The Proffitt Podcast

Successful Podcast Launch and Monetization Strategies: Coaching Wisdom

January 23, 2024 Krystal Proffitt Season 1 Episode 440
The Proffitt Podcast
Successful Podcast Launch and Monetization Strategies: Coaching Wisdom
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Let's do some podcast coaching in today's episode! From creating a palpable buzz 90 days out to dropping a captivating trailer that hooks your future fanbase, we're spilling the beans on everything you need to ignite your podcasting journey. 

Whether you're new to the scene or seeking to rekindle the spark in your established show, the wisdom shared here is your ticket to content and business triumph. We delve into the art of anticipation and the strategic play of early engagement that could make or break your podcast's success.

Ever wonder how to make your podcast the talk of the town? In this episode, I'm dishing out promotional tactics that will make your show's visibility soar. I'm talking crystal-clear communication tactics, tapping into personal networks, and harnessing the power of first impressions with early reviews. But wait, there's more!

We'll also navigate the balancing act of scheduling guest interviews amidst life's whirlwind of commitments and reveal the magic that happens when you step away from the script and let natural conversations lead the way.

Let's chat about keeping that content engine running without hitting burnout. I'm opening up about my content creation hiccups and laying out a game plan for staying consistent without the stress. We'll explore repurposing live content, engaging your team in the creative process, and reshaping your podcast format to match your strengths. 

Plus, I'll share how turning live Q&A sessions into podcast episodes can infuse your show with spontaneity and connection. So join me, and let's amplify your podcasting prowess together.

If being featured in media is on your to-do list this year,  you don't want to miss my friend and mentor Susie Moore's upcoming training, Overnight Rockstar! Register here today: krystalproffitt.com/susie

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Krystal Proffitt:

We are supported by Riverside. One of the things that drives me bonkers it really does is when I go to record an interview and everything looks great, right, like in the moment, everything sounds great, you did your sound checks, all the video, everything looks fantastic. But then you go to download and it's just off right, the video's grainy, the audio didn't turn out as well as you expected and you just feel like you need to scrap the entire thing after you spent so much time finding the perfect guest or thinking about the perfect topic. Well, with Riverside, I never have to think about this. So Riverside is a platform that you can use to record your solo content or host guest for your podcast, and it is the best solution for anyone that's just getting started or even if you're seasoned pro looking to make a switch this year. So I want you to go to crystalprofitcom forward slash Riverside and I have a special promo code just for you. It's crystal15. Yep, just my name, k-r-y-s-t-a-l and the number 15 to get an exclusive discount for the Profit Podcast listeners. Again, that's crystalprofitcom forward slash Riverside, promo code 15, crystalprofitcom forward slash Riverside and use the promo code 15 for an exclusive discount. Okay, let's get into today's episode. So podcast coaching is one of those things that people are often curious about but not really sure how it works, and so from time to time, I will do these rapid fire sessions where I literally hop on a call with multiple people individually, right? So this isn't like a group coaching setting, and I will just do exactly what it is like rapid fire coaching, and it is so much fun. And so today I wanted to give you a peek behind the scenes from two coaching clients from 2023, where we dove into their questions and we just talked about the real life struggles that podcasters, content creators and business owners face. So if you are a podcaster or a content creator, it is likely that you will face some of these challenges that we're gonna get into in today's coaching calls, and you will be better prepared because all the conversations you're gonna hear today so we're gonna talk to Jacqueline and Lydia. One of them is going to have the perspective of a brand new podcasters, someone just getting started and launching their show, and then also a seasoned podcaster who is just trying to keep everything flowing right. They already have their content going and they wanna make sure that they're making the most out of all of their time as they get going on their content creation, their launches and just running their everyday business, because these are the struggles that I often see podcasters and content creators working with. So let's get right to it. Welcome to the Profit Podcast, where we teach you how to start, launch and market your content with confidence. I'm your host, crystal Profit, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today, because if you've been trying to figure out the world of content creation, this is the show that will help be your time saving shortcut. So let's get right to it, shall we? Yes, so I already know a little bit about your backstory and we only have a few minutes, so let me know your top question that you have.

