17. Secrets to Podcast Launch Success with Tash Miller

This transcript was created using Headliner. It has been copied and pasted but not proofread or edited, so it may contain errors or inaccuracies.

Laura: Welcome to Podcasting for Business Owners. I’m Your host, Laura McRae, a podcast consultant, educator, and self confessed podcast nerd. If you’re thinking of launching a podcast or want to grow the one you have, you’re in the right place. Hold on to your headphones and let’s go. Welcome back to Podcasting for Business Owners, the podcast that helps you share your story, lead your industry, and grow your network through podcasting. Today I have a real treat for you as I’m joined by none other than Tash Miller. Tash isn’t just your typical sales coach. She’s a powerhouse with a background in marketing and sales who’s launched multiple successful businesses and knows exactly how to create excitement around a podcast launch. In this episode, Tash shares her, uh, expertise on building hype before your podcast launch, engaging your audience, and of course, making a strong impact right from the start. So if you’re ready to learn the secrets behind a truly unforgettable podcast launch, then stick around. You don’t want to miss this one. Hello, Tash, and welcome to the show.

Tash: Thank you so much for having me. It’s nice to be here.

Laura: I can’t wait to talk today about launching your podcast. It’s something I’m so passionate about. So I’m so excited to have you here today.

Tash: I’m, um, so excited to join you.

Laura: So, Tash, to kick things off, can you tell us a bit about your background and what you do? How do you support business owners in building effective marketing campaigns, particularly when it comes to launching their podcast?

Tash: Yeah, so my name is Tash and I have a creative agency in Sydney. My background’s in marketing and sales, so I think that’s why I absolutely love the launch phase, because there’s a journey that you take them on, not just to the marketing side of things, but also how it impacts their business. So I built my own agency when I had a little boy. When he was five months old, I started to create content for, uh, businesses specifically in the service based space. And it kind of grew really quickly. A lot of small businesses needed it, and I came across podcasting as a secondary marketing channel to help those businesses, I guess hit two birds, one stone, where they can film themselves and audio and video and reproduce that into really good marketing material. And that’s kind of how I got into the podcasting space and launching space.

Laura: Yeah, it’s so great for repurposing, isn’t it?

Tash: Absolutely is. So anytime we have podcast clients, uh, we always say, make sure you feel met because you can Then repurpose it in so many different ways.

Laura: Yeah, totally agree. So why is it so important to have a strong marketing strategy in place before launching a podcast?

Tash: I think the hype is the biggest and uh, most important thing about launching. Obviously the content of what you’re talking about in podcasts is highly important because you want people to engage, but it’s like inviting them to a party. If they don’t know about the party and you haven’t sent the invites and you haven’t reminded them on a regular basis, they’re not going to actually show up and want to listen. So whether it’s a podcast, a course or an offer, any type of thing that you’re launching, having that marketing strategy at least eight to 12 weeks before gives everybody time to get excited. And you can release little pipes and sneak peeks and build that hype well before you drop the episode. And it makes such a difference between, you know, one person, whether it’s your mom being the person that downloads your episode and then up to 30 people downloading episode on day one. It makes a difference to the charts, it makes a difference to longevity and also you, uh, your credibility in the podcasting space.

Laura: Yeah, it can be quite draining doing posts every day on social media on the run up. But it’s really worth it, isn’t it?

Tash: Absolutely. And there’s always ways to do it and make it easy. There’s scheduling tools now that you can use. So every time you record a podcast, if you planning well in advance, then you’re able to have it all prepared and schedule it ahead of time, whether it’s a sneak peek, a post, but then also when you drop your episodes as well, having it scheduled ready so that you’re not having to think, oh my God, my podcast is coming out today, what episode is it? What uh, do I need to post about? What do I need to write? So having that lead up time gives you one some space in your own brain for all your episodes, but also then you’re able to repurpose it and have it available to help build that hype in the start.

Laura: Yeah, I totally agree. I don’t do anything last minute. I’m always at least a month ahead planning what’s going on because I can’t handle the last minute scrambles. That’s not me at all.

Tash: Oh my God, I’m like the opposite. So I am very much a scrambler. I am the typical person that submitted their assignments last ADHD brain, always last minute. So I had to learn the hard way about what happens when you launch and it not have that lead up. So over the last gosh, five years, I’ve launched lots of different things for myself and clients and we have seen what it looks like if you do it last minute, no one turns up to your masterclasses, no one listens to your podcast, no one buys your offer if you are leaving it to the last minute. So having that time where you have multiple touch points weeks ahead of your launch will mean the difference between someone buying and not buying.

