1 00:00:06,650 --> 00:00:10,430 Welcome to Help Me Podcast, a show designed to help you 2 00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:14,266 launch and grow your podcast. I am your host, Gino, and twice 3 00:00:14,298 --> 00:00:18,090 a week I will release a new episode with different tips and tricks 4 00:00:18,170 --> 00:00:21,994 for launching and growing your podcast. From audio engineering to planning 5 00:00:22,042 --> 00:00:25,746 intentionally to growth tactics, each episode will be a bite sized 6 00:00:25,778 --> 00:00:27,670 tip to help you podcast. 7 00:00:31,130 --> 00:00:34,646 Welcome back to Help me, Podcast. Today I have something that I'm really 8 00:00:34,668 --> 00:00:38,198 excited about talking about. It's a new tactic to 9 00:00:38,284 --> 00:00:41,722 help grow your podcast and to 10 00:00:41,776 --> 00:00:45,546 help give your listeners what they're looking for. This is something that 11 00:00:45,568 --> 00:00:49,130 I just heard about and I haven't actually tried yet, but I am definitely 12 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:52,942 going to try to set this up. And what I'm talking about 13 00:00:52,996 --> 00:00:56,282 is getting on a call with your podcast 14 00:00:56,346 --> 00:01:00,126 listeners, like just jumping on a quick call and talking to 15 00:01:00,148 --> 00:01:03,922 them about your podcast. And this, to me, when I first heard it, I 16 00:01:03,976 --> 00:01:07,374 immediately was like, yes, that's a great idea. That's a wonderful 17 00:01:07,422 --> 00:01:10,690 idea. And it immediately brought me back to thinking 18 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:14,306 about business and how you run a business. 19 00:01:14,408 --> 00:01:18,226 And a lot of times when you're first starting a business, maybe you have an 20 00:01:18,248 --> 00:01:21,654 idea and you think it's a great idea, and then you put so much time 21 00:01:21,692 --> 00:01:25,222 and effort into it and you launch and then you realize that, oh, 22 00:01:25,276 --> 00:01:29,066 this really wasn't something that is helpful to the 23 00:01:29,088 --> 00:01:32,682 people that I'm trying to reach. And then maybe you find 24 00:01:32,736 --> 00:01:35,770 out like, oh, maybe it's this other thing that's helpful. 25 00:01:37,230 --> 00:01:40,874 I'm speaking from personal experience here, but really it makes 26 00:01:40,912 --> 00:01:44,302 more sense to first get feedback from people about their 27 00:01:44,356 --> 00:01:48,014 problems and then make something that can help solve that 28 00:01:48,052 --> 00:01:51,866 problem instead of thinking you're solving a problem in your head and then creating 29 00:01:51,898 --> 00:01:55,266 that thing. So I hope that kind of relates back to 30 00:01:55,288 --> 00:01:58,738 podcasting, where obviously you're making a 31 00:01:58,744 --> 00:02:02,546 podcast for yourself and for your own reasons, but if you're trying 32 00:02:02,568 --> 00:02:06,142 to improve and to get more listeners and to incorporate 33 00:02:06,206 --> 00:02:09,810 your community that you're growing. And I always think it's helpful 34 00:02:09,890 --> 00:02:13,222 to get feedback in anything that you're doing so you can help 35 00:02:13,276 --> 00:02:17,042 improve and be better. So I got this idea from Alex 36 00:02:17,106 --> 00:02:20,682 Sanfilippo, who is the co founder of a bunch of 37 00:02:20,736 --> 00:02:24,294 online podcast helping softwares, including Pod 38 00:02:24,342 --> 00:02:28,106 Lottery and Pod Match. And he 39 00:02:28,128 --> 00:02:31,834 talked about this idea of just jumping on a very quick call, like a ten 40 00:02:31,872 --> 00:02:35,482 to 15 minutes call with some of your listeners 41 00:02:35,546 --> 00:02:39,358 and the people that are really fans of your show. And 42 00:02:39,444 --> 00:02:42,334 I just thought that this was a brilliant idea. And as soon as I heard 43 00:02:42,372 --> 00:02:46,126 it, I was like, this is great. This is definitely something that 44 00:02:46,148 --> 00:02:49,986 I want to be doing. And I think it's just the most valuable thing that 45 00:02:50,008 --> 00:02:53,742 you can have, right? Because you're going directly to the people that are liking 46 00:02:53,806 --> 00:02:57,602 and listening to your show and you're asking them what 47 00:02:57,656 --> 00:03:00,790 do they like to see more