What if you could turn a period of uncertainty into a successful career? This week, we're thrilled to have Anthony Nwaneri, podcast growth expert and bestselling author of "Podcast Made Simple," sharing his transformative journey from feeling lost in university to pioneering in the podcasting world during the COVID-19 lockdown. With personal anecdotes about his Nigerian immigrant parents' work ethic and the serendipitous moment that led him to self-publishing, Anthony’s story is sure to inspire. Tune in to uncover how he, alongside his business partner, ventured into podcasting with zero prior experience and turned it into a thriving business.
Beyond personal stories, Anthony offers actionable insights on creating podcast loyalty by standing out in a crowded market. Learn how to effectively communicate your podcast's unique value and keep your audience engaged with compelling content. Anthony provides real-world examples, like transforming a generic relationship podcast into "Become the Man She Brags About" and injecting humor into a history podcast to keep it fresh. Additionally, we discuss leveraging podcast content for book creation, providing long-term strategies for monetizing your podcast and building a dedicated audience. Whether you're a novice or a seasoned podcaster, this episode is packed with valuable tips to elevate your show.
This episode is NOT sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links, meaning we'll receive a small commission if you buy something.
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⚡️PODCAST: Subscribe to our podcast here ➡ https://elevatemedia.buzzsprout.com/
⚡️Need post-recording video production help? Let's chat ➡ https://calendly.com/elevate-media-group/application
⚡️For Support inquires or Business inquiries, please email us at ➡︎ support@elevate-media-group.com
Our mission here at Elevate Media is to help purpose-driven entrepreneurs elevate their brands and make an impact through the power of video podcasting.
Disclaimer: Please see the link for our disclaimer policy for all our episodes or videos on the Elevate Media and Elevate Media Podcast YouTube channels. https://elevatemediastudios.com/disclaimer
What if you could turn a period of uncertainty into a successful career? This week, we're thrilled to have Anthony Nwaneri, podcast growth expert and bestselling author of "Podcast Made Simple," sharing his transformative journey from feeling lost in university to pioneering in the podcasting world during the COVID-19 lockdown. With personal anecdotes about his Nigerian immigrant parents' work ethic and the serendipitous moment that led him to self-publishing, Anthony’s story is sure to inspire. Tune in to uncover how he, alongside his business partner, ventured into podcasting with zero prior experience and turned it into a thriving business.
Beyond personal stories, Anthony offers actionable insights on creating podcast loyalty by standing out in a crowded market. Learn how to effectively communicate your podcast's unique value and keep your audience engaged with compelling content. Anthony provides real-world examples, like transforming a generic relationship podcast into "Become the Man She Brags About" and injecting humor into a history podcast to keep it fresh. Additionally, we discuss leveraging podcast content for book creation, providing long-term strategies for monetizing your podcast and building a dedicated audience. Whether you're a novice or a seasoned podcaster, this episode is packed with valuable tips to elevate your show.
This episode is NOT sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links, meaning we'll receive a small commission if you buy something.
===========================
⚡️PODCAST: Subscribe to our podcast here ➡ https://elevatemedia.buzzsprout.com/
⚡️Need post-recording video production help? Let's chat ➡ https://calendly.com/elevate-media-group/application
⚡️For Support inquires or Business inquiries, please email us at ➡︎ support@elevate-media-group.com
Our mission here at Elevate Media is to help purpose-driven entrepreneurs elevate their brands and make an impact through the power of video podcasting.
