Top Tips for Summits + Podcasting

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Last week, we talked a little bit about how podcasts and summits work

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together, so let's explore some more ways that summits and podcasts work together!

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If you are a summit host - or thinking about hosting the summit - starting

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a podcast can be a gamechanger for your business and your summits.

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Here's some of what our fantastic speakers from Sell With a Summit:

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Speaker Edition want you to know about hosting a summit and podcast.

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Okay, so Nicole, why do you feel like it's so important for podcasters to have

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a plan before launching their summit?

Nicole Batey: 00:00:28

Well, I mean, if you have no plan, you go nowhere,

Nicole Batey: 00:00:31

honestly, and you go nowhere fast.

Nicole Batey: 00:00:33

It's so easy to just, "Oh, I'm going to do this.

Nicole Batey: 00:00:36

I'm going to do this.

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I'm going to do this," and not really realize that you have

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to get them somewhere right?

Nicole Batey: 00:00:42

There has to be a reason they need to go with you on the journey that

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you're trying to take them on.

Nicole Batey: 00:00:48

And it's so easy with summits to think, "okay, I'm going to do this topic and

Nicole Batey: 00:00:51

I'm going to do this topic and I'll do this topic," and then you're like, wait,

Nicole Batey: 00:00:54

okay, what was the meaning of this?

Nicole Batey: 00:00:56

What was I trying to do?

Nicole Batey: 00:00:58

And oftentimes you kind of go someplace and you don't get

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to where you want them to go.

Nicole Batey: 00:01:03

So you have to have that plan before you start; you have

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to have a plan going forward.

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one of my colleagues, what she did was she actually - she's

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a podcaster - all her speakers from her summit are on her podcast.

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So she's got like 20 episodes that she created, which is like, insane,

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but she's got 20 episodes because people still want to hear from your

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speakers so they can kind of get more of a taste on the podcast.

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And she says something like, "Hey, if you want to hear more from this

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particular speaker, they're going to be on the podcast coming up.

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Take a listen."

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So it drives people to the podcast, especially if you're thinking

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about like, I need to make more of an audience for my podcast.

Jenn: 00:01:53

What are a couple of ways that you'd say a summit can make a big

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impact on a podcaster's visibility, with that definition in mind?

Michelle Lewis: 00:02:00

Absolutely.

Michelle Lewis: 00:02:01

The nice thing about guesting on a summit, like I'm doing right now, is you're

Michelle Lewis: 00:02:05

able to usually talk to the show host or have a 20 to 30 minute presentation.

Michelle Lewis: 00:02:10

You're able to dive deep into one aspect that you really know and love.

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And the great thing is that the audience feels that, the audience usually has

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much more of a instant connection to you on a summit than they do on a podcast.

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They can see you, they can interact with you.

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They're here to learn one specific thing - that really grows the

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trust - and so they're excited to take the next step with you.

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What are some ways that a podcaster can leverage their summit

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hosting experience to get even bigger visibility and publicity opportunities

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both before and after the summit is over in terms of publicity opportunities?

Michelle Lewis: 00:02:47

I think what's really great is if you are hosting your own

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show and if you just hosted your first virtual summit, you're usually able to

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connect with some higher profile guests, especially if you can pitch it correctly.

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And what's nice about that is that you're then able to leverage that into,

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okay, do I want my first TV appearance?

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Do I want my first publication?

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Do I want to be featured on this dream podcast that I've been

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drooling over for a couple of years?

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And you can actually customize the fact that you've been this

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authority with podcasting and your virtual summit inside of your pitch.

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And being sure to also include this - especially if you don't necessarily

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have a brand video yet - taking pieces of you hosting these two things and

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putting it into a nice brand video that lives on your press page, using

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the logo from not only your show, but your summit on your press page.

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A lot of people feel like, well, I've never been on anything,

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there's nothing to pull from.

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Well, pull from your own stuff for now!

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People don't really necessarily care what the logo is, they just want to see a logo.

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They want to know that you've been featured somewhere, so just pull from

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your own arsenal and then customize that in your pitch, especially in your

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mini bio to showcase what you have been an authority in, and that can really

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increase your ability to book that press, especially after your summit.

Jenn: 00:04:07

What are some other ways that it's important for podcasters to have a

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plan for developing those connections?

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Why is it so important for them?

Mary Chan: 00:04:17

It's important because of that trust factor.

Mary Chan: 00:04:19

That's what you're trying to build.

