Hey, hey, welcome to the Summit Host Hangout Podcast where you'll learn how to host a high converting virtual summit that leads to your biggest signature offer launch yet. I'm your host, Krista from Summit in a Box, and in the last episode, I shared just how big of a part my podcast plays in my virtual summits. And I want that for more of you. So today, I thought it would be fun to bring on a rare guest who isn't going to talk to us about summit so that I think it's like really only the second time ever, but to help those of you who listened to that last episode and want to make your current podcast work for your business, as well as just for those of you who are thinking of starting a podcast need some direction. I have a great podcast strategy pro here with me today. She's a podcasting strategist, podcast manager, the CEO of wild home podcasting, which is a Boutique Podcast Management Agency. She's the host of the Share, Strategize and Shine podcast, and she's a homeschool mom who helps online business owners create strategic podcasts to help grow their businesses. She has really taken a unique approach to podcast strategy. It's like a holistic view of your whole business. It's not just your podcast, because every piece needs to work together for your podcast to help you share your story, generate leads, and sell your memberships, your group programs, your services, all the things. So I'm really excited to dive in with this guest today. You're gonna be able to hear during the episode here that I was not feeling great. So you're just gonna have to bear with the frog, like croaky voice that's going to be coming through in the episode, but I hope you can enjoy what our guest has to say. Anyway. So without further ado, let's dive in and talk with Caroline Hull from Wild Home Podcasting.
Hey, Caroline, thank you so much for being here.
Oh, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to chat.
Yeah, this is gonna be good. Before we get into all the podcasts. Goodness, tell us a little bit more about you and your business. It sounds like you do like literally all the things related to podcasting.
We do kind of, Yeah, so I have a company called Wild Home Podcasting. And I've been podcasting for eight years now. Started out with a podcast host and we had a podcast together. It fell in love with podcasting. I fell in love with all the technical stuff all the back end, if you will. And so started a company and now we do podcast production. We really specialize in helping online business owners who have memberships group programs, one on one services, using their podcast to sell those services. So really, like strategically thinking about your podcasts. And so we do podcast refreshes, and podcast strategy sessions, and things like that. Oh, my gosh,
I love it. Okay, so you said you started out with a podcast? You were co hosting, right? Yes. Okay. So what was the moment in that? I know, you said you love the technical aspects. But what were what was the moment in that or maybe afterwards, that showed you like just how powerful podcasting can be for businesses?
Yeah, you know, our podcast wasn't necessarily tied to a business. But we started building products and things around the podcast, like, we weren't necessarily podcasting, just to podcast, we had a membership, we had other things. And that was kind of my first glimpse at how powerful a podcast can be for creating community. And really, I truly believe it's because podcast is this like long form content. And so it really drives up that know, like, and trust factor, right? Well, I started working with a couple of business owners helping them with our podcast, and I realized that there are a lot of business owners out there with podcasts. And we really started tinkering as I was working with these my first clients, you know, what does it look like to actually think about this strategically? Or how do we align our content with a promotion we're running or some sales we're working on. And I just started to see like these pieces clicking into place. But really, for me, what has been like the biggest lightbulb moment of understanding how powerful podcasting has could be for business. Over the last couple of years, we've seen a huge shift in the industry. And that kind of traditional podcast model that we think of where you have ads, and you have sponsors, is really changing. And it actually is like changing into alignment with what we have been doing with our clients for years. And so it's been really fascinating to kind of watch that shift. And just see that, you know, a podcast is so much more than just something I record and slap up every week.
Yeah, yeah. And that's definitely I feel like how a lot of people start with our podcast. Is there anything that when you're looking at someone's podcast that you key in on where you're like, "Okay, they don't have the strategy pieces in place"?
I think there's a couple things really that I see. One is usually there's a huge disconnect between the podcast content and their content everywhere else. One of the like, biggest missed opportunities that I see business owners with their podcast is they're not utilized. I mean, look, podcasts take time you know this like you have to schedule time to record I edit your writing show notes. Like there's all these pieces that go into it. And what I see is that a lot of people view their podcast as it lives over here, it's it's over off to the side, it's its own separate thing, it does its own thing. And then all their other content and marketing over here is doing something else. And really where the magic happens is when those two powers combined, and they work together. So that's usually the first thing I see. The second thing I usually see is, so with content that's out of alignment, then we start to see, okay, there's no clear path for your listeners, they don't understand what they're supposed to do next, or how they get more involved in your world. It really is. I like to think of it as a part of the funnel, like your podcast should be part of your funnel. And so I can usually tell just by looking at someone show notes or their content, what they're doing on social media, like, is it all working strategically together? Or are we like, just getting downloads for the sake of getting downloads?
