🫧CTA: Clean Up Your CTAs!
That’s too many calls to too many actions
It’s Spring Cleaning here at PMM! Get those cobwebs off of your subscriptions and maybe unsubscribe to a few that no longer spark joy. Organize the folders of your SFX library and give the files real names. And, today, learn to clean up your calls to action (CTAs).
And of course, a good reminder to have nice PMM hygiene and never miss an issue.
If this is your first post-rodeo-shower for our Spring Cleaning series, be sure to check out Shreya’s last post all about getting your promos in tip-top shape!
If you have time for just one thing: Use ONE CTA per episode, tell your audience why it’ll help, and be creative.
❓Hi, what is a CTA?
No gatekeeping here at PMM. A call to action, or CTA, is what you tell your audience to do to support you. If you tell them to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, that’s a CTA. If you tell them to support you on Patreon, that’s a CTA. If you tell them to give you a rating on Podchaser, that’s a call to action.
And all of those are great calls to action! But first, we have to think about …
⌚What do you need from your audience right now?
Not every CTA works for every need, and not every need is actually a need right now immediately. You can’t ask your audience to do everything under the moon for you – and you may be asked to make some tough decisions here soon, spoilers – so identify what your most immediate needs are and focus on those.
Some potential needs you might ask your audience’s help with:
Growing your audience numbers
Financial support for your labor
Boosting your average downloads per episode
Taking an audience survey
Voting for your podcast for an award
🫣Okay. Don’t yell at me. But choose ONE.
That’s right. Choose one call to action per episode. No more than that. One. No YouTuber smash that subscribe button + like button + notification bell + follow my second channel + support me on Patreon + buy this toy that kind of looks like if I got cursed into a FunkoPop.
It might seem like if you have a bunch of needs, you should ask your audience for different types of ways to give you some support. Not everyone has cash, not everyone has time, and not everyone even knows what to write in a review. Isn’t it better to give them options in hopes they’ll at least do one?
Reader, it is not. If you read a line of CTAs, it’s clear you’re reading a line of CTAs. It becomes background noise: impersonal, forgettable, and unimportant. It sounds like you’re repeating CTAs because that’s just a thing creators do, not because it’s something you specifically need.
🤝 Connect your needs to CTAs that work
Most CTAs aren’t common because they actually work; they’re common because they’re common. Let’s be real: so much of podcasting is kayfabe, acting like we’re cool and successful by imitating other people who are acting like they’re cool and successful.
It helps to be creative, too. Having a CTA that stands out from the crowd makes it more memorable, and it’s probably going to suit your needs better than a bog standard “subscribe wherever you get your podcasts” (uhhhh yeah man, where else would they subscribe???).
Here’s some examples we love:
Want to increase your audience size? Data shows that most people start listening to podcasts after getting a recommendation from a friend. Tell your listeners to text this episode to one friend they think would love it.
Want more financial support for your labor? Good! Tell your listeners not just to support you on your platform of choice, but also how many hours you spend on each episode, and what it means for them if you get enough support. Don’t focus this on Patreon rewards, but instead, things like the ability to make more episodes, higher quality episodes, or buy yourself a little treat because you deserve it.
Want to boost your average downloads per episode? Tell your listeners it would mean a lot if they would give every episode a try, just five minutes of their day – and remind them what days your podcast comes out.
Want your audience to take a survey? Put something cute, silly, or exciting (like a behind-the-scenes clip) on the receipt confirmation screen of the survey, and tell your audience there’s a surprise for them if they submit. In fact, if you read to the bottom of this edition, there will be a surprise waiting for you too.
Want your audience to vote for your podcast for an award? Tell them what it would mean to you and tell them about your creative process. If a specific person on your team has been nominated, e.g. an actor, get them on mic to talk about it!
✨ More Magic
Our very own Lauren Passell is going to be a judge in this year’s Quill Podcast Awards! GO LAUREN GO!!! 🎉 The first round of nominations is now open until April 21st – go submit your show(s)!
And and and! Lauren and PMM VIP SHREYA will be speaking at The Podcast Show in London! Will you be there? Will you get to see Lauren and Shreya? I’m so jealous if yes!
So so so excited for Long Story Short’s upcoming Audible Original, Hit Singles! The team on this is honestly unreal, some of the greatest greats in the audio fiction game: Octavia Bray, Sarah Shachat, Gabriel Urbina, Zach Valenti, Ellen Winter. Don’t miss this incredible release, especially if you’ve got Audible credits lying around!
BURGER CON IS COMING! The absolutely beloved Midnight Burger is hosting a convention this June in Chicago! The excitement for this event has already led the team to add an additional date, so we know tickets are gonna go fast — and they go on sale tomorrow, Saturday April 12th!
Want a peak behind the scenes? Lauren shares all about how she makes the incredible Podcast: The Newsletter in this most recent edition.
🎧 From the Desk of Tink
TED Audio Collective’s Fixable is hosted by the power couple of all time, Anne Morriss (CEO and best-selling author) and Frances Frei (Harvard Business professor). Together, they fix workplace quandaries from listeners who call in, giving them and the rest of listeners actionable steps to get things done – in under 30 minutes. Don’t just move fast and break things; move fast and FIX things with Anne and Francis.
Okay! You’ve made it to the end! Here is the single most effective CTA I’ve experienced since god knows when: “Please like and subscribe. I got norovirus for this video.”
Next week, Shreya returns with some more podcast marketing magic. ✨
– Wil 🦇
I need a toy that looks like I got cursed into a Funko pop