You Need a Clear Call to Action

Intro: Real quick before we get started, I wanna tell you about a free email course I have called Five Fast Fixes to grow your podcast.

If you’re wondering why your podcast growth is stagnating or non-existent, you likely just need to make a few small tweaks to see growth. This free email course will go over what they are, why they work, and how you can implement them. To get this totally free email course, you can head over to [makemoneypod.com/fixes]. That’s [makemoneypod.com/fixes] for Five Fast Fixes to grow your podcast. That’s [makemoneypod.com/fixes]. 

Real quick before we get started. I wanna tell you about a free PDF I’m offering that will help you Make Money Podcasting. It is the perfect supplement for this podcast. If you go to [makemoneypod.com/smash] S-M-A-S-H right now, you can opt in to the mailing list. And in return, you will get this free smash framework and template to help you Make Money Podcasting. It will go through my full smash framework. That’s sponsorship, membership, affiliate links, selling, and helping. It’ll give you monetization ideas to help you determine which one works best for you and give you some templates for sponsor and membership Outreach. 

I highly recommend this if you are serious about making money in podcasting. Again, head over to [makemoneypod.com/smash] S-M-A-S-H to get your free download today.

Welcome to Make Money Podcasting. The podcast that teaches you that monetizing your show is no longer just about getting sponsors. On this show, you’ll learn tried and true methods to increase your revenue and turn your podcast from a money pit into a money maker. 

Hi! I’m your host, Joe Casabona. And I’ve been able to make six figures with my podcast. I’ll share everything I know with you here on Make Money Podcasting presented by Nexcess and Podcast Liftoff.

Joe Casabona: My daughter is four, almost five years old. And I’m told that there are a few things we need to do for her to make her feel like she’s in some sort of control so that she doesn’t have a meltdown or a temper tantrum. 

We need to tell her what’s happening next. This comes in the form of a daily schedule. She knows when she wakes up,  that she gets changed, she brushes her teeth, and then we clean the sunroom. Then, she can have iPad time. I need to make sure I don’t tell her to do too many things at once because she’ll get overwhelmed and do none of them. Then, she’ll get upset because she doesn’t understand what’s going on.

This is how toddlers act. They want to be in the know. They want to understand what’s happening. I also need to show her positive results. The benefit of her doing these three things that she doesn’t want to do.  Experts call these positive results, “The Preferred Activity”. And for her, a 30 minutes of iPad time during breakfast.

Now, I’m not saying our podcast listeners are toddlers. Though on YouTube, some of the comments certainly make it feel that way. But we may not have their full attention. 

Podcasting for many is a multitasking activity. So we need to make our intentions and our benefits crystal clear. And the truth is, we’ve all experienced analysis paralysis from too many options or directives. When there are too many items on the menu at a restaurant, and you’re not sure what to order when your boss or your client gives you six things to do and no priority for any of them, where do you start? What’s really the difference between the Honda Odyssey EX and the Honda Odyssey EXL? I just want Apple CarPlay. 

So what’s the balance between offering choices and getting people to take action? That really depends on the medium. a good restaurant menu wouldn’t have only one option.

But you might notice with the podcasts you listen to that they have tons of calls to action or CTAs. Maybe you do. My podcast has at times as well. Is that too many options or is that the right route? And if it’s not the right route, what should your podcast’s call to action be? That’s what we’re going to explore in this episode.

So first let’s look at what a call to action or CTA is. This is the thing you want your audience to do most after listening to an episode or consuming any of your content. On a landing page, the primary CTA is the button you want people to click. Again, landing page experts will tell you not to have too many because then people won’t necessarily take the action you want them to take. So you should have one buy now or get in touch or download button.

In commercials, it’s going to be a phone number or a website.  With that Coinbase ad from the Super Bowl, it was to scan a QR code. And that was super clear, right? It was just a QR code bouncing around a screen for a while. Long enough for me to get my phone and open the camera app to see where the QR code would take me. 

With your podcast, it will be whatever you tell them to do. And while landing pages, 62nd commercials, and floating QR codes are clear and focused with a 30 to 60-minute podcast. Knowing what to do will be less clear. because of that, you should have one clear call to action that you repeat throughout your show. You should mention it at the beginning, somewhere in the middle related to the content. And you should mention it a few times in the end. 

Remember, you have listeners who are half paying attention. So repetition is important. And again, you don’t want to overwhelm or confuse the listener as to what you want them to do most. So you should have one CTA. And you want to make the benefits of that CTA clear to them.

The thing is, there are probably a lot of things you want your audience to do. And the benefits might not always be super clear to them As clear as they are to you, right? You probably want them to rate and review your show. That’s something for you. You want them to subscribe wherever they listen, that’s going to help them because they’ll know when the next show drops, or maybe you want them to get their free download, check out the show notes for everything you talked about, and say hello to your sponsors. Oh, and don’t forget to write in and let me know what you think.

And most podcasters say all of these things right at the end. Potentially when you’ve lost the audience already. This will lead to most listeners doing nothing. Ultimately, you need to pick the one that you feel will benefit you and your audience the most.

And with that said, there are a couple of things I wanna note here. Ratings and reviews in Apple podcasts don’t actually help with the top hundred or whatever. They don’t help as much as you think. Plus, only 30% of podcast listeners use Apple podcasts. So are you gonna say rate us in review us in Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Podchaser, or, I’m not sure if you can on Listen Notes. But, check it out. Maybe you can. 