Yeah. Oh, my gosh, I love that. And I'm guessing there are some people even already they're like, oh, like, you know, kind of having the light bulbs go off? Are there like a couple questions these people should ask themselves or things you'd have them think through that will help them identify for sure it's time to make a change?
I think the main thing that where we always start when we're working on podcast strategy is what are your goals for your business? You know, your podcast should be part of that conversation. You hear a lot of like, eat people who talk about email marketing, and people who talk about social media marketing, and they'll say the same thing, right? And so why aren't we asking that question of our podcast as well? And so I always start with, like, what are your goals? What are you trying to grow? What do you want to sell more of? Like, what what is the purpose of this podcast? How is it going to serve your business, and that's really the first place to start. And it can be anything it can be, I want to get more people into my membership, it can be I want to grow my list, it can be, you know, I really need to work on honing in on my messaging. All of those are valid answers to that question. But then from there, what we want to do is say, Okay, how are we going to make this all work together? I think the other biggest question is, so I think there's kind of like two really huge things that people need to look at with their podcasts. And that's content, always content, right, because if your content is not aligned, then none of the rest of it matters. But the other thing then, too, is I had mentioned that it was part of a funnel. And there really is, like, such value in sitting down and mapping out a clear path, like how are my listeners, getting from point A to point B, if you've ever heard me talk, I use a lot of metaphors. And I have two really, my favorite metaphors for describing this and one is a cookie. So I talked about how like your services or like your group membership, whatever the thing is, that you're wanting to send people to or you're wanting to sell. That's like your big cookie, and your podcast is like half of the cookie. And then we need to leave crumbs between the cookie half and the big cookie. And so are you leaving crumbs? Or are you just posting your episode once, maybe posting something on Instagram about it, and hoping that people find it and listen to it? Like, it really is, this piece of cookie, this piece of delicious cookie that's going to lead people to your products and services. And so I usually like when we're looking at strategy, those aha moments for people usually come when we talk about content, and then we talk about the customer path. And if a cookie metaphor isn't working for you, I also like to think about a mountain. And so, you know, your products and services are at the top of the mountain. And there's stops along the way, right? There's, there's places we help people as they're climbing that mountain and like, are you giving them? Are you lending them a hand after they listen to the episode. And usually, if you can think of those things, that's like the best place to start. And it can be something as simple of, you know, I'm not linking to my website from my episodes, or I'm not ever talking about my services on my episodes. You know, those two simple places to start can make such a huge difference when we're talking about listeners becoming leads and converting.
Oh, my goodness, absolutely. I started this podcast in 2018. Soon after starting Summit in a Box, just because I wrote a couple blog posts, I was like, This is the worst like, I want to podcast and I had done a podcast for a previous business. We've gotten up to 100 episodes. So like I knew the drill, you know, that's why we started the podcast. But it took me like an embarrassing amount of time years to start thinking of it more strategically for our business and not just the place I post my content. It was just like with In the last, it's probably been less than a year, I guess, as of recording, this will maybe hit the year mark, where I've been much more intentional. And I cannot tell you the number of people, we have joined our programs now who say they joined because of the podcast, it is wild, when you add a little intention to it.
Yeah. And like, that's not your fault. Like, I just want to say like, if anybody is listening to this, and they're like, in the same place, as you, you know, podcasting, the world of podcasting has not reflected that. And I think that's something that is important to bring up, you know, podcasts in itself is still relatively young. Like when we think about social media, and we think about YouTube, it's still young, it's still growing, we used to refer to it as the Wild West, like anything, anything goes, you know, and that is shifting. But, you know, there were there wasn't a lot out there for us to use as examples, when we were looking at podcast. And, you know, eight years ago, you could launch a podcast, and you could get a million downloads. And yeah, that would convert just for this, because you had so many years on what you were talking about. But the landscape has changed. And so, you know, it is time, like I tell everybody, like the landscape has changed, it doesn't mean you have to stop podcasting, it just means you have to start thinking about it differently. And, you know, with everything in your business, like anything you put time and effort into you want it to be a value, like you want it to work for you. So I always say like, you should make your podcast and member of your team like it should be your sales and marketing team, like helping you with your, you know, everything that you're working on. And so, you know, if you're listening to this, and you're saying, I feel like I'm behind, you're really not, you know, this is a shift that we're seeing. And it's really amazing because even traditional podcast right now are shifting to this more content based model, where instead of sending people to like a mattress ad, they're sending people to extra episodes, or some kind of Patreon they might have or membership. And so, you know, it's interesting to me, because we've been talking about this for a couple years now, really driving home this, this idea of having a podcast strategy. And now we're seeing that it's, it's more a trend, because listeners want to connect with you like they want to get to know you, they're listening to a podcast, because they want to get to know you. And then they want to do that next thing because they like what you're saying. And so it really is cool to see like the shift that's happening in the industry. And that there is now this emphasis being put on like podcast strategy and making it work for your business. So and and listen, I'm a podcaster I've been doing this for a long time. Like I literally just rebranded my podcast because I wanted to be more strategic with it. So it's a process, you know, there's, it's an evolution. And as your business grows and evolves, so your podcast can grow and evolve with you as well.
