Hey Indie Podcasters!
I am back in Scotland having visited England and Wales over the last week. It’s freezing cold here, but man is it good to be home. An interaction in one of the hotels I stayed in prompted today’s email. I was staying in Hay-on-Wye, a small village in Wales with over 30 bookshops! It was a dream.
Affiliate Partner of the Week
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Brandon from the Mad Fientist podcast recommended Auphonic to me before Eilidh and I started Generally Spooky History. It was a game-changer.
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I’ve subscribed to the monthly S package for almost 3 years now.
Mastering The Call To Action
“If you could leave a review on booking.com, that would be much appreciated. Hate to ask you know, but it does help” the owner of the hotel asked me as I was settling my bill.
“Oh, sure thing! It was a lovely room” I replied cheerily.
I’ve stayed in 6 different hotels and bed and breakfasts over the last week, and reviewing anywhere never even entered my head as an option.
Until I was asked.
Then I stopped and thought, “Good idea.” And I left a review.
This is the power of the call to action.
No stupid questions – a call to action, or CTA, as it’s known in the biz, is when you ask your listeners to do something for you at the end of an episode. For instance, “If you liked that, leave us a review!”
Including a CTA in an episode can feel a little awkward at first, but think of it this way…
You have delighted your listeners through an episode you lovingly created and shared with them for free. You are now well within your rights to ask for something in return. Fairs fair, and if you want to grow your show, this is a must.
But what to ask for? Here are some examples
“If you enjoyed this then consider…”
- Sending this episode to someone you think might like it
- Leaving us a review on Apple podcasts or Spotify
- Following the podcast on your podcast player
- Following us on Twitter/Instagram
- Signing up for our newsletter
- Joining the cult of Cuthulu
- Booking a coaching call
- Checkout our sponsors
- Join our Patreon
Don’t ask for all of these things, that’s too much and will stop action from happening. But offering 1-3 ways to support your podcast is perfectly fair.
Real world examples
Hubberman Lab podcast, and Mile High Fi do a great job with their end-of-episode CTA’s if you’re looking for good examples. Very standardized, very repeatable.
My podcast. Generally Spooky History. has more organic CTAs at the end of each episode. We don’t have a standard ask, but we do make sure to ask for something at the end of each episode. We’ve also experimented with occasionally asking at the start of episodes too, a sort of pre-CTA as part of our introduction.
It works because we do Long-form content often across multiple parts so an extra 30 seconds at the start doesn’t feel excessive.
Try out some different approaches, and you’ll find what feels right for you and your show.
Don’t Beg
Ask, but don’t sound desperate. It’s not your listener’s fault that you need more people to sign up to your Patreon. So don’t make it their problem. Just politely ask, and they can take you up on your ask, or they can leave it.
Here’s a rough template.
“Thank you so much for listening to the episode. If you enjoyed it, then please consider sending this episode to someone else who might like it. Word of mouth is how we grow, and your support means the world. See you next time!”
This is a passive growth tactic, as you can bake it right into the creation of each episode. Allow your listeners to give back to you in a way that allows you to grow your show. Then your listeners will find more listeners, who in turn find even more listeners and your growth will start to snowball.
Community Wins
The Holocaust History Podcast has launched and recieved over 2,400 downloads in its first month! Well done!
Long may she reign is 900 downloads away from crossing 100,000 downloads! Amazing work!
The Stupid History Minute has now created an eye-watering 600 episodes!
Bite at a Time Books is less than 100 downloads away from 50,000 downloads. Congrats!
If you have a win, you want to share with everyone, hit reply! I want to hear if you’ve launched, if you’ve hit a milestone, if you’ve you got a guest were heappy about. Anything you are proud of, I want to hear it. Just hit reply
How I Can Help You
1) Free 5-day Podcast Marketing Fundamentals Course – Learn the basics of what it takes to grow a popular show, get more listeners, and earn more money from your podcast. The five day email course is totally free
2) The Template Vault – Learn how to grow your podcast on autopilot. Get fill-in-the-blank templates to set up your podcast’s foundation for growth, success, and making money.
3) Podcast Marketing Coaching– I am an experienced podcast coach, and I want to help you master your podcast marketing. Check out my full list of services and discover how we can work together.
4) Recommended Tools– These are the tools I use to grow my podcast. I focus on tools that improve quality and save time.
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