When is the last time that your ideal client or prospective client invited you into their home in their quiet time?
Most entrepreneur’s would answer that question with “Never”. This is why Published Author’s latest guest Matthew Halloran is a huge believer in the power of podcasts, particularly for authors.
“A book is finite. You’ve got 300 pages or 200 pages,” says Matthew. “When the reader is done, they close the book and put it back on the shelf.”
However, with a podcast a potential client knows that another episode is coming out next week or next month, and this allows an author to continue the relationship.
Matthew is a partner with Proudmouth, an influence accelerator agency focusing on podcasting for authors. Proundmouth’s mission is to free businesses from the torment of sales.
“We love working with authors because the call to action is to download a book, buy the book, go to Amazon,” explains Matthew.
“I know that if I'm going to get you to listen to my podcast, if you'll buy my book, the probability of you becoming a client is very high, because you've opted in steps to engage with me.
“If I can get you to engage with me socially, the probability of me ever having to sell . . . I don't sell anymore. People listen to our podcast. People who have purchased my book, The Social Media Handbook For Financial Advisors. They follow us on social media, they engage with us. Then they just call and they say: ‘Hey, I'm ready to go’.”
BOOK CHAPTERS ARE STARTING POINT FOR PODCAST EPISODES
Matthew says most people have chapters in their books, and these can be turned into podcast episodes. In turn, the episodes can be turned into social media posts, making it fairly straightforward for authors to utilize podcasting as a way to accelerate their influence.
Matthew explains that most authors and their books get a lot of attention when the book is first published. But a book “doesn't have a lot of the longevity that we would really want. We believe that podcasting is the most effective way to achieve longevity.”
Matthew recommends a minimum of two podcasts a month for a business owner. Those podcasts turn into one social media post per day.
Proudmouth works with a lot of financial advisors who've used our services, had already written a book, we've got one that wrote a book based off of his podcast, and they use the book as their main foundation for all of the content.
UNCERTAIN ABOUT PODCASTING? JUST JUMP IN!
Matthew believes that the biggest thing that stops people from podcasting is overthinking. He says when he was writing his first book he was told he’d need to write anywhere from 5000 to 10,000 words a day. He knows this is intimidating, but with podcasting, it’s simply hit record and start talking.
“Podcasting is not only not that complicated, but that's what people like,” says Matthew, noting that host Josh Steimle has found success with the Published Author podcast because it’s a conversation-based, interview-based podcast, a format he recommends.
“I'm not a huge fan of solo casts,” adds Matthew. “You have to have a lot of production behind it to keep people's attention for 30-plus minutes. People like to feel like they're hearing and eavesdropping into a personal conversation. The more personal you can make the conversation about whatever your topic is, the more passionate people are going to be about your podcast.”
He also says that finding a niche is very important. “Joe Rogan is only successful because of the 25 years of work that he did before he went behind the microphone. You're not going to be the next Joe Rogan. You need to do podcasting because you love it.”
Matthew adds that with passion behind the podcast, along with a microfocused topic, an audience will grow naturally.
Finally, he adds that the best podcasts are entertaining, utilize storytelling, and offer listeners a chance to learn something, because most people go to podcasts to learn something new. Not least, a podcast episode must have a call to action.
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ABOUT THE HOST
The Published Author Podcast is hosted by Josh Steimle, founder of Published Author. Josh is a book author himself and his article writing has been featured in over two dozen publications including Time, Forbes, Fortune, Mashable, and TechCrunch. He's a TEDx speaker, the founder of the global marketing agency MWI, a skater, father, and husband, and lives on a horse farm in Boston. Learn more at JoshSteimle.com.