I love that. Thank you for I don't like letting us relieve some pressure, like, okay, we're not doing terribly. But okay, for those for everyone who's listening, he's like, Okay, I know, I can do better. What steps would you have them take to start creating a podcast that strategic and helps them grow their business and get people into their offers and all that good stuff.
Always start with content. Content is king. I mean, that's, that's the main piece, right? So we want our content to connect with people. But we also want our content to highlight how great we are what we do. And to highlight what we do, right? Like this is your moment to be like, Yeah, I do this, it's okay to brag a little bit. And one of the things that I find with podcasts was just so interesting to me is that people are either afraid to talk about themselves, or they're afraid to do solo episodes, they think that if they don't do solo episodes, they're not going to get listeners. And one of the things I want to reframe for us, as probably your listeners have heard this before, you know, when you're like complaining about the number of people on your email list, and then somebody says to you, yeah, but imagine if that many people were in a room and you walked in, and you got to talk to them. And I want you to think about your podcast the same way. So when we're working with clients, like we don't focus so much on the numbers, yes, we want to see growth. But what we want to focus on is getting listeners that are actually going to be that we can actually convert into leads, right? So that starts with content. So not being afraid to do solo episodes where you talk about your methods, what you do, and then not necessarily the sleazy way, right. And then also making sure that any interviews you're bringing on are aligned for your audience, and also allow you an opportunity to shine like that's really important as well, and not just having interviews for the sake of interviews. And then the last thing I'll say about content is sitting down looking at your marketing calendar, looking at what you want to promote throughout the year and planning episodes around that you know, so I think sample if you're thinking about a membership and you want to drive people in your membership, what are the reasons people join your membership? Or what is the catalyst that causes them to push the buy button? And how can you build episodes around that. So that way, when people hear your episodes, they feel seen, they feel heard, they're like, Oh, she gets it, like she understands where I am in my journey and what I need next. And that's a really great place to start. And again, like, if you can get your content aligned, and really engaging and meeting your listeners, where you are, the rest of it will start to fall into place.
Oh, so like, some of it seems so simple. When I hear you say it, like, oh, my gosh, when you said, like, plan episodes around the reasons people click by like, oh my gosh, why have I never thought of that? And like, it's gonna be like one of those things that sounds easier than it actually is when I go sit down and like, Okay, why do people buy and everything like that, but just putting some thought behind it. And knowing knowing what that thought is, and needs to be, I could see just how powerful that can be. Is there anything that someone needs to have in place in their business before like before they can do this or before they can do this and see results.
So I don't think there's anything you have to have in place before you do this. But one thing I would encourage you to do is really think about your funnels and the steps that are happening after people do things. So for example, with my podcast, my main call to action that I have on my podcast is for them to download a freebie, right? So I really need to think about what's happening after they click that link, what you know, what is happening in the journey that they're going to take through all the things in my business, we're talking about those cookie crumbs again, right. And I think that is a lot of times kind of the gap that we find when we're working on podcast strategy is okay, we've got the podcast, we've got the the content, this all feels great, I've got my main call to action, I understand my customer path, but then we forget to engage with them afterwards and make sure we're keeping them engaged. And so I really think that's, that's the main piece that I would really focus on. If you're thinking about like the behind the scenes things. And also to I will say what really helps an impactful podcast that works for your business is having some really great systems in place. Because the minute podcasting feels hard, is the minute you're getting consistent with it. And consistency is important. So I would just kind of focus on those two things. But I also just want to say like, if you're thinking either about starting a podcast or revamping your podcast to support your business in a more meaningful way, I would just get started. You know, take a look at your description. Take a look at your show notes. Think about the things we've talked about. And just start making small tweaks and changes
a little bit. Something else you mentioned in the previous question was when you're getting strategic with your content, thinking about what else do you have going on throughout the year? What launches are coming up? What are you doing intend to run Summit Host Hangout Podcast? I'll ask you a question related to summits in here. How do you have any tips I guess for someone who is running something live like a summit? And how they can promote that through a podcast? Is that a good thing to do?
