Behind The Mic: Getting Strategic with Your Content With Michelle Abraham

Michelle Abraham: 00:00:03

This is amplify you the podcast about you discovering your message and broadcasting to the world. If you're a coach, author or speaker, you'll want to tune in. If you're looking for the best return on your time investment, to get your message out to the world in a bigger way, we're giving you full access behind the scenes look of how we're running our podcasts, how our clients have found success, and what you can do to launch your podcast today. The world needs your message. I'm Michelle Abraham, the host. Join my family as we unleash your unique genius and find the connections you need to launch your adventure today. Join us and let's get amplify.

Michelle Abraham: 00:00:44

Hello, hello everyone. Michelle Abraham here I'm so excited to bring this presentation to you. Today we are talking about plotting your content amplify your influence, income and impact. And as we believe it amplify you your uniqueness is your genius. So let's dive in.

Michelle Abraham: 00:01:03

My name is Michelle Abraham, and I'm the founder of amplify you where we help entrepreneurs and experts, authors, coaches, a create, launch, market, manage and monetize their podcast so they can do what they do best. Right. So why do you want to pay attention to podcasting right now? Well, you know, right now, we're in a world where time and attention are our most valuable assets. There's no other platform that even compares in comparison to podcasting. Right now, when it comes to the amount of time people are going to listen to you. I'm so excited about podcasting. I started podcasting back in 2012. And I'll dive into more of that in the moment in a few minutes. But I just want to say that podcasting is in a very exciting space may seem like there's a lot of shows out there. But there's tons of room for your voice and your creativity. So Facebook, you get about 18.2 seconds of someone's time, YouTube, we get four minutes and 20 seconds, Instagram about 26 seconds. But on podcasting, typically a listener will listen to up to 20 minutes of time, and you're in their head, you're there, you're in their earbuds, they're taking you with you. What I love about podcasting is that you are able to listen whenever you want. So as on demand listening, so you're not interrupting people with something they're scrolling by. It's that the podcast episodes are out there available for people 24/7, which I think is really awesome. And this is not to say that podcasting is better than any other platform. What we're saying is that you should be having podcasting as part of your social content. When you're planning your content for 2022. It's an integral part 25% of the population are auditory listeners. So by having your content in audio format, plus also recording a video format, it's going to give you the opportunity to have a lot more a lot more options out there. So typically, podcast listeners are fluent. Athletes are educated and loyal. So they listen to 80% or more of each episode. And they listen to an average about seven shows a week, which is really important. That means they're listening to a variety of different shows, and not just one show on one topic kind of thing. So there's lots of really great shows out there to choose from. And so when your listener listens to your show, or if you are going to be a guest on a show, you really want to know that they're going to be listening for that boat 2020 80% of the show, so about 20 minutes of time.

Michelle Abraham: 00:03:38

So I hope it's okay if I share a little bit about my story. So my story in podcasting really began when I became a new mom, this little guy is so cute, love him to death. And when I became a new mom, I had already been an entrepreneur, I had a busy fitness studio and a busy business in the fitness space. And when I realized when I slow down to be a mom is that my business brain went to mush. It was so used to being active in a lot in the googoo gaga playing on the floor was awesome. But I was really missing my marketing brain in the strategy and business stuff. And so I looked up on the TV and I saw this purple little button on the Apple TV and that was the podcasting app. So he turned it on while I was on the floor with my son. And all of a sudden I was listening to the shows that like Eventual Millionaire by Jaime Tardy was one I love. And online marketing made easy by Amy Porterfield. And they were they were just getting started. This is back in 2012. So they were very new to podcasting as well. What I loved about these shows is that they motivated me and inspired me to get into the game again. get myself dressed, get out the door, put my earbuds in put my son in the stroller for a walk in every Monday morning we would listen to these episodes start to feel a lot better again. And I think look back now and I think I'd gone into some postpartum depression a little bit and this was really pulling me out

