43. Unlock your podcast's hidden potential to grow your email list

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Okay. So it probably comes as no surprise to you that I'm a big fan of emails. If you're currently on my email list, then you probably already know that I always have so much to share with you that I have to actually stop myself from emailing you every single day. Now in full transparency. I never used to be like this.

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In fact, I used to be really afraid of emailing my list. Don't know if you ever feel this way too, but have you ever felt like people might not want to actually hear from you? Or that maybe you're bothering them? Or those moments, it feels like a dagger in the heart when you see someone unsubscribed from your list. So I don't know if you've ever felt that that way.

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So then you actually don't email them because you don't want to get those unsubscribes. I don't know. I don't know if that's just me, but it's so counterintuitive. You put all this time and effort into building this list, this asset, and yet you're not going to make it work for you because you're afraid of losing it. Which means that really you're not gaining anything anyway, right?

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If any of that resonates with you, then I can tell you it's because you are not alone. You're definitely not alone. It was a big, big mindset shift for me too. I had to swallow my pride and my defensiveness to do the thing to start emailing. And once I did OMG my podcast download numbers started to skyrocket.

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Did I get unsubscribes? Of course. But you know what? It's made me realize that they were never my people to begin with. They were never going to listen to my podcast or buy from me anyway.

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So it's a good thing. At least now I don't have to actually pay for them to be sitting on my list. I now really should getting unsubscribes. I love it because now I know it's only people who enjoy hearing from me and seeing all the hard work that Bonner and I put into picking out those gifts that we put in our emails. The struggle is really you guys.

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But I also know that I can afford to feel good about unsubscribes people leaving my community because I found a way to get people to subscribe to join my community. For every person who leaves, I'm adding on average 16 new people to my list. And it's only going to go up from there. So I know that with numbers like that, I can afford to be a little bit more bullish with my email list. So this is what we're going to do in this episode.

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We are actually going to break down the secrets to using your podcast to grow your list so that you can in turn use your list to grow your podcast. See what we're doing here? So if you're looking for a way to use your podcast to grow your email list, then you are in the right place. My name is DJ Shen, the CEO and co founder of Capsho, the fastest way to market and grow your podcast. And this is the Grow my podcast show.

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Hey. Welcome to the Grow My podcast show. I am so pumped to be bringing this episode to you. I have honestly been so looking forward to doing an episode on this exact topic because I've actually been thinking about this for a little while now. And it actually stemmed from a Live Master class that I had for Capshos, pro users and collective members.

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We had Kelsey Johnston from AWeber present about email automation. In fact, you can hear a lot of what she had to share in episode 40 of this podcast. But what you didn't hear was the Live Q and A that we then had. Now in the live Q and A, one of our capture collective members, Adam Lamb, asked a question. Ever since using capture's email subject lines, he's had phenomenal email open rates going from mid twenty s to over sixty six percent.

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In fact, if you want to hear more about how he's doing this, then I invite you to listen to the episode that I had with him on episode three of the Grammar Podcast Show. So while he's been seeing this huge increase in his email open rates, he noticed that he's had very few podcast listens from them. So interesting. So we delved a little deeper into his funnel. The lead magnet that he currently has to get people onto his list is a checklist that he created.

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And this started to get me thinking. If we are growing our list to grow our podcast, how much of a difference does the lead magnet medium? So for example, obviously podcasting is audio content. So should we be creating lead magnets that are also audio in nature? And so I actually couldn't wait to start testing it.

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I had this brainwave. I was like, I need to test this. So I started testing bonus audio clips from episode 32 of the show that I had with Kevin Schmidtlin. And I noticed something very interesting. It actually was working.

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It started to work like, how crazy is that? When I'm like, oh, Brainwave. Test it. And it works. I was getting people who are listening to my podcast opt in for the bonus clip and therefore get onto my list.

