There are a lot of ways we podcasters do this. It’s a common refrain we see and hear everywhere: We must give our listeners clear calls to action.
I want to start by discussing all the ways (common and odd/interesting) we can do calls to action… not what are we instructing them to do, but ways we can tell people to do something.
Common…
- Just say it in audio. This is the classic method.
- Create a set audio clip that we edit into the show. (Front, middle, end, etc)
- Write it in our episodes’ show notes.
- Put it on your show’s web site
- Put it into your blog posts that you create for each episode
- Post it on social media platforms (as a dedicated post, or as part of your episode-related posting)
- Send it out to your email list (if you have an email list)
- Print/distribute flyers, direct mail pieces if you have an address list
What common methods did I miss?
And here are some uncommon methods…
- auto-append to show notes — Wordpress is the only one I know that can do this. You add a template-block to your show notes (every episode, do this once.) Then you edit that template in one place and the RSS generated dynamically updates for every episode.
- use ad insertion — We could use dynamic ad insertion technology to insert a host-read call to action, rather than a 3rd-party ad.
- in-between-isodes — Publish a dedicated host-on-mic episode between your usual episodes. You can even adjust that episode’s publish-date to keep it in a specific spot (say, first or second) in your episode listing. Changing the publish-date does moves its position, without making it appear as a not-yet-listened episode in everyone’s players. (You simply delete it and create a new episode if you want that to happen.
What other uncommon methods can you imagine?