Jaclyn Kirschen:

So I am planning to launch the podcast in February. So I guess, in terms of pacing myself, I care more about the launch of it actually not necessarily getting it done, Since I know I can get it done. It's more about strategically launching it and then monetizing it. Okay.

Krystal Proffitt:

So the first thing because I actually just had this question come up the other day, somebody was asking similar to a book launch, like what does that look like? And I equate it to the same thing that you see a lot of people when they launch a book is about if you're using the strategic approach of having a long launch runway, then typically I would start about 90 days before you know you're gonna launch. So, especially you know you're gonna launch in February, then that gives you what till November to have a plan of exactly what you're gonna do and then start promoting in November. And I know you're like, okay, that sounds like a little early to start doing it, but what will happen is when you start putting stuff out now, it's not a surprise when you actually launch in February. I don't think that you need to start promoting actively right now. You can absolutely share it with your audience and say, hey, you know, like I just chose my podcast launch date. It's coming in February. You could put out your trailer right now if you wanted to, but the way that I would recommend doing it is drop your trailer in November as some time whenever you decide it's the right time for you. Drop the trailer Start. Have people listening to that trailer and leaving reviews, because the sooner that you do that, it will allow you to start building momentum. Have people that maybe you've worked with in the past, or previous customers, clients, whoever it is just reach out and say, hey, I got to ask a favor. I would love for you to leave a review. Let me know what you're excited about. Leave them a strategic call to action, not just go leave me a review because people are like you don't have a podcast officially out yet. What am I reviewing here? You could say leave a review on the one thing that you're most excited to see about the podcast, or the thing that you want to learn, or what you can't wait to dive into with me, because that will also give you social proof for when you do launch and you can say hey, we already have this many reviews, but it's also going to give you some content ideas for what you can talk about in the future. Maybe there are things that you hadn't even thought about, but now you're seeing a trend. I had three people mention the same thing. I never even thought about talking about that. It plays many different roles in launching, but that's specifically why you would want to do it.

Jaclyn Kirschen:

I like that. I did do the trailer. I was very proud of myself. I put it on Canva. I just have to put some music behind it. I sent it to a few of my friends and family, but my clients, who are all like oh my God, I can't wait. Definitely I wanted to know. I've teased my audience in terms of something's coming, it's a passion project. I didn't want to say it just yet. I wanted people like are you writing a book? All of these things. I didn't know if it was too soon to tell them, but now I might, in the next few weeks, be like hey, remember when I was talking about what I'm launching in February Show the trailer, then I'll do what you did. Maybe I'll do that actually closer to November. Then ask them to leave a review in terms of what you want to see so I can start creating content. I didn't realize that they can write a review even when there's only a trailer and there's no episode.

Krystal Proffitt:

Yes, what you should do is enlist them to your podcast launch team. I did this similar thing whenever I launched a book. Think of it as you're launching a book, you're launching a podcast and people have book launch teams all the time. What does your podcast launch team look like? Not only are they going to help you by leaving a rating and a review, but they're also going to tell other people. You're going to say okay, here's the plan. I would love your support. I would love for you to help me, but you're going to have everything laid out. I have inside my program. I have swipe copy. That's like email that you can use to like hey, this is my launch squad. This is what you need to share. These are the graphics that we need to put out there. These are the emails that I'm going to be writing. Here's how to tell people exactly what you need them to do, because if it's very generic, people are like I want to support her, but I don't know it. If you laid out step by step do this on this date and do this on this date, then we're going to do a giveaway or whatever else you're going to do to promote it once it goes live. Having those, step by steps. This is what is happening. This is the day that it's happening. Everybody's just a lot clearer and you're more likely to get results that way, when it's just everything is out on the table, do you?