Michelle Abraham: 00:05:00

So as a listener, I felt really indebted to podcasting and like I saw the vision. All of a sudden podcasting was in my car. It was on my phone. It was starting to become everywhere. And I knew that there's something to be said about this podcast. It's just it was still early. Nobody really knew what podcasting was. So fast forward a few years, I started my car started a podcast business. I started the Vancouver's why we are Vancouver's meetup for podcasting. Or we learned about podcasting. I started helping other people launch their podcast. And before I knew it, I had a business where we were helping people leverage their time and make more money. We're doing a lot of different things. But podcasting was one of them. My husband and I decided that we were going to sell our house and move off the grid to our cabin on the Sunshine Coast. And this is where we live today. But how we ended up getting there has a lot to do with podcasting. So I wanted to go, we want to check your kids are being and we thought well living on the lake for the first winter. They were quite young, and we didn't know what the weather was going to be like. So we thought we wanted to take them in an RV. And we knew nothing about RV. So I said I have a business idea. Why don't I start the Family RV Summit. So I went out there and I gathered 30 entrepreneurs who are in the in the RV space, and YouTubers and podcasters. And I interviewed them all while I was interviewing them, though, for the summit. I also created a 15 minute podcast episode. So before I knew it, I had this amazing summit where we sold the recordings of it, and then had this podcast that launch called Are we there yet. And at the end of the podcast episodes, we sold the recordings for the summit. Well, let me tell you, that whole little adventure there $7,500. Later, we were able to buy an RV and spend six months traveling around Southern California and Nevada, Arizona with our family. And in running our podcasts and our podcast business. So podcasts I have to thank for some really great adventures in my life. And some reasons that we do the things we do today.

Michelle Abraham: 00:07:09

What's really important about podcasting is that you're providing quality content. So you want to look at podcasting as a few different in a few different ways. For me as an entrepreneur, what I really love about podcasting is it's a vehicle for my listeners to kind of listen, get to know me make a decision about working with me, and then connect with me, and then perhaps work with me. But by doing that need to have some strategy in place for the quality of the content that you're providing. We see a lot of shows out there pod feeds a pod feed means someone got all excited, they went out there, they put together a podcast, and after about 15 or 20 episodes, they stopped their podcast. And the reason that happens is because they weren't prepared for longevity of the podcast is a long term marketing strategy. It's not a short term game. They also maybe weren't thinking about the content. And so if the contents not not quality, when you're putting it out there, you're going to lose steam on on wanting to produce it and it's not going to get many results. So having a little bit of strategy in mind before you go out and start recording is really important. So at amplify you we've launched over 200 shows in the last three or four years. And we love launching podcasts, we love helping experts get their message out there in the world. Because we know by helping the experts get their message out there on the world, they're making a change they're making the ripple effect of that is changing the listeners lives as well.

Michelle Abraham: 00:08:44

So at amplify you we've come up with a method for creating transformational podcasts content. If you can transform your listeners, when they're listening, that relates back to how I was being transformed as a listener, to be motivated to get out my earbuds in take my son for a walk, get my business mojo back going again, I was a product of the transformation that podcast had for me. So we'd like to share with our clients. And you guys, listeners, people who love social media, really how you can do that. So there's a few key pieces in this one is Be Brave with your voice. Two is get aligned with your message. Three is create momentum with your moving force connect with community. And five is deep transformational not transactional. So let's dive into these. I love this picture of the line. So cool. Reminds reminds me of being brave. So be brave with your voice. We're all here on this earth because we have a message.

Michelle Abraham: 00:09:51

That message needs to be heard by somebody. So it's your job to get that message out there in the world. Be brave Your voice, the more vulnerable and raw you can be with your own story, like I just shared with you about having postpartum depression, the more vulnerable you can be, the more relatable you're going to be on your podcast. The listeners are going to be like, oh, yeah, me too, or she gets me. And that's when you have a really great podcast. So instead of talking at the people, you're talking with them, you're sharing your story. Storytelling is powerful. And also sharing the experiences of some of the problems that your audience may also be facing, as well is going to really help solidify that bond between the listener and the host.

Michelle Abraham: 00:10:41

So Emily Clark does a really great job of this. So she has a podcast says love your anxiety. And so Emily goes, and you can tell the difference between someone who comes into a podcast and say, Hey, everybody, how y'all doing today? Oh, my gosh, you know, this, this is happening in the world and blah, blah, blah. It's very big talking, where Emily comes on her show said, Hey, how are you? It's Christmas time, I remember how overwhelmed I was at Christmas time, when I was struggling with my anxiety. Can you see the difference? That's like, very, very different way of talking. So Emily says podcasting is the number one ROI in her business. Because the way she was speaking to her audience, she was speaking to herself five years prior when she was struggling with her anxiety. And then she was inviting them to come and have a conversation with her. That little formula there works extremely well to build that relationship with the listener, and the hosts. Another podcast that they did this wealth, Jana got a huge speaking identity got a huge speaking engagement from her.

Michelle Abraham: 00:11:48

From one of her guests on her show, is he was really impressed with her presentation style and the way she was able to communicate, he invited me to come speak in front of 4000 people. How cool is that? So it's really neat the things that happen on a podcast. And it's not just about the download numbers, it's about the relationships that you're creating with either your guests or your house, are relating the relationships that you're getting between the listeners and the hosts. And also the other guests that are coming on your shows never know what kind of opportunities kind of can come from there. So the next step in this in this method is to get aligned with your message. So we start off our podcast, we're really excited.

