Introduction
There are so many ways to learn these days and as a course creator you know that we have to constantly keep up with new ideas, technologies, and trends (even if it is to avoid a pointless trend) that is tough to figure out the best use of our time.
After all, we only have a finite amount of time in a day, week, month, and year and we just want to make the most of that time without experiencing burnout.
But most of us, myself included, don’t have enough time to dig into everything that comes across our paths. What are your favorite ways to learn?
Today I’m going to share with you 3 reasons why you should be listening to podcasts as a digital course creator as a way to learn and grow your business.
Now I know that you are already listening to a podcast so you might be thinking, well yea. I don’t need to listen to this episode, but here’s why I’m going to suggest you stick around.
Are you making the most of your time with the podcasts that you are listening to? Could you be getting even more out of them?
If you have even the slightest nudge or feeling that you could be making more out of your podcast time, stick around.
Effective Podcast Listening
As someone who already listens to podcasts I don’t need to tell you how awesome they can be, but this podcast is all about digital course creation and so today we are focused on the why’s and how’s behind listening to podcasts as a digital course creator, whether you’ve already published your course and are loving the evergreen life or are just getting started with your course and have thousands of sticky notes with ideas.
The reality is that podcast listening is unique. Yes, lot’s of podcasts have video components these days, but I’m talking about the audio podcasts that we’ve always known. At Podcast Movement in August 2024, one speaker, Tom Webster, shared that we have a unique opportunity with podcasts and that is the intimacy it creates. We should all be looking more to podcasts to learn and grow. Our brain processes information differently when it comes through our ears than when we are watching videos of the same content.
In fact, in today’s 60-second solution I’m going to talk about how to leverage this intimacy in your own courses even if you aren’t a podcaster.
It is all fine and dandy to say go listen to podcasts, but with our time more spoken for than ever before, you need that listening time to be productive and useful to your business and your course. Today, let’s talk about three ways to make the most of your podcast listening time when you are wearing your digital course creator.
#1: Learn the Words
First up, let’s talk words. One of the biggest things that digital course creators struggle with is words. I don’t mean finding the words to put into your course, but instead the words that make up our marketing, our social media presence, our weekly emails to our subscriber list, the pop-ups on our websites, and even the words we use when trying to describe our business to someone online or in person.
Words are a critical part of our business and listening to podcasts can help us to get a broader exposure to how to best use our words to support and grow our businesses. We learn by example. Think about the child who is trying to write their name. They watch someone form the letter and then they mimic that formation. Think about the last time you tried to learn the words to your favorite song. You listened to it over and over and then little by little you were able to sing the entire song.
We learn from listening.
When we listen to a podcast, especially one that is business oriented, or one that is in our niche, we get to hear how others are using their words and noticing what is effective and what isn’t effective.
As a former StoryBrand Certified Guide this was a big part of helping course creators build their messaging. Listen for what works and what doesn’t. The beauty of listening to podcasts is that you can see what resonates and what doesn’t and then use those concepts and approaches to create your own words that are specific to you, your offer, and your business.
So, benefit one of listening to podcasts is that we get to hear what words are being used that resonate and which approaches make us cringe. This gives us a bigger pool of data and inspiration to consult when creating our own introductions, our website pop-ups, and those sales pages that often involve blood, sweat, and tears at some point in the process.
The bonus here is that you can speed up the podcast playback so that a 20 minute podcast might only take you 15 minutes or even 10 minutes to listen to in its entirety. And before you tell me you don’t have that much time to devote to listening to how words work in your industry, do an audit of how much time you’ve spent getting sucked into the Facebook, Instagram, or even LinkedIn scroll…you probably have enough time. You can even find some clean podcasts and play them on speaker as you fold the dreaded laundry or wash the lunch boxes.
But just listening for we can improve our marketing and messaging is just one benefit of listening to podcasts as a digital course creator.
#2: Find the Problems
Listening to podcasts has a plethora of benefits as a digital course creator. Don’t you just love the word plethora? No? Ok, it might just be me!