Jaclyn Kirschen:

have to have, because my only thing is that, like my clients are not entrepreneurs, they're women with family and they're coming to me to lose weight. I don't necessarily feel like I want them to use word of mouth, but I don't necessarily want to give them how Amy gives us. That doesn't feel. I feel like I would do that with them.

Krystal Proffitt:

Yeah, yeah, well, I mean, there's different ways that you could ask them to support. So, let's say, it's the reviews, right, that's first and foremost. You'd say, this is how to leave a review. This is what to say, all the things. The next piece would be if they know someone. This is another way they can support you. Do you know someone that I need to interview? Can you tell me? Like, let me know. Or is there someone else that I need to get connected with? Because what you can do is strategically align your first few episodes, when you launch them, to be guest interviews and you're having that guest promoting the launch. So, let's say, you decide to launch with one episode, that's going to give you the ability for your audience to listen to you and share it and all the things. But if you launch with a solo episode and an interview episode with, let's say, a fancy guest or a you know someone that has a larger audience and you ask them hey, this is actually going to be the second episode, it's going to be launching on this date, I would love it if you and your team, or whoever's behind the scenes, can help us promote this, because we're trying to really boost up the podcast when it first launches. That's another thing that you can consider as well is how can I lean on my network in creative ways to get the information out there? I feel like that feels better.

Jaclyn Kirschen:

I did reach out to 13 colleagues, just I was like getting it out and 11 of them already said yes and I'm scheduled, and most of them have big audiences. So, like you know, some 250,000, some with 40,000. I'm around 45. So, like it definitely was, like OK, that feels good.

Krystal Proffitt:

Maybe that's who you would need it enlist on your launch squad Instead of your audience. It's these other people that maybe, between now and when this launches, you record those episodes and you can say hey, we're launching this thing, I'm trying to make the launch a really big deal. Can you just tease out to the audience you could send them the graphic, you could send them a swipe copy whatever you want them to say and can you post this in your story, like this is when the podcast is going live and then tease out this is the actual date that my interview is going live, so tune in now. And then you know, just hang on, because I'm going to have my episode and then I'll share about it. So that's another way that you can enlist other people to share about the podcast even before their episode is officially out, because I know I've done this with other people. Like, people in the podcast community are usually pretty supportive and they want to like yeah, sure, I like, just tell me exactly what to do.

Jaclyn Kirschen:

But that's what it goes back to is people need to know exactly how they can support you and they're more likely to do it Definitely want to use video because I want to repurpose when I feel like I have the bandwidth to hire a team to do YouTube and things. So I figured like might as well have it instead of just audio only. So, and then when you schedule them, do you have? I really don't want to do scripted. I feel like I'm better just naturally, would just have questions, but not just kind of just let it happen, but in terms of like for your own sanity, because it's hard managing with other people's schedules. I have clients, I have a baby, all of these things Do you do it on like certain days or kind of right now I'm just like whatever works for them and if it works for me I do it. I don't have like Amy's. Like Tuesdays are my video days. Yes, I'm always in a long bun Like this is what you're doing?

Krystal Proffitt:

Yeah, yeah, I do. Typically it's by the quarter. I'll look at the quarter and say do I want to do interviews this quarter? Ok, what months? And I will block off and I'll say, well, two months out of this quarter I'm not doing any interviews whatsoever. So I may, in a 12 month period, only have four months that I'm doing interviews and I will pick I will not do any interviews in November and December. It's not going to happen. I typically like I will pick off March to not do interviews because I have spring break with the kids. So it just comes down to I use Calendly and within Calendly you can click your availability and I just set it at a quarter at a time and say this is when people can book. If they can't book, then they can't and we have to wait. So it's having that boundary. But I just looked and we're already at time. This went by so fast.

Jaclyn Kirschen:

Oh for a party. Can I see your Calendly for how you set it up in terms of the paragraph, and do you have any questions that you ask them? Yeah, I'll send you some screenshots.