Disclaimer: Please see the link for our disclaimer policy for all our episodes or videos on the Elevate Media and Elevate Media Podcast YouTube channels. https://elevatemediastudios.com/disclaimer
Welcome to the Elevate Media Podcast with your host, chris Anderson. In this show, chris and his guests will share their knowledge and experience on how to go from zero to successful entrepreneur. They have built their businesses from scratch and are now ready to give back to those who are just starting. Let's get ready to learn, grow and elevate our businesses. And now your host, chris Anderson.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to another recording of the Elevate Media Podcast. I am Chris Anderson, your host, and today we're going to be talking about podcasting, which is perfect for those listening, and if you're watching, I'm sure you've listened to a podcast or two. You might even have your own or have thought about starting your own podcast, and so we brought on an expert in podcast growth. He's helping entrepreneurs turn their slow growth podcast into a rapidly growing, positive ROI show. He's also the bestselling author of the book Podcast Made Simple and the co-host of why your Podcast Isn't Growing. He's also the co-founder of Get More Listeners. Today we've got anthony when they're on the show. Anthony, welcome to the show, man what's up, chris dude?
Speaker 3:this is a so good to be on. You know, um, I'm really excited about this dude, which I've been trying to get this organized like the last six months nearly. Oh, it sounds really good, yeah, so it feels really good to kind of be on and have this conversation. I think it's going to be an awesome one. Um, we've been in the show for such a long time now I respect you the space, so it feels like a pleasure being on your show and having this back and forth and conversation all about podcasts and podcast growth yeah, I mean it's honor have you on.
Speaker 2:For those who don't know, probably no one really. But but anthony I, you know we like connected years ago, like when we both were kind of just starting everything and trying to go out. Uh, we were brand new into entrepreneurship and podcasting and everything. So, man, it's been. You know we've both been on our journeys and been able to catch up and, you know, support and, you know, give feedback to one another. It's been really cool to just see the success that Anthony's been having and now we're going to talk about it on the show a little bit more. So, yeah, it's just a neat kind of full-circle moment and we have you on. But yeah, man, tell me what got you into podcasting? Why did you get into the game?
Speaker 3:Dude, that's a great question. I'd love to sit here, chris mate, and say that it was. You know, I was strategic and I thought it all out and the stars perfectly aligned. But the honest truth is, you know, it was basically like a mixture of dumb luck and just seeing some trends. You know. So three and a half years ago, maybe four years ago now, when lockdown originally happened which was, by the way, four years, insane right um.
Speaker 3:So four years ago, when lockdown happened around this period, I was still in college you know, university for those in the uk and I was feeling pretty lost. You know, I've always been sort of very ambitious, very driven, and all my life I've always wanted to do something great. But I had no idea what that thing would be. And I went to university because I had my parents, who were hard working, moved to the uk um, you know, from nigeria, to give their kids more opportunity and more freedom to explore and to become better things of themselves. And if you're someone who knows anything about african parents for that reason, you know it's a typical. You know, education, education, education. You've got to work, you've got to get your degree and you've got to get yourself into a good career. So when they moved in here, that was kind of their idea to have us have more opportunities. So going to university was partly me honestly wanting to buy myself time, because I knew I wanted to buy a business, but it was also, um, because I was kind of I didn't know what I wanted to do, you know, and it felt like, okay, let me just take this next step, buy myself some time and then focus, whilst keeping my parents at bay, right, but eventually, going through university, it got to the point where I was kind of like finding myself feeling a bit lost, like why am I working hard and the credit really care about?
Speaker 3:So when lockdown happened, I was in my second year and it provided me this opportunity where I could really focus in on what I wanted to do. You know, I remember an evening kind of just sitting down and praying to god saying, dude, I just need some direction. I've got no idea where I'm going, what I'm doing. Anything. If it means me being a bin man, I'll do it. I'll do it, you'll go on the fly, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3:And upon that, I kind of discovered something called self-publishing and this is a way to generate an income online by producing a high quality book and selling that through Amazon, known as Kindle Direct Publishing, and that spoke to me. You know, a way to kind of affect people and provide value to the world through a book, and and in doing so, you're getting paid and compensated for it. So that was attractive to me. So I invested in the program about $1,000 and me and my business partner, tiger Shares, you know, just got ourselves stuck in and we decided to go with podcasting. Honestly, it was again pretty much dumb luck and it's just a bit of like okay, podcast is an uptrend, we like listen to podcasts, so let's just take the next step forward and just make a book on podcasting. Bearing in mind, at this point we weren't podcasters ourselves. We knew absolutely nothing. We were too dumb pro college students who knew nothing about anything to do with business or podcasting. So it's a massive learning experience all in all. But we dug ourselves, you know, we got stuck in.