of what do they think you can improve on, 48 00:03:00,860 --> 00:03:04,514 and most importantly, how they found you and how they're sharing 49 00:03:04,562 --> 00:03:08,358 you and that sort of thing. So it's just giving you tons of data 50 00:03:08,524 --> 00:03:12,042 about your show, so then you can use that data and 51 00:03:12,096 --> 00:03:15,754 improve going forward. So the first thing is, 52 00:03:15,872 --> 00:03:19,546 how do you find people to ask, right, where do you even go? 53 00:03:19,648 --> 00:03:23,390 Well, the first thing is if you have people who are engaging on social 54 00:03:23,460 --> 00:03:27,150 media, maybe they're on Instagram and they're liking your post 55 00:03:27,220 --> 00:03:30,766 or they're commenting on your post. Those people definitely a good place to 56 00:03:30,788 --> 00:03:34,526 start. Send them a DM and ask them 57 00:03:34,708 --> 00:03:38,290 next place could be anybody who's leaving you a review. 58 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,146 Maybe somebody left you a review and they left their full name. You can go 59 00:03:42,168 --> 00:03:45,794 find them on LinkedIn and do a little bit of stocking and 60 00:03:45,912 --> 00:03:49,270 ask them like, hey, I saw you left me a review. Thank you so much. 61 00:03:49,340 --> 00:03:53,046 Would you mind jumping on a quick call? Any places like this that 62 00:03:53,148 --> 00:03:56,966 you're getting any engagement from people, that's the place that you want 63 00:03:56,988 --> 00:04:00,598 to ask for people to jump on a quick call. And 64 00:04:00,684 --> 00:04:04,106 even if somebody's sending you an email, right, maybe somebody sent you an email saying, 65 00:04:04,128 --> 00:04:07,946 hey, I love your podcast. That would be a perfect segue into, 66 00:04:08,048 --> 00:04:11,034 hey, I'd love to talk to you more about that. So the next thing is 67 00:04:11,072 --> 00:04:14,586 the approach, and how do you ask people for this? Right? Because I think it 68 00:04:14,608 --> 00:04:18,206 might come off a little bit jarring at first. If you're just asking somebody like, 69 00:04:18,308 --> 00:04:20,878 hey, can I jump on a call with you? They're probably going to be like, 70 00:04:20,964 --> 00:04:24,766 well, that's a little weird. Are you trying to sell me something? So I think 71 00:04:24,788 --> 00:04:28,466 it's important to just be super transparent and upfront and 72 00:04:28,488 --> 00:04:32,082 clear in saying, like, hey, I'm just trying to get some 73 00:04:32,216 --> 00:04:36,066 feedback for my show, and I just want to talk to the people that 74 00:04:36,088 --> 00:04:39,878 really love the show. And I can see that you're listening, and I just want 75 00:04:39,884 --> 00:04:43,590 to get your feedback so I could make changes and improve and 76 00:04:43,660 --> 00:04:47,414 make the show better for everybody who listens. And I 77 00:04:47,452 --> 00:04:50,966 think when you come at it from that angle, they'll see like, okay, they just 78 00:04:50,988 --> 00:04:54,714 really want my feedback. And there's no sort of sales thing in 79 00:04:54,752 --> 00:04:57,658 here. And also, I think it's important to say it's only going to be a 80 00:04:57,664 --> 00:05:01,354 ten minute call, not too much of your time. And me personally, I would 81 00:05:01,392 --> 00:05:05,178 also do only on the phone because I feel like that's a 82 00:05:05,184 --> 00:05:08,606 little bit less of a commitment than jumping on a zoom call. But if you 83 00:05:08,628 --> 00:05:12,298 prefer, you can obviously do a zoom call as well. But I just think it's 84 00:05:12,314 --> 00:05:15,246 a little bit less of an ask to jump on a phone call than to 85 00:05:15,268 --> 00:05:18,738 jump on a zoom call. So you also want to make it super easy for 86 00:05:18,744 --> 00:05:22,546 them to schedule one of these calls. Go on Calendly, or I 87 00:05:22,568 --> 00:05:26,354 used Absado for my scheduler, but make it easy to send 88 00:05:26,392 --> 00:05:29,938 them a link so that way they could set up a call with you 89 00:05:30,024 --> 00:05:33,606 very easily. They don't have to go back and forth, you don't have to play 90 00:05:33,788 --> 00:05:37,218 what time is good for you sort of thing. They just go into your calendar 91 00:05:37,234 --> 00:05:40,886 and pick a time that you're already available and then you 92 