Laura: So how do you help your clients with planning all that then the run up to the launching the podcast?

Tash: Yeah, so we always start with a really good strategy well in advance to see what’s the purpose. So what

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Tash: are we actually launching? Who are we launching it to? Who’s our ideal audience? And we build it out in like a 8 to 12 week strategy that every single week has a different purpose for all your content. So if it’s say a podcast, as an example, and they’ve never done podcasting before, they’re not really versed on social media. The most important thing is to build that awareness. So for the first six to eight weeks, we want to build awareness in their social platforms, especially if they haven’t got all the episodes recorded just yet and they don’t have that content. So whether that’s, you know, let’s say, uh, I’m in the health space and I’m wanting to get well versed in nutrition and that’s their podcast episode. We then talk about maybe some controversial things about nutrition, we talk about what’s happening in the media, we talk about their personal journey in nutrition, everything through their social platforms in various ways. Before we start getting those podcasts in there so that people get to know who they are, what they stand for, what they want to talk about, what problems they’re solving. And they get really, really into their audience and that engagement starts to grow in that first little part. Then we kind of take them on a journey as if it’s again a party. You first meet them, you make friends, then we want to actually become friends and spend time with them. We want to be able to have phone calls with them as friends. And that looks like engagement on social media. So when you put something out, the people that comment that like that share your stuff, they’re engaged in your journey and what you’re doing every single day. So that’s the next step in our launch strategy. And then you want to get people into the world, they want them to download the invitations to your party. So we then Work through a bit of a lead generation strategy as we get into that last month of that launch as well. So we want to get ways to get email addresses. How do we get them into their world so they’re engaging in some of their free downloads. Anything that’s going to bring them into their world so that they’re then in their email list is one of the highest things that we want to do in a lot of our strategies, because people open their emails more than they watch their social media. And then obviously leading up to the launch is all about selling. It’s all about really building that hype. Counting down, getting really excited. Everyone’s waiting for the episode to be released because maybe it’s, you know, something they want to listen to or it’s a guest they’ve always wanted to listen to. We’ve been talking about it for the last 12 weeks. And then they’re more likely to buy when they open up those doors. So the launch kind of goes through exactly the same process, whether it’s a podcast course offer, uh, new masterclass, anything that you’re really launching. New business even.

Laura: Yeah, I love that. So what are some effective ways to build hype in the weeks leading up to your podcast launch? How can business owners create anticipation and excitement for their launch episodes?

Tash: Yeah, so one of the biggest ones is obviously recording episodes on video is going to be really good, especially if you have a really good guest. And the benefit of that is that that person’s probably on social media themselves. So when you release your reel with that sneak peek, you can collaborate through social media and it goes on both platforms. So we did that quite well with our recent client Claire, and she interviewed the Bachelor. And the Bachelor has quite a lot of followers. So when we collaborated, both of them got that reach when they shared that episode. So that’s a really good way as well. Sharing at least once a week in your stories as well, making sure there’s a link that goes directly into the episode if it has launched, or into an email list for some sneak peeks, anything that you can do to get them into an email list. Because then every single week we can count down with some of the things we’ll be talking about. Some of the guests, maybe even engage them more on what kind of topics they would love to hear. Facebook groups are really great for that. So we posted in quite a lot of Facebook groups and asked the audience, what is it that you would love us to ask the Bachelor? We’re going to be interviewing about X, Y and Z, about dating what kind of things would you like to hear? And their responses. Build that hype as well. To say my question is going to get answered in the episode so I’m going to listen to what they actually talk about. But there’s lots of different ways. Oh um, my gosh. I could talk about so many different ways to build hype, but essentially what you’re wanting to do is just get it out as much as you possibly can well in advance because most people need about that 8 to 12 times of hearing it before they actually remember to actually take action on it as well.

Laura: That’s a really good idea about getting your people on your email list asking them what questions they’d like answered for your future guests. That’s a really good idea.

Tash: Absolutely. And Stephen Bartlett does this extremely well where their previous guests ask what questions they would love to ask the next guest and it makes them then want to watch the next episode as well, which is really great. Or listen to the next episode.