Listening to podcasts isn’t just a way to pass the time in the car, while you are baking cupcakes for the neighborhood social, or getting those recommended 10,000 steps in per day.
Podcasts give us a unique opportunity as course creators to research while listening. Check out what the most covered topics are in podcasts within your niche. Those are likely the things that your course students are struggling with, the objections that they have, or the mountains and roadblocks that they encounter.
Think of listening to podcasts as market research, but without spending hours at the computer trying to stumble on the right keyword or topic that might resonate.
Now, if you are sitting up a little straighter at this idea of doing market research while listening to podcasts, something you already love doing, I’ve got a plan for you.
First up, check out the big podcast names in your niche. If you are a marketer, you might check out Amy Porterfield’s, Online Marketing Made Easy. If you are in the fashion industry you might check out Dressed: The History of Fashion. And if you are in the education industry you might check out This Teacher Life.
These are all podcasts that get top billing when you are searching in these industries. Listen to the top podcasts in your industry. They are the ones spending a lot of money to research what their listeners and clients are struggling with. They are going to address the hot topics. See what they have to say about the topic and figure out how your viewpoint is different, offer something more, or even identify a gap that they aren’t talking about.
Then look for the lesser known podcasts in your industry. First of all, we should all be supporting the smaller podcasts. They often have even more depth to their content than the bigger name podcasts, but they simply don’t have the same massive audience (yet). You get to see what someone similar to you is talking about and how you stand out with your unique solution or methodology.
By listening to podcasts, both with large audiences, and nearly non-existent audiences, you get to learn what the big problems that face your audience are. You can agree or disagree, you get to add your spin, and you get to stand out when you identify the gap that everyone is missing.
And that brings me to reason number 3 that digital course creators should be listening to podcasts.
#3: Explore the Solutions
As a podcast listener you know that listening to podcasts can help you find a solution to a problem. Maybe you are new to crocheting and as you listen to your favorite podcast on crocheting you discover what has been holding you back. You realize that you need to hold the yarn in a different way or maybe even try a different crochet hook that is more comfortable for your hand.
The key is that you can learn the solution to your problem in a podcast.
Take one of my favorite podcasts, Create Online Business Success with Tracy Beavers. She and her guests talk through the solutions around ending income roller coasters, list growth, and one episode where I was her guest and we talked about going from sticky notes to impact with your digital course. I’ll link that episode in the show notes if you’d like to take a listen.
In each episode, Tracy is highlighting a problem and then offering a solution to that problem. You can start to learn how others are solving the problems that you also solve. This really creates clarity in how you can position your solution as unique, more comprehensive, and ultimately more powerful than what someone can find elsewhere on the market.
Remember, that as a digital course creator, we have to show our potential students why our solution is the right solution for them as well as why it might not be the right solution for them. The clearer we become in our words, the problems we solve and how our solution ties it all together the more successful our students will be with our course content. We are now attracting the right students to our course. The students who will most benefit from our unique solution.
Listening to podcasts gives us a fast and in depth look at what people are recommending. You get to analyze that solution and maybe even improve your own solution by filling in gaps that no one is addressing.
Think of it like this. As a doctoral student I had to propose a research study that was completely new to the body of Industrial-Organizational Psychology research. I had to review all of the research around emotional intelligence, my chosen niche as a doctoral student, identify a gap in the research or a new way to think about applying measures of emotional intelligence and then create a research study to look at that question.
We are doing the exact same thing by listening to podcasts in our niche. We are examining what is currently out there and then proposing our solution that fills the gap that is existing.
Exploring the solutions that are already out there can be a great spark to new ideas that lead to a student breakthrough with your help.
Action Item
Now I know that I promised to share with you how to leverage the idea podcasts even if you are not a podcaster, but before we get to the Sixty-Second Solution, let’s quickly recap what we’ve already covered.
