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In this episode, Barbara and Andrew discuss:
-Benefits of Podcasting- its perks, accessibility, and advantages.
-How guesting on podcasts works.
-How to market yourself as a podcast guest
Key Takeaways:
“I’d focus on quality rather than quantity of the audience.” – Andrew Allemann
Connect with Andrew Allemann:
Website: https://www.andrewallemann.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allemann
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVrF_vz-dQdGnMnxS2k17fw
Twitter: https://twitter.com/domainnamewire
Connect with Barbara Hales:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com
YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales
Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist
TRANSCRIPTION: (102)
Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.
I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have an exciting episode with Andrew Alleman. He is the founder of PodcastGuests.com, which connects podcasters with guests for their shows. Over 30,000 people use the service to find guest experts or get booked on other shows.
Welcome Andrew.
Andrew Allemann: Thank you for having me.
Andrew’s Podcasting Journey
Dr. Barbara Hales: What many people wonder is how you got involved in this?
Andrew Allemann: I started my own podcast about six, seven years ago. Now I’m up to episode 369. And it’s weekly. It’s like many podcasts, like your show here. It’s a guest format, typically. About a year in, I started to struggle to find guests from my rolodex. I talked to everyone I knew who thought would have an interesting story. I started looking around and trying to find a platform to find guests for my show, and I couldn’t find one. I created one. For the past five years, I’ve been working on PodcastGuests.com, as well as my own podcast.
Dr. Barbara Hales: What is your podcast about?
Andrew Allemann: It’s about domain names of all topics. It’s very much a niche. The people who listen are people that buy and sell domain names. Registrars like GoDaddy is probably the one most of your listeners are familiar with. It’s an industry publication. I have an actual online publication as well. It’s a trade publication for the industry; it’s very much a niche podcast to go with a niche publication.
Guesting on Podcasts Help Your Practice in Medicine
Dr. Barbara Hales: How could being a guest on a podcast help your practice in medicine? And as a health professional?
Andrew Allemann: It’s interesting to think of doctors on podcasts to expand our audience. In general, people go on podcasts to grow their audience. They want to educate an audience while making people know more about them as professionals or their businesses.
I think doctors make a lot of sense for them to be guests on podcasts. But there’s a question of how national they are versus local. If they get patients from all across the country or sell a product, then I think it should target national ones.
I think there’s a big opportunity for doctors that only serve a local community to get in front of the audience there. For example, I live on an island of about 25,000 people, and there’s one local podcast that I’m aware of. I think for a doctor on the island, that’d be a fantastic opportunity to get in front of an audience, and that’s very targeted to them. Everyone needs doctors. I think there are great opportunities, whether you’re local or national.
Perks of Podcasting
Dr. Barbara Hales: Years ago, they said, get on the radio. If you have a radio show, whether you’re talking about supplements or exercise, how you could pursue better health, people will listen. Especially since they’re traveling in their car, and they’re trapped, and what else are they going to do but listen to the radio. But times are very different now. If you are in the car, and you’re not listening to music, more than likely, you’re listening to a podcast.
Andrew Allemann: That’s exactly right. Another nice thing about podcasts as opposed to being on the radio, is that it’s a little bit lower stakes which means podcasts can be edited. It’s not live. If you’re nervous at all, which is understandable about being a guest on live radio. People get butterflies in your stomach, that sort of thing. You can be less nervous, in my opinion, about podcasting. Then all of your podcast experiences and appearances will help you build up that confidence so that if you do get on the morning TV show in your community or a popular radio show, then you’ll have more experience. You’ll have your talking points down. You’ll feel more comfortable doing it.
Accessibility of Podcasts
Dr. Barbara Hales: Another advantage to taping podcasts is that once a person downloads that, they can listen anywhere. They could listen while they’re on the treadmill, in the gym, while they’re walking to the bus station or the train station. It gives them a lot of leeway to air it whenever they have a convenient time.
Andrew Allemann: That’s right. It’s anywhere and as you mentioned at any time. One of the challenges to radio and TV is that you have to be there at that time. That’s the audience, once you’re done with that segment, it’s gone. Whereas with podcasts, it’s still there. Frankly, many times, people go back and listen to episodes from months ago. When they subscribe to a podcast, they’ll scroll through the back catalogue and icon list. This looks like an interesting topic, and they’ll listen to it.