Laura: That’s a great idea. And so when it comes to social media, what are the key elements of a successful pre launch strategy? Are ah, there specific platforms or types of content that um, work best for promoting a podcast launch?

Tash: Absolutely. So there’s obviously most people will spend their time on Instagram and Facebook, but they should also then have a look at some of the platforms that have higher SEO rankings as well. So podcasting has high SEO because it’s searchable, but things like Pinterest, YouTube, even LinkedIn, all of them are really great for SEO boost, which means if someone’s searching for something and they’re using particular keywords

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Tash: that you have used in some of those platforms, you’re more likely to then come up in that space as well. So I always say, trying to make it really easy for yourself, use a scheduling tool like something like Metrical, which allows you to post on multiple platforms. You can post on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Shorts. As long as it’s less than uh, a minute in length. And because you’re using all those platforms, you can do it within one button and it goes out to all of those platforms and you’re still leveraging all of your keywords and your SEO as well. So I always say try and do it really, really simply because we don’t have time to be spending hours. It’s like a full time job. So leverage scheduling tools that go to multiple platforms. The second one is making sure your keywords are uh, and in your show notes, in your captions, in anything Written, but also in your audio transcripts, has keywords that your ideal listeners or your ideal clients, if it’s for a business, are going to be searching for because that will help you as well. And also making sure that you count down how many days are left. People really are nosy and want to know what’s happening. So if you’re in studio or recording from home, have some behind the scenes videos coming out there and then doing like a showreel of how it all came together, all of those things are going to get people excited and remember that you are launching. And so when you are putting out that post or that story, that email to say we’re live, they’re more likely to download it as well. The last thing is if you have the funding, or at least you’ve got the friends and the family having a party, celebrate, celebrate your launch so that you can have all of them subscribe at the party, they can start following you, you can video them being there and being excited and again creates that FOMO from everyone else that didn’t get invited to the party. They really want to be at the party. Then they really want to download those episodes as well.

Laura: Yeah, such a great idea. I went to a client’s party, she had a Christmas party and she was launching her podcast there. So she handed out a note to everyone so that they could download the episodes and start listening straight away.

Tash: Yeah, absolutely. That’s what we did as well. So Claire’s podcast, we had it at recently a business Chicks head office in Sydney. And so one of the things that we did was I had signs leading up to the stairs, the lift, and also as they enter with a QR code. So all they had to do is get their phone out and it went straight to Apple podcast for them to subscribe and download straight away. And then we also had again on their chairs, we had it on their candles, we had it in lots of different spaces to remind them. Halfway through the event I got the mic out and I reminded them again. So always having those touch points and reminding people, that will help as well. Sometimes people need to be told what action they need to take to actually take the action. They won’t necessarily do it by themselves until weeks later when they might have remembered, which is then outside that launch period.

Laura: It’s such a good idea as well, because especially at launch, because that’s how you get yourself in the Apple podcast charts, isn’t it? At the beginning, getting all those subscribers and followers.

Tash: Exactly. So we ended up hitting number five on launch day. Which was amazing. In the Australian parenting, um, and families podcast.

Laura: Yeah, that is amazing. Well done.

Tash: Thank you. It was all up to Claire, I have to say. All her episodes were amazing. I just helped her launch.

Laura: And how should business owners plan their content? In the lead up to a podcast launch, can you share some tips on what types of content resonate most with potential listeners and how often they should be posting?

Tash: Yeah. So leading up to a launch, again, you want to strategically create it. It depends on how popular you are and what you’re already doing in your business if you’ve never launched. So for me, launching my podcast at the end of the year, the first thing I need to do is create that connection with my audience and specifically the audience that will listen to my podcast. And I want to, uh, create brand awareness. I want to create content that shows me who I am, what I stand for. Maybe some opinions that might be controversial because we want them to feel something. If we’re just kind of middle run, being very conservative in what we talk about, it doesn’t make people love us or hate us. So if they don’t feel either of those things, I’m not sharing something that’s impactful, so making sure that I really get particular. And so part of that is I’m sharing quite a lot of reels with big stories, stories of how I am in business, what I’ve gone through in my life. I actually have a background in police, so sharing a little bit about the lessons I had in my policing career, and that’s building a lot more engagement and connection with people than just your normal business kind of content. Then taking them on a journey through. They now like me and they’re getting to engage with me. What kind of things can I help bridge the gap between launching something or selling something, podcast offer, uh, uh, course, whatever it is, and my personality and me as a person. And part of that sometimes is creating lead generation offers. So that might be a free masterclass, it might be a free download, it might be something that they are, uh, wanting that information about. They like who I am, so they’re more likely to give their email address and their name. And then it’s nurturing, it’s giving them really good value in your emails, in your content that solves a really big problem to the

