Content Marketing, in its widely recognized form, irrespective of the channel has always been about “RETURNS” and rarely about the people it is meant for!
It was about 7-8 years back when I first stumbled upon this marketer called Andre Chaperon.
The article I was reading spoke about him and his unique style of email marketing. The first thought that came to my mind at that point was, “What can be so special about email marketing? Isn’t it all about promoting a product or, a service I am offering and asking the recipient to click on a button and buy?”
Nevertheless, as curious as I am, I wanted to check it out.
So I subscribed to his email list.
The first email came into my inbox in a few minutes of subscribing. It was a long email, about 9-10 minutes of reading.
I read the complete email; word-by-word.
And then I moved into the “P.S” section which was another 3-4 minutes of reading and I read every word there too..
It was after I finished that I realized that I had just read every word in an email that was about 15 minutes long.
..and I had done that without taking a break.
It was probably the first marketing email that I had read in its entirety in about 10 years of being into marketing.
At that point, a question struck me – “What made me do that? Why did I spend 15 minutes of my time reading a marketing email?”
The answer to this question changed my entire marketing strategy of 10 years. I joined Andre’s email course and became a fan of his marketing style.
It is this same marketing style that Seth Godin talks about in his book “This is Marketing” (I would recommend it to every content creator).
Persistent, consistent, and frequent stories, delivered to an aligned audience, will earn attention, trust, and action.” – Seth Godin
Everything that I had learnt about marketing until then was wrong. I was told to pick a “mass” audience, write an article that was oriented towards the “mass” and send a “mass” with the words “buy” written all over the email.
That wasn’t real marketing.
No wonder, I was seeing open rates of barely 6% on an email list of about 30,000 people… and a 3% click through rate.
Whereas, Andre was seeing a 60% open rate and almost 40% click through rates in a list of 6,000.
I experienced it real time when I opened, read every word and clicked on the first email from him.
My marketing strategy had to change.
But that meant that I will be the odd man out in a sea of marketers who believe in the strategy of mass marketing.
And it also meant that the audience I will be talking to will be much lesser; a small group in comparison to the “mass”, like Andre’s list.
Nevertheless I was prepared for that change!
Podcasting too needs to go through this churn. It already has in the western world but in India, it is yet to.
You cannot be creating content for a mass audience and blasting it at them expecting them to listen to every word of what you say.
Value your audience’s time. Give them something which will make them feel empowered, changed, motivated and rejuvenated.
Then, market to them and they will happily opt in to whatever you are offering.
But then, DO market to them because that is what they are expecting from you – elevation.
Elevation in how they feel empowered, changed, motivated and rejuvenated.
Do let me know your thoughts by dropping a comment here or, writing to me at dilip(at)thepodcastinguniversity.com
News you should know
YouTube has plans of a dedicated Podcasting page as per a look ahead presentation they sent to Podnews. They say that they will be hosting it at youtube.com/podcasts (the URL isn’t active as yet) and will be displaying the podcasts using the familiar ARTWORK thumbnails. Phew! that is huge. Isn’t it?
Apple Podcasts will add follower numbers to Apple Podcast connect. You’ll be able to view followers per show and easily measure followers across shows. This data is going to be huge from a creator’s perspective.
You would like these links
Listener engagement can be a slightly tricky thing to tackle. While there is no secret mantra to build engagement, there are some proven steps that you can take to ensure that you have engagement with your audience. This article is an excellent one that gives you some nice tips on building listener engagement.
Podcast SEO is something that isn’t talked about a lot. The lack of statistical evidence makes it even more hush-hush. But the fact is that it works. This article has some nice tips on implementing SEO for your podcasts.
Questions from the reader
This week’s question is from one of my email subscribers, Jane –
Wouldn’t distributing my podcast to the various directories be enough? Will I have to work on promotions other than that?
Hmm! The concept of “build and they will come” doesn’t exist. It is a myth. In a world where everything is a noise, the noisiest will stand out and be heard.
You will have to spend some time promoting your show. What method you choose and which channels you do it on will depend upon what is the strategy that you have put together for your show.
But, whatever it is, you will have to spend time promoting your podcast. I recommend 20% content creation and 80% content promotion.
Featured Podcast
This week’s featured podcast is “Maapreneur” by Shivani Singhi. Here’s a little about the show in her own words –
What is Maapreneur – MAAPRENEUR shares information on the general fear or myths of pregnancy and also post pregnancy care of both mother and baby. Pregnancy is a very crucial phase for any mother and proper guidance can help a mother have a healthy pregnancy, a healthy baby and a healthy delivery.
Primary vision of MaaPreneur is to clear the myths revolving around topics such as Pregnancy, Motherhood Journey, Relationship and Parenting.
MAAPRENEUR also shares success stories of successful Mother Entrepreneurs, to inspire and motivate all mothers
You can listen to the show here!
"When nobody around you seems to measure up, it's time to check your yardstick." -Bill Lemley
That’s a wrap for this one.
See Ya again,
Dilip K
P.S. If you would like to connect with me or, read more of my writings in the form of blog posts, then you can visit my blog about Podcasting Tips.