Speaker 2:We fully committed, um, and of course, that's really how I got into it that's awesome and you know it's fun to hear how people get into podcasting because it's all for different things. You know, mine was because I wanted to learn about entrepreneurship and business and, uh, you know I've been listening to lewis howe school greatness. I was like, well, shoot, I can learn as I'm building something, um, and so that kind of got me into it and you know, back then it was pencil leadership and had different ideas which you know failed. Uh, didn't work out, um, and I learned real quick. But, yeah, I think it's, there's just the path that takes us to podcasting. If you're in the space, um, they're all unique and I think it's a, it's a cool thing to hear those stories. So, you know, you got the book going. Um, you're learning about podcasting, sharing with other people. Um, you know, when did you realize, hey, I can help people grow their, their audience with their podcasts.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a great. It's a good point. I guess I guess it naturally started happening. So you know, when we first launched our first book, it was an absolute failure, right, you know it's called every podcast is biggest hurdles. We didn't talk about it anymore because you know we're a bit embarrassed, but let's just say it didn't go so well, right, and we learned a lot of lessons from that when it comes to why the book failed.
Speaker 3:Because we, we had two books. We had one every podcast is biggest hurdle and a second book podcasting made simple, one was a bad egg, totally disgusting, was dirty, rotten, didn't make any sales, and another one was a golden egg. You know, it became a bestseller, sold thousands and thousands of copies, helped thousands and thousands of podcasters, and there was a lesson. There was like why did one succeed and one fail? And lesson really was our first biggest lesson. When it comes to marketing any product, whether that's a podcast, whether that's a book, whether that's you know yourself whether that's a car, whether that's any product at all. The principle was simply like, when it comes to the book that you have or the product you have, just because you have a good idea for a product doesn't mean the market wants it. You know, it's really important to identify kind of what's in demand. And the second lesson to us was it's much better to solve one single problem, to keep things simple, rather than trying to overwhelm yourself and try to please everyone. Every podcast's biggest hurdle is trying to approach every podcast's biggest hurdles like what the hell I do either? We thought we were like geniuses. We thought we're mad scientists. We thought there's no book out there like this. Therefore, we're going to become millionaires from this book. It didn't happen, right, they crashed, whereas podcasting made simple, solved one simple problem helping podcasters launch.
Speaker 3:So after launching that book on finding success, we ended up kind of building our network, you know, building our name for ourselves within the podcasting communities, on Facebook groups and communities, and people started reaching out. We also reached out to a ton of people as well, just offering free training, you know, like free one-on-one calls. Because we quickly realized after launching the first book, great, they've now got this podcast, but the next problem is well, how the hell do you grow a podcast like, yeah, how do you actually get an audience and get people to listen to this show? And that we soon realized was an even bigger problem that people had. Yeah, so once we got to this point, we have a ton of people launch their shows. They start asking us hey, how do we actually grow this podcast? How do we build this audience?
Speaker 3:And honestly, to be honest with you, chris, we had to kind of like use a lot of the principles we learned from marketing our books and apply that to podcasting. Yeah, when it comes to having a great cover, a great title, ranking your books on amazon through seo same principles as ranking your podcast on apple and spotify. Yeah, you know, when it comes to creating a great product and what makes it engaging was the exact same as what makes a podcast engaging of course, different mediums, different ways to consume the content, but the principles were the same. So that's kind of how we started experimenting and realizing that we actually we do understand a lot more about marketing overall. How do we now really focus in on helping podcasters grow?
