I don't know how many of you listen to my daily podcast, the potty report, but I have been very openly passionate about podcast ads like talking about the different ways I want to experiment with them this year, the different things that I'm learning and how I'm seeing my audience respond to podcast ads in general ever since. I started using them in different ways. But I had a fantastic question that was posed to me recently by a member of our
community. So shout out to elder he is in our free profit podcast online community Facebook group, and he is always so active on our Facebook Lives. So shout out elder This is for you. You have the question? Do we have templates for how podcast ads are supposed to work or what we're supposed to say? So this episode today was inspired by elders question, and I have so many thoughts, and just so many fun things to share with you today. So let's get right to it.
Welcome to the profit podcast where we teach entrepreneurs how to start launch and market their podcast. I'm your host, Krystal, Proffitt, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today. Because if you've been trying to figure out the world of podcasting, think of this show as the time saving shortcut you've been looking for. So let's get right to it, shall we?
Okay, so I already told you all about elder and I'm just I'm so grateful that he had this question because there are some things in my business and in my podcast that just kind of happen naturally for me. And people ask me questions. Well, how did you come up with that? How did you start doing this? And I'm like, Oh, I guess I do have a process or I have things that are going on in this crazy head of mine, that not everybody thinks this
way. And so I'm so glad that he asked this question, because podcast ads, like just being totally Frank, really upfront and honest, are a trial and error. They really are. And the reason why I say that is because I have been listening to podcast cheese. Let me see. I first started listening to podcasts, probably in 2014 2015. somewhere around there, maybe earlier, maybe earlier than that. But I wasn't a huge podcast listener whenever they first came out. It wasn't until I got an iPhone.
And then I started listening on there. Like I wasn't one of the early adopters of Oh, I'm gonna download podcasts to my iPod and make it like all those No, No, I'm not. I wish I could say Oh, was it Oh, gee, that did that back in the day. But that's not how things worked around here. Actually, in 2015, I would have been pregnant like that whole
year. And I remember always listening to podcast, whenever I would take my other son, my middle son on walks, we had a jogging stroller, this was back in the era of being new to staying at home and trying to be outside trying to occupy You know, my then three year old son, and you know, just be outside be active. And I would listen to music sometimes. But then I would listen to podcasts as well. And I remember thinking, this is a really great ad, or this was so dumb. Why is
this ad on this podcast? So if you don't know this about me, I have a marketing degree. And I know usually it doesn't apply to a lot of the things that I do. But it really explains why I am so obsessed with understanding people's strategy and the tactics that they use, because I was taught to pay attention to
these things. So when we're on a family road trip, and my husband like, I will point out so many billboards that I'm like, Oh my gosh, if they just did this one thing, then I bet their business would be so much better. Or if they could just change this picture and do all these, like rearrange it like it is something I cannot turn it off. Y'all I cannot turn off my marketing brain It is always they're always working in the background. And so I have paid attention to what other podcasts
are doing. Whether these are big name podcasts that we listen to that are like in the top 10 of all podcasts in the world, or podcasts that are run by everyday people. I pay attention I pay attention, and with everything that's coming on the scene like dynamic content in buzzsprout. This allows you to add your own podcast ads to your show whether it's at the beginning, which is pre roll At the end, which is post roll, you can take advantage of these features. So I know you're like,
Well, what do I say? What? What am I supposed to say, in these ad sections of my podcast? So that's what we're going to talk about today. And if you want to know more about what I just talked about, if you're like, what dynamic what, huh? What is that? I'm going to link in the show notes to some really good pieces of content podcast episodes and YouTube videos we've done about dynamic content and how podcast ads actually work. So go to Krystalproffitt.com/Episode229 for all the resources that we
mentioned today. Okay, so let's go back to elder's question, do you have templates for these
ads. And this immediately inspired me it really did, because I wanted to give you several options for how you can mention your products, your services, your courses, your books, your events, like whatever you have to offer your audience, I wanted to make sure that you have lots of choices, because like I said, this is a trial and error strategy, if you want to call it that, because you can't just create one podcast ad and intend to use it for all of 2021, right or all of
till kingdom come with your podcast, because I don't think that's a good strategy, I think that you need to have more kind of in your creative, like backlog of this is what we can do. These are this is what we want to try this month. And I also want to let you know, don't feel the pressure that you have to change this all the time. Okay, I'm actually I'm gonna link to I did a recent interview with the guys from buzzsprout. We talked about dynamic content and different ways that you can
do it. And I asked them, like, you know, I've had people ask me, should I change dynamic content every day? How often should it be changed? And Kevin, he's one of the cofounders. He was like, no, that's not why it was created. That was not the intention behind it, it was more so to be able to add, you know, time sensitive promotions or different ways to connect with your audience, but it wasn't meant to be changed all the
time. Okay, so I hope that this like, you relax that tension in your shoulders a little bit, and you're like, Okay, I don't have to update this and change my ads. Every time I put out a new episode, but I am going to encourage you to try different types of podcast ads, different language, different ways that you approach promoting your products or services, everything on your show, and then double down on what really works, what's getting you those
results. Okay, so I actually developed a fantastic PDF guide that I want you to check out. Okay, so again, this is going to be in the show notes. So KrystalProffitt.com/Episode229. This is going to be podcast ad templates and calls to action. So this is going to look really familiar if you've previously grabbed my calls to action PDF, because what we've done is we've kind of just beefed up that previous PDF that we had, it was 25 calls to action that you can
make on your podcast. Well, now, we've added podcast ad templates and calls to action for your podcasts because I think that they're one in the same and they can be used interchangeably, right? You don't just have to have a call to action that's making you money. You can have people you know, do an ad for people to join your Facebook group or to sign up for a free
training. It doesn't necessarily have to be something that's monetarily making you money like right now at this moment, but I just want to let you all know that it will be in the shownotes. So again, KrystalProffitt.com/Episode 229, you want to grab it, you want to grab it, because this is the best the best place to start.
