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This blog post is part a series, based on the book 'Top 21 Marketing channels for membership sites published by The Subscription Coach Amanda Northcutt.

 Download the entire series in a book

Start your own podcast

The process of starting your own podcast is an enormous undertaking, and your capacity to go through with it week after weeks should be considered before committing. Numerous owners of membership websites have a hard time deciding whether to launch a podcast or not since, as your SEO plan is a marathon not a sprint.

The marketplace for podcasts is inundated at this point, but when you narrow your focus and in-depth within your field it is likely that you will increase the number of fans who will be qualified prospects for your membership site in the future. Making your own podcast is also one of the best ways for you to connect with influencers and to become one yourself!

You must make a 12-18 month commitment and release at least 1-2 podcasts per week, to give this marketing channel the chance to be successful. It's almost the polar opposite of running a fast Facebook campaign, which can be easily evaluated after a short period of time. As with other type of content, I suggest recording your episodes in batches, 4-10 in one sitting, so you're not burdened with a weekly schedule or multiple times each week to make the same episode.

Podcasting is one of the most intimate ways that to connect with your prospects at any kind of scale sometimes, more than the written word. Be attentive to your viewers. Be empathetic and show that you understand their struggles and can resolve it. Your Membership!

The topics you cover on your podcast must be appealing to those who have the possibility of becoming the most powerful members of your membership website. Everyone else is irrelevant. Like other marketing efforts using a large net will attract unqualified prospects that will clutter your email list, or even worse, send out emails very early. Also, staying narrow and deep within your area of expertise is essential to your success.

Do not fool yourself into believing that the amount of episodes downloads is the most important measure you should be tracking or. The questions you should be asking yourself to determine the success of your podcast include: Are my listeners following my CTA and entering my sales funnel? Do new subscribers cite my podcast as a reason that they joined, or from where they learned about me? Are the credibility I'm building by my show helping build connections and trust with influential people within my industry? Do I use my podcast to connect with others through having appropriate guests on my podcast?

Promote your podcast to your list of email subscribers, current members, through social channels, as well as influencers. Podcasts are a thoughtful part of your content marketing plan, though because it's such an effort, it merits a category of its own in my top 21 list.

The podcast you host is a great tool in your marketing mix. Don't get started until you're able to finish it. Luckily, the next best thing to hosting your own podcast is having a consistent appearance as a guest in other podcasts.

Be a podcast guest

The same principles of guest blogging are applicable to this situation quite easily. Those who have decided to host podcasts of their own are confronted with the exact same task that bloggers do. Contacting the appropriate hosts with the right approach could land you a handful of great guest spots and reduce the burden of content creation for hosts.

If you have your own show by being a guest host to other podcasts can enhance the results you get from your podcast. In the end, those who listen to podcasts, listen to...podcasts.

But, whether you have your own show , or do not, always include the CTA whenever you're hosting a guest spot. CTAs can be for downloading the lead magnet you've created, a promotion for the cost of your membership, or a brief consultation, or anything else related to your website. If you run your own podcast, definitely invite listeners of the podcast(s) where you are guests to sign up to yours too.

Make a list of podcasts where you can give value and insights to your listeners. These will likely be industry influencers' podcasts which have a similar audience to your target audience. Podcasts hosted by guest hosts can be part of your organic influencer marketing plan.

Do not make the error that you should reach out to hosts with 100,000 subscribers first. Start small, get some knowledge and build a resume , and then work your way up the ranks of influencers.

Your outreach email to a host should contain a couple of appreciation to them, their the credentials you've earned for yourself (in a non-braggadocious way) as well as some examples of other podcasts that you've been on and/or links to your own blog posts or YouTube channel. Perhaps certain topics that you'd like to speak about in the interview.

Don't give up even if you're rejected. If you get shut down by a key influencer within your field, the first, second, or even the third time, go to the section on organic influencers here for a chance to create the social capital of these influencers before trying again.