00:05:40,908 --> 00:05:44,602 schedule them for a phone call. And now once you have them on the phone 93 00:05:44,656 --> 00:05:48,470 call, I think we have to think about it in like a data collection 94 00:05:48,550 --> 00:05:52,266 sort of thing. So for me, very analytical. And Alex also 95 00:05:52,368 --> 00:05:55,310 had mentioned this is you make an Excel spreadsheet 96 00:05:55,890 --> 00:05:59,566 know have your questions there. So then when you're on the call with them, you 97 00:05:59,588 --> 00:06:03,294 can quickly type in their responses. And now the more people 98 00:06:03,332 --> 00:06:06,914 that you talk to, the more this looks like data and 99 00:06:07,032 --> 00:06:10,514 you can then use this data to improve and make 100 00:06:10,552 --> 00:06:14,238 changes down the line. Some of the questions that Alex 101 00:06:14,334 --> 00:06:18,178 mentioned that you should be asking these people, and this is coming from 102 00:06:18,184 --> 00:06:21,910 somebody who's done this multiple times, is one, 103 00:06:21,980 --> 00:06:25,366 how did you found out about the show and why are you listening? How did 104 00:06:25,388 --> 00:06:28,280 you get here? That's going to be helpful to understand 105 00:06:28,890 --> 00:06:32,634 how people are getting to your show. And is it a random they just found 106 00:06:32,672 --> 00:06:35,754 you? Or maybe somebody's writing about you or 107 00:06:35,952 --> 00:06:39,706 maybe you're doing something else and not realizing that this is 108 00:06:39,728 --> 00:06:43,446 how you're getting your podcast listeners. It's definitely a super helpful idea 109 00:06:43,568 --> 00:06:47,182 to find out where they're coming from because then you can 110 00:06:47,236 --> 00:06:50,862 double down on whatever that is and get more people to come 111 00:06:50,916 --> 00:06:54,446 and listen to your show. So that's a great tactic and a great question to 112 00:06:54,468 --> 00:06:58,034 be asking. The next thing is what do you enjoy about the show? 113 00:06:58,152 --> 00:07:01,954 Maybe they have a favorite episode, or a favorite segment of your 114 00:07:01,992 --> 00:07:05,838 show, or a favorite guest. And I think it's also helpful 115 00:07:05,934 --> 00:07:09,106 to know what they like about your show. The next thing would be to find 116 00:07:09,128 --> 00:07:12,246 out what they don't like about the show. And one thing that Alex said that 117 00:07:12,268 --> 00:07:15,974 I really liked is don't ask them what they don't like about your 118 00:07:16,012 --> 00:07:19,766 show. Ask them what's one thing you would do to 119 00:07:19,788 --> 00:07:23,562 make it better for future listeners. Because that way if you ask somebody 120 00:07:23,616 --> 00:07:26,714 what they don't like and they're not 121 00:07:26,752 --> 00:07:30,394 confrontational, they may not want to say what they don't like. But if you ask 122 00:07:30,432 --> 00:07:34,198 it in a way that's positive and like, how can I improve the show? What 123 00:07:34,224 --> 00:07:37,166 would you do to improve the show? It makes it a little bit easier to 124 00:07:37,188 --> 00:07:41,006 give constructive feedback and then the last question to ask them 125 00:07:41,108 --> 00:07:44,258 is just ask them what they're struggling with right now. 126 00:07:44,344 --> 00:07:48,178 And this could be helpful if you're using your podcast as a 127 00:07:48,184 --> 00:07:52,002 business or you may down the line 128 00:07:52,056 --> 00:07:55,646 want to make products for your listeners just to know what they're 129 00:07:55,678 --> 00:07:59,526 struggling with, depending on what your show is. For me, my 130 00:07:59,548 --> 00:08:03,046 other podcast working towards our purpose, I would really love it if I could be 131 00:08:03,068 --> 00:08:06,694 able to help people work more in their purpose. So if they 132 00:08:06,732 --> 00:08:10,486 tell me what it is they're struggling with and maybe why they're 133 00:08:10,518 --> 00:08:14,294 having a hard time leaving their job or making a career 134 00:08:14,342 --> 00:08:17,594 switch or following their passions, then it can help give me 135 00:08:17,632 --> 00:08:21,466 insight into how I can help them. So I think this question is 136 00:08:21,488 --> 00:08:25,162 helpful in being able to figure out how you can help your audience 137 00:08:25,226 --> 00:08:28,240 and your community