Oh, yeah, I have so many tips. I think a podcast is a great way to promote a summit because they kind of go hand in hand, right? Like, it's that long form content, getting engaged with people in a way that you would normally. And I've seen a couple things that I think are really effective. One is like using your podcast as a preview for the summit. So what kind of things are going to be talked about in the summit? What guests are going to be in your Summit, and having them come on the podcast and giving like little previews, I think that's the best thing and really building it up, you know, start, start doing it like before enrollment even opens for the summit. And then you know, maybe have a few even after enrollment is open. So you're keeping that momentum going. That's my favorite thing. And, you know, I love getting creative with podcast episodes. And I think if you can be creative with your episodes, like I think that makes such a big difference with engagement. And so even like thinking about maybe doing a fun mini series on your podcast, where you're doing a lot more, maybe you do an episode once a week, but for your mini series, you're gonna do like, release four episodes in one week. And it's all about things related to the summit. And then the last thing I want to say is like people are so afraid to advertise in their own podcast, like record a small ad about your summit and put it in your podcast episodes. Like don't be afraid to do that. This is your space, you created it, you get to talk about what you do. So like I don't run ads for anything else. I only run ads for my products and services and we rotate them out. And it just totally makes sense to have a little thing about your Summit. And then you know I'm sitting here thinking of like 5 million more ideas, but if you've done a summit but For and you're doing a summit again, even having like testimony, audio testimonials from your previous summit and running those in your episodes gold
Oooo, I like that, that I haven't thought of that before. Yeah, seriously, summits and podcasts go hand in hand so well. And if you have not listening to the episode that went live before this one definitely do that because I shared how big of a part my podcast has had to play in our summits, which, you know, is what led us here, but they go hand in hand so well. So yeah, like Caroline said, Do not be afraid to talk about your summit in your podcast, I don't think there's been a single time where I've ever heard a podcast hosts, like promote something they're doing in a podcast and had like a negative reaction to it. So
I know, I know, I think it's funny. I don't know what it is, I think when we start talking, like, you know, and we start working on our messaging, and we're doing a podcast, we're sitting down render record, we're like, nobody wants to hear about what I'm doing. You know, that's something in our in our mindset that happens. And it usually takes a lot of coaching for me, with my clients to get them to start not only advertising themselves, but also like mentioning in their episodes, like Yeah, I talked to a client about this. And this is how we work through it. Or, you know, even though simple little mentions are so powerful. So yes, don't be afraid to talk about what you do. It's important. Absolutely.
Thank you so much for sharing all this. This was so fun. It definitely has my wheels turning there a biggest takeaway you want listeners to get from what we talked about today,
The biggest takeaway I want people to really, really listened to and apply is that your podcast can be so much more than a hobby. And if you feel at all, like your podcast is a hobby, and a time suck, like it's just taking up your time and you feel like it's not doing anything, then I really encourage you to start thinking about it strategically and reframe how you approach and think about your podcast. And you could be really surprised with the results.
Absolutely. I love that. I know you have an awesome freebie freebie that is designed to help people with what you're talking about today get like start thinking about their their content more strategically. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Yeah, so I have a free podcast content kit. And it's literally like a PDF with swipe files of episodes that you can kind of plug and play for your business or whatever you want to talk about. And they're designed to help you sell in a non sleazy way. So when I'm talking about like an episode that sells these are some really great examples of what an episode could look like. And you can just grab that at Wild home. podcasting.com/kit
amazing. That sounds so good. I'm gonna go grab that, but we'll link to that in the show notes for everyone. Can you also just let us know where where everyone can connect with you online? Social media, your podcast, all that good stuff?
Yeah, absolutely. So everything is on my website wild home. podcasting.com. Be sure if you're wanting to dive more into podcast strategy, go listen to my podcast, share, strategize and shine. And the link to that is on my website. And then I mostly hang out on Instagram. So I'm just at Wild home podcasting. And if you want to come watch my silly videos and talk about podcast strategy, I'll be there.
Amazing. I'll link to all of that in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here. This was so great.
Thank you. This was so fun.
Thank you so much for tuning into this episode. For those of you with podcasts, I hope you just kind of feel lit up and re inspired about what your podcasts can do for your business and the types of the type of thought you can put into your podcast content. So For show notes and resources mentioned links to all of Caroline's goodness, head to the link in the episode description. I hope this quick podcast type series helped you see just how powerful Podcasts can be both for your summits and for your entire business. Now go out and take action to plan strategize and launch your high converting virtual Summit.