Unknown: 00:12:34

We go down the path of mindset, and a few episodes in you think, Wait a second, we were going on on the path of mindset. But the conversations I've been having are more about, you know, your dreams and making your dreams a reality. So wait a second, do we need to kind of change the podcast here? That's a common, that's a common, a common comment after you get going on podcasting. So how do you think about podcasting is that it stagnates these here, it doesn't move, we've decided on the content, we've decided what we're going to say in the podcast, and the title and the episode cover all these things we decided at the beginning. Then as we get going on our journey, the personal development that happens for the host is huge. Not only that, but sometimes your message in your business may shift a little because you're getting more clear in your message. As your voice gets stronger, you might be coming away from where you originally were. So don't worry happens. But this is where these people drop off in pod fade. And this is where we want to challenge you to just get back in alignment with your show, get back in alignment with your message and bring it back together. This can happen through a relaunch. This can happen at a perfect time for a new season, or maybe some new cover art or some new music. It's funny, I was sharing with a group the other day that it's just a weird thing, because when we first started our podcast, we're not really in the groove of it. Our voice has not developed yet. Yet. We have to write, you know, record our intro and our outro and our trailer. And it's like, after 20 episodes or so or 30 episodes, you go back and listen to that and you're like, oh, that sounds bad. Don't worry, that's totally normal. If you're not embarrassed by your first few episodes, you waited too long to get them out. So that's totally normal. But my point here is that there's always time a can evolve, it can morph, it can flow, keep your podcast fluid and let it grow with you. Instead of keeping it stagnant and stuck over here while you evolve and grow. And then you get out of alignment with it and then you start to hate your podcast. We don't want you to hate your podcast. We want you to love it and keep doing it. But in order to do that, we just need to keep it in alignment with what you're doing and your message. So Ryan does a really good job of this. He's got a soul wealth podcast, so he went from struggle to 279,000 downloads and a sold out high ticket coaching program with a waitlist. What was happening with Ryan shows like after a year of him putting out episodes every week, people were listening to all those episodes. So the one they got to really get to know Him. They felt like how I felt when I was first listening to the Eventual Millionaire, I feel like I can run up and give her a big hug at an event, right? That relationship you're building with your audience. People were then coming to him say, Okay, Ryan, I'm ready to work with you now. There was no sales conversation involved. It was a okay, I'm writing now I know all about you. I've made a decision about you. And I'm ready. So how great would that be for your business, to have clients come to you, and they're already pre sold and working with you. And they've already made that decision.

Michelle Abraham: 00:15:42

So the third part of this formula is to create momentum with your movement. So what do we mean by this? So creating a movement is something that I think is really powerful thing to do when you first start your podcast. So going out there and thinking about, what are the problems you're solving with your podcasts? Who are you speaking to? Okay, so what Ryan was speaking to on his podcast is helping people have a better relationship with money, and making that money that felt good, and it was alignment with your business, and it was alignment with you. And so he created a movement of people who are all about that. Okay, so they were struggling with money or not struggling with self worth, maybe, and they're wanting to have that wealth and that wealth that's aligned with our soul. So he's helping create a movement of people who are interested in that topic.

Michelle Abraham: 00:16:36

So if you can also help your listeners by getting them involved while you're launching the show, hey, what do you guys think of this topic? Or this topic? What are you thinking? what's resonating with you more? What do you think about this cover this cover? Or who would you like to see me interview? Or what kind of topics do you love? When I talk about those are some things you want to involve your social media following you're already following in before you launch your podcast, so they feel like they're involved in the making the podcast, then that's going to create the momentum in your movement. When you launch your show, people are going to get on board and want to support it.

