Brand strategist Gianni Cara started his work with brands as a writer, but he soon realized podcasting could be an even more effective marketing strategy. Although a podcast may seem like a lot of work to start and maintain, the results are well worth it; Gianni says podcasting is one of the best ways to form powerful connections and relationships with your audience. Since using podcasts in his brand strategy, Gianni has helped brands grow to 7 and 8 figures. That’s why his One Big Tip is to incorporate a podcast into your marketing funnel.
Transform Your Audience’s Limiting Beliefs
While written content and interacting with your audience through emails might seem like the easier route, podcasting is by far the more fruitful one. “Just sending an email once a week is not enough,” Gianni says. “You have to be everywhere, you have to create that omnipresence.” So how exactly do you get started with the process? While you may get caught up in finding the best possible equipment, Gianni says that there are much more important things to worry about in podcasting than figuring out which microphone to buy. The thing you should really be focusing on is the content you’re creating and how you’re distributing that content. Because this is how you will bring in a wider audience, and, in turn, make more money. The best way to distribute your content is through a funnel that leads your audience to a sale. Gianni says the first step to take when creating a funnel is to figure out what kind of content and beliefs you want to plant into your audience’s mind. What limiting belief might your audience have that would hold them back from buying your products or services? Think about this before you start recording your episodes and make sure to hone in on it when creating your social media marketing posts.
Strategic Social Media Marketing
The top of the funnel is where you’ll bring new listeners and clients in, and that starts with your social media marketing. Gianni says the key to good social media marketing is to transform the content from the podcast into something that will work for social media platforms. That means using audiograms or, even better, video. Gianni suggests recording at least a few of your podcasts using video, because video is the cheapest way to advertise on Instagram and Facebook. After recording your podcast, you should find the pieces that really matter– snippets that will help change the limiting beliefs of your audience, and then use those as ads on Facebook and Instagram. Using videos to advertise on these platforms is perfect because not only is it cheap (you can reach as many as 3000 people per month for just $30 a month), but the algorithms are also great for keeping people in your funnel.
Once someone interacts with a piece of content, Facebook will find the right time to show them more. So while you’re attracting new listeners and clients, you’re also keeping your current audience engaged. As Gianni says, “we should invest some of our money into nurturing the people who are already listening.” And, of course, you’re leading them all to that final point of your funnel where you’ll make a sale. Gianni also suggests creating something he calls a “content upgrade,” which involves taking notes from your podcast and turning them into something like an actionable PDF or infographic that can easily be shared and used as part of your funnel. While you can certainly create an effective sales funnel without a podcast, Gianni thinks podcasting is the best way to do it. “If I had to choose one [platform] to actually build a connection with your audience and also build your network, the podcast is the one that I would choose every single time,” he says.