Krystal Proffitt:

I'll send you some screenshots, yeah, because I have another one that just another call that just started. Ok, yeah, not a problem. Yeah, all right. Well, thank you so much for your questions and for doing this. This was fun. Yeah, and thanks for having me. Yes, I'll talk to you later. Bye, bye, how are you?

Lydia Martn:

I'm good. I couldn't honestly remember what I signed up for.

Krystal Proffitt:

Yeah, You're like what did I do?

Lydia Martn:

Well, I just panicked because I was like, oh my, supposed to be on this like hour long thing, and then she gets to me. I couldn't not remember.

Krystal Proffitt:

It's 10 minutes. We got 10 minutes to chat Fabulous, these are fast and furious, these are great. I've already had three already. I'm like, oh, these are so fast, so let's just jump in. I was reading up on all the stuff that you have. So what is your specific question that can help you with today?

Lydia Martn:

I think it's just honestly speed. Yeah, like I got to be honest. I started off with a bang two episodes a week, and then one a week, and then one a month, and then one every two to three months and I just died there for a while because I'm like I can't even think that hard anymore. I don't want to. It's just too much. Yeah, so you plan it, edit it, post it, share it, write it. I'm like I'm just I can't do that and launch and make money, right, yeah, but I have come back around since August. I have recorded five podcasts since August 1st.

Krystal Proffitt:

Fantastic. So it's getting better.

Lydia Martn:

But if I didn't have a team doing all the things. I'm sorry Y'all have to do it by yourself. I think you're crazy.

Krystal Proffitt:

Yeah, well, okay. So the first thing that I'm thinking of is you are launching. You're constantly launching, constantly launching things. Yes, I'm thinking of how can you? Because this? I struggled with this too whenever I was doing a lot of live streaming all the time and I didn't have time for a lot of interviews or solo content. So I use my live streaming content as my podcast episode. So it could just be a matter of lowering, lowering the bar of expectations of what the podcast should be and saying, no, this is what the podcast is. It's evolving with me. I'm continuously evolving my business, my team and maybe it's your team members taking over for an episode a month and saying, hey, you know we're here to share. You know Lydia wanted to talk about this. Here's what we're seeing inside our business. So just reframing it from what you think it's supposed to be to what actually fits for your business.

Lydia Martn:

That's good to hear, because that's pretty much what I've been doing. I went live to deliver an AI training, I went live to deliver a Kajabi training and I'm like they are going to be podcasts.

Krystal Proffitt:

Yes, perfect, no. I think that that's fantastic, especially because you hit so many different audience and I don't know if your podcast is specific to it's.

Lydia Martn:

It's more the launch, creation, online business strategies, so, but I definitely do digital systems and tech, because people love to learn that from me too, so it is definitely a little hodgepodge.

Krystal Proffitt:

But I think that's great for the trainings that you're doing. Like I've repurposed talks that I did, I was like I don't know what to talk about. Oh look, I did this talk. I'm literally have my outline in front of me. I've already done it, I've practiced it.

Lydia Martn:

I'm teaching all the time I'm like why am I not just grabbing clips from things and turning it into a podcast?

Krystal Proffitt:

Yes, yes, like, really like, think about it in. This is my definition of a podcast, not. This is everybody else's definition. Why is why? Is mine not the same? It's no, this is what I can manage, this is what I can do and repurpose the heck out of everything that you're creating Zoom calls, you're doing live.

Lydia Martn:

Well, that's what I was going to say I'm really, really good at answering people's questions live, like if you ever done an episode where it should, like you know, or hopped on a zoom with, and you're asking like six questions with people or people putting questions on my Facebook group when they come in, I thought about just grabbing like five of those and making it a podcast, yes, yes, so I have one, that I'll do this where.

Krystal Proffitt:

So the first thing I would cause I know you love a system, I know you love a system is setting up like someone on your team like once a month or once a week, however often and that's their task is to go and grab If you see recurring questions. If you see recurring it's like Lydia, this is your next podcast episode. So when you sit down to record you're able to just like all right, we're doing rapid fire questions today. I call it questions from the community. That all, and I don't even just whenever I didn't really have a big Facebook group. I would go into other Facebook groups and grab questions that I was like. Oh, somebody asked this question. It was so good, let's talk about it today. So there's not as much planning and outlining. It's like no, I'm just sitting down.