Speaker 3:You know, and that's kind of how we got ourselves and that's how we really noticed that, okay, we can help people grow because we we, we realized quickly that our understanding of marketing applied to podcasting was very different to most podcasters who were in the game just publishing content mindlessly promoting on social media. They're in the game, whereas we weren't. We weren't in the game podcasting, we were just marketing and help people grow, launch episodes. So we had a different perspective. You know, these are things that they couldn't see yes, what are?
Speaker 2:what are some main things that you see with podcasters who aren't growing?
Speaker 3:it's always a perspective thing. It's always perspective. It's always like what the podcaster believes they need. Nine times out of ten they believe they need more exposure to grow their podcast. They think if I get my podcast in front of thousands of new listeners every single month through promoting on social media, by getting a celebrity on my podcast, hopefully I can access their audience by blasting it out to my newsletter, by me guessing on other people's podcasts, by me getting a website to get me exposure and organic reach. It's always exposure that everyone believes is the solution to their problem. But the podcast not growing isn't a manifestation or the podcast not growing is not a result of them not having enough exposure because they're already promoting. They're already trying to get big profile guests on. They're already doing this consistently for years. They're already maybe guessing other people's podcasts. The actual problem that's slowing them down is the fact that they can't keep listeners coming back for more okay, yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:So how would you, how would you kind of guide someone high level to get listeners to come back time and time again?
Speaker 3:that's a great question. So the first thing I would say is think about your podcast and where you are right now. If your show is on business, amazing. If it's on anxiety, great. If it's on personal development, awesome. Whatever it's on.
Speaker 3:Look objectively and ask yourself okay, what is uniquely different about my show? If there were a hundred podcasts lined up and a thousand listeners came by, would they stop to mind because I'm clearly different to everyone else? Sure, yeah, that's a good question. One layer, yeah. And then the second layer is how effectively am I communicating how different my show is? You know, you might have the, the best restaurant in the world, but if your name is terrible, if you're parked in the corner next to a dumpster, no one's going to come to your restaurant to eat some food. That's not going to make sense.
Speaker 3:So where, how are you positioned in your market as something different and how are you communicating that in a unique way?
Speaker 3:A primary example could be if you have a relationship podcast helping men, you know, become a better, you know, better man, let's say right, you could just have the typical, you know, you know strong men grown, or something like that. Let's say the name of your show yeah, okay, cool that that's a, that's all right, that's a bit cool, right, whatever. But the unique positioning and how you communicate that in a more exciting way, because it needs to be wildly attractive. People send just about now so small. Yeah, a more attractive way to position the podcast and effectively communicate on his value is become the man she brags about same podcast. But if I promote that, those two podcasts, podcast a, you know, become a grown man, I don't know, you know, become the man you want to be something like that, right, or podcast, be become the man she brags about. If you're promoting that on social media, which one, chris, is going to get more attention and get more men clicking and listening?
Speaker 2:the one she brags about.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure yeah, when you guest on someone else's podcast, right, and you're promoting your show and you talk about the name of the podcast, which one are they gonna? Which one's gonna have a high conversion to a new listener base? Yeah, same one. Become the man she brags about. When you get celebrity on your podcast and they bring their audience in and they see this, these two show names which one are they gonna stick around to for longer? Yeah, same one. Become the man she brags about. Yep, you have to become the podcast you brag about.
Speaker 2:I like it, yeah yeah, for sure, you know. You know it's something you know we've done. You know 360 something episodes, I think now or over that, and you know we're the point now. Okay, hey, how do we freshen this up? Same same thing, kind of you're you're talking about, like we, we've done great, done great. You know, top 1.5% global. Listen to. We've charted, uh, you know, internationally, in the U S, things like that. You know, podcast makes us some money, but it's like, okay, how do we get to the next level? So, like, these are all things even now, like, uh, we're thinking about and so it's. I want to like reiterate that, like when you're starting, you got to figure it out, but also you get to a point and you don't want to become complacent or stagnant and so you have to kind of read sometimes you have to rethink about it and or, like, what can we? How can we innovate, or how can we freshen things up? And yeah, like now that's what we're doing so important.