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Tash: listener and that, uh, ideal client of yours so that they come and see you because they like you, they want to see your stories, they’re really invested, like a movie character or a TV character. Then you’re also solving a really big problem that they’re having. So they’re more likely then to download your episodes if it’s doing both of those things. So your long form content is a combination of deep, deep connection and also really valuable content.

Laura: Wow. So what role does email marketing play in a successful podcast launch? You touched on it slightly earlier. How can business owners leverage their email list to maximise impact?

Tash: Yeah, so in social media space, uh, only about 2% of people will actually look at your content. And so if you’ve got a thousand followers, you know, not a lot of people actually going to be engaging in your content or listening to what you’re saying in your email list. About 30% of people will open your emails and even more if it is highly engaging and you’re using it really, really effectively. So my email at the moment sits around that 55 to 60% open rate. So if you imagine in an uh, email list of thousand people, I’ve got more than half of my people, 500 people are opening my emails every single day. So the role that email marketing plays is that more people open it, they’re at work. So they may open their emails multiple times a day. I know I do. And so rather than logging onto social media, which they may not do all the time, maybe they’ve got children, it’s late at night when they do that, they’ll open their emails more often. So leveraging emails for sneak peeks. So anytime you’re leading up to a launch, just dropping at the bottom of your really good value emails about the podcast coming up. P.S. five days until this podcast or four days until this podcast or I’ve, um, got this guest coming up. Reply to this email if you have any questions about this. This is the topic we’re talking about. Just small little, like almost at the bottom. P.S. type parts will help keep it front of mind and then when they see it over and over, they’re getting really excited and will want to start opening your emails more to get more information as well. One of the big things that we did for our email list for Claire was we held a competition. So we gave away a space at the launch party and it was only to subscribers. So you had to have subscribed to the email list and applied through there to be able to get one of those spaces. And that’s a really, really great way to do it as well. So just as like a recap, 30% of people will open your emails compared to only, uh, 2% seeing your content. Which is why it’s really good to use both.

Laura: Wow, I didn’t realise the stats were so different.

Tash: So, so different. Yeah.

Laura: And how can business owners engage their audience early on to build a loyal listener base? So what strategies can they use to encourage interaction and build community around their podcast?

Tash: Yeah, so one of the biggest ones would be definitely engage them in the creation. So part of what I’m going to do as part of my launch strategy is that I’m going to get my current audience involved in naming it. I’m going to get them involved in some of the key topics for my first 10 episodes, who they would love as a guest, what kind of specific experts would they love for me to talk about, what stories would they love for me to talk about? And leveraging social media and email to do that. So I recently, uh, started putting out polls and question boxes. Polls are higher performing than question boxes in your stories, but essentially vote for this. Do you want this name or this name? Do you want this topic or this topic? Should I have this cover or this cover? Taking them on the whole journey and it’s almost like they get physically invested in what you’re creating. So when I start to create my podcast trials and my colours and my name and building out the whole strategy around my branding, I get their input as well and they feel like they’re there. It is their podcast as well. So that’s really, really good to engage them early sometimes. It’s also leveraging Facebook groups to do the same thing, putting it out there and asking them, saying, hey, I would love your opinion. Market research, what topics would you love to be involved in? I’m, um, launching a podcast. This is the name, what would you want to see? And it gets people that are not potentially on your social media pages into your world that have never met you before. Engaging in competitions is another one. Going to events is another way and taking them on the journey. And I feel like that just brings so many more in depth connections and conversation and engagement early rather than just launching it and then trying to have like conversations in your DMS or your comments and bits and pieces.

Laura: Yeah, it’s so important to do that on the run up, isn’t it? Because podcasting often feels like it’s a one way thing and you’re just talking at people, whereas if you’re engaging in that earlier on that early on they feel like they’re part of the podcast too. You’re right. It’s a really good strategy.

