Ep 154: Behind the Scenes of Creating a Freebie for Your Podcast
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The power of a podcast extends well beyond plugging in the mic. So if you're ready to learn how it can help you build a big business, then I'm your best friend. Hi, I'm Joanne Bull and I am obsessed with all things podcasting and creating an unapologetically big revenue business with it. From podcast guesting to podcast hosting and everything in between, we're going to dive into it all and show you step by

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Welcome back to The B Word. I'm Joanne Bolt, and I absolutely cannot wait to dive into today's topic. A few weeks ago, I posted a question on my Instagram where I asked, what do you want to see more of on my podcast? The answers were so good.

I mean, so many great ideas, lots of content that we can do over the next couple of months. And I loved reading all of your thoughts and insights about your wants and needs around having a podcast as your main marketing tool. So I'm really glad I asked the question.

A few of the requests were around list building. How do I build my email list and when and how do I determine when to use a freebie? The funny thing is, I've actually done quite a few episodes on email list building, but I've never dived into the topic of offering out a freebie. I don't really know why I haven't because it is one of my favorite tools to use. So that is what we're going to talk about today.

Now, we don't do a freebie for every single episode because quite frankly, I do two episodes a week and that would be an overwhelm of freebies for you guys. Not that we mind creating the content, but it does lose some of the effect when you are offering something to download every single episode to your audience. So we try to only do it about once a month.

But really, instead of saying that we're going to do a freebie once a month as like a, you know, an SOP, a standard operating procedure for the podcast, what we really do is say,

Well, does this episode need a freebie? Does there need to be something in addition to the verbal audio to make it even better? And that's kind of how we get started. We do go back because we plan our episodes out about a month and a half in advance and make sure that there is a freebie somewhere during the month. But, you know, we've had months where we didn't get one because there just wasn't an opportunity to put one in there.

So of course, this episode does have a freebie. I mean, if I'm going to talk about freebies, I'm going to offer you one. What I'm giving you today is the ultimate...

episode checklist for solo and guest episodes. It's literally my step-by-step check the boxes on do my episodes, have these things, how do we create the episode and what do we do after we launch it? And you can get that at www.thebwordpodcast.com forward slash blog forward slash 154.

I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but we actually name the URLs for our podcast episodes, the actual episode number. It just makes everyone's life a little bit easier. So that's how we do that. Now going into the freebie, there's four questions I ask myself when I take a look at the content for the episode and think, does it need a freebie? One, does the episode need a companion piece to help the listeners implement what I am teaching them?

AKA, if I'm doing a workshop on the podcast episode, could my listener use a worksheet to go with it? Maybe they'll need a swipe file example that they can use. Maybe they need a template from Canva. If the answer is yes, then oh my gosh, that tells me I've got a freebie for that episode. Number two.

Does the topic need something to just elevate it a little bit, take it a step forward? I don't want to just regurgitate the episode in the freebie. That's a really big one for me. I learned that from Amy Porterfield and it is a mantra I live by. A freebie is not a regurgitation. It is something to elevate the episode in order to take things forward for the listener.

In the example of the freebie for today, the freebie isn't even about creating a freebie, which is what this episode is. The freebie is about my ultimate goal.

podcast checklist, because when I'm doing the checklist, we decide if we need a freebie. So the ultimate checklist is that elevated step forward for you, the listener. And that means you might take that second to go into the podcast blog, grab that freebie. It's a, it's a pop-up. So it's really easy to get to and give me your email address and exchange. After all, at the end of the day, the freebie really is about adding value and content

to you, the listener, in exchange for building my email list. Now, number three, does the episode need a visual? For example, if I am giving an episode on how to create out your podcast episode and what to look for in making sure you've got all the things, I might say, go grab the checklist because that way you now have not a worksheet to kind of work through your mindset, but the actual checklist to go along with it.

All right, finally, the fourth thing I'm looking for in creating a freebie is, can this be something of value that I offer to our Facebook community every month? So if you go to the podcast, her Facebook group,

It is free. Anyone can get into it. Every single month, we actually have a free gift just for joining the Facebook group. And if you're already in it, you can just grab the free gift every month. And it's always something of value. It is always something about podcasting. It is always something about moving your business forward. It's a free download. And we change it up at the first of every single month. So if I'm looking for creating a freebie for the podcast, the B word,

I'm also looking for, and will this be something we could put in our Facebook community? Because I don't mind doing extra work, but I fully, fully, fully believe in not overextending yourself and repurposing when possible. And if something's going to work for an episode, we're doing on the B word. And it also works as a freebie that we could offer out to the members of the Facebook group podcast, her, which is our organization. Then that's just a bonus.

As I mentioned, you don't want to force your freebies. There have been quite a few episodes on the here on the B word where I thought I really wanted a freebie. But after a few rounds of not coming up with good ideas for the freebie, I just had to nix it. To me, if it doesn't come natural, if it's not a natural supplement to the episode and you have to force a freebie, then it's not worth putting on there. Because if you don't have a freebie, you don't have a freebie.

Because your listener will quickly understand and quickly see through the fact that you're just giving them a freebie to get their email address. And if it's not really one that's adding value to the episode or adding value to your community or adding value to them as a listener, they're not going to grab it. So you have literally wasted everyone's time.

So don't force the freebies, but take the extra steps in your podcast process so that when you have an opportunity to create a freebie, you can.

That helps you grow your email list. And when we grow our email list, we grow our visibility, we grow our credibility, and you form a better relationship with your listeners. So there you go. This little quickie, I hope you enjoyed today. It was all about when and how and why to create a freebie for your podcast episode. I cannot wait to see what you guys come up with. So go to www.thebwordpodcast.com

dot com forward slash blog forward slash 154 to grab my ultimate show notes episode checklist. And when you create your own freebie, tag me on Instagram because I want to see what you're coming up with. I'll see you guys same time, same place next week.

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