Speaker 3:That is the starting point, you know, and I think it's very easy to forget the basics. And you know, look, I'll be honest with you, like it's something that when I first got started helping podcasters grow, I really struggled with because it blew my mind that some shows would absolutely take off within six months, get to 10 000 monthly downloads with a show when they're barely promoting it, and other people will be podcasting for three, four, five years and be struggling to get to 2 000 monthly downloads. I was like dude, what the hell? And then I've worked with clients. You know how to work with these two clients. Where one we promote on social media, we get them big guests, we do the exact same thing as we would with other shows. For some reason, this other show would just take off.
Speaker 3:And I remember just scratching my head thinking, dude, what the hell is going on here? Like, why is this happening? These are the exact same type of audiences, say, the exact same type of shows, great hosts, within the exact same strategies. How come one is just taken off and the other one isn't? But I was thinking. I was looking at promotion, guesting, all these other areas.
Speaker 3:But when I looked at the actual difference, of the actual positioning, what makes this show different from every other show out there within his market, I noticed, as a history show most history show pretty boring, pretty dead, pretty dull. No one really cares. I'm joking, like most I'm sure, but you get what I'm saying, right, yeah, but this show was different. It was called. You'll recognize this name. But this show was different. It was called you'll recognize this name Dick Heads of History. Nice, yeah, yeah. And the idea and the position of this show was it was a British comedic guy where he broke down and exposed famous people, historical figures who've been put on a pedestal and exposed to some of the shady things they've done in the past. Oh wow, 10-minute bite-sized episodes Okay, right, exposed to some of the shady things I've done in the past. Oh wow, 10 minute bite-sized episodes okay, right, that is a truly different show to every other podcast about history out there yep, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:So it definitely like um, it's, it polarizes, the opposite of the norm. Uh, one with the title, you know it just makes you curious, plus he's a comedian so I'm sure he's funny, uh. And then two, you know, those bite-sized episodes um are really great. That's why we kind of like played around with my solos being shorter, so having the interview coming out monday being a longer one, and then I have two solos that come out that are usually fairly short, and so um, which has helped us grow some. I mean we're not, we're still not to 10 000. I mean, I'm transparent with that stuff, but I mean it's, it's built our business and it's, you know. But I mean, shoot, I'd be lying if I said I don't want those numbers, so like. So that's again, this is why we had to.
Speaker 2:We're thinking um, you know, elevate media, the elevator media podcast, is, you know, fairly generic. It doesn't really give you a whole lot of detail what it's about, but it the positioning like kind of how it's in in the shows you know, elevate your life, elevate your brand something more outlined. So it's more like okay, this is all about improving and we could get, we can, we can clean that up and make that even more um, something that stand out more when we, when we present it, um, and we're trying to do some other stuff with you know a lot like why we're recording it like some stuff popping up on screen and interaction type stuff, but we're still in the planning of that, so but I I mean dig heads of history.
Speaker 3:I mean it's it's's unique and it sticks out and you have to kind of, you have to be different somehow in one way or the other to you know, set yourself apart Absolutely. That again, that's a starting point, and I guess if you're listening to this right now and thinking and dude, that sounds awesome, chris, guys, I get it. Yeah, positioning USP my unique selling point. How am I different? I get all that, but, practically speaking, what are the steps I should take? I want to give you three simple steps.
Speaker 3:The first thing that you need to do is explore your niche, pick five shows who are the best performers in your industry and ask yourself what are these people doing? Are they long form, are they short form? Are they more serious and interview based? Or are they solo and whatever? The average is based on that. If all of them, on average, are longer, they're far more serious and they are more interview based. How about yours be shorter, versus episodes more frequent, a bit more comedic, where you're storytelling?