Tash: Absolutely. And sometimes you don’t know who’s listening. I, uh, literally had a call this morning with a client that I’d Never been on a zoom call before. She’d been following me for a year and she’d come to some of my free masterclasses. She’s shown up on social media and I randomly had one post that obviously resonated with her that she then sent me a message. And now we’re working out how we can work together. It’s the small touches, it’s the small

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Tash: nurture along the way that people may be in silence for a little while before they actually engage properly. But it’s really important to be consistent, to have those moments, because people that you have no idea about will come out of the woodworks like a year later.

Laura: Yeah, and we touched on this slightly earlier, but one of the goals of many podcasters is to hit the Apple podcast charts when they launch. What specific strategies can help boost the podcast visibility and ranking in the early days after a launch?

Tash: Yeah, so leading up to the launch, obviously subscribers and your downloads are really important. And so you need to have, you know, more than 30 people ready, subscribe, download ready to hit the button when they launch it. Easier said than done. Um, the ways in which we’ve done it before is that you have really engaging content and sneak peeks so that both your audience and also your interviewees audience as well, are able to subscribe and listen. Making sure your content is highly engaging and you’re releasing some of the best episodes first, so you can release like three at a time so that they binge on them. So it also comes down to listen time or watch time, as they say, and also making sure that they want to binge and they’re waiting for the next one. Sharing that hype, making sure people know that they’ve been released and be consistent on the day that you are releasing it. Because if you find that you’ve missed a day, or maybe you’ve been releasing for four weeks on a Thursday, and then you change the day, they’ve become accustomed to the day that you’re releasing your podcast. So being really specific on the day that is every single week, same time, every single time, and that you’re not giving them an opportunity to go listen to somebody else’s podcast. So, yeah, being really, really clear with having that hype build up so that you let them know that they have to subscribe, tell them specifically, please subscribe and download, and making sure your episodes are highly binge worthy and reminding them as well when they’re released and keep it consistent.

Laura: Yes. So the strategies I use of my clients is when they launch their podcast, they Launch with at least three episodes on the same day, just an hour apart, and each episode is under 20 minutes. So that people are more likely to binge and listen to all three episodes in one go, or at least in that one week, which makes you more likely to get in the Apple charts because you’ve got more downloads for that week or you’ve got three times as you would normally.

Tash: Absolutely. See, I think it’s seven days that you have to get the action. And some of our have been releasing just once a week for a number of years and it’s maintained them into, into the chart. So they do say that most of the highest performing and successful podcasts have at least 21 episodes. So you definitely need to make sure that you are consistent for at least 21 episodes to have a real idea of what your podcast is going to be like and listen to the feedback from everybody. Listen to what you feel when you listen to it back, making sure you do listen to it back, or your producers listening to your back and giving you some feedback on what they would change. Because yes, it’s great to produce a podcast for yourself, but if your audience is not resonating and not picking up on what you’re trying to say, then you’re almost wasting your time with that type of content as well. So being okay to feedback and not being afraid of it, I think is really important. It’s not against you, it’s just that we’re learning and to take it on.

Laura: Yeah, constructive criticism is always good, which always hurts.

Tash: I know that it does hurt because especially if you’re tied so closely to it. But imagine if, you know, you took that on, it hurt for, uh, a second and then you changed it and then it completely changed the whole dynamic of your podcast rather than not taking it on and then continuing the same way. And then you’re having even worse feelings because it’s no longer performing the way that you would love it to. So I think it’s just picking the hard at heart. It’s like, oh, dagger in the chest. But it’s not always.

Laura: Yeah, you don’t want to waste your time and energy on anything, do you?

Tash: Absolutely.

Laura: So what metrics should business owners focus on when assessing the success of their podcast launch marketing campaign? How can they use this data to refine their approach for future episodes?

Tash: Yeah, so I’m not a podcast producer. I’m more of the marketing strategy. So the analytics that we look at is mainly social platforms and email marketing. So we look at things like, uh, awareness in say, instagram you can have a look at your professional dashboard and it will show you how many accounts have reached, making sure that you’ve got the link in your bio as well. And you can see how many people have clicked on the link to go to your landing page if you haven’t launched or if you have launched, how many have clicked on the Apple podcast link as well. And then with your email marketing, how many people have opened the emails, how many people have clicked on the link to the podcast episode? So just having a look at what is it that they are, uh, uh, are they watching? Are they listening? Are they liking engagement Analytic is really good. And are they liking enough to then follow you and click on the link to listen to more? That’s in the social space. Same applies on some of your other platforms as well. In podcasting, it’s looking at your rankings and having a chat with your producers to see how they’re ranking,

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Tash: how many people are listening, what’s your downloads like, what’s your listen time like? Because that’s going to give you an indication as well of how they’re performing. So I’m not sure what platforms you use, but we’ve looked at Chartable before to see how they’re going in the charts and then readjusting what the strategy looks like, listening to what our competitors doing, how can we be different to make sure that we’re going back into the right avenue that we need to go into.