Mary Chan: 00:04:21

So, if I don't trust what you are saying, And you're not talking to me directly,

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why should I care what you're saying?

Mary Chan: 00:04:34

You know, through your podcast, a relationship gets built because you are

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speaking from your heart and that's the way you're going to connect to people.

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So trust then of course leads to credibility.

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The platform that you've created in your podcast will then showcase

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your whole thought leadership and what you are all about.

Mary Chan: 00:04:51

So people want to hear you, not just read you, read the words that you've created.

Mary Chan: 00:04:56

They want to hear what you have to say.

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And then that final piece of influence.

Mary Chan: 00:05:02

You know, once you have the trust and the credibility, then you can start

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influencing people to grow your own brand or business or whatever your

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podcast is going to lead you towards.

Mary Chan: 00:05:11

So influential people - podcasters - inspire change, and now that you've

Mary Chan: 00:05:17

created this inspiration, you've got raving fans that will take action based

Mary Chan: 00:05:23

on almost every word that you have to say.

Jenn: 00:05:27

Yeah, that's true.

Jenn: 00:05:28

I know I definitely take action on a lot of the podcasts that I listen to.

Jenn: 00:05:31

So that is definitely important because of that...

Mary Chan: 00:05:35

You trust their word, right?

Mary Chan: 00:05:36

You trust what they're saying and you know they're credible,

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so why not do what they say?

Jenn: 00:05:43

Since interviews are a fantastic way to build that relationship with

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your guests, what would you say a couple of ways are that a host

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- whether it's podcast or summit - can continue building those relationships

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after the interview is over?

Laura Kebart: 00:05:57

Okay, so you're going to see me do this.

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I'm telling you ahead of time.

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Normally it would be like a nice surprise, but I'm gonna go ahead

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and tell you ahead of time.

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And this is something that - and you know, our attendees right now

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can totally steal and use this.

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But after our interview - not right after, it'll be like a day after - I'll

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email you and I will say, "Hey, that was a really great interview

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-" which it is totally genuine here.

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And I'll say, "is there anything that you need, like, is there anything that I

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could be a resource to you for this event, like, is there anything else you need?"

Laura Kebart: 00:06:27

And usually the response is no, but sometimes you do...

Laura Kebart: 00:06:32

it like, it opens a door, a very genuine door to saying, you know what?

Laura Kebart: 00:06:38

Yeah.

Laura Kebart: 00:06:39

Um, I'm still needing somebody to talk about this topic.

Laura Kebart: 00:06:43

I haven't found the right person yet.

Laura Kebart: 00:06:44

Like maybe I know someone that I could refer to you, right?

Laura Kebart: 00:06:48

And actually that did happen two or three times after my last summit,

Laura Kebart: 00:06:51

I had a couple of people email me like, "Hey, that was really great.

Laura Kebart: 00:06:53

I have a friend who would be fantastic at this topic.

Laura Kebart: 00:06:57

I noticed it was on your summit registration page and you don't have

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like, the speaker picture there yet.

Laura Kebart: 00:07:02

Do you have anyone yet?

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Like, I know someone."

Laura Kebart: 00:07:04

And that was just amazing to me, like, oh my gosh, that's amazing.

Laura Kebart: 00:07:07

One step you can do right now, even if you're like, "Oh, I'm not

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quite ready to host my summit.

Laura Kebart: 00:07:13

I'm not quite ready to launch my podcast or I've always done solo episodes.

Laura Kebart: 00:07:17

I'm not quite ready."

Laura Kebart: 00:07:18

If you're not quite ready, that is okay, right?

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But what you can do right now is you can go ahead and start creating

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some relationships with people who you might want to bring onto your

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podcast or people you might want to bring onto your summit someday.

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Go ahead and start those now, because relationships that are genuinely built

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are going to be so much stronger and so much more authentic when you are

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ready for that event for yourself.

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So wherever, you know, people in similar spaces to you are hanging out

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online - whether it's Instagram, whether it's Facebook, whatever - go ahead and

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start building some relationships, start commenting on what they're saying, right?

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You could even DM them for nothing more than to say, "Hey, I'm in a similar space.

Laura Kebart: 00:08:09

It's really interesting what you're doing."

Laura Kebart: 00:08:10

Like, just start a little relationship there.

Jenn: 00:08:14

Krista, can you share one thing you want someone to do when

Jenn: 00:08:16

choosing a podcast or summit topic?

Krista Miller: 00:08:18

Just start brainstorming for now.