Okay, so we're gonna get right into it. So first, I want to give you a brief overview of my ad style. And what that means, like I'm saying add style in quotes, because I totally just made this up. But I did come up with three different ways to figure out your ad style.
Okay, so the first is the minimalist, okay. And this is like, an every way that you can use this word It is literally, you go here, you get this, this is what you get. Boom, like there's no inflating the message. There's no story behind it is just cut and dry. This is what it is. This is where you can get it boom, go. Like it's probably an ad that I could deliver in less than 10 seconds. Okay. I'm not saying that this is the best way to go.
But I'm saying that this is an option for those of you that are like, I don't really know, I'm a little like, I just I just I don't know how to beef it up. Then start here. Start with a mental minimalist add style.
Okay, and then the second one is Tell me more More. And we're gonna dive into a little bit more about what this means. But it's where you're leaving someone like, oh, how would I know more about that? Where? Where can I find that? Where can I go get it? You want them asking these questions before you actually tell them where to go and where to get it and what the benefit is you want someone saying to themselves? Ooh, tell me more. That sounds interesting. Okay, so that's the
second tap Add style. The first one is minimalist. The second one is Tell me more.
The third one is, will this ever end? This one's like, it kind of has a negative context to it. But I have to tell you, I've listened to so many podcasts and I will hear an ad that someone inserted in the middle of a show. And I am just like, Oh my gosh, will this ever end like they are just going on and on? They're telling these stories, and it's a product I don't even care about. This is a bigger name podcast, okay. They're not selling their own personal
things. It's like they have a sponsorship for something I have zero interest in. And I'm literally I'm fast forwarding through all the ads. And I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I hit the fast forward button like 10 times, and they're still talking about this product, I don't care. Will this ever end? Okay.
So these are the three different types of ad styles. And if you can't tell from this, I'm hoping that you don't fall into the category of Will this ever end, you really want to stick somewhere between the minimalist and tell me more ad style, because you're going to have a better bang for your buck. And tell me more is usually where I would love for you to end up with your podcast ads. But most people start in the minimalist area simply because they just don't know how
to beef up their ads. They don't know how to add that element of story or telling a testimonial or something else in there, which that's fine. We'll get there. Okay, don't worry, stick with me. This is where like my marketing nerd genius comes in, and swoops in and gives you all the great details. But for today, I just want you to decide where are you going to start? Where are you going to start with your ad style. So again, go download the podcast, ads template, you'll have all the
information there. But the minimalist ads are really straight to the point. Okay, so let's go back and do a little bit more of a deep dive on those because that is, what it is, who it's for and where to find it. Okay, like it is like, like we talked about it is black and white, there's no gray area it is, this is what it is, this is who it's for this is where you can find it, boom, done. 15 seconds, I can do one of those. The next one is Tell me more,
these are longer in nature. But these are still so powerful. These can include a personal story or an example of maybe a testimonial from your students.
Or maybe it's one of those that you just have people sitting on the edge of their seats, maybe you tell them, let's say it was something that you wanted to give away, even a little bit of whatever it is that you're trying to sell, maybe you're trying to encourage them, Hey, you know, if you go to this link, by this date, you will get a free whatever it is, or you'll get a discount, or here's the discount code, but you have to go here before this time, those are the Tell me Moore's that
I've actually taken action on, right. So I'm not just telling you this as like, Oh, this is marketing theory, I'm sharing with you the ways that I have taken action as a podcast listener, like when people say these things, it's when I pay attention, it's when I actually go to the website or follow up, you know, go to their website, or go to their social media account, wherever they're telling me and the call to action to go. Those are the ones that I usually take action on.
