no way I’m going to listen to that. In fact, I’m going to go out of my way to tell everyone that it’s ridiculous. Waste of time.
I’m notorious for being pithy, lack of ads. So I find that people actually commented that, they like that no BS, direct to the point, always delivers, constant value. And that’s just building up the bank account, and I’ll collect later, in my own time, because I’m a patient man, Charley, very patient.
Charley: I’ll give you credit on that. But I’ll even go one further. Two things I love about your show, James – which if you haven’t checked out James’s show, please do – but it’s like one: is it is to the point, there is no fluff. And two: even if it’s a guest that has been on everyone else’s podcast, and I mean everyone’s, you will actually ask different questions. You ask things that are unique and likely to get an answer that isn’t generic or rehearsed. So I always feel like I get more of a raw or real interview with your show.
James: Yeah, that’s definitely my goal. I recently had Jay Abraham on my show. And I asked him questions he’s never been asked before. And he loved it. He said, these are the best questions and let’s stay in touch. And it was a great compliment. But I’ll tell you a tip there.
If you do have a show, and I’m sure Charley at ValherMedia.com, you’ve got gazillions of tips and strategies. People should check that out for sure. One tip that I have is, I ask my guest before we record, what sort of things have you not really shared yet that you think should be out in the market? Like what would you like to talk about, that’s different? I kind of don’t want to have the generic dribble interview that’s basically a copy of the dust jacket on the book. I want to have a real conversation and I look for the story.
What’s the real story? Sometimes the story is not the book that the guy is trying to promote. The story is like, how did they even get to the book? Or what happened before the book? Or what comes after the book? Or, how did they manage to link the book to a really high-paid, back-end offer that’s where the real money is made, you know? So, often, there’s a real story that’s hidden just below the surface. And I try and find that. And my own natural curiosity helps, too, especially when you’re familiar with the work of that person. I knew lots of things contextually that the public wouldn’t know. And I just want to put a spotlight.
And one technique that I used in that episode was I actually went back in time, to nine years ago, when I met Jay in Las Vegas, and I relayed what conversation we had then. We spoke for about five hours straight. And I just cherry-picked the most poignant points and relayed them again, back for my audience, in case they haven’t heard them. And they probably haven’t.
But back onto the topic. How do you get it shared? You make it compelling, make it great, and people will subscribe because they want to catch the next one. And it’s always worth having something to look forward to. So it’s good to back-seed your episodes, for sure. And these days, when I have a few episodes in the bank, like I’m doing now. At the time recording this, my Jay Abraham episode 684 is not live. I’m only up to 670-something. So someone will wait, they might subscribe to get that episode 684. So put something in the future that people look forward to.
They do it on the daily news: “coming up next after the break.” Well, you can do that with your podcast, and definitely cross-link back episodes, too. If you’ve interviewed someone that’s relevant cross-link them. It’ll get picked up as an anchor text in your transcription for SEO with a hyperlink (hot tip there!). But also, if they can follow the snakes, and the ladders and find other episodes, you start building out value. It takes their temperature monitor from cold to warm to hot. They not only want to subscribe, they want to buy whatever you’re selling because they just love it.
Charley: I couldn’t agree more. And I want to throw one more in that’s actually from you, as well, funnily enough! James, you reference this a while ago when we were starting one of those shows. If your interviews are long, create a series or break them into two parts.
James: Definitely.
Charley: Funnily enough, that has been a phenomenal strategy for getting people to subscribe because they want to hear the next part, that inter-linking of episodes.
James: Straight up using the future thing. It’s like if you’re onto a Netflix series, and you see that there are five seasons, you know you’re in for the long haul. If you invest in the characters and you like the show, you’re not going to stop at season two. You’re going to keep going, you know, until we get to season eight and then complain that the writer lost the plot.
Having people onto a series is great, I’ve got lots of series. What I found is you get real synergy. You get more than the sum of the individual episodes. If I was getting 5000 downloads per episode, and I put a series of three, I’ll get more than 15,000 downloads. I’ll get like 20 or 25,000. Because if someone starts at three, they’re going to go back to one and listen to that first. If they start at two, they’ll go back to one, and so forth. So I think you catch people in the future and you catch people who will need to listen to all three if they enjoy the content.
The other thing I’ll say, and it sort of extends to having a good show, you really need to know your market. And I get out and about. I go and speak to my customers. I’ll go inter-state, I go overseas, I sit with them, I listen to them, I talk to them. I coach every single week. We do all these videos, you and I make, Charley, without any notes, because we know this material. I know my audience. And when you’re that strong in your topic, it’s compelling because people can recognize, this is unusual. This is something beyond the normal measure out there. And they lean into it. And they want more, and they should.
Charley: Absolutely, they should want more!
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