A podcast can be an invaluable asset to your yoga business. Yet, many yogipreneurs hold themselves back from creating their own podcast due to limiting beliefs that hold them back from making progress in their businesses.

Maybe you’re one of those yogipreneurs and you’re thinking: 

“Everyone already has a podcast, it’s too late now for me to start one”
“I don’t have anything interesting to share”
“It will be too hard to get listeners”

If you are considering launching your very own yoga podcast but are stuck in inaction due to said limiting beliefs or if you’ve already launched your podcast and you want to know how to grow your listener numbers then this blog post is for you. 

At Digital Yoga Academy we recently hit 100k+ listeners with The Yogipreneur Podcast and made over 1 million dollars in online course sales.

 

Now, you might not automatically think of your podcast as a way to make sales but ultimately it is – when you are consistently in someone’s ears over a period of time you can create and nurture relationships with that listener.

 

Your current program students may have discovered you through your podcast by searching on iTunes or any other streaming platform that your podcast is on. 

 

Therefore, your podcast can serve as a really effective discovery tool and we certainly have had students who have enrolled in The Yogipreneur Launchpad and The Profitable Yoga Teacher after learning about Digital Yoga Academy through the Yogipreneur Podcast.

 

We want you to have the same success with your podcast which is why this blog post covers everything you need to know about successfully launching and growing your own podcast.

 

What you don’t need to successfully launch and grow your podcast  

 

You don’t need to create original content 

 

Our podcasting strategy is actually part of our content repurposing strategy and this is how it works:

 

We do one live training each week on Instagram and Facebook. We make a few minor edits to the audio from these trainings, add the intro and outro for the podcast that is prerecorded and upload it onto Audioboom. 

 

The first episode of the Yogipreneur podcast went live in January 2020 and we have been putting out one episode each week and within a 2.5-year time period we’ve built up over 100k listeners– that on average is just over 100 listeners a day.

 

Of course, you could have reached 100k listeners sooner than that, but the great thing about the content strategy at Digital Yoga Academy is that we don’t do anything extra really on top of what we’re already doing. 

 

Instead, we are repurposing already available content and distributing them into more channels. 

 

This is also how we are able to create all of this content consistently. It all comes back down to our repurposing strategy. 

 

We definitely could have achieved 100k listeners much sooner if, for example, our content strategy focused on interviews with guest experts. However, we are in the business of yoga for the long term, and we are not in a rush. 

 

In fact, our founder Kelly has spent the last five years focusing her energy on getting all of the foundational pieces in place, experimenting with different offerings, and on learnings. When you do this, you take action and you build on the foundations that you’ve created.

 

So our advice to you, if you are planning on starting a podcast, is to take imperfect action and just get started because done is better than perfect. What really matters is that you are moving in the direction that you want to move in.

 

You don’t need professional tools and software

 

You might not have also proceeded with your podcast idea because you think you need all the professional tools and software to create edit and share your podcast, but that is simply not the case. 

 

You can have quality audio and a professional-sounding podcast without breaking the bank. You simply need a good microphone, and chances are you already have this.

 

One easy way to make your podcast sound professional is to create an intro and an outro. 

 

We have both of these for The Yogipreneur and you can script this yourself. You can record it yourself you can choose some background music for it. If you need support with this you can easily find a freelancer on a platform like Fiverr or Upwork to do a few different takes with different music so you can get what you’re looking for.

 

So the tech side of things should not be the thing that holds back your idea. 

 

Remember, your podcast is not here to stay as an idea. As an entrepreneurial yoga teacher, you have ideas and you act on them because you’re here to make an impact with your community which means you need to grow your community, and growing your community requires you to be visible and to share content. 

 

And your podcast is one way for you to do that – to be visible and to share content.

 

What you need to successfully launch and grow your podcast

 

You need to niche down

 

Content only works when it’s been created for a specific type of person with specific interests, challenges, and needs.

 

Anything you do when it comes to marketing and your messaging and content creation should be focused on your ideal student.