to do whatever it is that 138 00:08:28,850 --> 00:08:32,414 they want to be doing. And then you can also ask them before they leave 139 00:08:32,452 --> 00:08:36,286 to leave you an Apple review and send them the link. Make it 140 00:08:36,308 --> 00:08:39,742 easy. Just like we talked about in our last episode, episode 141 00:08:39,806 --> 00:08:43,490 59, they obviously really like your show. If they're on a call with you 142 00:08:43,560 --> 00:08:46,722 and if they haven't left a review yet, I think it's a really easy sell 143 00:08:46,776 --> 00:08:50,214 to say, hey, do you mind leaving me a review on Apple? Here's the link, 144 00:08:50,252 --> 00:08:53,798 how to do it. And doing all this again in ten minutes, 145 00:08:53,884 --> 00:08:57,574 really quickly, just asking these few questions. And now you can start 146 00:08:57,612 --> 00:09:01,066 to build your data sheet of like, what do people like? What do people not 147 00:09:01,088 --> 00:09:04,794 like? What are they struggling with? How'd they find this show? 148 00:09:04,912 --> 00:09:08,746 And with this information, you now understand your 149 00:09:08,768 --> 00:09:12,422 listeners more and you can better make content to 150 00:09:12,576 --> 00:09:16,174 make them happy and to give them what they need and to 151 00:09:16,212 --> 00:09:19,754 serve your community. So I just think that this is a genius 152 00:09:19,802 --> 00:09:23,482 way of being able to hear from your listeners, 153 00:09:23,546 --> 00:09:27,346 because as podcasters, you're in the dark a lot of times with 154 00:09:27,448 --> 00:09:31,266 who's listening, right? You don't really get a lot of chances to get 155 00:09:31,288 --> 00:09:34,500 feedback, and if it's not through a review, 156 00:09:34,870 --> 00:09:38,662 you really don't hear from people. So I think it's a great 157 00:09:38,716 --> 00:09:42,486 way to be able to listen to your community and 158 00:09:42,508 --> 00:09:46,022 to talk to your community. And this is kind of a win win, 159 00:09:46,076 --> 00:09:49,794 because you're getting somebody who is dedicated 160 00:09:49,842 --> 00:09:52,818 to your show and they like your show and you're listening to them and you're 161 00:09:52,834 --> 00:09:55,706 letting them speak, and that's going to make them feel good and make them feel 162 00:09:55,728 --> 00:09:59,354 like they're a part of the show and a part of your community. And 163 00:09:59,472 --> 00:10:02,842 that's really what podcasting is about, is it's building community and 164 00:10:02,896 --> 00:10:06,286 creating a bunch of like minded people and putting them 165 00:10:06,308 --> 00:10:10,000 together and having conversations. And 166 00:10:10,450 --> 00:10:14,206 I just think that that's kind of the beauty of podcasting. So thanks 167 00:10:14,228 --> 00:10:17,986 again to Alex for suggesting this and I wanted to share it all with you 168 00:10:18,088 --> 00:10:21,906 so that you can go forward and start interviewing some of 169 00:10:21,928 --> 00:10:25,746 your guests. So as a good segue, if any of you would like to 170 00:10:25,768 --> 00:10:29,494 be interviewed about this podcast, shoot me an email. And I would 171 00:10:29,532 --> 00:10:33,126 love to talk to you and to see what your thoughts are about this 172 00:10:33,148 --> 00:10:36,902 show and how I can help better serve you all and 173 00:10:36,956 --> 00:10:40,566 make podcasts that are more helpful for you so that you can 174 00:10:40,588 --> 00:10:44,362 grow your own podcast. As always, there's a link to send me an email 175 00:10:44,416 --> 00:10:47,946 in the Show Notes and I would love to hear what any of you have 176 00:10:47,968 --> 00:10:51,162 to say. So thanks for listening and happy 177 00:10:51,216 --> 00:10:54,926 podcasting. We've reached the end of the episode and if 178 00:10:54,948 --> 00:10:58,494 you enjoyed this podcast or you got something from it, you might be 179 00:10:58,532 --> 00:11:02,026 interested in my weekly newsletter that I send out every Monday 180 00:11:02,058 --> 00:11:05,646 morning, full of podcasting tips, tricks and 181 00:11:05,748 --> 00:11:09,582 news. So if you like this show, you might like this newsletter. To sign 182 00:11:09,636 --> 00:11:13,354 up, just go to the Show Notes and click the link. Thanks for listening 183 00:11:13,402 --> 00:11:15,300 and happy podcasting. Our.