Michelle Abraham: 00:17:16

The creating a movement, something that's worthy of getting involved in is something that's so powerful in a podcast that can help people grow a podcast beyond themselves when it's, it's when it's about something that's bigger than you. It's a mission, our message. Robin has a podcast called parenting our future. So Robins built a movement of parents who want to stop yelling at their kids. Her book is the yelling here. So she loves her podcast with a contest that had 150 entries in it. Well, that helps grow her show quite alive. It hit number one for the parenting podcast in three different categories lunch week, she was a two comma club winner, which means she's had more than a million dollars come through her her funnel. And she is creating a movement of parents. Like I said, She's the offer author of the yelling cure, just creating a movement of parents who really want to build deep bonds with connections with our kids. And one of the ways of that is to stop yelling. So I love what Robin's about in her show. And she just models this perfectly. So creating a community with your show as well, if you can you're gathering people that have seen similar kind of problem are wanting similar goals. This is a great place to build a community. One of my favorite shows dissecting success, which is Blair, and Teresa. So they had a strategy to build momentum with followers, and they pre launch their podcasts and all the work that they did, I was just mentioning before about, you know, getting your community involved showing behind the scenes pictures of what they were doing, how those great things that they were doing, that made them top 10 in when they launched their show and one of the most competitive categories in iTunes, which is marketing. So Blair and Theresa are brilliant co hosting sow, which allows the listeners a sense of belonging. And they're having these incredible conversations that they invite you along to be a part of. So I think they've done a really great job of building community.

Michelle Abraham: 00:19:27

And candy, she's got a dialed in community with a common goal. She wants to help her coaches get the first five clients. So they're all in the same place there. Right. So they've got the same goal, the same audience. She's also built a huge following for her podcasts through Pinterest. And so she's figured out that her listeners are on Pinterest and is use that platform to get hundreds and hundreds of downloads onto her free gift and onto her email address. Plus, we've saved her a lot of gray hair. She's

Michelle Abraham: 00:20:00

As because of all the hours of work, we've helped her save by, we do her podcast for her. So we have a done for you service that helps the podcaster stay in the zone of genius, and allow, all they need to do is record and our team will take care of the rest of the editing and the publishing and the promoting of it and the syndicating Joel platforms. How great is that you get to stay in your zone of genius. And for a lot of entrepreneurs that's in the creativity zone and imagination zone. And by staying in imagination zone, you get to be transformational, not transactional. So your podcast is going to allow people to inspire them, and to evoke emotion in them and inspire them to make a change or do something. That's how you become transformational. That's level of value that you're providing is going to make your listeners do something, make a change in their life, inspire them to check out something else, inspire them to start moving, whatever it is that they're you're inspiring them to do. That's your job as a podcast host is evoke motion and Inspire, Inspire movement.

Michelle Abraham: 00:21:12

So Dan does a great job of this. Of this. His guests always say 10 have never shared that before with anybody. So how does he do that he gets so deep into his questions that he asked questions that are similar and makes it to the listener or makes the the guests that he's interviewing go deeper and deeper into their content. He's creating a transformation for his listeners, his guests always have something that they have overcome, to make their dreams come around. And Dan does a great job of this on his podcast. So here's our secret ingredients. Number one, you have to be brave, you have to be really willing to stand up and put your voice out there. It's a scary thing took me four years to launch my podcast. Because of that reason, I always, I was just uncertain. Nobody gave me permission to have to be able to flow with that podcast, I was uncertain of the content I wanted to deliver. And the topics I wanted to talk about, and they was indecisive. And so that led me to second guess what I was doing and feel like nobody was gonna listen. And so it wasn't being brave. Being brave is one of the big ones. So first, a cup of surfers attitude. So remember a podcast, you're serving an audience, you're sharing a message and you're sharing a gift with them. The second part of the ingredients is five cups of a movement worthy message. So you need to have a message that's worth people getting involved in. And then three tablespoons of a proven signature program. We have seen statistically that when you have a proven program or service in your business already, adding a podcast to your marketing is actually a great thing. Because then you can promote your pocket products and services, you can speak to your ideal customers. And then you're going to get those listeners turning them into buyers, through your transformation you're going to create for them, the small wins you're going to give them.

Michelle Abraham: 00:23:10

But having a proven signature program first is very helpful. And a pinch of the 111 formula. That means that you have people going to one place with one message. And there's only one opt in from your show. So you got one place one point of entry into working with you. One mistake we've seen, and I've done it myself too is that we're sending people to this opt in or that opt in or that place or this place, send them to one place always send them to one place, get them on your email address, then you can continue the conversation. So do you want them to go leave a review? Yes, I do. But I want them to get on my email first. So I'm going to give them a really great gift or something to do on the email list. And then I'm going to go send them to give me a review.

