TPU86 – Effective Podcast Call to Action: 5 Ways to get better Results from your CTA

How do you craft an effective podcast call to action?

One of the most important parts of a podcast framework is the inclusion of a Call-to-action at the closing of your episode. And a lot of new podcasters miss out on using this critical part to their benefit.

In this episode we will look at Podcast Call to Action, what CTAs work and how to put together an effective CTA that can get you the maximum benefit.

If you have been into content marketing and you have been involved in any form of digital marketing, then it is unlikely you wouldn’t have heard about a CTA or, a call to action.

A CTA is an explicit request to your listeners/readers/viewers to take a specific action.

Today we will look at how to put together an effective podcast call to action for your episodes.

Here is what we will be covering –

1. The importance of a CTA
2. What should you keep in mind when putting together a CTA
3. Some examples of effective podcast call-to-action
4. A CTA that I definitely don’t want to use and I will advise you not to use

Why do you really need a CTA?

We, humans, are programmed in such a way that we take action only when we are told to take action.

This is more so in the case where I am not sure about my next steps and I need to be told about what to do next.

There is a lot of effort that you put into making a pitch. All forms of content marketing involve the same amount of effort. It starts from the point you hook your listeners to listen to your episode and consume your content.

You then, keep them engaged through your content till the very end.

Now when you are at the end of the episode, your audience reaches a point where they would be looking for what to do next in order to get further information.

At this point, if you don’t tell them what to do, they will simply close the player and move on.

And so far as you are concerned, you lose a listener who you spent all those hours priming to pitch something.

Every form of marketing needs to have a CTA and that CTA is tied to an objective that you are trying to achieve with your marketing.

This brings me to the next point and the most important one in creating an effective podcast call to action.

Effective Podcast Call to Action – Things to keep in mind

The first and foremost thing is that your CTA should always be tied to your end objective.

So even before you decide on your CTA, you need to decide on your objective.

One of the things that I don’t see a lot of podcasters doing and which some of the top podcasters do and have mastered is in using the podcast to build a list.

Understand that your Podcast is a good front-end to capture the attention of your audience. But if you don’t capture that audience, then they will come, listen to your episode and go. You will never even know about who they were and how they engaged with the content.

It is hence that I always emphasize building a list using your podcast.

I digress.

Let us go back to objectives.

The most obvious of objectives from your podcast could be two. They are –

1. To make money through sponsorships
2. To sell your products, services, or, subscriptions

Podcasts that is created for brand awareness or, internal consumption in companies could have different objectives. But for the purpose of this discussion, I am only looking at podcasts with a marketing objective.

When it comes to getting sponsorships, it entirely depends upon your downloads and listens.

Something that you might want to keep in mind is that incremental downloads are not a factor of new listeners only. It is a factor that involves repeat listeners as well.

And the only way you can get repeat listeners is by constantly engaging with them, letting them know when you release a new episode, and interacting with them.

And how do you do that?

Of course, through emails.

It is here that building an email list becomes very important.

Now, coming to the second objective which is selling your products and services!

Again, sales aren’t going to happen on your episodes. It is only going to happen through the interactions that you have with your listeners offline or, after they have listened to your episode.

And how is that going to happen?

Again through emails.

That means, the call-to-action that you might want to use is to direct your audience to a website or, an optin form where they can sign up to your email list.

Similarly, you would want to devise 3-4 different actions that you want your audience to take.

Simplicity

Another aspect that you need to keep in mind is that the lesser the resistance involved in the action that you are asking your listeners to take, the better the conversions will be.

Keep the CTA as simple as possible and as easy as possible for the listeners to act on.

Now, this could be in the form of asking them to visit your website for the show notes or, to download a handout or, a checklist with some advanced content or, asking them to check the description to join your FREE course, etc.

Don’t overdo it

Don’t place too many calls to action and confuse your audience. Be very specific and limit your CTAs to only 2 at the max and place them at different points instead of placing them all together.

What kind of CTAs works well?

Don’t use vague CTAs that don’t trigger an action like asking your listeners to write to you about their biggest problems etc. They would never know where to write to or, how to reach you and they don’t even know what they would gain from doing that.

So use concrete CTAs that trigger actions from listeners.

One of the best CTAs that I recommend using is to redirect your listeners to a website and offer them upgraded information there. Listeners who have listened to the entire episode will surely want additional information and they will want to visit the website and get hold of that information.

