The emPowered Author: A Marketing Podcast for Nonfiction Authors

1.5 How to Use a Podcast for Opt-ins, Lead Magnets and Nurture Campaigns

August 03, 2021 Stephanie Feger
The emPowered Author: A Marketing Podcast for Nonfiction Authors
1.5 How to Use a Podcast for Opt-ins, Lead Magnets and Nurture Campaigns
Show Notes Transcript

Building an email list is an important marketing effort for authors to utilize. However, it’s not as easy as you may think. You have to entice someone to get onto the list and then you have to remain connected without being overly pushy or frequent which could cause you to lose them. This episode discusses how a podcast could be a creative tool to help encourage readers to join your list and provide a memorable and innovative solution to keep them on it. 

Here are some of my favorite highlights from this episode: 

  • Ever wondered what an opt-in is and what it means? I define it for you early in the episode and highlight why it’s important for authors. (4:49)
  • Lead magnets. What are they? Most people won’t give their email over without something in return. And, guess what, that’s a lead magnet. (8:35)
  • Authors should consider unique lead magnets (not just a sample book chapter download). To build your list you need to offer something of value. (9:43 and 21:57)
  • A podcast may be on your authorpreneur horizon, but you may be worried what will happen if you run out of ideas. Betsy shares a fun example and how she saw an author use it creatively. (10:58)
  • How do you make money with a podcast? It’s the number one question people ask, and we uncover the harsh (but hopeful) realities to the answer. (14:36)
  • Want some reasons as to why an email list may be worth you investing time in? I highlight some specific reasons you may want to consider. (16:39)
  • How should you use your lead magnet? If you have an amazing one, don’t hoard it; share it. Here are some specific examples to get your creative juices flowing. (19:01)
  • Utilize a podcast as a part of your email nurture sequence. Many overlook this creative idea, but you won’t! (26:28)
  • If you want the top two takeaways that I want authors to walk away from after listening to this podcast, listen here! (32:16)


For show notes, click here. If you are interested in utilizing a capsule podcast as a tactic to support a meaningful marketing strategy for your book or your business, the emPower PR Group can help. Visit our website to learn more about our podcasting for authors solution and download our Author’s Guide to Podcasting resource. 

Marketing should emPower you, not be the bane of your existence. (I see you, author... and I know that you likely despise the word and all that comes with it!) You’ve found your one-stop-shop for marketing insights from an author who has been there, done that, and knows exactly what you need. The emPowered Author Podcast is the deep-dive, share all the good stuff marketing podcast for nonfiction authors who know the power of marketing and want innovative, out-of-the box strategies and tactics that are realistic, attainable and impactful. It's hosted by me, Stephanie Feger, who happens to be the author of several books and the owner and chief strategist of the emPower PR Group, a boutique marketing solution for nonfiction authors. If you'd like to explore how we could help you, take advantage of our 15-minute chit-chats for some focused marketing insights and learn more about our offerings.

Also, follow the emPower PR Group on social: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

[00:00:00.170] – Stephanie Feger
So, lead magnets. Remember, these are the things that are going to entice somebody to give you their email address. People don't do things for free anymore. They just don't do it. You've got to give them something in return. 

Hey, I'm Stephanie Feger, and emPower is my middle name. Well, not really, but it should be. I believe that emPowered people emPower people, and I'm obsessed with emPowering you, the nonfiction author, with emPactful marketing strategies to help you take your important message and share it with those who desperately need it, want it, and will buy it. I'm a gal whose life was changed by a dream, literally. And that dream pushed me to write my first book, the book that changed everything for me. That dream was the catalyst to help me capture a message I was passionate about, and in turn, it gifted me with the opportunity to merge my two loves: my skillset for marketing and PR and communications and my love for books, both writing them and marketing them. 

As the owner and chief strategist of the emPower PR Group, I help nonfiction authors with laser focused strategies and tactics to help them write books that sell, promote their books to those who need and want them most, and build a meaningful business from a message that is emPowering. Think of this as your one stop shop for marketing insights from an author who has been there, done that, and understands exactly where you are. So, grab a warm beverage and a comfy blanket. Get your pens ready because I am ready to emPower you. This is The emPowered Author Podcast. 

Welcome to season one of The emPowered Author Podcast, and I can't think of a better topic for the season than, well, podcasts. As an author, you likely know how important getting on the podcast circuit is to keeping your book and your business front and center. Podcasts give you a great opportunity to reach new people in new ways. But this season isn't about being a guest on podcasts. It's about being the host instead. You may have the dream of starting a podcast one day, but before you do, give this season of The emPowered Author Podcast a listen. 

Hosting a podcast is a big undertaking, but when you lead with strategy, it could be a very effective tool for your book, your business, and your message. I am excited to have Betsy Wallace of Capsule Podcast as my guest this season, and together, we're talking all things podcasts. Capsule podcasts, that is.

[00:02:47.490] – Stephanie Feger
All right, Betsy, we are at it again. And today, I think, is going to be a fun topic. Although if you're not a marketer, you might be, oh, my gosh, is it fun with air quotes? Because we might be talking a whole different language, a marketing language. So, bear with us if you don't understand words like opt-ins or lead magnets or nurture campaigns because at the end of today's episode, you will. Today, on episode five of The emPowered Author Podcast, we are talking about how to utilize a capsule podcast to help you grow your email list and build engagement with individuals on your email list. And that's where those crazy words come in. I am learning a lot. I'm having a lot of fun. How are you doing over there, my friend?

[00:03:44.630] – Betsy Wallace
I am also learning a lot and having a lot of fun, mostly because you're such a good teacher on this subject. I think we talked about this. I know a lot about podcasting and you know a lot about marketing. So it's the combination that is the power here.

[00:03:58.990] – Stephanie Feger
I love it. I love it. And before we dive in, we've been doing this on every episode. We can't stop now. If somebody says, oh, I need a lead magnet, I know that's important, and they didn't start with episode one, they might not know what a capsule podcast is. So, let's level set. Let's give them an update. Betsy, what is a capsule podcast?

[00:04:16.860] – Betsy Wallace
A capsule podcast is a six episode, stand alone miniseries. Each episode is 15ish minutes and it's going to align exactly with your marketing plan. So, wherever you are at your business, if you're launching a product, if you are building a lead bag, and if you're doing any of these things, your capsule podcast is six episodes that are specifically designed to work with your marketing strategy. So, it doesn't just kind of stand-alone by itself as its own little thing over on the side.

[00:04:49.850] – Stephanie Feger
No, it is a part of something bigger. And if you happen to not listen to episode one in this season's podcast, I recommend that you go back and do so. It's where we talk all about strategy versus tactic and how a capsule podcast is a part of that. So, today, we're going to dive into some really specific marketing elements that I think every author should know about and be utilizing. But before we do that, I really feel like we need to take a moment and make sure everybody understands what a couple of these terms really are and what they mean. So, I'm going to start with opt-in. The term opt-in itself means to choose something that you're going to be a part of as opposed to an opt-out, which is where you might leave something. Think about those crazy emails you get from the clothing store of your choice, right? You might love those for a while and you've opted in to be a part of that because you want to know about their coupons and their discount offers and their new releases. But if you've decided that they're not for you anymore, you might want to opt-out or unsubscribe.

[00:05:51.060] - Stephanie Feger
All of that is called the opt-in process, and that is a critical component that any author should consider in their marketing strategies. I first really stumbled upon this and how it relates to business when I actually started working on my own website. Now, granted, in my previous life doing marketing and PR for national organizations, we had them everywhere, but I didn't understand truly the benefit of them until I had to get one for myself. And it was specifically important around a website because I was spending so much energy directing people to my website. But it's really hard to capture those people. How did I know who was coming? And how could I create a conversation with them to let them know that I might be a solution to something they're looking for? There's so much noise and clutter in the world, especially in the world of marketing and how people are marketing. How do you stick out? And that's where the relationship comes in. So you really want to ensure that you give people a chance to opt-in to what you're doing, allow them the opportunity to be a part and connect with you.

And a big way to do that is through an email list. Do you agree, Betsy? Is an opt-in something that you're like, yes, everybody needs to be doing this.

[00:07:00.230] – Betsy Wallace
This is just a fundamental piece of doing business right now in this online world where that's going to be a huge part of your marketing strategy. Right? And if people are visiting your website and then they're leaving, you're not going to be able to speak to them again. They're kind of just going back out into the world without any connection. But if they want to go deeper with you, they can choose to join your community. And if you only have a website there and no way for them to choose to join your community, that's just a lost opportunity.

[00:07:33.630] – Stephanie Feger
I couldn't agree more. And I will say a lot of authors that I work with might say, oh, I don't need a website, I don't need an email list, and I don't need an opt-in because I have a Facebook page or I have a big following on Instagram. Fantastic. I'm a big believer in having an author platform and building that on social. But what happens if social goes away tomorrow? What happens if the new Facebook algorithms impact how people see your message on your author page without having an opt-in and subsequently an email nurture campaign and an email engagement strategy in place? What happens is you have lost all of those people. So you might have 1000 people who have signed up to follow your Facebook author page, but if the algorithms are against you, you have no access to any other way to communicate with them. So you really want to utilize an opt-in to capture their emails and build that email list. And a main idea and way that people do that is through what is called a lead magnet. 

So here's the deal. Most people aren't going to raise their hand and say, I'm going to give you my email address. I can't wait for you to clutter up my email inbox with any and everything you bring to the table. They're not going to do that for free. Ya'll our time is limited. Their time is limited. And most people really only want to engage with people who are going to bring them value and give them value. So think about when companies ask you to join their email list. Many times you're not going to do it for nothing. You want a coupon. You want something in return, something of value, something monetarily or informationally valuable. It could be a coupon. It could be a unique experience. It could be some coveted information, really, quite frankly, anything in essence, could be a lead magnet. And it could be used in a way to allow you to trade something for something. You're going to trade this valuable info for your email address. These two are very interconnected, and most strong websites find that having an opt-in is great. But if you provide a lead magnet as a part of that opt-in, that's what's going to make someone do that conversion.

[00:09:43.030] – Stephanie Feger
Now, I feel like I need to pause and take a moment and say, I've done tons of research on author websites. In fact, we will have a whole season just on author websites because I've found things that work beautifully and things that are quite broken from my perspective. But one of them is this...most author leads are to download a free chapter of my book. Yay, do that. That's awesome. It sounds really fantastic because you're giving people a glimpse into what your book is all about. But I hate to break it to you. Many of them can get that glimpse if they go to Amazon. Look inside on the Amazon website where your book lives. So you're really not giving them anything super special unless it's a chapter that's baked deep within your book. And quite frankly, I would not recommend that until you have a deeper relationship with them. So I want you to really think about as we go through our discussion today, how can a lead magnet look a bit different? How can you use that instead of a free download or in addition to a free download in a way that elevates you and is a bit more innovative, that also attracts your target audience and how you want them to work with you? 

So, I don't know, we can get creative and do that through a capsule podcast, right?

[00:10:58.340] – Betsy Wallace
We certainly can. And this is one of the things I love as we're going through this series is how much flexibility you have within one format. And we talked about this. Giving yourself some parameters to work within really allows you to be creative and flexible and think about different ways to make those six episodes really impactful in your business as opposed to thinking about a weekly show where you're just like, what if I run out of ideas? These are what I would do for my first two or three episodes. But then what would I do after that? And there's kind of this panicky feeling is what I hear from a lot of people who talk to me and they're like, I want to start a podcast. And they're kind of like, but what happens after run out of ideas? 

So, I'll tell you about one that I saw recently that I just was like, whoa, this is super cool. And it was at a marketing website, and she had said, sign up to my email and there's a platform where you can actually make your podcast private. So there's different hosting things, there's different ways to do this, but you can get my private insider podcast, which is a mini-series. It will only be up during July and I'm going to do  solo episodes, 15 minutes each. But she was talking about marketing and ads. So, it was kind of insider information. People wanted to know what's working right now, this summer. So I signed up for email because I was like, well yeah, I want to hear. She's an expert in this, I want to hear what she thinks. And I went in and she said, at some point during this podcast, I'm going to give you a special link. I'm going to read out a special link to some premium content on a landing page she had created on her website that had an additional special gift for the people who had opted in. So, the whole thing felt like this really cool special offer she had put together for people and everything was just really valuable. And you felt like you were part of the club. It just was like, wow, this is really cool. And now I want to stick with her and see what else she has and what else she's going to do. What was her fall offering going to be? I would read her book. It just made me really get into her community and her universe. And I was like surprised and delighted by all the ways she was doing this.

[00:13:23.860] – Stephanie Feger
Oh my gosh, I love everything about that. And we're going to have to, in the show notes, share a link to that private hosting platform because that is amazing and brilliant. I love everything about it. What she has done is marketing at its finest. She has created a limited, finite time frame where you feel like, I've got to take action, I got to do it. I can't do it in ten days. I need to join now and it's free, so why wouldn't I? But then she's got very clear in the podcast episodes that, hey, I'm going to drop something that you better be listening for. It's not something I'm going to just tell you, you got to listen for this, and it's going to open up some really premium content. All of that is a part of a nurture sequence that she's created in the long run. I think that is brilliant because what she's doing along the way is she's building this affinity, that super fan that you've talked about before. You already love her. She's given you so much. She's given value first, but she's been able to find a way to monetize this hard work that she's done to build something where she's giving value. So many authors could benefit from that.

[00:14:36.010] – Betsy Wallace
Yeah, I think a keyword that you touched on there, too, which as someone who spends a lot of time, all my time, in the podcasting world, is the number one question you will hear is, how do I make money from a podcast? And the harsh reality is that if you are just putting out a weekly show and it's not attached to any strategy, it's not attached to anything else, you will not make money on that podcast. That is a hobby and that's something you're doing. If it's not connected to anything else, you're not going to make money from it and it will drain time, money, and resources from you. And we talked about this a lot when we first connected too. The way to make money with a podcast is to align it with your marketing strategy to sell your product.

[00:15:31.320] – Stephanie Feger
Absolutely. And I'll be honest, the reason that I've never done a podcast was because I hadn't figured out how it fit into my own strategy for my own business. I wanted to do it, I could have tried it, but then I figured I would get burnt out without utilizing it as a way towards a larger strategy that I have in place. And that is why I actually don't recommend authors to just pick up a podcast and run. I recommend you to start with your marketing strategy and figure out how capsule podcasting may be a tactic, not the strategy. I love that. Great transition, Betsy. It's like we planned that even though we didn't. I love it. But really, before you dive into developing any form of a lead magnet, we got to go back to what we've talked about in episode one. I feel like a broken record when I say it. You need to know your strategy. Why do you want people to opt-into your email list? This is another thing that I see many authors do not so effectively is, I'm going to grow an email list then I'm never going to talk to them or I'm never going to engage with them or I don't have a reason to do that.

[00:16:39.250] – Stephanie Feger
So here are some reasons why you might want to consider growing your email list or creating that opt-in. Maybe you want to build a group of followers who in the future might want to purchase a subsequent book or another derivative offer that you bring to the table. You might not know that you're on the verge of becoming an entrepreneur right now. You might just be thinking of other books that you could be bringing out and putting forth into the world. But mark my word, most authors will become that entrepreneur. You could also utilizing an opt-in to be a part of a way to nurture individuals to really end up wanting to do something bigger with you. So, most nonfiction authors write books around something they're passionate about, have a skill set around, and they want to emPower people with. And writing a book is a great way to reach large groups of people. But some people will want to invest in having you specifically teach them how to do it or do it for them. So you might use an opt-in as a way to, in the future, allow those people to learn how they can work with you, whether it's consulting, whether it's coaching, whether it's through a product or a different type of service.

[00:17:47.860] – Stephanie Feger
And then a third way is, and this is an interesting one, quite frankly a lot of authors out there, when they think about publishing, are thinking about how to be traditionally published. And the reality is that is a very difficult and challenging approach and industry to break into. However, if you were to be interested in pitching yourself to a traditional publisher, one of the first things that they're going to ask you is what does your author platform look like? How many people do you have on your email list? How engaged are they? What's your social media look like? They want to know that stuff before they're going to invest in you. So, a capsule podcast could be the beginning of helping to build your opt-in and lead magnets that help you create a strong foundational author platform where you can then pitch yourself to a traditional publisher. Novel, right? So, understanding your strategy, we're going to help you determine how you can really use capsule podcasting in general to achieve your goal. Goodness, Betsy, these podcasts are jampacked with info.

[00:18:56.170] – Betsy Wallaace
They are. And it's making me realize how much goes into getting a book into someone's hands.

[00:19:01.740] – Stephanie Feger
Yeah, it's not as easy as one would think. I've learned the easy way and the hard way, and I had the opportunity to help authors hopefully do the more effective and streamlined, impactful way. So before we get into some specific lead magnet examples, I want to talk for a minute about how authors can use lead magnets. So, lead magnets, remember, these are the things that are going to entice somebody to give you their email address. People don't do things for free anymore. They just don't do it. You've got to give them something in return. So, a lead magnet could be built into your website. And quite frankly, this tends to be the most consistent way that authors are using them. So, it's something that they can see on their website and that they can share their information on your website that then will trigger something. They can also be built into your speaking engagements. I love this. I'll never forget when I went to the National Speakers Association meeting years ago in person, a conference they had. This was before some of these ideas were a little bit more utilized at a wider scale. An individual on the stage said in the middle of it, he had something up on a screen and said, go to this website right now and I'm going to give you XYZ content.

Well, little did I know, that was actually the beginning of a lead magnet for a larger engagement where actually a friend of mine opted into a much larger offering that he had. It was beautiful. And so you can actually use that in speaking engagements as a way to capture emails while you're on stage. They can also be built into the back part of your book, the What's Next section. So, they've read through your entire book, they found your stuff really insightful. Now what happens next? So, you could actually build in a lead magnet on a page at the back of your book where you can give them something extra - bonuses, specific reference tools, whatever, if they go to this particular website. But here's the catch. They have to give their email and first name before they get access to it. Oh, lead magnet examples. It's endless. But I hope that gives you a couple of kind of perspectives on the different avenues in the author world. Betsy, what do you think?

[00:21:14.550] – Betsy Wallace
A lead magnet from stage is so interesting and really does make you think about all the different ways and different groups of people that you run into that you'd want to bring into your community and get on your list. And I always think of the saying, don't build your business on other people's ground. Facebook and Instagram and that kind of stuff. The emails you own, those are yours, they will never be changed. And it's such a fundamental piece. Be creative and think about your different audiences with the goal of getting them on your email list. But that can look much different than what we're traditionally thinking about this.

[00:21:57.430] – Stephanie Feger
Absolutely. And guess what? A capsule podcast is a great way to stick out amongst the crowd and the noise of opt-ins and lead magnets. So instead of the typical book download and listen, I love free book chapter downloads. That's really cool. But instead, or in lieu of, what if you offered a six-episode series that you actually are reading some of the most impactful parts of your book? Okay, so you're still giving them a glimpse into your book, but now you're giving them a glimpse into your book and they're hearing you read it to them. So they're picking up on nuances that most people aren't going to, right? Maybe you throw in some additional reflection questions along the way. Now, let me tell you, I would give you my email address for that one for sure. Or what if you used a capsule podcast in a unique way to really deliver your lead magnet instead of just delivering immediately an email with a printed version of a seven-day business challenge or a five-day reflection series or meditation, maybe. And any of those can align with your book.

[00:23:04.680] – Stephanie Feger
Maybe, instead, it's a six-day journey that you go on together and over the next six days they get access to one of your capsule podcast episodes. You're delivering it in a totally different way, maybe in addition to a workbook that can go along with it, some easy reflection sheets for them to jot down, but now they can hear you, they're sitting down and having coffee with you in the morning. That would really get me excited. And the reality is, I think I would feel a deeper connection with those individuals. I mean, don't you think, Betsy, that would be something where you would be like, yeah, take my email address, I'll give you all five.

[00:23:41.190] – Betsy Wallace
Yeah. And when you said things like meditations and reflections and those kind of books, that would be amazing to be something you listen to over and over again. It reminds me of a woman who I know who has a podcast. She's really active in the podcasting space and she has kind of different shows and has done different things over the years. But one of the first things she did was in like 2010 or something, recorded a six episode podcast series of yoga stretches. So she owned a yoga studio at the time and that's kind of how it got her into podcasting. And so she was like, when people go on vacation, when they can't get to the studio, when they can't do other things, they can always pull up this sequence that I've got and it's like five days. And she said that has been downloaded tens of thousands of times, never been updated. It's just that people want to listen to that over and over and over again because they know if they need just a moment, they can go back to that, listen to it again and again and again.

And so when I heard that, I thought, what a cool way to do this. If you have something like that, that you can offer to people that they can come back to and reflect on again and meditate on again or think about as a thought exercise or some mindset work, all of those kind of books would be so powerful.

[00:25:11.350] – Stephanie Feger
I have an author that I get the opportunity to do some marketing, coaching and strategy development with who really focuses on grief and loss in general and how do you make a shift of transformation in that journey to one of hope. She's been working on a reflection series herself, a journaled reflection series, but same concept. The reality is many times when we're undergoing some sort of reflection, you might make progress at that time, but then you might regress a bit. You might go backwards and you need to reassess and go for it again. That's where you're exactly right. That podcast series is something that they can pick up at any time. And I really want to challenge any authors who are listening today to sit back and reflect on what makes your book and your message unique and what value adds can you bring to it. Sure, you probably put a ton into your book specifically when you were writing it, but there may be more experiential things that can go along with it. That's where I think a capsule podcast could actually create something new and different. And when you do new and different in this crazy, crowded, noisy, chaotic world, you're going to stick out and you want to find a way to stick out in the good.

[00:26:28.570] – Stephanie Feger
Another idea that I had, Betsy, is utilizing a capsule podcast as a part of your email nurture sequence. So we've talked about an opt-in and a lead magnet. When I talk about an email nurture sequence, what I'm talking about is, let's say someone opts in. You want to put them on a journey to help them figure out how they can work with you long term. Typically, that's a several email series process. And don't worry, in future seasons, we have lots to unpack about email nurture campaigns. But you might do a five-email release over a 15 day cycle for someone who opts in, and it would be really beautiful instead of doing a lot of content writing, that you actually do a podcast instead. 

So I have to share. Today, before we started recording, somebody reached out to me on LinkedIn and introduced themselves, which happens regularly. I love it. And if you guys are listening and you want to connect on LinkedIn, please do. However, his message was different. There was no writing. It was all audio. And I thought, this is interesting. And I listened and it was beautiful. There were some parts where I thought, oh my gosh, I'm really understanding this individual.

And as he's a podcast host himself, now I have the chance to hear him and I have a deeper relationship with him. So, anytime you get the chance to allow someone a deeper connection with you, you need to do that. The reality is our opportunities are really endless on how you can leverage capsule podcasts as a way to help you accomplish that. Betsy, anything to add?

[00:28:07.320] – Betsy Wallace
I discovered someone's, in a really similar format to a capsule podcast, through an email nurture sequence. I had signed up for this woman's email list, and her lead magnet was put into her nurture sequence. And I'm reading through the first email,  and it had just like a paragraph, and she said, do you want to go deeper with me on this subject? Here's my podcast episode about this subject. And then the next email came and it was like the same format, a little short paragraph, and it was like, do you want to go deeper with me? Come over to this episode. And the episodes were solo speaking, ten minutes long. And she kind of expanded on what she was saying. And I thought, this is brilliant because every single person that this woman gets on her email list absolutely is listening to these as they're going. So instead of thinking, I need to create content, content, content, content, she's saying, I'm creating these episodes that align with these emails. And if I send 100,000 people through this nurture sequence, these episodes, even though there's only five of them, are going to be downloaded 500,000 times.

And that's just a completely different way of looking at podcasting. Instead of thinking about it like, I need to get people new things every week, it's kind of like everyone who comes in gets to go deeper with me with these episodes. And I thought it was brilliant, and I loved it.

[00:29:50.030] – Stephanie Feger
I love that you shared that, and I love everything. All the value that you're adding to the episodes in this series, it's just beautiful. But you trigger something else for me to think about and to share with the group too. What she did, that was a part of her onboarding experience. You being a part of her email list. Think about the entrepreneur out there that's listening. How do you work with people? How does your business evolve? How does your business engage with the one-on-ones and with the minis? How could you save yourself time, much like that particular gal did, by recording some capsule podcasts and utilizing it as a part of your onboarding series so you ensure every time there's a consistent message that people are getting. And that helps you be able to really focus the time that you spend one-on-one with anybody in a way that is going to help them move the marble. Then it's back on them to when they're driving or when they're cooking dinner or whenever. Podcasts are fun for them. They can listen to that and they're more prepared and kind of apt to collaborate with you.

I think it's brilliant. Can you tell that I just love capsule podcasts and I love your approach and I love everything about this?

[00:31:07.170] – Betsy Wallace
I know. I love that you love it. And every time I run into something like this, I'm constantly writing all of these notes on different ways. And like you're saying to onboard someone, this is not a podcast that was developed to be the next Michelle Obama Spotify deal, right? This is a super cool way to use it in a business that's driving results for her in a very specific way, in a way that is so smart and so strategic. And I thought, whoa, this is just such a cool way to use the format. And we all can benefit from marketers like yourself. To say, look at all these things that we're doing that we could deepen the trust and connection and all the rest of it and give people like me, like a person who just is a consumer. A podcaster and a consumer. Give me that deeper experience, help me learn these things better. Help me get out of that email and into the podcast. I loved when she did that. I would not have connected those dots on my own.

[00:32:16.400] – Stephanie Feger
No, I think it's brilliant. I think it's brilliant and I get really excited when I see innovative ways that people are engaging in marketing strategies, utilizing those innovative tactics to reach people. See, she's memorable. And that's what we want listeners here to walk away and realize. You need to be memorable. In fact, if you don't hear anything else that I'm talking about today, I want you to hear these two things. One, how can you stick out amongst the crazy chaos? Because it's out there. The number of messages people get on the daily is not even worth counting. So how do you become somebody that they will remember? The second thing I want you to remember is this, that there is a place for you on social media. Believe me, I love it. We'll do a whole season on it and it's a great place to build a loyal follower group. But the reality is, if you aren't building an email list, you're missing a really critical component to building a business and being effective. So, like we mentioned earlier, what happens if social media goes away? Well, that could happen. And algorithms are changing on the daily.

[00:33:18.900] – Stephanie Feger
So take out the middleman and communicate with your people directly. And that's where an opt-in, a lead magnet, and a nurture campaign could be a great way to encourage people to join your email list and to remind them how to stay and remain engaged with you. And once they do, stay creative, be thinking again. What do they need? Not what do I want. 

Betsy, I have to say, this episode has been jampacked with even more knowledge. Every time I think, oh, well, we've given them so much, I don't know how we can give them more, but we did, and this one is a good one. Thanks for joining me on this episode. We've got one more in this series, and I'm very excited because we are talking about how do you use podcasts to get on podcasts. I can't wait.

[00:34:05.250] – Betsy Wallace
I love it.

[00:34:07.950] – Stephanie Feger
Opt-ins. Lead magnets. Nurture campaigns. Oh, my. We talked about a lot of marketing terms today that many authors may not be privy to, but you should be. While we briefly touched on each of these, rest assured that future podcast seasons will go in much more depth. Instead, today we talked about how a capsule podcast could be integrated into each of these. My main takeaway from today's episode is the power of creativity. We live in a world full of noise and clutter, and I'm not just talking about the noise and clutter I experience in my home with three crazy kids. Information is coming at us regularly, and if you want to stand out amongst the crowd, you need to be creative, try a new approach, be innovative, and guess what? A capsule podcast can help you do just that. 

Have you wanted to start a podcast but wasn't sure how to? Or better question why to? A capsule podcast may be the perfect solution to help you accomplish your specific and measurable goals. Now, I'm not a fan of movement without strategy, so I caution you to be deliberate about how a podcast can help you take your important message and share it with those who desperately need it, want it, and will buy it.

Be sure to listen to the rest of this season's episodes as they are chock full of innovative ways that a capsule podcast can emPower you. The next podcast in this season, which happens to be the last one that is a part of the capsule podcast season, is focused on making the shift from being a podcast host to a podcast guest. We will go all in the weeds on how a capsule podcast can help you do that and do that effectively. 

Now, if you are a nonfiction author who is interested in utilizing a capsule podcast as a tactic to support a meaningful marketing strategy for your book or your business, the emPower PR Group can help. I invite you to visit www.empowerprgroup.com/capsulepodcast for more information on how Betsy and myself can help you. From strategy to concept to podcast, we are ready to emPower you in the creation of your capsule podcast. Are you ready? Remember, emPowered people emPower people. I've emPowered you. Now it's your turn to emPower others.