Listening to podcasts can be a really great way to learn and grow your business, but you do need to be strategic otherwise you will spend hours upon hours of listening and not have anything to show for it. We have to make the most of our time when we are working so that when we are playing, relaxing, and sleeping business does not creep into the crevices and form into nightmares.
Today we talked about three ways to maximize your listening time and make the most of podcasts. The first was the learn the words that are being use. Whether you are a seasoned marketing and messaging genius or just getting started, it is always good to look out for what key words are being used, how things are being explained, and what trends are popping up so that we can either jump in or run like the wind in the opposite direction.
We also talked about using podcasts to do market research, what problems are our course students experiencing, what objections might they raise during a launch, and what is everyone else addressing, but in an incomplete way. We want to make sure we have a great understanding of where our industry stands on the problems that our students experience because we have to make sure we address them fully in our own businesses.
And that brings me to a third objective you should have when listening to podcasts, listen out for the solutions that are being offered. You have something unique to offer and by understanding what solutions exist you can figure out better where your unique approach fits and stands out.
So it is time to take action. Just like this recap of our three reasons for listening to podcasts suggests, you can’t just listen and then go on about your day. Make use of what you have just learned. That is the difference between a profitable course creator and one who struggles year after year.
We have to take action if we want to be profitable. So what podcast episode will you listen to this week in your niche? Or better still, what two episodes will you listen to? Choose one big name podcast and one smaller podcast and listen. Then how will you implement what you learn? It might take the form of a social media post that highlights a gap that you are noticing, it could be a blog post that addresses the elephant in the room that no one is dealing with, or it could be an email to your subscriber list about this thought you had as you listened to a podcast. The key is to take action.
Sixty-Second Solution
And if we are all about taking action, let’s talk about using the concept of a podcast to your benefit in your course. Here is our Sixty-Second Solution for the week.
We all know someone who learns best when they aren’t inundated with dancing graphics, closed captions, and bouncing icons telling you to do something whether it is to hit the subscribe button or click that link to get a free resource. That is where podcasts enter. The traditional audio only podcast doesn’t have all of those distractions and has the benefits of going straight into our ear via the earbuds or speakers that we have in our kitchen.
As a digital course creator you can leverage the power of a podcast by putting your course lessons into a private podcast for your students. This gives people the opportunity to listen on the run, literally or figuratively, tune out the distraction of listening on a computer that has the allure of 30 tabs in the browser, and just focus on one thing: your content.
If you are already recording video lessons for your digital course, creating an audio only podcast is easy peasy and there are so many options out there today for creating a private podcast. I love using Captivate to host my podcast, but like I said there are lots of available options for all budgets!
Where to Go Next?
All right, there you have it, 3 ways to use podcasts to help grow your digital course business effectively and efficiently in a way that doesn’t require 50 hours a week chained to your desk doing market research. I also let you in on a little secret with the Sixty-Second Solution that is a simple and low cost way to help your students be more successful.
However you choose to manage your listening time into an effective endeavor, you still have to manage your mindset if you want to become a successful course creator. The path is not always straightforward and there are definitely distractions.
The key is to make sure that you are connected with other entrepreneurs and coaches who will hold you accountable, listen when you need to vent, and collaborate when you want to get some outside ideas and opinions.
Mindset is, quite honestly, one of those things that means the difference between a successful entrepreneur and one who never makes it to profitability. I’ve seen it time again throughout my 15 years as a college psychology professor, course creator, mentor, and entrepreneur.
And if you are thinking now is the time to learn more about mindset, check out:
- Episode 154: Course Creation: Unlock Your Course Creation Success with these 10 Mindset Mantras
- Episode 152: Mindset: 3 Questions to ask Yourself and
- Episode 150: Mindset: 3 Steps to Experimenting in your Business to Get Traction.
That’s it for this week’s episode. I’d love to hear from you which episodes you chose to listen to for this week’s action item. Send me a DM on Instagram or Facebook at Digital Course Creator Guide.
Until next time, happy creating!