It’s really interesting. The dividends is a long tail. Most people listen within the first week or two. Many people go back and listen months later to episodes, especially when they discover a new podcast they like.
Dr. Barbara Hales: This is so true; what many people don’t think about is, once you put it out there, they’re accessible forever.
Andrew Allemann: Exactly.
Should Doctors Start their Own Podcast?
Dr. Barbara Hales: Should doctors consider starting their own podcast?
Andrew Allemann: That’s another level on top of being a guest on podcasts. I always encourage people before starting their own podcast to be a guest on some podcasts first, and see how you like that process. Because being a host is a lot more work. After we’re done today, you’re going to have to basically publish this podcast. You might do some light editing, there’s some promotion behind it, which you also have to do as a guest.
It’s a lot more work. There’s some consistency to it. I would ask myself, “do I have this time in my day” “do I have, a couple hours a week”, and then I think about the cost trade off here. If you’re a busy professional, including a doctor, you might consider having someone produce it for you. So that you’re not spending time, say finding guests, doing the editing. I outsource my editing on my podcast to someone. Just because I realized, this isn’t my expertise. If you’re a doctor, you’re probably not a professional audio editor.
Whereas if we have a medical issue, we go to a doctor. If you need your podcast edited, it probably makes sense to go to someone who does it all day, all the time. Likewise, if you are going to do a guest format podcast, you might consider having someone outsource that process. I don’t outsource. There are agencies that do that, and they’ll charge you a lot for it.
There are also people who use my platform to help people get guests booked on their shows. Another interesting angle to take, say a local podcast is interested in speaking to you and maybe even going on and doing segments over time. For example, right now, during the pandemic, you could do a segment on there, where you talk about the latest case, numbers. Here’s what you’re seeing in the community. Here’s how to protect yourself. Many people had recurring spots on radio, you could also have recurring spots on podcasts. That’d be a good way to just stay in front of your audience.
Best Platform for Recording Podcasts
Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s very helpful. Which platform do you recommend best in terms of recording?
Andrew Allemann: It’s interesting. Over the past two years, I’ve seen a lot of popularity with Zoom, which we’re using today, just because everyone’s using it in our work. I use a platform called Squad Cast. What I like about it is, it records the audio on both my side and the other person’s side. I used to record over Skype. My voice would sound great because I was recording it locally. But then there’s a beat over the internet, and it wouldn’t be as good.
Squad Cast records, both sides independently, get really good sound quality. That way, I don’t use video. Although Squad Cast supports it, and a lot of these platforms out there do.And since I’m not recording a video, the person doesn’t have to feel like they need to get presentable to be on it, since we’re just doing audio. But again, Squad Cast does both video and audio if you want to.
How to Promote a Podcast
Dr. Barbara Hales: If a person decides to go the route of having their own podcast, how do you recommend they promote it so that people will listen?
Andrew Allemann: That’s a good question. That’s the big question. Growing a podcast is a slow process, and that’s frustrating to a lot of people. Some tend to just give up. A lot of podcasts stopped publishing before they hit 10 episodes because they realize it’s quite a bit of work and the number of audience isn’t as big as they want. Part of that is discoverability. If someone’s in the Apple podcast app, they’re just searching there based on the title and author of the podcast.
Nothing is going into the show. If you post a blog post, Google might capture one paragraph on there. If someone’s searching for a term in there, all of a sudden, they’re on your blog or your website. Podcasting is very much a slow growth game. What I found to be the best way, frankly, is to be a guest on other shows. If you educate that audience, if you do a great job as a guest, then people might check out your podcast and the host will always let you pitch your own podcast.
Having good guests on your show is vital because the guest will help promote the show afterward. Whether that’s on social media, in an email newsletter, most of the time. They’re excited that they were a guest on a podcast and say, “Hey, check out I was on Marketing Tips, for Doctors.” That grows your podcast, as the host, and a guest on shows helps drive traffic back to your own and get more listeners for years.