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And then every week, as a lot of you would know from being on my list, I email them about my new episode which gets them listening to my podcast. In fact, with episode 36, I actually had a whopping 63 people opt in for the bonus clip. So the step by step on how to do this is what I'm going to be sharing with you today. Sounds good. We're going to take a quick ad break and then when we're back, I'm going to lay out the three step strategy to how to use your podcast to build your email list.

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I am so excited to be getting into this. Okay, into the into the three step strategy to using your podcast to build your email list. And as always, because she is the keeper of examples, she is our copywriter. She runs the business, let's be honest. As always, to help me explain it, I have my co founder and captured CEO Bonnere with me.

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Hello again. Hello. Your introductions just keep getting wilder and wilder. I love putting you on the spot like that. Okay, so I want to get into the three steps on how we effectively use our podcast to grow our email list.

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Okay. So step number one is to actually get the bonus clip is to create the bonus clip. Now, I'm very intentional because I mentioned before that if we want audio listeners on our list because that's how we're going to grow a podcast, then my hypothesis is that we need a lead magnet to it should be more of an audio form. And it's actually been working, which is kind of cool. And it not only works, it actually starts to tie in a lot of other things together.

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So when I started it, I was actually very intentional. So I think, as I mentioned, Kevin Kevin's episode was the first one I did it with and actually told him. I was like, okay, I'm going to ask you a separate question that I was just curious about. And I was actually going to use that as a bonuscript. He knew this, right?

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And then from there, it started evolving. And one of the last episodes that I actually edited was with Dan Meister. And there was so much gold. But it was also a little bit all over the place. This was my thought process, right?

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It was a little bit all over the place because he was just answering. He's just amazing. He's such a deep thinker. And he kind of answers questions a little bit like I do, which is like, oh, I'm going to start on this journey. But then it's like all these other threads that I could go down and it's like, I'm just going to go down a little.

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And so when I was editing that, I was like, oh my gosh, this is so gold. So instead of actually even asking him a separate question to create a birthday, this clip from I actually just took out some of the things that made the episode shorter and probably a little less pointed. Like a little I took those bits out and that's what I created an audio clip from a bonus clip from. And I know you've had some conversations yourself with users from Capsho about how they could use some of their interview content as bonus clips. Yeah, what I love about what you were just saying as well is it kind of then it lets you kind of tailor this to the guests you have, like you say, Kevin's a very straight shooter.

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He's very concise and deliberate. So you're kind of like, yes, this is the question we're going to explore as part of the bonus content. Dan, as you say, has so much to talk about, is really, really broad, will be in his knowledge and his experience. So he has lots to share about. And once he gets going, he gets going.

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And yes, some of the feedback we've had from our users to say, bona, I know I should be getting my episodes down. I really want that to kind of be less than 30 minutes or less than 45 minutes. Really want them to feel good and punchy. My guess is just so interesting. They're so interesting and I don't want to turn this into a two part episode or anything like that.

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This is ideal for that kind of down. I guess the sort of conversation you have with Dan, which is maybe a lot more organic, you kind of let it do play out, but after the conversation, you can kind of pick out the bits that you think are definitely super valuable. Still probably doesn't add to the main topic as much of the episode, but would be amazing bonus content. And I think what's really good about the strategy of creating the bonus grid is that it's truly a bonus as we've also been people that just do a lead magnet, let's just say just lead magnets still take work. But what I've realized through this process, watching you put the strategy in place, is before having a lead magnet that summarizes or gives you a cheat sheet, Google or a checklist like with Adam, it kind of takes the episode and I don't think it brings it down, but kind of just like summarize it, it just gives you a summarized version of it.

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Whereas bonus content, this bonus audio content, whether it's an extra question like in Kevin's situation or just really good, interesting extra content like in Dan situation, it actually elevates what you've just learned. And I think that's being an important way to really because that's what people get excited about versus going, yeah, I'll download a checklist and use it at some point and then they kind of forget it. Yes. And even if I think about if I project even this strategy a little bit more, we talk a lot about monetizing podcasts, and a big strategy is how do you put content behind a paywall? So this actually starts to get you into the swing of being able to do that.