Laura: Yeah, so charitable is good for finding out if you’re in the Apple podcast charts and then the consumption rate, which is the percentage of how long someone listens to your episode, you can’t get that in your hosting platforms, but you can get that on Chartable or if you go into your Apple podcast account. So yeah, they’re good places to look because a lot of people think about download numbers, but they forget about consumption rate, which is also really important.

Tash: Absolutely. And the same applies on social platforms as well. So with reels, it’s based on watch time and engagement as well. So if you’re finding that people aren’t watching past the first three seconds, then there’s something at the start of the video that needs to change. So if you’re doing sneak peeks, for example, you always want to put the juicy part or the hook at the start because then it will make them want to watch a little bit more. If it’s the case that they’re only getting 50% through, maybe we need to shorten the video down because they’re getting too much information or Something similar. So I guess the same thing is with your podcasting as well, making sure that some of the juicy parts are at the start to keep them engaged. And do we need to add some extra hook in the middle or something that’s going to really get them tied into the episode in our scripting and planning, um, versus some of our previous episodes that we might have just been talking all the way through.

Laura: And so what are some of the most common mistakes you see when it comes to marketing a podcast? How can business owners avoid these issues to ensure a smooth and successful podcast launch?

Tash: I think AI has come a long way, and I think it’s going to continue to do amazing things. But leveraging AI probably a bit too much for their podcast clips on reels or audiograms, where they’re not specifically tailoring the reel to the right part of the episode. They just kind of just cutting and clipping. Whereas to get people really excited to go from one platform to another, you need to have the hook right at the start. And so that means also probably spending a bit more time going through the episode and taking out the hook and adding it to the start of the video and making it engaging as well. So I’m finding that they want to leverage podcasting as a really great marketing tool, but then repurpose it to other social platforms, which is absolutely amazing. But then you’re not taking out the best parts that are, uh, tweaking curiosity for people to listen. The second one is probably giving away too much. They’re giving away, like, a whole minute of their episode where they could be just giving away the first 10 seconds of the best part, because they just want to just get it out there and thinking that they’re just wanting to add value, which is amazing as well. Not talking about it in their emails or providing the right links in their social platforms and not funnelling it back to the right ones or the links being broken. You want to be able to leverage all your social platforms to go the right place and for it to go somewhere in your business. It’s almost like you’ve got yourself a website and you’ve got a phone number up there, but your phone number’s not connected, so you want to make sure everything’s connected really nicely. Yeah.

Laura: I had this with a client recently, and she was promoting her podcast in her Instagram stories, which was great, but there was no link. And I quickly messaged her and said, quick, put this link in. So she took that one down and put a new one up with the link to the episode.

Tash: Absolutely. And sometimes we forget we’re so busy doing everything, we’re just like, oh my God, I’m going to do a story. Oh my God, I do a real pose. I’m not prepared. And sometimes it is coming back to our plan. So we have like a little checklist now for our marketing plans and our legion friends and it’s Monday to Friday. What is it that we need to do on a Monday? And they tick it off. Have we posted in a Facebook group? Have we done a story? Have we posted that reel has a bit scheduled. Where’s our content up to? How many weeks do we have left before we need to go out and film some more? And then we get an organiser time with them to say, hey, we’ve got three weeks left. Going to take us a week to produce some new content. Let’s organise like a, uh, B roll shot to get some behind the scenes content to take us a bit further with some voiceovers from your podcast. Um, and that’s really, really good way to do it as well.

Laura: That’s so good. Because business owners are so busy they haven’t got time to plan all this. So if you just go to them and say you need to do this and you need to do it, then that’s brilliant. Just a checklist.