Beyond that, do what you can on social media and your email lists to promote the show as well. That’s going to go mostly to your own existing audience. Each of those persons subscribed to your podcast, start listening to it, tell their friends about it, if they get a lot of value out of it. Being a guest on other shows, having great guests on your shows and then adding as much value as you can are the keys. Thinking about “would I be interested in listening to this podcast if I weren’t the host or the guest on it.” In the way you do that, you add a lot of value.
It’s Not Too Late to Get Into Podcasting
Dr. Barbara Hales: That certainly makes a lot of sense. The idea of having a podcast really brings out the increase in visibility in today’s world of noise, with over 3 billion blogs, that’s not exactly going to be a way that you could stand out when there’s only about 3 million podcasts.
There’s a big difference. But when you look at the actual statistics, then look at how many podcasts are actually still going and are active, as opposed to those that just started.
What they’re finding out is that, while there might be 3 million podcasts out there, in the air space, there are in fact, only about 500,000 active podcasts. Which is a big difference. When you say, “I’m thinking about maybe starting a podcast, but I think maybe I am really too late, that the space is really overpopulated. There are so many people competing for that space in my niche, it doesn’t really make sense for me.” The thing to keep in mind is that there aren’t as many people in that space as one would think.
Andrew Allemann: That’s absolutely right. The numbers can be somewhat deceiving. I agree, it’s still not too late to get into it. Now, I do think people need to understand that the median number of downloads per episode for podcasts is in the 150 to 200 range generally. That’s about the 50th percentile.
A lot of podcasts don’t have huge audiences, but they’re very dedicated audiences. They’re very targeted audiences. There was a popular podcaster, who has explained it like this. If you could sit in front of a room of a couple 100 people every week and have a talk and have a conversation, you’d probably be pretty excited about that. If you think about that, the same way, with a podcast, there’s a lot of value to it, even if the audience numbers aren’t huge. Of course, you can grow quite a bit bigger than that. That’s the 50th percentile, or the median. There are quite a few podcasts that get substantially more downloads per episode.
Focus Less on the Audience
Dr. Barbara Hales: Of course, conversion means a lot as well. If only 10 people were to listen in, but all 10 of those people made an appointment with your office, and also followed up on a call to action that you were requesting during that podcast, it would mean a lot more to you than if 500 people were listening and said, “this is nice.”
Andrew Allemann: Absolutely. Let’s say you’re a local doctor in Seattle. You can get on a podcast with 500 people here, or you can get on one in Boston with 10,000 people, the local ones going to make a lot more sense for you. As a similar thing, I always encourage people to focus less on the size of the audience and more on how focused it is for you. Keep in mind too, when you think about conversion, it might not be all at once.
If you’re a local doctor, let’s say you’re a pediatrician. Maybe someone has a kid a year from now, and they’re like, “Oh, who’s that doctor we heard on podcast XYZ?” That sort of thing. Then they go back and listen to it. Or if you have a recurring segment, or if you’re hosting your own podcast, they’re like, “oh, yeah, what’s that podcast we listened to that was talking about the COVID numbers in our area?” “Who was that doctor? She sounded very intelligent,” that sort of thing, or “she had a great background.” It can pay dividends for a very long time. It’s not just a short hit.
How to Market Yourself
Dr. Barbara Hales: Let’s say a doctor says, “You know what, I don’t really think I have the time or the budget to start a podcast. I just want to talk around and be on everybody else’s show.” How do you recommend that they most easily get accepted as a guest on other people’s show? What should they do to pursue that?
Andrew Allemann: I would create what’s called a one sheet. this is basically a pitch for who you are. You can talk about your degrees. Obviously, as a medical doctor, you have multiple degrees, maybe certifications. talk about the topics you can talk about. Medicine is a wide-ranging field, and some people are specialized. Some people are very general, some people have multiple things. Talk about the specific topics.
You can cover that on there as well. Once you think of it as a marketing pitch for you. That’s something that really tells a podcaster, here’s what the person can do for me or for my audience as a guest. One thing that I would recommend putting on there, or at least putting in your pitch, when you’re pitching podcasters to be on their show, is what you’ll do to help promote the show afterward. For example, let’s say you’re on a local podcast, you can say, “hey, we’ll include this in as a link in our next email, we send out a monthly email marketing newsletter to all of our patients, we’ll send out a link to this in our email.” That gets the podcaster excited about it. Because again, it’s a “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours kind of situation.”