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Right? Like right now I'm very focused on I just want to use this to build my list. And I think we should all that's where we should start, honestly, if I'm going to be honest, especially if you're listening to this, you're likely an expert who podcast. You're a coach, consultant, service provider. Your main aim really should be to grow your email list.

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I'm going to be very blunt about that. But in the future, it doesn't mean that monetization to your podcast in other ways is off the table, right? So this actually gets you into the swing of knowing what to look out for, maybe asking questions in a particular way, editing in a particular way so that you can actually start to build up that bank of content that you can put behind a paywall that people pay for. So I think this is kind of how I see the future of this particular strategy playing out, just to have an insight into my brother. Okay, that's step number one is to get your bonus clip.

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And that can be as simple as, hey, just ask a bonus question to your guest or edit it in a way where you pull something really interesting. Maybe that didn't quite add to the topic that you were talking about, but it's still going to be really valuable to your audience. Just pull that out through the editing process. Okay. So that becomes your bonus clip.

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Now step number two, we talk about this thing all the time, content Honey Traps. And if you do not know what a Content Honey Trap is, then where have you been living? Clearly under a rock. Go and go back and listen to episodes one and two of this podcast, which we then actually replayed that's. I think it's episode 37, 38, okay.

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Of this podcast because we actually replayed those because cotton Honey traffic is just so oh my gosh. If you guys are not trying to figure things out, then I don't know what you're doing. It is so fundamental to my content dripping strategy and it's honestly the thing that helped us grow my podcast. So content. Honey.

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Traps. Okay. In short, it is how we create curiosity for anything, really. Okay. So step two is how we are going to Content Honey Trap.

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Your listeners who go to your show notes. And step three will tell you why this is important. But this is essentially a funnel. Okay? So you're going to step one, you have your bonus clip.

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Step two is you want to funnel people to your show notes from your podcast. And the way that you do that is through Content Honey Traps. So funeral, how are some ways that we do this? Yeah. So I think the example that I really love more, a recent example is the episode that you did with Ariel and it's like, hey Ariel, if you're listening, that's episode 36 you mentioned in the intro, I think we had like over 60 opt ins from that particular episode with that bonus clip because it was so powerful.

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So really, as you say, you know, you're using the, the content of your episode to really talk about the content. For this example, it was how to build a community for your podcast, which is which everyone's trying to do right? And it's one of the hardest things that is possible that that you can do. So it's a hot topic. Everyone's trying to learn how to do it, and Ariel is an absolute expert at that, doing it not just for podcasts, but also for Squadcasts, which is a software company in the podcasting space, just like us.

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So she has all of this information coming through in terms of what to do. She's got this three step strategy and there's a lot of content. And I think as you guys were talking, it's so helpful to have an example, to say, okay, as people are going, oh, that makes sense, that makes sense, but how would you actually do that? And of course, she had such practical experience applying it for podcast. So you were able to carve that particular bit out as a bonus pipe for choosing that, but really teasing it throughout the episode to say, oh, man, we really don't have time to go into it.

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Which you don't, frankly, because there's so much gold already in the episode. But if you really want to get a bit of a mini masterclass on how Ariel did this with podcast, you've got to go and check out the show notes and that's where you can grab that bonus content. So really thinking about the journey, I think of your particular customer or your listener, I should say, and what's going to be most valuable for them as they really start to get the epiphanies in the episode. I think another example, what was really good is people get really curious about you, the host. So I know that in a more recent one of our latest episodes, episode 39 with Christine, again, you're a big podcast guest day.

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This episode was all about podcast guesting, and Christine did some live coaching for you, which people love. They love kind of listening and going, oh, I wonder what Deirdre's strengths are and maybe what her weaknesses might be. I'm really curious. Again, I'm just so curious about that. Again, don't have time to really cover that in this episode, but go on over to the Show Notes and you can get all of that then.

