Why Your Podcast CTA Isn’t Working

There are a lot of podcast education courses out there. Heck, we even have one. Most promise actionable steps to take an idea and transform it into a successful podcast, providing guidance and tutorials to get you there. But when you want to learn the best tips and tricks, you have to go to the best. So that’s why we set out to talk to Rachel Corbett.

Rachel got involved with podcasting 20 years ago, right at the beginning of industry’s infancy. She was the Head of Podcasts at the Mamamia network and helped grow some of their flagship shows to over 1 million unique listeners per month and 90 million downloads! Many podcast awards laters, she how is the host and owner of Podschool.

On this week’s episode, Craig and Rachel talk more about her expertise and how she uses her audio background to teach aspiring podcasters how to get started. We jump into the common misconceptions and errors new podcasters make then how you can avoid them. And how to use traditional radio and media strategies to create a more polished podcast and find success.

Listen to the full episode now to hear more from Rachel and read her best takeaways below!

How Can People Get Over Imposter Syndrome?

“I don’t know if I’m qualified to do this.” You’ve heard this sentence before, perhaps inside your own head. Imposter Syndrome is the phenomenon of successful people attributing their accomplishments to luck rather than ability and fear others will unmask them as a fraud. Lots of podcasters, teachers, CEOs, mothers, just about everyone, have likely felt the nervousness of Imposter Syndrome when setting out on a new project. So how can you silence the voice inside your head?

With media content, lots of creators are thrown into the deep end. Learning by doing, testing, and succeeding, and failing are how the best podcast hosts have found their way. For Rachel, her Imposter Syndrome popped up when she transitioned into teaching her Podschool course. She knew how to sit behind a microphone and record a great show, but she still felt like she didn’t know enough to teach someone else how to do it.

The game changer was seeing her students succeed as a result of her advice in real time. Suddenly it was clear that Rachel wasn’t an imposter, her background in radio and media gave her the unique ability to teach others how to create great content. This feedback loop, creating something, making changes, and seeing results improve, is the best antidote to curbing any feelings of Imposter Syndrome.

What can podcasters learn from radio hosts?

The smallest thing you can change that has the biggest impact is how a podcaster thinks about their audience. Typically hosts like to think about creating content for a huge listener based, trying to satisfy all of their needs at once. But tweaking the mindset to think about podcasting to just one person can make a world of difference.

Let us explain.

One thing Rachel notices is podcasters use collective terms like “to all of my listeners” or “hey, ladies and gentlemen”. But in radio, the...