Viral Podcasting

As it becomes more mature growth of the US podcasting industry is slowing, however in the rest of the world it's just beginning to take hold. Giorgio Minguzzi started his Italian digital marketing podcast nearly 2 years ago. While the equipment was easy to come by, except for his Heil PR-40, the expertise required to produce a great show wasn't. Especially in his native Italian Language. Giorgio spent nearly a month discovering the intricacies of the good old Mix-Minus. If only he had found Cliff Ravenscraft, his problems would have been solved. But Giorgio has learned the intricacies through the School of Hard Knocks approach and it's paying off. There's very little competition in the Italian Marketplace. He's already doing monthly 5 figures in downloads from his weekly show. Of course he's avidly consuming my book Viral Podcasting in his quest to become a profitable podcaster and just landed his first sponsor. Keep up the great work Giorgio!

Doing interviews in a live setting can be a lot of fun or a nightmare. The first time I ever did a live interview was in a grand ballroom with 5000 present. I didn't have time to prepare interview questions or do proper preparation. I was truly on my own. Somehow the adrenaline kicked and the questions started spewing from my lips. The interviewees seem to respond well and I began to relax. Later when I played back the interviews they sounded pretty good. The crowd noise in the background really added a sense of reality to the interview. It was an epiphany. I finally understood what the report on the street went through. It was a real growth experience. Next time you have the opportunity, try it. It will help you grow. You'll have to think on your feet and you'll have to make the interview pace flow. Flow is everything! Your rhythm and temp will help determine whether your interview is interesting and exciting or boring and humdrum. It's your decision, reach for greatness through a live interview. It will change you. It's all in my book. Order it on Amazon here. 

Ben Krueger of CashFlowPodcasting is an accomplished podcasters and helps others to create successful and profitable podcasts. Ben looks for cliets who are already successful. As the saying goes, "Nothing succeeds like success." Ben says, if someone is already successful in their business pursuits, then creating a profitable podcast is almost guaranteed. Like so many other podcasters, Ben's career kind of took off after some lucky breaks. He was already a major podcast fan and listener. Then everything else seemed to flow naturally from there. He acquired the technical tools and then it took off from there. He already had some familiarity with video production. So audio production was easy. It seems to be a common pattern among our industry. Ben has some very practical tips if you're looking to start your own podcast today. But you have to get started, have a plan and have passion. The rest will follow.

Very few successful people in life have done it all on their own. Talk with anyone at the top of their profession and the odds are they've had a number of mentors or coaches along the way. A good coach is often hard to find, but you'll no doubt be rewarded for your efforts. But make sure you listen to your coach. You don't have to agree with everything they say, but if you've got the right person, they won't tell you to do something unless they absolutely know it works. It's really that simple. For someone who's succeeded in their profession, the idea of mentoring or coaching someone is one of the best experiences they'll have. One thing that students often don't understand is that the coach will learn as much or more than the student. It forces the coach to look objectively at the things they've done in life and to obtain a better understanding of how things work. Finding a podcast or media coach can be difficult. There's just not that many people around who actually know how to create successful shows and podcasts. Valerie Geller is the person I go to. I also coach on a limited basis by application only. Email me and let's see where it goes.

Daniel J. Lewis has been podcasting since 2007 and also help people find podcasting success. Daniel got his start by listening to other people’s podcasts such as TWIT and Grammar Girl. Daniel launched The Audacity to Podcast in 2010. Longevity in podcasting means a lot. Starting out Daniel’s biggest obstacle was  building an audience. He learned this skill by the seat of his pants. It was easier in 2010 than it is today. How do you get people to discover your content? You have to find your audience, not wait for them to find you. Turn them into ambassadors for your podcast. Daniel believes that there will never be saturation of the podcasting market. There will always be niches and opportunities. So what are you waiting for?

#audacitytopodcast @danieljlewis #viralpodcasting

I hear so many people bemoan the fact that they don't have a good voice. Fortunately, there's no requirement that you have an operatic or Shakespearean quality voice to become a great podcaster or radio talk show host. Some of the most famous people out there have not so pleasant sounding voices. Look at Howard Stern. His voice is nasally, twangy and highly New Yorked. It hasn't seemed to hinder his success in the least. If you do have a great, it by no means guarantees your success. A guy in New York who will go unamed has one of the best voices I've ever heard, even better than mine (a lot are) and yet he's never made it because he lacks susbstance and compelling content. He just sounds superficial and not deep enough. Which shows that content is indeed king, but so is your ability to connect with your audience and get your true voice through. That means practicing the techniques we discuss here. If you really are hung up on the quality of your voice, then please get a voice coach and make it sound the best you possibly can. Self-improvement seldom ever goes to waste. But always keep your eye on the basics. Never sound like you're reading. Nothing bores your audience more and will cause them to turn you off quickly. Remember, it's a process of continuous self-improvement and evolution. Your goal should always be to do this show just a little bit better than the last. You'll be amazed how great you sound in a very short period of time.

In business branding has become an essential element of success. Nowhere is branding more important than in making a podcast go viral. Branding will help make your show become sticky. Cliff Ravenscraft is a perfect examply of successful branding. He is the Podcast Answerman. Or Pat Flynn of Simple Passive Income. You're going to invest a lot of time, effort and money into building your brand. Don't do things that will damage your brand, i.e. politics and religion, unless your show is dedicated to these topics. You have nothing to gain and everything to lose. That's not to say that you should avoid controversy, quite the contrary. Controversy sells, for sure, just don't let it damage your branding efforts. Don't get carried away with your ego. It's amazing that Hollywood can't or won't figure this out. They're alienating half their audience and don't seem to care. Branding also means that you must be consistent with your show. Release it the same time every week. Make it the same length each time. These are things your audience will come to expect. 

Go back to your podcast's name. It is the first big branding decision you will make. Then its designing your website, your marketing materials, your intro and outro and show music. Everything you do and every decision you make is going to effect your brand. Don't make any rash decisions, think everything through and do things that will enhance your brand.

In podcasting as in radio, the first thing you must understand is what my good friend Wayne Allyn Root says, "Facts tell and stories sell!" Telling facts doesn't create audience engagement, in fact it will often do the opposite. Telling stories is our greatest asset as everyone wants to hear a good story. If you want to buiild a large audience you've got to become a master storyteller. That's not an easy task, I'm always learning how to better tell a story, even after all these years. If you closely look at the greats of radio or podcasting, you will find they have one thing in common, the ability to tell a story in a compelling manner. I'll go back to Valerie Geller's Beyond Powerful Radio, speak visually, create images in the listeners mind. Then you'll have them exactly where you want them, which is in the palm of your hand. It's not an easy, but anyone - with enough practice and effort can do it . And it will open up doors that you never even realized were closed to you.

Time to get down to monetization. Always be monetizing if and when you're ready to. First you need to build an audience. You've been guest posting, you've been promoting, you've been crushing it! Doing a podcast is no guarantee of success. However, if you've got superior content, excellent audience engagement, you're being real and your numbers/analytics are starting to take off, then it's time. You're skills as an entertainer have really come into their own. Do it right and your show will support you in a very comfortable lifestyle. It really works! Is your model working, you'll soon find out. Whether you're a spokesman, a guru, or an advertiser supported or a brick and mortar operation looking to expand - monetization is the goal, but be certain that you don't put the cart before the horse. If you try to soon, you'll hurt your show and you will fail. Doing it too late and you might go out of business before you succeed. Always look for balance and the right timing is essential.

As a podcaster you need to become an expert in analytics. What are analytics? Simply stated, they're statistics. How many downloads are you getting? How many of them are duplicate downloads? Where does you audience come from? What countries? What percentage of your audience is male/female? All of these numbers are interesting, but they're very important. Before I started making money off the show, analytics was all I had. Also, make sure that you've enabled your site for Google Analytics where you can very easily track visitors. As a rule, the more downloads you get the better. It's a measure of how well your show is being received and you'll learn a lot about who's listening to you.