Second. Subscribing wherever you get your podcasts, isn’t specific enough. What if they are listening on the website? Or what if they’re listening with a friend? What if they stumbled upon this in some other way? Subscribe, wherever you get your podcasts are a little bit nebulous. Instead, you would wanna have something clear, like visit this link to subscribe or recommend an app or something like that. I’ll talk about that more in a minute. 

Number three. Anything with a link can probably be added to your show notes page. If you have one, and you have one, right? And anything without a speakable, memorable URL will be lost. This is especially true for anything with hyphens or numbers because is the number spelled out, or is it the actual digit? Words that could be spelled differently in different dialects or languages. Right? Label, color, and favorite, are all spelled differently in the United States and in Great Britain. So you need to make sure that whatever your call to action is,  it’s clear, easy, speakable, and memorable. 

And with that in mind, I have what I think is the best call to action for most podcasters. And we’ll get to that right after the break.

Sponsor: This and every episode of Make Money Podcasting is brought to you by Store Builder from Nexcess.

As a podcaster, you might be wondering what’s the best way for me to implement some of the things that we talk about on this show. How can I easily make money with my own website? And when it comes to setting up an e-commerce site, you kind of have the choice between an easy but limited platform or a limitless platform that you need to manage yourself, taking precious time away from your podcast.

Until now, Store Builder is e-commerce made easy for everybody. It saves you time and delivers a storefront that lets you get to business. As someone who has set up multiple e-commerce sites, I can tell you that store builder has been a much easier experience than anything else I’ve tried. Answer a few questions, add your content, and sell. 

Store builder was created and is supported by the e-Commerce experts at Nexcess. I host all of my important sites, including the membership for my own podcast and this podcast at Nexcess. Get the speed, security, and support you need when you need it. Whether you’re selling podcast merch, offering a supplementary course, or you have a membership or subscription. 

Are you ready to monetize your podcast the way you want to? Head on over to [makemoneypod.com/storebuilder] all one word, to try it for free for 30 days. That’s [makemoneypod.com/store builder]. 

Thanks so much to Store Builder and Nexcess for sponsoring this and every episode of Make Money Podcasting. 

Joe Casabona: So, what is the best call to action for most podcasters? You should make your call to action to join your mailing list.

You know, we’re a great place to promote multiple things with your mailing list. Sure. You have to grab attention with a good subject line. But once someone is reading your email, they’re focusing on that task. There you can promote your membership, and products or even ask for that review in Apple podcasts or wherever they listen to podcasts. Plus, while it might be easy to skip an episode, mailing list subscribers will at the very least see your name in their inbox weekly. They’re buying in to more of your content.

So in your call to action, ask people to join your mailing list. I dated at the top of this show. give them an incentive. Tell them all the great things they’ll get outside of the podcast. Highlight the benefits.

Matt Madeiros over at Castos and of the Matt Report recommends having a dedicated subscribe page with the email optin as well as podcast subscribe buttons, which I think is a great idea.

And if you need a place to build a landing page in your mailing list and, quick disclosure, this is an affiliate link, but you could go to make [moneypod.com/convertkit]. That will be on the show notes over at [makemoneypod.com/002]. By the way, you’ll hear that one later. 

But Convertkit is a great place for creators, especially to build their list. They allow you to create a landing page with buttons and a subscribe box. You can point to a custom domain there. I think it’s one of the easiest ways to get started if all you’re looking to do is build your mailing list. So check it out. [makemoneypod.com/convertkit]. Again, full disclosure. That is an affiliate link, and I do get a small kickback.  But that doesn’t affect your cost at all.  

I will also link in the show notes over at [makemoneypod.com/002], a tutorial I created for how to set up a landing page with a custom domain on Convertkit so that you have some clear guidance there. 

Now, I do want to offer an alternative. And it’s not lost on me that I’m telling you to have one clear call to action. And I’m giving you two options. But sometimes there’s a lot more you wanna mention. Show notes, subscribe, join the club, and rate us. Whatever I just told you about a couple of things, right? So if you have a show notes page, and you give your listeners a clear URL that has several actions they can take, that might serve you as well.

So I’d recommend prioritizing those actions that you want your listener to take by making the primary action obvious. Again, when you visit the show notes page,  [makemoneypod.com/002], you’ll see a big subscribe box there. It’ll be pretty hard to miss. And it’ll be that smash framework that I mentioned at the beginning of the show. But that’s going to depend on what you want, right?

If you want them to join your membership, have a big button encouraging that if you want them to join your mailing list, have a form clearly labeled and easy to get to. And again, highlight the benefits to the listener.

At the end of this episode, I’m going to tell you a few things and everything is going to be at the show notes page. No matter what you choose, clarity and repetition are clear. You need to make sure your listeners know beyond the shadow of a doubt what you think their most important next step is. And this takes some practice and strategic placement. I still have multiple calls to action in some of my episodes but each episode starts with something super clear. Join my mailing list and a speakable URL. 

Yours can be your podcast, website.com/s. I promise that you’ll grow your audience and your podcast. But, more importantly, you will create the necessary foundation for you to make money with your own podcast. Because saying in the middle of an episode or the beginning of an episode, “Hey, become a member.”, that’s going to be a harder sell than getting somebody onto your list, nurturing that relationship, and then selling something to them.

But that’s it for this episode. Episode 002 of Make Money Podcasting. 

Thanks so much for listening.

This and every episode is presented by Nexcess and Podcast Liftoff. For all of the show notes, including a link and tutorial for Convertkit, and to subscribe either to the mailing list or in whatever app you choose to listen to this show, you can head over to [makemoneypod.com/002]. That’s [makemoneypod.com/002].

Thanks so much to our sponsor, Nexcess. 

And until next time. I’m Joe Casabona. And I can’t wait to see what you make.