Lydia Martn:

That is so stressful and so time, so I don't know one thing. Like I could answer questions all day long on the spot. Yeah, why am I not just?

Krystal Proffitt:

doing that. Yes, that's what you should do. Change the format of everything that you're doing and it will help you settle into that, especially if you're already, cause most people aren't really good and I wouldn't tell a lot of people to do that, but because you're used to it and it's what you do, so naturally. Then stop fighting again Like you're wrestling with. Gotta have an outline, I gotta have it planned, I have to have this strategic, all of these things. It's like. Settle into what you're good at and then tell your team like, hey, this is how we're rolling through this month. I'm going to take this and repurpose it.

Lydia Martn:

Give me five questions from the community, give me 25 minutes, and I'm just going to go and I'm going to answer as many as I can, cause if I just have five questions to answer, I don't even have to plan, I can literally hit record and just answer them Exactly.

Krystal Proffitt:

Exactly.

Lydia Martn:

But me sitting here coming out with what should the outline be, and then I recorded and then I'm like I don't like it Like.

Krystal Proffitt:

Yes, exactly. No, no, no, no, no, 100%. And to take the pressure off of you, if you do better in that live environment too, is go live in Facebook group and tell people like doing that more Definitely. These, these are this is you know, because you're part of this group, you get the behind the scenes, so it's an even like extra added bonus of being part of your community that they get that exclusive content first and then you strip it out and that's your podcast episode.

Lydia Martn:

That is. I'm so glad to hear that. That is what is okay.

Krystal Proffitt:

Stop fighting your natural urges. So much better for sure. Yes, especially if you have a team member that can be dedicated to like hey, this is just your recurring task. You're gonna grab questions from the group, throw them in a Google Docs, throw them somewhere that it makes sense for you to plan it, and then I'm gonna sit down, make yourself. This is where I do see people falling short, though. You have to give yourself a time constraint and stick to it. So even if you sit down and let's say you had ten questions in front of you and you only get to three, but you're really supposed to stop at 25 minutes, you're like, oh, I could keep going. No, you stop and then you start another one. You could still keep going in that same recording session, but you stop it and you don't make it an hour-long episode, you make it a 25 minute episode, and then you have two or three. What do you?

Lydia Martn:

call them like? Do you still find pick a title that's kind of the vein of the questions, because you don't just call them rapid fire questions as your podcast title?

Krystal Proffitt:

and assuming no, I would still. What you could do is group them together if there's a common theme. So let's say you found Ten questions and three of them were about AI, then you could say, okay, these are the. You know, we had three questions from the community, all about AI. Here's my rapid fire answer. And then they had questions about digital courses. In this one, here's my so kind of get. Whoever is grabbing these questions like the requirements is grab me ten questions. I need them grouped with a topic and make that. Give that to your team, like hey, we're given I'm giving you creative freedom to help me outline these and I need a topic and I need some questions to ask, and then you could even go as far as having that team member Reach out to them. This is a fun thing that I've done a few times and asking people would you like to submit an audio clip? Because Lydia wants to answer this on the podcast. So when you're starting, so cute, it's a dynamic that is different. So, but it's easier for you as the host because it's not interview. You have the audio clip, you listen to it and then you're like okay, lydia had a question about this. Here's how I would in Lydia, if you're listening, this is how I would answer you. So it's like the net. You'll have more people Submitting audio clips and saying I want to be on the podcast. So it's like this system that makes things a lot easier and for you, it's. It's not an interview, it's not something else you have to put on your calendar, it's okay. Incoming content.

Lydia Martn:

Okay, I'm gonna have to at least start doing some of those, because I think those would go well.