Michelle Abraham: 00:23:56

And then you're going to bake that at 350 degrees with a commitment to a long term strategy. So you'll see this some snowball effect that happens with your podcasts takes a while to get that first 1000 listeners and then it takes a while from the 1000 to the 5000. Then this is some point, that boulder that you're pushing up the hill is just gonna start snowballing. Okay, and that's when your 1000 listeners turn into 275,000 listeners. And that's when things start start really moving. And it doesn't have to be about the download listeners. I want to I just want to put this out there that I use podcasts to leverage relationships and is one of the best networking tools there. So one I'm sharing platform for my customers and for my podcasters I give them a platform to come and share about their show. And then also I bring on experts and more I get to have joint venture relationships with or the before and after hour those conversations is what really moves the needle of my business. That's a totally different place to look at podcasting from than any other any other podcasts. I think companies

Michelle Abraham: 00:25:00

They talk about our experts to talk about podcasting, but just about the downloads, so it stops people from creating transformational content. Like I experienced fear, no one's gonna listen, what am I going to talk about? Or oh my gosh, I'm not prepared if this really blows up. But if this goes viral, am I prepared for that, so don't worry about that we conquer the fear by just getting into action, the more action you can take small steps, steps towards your goal is going to feel not so crazy and not so fearful, you can just get some support around it. So you know, talk to us about strategy, we can give you some good ideas, what we see work, what doesn't work, that gets over your fear when you have that reassurance in that support, or get a co host that you can coordinate with together. That's awesome. Technology, this is one of my favorite things that stops people from actually getting out there is that you think that you need so many things. To do a podcast, all you need is a laptop, or computer, a microphone, and a Zoom account, then you can get going. And this perfectionism thing, oh my gosh, it causes stagnation and stops you from actually moving forward. Okay, so Done is better than perfect. It's gonna suck the first 10 episodes, you're gonna look back at 100 axles and go, Oh, my gosh, don't listen to the first 10. They're terrible. And this is good. This is the opportunity to grow and improve and see how much you've improved. Don't worry, everyone's first few episodes don't sound super good. There was some good, you don't have the content, you're not in the rhythm. Don't worry, it gets better over time. And just keep going just do it. Done is better than perfect.

Michelle Abraham: 00:26:41

And time. I don't have time to add a podcast into all the other things I'm already doing. I'm already doing all these other social media things. We'll stop for a second and think about your strategy here. What if you recorded all your podcast content from the beginning of the month that you need for the whole month between your recording podcasts and video, you've got video and audio, you got snippets, you've got clips that you can take out you've got quotes you can make you've got all the content in transcription that you can need for article blog posts, social media posts, it's all right there, take some behind the scenes pictures. And then you're good to go for a good foundation of social media for your month. There is a million podcasts out there guys a million in April 2022 point 4 million podcasts on April 2021 2.7 million podcasts in November 2021. When I first was looking into podcasts, this image even says 700,000 podcasts, I think this image was from 2020, early 20. Or I would say maybe say maybe late May of 2019.

Michelle Abraham: 00:27:50

It's going like crazy Oh there. But out of those 2.7 million podcasts, all the shows we work with are in the top 5% Because they're consistent. They're producing top quality. And they're in they're engaged with their audience. They're producing stuff constantly. And so that puts them in a high categories of good quality show. And it's constantly producing episodes, there's still tons of room, we're in the infancy stage, and podcasting, it's not too late. And if you don't want to be a podcast host, being a podcast guest is a fantastic way to get started. You show up in someone else already has the audience there for you.

Michelle Abraham: 00:28:30

Everyone has a story, guys, you have an important story that needs to share in the world. It is your job to share that message with the world. Please be a guest on podcasts go out and have your own show. It's an authority generating platform, the credibility and the positioning that you get from having a podcast is not the same as anywhere else. It's amazing. You have a story you have a message that's going to share that up you share is going to impact someone's life. It's gonna impact many people's lives. And that ripple effect that you create is leaving a lasting impact in the world. So don't be shy, grab a microphone, get podcasting. If you need some support. We are here for you. So you just record and let us do the rest. We have podcast management, we have podcast launching, we have podcasts, guessing services, all sorts of things. We're here to support you and help you.

Michelle Abraham: 00:29:25

So what's your story? Let's get it out there on those shows today. And I'd like you to come in check this out podcast Sales Machine live.com. So learn exactly how to sell more high ticket offers and grow an eager buyers audience fast with podcast Sales Machine live. This is an event my business partner Evans and I do every full every once a month. It's a four hour event. So check out the website, come and join us and we're giving you two tickets. You won't be disappointed. You'll learn all about that transformational content you want to deliver. You'll learn all about our system for getting those results. And you'll love Evans story from going from being poor house Evans and the mindset he had to being the awesome rock star guy that sold a podcast for six years and grew it to over a million listeners. You want to be here for that. So check it out, come and join us and other ways to check out social media. I'm there comm and connect with me. I'd love to chat with you and see how we can help support your podcasting dreams. Thanks again guys Michelle Abraham from amplify you so glad to be here today. And I hope you got a lot out of this reach out and say hi.