Speaker 3:Yeah, now your position is something different, because when a market is filled with, let's say, chocolate bars and they're all like you know dark chocolate, you eventually want you know some white chocolate. That might be taken the completely wrong way, but you guys get what I'm saying, right, right. The point is eventually, over time, people start craving something a bit different. You should be that thing. That's a bit different. So look at your market number one and then ask yourself what's everyone else doing? That's the second part. What's everyone else doing? And then how can I do the opposite thing and deliver my content in a unique way? Those three things, and that's how you really fine-tune your positioning in the market.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's, and those are great, like. So everyone was like those are legit, like a hundred percent, like work and and should be what you're doing. And you know it's funny because we talked a while back, um, about me starting my own kind of community course type thing, uh, and it's a lot closer to being ready to go than it was last time. And we're thinking through these same same things for the course, um, where you know the podcast could be renamed to sit aligned with that community, that course, and make everything streamlined there. Um, I hate rebranding again, but I think for the long-term simplicity I think it could be beneficial and sometimes you have to make those decisions to be more understanding.
Speaker 2:So, for those listening, get it here first with Anthony, that we're going to be building a community called the Elevation Nation, building a community called the Elevation Nation, and it's going to be all about supporting men, solopreneurs, who are trying to build something so they can support their family, spend more time with their family and get out of the nine to five, and we're going to help them walk through the steps. Actual things, real life things. I mean from what I did with no business background or marketing background to what I'm able, uh, with no business background or marketing background, to what I'm able to build now and what's going to continue to build. So that's where we're kind of thinking about is, you know, the elevation nation podcast, uh, or just elevation nation entire right into the community, and then just push it all together.
Speaker 2:Uh, again, we're still thinking about it, but you have to think about those three steps. Even, uh, even if it's not a podcast, even if you're, you know, putting out a book or another product or another service, like it's the same same kind of things you have to think about. Um, and so you know those were. Those were three really crucial pieces that Anthony shared. So make sure, if you didn't get them, go back, write those down and start thinking about those within your own, whatever it is you're working on, trying to grow, because it's critical 100%, absolutely man.
Speaker 2:So you got your show. What's your goals? What's your next goals, man? Are you doing the same thing, you're branching out to anything else, or where are you headed?
Speaker 3:I've always had this vision, when I first got into publishing and then started coaching podcasters, yeah, yeah, of helping podcasters education-based shows that are topic-focused, helping them monetize their podcasts through books. Nice, by turning their podcast content into a best-selling, authority-building book that generates them an income. Nice, me and my business partner generated multiple six figures from our own publishing company. We know the ins and outs. We've coached between the two of us, you know, on a one-on-one basis, a thousand plus, you know, business owners on their journey to publishing their first book. So we've got a lot of experience with that, yeah, and of course we've also. We're also the unique position where we've also helped podcasters grow and know the struggle of not even just growing.
Speaker 3:But once you have that audience, another problem arises how do we get paid Right? And then how do we make the most out of the content we already have? Some people have 100 plus episodes, 300 plus episodes. That's a lot of content and a lot of wisdom, but people are strapped for time. They don't know how to publish a book. They don't know how to even turn their content into a book if they were to give it a go, and they're unaware that this is a possibility. So to see it and we've done it. We've helped clients do this. So my vision long term has always been like hey, how do we help podcasters grow their audience and make it a positive roi show? And to us, that mechanism of making it into a positive roi show to get the most out of your show.
Speaker 3:Tim ferris, you know, lewis hugh, steven ballard their books was inspired from their podcasts and interviews. That they've done. They distilled the knowledge and wisdom from their podcasts and interviews and conversations into a book. It was like a natural transition. But most people get stuck because they don't know how to write the book and they don't know how to monetize a book. Most authors are completely broke, whereas we are in a position where we can help them grow their audience, extract the value from their podcast, distill it into a book and a product they can sell to their listeners and generate income month after month, um, with something that they're proud of you know.