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So you're already building such anticipation. And it really doesn't have to be big things like that. It's really just like simple, very human, very applicable things that really create the most curiosity, especially for experts and especially for topics that people are wanting to learn more and more about. So I think just thinking about it very simply like that, but almost as you go through the journey, what is next thing that someone would really want, I think is a really helpful way to identify the content. Honey trap.

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Yes. And so when you have identified that you want to lay these content, honey traps throughout your podcast, if possible. Like, I know it's not as easy when it's an interview and you're doing it post edit. So if that's the case, then you probably want to edit in something at least at the end, if not also at the start of the episode, to actually start to see that, hey, there's this thing that you should be looking out for and that it's going to be available in the Show Notes, right? Everything.

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Because all of your links everywhere that you want people to action things from, from your podcast have to live in your Show Notes. And so this is the thing, it's like, how do you create this curiosity in your podcast episode to actually get them to Show Notes? And in fact, I'm going to lay a Content Honey Trap right now because we are going to do a bonus clip. I haven't told Bonner yet. This is what we're going to do.

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This we are going to leave in our Show Notes a bonus clip on other examples, how else you can content Honey Trap from your podcast to your Show Notes because this is one way of doing it. So obviously creating curiosity about the actual bonus clip is one way to do it, but there are other ways. And we're actually going to do a quick bonus clip maybe after this recording on how else you can do that. All right? So you can grab those in the Show notes.

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See what I did there? But this is actually for real. I hope you go by now that we definitely walk our talk all the time. Okay, so that's step number two. Step number two is to content Honey Trap in your podcast and that Content Honey Trap.

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The whole purpose of it is to get people to your Show Notes, all right? So as I said, we're going to leave a bonus clip in our Show Notes for this episode about other ways that you can do it. But one really powerful way, if you did nothing else, is just to let people know that you have this particular bonus clip. Tell them the topic, tell them why it's important for them what the benefit is for them to get it from your Show Notes. Okay?

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So that's step number two. Step number three then is then when you actually get people to your Show Notes. Okay? So I hope you're following the steps here, right? This is pretty much a mini funnel that we're building when people go to your Show Notes because you told them to, right?

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You said in the podcast episode, hey, go to the Show Notes to get this bonus clip. Now they're on your Show Notes, but your job doesn't stop there. Like too many times we see this where we feel like our job is done, right? We've edited, we've got our bonus clip, we've mentioned it. It's like, yeah, done, right?

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That's all you have to do. No, I don't know if you know, there's about this human behavior, right? We need to be re enrolled. We need to be convinced every step of the way this is how funnels essentially work. So what we need to do in our Show notes as well is, again, content honey trap the actual bonus clip.

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Because what you're doing here is where you lead people to, is to actually opt in. This is how we're building our email list because they're opting in for this bonus clip. So they're giving you something there, right? They're giving you their email. And whenever you ask for something, we need to reiterate what those benefits are.

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We need to create that curiosity again. We need to convince them again that this is something they want. So I know that we've been experimenting with this ourselves. And Boda, can you talk through some examples of how we're doing this in our show Notes? Yeah, absolutely.

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So I think the other thing, just adding on to that is you have to remember people are reading Show Notes versus listening to your podcast episode. And I fall into this trap all the time. Like I said, we're creating content all the way through and we're so familiar with it. Well, actually, people then take a very logical next step. Sometimes they look at the show notes before that episode.

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So just to your point, it's just really there. Think of it as long as they're listening to it for the first time or seeing it for the first time. So really what we've been experimenting with is to say, yes, we know that there's a bonus clip in there, but almost if people were to read the Show notes, if they assume that they haven't even listened to the episode as yet, what do we do? So what we're doing is we are pulling up the key benefit of that particular bonus clip. So if I use the example with Aerial, the key benefit was really of the bonus clip was being able to see if you will or hear at least in action, exactly how to apply that strategy for a very specific context with Aerial's expertise, so that we were kind of really crystallized into written form.

