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This article is part of the series, which is based upon the book 'Top 21 Marketing ways for membership sites published by The Subscription Coach Amanda Northcutt.

 The entire collection is available in a book

Make your own show

Starting your own podcast is a significant undertaking and your ability to follow through with it week after each week is something to consider prior to committing. Numerous owners of membership websites struggle with the decision to start one or not since, like the SEO method, it's a marathon, not an easy sprint.

The podcast market is saturated to this point. However, if you go narrow and deep within your niche, you're likely to gain a critical mass of fans who will be qualified prospects for your membership site over time. The creation of your own podcast is one of the best ways to reach out to influential people and even become one!

But, you need to commit to a 12-month period to release 1-2 podcasts each week to provide this channel with an opportunity to succeed. This is akin to the opposite of running a quick Facebook campaign which is easily tracked after a short period of time. Just like with other content type, I recommend batch recording episodes, 4-10 in one sitting and not having to do it each week or several times per week, to create episodes.

Podcasting is one of the most intimate ways that you are able to communicate with potential customers on any kind of scale sometimes, greater than writing the word. Take care of your listeners. Be empathetic and show that you understand their struggles and can help them: Your membership!

The topics you cover on your podcast must be appealing to those who have the possibility of becoming the most powerful members of your site for membership. Everyone else is irrelevant. Similar to other efforts to market, casting a wide web will draw in unqualified customers which will overflow your mailing list or, worse yet, get churned out quickly. Again, going specific and in-depth within your specific area is crucial to your the success of your campaign.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that the volume of downloads is the sole metric you need to track also. You should be asking yourself when determining the success of your podcast include: Are my listeners following my CTA and gaining access to my funnel for marketing? Are new members citing my podcast as the reason they joined or where they learned about my brand? Is the authority I'm building through the podcast helping to build relationships and credibility with influencers within my industry? Are I using my podcast to network with others through having appropriate guests on my show?

Promote your podcast to your email list, current members, via social media channels, and influencers. A podcast should be a thoughtful part of your strategy for content marketing however, because it's so big an enormous undertaking, it's worthy of its own category among my top 21 lists.

Podcasting your own show could be an effective tool in your marketing mix. Don't get started until you're able to see it through. The next best thing to hosting your podcast is to maintain a consistent presence as a guest on other peoples' podcasts.

Be a podcast guest

Similar principles to guest blogging can be applied in this case quite seamlessly. Those who have made the decision to run podcasts themselves are confronted by the same production responsibility that bloggers do. Contacting the appropriate hosts in the right way will likely result in the granting of a number of great guest spots and ease the content production burden for hosts.

In addition, if you run your own podcast, being a guest to other podcasts can enhance the results you get from your own. After all, people who listen to podcasts, listen to...podcasts.

However, regardless of whether you host an own show or not, you must always add an CTA in the event of an opportunity to guest. CTAs could be for downloading your lead magnet, to offer a special offer toward your membership, a short consult, or any other thing related to your website. If you have an own podcast, you should encourage listeners to your podcast(s) that you're a guest to subscribe to yours as well.

Begin by making a list of podcasts where you could offer value and information to the subscribers. They will be likely to be the podcasts of industry experts which have a similar audience to your ideal audience. Podcasts hosted by guest hosts can be a component of your natural influencer marketing plan.

Avoid the mistake of reaching out to hosts who have 100,000 subscribers before you reach out. Beginning small, you can gain experiences and create a podcast resume , and then work your way up the influencer ladder.

Your outreach email to a host should contain a couple of appreciation to them, their qualifications for you (in an unassuming manner) and examples of other podcasts you've been to and/or links to your own blog posts, YouTube channel, etc., and perhaps certain topics that you'd like to discuss in an interview.

Don't give up when you get rejections. If you're rejected by an influential person within your field, at the beginning, the second, or third time, refer to the section on organic influencers here in order to establish social capital with them prior to attempting another time.