Tash: Absolutely. I was having this conversation with a friend today. Especially if you’re a mum in business where you have so many decisions you already have to make that you’re fatigued before you’ve even started your day. So especially if you’re working part time, you’ve already done school drop off or daycare drop off, you’ve then tried to pack lunches, get, make sure they’ve got clothes, wash clothes maybe as well while they’re at school. Then you’re sitting at your desk going, what do I need to do? And if you’re having to rewrite your to do list that morning, you’re not going to be thinking very straight. So having like a really clear checklist has been really helpful. So I’ve uh, put together one that you can just tick off every single week and we can also track with performance on some of the analytics based on the tasks they’ve also completed as well. So if they haven’t put it in Facebook groups or put a post up

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Tash: or something similar we can see on the data. But also that checklist and we can match them together.

Laura: Wow, that’s incredible. So if you could give just three key pieces of advice to a business owner preparing to launch their podcast, what.

Tash: Would they be get really clear on your purpose? What is it that you’re wanting to achieve from your podcast? Is it a hobby, which is amazing? Is it something that you’re wanting to leverage as a marketing channel for your business? Is it something that you’re wanting to get into more public speaking and getting really clear at getting your voice out there and practise, just having that purpose is going to help you. The second one is really understanding your ideal client or who your ideal listeners are, because then you can work your way backwards on what kind of topics they’re going to be talking about and being specific with some of the topics they actually want to hear, not what you think they want to hear. So I always imagine this from like a health space, because I’ve got a lot of health clients, but a lot of people get stuck on the technical terms of the technical things, and that’s not necessarily what your ideal listener wants to hear. Hormones, as an example, might be one of the biggest problems they’re having, but they may not know they have that problem. What their problem is they can’t lose weight. So talking about losing weight, making more money, solving a big problem they may know about first, rather than dipping into the technical side of things. So that’s really, really important.

Laura: Yeah, you’re speaking my language. I think in episode two of this podcast, we go through this. It’s so important to know who your ideal listener is and your goals, all of this stuff, before you start your podcast, because you’ll end up launching and you won’t know where to go with it.

Tash: Exactly. And I think as well, being kind to yourself, that it’s really good and ambitious to have sponsors as, like, a future goal. But try not to use that as the main reason, because sometimes you lose where you’re going or your listeners are going. So if you’re finding that, yes, you do want sponsors, that’s amazing. Have a list of them and start talking to them. And, you know, having that front of mind that that’s who you would love to engage later. But still making sure that that sponsor is in alignment with your ideal listener is in alignment with your podcast purpose as well. Because there are other ways to make money. But, uh, if you’re just focusing on the making money part, sometimes you get stuck with the vision of, uh, what you’re wanting to achieve or the goal and the ideal client, the ideal listener.

Laura: Yeah. And it’s funny when adverts don’t align with the podcast. I was listening to a podcast and it was a podcast about Podcasting. And then it went into an advert about Uber eats. I thought not really related.

Tash: I find I have a love hate with ads in podcasting, so I really like them at a certain point in the episode. What I find is that if it’s right at the start, you’ll lose me straight away as a listener.

Laura: So, Tash, it’s been great hearing all your insights today. Where’s the best place for us to find and connect with you?

Tash: Thank you. It’s been so amazing. Uh, you can find me on Instagram at I am tashmiller.

Laura: Perfect. Thanks so much. And I’ll put all the links to everything we spoke about today in the show notes.

Tash: Thank you so much.

Laura: Thank you. Bye. Wow, wasn’t that Pat with amazing insights? Tash really knows her stuff when it comes to marketing a launch and engaging your audience. I especially loved her analogy of inviting people to a party because just like a great party, you want your podcast to be an event that people can’t wait to attend. And her, uh, tips on using multiple platforms as countdowns to build that anticipation was spot on. One important update since we recorded this episode, Chartable has recently announced its closing down its services. Like many of you, I’m on the hunt for the best alternative. I’ll be sure to keep you updated once I find one that’s worth recommending. Thank you for tuning in today and if you’re ready to put these strategies into action for your podcast, don’t forget to follow along here at Podcasting for Business Owners. Until next time, remember to share your story, lead your industry, and grow your network through podcasting. If you found value in this podcast, please leave. A five star rating and a review would be even better. Your support shows that this is a good show which will attract high profile guests and in turn deliver greater value to you. This podcast is produced and edited by me. Don’t waste your time on editing. Let me help you with your podcast. Cheque out the links in the show notes to get in touch.

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