Speaker 3:So to me, that's a long term. That really gets me excited. But in the short term it's always going to be just serving, to the best of our abilities, our clients, helping them get the best results, helping them get better results faster that's always a thing. Helping our clients get better results faster and we just obsess over that. That's all that matters, right? If you're not getting your clients results, what the hell are you doing? If you're not working hard every single day, waking up, putting in your rule, and you're just taking money to take money, not putting in your role to solve the actual problem that they give you money for? It's not, it's not worth, it's not a good life to live. But if you're waking up every day, you're giving your absolute all and you're doing the service that you promise your clients. It's happy days and I love our clients and this is the most fulfilling feeling when they they go from literally unclear, have no doubt to go to their show to fully confident and having their podcast blow up. That is immense, like a journey mean.
Speaker 2:It's awesome, absolutely awesome, locks me up no, and guys, you know because I do know anthony, or I have known him for a while like it's true what he's saying, like he cares, uh, he wants to make a difference, he is making a difference, so like he's a genuine, just awesome dude and and what they're doing is is really awesome, and so I'm excited to just continue to see him do that, make an impact and make a difference. And you know how can say, I was there at the beginning and you know, starting everything started and it's just a cool cool thing, so you know. One last question, anthony, with this like, so say, people, you know they go through these three steps. They got that kind of figured out, so they have. I mean, they're clear, it's attractive, it's going to resonate with that audience. What, then, do you think is the next best step in getting more eyes on it quicker? Is it podcast guesting? Is it getting into Facebookers? What is your kind of guidance with that going forward?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a great question. So once that piece is done, the next piece will look like a content strategy. You know, again, this is kind of not a sexy answer people are looking for. But then actually building out the podcast with this unique positioning I'm thinking about, okay, how do I package each episode to sell itself? How do I package the podcast to also sell itself? That's the second thing. So, really, looking at Google, looking at YouTubers who are in the same niche as you, covering a similar content, how are they talking about this content? What are the tools that they're using? What's currently grabbing your audience's attention? Just use that and make it your own.
Speaker 3:You haven't got to recreate the wheel and guess. That's the worst thing. Have a data-driven approach of how you approach your content, because that's the thing that's going to keep people coming back for more. There's no point in getting exposure on a podcast if you can't get people coming back for more. It will be impossible to grow a podcast if you can't get people coming back for more. So you have to get your listeners coming back for more and that comes down to your USP, your unique positioning, how different your show is to everything else out there in the market and your demand-based content strategy. That's the approach that we use to help us pinpoint what's capturing our listeners' attention. Go to YouTube, go to Google, see how other people in the industry are ranking high with the tools that they use. Then we get to the fun part.
Speaker 3:Now it comes to really looking at podcast seo which keywords we want to rank for to get organic growth on apple and spotify right. There's four parts discoverability finding the right keywords. Ask yourself, if my listeners were to find my podcast, what would they search in? Whatever that search term is, add that in your episode title, your show name, your description and consistently. The second thing is looking at your visibility, your cover art, your attractive episode titles to attract them in. The third thing, user engagement having a high engagement rate making sure you have a high listen time through episodes. So apple and spotify are incentivized to share your podcast. If not, they're your boss. They're not going to just like, promote something and offer your podcast. That's not going to sell, that's not going to get people to click and listen. That's not going to get people to stick around.
Speaker 3:So how do you have a higher retention time to make sure you're being recommended to more people and getting more organic exposure, growing your month after month. You have a strong hook to start your episode. You stay three benefits listeners will gain. But in this episode you'll discover the number one thing that holds most podcasters back from faster growth. You will discover why every podcast needs a book if they want to be the authority, without writing the book themselves. And finally, you'll discover the three-step process to getting your podcast rank higher on apple and spotify. If you start at the start of an episode, people will listen to the end because you've gave them a promise that they came for you. Now you have to deliver on that promise through your episode. That's how you have a higher listen time, that's how you have a higher engagement time and that's how you get apple and spotify to recommend your show over your competitions.