Okay. And then will this ever end? Like I said, let's try to steer clear of these. Because if you have recorded an ad, and it is way too long, like you're looking at it, and you're like, Oh my gosh, it's seven minutes, that's too long. It's too long. There's a reason why the dynamic content, there's a limitation on how much you can add in the pre roll and post roll. And it's up to five minutes. Okay, it's up to five minutes. Think about
that. If you're talking for five minutes about one thing, a better be freaking compelling. Okay? That is so long to be talking about something that doesn't have a good story to it, or it doesn't have any great examples or you were just like talk, talk, talk, talk talk. You're probably being narcissistic, in that, too. This is just an assumption, but I'm just saying I've heard I've heard him. I've heard all the ads where it's just like, why is this about you? Like we're listening to this as your
podcast listener? Why is this ad just all about you and how incredible you are? Shouldn't it be about how you're helping us or how you could help us potentially If we become your customers, no, this is me. I'm being judgey. Okay, I'm being judgey about other people's podcast ads. Okay, maybe you shouldn't do that, right? We shouldn't be judgmental. But come on, you know, you know who you are. If your ads are way too long, they don't make any sense.
They're not for your audience and they're not performing well for you. This is why just telling you, this is why here's how you can fix it, but it's where a host just rambles on and on about the topic, and they just forget, like, why are we here? Why are we listening to this show? Okay, so that's, that's just, we're just gonna let that go. We're gonna let this will this ever end. These are bad examples. Don't follow these examples. But they're in the PDF, so you know what to avoid.
Okay, so now let's talk about what to say for these specific ads. And then I want you to download this podcast ads template again, so you can start practicing and implementing these on your show. Okay, so I broken up the template to show you which types of ads to put where, which ones will perform better in the pre roll, the mid roll and the post roll. Again, if you aren't familiar with these terms, and how they work, go listen to the episodes that we've linked to in the show notes. KrystalProffitt.com/Episode229, because we've talked about these so the best ads for the pre roll are really the time sensitive promotions or your priority goals and calls to action. Okay, so if you want to go to your Facebook group, maybe in the pre pre roll, you can say, Hey, guys, just want to let y'all know we are doing some incredible things in our profit podcast online community. We are sharing stories about podcasters. We share helpful tips every weekday, and we have been offering some podcast audits that are totally free for people being members of our community. You can learn more by going to KrystalProffitt.com/podcastcommunity to join us there. Okay, that wasn't really a time sensitive one. But it's one about sharing my facebook group. That's exactly what you could say, verbatim. And you can put it in the very beginning of your
show.
The only other thing that I would add is think about the transition between segments. Okay, so if someone is listening to the pre roll of your podcast, then I like it when people add, before we get into today's episode I wanted to share with you a little bit about and then you would add your call to action or whatever you're adding. And then at the very end, you can say, Okay, let's get into today's episode, you'll hear this a lot in my pre roll ads, or even in the mid roll. I'll say, Sorry, I had to interrupt but I have something really important to tell you about. And then I'll get into what we're talking about for that ad. And then at the end, I'll say, Okay, let's get back to today's episode. So you want to have a transition that feels natural and normal. But if you're like, I don't really know what to say, then I would recommend adding music in between your transitions. So I love the office ladies podcast. I've talked about this so many times. It's my favorite podcast, I look forward to every single week, and what they have done. And they've done this since the very beginning, y'all I've been listening to this show. Since before it aired, right? I look like when the initial trailer came out about last moment. Okay, it came out in September of 2019. I cannot believe it's been that long. But I remember I did a case study on this. I'm going to link to it in the show notes. If you if you want to nerd out with me on podcasting and the office ladies podcast, you are more than welcome to I did a whole podcast episode about it. And it's actually it remains in the top five most downloaded episodes of this podcast. But what I did is I really watched how they slowly added in sponsored content along the way, like they didn't start which I've seen lots of podcasts this past 12 months start. And they already have sponsored content, and there's not really a great transition. They figure it out a few months in but what I love that they did was from the very beginning, they would say hey, let's take a quick break. And then they would play this music and then they would come back so there wasn't even actually sponsored content there. They would just say, okay, we're gonna take a quick break real fast, and then we'll be back. Granted, their episodes are close to an hour long or if not longer. So it makes sense that they have these breaks in between because there's two people talking maybe somebody's got to go to the bathroom. Maybe somebody needs snack, I don't know. But they had these natural breaks in the content from day one. Day one. They didn't have any sponsors. I want to say in the first few episodes, if They did. It was one ad, it was really short. Now they have probably four to six ads in every episode. But you're mentally prepared for it because they have you conditioned, almost like Pavlov's dog, right? Like they have that music that plays in between their segments. And you're just like, oh, an ad is coming. Sometimes I listen to them, sometimes I don't. These are big corporate sponsors, it's like, better help. Is it better help or better health, I always forget, it's the one where