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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss several tips from Ben Krueger of cashflowpodcasting.com that are aimed at helping you, the podcaster, increase the value of your show to our audiences.

These tips were delivered in an email message to all on Ben’s distribution list (and we do recommend that you sign up for that list, because there are a lot of hidden gems that are contained in the correspondence).

Now, as I have mentioned before, I have known Ben since 2014, when we shared a display table at the exhibit hall during the first Podcast Movement conference. And I feel that he has given many an interesting idea and suggestion to podcasters in his blog and his site — and many of them using the freemium model (i.e., giving away good content for free in hopes that you will later sign up for his coaching, offerings and products which he does monetize).

In this case, Ben heralds the year of 2021 with great hope, after having suffered through the pandemic (or, if you will, sham-demic or scam-demic) that brought economic disaster for many entrepreneurs and podcasters who were in the process of monetizing their shows.

First, Ben gives the following statistics:

“32% of Americans listen to podcasts at least once a month (Edison Research): With one third of the USA’s population tuning in, you could say that podcasting is becoming more mainstream. [And Ben suggests that email marketing may be a good method to accelerate some promotion]
Brands that advertise their products and services on business podcasts enjoy an average 14% rise in purchase intent (Music Oomph): There is plenty of research on customer behavior proving that podcasts significantly help brand awareness and authority. [Ben suggests that your podcasts should not be going to waste!]
The most popular podcast platforms in the US are Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher: If you aren’t already on one of these platforms, you are missing out on a huge audience.”

Then Ben gives a couple of actionable suggestions of what you, the podcaster, can do to “increase value and make your show more accessible to the masses:

Transcriptions are a great place to start.
[The reason is that] Transcripts allow episodes to be read by anyone with hearing disabilities, therefore increasing accessibility. They also boost SEO for your website, and more traffic generally means more revenue. Finally, podcasts with transcripts provide more backlink opportunities;” and then also

“Nurture your audience. [And then Ben points you to his deliverable called The 8 Principles Behind Highly Successful Business Podcasts to give you examples of what he means]. Essentially, you want to share valuable content that will help your listeners solve a specific problem that they, in particular, struggle with. By offering key insights and solutions tailored to your listeners, you nurture your audience, create a community, and build trust. This tends to work best for those who already have an established business and value proposition so that the podcast can work as an engagement tool.”

Obviously, the call-to-action is to refer to the resource of The 8 Principles (mentioned earlier) and use that as a guide to continue on the road to success.

Now, for this podcaster, I have tried including transcripts since the early days of 2006, when I first started podcasting in a really professional way — and I used a transcription company that I had met in the exhibit hall of the early Podcast and Portable Media Expo in Ontario, California at the beginning of the podosphere.

Because there were hardly any tools and the audiences did not take too kindly to transcripts, I had quit using them and just relied on my show notes. But now, I would encourage you to consider using transcripts as a key distribution, sales and marketing tactic for your own show and deliver that increased value to your audience. However, I would also suggest that you ask your audience (e.g., in a survey) if they find value in a podcast episode where you conducted a trial and delivered transcripts. This should indicate to you the value of transcripts to your listeners.

But be aware — if you start the tactic of transcripts, you may have to continue with that for every new media deliverable you create (e.g., if you started a video or screencast, etc.). For many, transcripts may be an additional workflow step that may become a great use of valuable time and may not generate the ROI that you imagine (again–you would have to measure the results of transcripts to help out your show, which would be more work). Or you may not want to bother with transcripts at all and find out if just show notes will be good enough and great value for your listeners.

We hope that you can find other gems from Ben Krueger to help your show grow to a success in the podosphere.

Thank you for your attention.