Podcasts and Internet TV Ads
Recently I was talking about one of my books to my daughter. She asked me how sales were going. And like all self-published indie authors, I answered her that I wasn’t selling as many as I would like. She then asked me if I was advertising. I found this interesting coming from someone who is only in 8th grade. Even at that young age, she innately understood the importance of letting people know that I and my products exist, and they’re both worth looking into. I told her that I wasn’t advertising as much as I should be to finish the story with my daughter. And that because advertising is expensive, we have to do it the right way.
So, let me talk to you about some pretty good strategies about being wise in how we spend our dollars on advertising our books and authorpreneurship business. These smart ways I’m talking about are podcast ads and internet television ads.
Let’s start with the podcast. Those of you out there who aren’t that familiar with podcasts yet, they are sort of like an internet radio show. However, this isn’t your grandparents’ or even parents’ old radio show.
You see, traditionally, listening to the radio has always been a passive thing. We just sit back and listen to whatever is on the radio. And often we’re doing this while also doing something else, like driving to work. Sometimes we zone out and have blocks of time that pass by in which we have no recollection of what we just heard.
Now, zip forward to today’s times with podcasts. Podcasts are way more engaging and interactive than our old radio shows. To begin with, the listeners have to actively seek out the podcast they want to listen to. And they have to be digitally savvy enough to find it on their smartphones. To be willing to do this kind of work, they will have to know that the podcast show has the information they are already looking for to improve their lives.
Since they sought out the podcast, and know it has the information they’re looking for, they are much more likely to pay very close attention to every minute of the show. They are highly engaged with the podcast. And since they’re paying very close attention to the show, when a niche-specific advertisement plays on the podcast, people tend to pay more attention and will click on the link more.
Conveniently, this ad link is sitting right down below the podcast in the show notes. This dynamic that simplifies the sale is impossible on the old radio show. Another impossible dynamic is that people can listen to the podcast show when it’s convenient for them. One can’t do that with a radio show. People can also go back and listen to parts or all of it again. We also can’t do this on a radio show.
If they don’t have time now, later, they can go back to the show notes to follow up on more information that enriches their experience. The old radio shows don’t have that option either. And while they are down there perusing the show notes, they can click on the link for the ad. Need I say that the old radio programs can’t do this one either?
This all equals up to a better listening experience and more sales by more qualified prospects who are already digitally savvy and know how to click on a link to purchase a book. Think about this for a moment. This is really cool stuff, modern-age stuff, isn’t it? So, now, advertising on a podcast show could be a strategically sound thing to do, right? Hey, it’s in your niche. And people bring themselves there. And they know how to purchase over the internet. It’s a win-win-win.
So, if you want to try this technique of podcast ads, find someone who has a slightly larger audience than you. And offer to pay them some money to run your ad on their niche-specific podcast show. They already have a decent number of people in your market engaged in their content. So many of these listeners will also be interested in what you’re offering. And if you do it right, you can get the sale and their email address so you can groom them into becoming your own raving fans who will buy future products from you.
If you have your own podcast show, you can accept or seek out appropriate niche ads from others and get paid. Be careful, though. Only take the advertisement if it will add value to your podcast show and your listener’s experience. Don’t accept ads from others for products that you wouldn’t buy yourself. You don’t want to lose your audience because you got a little greedy.
Also, don’t accept too many ads, or people will walk. It happens all the time. We’re listening to a great podcast that we really enjoy, and we slowly notice that they are putting out less and less of their valuable content and more and more ads. This frustrates us. And at some point, we’ll go look for another podcast if we don’t think we’re getting the value out of the show that we used to. So don’t let greed for some unnecessary ads chase away your audience.
Now a word on internet television and ads. Everything I said about advertisements on podcasts is also valid here. All the benefits of advertising on podcasts hold for television internet, too. However, there is something slightly different. Internet television, like what I do with Mindalia TV, is even more engaging because it involves another sense of seeing. So Internet television is like podcasting on steroids in a way. It has a highly engaged audience who is more likely to click on the link below in the show links to buy your books… And that’s a really good thing!
*Check out the free video lesson on this chapter!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giyymm3XW6M&list=PL_-39bUXJitwL8cHUpiZ5mO0-JJuaPOVl&index=62