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So it's one thing to kind of talk about that and convince someone that like, yeah, that makes sense, but really crystallize it in written form and have it directly under the learning of that episode. So what we find is a lot of people, if they're browsing our Show Notes are like, let me see if this is worth my time listening or relistening to. What are the three things I'm going to learn? So our Show Notes are the ones that capture creates for you will always list out the three main things that's a super important high traffic part of your Show notes. So right under that, we're like exclusive content.

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By the way, this is what you're going to learn. It's great to have a strategy on community building for your podcast, but did you want to learn how to actually do it? How someone actually done it very successfully for this very familiar brand, click here and people are like, of course I do. Right. So placement is really important and repetition to your point.

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So once people see it there, maybe they're not convinced. The other place that people go to is to say, okay, I don't want to miss out on anything, let me do a quick scan of all the resources. And there we've mentioned it again to say, by the way, forget to unlock bonus content here with Ariel. So that's what we're playing around with at the moment, making it really visual, repeating it throughout and really contextualizing it to the Show note. So people are going, what am I learning?

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Of course I want to learn that as well because why not? What are the freebies I'm getting in this episode? Of course I want that as well. And why not? We want to play around with Wording.

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We want to play around, make sure, but always be benefit led, don't be like content led, don't give the answer away because why would someone come with the bonus clip, right? But what are you teasing them with is always a key outcome that they're going to get. And if you can't verbalize that, then maybe that tells you something about the bonus clip that you've picked. So that's always good feedback for yourself. Remember, you can try some are going to work better than others.

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That's really important to remember. But that's how we've been doing it with our Show Notes. Yes, and I believe that for that particular content Honey Chop, we use the boxer. And so again, if you do not know what I mean when I say the boxer, go and listen to episode one or two or 37 and 38. I keep forgetting where we do the replay because we actually go into the eight different mental models of content Honey traps in those episodes.

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And what I think we'll do as well is we'll screenshot some of these content Honey traps that we've put in various show notes in these Show Notes. So you can go to the Show Notes of this episode and you can see some of the content we'll screenshot some of the content honey traps that we have been using for our bonus clips just so you can get a feel of what it is that we're testing, what we're trying to do. Go to the Show Notes and have a look at those. Okay, so recap because I feel like that was a lot. So definitely.

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By the way, if you have any questions, we are also experimenting with a pot inbox fan page. So if you have questions or you're confused or whatever, please go over there. Again. Link is in the show notes. We are behind that, there's no other way to say it.

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So just go there, ask your question, because we'd love to engage, because we want to make sure that this is useful for you as we can step number one is you want to obviously grab your bonus clip. We gave you a couple of ways that you can do that, but you want to quarantine that. That's going to be the thing that you essentially hook people in for them to be added onto your email list. That's step number one. Step number two is then to actually content honey trap in your podcast.

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And the reason why you want to do this is you want to get people from your podcast to your Show notes because that is where they are going to go to opt in for the bonus clip, right, and to get onto your list. And as I mentioned, we are going to have a bonus clip which you can get in the Show notes on other examples, other ways that you can actually get people from your podcast to the Show notes. And then step number three is then when they are on your Show notes, you want to content honey trap them to actually go ahead, click on the link and download that bonus clip. And in doing so, they are actually giving you their email list. And again, we are going to screenshot some of our content Honey traps that we've used in previous show notes into these show notes.

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So go to the Show Notes to see some example that we've done and how we've been doing that. You can feel free to model. Really why we're doing that is just so you can see some of the thinking that we're putting into how we're doing it. But it's really based off the eight mental models of content Honey trap. So if you're very well aware of those and you'll probably see how that's all working.

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So, yeah, so those are the three steps to really using your podcast to grow your email list, which is really important because then your email list is what is going to continue to drive podcast listings for you. That's it from us. Thank you so much Vanna, for joining me on this episode. This was a lot of fun. Fun, yeah.

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And for everyone else, stay awesome. Bye.