 

This is why it’s so important to decide on a niche so you can do the work to really identify who your ideal student is and the topics that they’re interested in.

 

So, if you want to start a podcast but you’re stuck because you don’t know what the topics and episodes would be for your podcast, ask yourself:

 

Are you also struggling to create content elsewhere? Do you struggle to create social media content and come up with topics other than talking about the general benefits of yoga? 

 

If the answer is yes, it’s probably because you don’t have a niche and you don’t know what the problem is that you solve.

 

Everything you do to grow your yoga business starts here – with your ideal student and the problem that you solve, the solutions that you offer. And, only then will you have an abundance of topic ideas for your podcast

 

So, let’s assume you’ve done this work – you know who your ideal student is and you’ve validated your ideas.

 

You need to decide on what your goal is for the podcast

 

Next, you need to decide what success means to you and you have to decide what the goal of your podcast is. 

 

If your goal is to monetize your podcast so you can make money from ad income from having millions of listeners, then you’re going to need a more aggressive means of marketing and growing your entire business to support the growth of your podcast.

 

So, we want you to have to think about your expectations around what success actually means to you.

 

If it is more about providing a channel to create an impact in the lives of the right people and using that channel to lead those people to your business, then the actual amount of listeners you need to reach that definition of success is smaller.  

 

This is certainly what success is for us at Digital Yoga Academy. We receive countless emails and messages from teachers who tell us that The Yogipreneur podcast is a game changer and a must-listen for yoga teachers wanting to grow their online yoga business.

 

That is success to us. Receiving that feedback is a measurement of our success.

 

You need to figure out your content strategy for your podcast

As we already mentioned, we repurpose our content here at DYA and use the audio from the weekly training and you could do the same. 

 

Of course, it requires you to have a content strategy and to consistently be creating long-form educational content that you can repurpose. But, if you are already creating educational video content for other platforms, you have a podcast. It can be either short and sweet 5-10 min topics, longer style 30 min training, or even interviews on Instagram with other experts in your space. 

 

You can also choose to make the podcast your main piece of long-form content and repurpose that for other channels. 

 

If you want to go down the route of interviewing experts for your podcast, that will require extra time for relationship building in your network and reaching out to secure guests.

 

This could be an excellent strategy as your guests will share the podcast with their communities as well so your reach will increase but of course, it takes extra time to do this. Of course, you can’t control what your guests do with your episode: some share it once and move on. You can encourage them to share it with their network, but that’s the extent of it.

 

If you’re doing a guest interview podcast show and choosing that as your format, you’ll have to plan weeks and months in advance to coordinate schedules and to make sure you stay on track.

 

So this can be quite time-consuming which is why we’ve not used that as a main strategy for the Yogipreneur podcast since consistency is more important for us and the repurposing content strategy we use helps us to be consistent. 

 

So, do take into consideration what you can do realistically with the time you have available.

 

We’ve created a very successful podcast from repurposed content and I do intend to interview guests in the future when there’s more capacity to do that. You can also do the same – you can get started by repurposing content you have now and then build on it and add to it in the future

 

You need to launch more than one episode. 

 

Once you’ve decided on your content strategy and you go ahead and launch your podcast, make sure to start with more than one episode.

 

Just think about Netflix. People tend to binge-watch episodes and the same is true for podcasts.

 

So, if you just start with just one episode, and someone listens to that episode. What happens to them when they have nothing else to listen to? 

 

They may actually leave and never return.

 

Therefore, it’s best to launch your podcast with at least 3-5 episodes available This way people can cherry-pick the episodes they think will be most relevant to them.

 

Also, remember that however many shows you start with, people are likely to download all of them if they like the first one they hear. So instead of getting one download towards your numbers, you may be getting 5X out of the gate (if you start with five episodes).

 

You need to be consistent 

 

Once you’ve launched your podcast with multiple episodes, you need to be consistent. Create a schedule and stick with it. 