Krystal Proffitt:

There is, I'm gonna send it to you. It is called pod in box and I have Pod in box. It's like if you've ever heard of speak pipe, it's like that we put it in the chat. Well, where is the chat? Chat disappear on me. I.

Lydia Martn:

Fit. Is it like an audio recording that they can submit, or something?

Krystal Proffitt:

so that's my affiliate link. I put it in the chat. But if you go to, I want you to go, you can go. Look at mine For the profit podcast and I might have seen it. Yeah, but um you can go, do you see, we're already in time.

Lydia Martn:

Yeah, I got it. What's your tell me your, is it all on crystal profit?

Krystal Proffitt:

Yeah, so it's pod inbox com forward slash the pop.

Lydia Martn:

Oh yeah, that I got, but what's your website? I want to see it on your website.

Krystal Proffitt:

Oh yeah, so it's not integrated on my website, it's on there.

Lydia Martn:

Oh, got it okay.

Krystal Proffitt:

So that's what I use to do it. You can't integrate it. I just haven't. I just leave it on there, okay, cool, so check that out, make it easier for yourself. That's the conclusion we have here. Thank you.

Jaclyn Kirschen:

Make it easier.

Krystal Proffitt:

You're so welcome. I'll talk to you soon.

Lydia Martn:

Bye, lydia, bye, take care hon.

Krystal Proffitt:

Bye. So what did you think? Those were incredible. I had so much fun doing these rapid fire 10 minute sessions and I can't wait to do this again. So if you're watching on the YouTube video, then tell me in the comments below if we should do the rapid fire questions, because what I did last time and how this worked is I sent out my calendar link and I had I think it was six or eight slots open and that was it. And like that was it? Like once they were gone, they were gone. They were first come, first serve. They were free. I do these for free Every once in a while, so let me know in the comments if this is something that you want to see more of, because, again, like I said, we had so much fun and I can't wait to do them again. This year. We may make them a quarterly thing, I don't know. I hope that you're on our weekly newsletters so that you can get all of the updates for whenever we do stuff like this. This one in particular was actually shared in our free profit podcast Facebook group, so we want to make sure that you've joined our community there, because that is typically where I will share these first and then, if all the slots haven't been filled, we'll share it out to our weekly newsletter community. But again, so much fun. If you have questions that you're just like. Well, crystal, you barely scratched the surface on this one topic and I need you to go deeper then reach out to me, let me know, send me a DM, put a comment on the YouTube video or write us an email. Crystal, at crystalprofitcom, I would be happy to explore some of these topics with you. Or if you just want to know more about coaching, then go to my website, go to crystalprofitcom, and right up there at the top, you're going to see a link to explore what coaching looks like with me. If you had a little taste today and you're like gosh, I really want Crystal to look at my launch strategy. Tell me where I'm maybe missing the mark in my content. Maybe it's a production workflow, maybe it's just hey, you need to outsource some of your stuff, or your content isn't clicking or you're not having fun with what you're creating. I would love to help you. So, again, go to crystalprofitcom and you can find all about our coaching packages. We have one that's a deep, intensive, where I will go and audit all of your content and make sure that mean we're talking about it's a deep, deep dive, like there's a reason why this package is so popular. Because I go and I listen to your podcast, I will go watch your YouTube channels, I will go download your lead magnet, look at your website and go through all of your funnels and give you honest feedback from a content strategist's perspective. But that's one option is to go the full route of having your content audited and getting coaching sessions. Or, if you're like Crystal, I just want an hour of your time, I just want to have a power hour session, like let's just get into the nitty gritty. Maybe it's with editing, maybe it's workflows, maybe it's just planning out the rest of your content for this entire year. Then reach out to me. I would love to help you, but that's all I have for you today. So again, go to crystalprofitcom to check out our coaching packages and, as always, remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.

Podcast Launch Strategy and Coaching
Strategies for Promoting a Podcast Launch
Reframing Podcast Content for Efficiency
Rapid Fire Questions and Coaching Packages

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