Zero to one million downloads on iTunes

Is it possible for someone starting a new podcast today to achieve 1 million downloads within the first year? Well this is exactly what I intend to do this year with Business to Freedom Podcast (Click the Link and Subscribe). I decided to keep track of what I do over the coming year to achieve 1 million downloads so you can follow along and do just the same! Without further ado, here is my first report:

These are my all time stats: 189 downloads as of 21 April 2016. I had 7 downloads in my first month, 48 downloads last month, and this month, by April 21, I am sitting at 134. I will have 1 million downloads within 12 months, how am I gonna do it?

Breaking it down

Why 1 million downloads?

I first aim for 1 million in 1 year. I decided to go down to 250k in 2 years because I thought it was more achievable. Then I realized my mistake.

What the hell am I doing? Why aim low when I can aim high? Do I want to be Joe next door with a podcast or Alex Fortin, who hit 1 million downloads in 1 year?

Hell yeah! I will have 1 million downloads in my podcast within 12 months and I will show you exactly how I do it.

1 million is around 100 000 downloads a month. This is quite a big number given that i have practically no downloads right now. It’s actually quite crazy but I love crazy stuff.

I will need to think outside the box to get to this number. If I need to, I will spend thousands of dollars in advertising to get to my goal.

So how can I spend thousands of dollars in advertising? I need to make money from my podcast. This is the No.1 goal. I have a course completed right now that will hit the market next week, but more on this later.

My promise to you, is that I will have 1 millions downloads within the next 12 months.

The Master Plan

What will I do to hit those numbers?

I have 7 episodes out so far and they didn’t get the public attention they deserve. Certainly not.

For example, my John Lee Dumas interview only got 31 downloads in April. My last interview, episode 7 with Erik Voorhees, got 38 views and was released only a few days ago.

So I am getting a little bit better at promoting each episode but I still have a long way to go obviously.

Make the system work for you

I watch John Lee Dumas talk at SMMW2016 and one of the main take aways I got was: System = Consistency = Success

Right now, I have a new system setup but I need more, and better ones. This is probably why I’m not seeing the results I want.

I email people when each episode goes live, but I need to manually do this because I cannot schedule a message with my current set-up on iMail. I will use a different email provider like gmail or something similar for the next episode to fully automate the system.

Another sequence I go through is as follows. I record the interview, then after the call, I record the intro, then I send it off right away to my podcast editor. This is working fairly well. Giving away the editing part was a huge help in cutting out the time consuming and boring stuff from the podcast.

How to get rocking guests?

Obviously, another big part of the process is getting great guests, because the current marketing tactic depends heavily on getting well connected people that generate traffic.

I have a pretty good system to reach out to my guests. My assistant does the research on the guests and adds the info to my Trello project. He looks for their email and the city where they live. Then I go on Trello, grab the date and reach out a first time. I use a template that I personalize for every guest using where they live to warm up the email.

I move the person from one list to another depending on their answer. I keep a note of everything that happens in every card so when I circle back later, everything is there.

Getting in the trench

One thing I found really effective to get more traffic is to comment on forums and Facebook groups where contacts of my target guest are the most active.

For example, when I interviewed John Lee Dumas, I went on a podcast Facebook group for podcasters and I let them know about my new show, and that J.L.D. was a guest.

After publishing Erik Voorhees podcast, I went on Reddit where I knew a lot of people interested in Bitcoin and Ethereum would hang out and I posted a link to my post.

Social media is dead… not

If you post an episode on twitter, for example, you want to tag the twitter handle of your guest to give them an easy way to re-tweet you. Also, people searching for your podcast guest handle will find your post.

I had success with my regular blog post particularly this one on MaidSAfe. The maidsafe community really helped me getting the word out on this post and shared it on social media.

So far this is about all the marketing that I do for the podcast.

Creating higher quality episodes is also something I am working on right now. I switch from a set list of questions to something more flexible. I modify every question to my guest.

I really enjoyed having fix questions because I think I had very good questions but I like to be able to be more flexible. So depending on the feedback I get from people listening I will modify my questions as needed.

So why do I podcast?

I love podcasting because it gives me one-on-one coaching with some of the biggest name in the industry for free. All I need is a cold email and I can get a 30-60mins conversation with them. They will share everything with me and the audience.

I only have recorded about 10 episode so far and I am already addicted to getting free coaching. It is really amazing what you can learn from talking with all those people.

Another great advantage is getting traffic back to your blog. Because my podcast is mostly interview based, every episode is a potential link magnet. Every episode can generate tons of traffic because my guest will most likely share the episode, and the people that follow my guest can also share the episode.

I am also building relationships with some of my guests. Building a podcast is the best thing I did this year. I wish I’d started last year!

The new course coming on the market.

I created a new course called your first 1k online that is currently only for pre-sale and that will launch on March 1st. The course teaches how someone with zero experience online can make his first $1000.

I know it works because that’s exactly what I did 3 years ago. I quit my job, had zero experience when I launched, and I made my first $1000/month within 6 months of launching.

This will take someone with zero experience and show them how to create a business that will transform their life and give them back their time and freedom.

Now if you would do me a favor.

If you have iTunes go to the link below, click on “view in iTunes” and then click on Subscribe: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/business-to-freedom-podcast/id1088624799?mt=2

1 million downloads baby!

Comments

David Ralph says

April 26, 2016 at 6:37 am

Good luck with your podcasting passion. The best advice that I can give you to achieve the numbers you want…is to do what you are doing, and look for ways to get the “Word of mouth” share.

This is when your listeners become so passionate with your content that they tell friends and family to listen. And this only comes by creating content that is 100% yours and not a mild, diluted version of other shows.

That is the mistake that so many podcasters make at the beginning

jessica Rhodes created a short video that emphasises what I am saying her https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iPsl1q-AZ4&feature=youtu.be

Cheers

David

Alex says

April 28, 2016 at 1:56 pm

Hey David.
Great points, having a strong brand and unique voice is definitively something important.