 

Do not expect your podcast listener numbers to grow if you’re not consistent.

 

Far too many podcasts will release a new episode when they feel like it. You can see this when you discover a new podcast and you scroll through their episodes and the release dates and you’ll see what we mean. 

 

They may have gaps of weeks and even months when nothing was released. Don’t do that.

 

Pick a consistent schedule and let your audience know to expect new shows on those days as that helps to build that habit with your listeners of when they can expect something new.

 

4 easy strategies to promote your podcasts

 

Once you have a content strategy, you’ve uploaded multiple episodes and you have a schedule you’re sticking to for consistency, now it’s time to look into ways that you can promote your brand new podcast.

 

Use social media and your email list 

 

To promote your podcast, you need some standard graphics that you can update each week with the title and add an audio clip to, and to share these images on social and in your stories

 

You also want to email your list with the links to the latest podcast episode. In that email, you want to entice your subscribers with little hints about what they are going to learn in the podcast and then link to your show notes.

 

Your show notes sit on your website as the blog counterpart of your podcast and are a very big part of publishing and promoting and they give you an SEO boost. In your show notes, you are basically summarizing what’s in the podcast episode and providing links to anything that’s been mentioned.

 

When you promote your episode you can send people to that page on your website instead which is the space that you own – and from there you can embed a player onto your site from your podcast host software (we use AudioBoom) and you can share links to Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify and other podcast directories where your listeners can tune in.

 

Use your existing network 

 

If you did you did an interview with somebody, you could reach out to the person and make it really easy for them to share the podcast episode by sharing the images and copy they can use. The more you make it easy for somebody to share, the better. 

Of course, they can choose not to share but many people will share if you make it easy for them to do so. 

 

Ask your listeners to subscribe.

 

Hitting the subscribe button is one of the easiest ways a listener can support the growth of your show, but we forget to ASK them to do it! So, every now and then we specifically push listeners to subscribe (and if they’re feeling generous) to leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

 

You can also schedule a targeted push once a month or once a quarter to get people subscribing and reviewing your show. Send out DMs, post about it on your social platforms, email your list, and simply just ask.

 

Run a contest 

 

This is something we have been doing for the last month and you have one final chance to enter

we’ve been celebrating our 100k listener milestone by offering you the chance to win a coaching session with our founder Kelly simply by leaving a review of the podcast.

 

This type of contest is definitely something you can do to increase the rating and review of your podcast.

 

If you are enjoying being a listener of the Yogipreneur Podcast we encourage you to enter the contest here. 

 

We would absolutely love to read your review and see you have a chance to win a private one-to-one session with our founder Kelly to discuss your online yoga business and help you figure out the steps you need to move forward. 

 

Conclusion

 

A podcast can be a lucrative tool for yogipreneurs like you to get discovered by potential clients and help you to create a profitable and sustainable yoga business.

 

While you don’t need a professional setup or original content to launch your podcast it is necessary to niche down, set your outcome goals, create a content strategy, and be consistent with your podcast uploads to see growth over time. 

 

You can also use simple promotional strategies such as using social media and running a contest to grow your podcast faster. 

 

However, if you are still unsure of how to niche down or have trouble creating content for your podcast or social media, we encourage you to join  The Yogipreneur Launchpad.

The Yogipreneur Launchpad is our 16-week program that will give you the tools to decide on a niche, refine your message, and create marketing foundations around content, social, and your network to start building an online yoga business that serves your ideals students.

 

What type of Yogipreneur are you?

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Join our private Facebook community today! 

At Digital Yoga Academy we are passionate about helping yoga teachers, giving them the strategies, tools and support to build successful online yoga businesses!

The Digital Yoga Academy Facebook group is a community of thousands of yoga teachers all over the world. 

There are weekly live trainings with Kelly McHugh, our founder & CEO, business talks with inspiring yoga teachers, daily educational content and loads of support.

 

Yet to get your classes online?

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>>> Video training: How to thrive as a Yogipreneur in tough times

 

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