Cool Tool for Instagram Users

If the Infinite Dial 2019 report encouraged you to head over to the ‘Gram, or you are already posting like the superstar you are, this tool is for you!

LinkTree:  If you are on Instagram, then you know that you can have only one link on your profile. But if you are like me, then you might have multiple items you want to share with your followers. LinkTree makes it super easy for you to do so! Check out my Instagram profile to see LinkTree in action. 

iTunes is just a small piece to your podcast launch

Launching and promoting your podcast does not end and start with iTunes. In fact, submitting your podcast to iTunes should be a very small part of your podcast launch. When launching your podcast and thinking about promotion, you should be focusing on: your current followers, their engagement and how you can increase their awareness of your newly launched podcast.

Here are some ways in which you can connect with your engaged followers and tell them about your podcast and later, about subsequent episodes:

1. Email them: if you have been building your email list, your subscribers want to hear from you. Let them know of your podcast launch. Then, when you release a new episode, send them a quick email reminding them of your podcast, share your show notes and a link back to your website where they can find the complete episode.

2. Social media: Share newly release episode announcements on your social networks. Your updates should include something about your podcast, like title, episode number and link. You can get creative with your updates, to entice users to click on your link and listen. If you are not great at copywriting, you can work with a copywriter to help craft social posts for your podcast.

3. Your website: Post your podcast on your website. Always, always, always do this! Include a link titled, “Podcast” in your website navigation. When a user clicks on the link, they can access and view all of your released podcast episodes.

Submitting your podcast to iTunes is not the end all and be all of your entire podcast launch. Podcast directories should be thought of as a supplement to promoting your podcast. You do want to have your podcast listed in directories, as it gives  your current users a numerous way to subscribe to your podcast. Further, it allows for new users to find, explore and experience your podcast. Allowing these new users the opportunity to like your podcast, love your podcast and become an engaged user.

3 Things Your Podcast May Be Missing

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Are you practicing the three “S’s” when it comes to your podcast's promotion? Below are three things that you should be doing in order to to help promote and grow your podcast audience:

Darlene's Three S's to Podcast Promotion:

Send an email to your subscribers when a new podcast episode launches. Let your "peeps" know about your latest and greatest episode. They want to hear from you, otherwise, they would not have subscribed to your list. 

Show notes! Show notes is a blog post that includes a description of your podcast episode, a brief overview of main topics discussed, can include time stamps for pertinent information and includes links to anything you mentioned in the podcast. You should be creating show notes for each episode and posting them on your website. Make them keyword rich too. Whenever you promote or share your podcast, direct people to that specific episode's show notes. 

Social Media, you betcha'.  Spread the word about your latest episode on social media. Don’t just tweet or post about it once, and be done. Add promotion of your podcast into your daily/weekly social media schedule to capture interest and engage followers.

Bonus: create Click to Tweets and include them in your episode’s show notes, making it even easier (and fun) for your audience to share your content.Need help implementing these three ‘S’s? Let's chat! Contact me today for a strategy session. We can devise a plan and promote your podcast, together!

Handling a Professional Setback

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Setbacks; we all experience them at one point or another. Professional setbacks or personal – the emotions you feel may be similar. They range from sadness, anger, regret or uncertainty; just to name a few. But, this post is not about dwelling on the setback. It’s about how you react to one and how to move forward. For the sake of a business blog, let’s focus on professional setbacks. An example of a professional setback could be losing a high-paying, long-term client. In the moments after the break, you may feel upset, nervous; heck downright panicked. Here’s the thing, it’s just a moment. And, moments are fleeting. Here’s some advice (tried and true advice, by yours truly) on how to deal with a professional setback.

1. Accept it – in all its terrible glory. Cry, scream and shout. It’s okay to do that. Setbacks suck. Allow yourself to experience your emotions. It's important to understand I am not giving you permission to dwell on it. Experience your emotions and then move on.

2. Understand it – once you have given yourself time to work through your emotions, understand why it happened. Most times, a setback has nothing to do with something you did. Yes, sometimes it does. Understand how and why it happened. This is important.

3. Plan for it – now that you have screamed and cursed and understand why the setback happened, you can put a plan into place to avoid such a setback in the future or at least help soften the blow; should it happen again.

Now, let’s go back to the loss of the high-paying, long-term client. Sure, this may very well happen again with a future client. However, by accepting the initial setback, understanding why it happened, you can now put a plan into place to ensure a full practice or consistent interest in your services. Perhaps marketing efforts were less than stellar prior to your setback. Now, by consistently marketing your business, you can keep your marketing funnel full; and thus lessen the fear of losing a client.

Remember, when one door closes, another one is right around the corner – open and letting in a cool refreshing breeze.

Marketing Ideas for Your Podcast

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Marketing your business takes work. Creating a website and/or hanging out a “We Are Open” sign isn’t going to bring you clients. It’s a start, you’re open. Awesome! You need exposure and must get the word out that you are open for business. Have a marketing plan, be persistent with it and re-evaluate what is and is not working. Don’t be afraid to make a change, if something within your plan is not working. Now, let’s say you’ve gotten your marketing plan and processes down for your business. Sweet! Taking that further, maybe one of the strategies is to create a podcast as a way to connect and engage with current and potential clients. Here’s the rub, sometimes businesses create a podcast for the purpose of marketing and then decide, after some time, the podcast angle is not working. After diving deeper, it seems they suffer the same mind-set as a new business owner. They create a podcast, assuming people will find it, without doing any marketing for the podcast. Adding your podcast to iTunes isn’t necessarily enough.

You should market your podcast a lot like you market your business. The same methods and strategies may be used. Sure, it may seem like a Catch-22 or redundant, especially if the reason for your podcast is to market your business. Sounds like a lot work, huh? It can be, but what’s the point of having a podcast if nobody knows about it? If you are unsure of how to market your podcast, here are some ideas:

• Include a link to your podcast in your email signature

• Use social media to share podcast episodes, create images with quotes to share.

• Include your podcast url on your business card

• List your podcast in various podcast directories, especially those in your specific niche(if they exist).

• Join groups on social networks where your audience hangs out, connect with them and when appropriate share your podcast (always check groups’ rules first, before promoting your podcast!)

• Post your podcast along with show notes on your website, as a blog post. Search engines love new content. If you are podcasting consistently and posting show notes, it gives Google a reason to keep coming back to your site to crawl. This means eventual higher search rankings. Score!

• Talk about your podcast, especially at networking events. If you connect with someone and they want to learn more about you… tell them your website and mention you have an online radio show. Don’t be shy! This is also why it’s essential to include your podcast url on business cards.

That’s just scratching the surface. You can also be guest on other podcasts, cross-promote, be a guest blogger, place ads in industry magazines or newsletters (or be featured), or choose to be a sponsor for a specific event.

Eventually, all of your hard work WILL pay off. Choose the options that work best for you. You don't have to do everything on the list above. Get the word out that you have a podcast and remember ALWAYS include a call-to-action in your podcast episodes. A call to action should direct listeners to your website, inviting them to opt into an email list or perform some other measurable action.

If marketing for your podcast sounds like a lot of work and you think you need help implementing some of these ideas… contact me for help. My podcast management services can be of service to you. I am only an email away.

Happy Podcasting!