Speaker 3:And then the final piece is building relevancy. If you're following on right now and I'm speaking fast, but I want to make sure I give you all the value I possibly can in a condensed and condensed form the final piece is then thinking okay, what are the keywords could I rank for if I'm in business? What type of business is online business? Is it okay with my listeners? What? What problems that he have is a limiting beliefs, is a self-sabotage. Okay, cool, I'm gonna rank for limiting beliefs, self-sabotage and online business and then have those keywords consistent in your titles. You start ranking more for those keywords. You get that organic growth and then the final piece is just guest on as many podcasts.
Speaker 3:Once you're uniquely positioned in the market with a usp, a show that is wildly attractive. Once you have a demand-based content strategy that's based on demand of what your listeners are actively looking for, not just guesswork, and once you're growing organically because your podcast is ranked higher on apple and spotify for highly searched and once you're growing organically because your podcast is ranked higher on apple and spotify for highly searched keywords and you're growing month after month, you have a proven podcast that turns people strangers into listeners and get those listeners coming back for more is growing month after month. So now, when you turn on the exposure and you send that audience, when you're guessing other people's podcasts right, when you're promoting on social media, you know we have a celebrity to come on and bring their audience. All of that exposure is being shown to a podcast that's proven to turn them in, to turn strangers into listeners and to get those listeners coming back for more. Yeah, that is how you grow a show. So, exposure piece guesting boatload and other people's podcasts with similar show to yours.
Speaker 3:Promoting on social media heavily and doing it the right way providing value, not just promoting. Promotion. Promoting but not providing value. And every single person who likes your post don't assume they're going to go and listen to the podcast. They won't reach out to them. Get an assistant, get a team member to actively reach out to anyone who engages with your podcast content. Yeah, and then the final piece when you get celebrities on, make sure you're focusing on topics you know is going to attract their audience. That is how you grow a show, month after month after month, without all the stress and hard work. Just focus on social media awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, man, that's been fantastic. And, yeah, make sure you guys save this episode, whatever it is. Add it to your list, go back and listen to this again so you don't miss anything. Anthony said about growing, because it works, not just for your podcast. If you don't have a podcast, it can still work for your book, it can still work for your course Just tweaked a little bit with the wording, but this is gold right here. And just tweaked a little bit, uh, with the wording, but, like, this is gold right here. And so, anthony man, it's been awesome. I'm so glad we finally made this work. I know, man, I'm I know that it was in a long time coming and you know it'll be the last time, which is good too, and um, but, man, you know, if people want to connect with you, if they want your help and they want to just, uh, learn more from you, where's the best place for them to go?
Speaker 3:if you like this and you got all the way to the end, look, I'd recommend checking out why your podcast isn't growing. If you're a podcaster, business owner, coach, expert in your field and you're looking to grow your podcast with just genuine insight, value-packed episodes that are super fun and engaging, check out why your podcast isn't growing. My biggest recommendation would be episode number two seven reasons why most podcasters struggle to grow their podcast. That is a great starting point. Again, episode two seven reasons why most podcasters struggle to grow their podcast. That will just give you the insight of why most people struggle to grow. And if you want to connect with me, just personally, check out me on linkedin. I'm now I'm getting back in the game of linkedin posting a bit more. Put my face out there. So if you're on linked, go to you know again, Anthony Wannary, and then you'll find me there posting consistently Awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, everyone definitely check out the show, learn from them, get connected with them on LinkedIn and see how to help if you need it. And again, anthony, thanks so much for being on the podcast today. Man, absolutely, man, my pleasure, absolutely. If you guys know someone who's trying to grow their show, they're trying to get out there, get more exposure, grow what they're doing, share this with them. We can make a bigger difference together by doing so, so other people can hear Anthony's insight and learn from him. So go ahead and share this and if you're not following yet, make sure you go subscribe, follow the show. We appreciate it.
Speaker 1:And until next time, continue to elevate your life, elevate your brand and we'll talk to you later. Thank you for listening to the Elevate Media Podcast. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. See you in the next episode.