Big Podcast Playbook - Grow Your Podcast. Build Your Audience.

There's a secret about podcasting that Taylor Swift knows, even though she doesn't have a podcast. It's the same secret that has allowed her to dominate the music business and win the hearts of music fans.

Podcasters would benefit from knowing this information. And it's what I'm sharing on this episode...

Don't Let Your Podcast Be Ignored - Download my free "Audience Attraction Cheat Sheet" to get 25 podcast episode (and segment) templates.

A conversation during the recent Podfecta with the guys from Est. 1982 Podcast got me thinking about a 2001 episode of Frontline called "Merchants Of Cool."

Looking back on it today, nothing within the episode is surprising. At the time though, lots of people found the content shocking.

The subject? Marketing.

Even as a marketer, I find some parts of it are disturbing. I often question the ethics and tactics many companies do to sell products, services, and ideas.

Are we helping or hurting people with our marketing?

The good news is that "marketing" doesn't have to be bad or unethical. And the even better news, is that your podcast has a big opportunity to do marketing the right way.

More thoughts in this episode...

Don't Let Your Podcast Be Ignored - Download my free "Audience Attraction Cheat Sheet" to get 25 podcast episode (and segment) templates.

If you're curious about Podfecta or Craft Content Nashville, this episode has more thoughts on how they work and what you'll experience if attend either of them.

Don't Let Your Podcast Be Ignored - Download my free "Audience Attraction Cheat Sheet" to get 25 podcast episode (and segment) templates.

An evening in downtown Nashville with Jen Briney of Congressional Dish and Dave Jackson of School of Podcasting got me thinking about "podcast tourism."

This is what you don't want for your podcast.

If you want to build a loyal audience for your podcast, this episode explains how to make that happen. It also tells how to quickly get a big audience, although that may not necessarily be what you want when you see how it's done.

Your goal as a podcaster should be to have both loyalty and volume. And it can happen, but it's going to take some work.

More thoughts in this episode...

Don't Let Your Podcast Be Ignored - Download my free "Audience Attraction Cheat Sheet" to get 25 podcast episode (and segment) templates.

Podfecta is done! Unfortunately, I was unable to provide live updates as it was non-stop, balls-to-the-wall from when I woke up at 5:15am until I got into the studio at 11:10pm.

Lots of great people attended including Dave Jackson from School of Podcasting, Chris Krimitsos from Podfest, Mark Deal from Podcast Atlanta, Steve Stewart, Jen Briney from Congressional Dish, Sy from The Thrst, Jeff Sanders, Dan Miller of 48 Days, Jeff Brown of Read To Lead, Jon Acuff of Creative Slide, and many, many more.

What's the "big takeaway" of Podfecta? There's a ton of ways to get your message out, build connection with your audience, and make money with your podcast.

That sounds obvious, but it's even more obvious when you put 100 podcasters in the same room and have them share what's working for them.

More thoughts on Podfecta coming soon...

Don't Let Your Podcast Be Ignored - Download my free "Audience Attraction Cheat Sheet" to get 25 podcast episode (and segment) templates.

Podfecta is tomorrow. The unconference, Craft Content, is the day after that.

Lots of podcasters are coming to Nashville for these events. Because of this, I'll be releasing special "live" episodes of Build A Big Podcast.

This is the first Podfecta and we sold it out. Lots of people have been asking me about this and other aspects of hosting live events. If you're curious about doing a live event for your podcast? Let me know what questions you have and I'll do my best to answer them on upcoming episodes of Build A Big Podcast.

Don't Let Your Podcast Be Ignored - Download my free "Audience Attraction Cheat Sheet" to get 25 podcast episode (and segment) templates.

It's easy for podcasters to believe our own hype. Even the most experiences podcaster can be fooled into thinking other podcasters are always smooth on the mic, quick on their feet, and know what to say 100% of the time.

Not true. 

In this episode, I share a "behind the scenes" clip from an interview with Jeff Sanders about his book, The Free-Time Formula, where I wasn't able to get where I wanted to go (the end of the interview) and had to stop and ask Jeff for the information necessary to get me there.

Don't Let Your Podcast Be Ignored - Download my free "Audience Attraction Cheat Sheet" to get 25 podcast episode (and segment) templates.

Last month, Laura Ingraham's show on Fox News was boycotted by 27 sponsors after she ridiculed a 17-year old student survivor of school shooting.

The student, David Hogg, posted a list of Ingraham's advertisers online and called for a boycott. Advertising time during her show dropped by as much as 52 percent.

This week, her program is getting its best ratings ever, spiking 25% in total viewers. And one of the sponsors who pulled its ads, Ace Hardware, is back.

In this episode, I talk about why sponsors associate themselves with podcasts and how you can get sponsors for your podcast, even if you're controversial or don't have a lot of listeners.

Don't Let Your Podcast Be Ignored - Download my free "Audience Attraction Cheat Sheet" to get 25 podcast episode (and segment) templates.

I started this podcast on Anchor, so it will also have a special place in my heart. My relationship with it is mixed though as, while it's a great tool for mobile recording and quickly getting audio content released to the world, it's more of an "audio social media" app than a podcast tool.

Last week, Anchor launched a new feature that allows users to connect with each other based on a shared topic. In this episode, I give it a shot, recording the experience as I tried to meet other Anchor users using a few different topic options.

Don't Let Your Podcast Be Ignored - Download my free "Audience Attraction Cheat Sheet" to get 25 podcast episode (and segment) templates.

There was a time when it really helped for your podcast to have its own app. I've got both iPhone and Android versions of the app for RED Podcast and the experience has been great.

But the ways people consume podcasts today are different than they were even just a couple of years ago. Apple has a great built-in app that comes with every iPhone. Google recently made something similar for Android.

And there's Amazon Echo, where people can listen to podcasts without even knowing they're podcasts -- they only know they're listening to "audio."  

Is having a dedicated app for your podcast worth the investment? That's what I talk about on this episode...

Don't Let Your Podcast Be Ignored - Download my free "Audience Attraction Cheat Sheet" to get 25 podcast episode (and segment) templates.