After 10 months of living off savings, and doubting himself, Sal Khan began wondering if he made the biggest mistake of his life. After leaving his unfulfilling, but well paying job as a hedge fund-manager, Khan decided to pursue his dreams. In 2008 he started The Khan Academy.
His mission was to provide a free world-class education to anyone with an internet connection. After struggling for a couple of years, Khan finally received validation for his work by one of the most influential people in the world, Microsoft Founder and Philanthropist, Bill Gates.
In an interview, Gates mentioned his children learned using The Khan Academy. After that endorsement Khan’s business exploded. Today, The Khan Academy has over 100,000,000 registered users in 100 countries. Goes to show, it only takes one person to validate an idea.
Podcasting is similar too. You can go for months without anyone making a single comment about your show. But one day, you impress the right person, and all your hard work is validated.
Today we’ll discuss how you only need 1 person’s attention to validate your podcast. In this article we'll cover:
- Why are we so obsessed with listeners?
- Who's listening to your show?
- Picking the right guest for your show.
Why are we so obsessed with listeners?
The number one question my clients have is, “How do I get more listeners?” No matter how many times I tell them downloads don't mean diddly, they keep asking. According to Libsyn, the largest podcast hosting provider in the world, 50% of all podcasts get less than 120 downloads per episode. That means, if you're getting less than 120 downloads per show, you are average.
If you're like most of my clients, you don't want to settle for average, and I'm with you. But how do you take a good podcast and make it great? If you think the answer is more listeners, you're dead wrong. You don't need more listeners to validate your podcast. In fact, there is only 1 listener that truly matters to the success of your show. In the next section we'll take a look at who that listener is.
Who's listening to your show?
One of the most frustrating things about podcasting is that we have no reliable way to know who is listening to our show. Libsyn doesn't provide subscriber data, neither does Apple.
So how do we know who is listening to our show? We can check reviews. We can look at Social Media. We can ask people. But this is a lot of work with a limited return on effort. It's time to stop pulling your hair out trying to figure out who is listening to your show.
When it comes to listeners, there is only one that matters. When you focus on this single listener, your podcast will be a total success, and all your hard work will be validated. Who is this listener? It's your guest. Yes, the person you interviewed on your show. They are the only listener that will make a substantial difference in your business. In the next section we'll discuss why.
Picking the right guest for your show.
If you're doing an interview show, the most important part of your show is the guest. Picking the right guest is essential to having a successful podcast. Now, you might be thinking you need big name guests who are going to brag about your interview to their hordes of followers.
That's not what we're talking about here. Instead, the guests you choose should be folks who would make perfect clients for your business.
Yip, you read that correctly. The perfect guest for your show is the perfect client for your business. That way the interview is a warm up to doing business together. Here are some questions you can ask yourself before booking a guest for your show:
- Would this guest make a great client?
- Could this guest benefit from my services?
- Is this guest interesting?
- Can I help my guest get results in their business?
- Do I want to help my guest get better results?
When you choose guests based on whether or not you can help them it will totally change the dynamic of your podcast. Instead of aimless conversations with random people, you'll have great chats with people you want to help. We covered a lot of ground, so let's have a quick review before we wrap up.
How to validate your podcast with only 1 listener
People are obsessed with the number of listeners they have. The number of listeners is not as important as who is listening to your show. When you're doing interviews, you should choose guests based on whether or not they'd be a good fit for your business offering. When you choose “Right Fit Guests” the only listener that matters is them.
There's no way to know for sure who is listening to your show. If you've done a good interview and picked the right guest, your hard work will be validated when your guests downloads and listens to your show and eventually becomes a client.
Next Steps:
We talked about number of downloads not being as important as who is downloading in this article. Most people find this frustrating. That's why I recorded a short video with a few tips on how you can get more downloads. You can watch the video here: https://thepodcastfactory.com/never-worry-about-downloads-again/
When you're ready to see how a podcast can connect you with more of your perfect clients we should talk. I can show you how we do it for our clients at The Podcast Factory. Book your 30 minute call at https://thepodcastfactory.com/start/
