You are investing your time, energy, and money into creating your podcast, of course you want to see it grow.

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Whether you started your podcast as a hobby, to build your customer base, to set yourself up as an industry leader, or grow your following, to achieve these goals you are going to need to do something more than simply recording and releasing your episodes.

In the past, organic growth may have been enough to boost your listenership and drive your podcast’s success. Now the world of podcasting is more and more competitive and you will need your audience to take some sort of action to get the desired results you’re after.

This is where your Call-to-Action comes in. A CTA is simply a request for your listeners to do something, but when done right, can have huge impacts on your podcast’s success and help you reach your goals.

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Perhaps you are familiar with CTAs from other areas of your business or brand. Using different CTAs in your podcast than elsewhere in your business is usually a good idea because likely, your podcast will have different or podcast-specific goals.

Your Call-to-Action (CTA) can be anything from asking your listeners to subscribe to your mailing list, buy your product/service, attend a webinar, give you a good review, or check out your show notes or a video. It can be anything that will help you achieve your goals.

Podcasts make for a really great medium for Calls-to-Action because you are speaking directly to your listeners, and often have a personable bond with them that you don’t always get with other forms of content.

Whenever you are asking your listeners to do something, you need to compel them to take action. To do this, you need to be able to write great Call-to-Actions.

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So what makes for a great Podcast CTA then?

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1. It must be very clear what exactly you want them to do and why they should do it.

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Podcasts are usually a multi-tasking activity where your listeners are often doing something else while listening to you. Make sure you are very clear and concise with what exactly it is that you want your listeners to do. If you start to list off a whole host of things you want them to do (subscribe, review, check out this and that, look at this video and read the show notes, etc.) you will overwhelm your listeners and they will simply ignore them all.

Show them what’s in it for them.Are they going to be gaining new knowledge, buying a product or service they really need in their life or are they helping their favourite podcasters to grow their show by leaving a good review.

2.    Make sure your Call-to-Action is relevant. You should always come back to what your goals are and align them. You should also be thinking about who your listeners are and where they are on their journey with you and your brand. Consider what the next logical step is for them.

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3.    Make it attention-grabbing and interesting. You can think of your CTA as a form of self-promotion. The last thing you want is to bore your listeners when asking them to take time out of their day to do something. Your audience will be far more likely to listen to what you are saying if you make it interesting and appealing to them, and will be more inclined to take action.  This also comes back to let them know what’s in it for them. You can think of it like a pitch.

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4.    You must make it as easy as possible for them to do whatever it is you are asking of them. If it will take them a lot of time to do, too much effort, or involves a number of confusing steps, they will either not bother or give up halfway. If you want them to sign up for your mailing list or check out your blog or watch the videos you mentioned in your episode, have them linked where they are easy to find.

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5.    Include your CTA in every episode. Not every listener is going to tune in to every single episode you release. By not including your CTA in every episode, you could be missing out. Also, the more often your listeners hear it, the more likely they are to act on it.

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When is the best time during your podcast to mention your CTA?

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Similar to what we said in our 'How to get sponsors for your podcast' post there are advantages and disadvantages to including a CTA  at different stages of your episode:

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• Pre-roll: While the beginning of your podcast has the highest amount of listeners, you do not want to overwhelm your listeners straight away, have them lose interest and stop listening, or forget about your CTA by the end of the episode.
• Mid-roll: We believe this is one of the best places to include your CTA if it can naturally flow into the discussion or conversation. Your listeners are engaged at this point of your show, are listening intently, and are not likely to turn off your show now that they are invested. Although there is also the risk that you will take away from the flow and content of your episode depending on how your use your CTA.
• Post-roll: Including your CTA at the end can be a very nice way to roundup the episode. Your CTA will be fresh in your listeners’ minds and they are likely to take action right away. However, there is the chance that some listeners may end the podcast episode before your CTA and miss it.

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It can be best to introduce your Call-to-Action throughout the episode and then follow up by reminding your listeners again at the end of your episode to reinforce it and drive them to take action.

How many CTA’s should you have?

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We believe that one single CTA, that is clear and targeted to your goals will be more successful than having several in the same episode.

You can mix up what you say in every episode to rephrase the same CTA to keep it natural and the variation more interesting for your listeners. Or you can pre-record it to save you time and helps with the editing process.

While one CTA per episode is best, you do not need to keep the same CTA across multiple episodes. Your Call-to-Action can change depending on what you discuss in the episode, as your show grows, or as different events, webinars and promotions arise, for example.

If you follow these steps and guidelines, you are sure to have effective an Call-to-Action in each episode that will help you reach your goals and grow your podcast

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If you are looking for help with your Call-to-Action, or to grow your podcast further and need some assistance, contact us here at Zorbiant.