I use Pretty Links on my website to track these visits. I create a specific link for every episode of mine which is usually in the form of my website name/episode number. This then helps me track the traffic coming from the podcast.

My website name is easy to remember and that additionally helps with this CTA.

Another CTA that you can use is to ask users to visit a specific link to subscribe or, download a FREEBIE. This link can be a tiny URL created using a service like bitly.

You could also create an automation using something like Zapier and a dummy email address. Anybody sending a blank email to that email address can be added to your email list. This can be a little complicated but you can always do that.

Podcast hosting services like bCast offers this automation pre-setup.

There are podcasters who use CTAs like “Subscribe to the show” which is also a good way to make your one time listener a repeat listener.

But the problem with this is that, not all podcast directories have that option of subscribing to the show. In that case you might just be losing out on some percentage of your listeners.

CTA asking for Reviews

One of the most common CTAs that I see podcasters using is to ask your listeners to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts.

There is a section of marketers who say that these reviews and ratings help in the ranking of the show on Apple Podcasts.

I too have done it for quite some time and do it occasionally these days too.

But the fact is that I haven’t seen these reviews and ratings making any impact on the ranking of the show.

Another aspect to this is that not all of your listeners might be listening to the show on Apple Podcasts. What if majority of your audience is listening to the show on other apps?

And the biggest reason why I don’t favor this call to action is the friction involved in doing this. Writing a review on Apple Podcast isn’t that easy. It is hence that you will always see very low conversions on this CTA. Barely any to be frank.

So why waste a CTA on something that isn’t working.

Thank you for joining

Thank you all for joining me on the show today.

If you enjoyed this episode then I am sure you will love some of the previous episodes as well. Pick your favorite ones and give it a listen.

The podcasting university is available on all podcasting platforms. You can pick your favorite one to listen to the show there. The links to some of the prominent ones are mentioned below.

And if you are new to podcasting and want to start a podcast, then join my FREE 10-day ecourse on “How to Start a Podcast“.

Recommended Resources for Podcasting

Here are some of the recommended resources for Podcasting. These are the ones that I personally use and am satisfied with and hence am recommending them.

• Acast Podcast hosting – Acast is my favorite podcast hosting company. They have excellent customer support, have a pocket-friendly plan, and even have a free option with no limits.
• Behringer Audio Interface – You will need an audio interface if you are using an XLR microphone. This is my recommended audio interface.
• Zencastr – Zencastr is the easiest option to record interviews, both audio-only and audio+video. This is a must for an interview podcast. Go to zencastr.com/pricing and use my code “thepodu” You’ll get 30 percent off your first three months of Zencastr professional.
• Audacity – This is the best and the most feature-rich free audio editing software. It gives you a lot of options while editing your interviews.
• Blue Yeti USB Microphone – My recommended microphone
• Tidycal – My recommended calendar and booking solutions
• Fusebox – Embeddable Podcast Player
• Descript – Audio Editing, Transcription and Video editing software

AMAZON DISCLOSURE: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The Podcasting University is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

MICROPHONES –

1. ATR-2100x
2. MAONO AU-HD300T : https://geni.us/ro48q
3. Maono AU-WDM01 : https://geni.us/PhZ3V2v
4. Samson Q2U – https://geni.us/k9cuk
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6. Rode NT USB – https://geni.us/O6b65K
7. Shure MV7X – https://geni.us/w7rZ4

AUDIO INTERFACE –

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2. M-Audio M-Track Solo – https://geni.us/RnhHr
3. HAYDEN HY-229 – https://geni.us/c80KbWB

MIXERS –

1. HAYDEN 4 Channels – https://geni.us/cXQ0
2. Behringer Q502USB

MONITORING HEADPHONES –

1. Oneodio Studio Pro-10 : https://geni.us/IQI88Se
2. Maono AU-MH501 : https://geni.us/AbNrU
3. Audio-Technica ATH-M20X : https://geni.us/eEUf9

POP-FILTER –

1. JEYANG Metal Pop Filter – https://geni.us/JMfuY
2. Wright WP 101 – https://geni.us/OcOAzj

DESK-STAND/BOOM ARM –

1. MY-STANDS MC 18 : https://geni.us/Lwnb
2. Bulfyss Professional Recording Microphone Stand : https://geni.us/mV4S

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