5 content collaboration strategies for brand growth.
Hey Pod Pals!
This newsletter was lovingly curated (without the use of any AI) in real time on Thursday morning at 9:14am CST.
It's nice getting some milder temperatures in the AM so I can take a longer morning walk. I feel like it helps me get my creativity going!
I'm on my 2nd serving of cold brew coffee and the mojo is hitting my brain region.....let's GO!
Real quick before we dive into this week's topic.... ⤵️
I'm focused on helping podcasters and online business owners SOLVE these four specific problems:
1. How to optimize your podcast launch.
2. How to grow your podcast past 1,000 downloads per episode.
3. How to convert more podcast listeners into paying clients.
4. How to simplify your online business so it feels easy, lucrative, and fun.
If you need some help with ANY of these four problems check out this four minute video on my homepage to explore how we can work together.
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This week we are going to address this problem:
🚨 How do I grow my audience?
I love logging into my Threads account and seeing posts from podcasters hitting growth milestones like:
🏆 I hit 1,000 downloads!
🏆 I just released episode ten!
🏆 I've released a weekly episode for two months in a row!
Personally I'd love to see MORE podcasters sharing these types of results instead of waiting for "big" results before celebrating.
➡️ Only 17% of us make it to episode TEN....let's celebrate that shit!
Now when it comes to GROWING a podcast audience I always bring the conversation back to my three buckets of podcast growth:
🪣 1. Organic Discovery/SEO
🪣 2. Paid Ads
🪣 3. Effort Based Marketing.
With our jam session today I'm going to dial in on that third bucket and one of the most effective effort based marketing strategies: Content Collaboration.
➡️ Now what exactly IS content collaboration?
This is when we set up a mutually beneficial content creation experience where both parties are able to borrow the audience of the other person and potentially scoop up a few of them and add them to their own audience.
Here are my FIVE favorite content collaboration strategies that I've personally used to grow my audience:
👉 Strategy One: Strategic podcast interviews.
This is the OG of content collabs and it's extremely powerful.
Here's how these work:
✔️ 1. You strategically invite someone onto your show as a guest (add value FIRST).
✔️ 2. You create some great content together.
✔️ 3. About 50-80% of the time YOU will get an invite to come onto THEIR show next.
📌 Pro Tip: I'm about to dish out FOUR more collab strategies.
Personally I ask about all four of these in my podcast guest interview onboarding questions to gauge their interest in further collaboration.
👉 Strategy Two: Podcast promo intro swaps.
If done properly, these can be just as effective as a full interview swap!
Here's how these work:
✔️ 1. You will record a podcast intro for your collab partner's show.
✔️ 2. They will record a podcast intro for your show.
✔️ 3. Within these podcast intros you get to shout out your own podcast. Think of it as a mini ad for your show.
📌 Pro Tip: Shoot for the same niche. If you have a health based podcast you should stay within the personal development niche, etc.
📝 Here's my template that I use for these:
"Hey there (their show name) fans! It's (my name) from (my show).
It's the show where I teach/talk about (info on what my show is about).
Check out episode (XYZ) where I talk about (XYZ).
You are listening to (their show name).
Here's your host (their name)."
📌 Pro Tip: I highly suggest placing these right before the actual episode content starts. Don't have a bunch of ads etc between this and the main content segment.
👉 Strategy Three: Newsletter promo swaps.
This is the newsletter version of a podcast promo swap.
Here is how these work:
✔️ 1. You each write up a short blurb to promote your newsletter.
✔️ 2. You each insert the promo blurb for the other person's newsletter into your own newsletter.
📌 Pro Tip: I highly recommend that this is a newsletter to newsletter promo exchange. I would not recommend promoting your latest podcast episode, etc.
Keep the content "language" the same and you will get a higher conversion rate.
📝 Here's my template that I use for these:
"My friend (their name) has a great newsletter called (name of their newsletter).
If you like my newsletter you will probably like this one too because (describe the value of their newsletter).
Here's a link to try it out....it's 100% FREE!"
📌 Pro Tip: I like to insert these towards the end of my newsletter.
Want to do one of these with me?
If you have a weekly newsletter on the topics of online business, content creation, marketing, social media, etc just hit reply and let's set up a collab!
👉 Strategy Four: Newsletter article swaps. Sometimes called a newsletter takeover.
I wouldn't suggest going straight for this idea at first.
Usually this is a "down the road" content collab strategy once you have used one or two of the other methods.
Here is how these work:
✔️ 1. You basically take over the other person's newsletter for the week and create the main piece of content for them.
✔️ 2. They do the same for you. (You don't have to swap during the same exact week.)
✔️ 3. You get to do ONE simple call to action to subscribe to your newsletter. (Sometimes people will let you sell from these types of swaps if you are doing an affiliate marketing deal.)
📌 Pro Tip: Save every article you write for one of these types of swaps.
We all have a few basic content pillars and you can reuse these articles multiple times.
I just make a few tweaks to adjust for the specific audience I'm writing for.
👉 Strategy Five: Go live on social media together.
This is a GREAT strategy if your collab partner has a large audience on a particular platform like Instagram or LinkedIn which will use push notifications for everyone that is involved in the livestream on screen.
As I've fallen out of love with Instagram I've done less and less of these....it's probably the ONE part of IG that I miss doing.
For years I would go live on IG on Tuesday nights to unpack my latest podcast episode and I would invite previous guests to join me and it definitely used to help me grow my audience!
Ok...so you've got five somewhat new collab strategies to utilize.....now what?
I recommend creating a Google Form or adding something to your podcast guest onboarding (I do both of these) where you introduce people to your various collaboration opportunities.
Let them choose their own collab adventure and then you just need to optimize each opportunity!
Content collabs are a great way to grow your audience and I hope this info has helped you build up some momentum!
If you want to explore how I can help you grow your audience faster with my coaching programs just hop on my discovery call calendar.
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🤩 Client Testimonial of the week: My client Lisa Garces has a show called Amplified Female Entrepreneur.
Check out what she has to say about working with me:
"I decided to hire Adam because I knew I was being guided to create a podcast, but I had zero clue where to start. The best part about working with Adam is he made everything so simple and guided me through every step of the way. Thanks to Adam I launched my podcast so much faster than I ever expected with a sustainable game plan moving forward. I can't believe how easy he made it!"
➡️ Ready to get some help with your podcast launch, growth, or monetization strategy?
Hop on my Podcast Profit Potential Discovery Call Calendar.
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New Content for this week:
🎙️ Podcasting Business School EP 589: The podcast growth strategies I used to take two shows past 500,000 downloads each.
In this episode I unpack the specific strategies that have helped me grow two of my own podcasts (in two different niche categories) each past 500k downloads.
I used different strategies for my health and business podcasts and I'm sure that there will be a few tips in this one that will work for you!
✍🏻 SuperThread Of The Week: Earning meaningful income via podcast sponsorships is the most difficult way to monetize a podcast. Here is why I stopped chasing sponsorships so I could earn more $$$....
📝 Substack BONUS article of the week: Please steal this podcast monetization idea!
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Talk to you next week!
Your Pod Pal,
Adam
⭐️ P.S. Ready for some help with your podcast launch, growth, or with getting more clients from your podcast?
I've got three ways that we can work together with group coaching, one on one coaching, or hybrid (group + 1:1).