[Note: I’m thinking about giving something away… free. It’s going to take a few days of time & effort to put together. If I’m going to bust my hump, I want to make sure you actually want it (so I don’t feel ridiculous). More details at the bottom of the article]
So, last week I asked to hear your biggest challenges and frustrations when it comes to podcast marketing and driving sales, authority and growth. Your responses were incredible and very eye-opening! From reading all your responses (and looking in between the lines to discover the reasons behind them), it soon became clear there’s one deep-seated, prominent challenge we all face when it comes to podcasting.
The #1 Reason Why Podcasts Fail
Warning: This may knock your socks off. Do yourself a favor and sit down before reading this. Ready? Here it is…
The #1 reason why podcasts fail is they don’t get the right message, to the right people, with the right offer. I know, super profound. But humor me here because what I’m going to say next is really important. It’s… Stuff That 99% of Podcasting Courses Aren’t Teaching.
Podcasts fail because the host doesn’t ensure – BEFORE THEY START THEIR PODCAST – that their show is specifically designed to get the right message to the right people with the right offer. In fact, most of them don’t even know that a podcast needs the ‘right offer’ to succeed. And because they don’t ensure – BEFORE they start their show – that they can provide the right message to the right people with the right offer, they make poor decisions about what type of podcast to start, which market to pursue and what to offer to turn listeners into buyers.
The Tragedy of Podcasting Failure
Most aspiring podcast marketers start off really excited and enthusiastic. Then the first thing most marketers do is spend lots of time & money creating a podcast from scratch, hundreds of hours researching what tech to use, and end up burning out their networks & lists trying to make their podcast actually take off.
Sometimes, the podcast concept works and generates a few hundred dollars a month (almost enough to offset the cost & time), but most of the time, energy and interest is quickly lost when results don’t start rolling in and the marketer loses between $1k and $5k, and (even worse) months of time and effort.
In some cases, someone will spend thousands of hours and months building a podcast audience…only to discover that listeners aren’t interested in buying their stuff.
That’s when reality sets in that there’s operating expenses, mouths to feed, a mortgage to pay, a family they’re dying to spend more time with, and payroll coming up they can’t meet. So they stop.
They stop because they realize that their podcast likely will never generate sales and growth for their business like it should. And they stop because they’re frozen by the fear that it’ll never ‘take off‘. Or they decide that podcasting is a sham… and only ‘sponsored‘ podcasts or the ‘lucky‘ few will ever make any money. But the tragedy is that it didn’t have to be this way
What a Crazy, Ancient Warrior Can Teach You About Podcasting
A long, long time ago there was a guy named Sun Tzu who wrote an epic book called The Art of War. Inside his book, Sun Tzu says this:
“In war, the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.” – Sun Tzu
More than nearly anything else, this approach applies directly to successful podcast marketing. For our purposes, Sun Tzu may well have said…
“When creating a podcast, the successful marketer starts a podcast after adequate success is certain, whereas he who is destined for months of fruitless toil first creates a podcast, and then looks to see if it will drive sales.”– ‘Podcasting’ Sun Tzu
You see, most marketers are destined for defeat because they “fight” first, (i.e. start a podcast first), and afterwards look for victory.
They first create a podcast, then look to see if it builds an audience or generates sales.
The reason why most podcasters fail is because they don’t set themselves up for dominance BEFORE starting their podcast. They have no way to know that their podcast will likely work before starting out (only the blind ‘encouragement’ of others who don’t know their market).
So, Here’s What This All Comes Down To… (Really Important)
There is No Reason At All that you should have to Sacrifice Your Free Time, Your Hard Earned Marketing Budget, and Your Quality Time With Your Children to Start a Podcast That Doesn’t Generate Sales, Grow Your Audience or Turn You Into A Celebrity Authority.
Here’s why…
The information you need to discover whether or not your podcast concept has massive profit and success potential – and more importantly test your audience – is entirely free. And super quick, easy to use, and accessible to anyone.
But Here’s the Catch (There’s Always A Catch)
I just said that the information needed to thoroughly determine whether podcasting for your market and business are likely to be wildly successful (usually in about 24 hours) is often free, easy to access and super-quick. The catch is that it can take months, even years of trial and error, researching successful shows and wading through an endless sea of Facebook group posts to piece together rare advice gems to know whether a podcast is the best possible marketing decision for you and your business. Which is why I’m thinking about giving you…
My Cashflow Podcasting Litmus Test or The Factors I Look At When Evaluating A Podcast’s Success Potential
After getting all the great survey responses, I got super excited and sat down last night with the intention of writing out my cash-flow podcasting litmus test (ie. the system I use to determine how successful a podcast will be for a particular business/audience) and give it to you in this post. Free.
About 4 hours later, as I checked the clock and couldn’t believe my eyes, I realized this wouldn’t be a quick ‘n dirty thing. Instead, I now think it will take me about 2 whole days to write (for maximum effectiveness).
So, here’s what I need to know: do you even want this thing (i.e. the cash-flow podcasting litmus test, my system for determining whether a podcast has massive potential)??
Because I Don’t Want to Pump Out Something Useless
I’d feel incredibly silly if I spent 2-3 days working on this thing and no one downloaded it or wanted it, and I want to make sure it’s super valuable. So…
This Is What I’m Going to Do
If you want the cash-flow podcasting litmus test, enter your email below BEFORE Friday (the 13th… spooky). If I do make it, I’ll send it to you at the email below.
[This tool has already been created. Simply click below for instant access]
YES! Send Me The Podcast Idea Litmus Test!
If you and enough other people get on the ‘interest’ list (I’m thinking around 100 minimum), then we’re good to go. I’ll use the interest list to send it to you.
If not, then no worries. (I’ll use those 2-3 days to go rock climbing or something)
P.S. I also have some other big upcoming news. I’ll fill you in sometime in the very near future. Can’t wait to share it with you (Hint: It’s not a product launch. It’s something bigger).