Providing Value and Solutions through Podcasts
Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s really important. What I also recommend to my clients is when a doctor says, “Well, I deal with a lot of medical health, I don’t really know what people are interested in listening to, I don’t really know what excites them, most of what I would say, as a health topic might be a little bit boring, actually.” What I recommend is going into the forums or chat rooms of some of the most popular social media sites, because when people start asking questions about their health, they’re telling you what problems they’re struggling with. If you can provide solutions to those problems, now, people are more apt to listen to you.
Andrew Allemann: That’s a good point. I think, as a doctor, you probably get a lot of the same questions from your patients. I would think about that, too. Think about what questions do people usually ask me? Maybe there’s some value there too, answering those in a one to many as opposed to one to one, you can get down to more interesting topics and issues with your patients.
Tips on Podcasts
Dr. Barbara Hales: What are two tips that you could give our listening audience today regarding podcasts?
Andrew Allemann: I have so many, but let me pick a couple out, because there’s one that you talk about when you invite people on your guests. I really appreciate this. And that is use a decent microphone. It doesn’t need to be an expensive microphone. You do not want to be talking into your laptop, you don’t want to be talking into your mobile phone. One thing I would do there is definitely upgrading your microphone. In as far as being a guest. Again, I’d focus on the quality rather than the quantity of the audience.
When you’re just getting started, even if a podcast doesn’t seem like the perfect fit, go ahead and get on that show, because it’s going to build up your catalog, if you will. One will make you more confident too. You can say “oh yeah, I’ve been on 10 podcasts.” And a host is more likely to invite you on. Because they’ll say “Oh, this person is not a newbie. They’re not new at being a guest on podcast.”
Connect with Andrew
Dr. Barbara Hales: For those listeners out there that are saying, “You know, what this guy says makes a lot of sense. But I don’t have the time. I don’t think that I am inclined to shop around and see what podcasts accept guests; which ones are in sync with myself?” How can listeners get in touch with you and sign up for your service?
Andrew Allemann: If you go toPodcastGuests.com, you can sign up for free. Just put in your email and your name. What we do is, we send out a list of 10 podcasts twice a week, 20 podcasts every week that are looking for guests. If you want to get booked on more shows and want the podcasters to come to you because you are time-constrained, we also offer a paid service where we produce what you create and an online one sheet at the premium level. You will be asked to fill out a form and we create an online mobile-friendly, SEO-friendly one sheet for you. You will be in our directory and podcasters can come to you and invite you to their show.
You don’t have to spend any time once you create that. That initial online one sheet or profile is like creating a LinkedIn profile. People will come to you and will say, “Hey, would you like to be a guest on my podcast?” And, that’s still an expensive but time-saving way to do it. There are agencies out there that will get you booked on shows. I think they’ll go out, get you booked on shows, manage everything in the background.
Those are fairly expensive, but they might be worthwhile for some people. I’ve seen it anywhere from 500 to say a couple $1,000 per appearance on a podcast. That’s your white glove- do it for me-type option, and then I fall in the middle. I would encourage you to consider hiring someone to manage this process for you. If time is more valuable than money. By all means, find someone who specializes in this. To help you out.
Outsourcing
Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, you’ve said the magic word, which I recommend to everybody. The magic word is not please. That’s what you get when you’re a child; the magic word for me is outsourced. When you see a valuable need, you can’t do it. There are plenty of people out there who are skilled in the type of job or responsibility you would like out there. And you don’t have to do it all; you could delegate that to someone that would love to do that for you and is specialized in that.
Andrew Allemann: Yeah, absolutely, and again, doctors are a perfect example. We go to doctors because they’re specialists in the medical field. It makes sense if you’re a doctor and not a professional podcaster. Then have someone help you out with that.
Dr. Barbara Hales: It was a delight speaking with you today, Andrew. For those people just tuning in. We’ve been speaking to Andrew and it’s been delightful listening to you regarding podcasts. Another episode of marketing tips for doctors with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time.