you can it's like a mental health service. For counseling. That's one that's on there a lot. Of course, there's indeed.com, or zip recruiter, things like that. And then they have the smaller companies that they're trying to support that they really like as consumers that they'll have ad spots for. But most of the time, depending on my mood, too, I'll just fast forward through them. Because I know that it's usually sponsored content. But if I were listening to someone else's podcast that I regularly listened to, that's a lot smaller, but it's a very niche. It's a very specific one that I'm actually interested in purchasing their programs, their services, I listen to their ads. Maybe this is just a dorky thing that I do. Obsessed with podcast ads and understanding how people do it. Maybe you're like, Oh, no, Krystal, I fast forward through all ads I ever hear. But I think that you have to take this into consideration as a consumer of shows as well. What can you do to have your people saying, Tell me more, not let me fast forward through this, maybe that's what we should call the third one, instead of Will this ever in, we're gonna call it slash, let me fast forward through this. Because that's really how I feel about a lot of podcast ads that have nothing to do with what I'm trying to accomplish, either in my professional or even in my personal life. So that's really what I wanted to share with you today. Because I got excited that we get to talk about podcast ads here on this podcast, because I know that this is a mystery to most people, especially if you're just getting started. You're like Krystal, this episode was way over my head, I don't even want to start thinking about podcast ads. Well, hang on, hang on. Let's go back to what we just talked about with the Office ladies, right? They conditioned their audience from the very beginning. So whenever they actually started adding in sponsored content, I bet they didn't lose a bunch of listeners because people were already in love with what they were producing. But also, they knew how to transfer like transition between segments. So it's not even that big of a deal. Now that they have
ads.
People tell me this all the time, I'm afraid I'm going to lose listeners. If I add in podcast ads to my show, I'm terrified that they're just going to drop like flies. And this is why I encourage all podcasters like, listen to me. Now if you've been doing something else come back, because this is super, super important. You want to have calls to action in every single episode, which is why we beefed up the podcast ads template to include podcast ads, and calls to action. Because if you don't have anything to offer your audience right now that's okay. But you need to get used to asking them to do something. Now, even if you're just getting started, you need to ask your people to do something. So when you do have something to offer to them, maybe you're going to publish a book one day, maybe you're going to have a live event, maybe you're going to have a virtual event, maybe you're going to have a program, a course a membership, whatever it is, you want to ask your people to do something now. So in the future, when you ask them to take a bigger step, right, maybe it's a financial investment to join you on the journey. You don't want them to say, That's weird. Why did Krystal all of a sudden ask us to do stuff? She usually just delivers fantastic content, and she never asked us to do anything. So I'm probably not going to do that. No, you want people getting these baby micro commitments from you along the journey. That way, when you ask them to do something that's a lot bigger, it's that next step, they're more likely to do it. They're more likely to do it without saying No thanks. That's not for me. So that's like my other marketing tip of the day is have your people commit to you in small ways. That way, when you ask those bigger asks, I can't even say that asks as k s is what I'm saying, okay? When you make those bigger asks, that's really hard to say y'all. I don't know why, but they're more likely to do it, they're more likely to make it happen. Okay, so I want to give you real fast so if you want to grow a facebook, facebook group, put that in the pre roll. A great mid roll ad is the Tell me more ones. It really is. So that minimalist one, the one that you're just like, boom, boom, boom, but that's it. The beginning, I think that those perform really well. Either ones did tell me more or minimalist perform super well. And then the post roll. I always tell people if you have nothing else to say at the end, but you want to add something that takes the next step in the journey, just say, we would love for you to subscribe and leave us a rating and review, share this like take a screenshot wherever you're listening, share it on social media, and we would love to know what your number one takeaway was from this
episode.
But y'all, that's all I have for you today. I hope that you found this super helpful again, go to KrystalProffitt.com/Episode229 to grab the podcast ad templates that we talked about here today, I think that you're gonna find it very helpful. And there's going to be some scripts and calls to action and all kinds of things there that can help you
get better at podcast ads. I really am so passionate about this because it was such a big mystery to me for a long time until I sat down and said, Wait, I've listened to podcasts long enough. I know how all this works. I know which ones I prefer to listen to. And I have just taken those formulas and created something that's my own and I want to share that with you. So make sure you go download this podcast ads template, go to KrystalProffitt.com/Episode229 to grab it today. But that's all
I have for you. If this is your first time tuning in, make sure you hit that subscribe button wherever you're listening to this again, take a screenshot and share it on social media tag me on Instagram and say Krystal, this was fantastic or grab my podcast ad template. Now I'm gonna go start creating my podcast ads or whatever you want to say I want to hear from you. So please reach out. If you haven't already. Join us in our free Facebook community. We're gonna have a link in the show
notes. But as always remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere