What if we told you that it is possible to work less while increasing both your productivity and your creativity? Don't believe us? Take it up with Joe Sanok, our recent guest on Podcast Marketing Radio. Or, just read on to discover some of his top tips to make it happen. Joe is not only the host of his own wildly successful podcast, The Practice of the Practice Podcast, but manages 18 podcasts with his team and has trained over 200 more to do the same thing. Joe is also the author of "Thursday is the New Friday," a new book that explores how working less can help you become more productive and creative in the work that you do. We covered a lot of ground with Joe in this episode: creating quality podcast content, tips to engage an audience, how to manage a podcast, and what the four types of sprinters are (productivity sprinting, that is). Here are some of the key takeaways from our conversation. Quality leads to podcast growth Podcasts exploded over the COVID-19 pandemic. More people were at home with extra time on their hands, and so a lot of people took the leap and started their own podcast. But, as Joe points out, there was a huge decrease in the spring of 2021, a year after the start of the pandemic. Many of those new podcasters burned out and weren't able to keep up the momentum. So, what does drive podcast growth? How can you continue to reach your audience and reap the benefits of podcasting? How do you avoid pod-fade or burnout? Ultimately, podcast growth is determined by podcast quality. Quality in content and in connections. It is important to focus on creating timely, relevant content that answers the questions your audience is asking. It's also about connecting with others in your industry and space who can add value to your podcast. Joe encourages all business owners with podcasts to ask the question: what do my listeners need? What are they willing to buy from me? Then, create an asset that you can monetize—an e-book, course, consulting, etc.—and determine how many you need to sell to make a worthwhile profit. Be in tune with your audience so that you are creating content that is valuable and worth something to them. Focusing on quality will help your podcast grow and achieve success. Engaging your audience in the Implementation Age People will often refer to the current time period as the "information age." Joe believes that we have actually moved past that and are into the "implementation age." Our audiences and listeners have all the information they could ever need and, instead, need help to take that information and implement it in a way that helps them achieve their goals and desires. This can be done through resources like emails, ebooks, or courses that show them exactly how to implement what you are teaching. Once you have an audience tuned in to what you're sharing with them, the next step is to actually include your audience in your content creation. Reach out to them and invite them to ask questions. You can incentivize this by offering perks or exposure through your podcast. By creating your content directly around what your audience wants to know, you are providing immediate value, but also building trust and loyalty with your audience. Managing a podcast with productivity hacks Managing a podcast is a lot of work, with a ton of moving parts. Joe and his team manage 18 of them, and so you best believe he has some tips and tricks for how to manage it effectively! Joe recommends implementing the following strategies to manage a podcast: Know what your time is worth. Think about all the tasks at hand and what each of them earns by way of revenue. Then, focus on those tasks that earn the most money, and are the things that only you can do (i.e. acquiring new customers or coaching clients). Outsource the rest of the tasks to people who can do it for less money and/or less time. Think of creative solutions to get support. Joe shared with us how he reached out to the local...