Krista Miller: 00:08:21

Once you have an audience that you feel like is a good fit, then you can

Krista Miller: 00:08:23

move into the rest of the action steps.

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start with your existing audience,

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use them as a starting point.

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If you target an audience like online business owners, creative business owners,

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women, moms professionals, you need to get more specific, even if it is more

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specific than your podcast audience.

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So you're going to break that down into smaller groups next.

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So for example, if you're targeting, I don't know, creative business

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owners, maybe you have photographers, coaches, designers, I don't know.

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All of those different subsets are different groups you could

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break your audience down into, and then choose the group that you

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feel like you can help them most.

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So if there's a group you resonate with the most, maybe there's a group that

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tends to respond best to your marketing or purchase your offers more often,

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that's a perfect group to start with.

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It doesn't mean you can't come back and host a summit for another one later,

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but it gives you a good starting point and that is your summit audience.

Jenn: 00:09:14

What would be a specific action step that a podcaster should take right

Jenn: 00:09:18

away to make the most out of their new summit subscribers after the summit's

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over so they can kind of nurture them and get them excited about the podcast

Jenn: 00:09:26

and everything else they have to offer?

Kate Doster: 00:09:29

Excellent.

Kate Doster: 00:09:29

So it would be literally like what we had just talked about:

Kate Doster: 00:09:33

plan out those next three emails.

Kate Doster: 00:09:35

Make sure that one of them is more of a transitional email where it's like,

Kate Doster: 00:09:40

"Hey, so you enjoyed the summit" - again, say its name, reminde them of this

Kate Doster: 00:09:43

thing - "you're going to want to make sure that you're listing to [name of

Kate Doster: 00:09:47

your brand new podcast] where we're going to help you do avoid/have" - those are

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usually fun sentence starters to use- "and we're going to talk about this."

Kate Doster: 00:09:56

And then if you already have your podcast episodes up and ready to

Kate Doster: 00:10:00

go, those emails that we had talked about - the mistake ones, the story,

Kate Doster: 00:10:03

once those sorts of things - instead, it can just be about the topics that

Kate Doster: 00:10:08

your podcasts are going to be about.

Kate Doster: 00:10:09

So definitely have those three weeks worth of emails so that way you've got

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that downtime - done, written - they're not going to take you that long

Kate Doster: 00:10:18

because you know that being on your list is a privilege, because you are

Kate Doster: 00:10:21

always thinking to yourself, how is...

Kate Doster: 00:10:23

I hate using this term because it's thrown around a lot, but how is this of service?

Kate Doster: 00:10:26

What are you going to help them avoid?

Kate Doster: 00:10:28

What are you going to help them accomplish?

Kate Doster: 00:10:29

And then just go with it.

Jenn: 00:10:31

Where would you say that a summit falls into the podcast listener

Jenn: 00:10:35

journey and how can podcasters making the most of that kind of experience?

Desola Davis: 00:10:39

Oh, I love that.

Desola Davis: 00:10:40

I think that a summit...

Desola Davis: 00:10:42

so just to give everyone an overview of the customer journey, as I teach it:

Desola Davis: 00:10:47

There's a Stranger.

Desola Davis: 00:10:49

They start off as a Stranger, everybody does, and then they move

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into what's called your Audience.

Desola Davis: 00:10:54

So they're still kind of in the outer court, they're still

Desola Davis: 00:10:56

kind of checking you out.

Desola Davis: 00:10:58

Maybe they've listened to one episode, but they haven't really fully subscribed.

Desola Davis: 00:11:02

Maybe they're on your Instagram and they follow you and they double tap every once

Desola Davis: 00:11:06

in a while, but you're not like, on their notifications lists or anything like that.

Desola Davis: 00:11:10

And maybe they've even joined your email list, but you're not moved to Primary,

Desola Davis: 00:11:13

they don't really care whether or not they missed your emails, all of those.

Desola Davis: 00:11:16

And then they move to the Prospect status.

Desola Davis: 00:11:19

This is now when you're one of maybe three to five options that they're

Desola Davis: 00:11:24

really considering to solve whatever problem you solve, and they're trying

Desola Davis: 00:11:27

to figure out whether you're the best person to solve their problem.

Desola Davis: 00:11:31

And so this is really where you want to connect with them on a deeper level: share

Desola Davis: 00:11:36

some more stories, testimonials, show more of your expertise so that they can

Desola Davis: 00:11:40

make the right decision for themselves.

Desola Davis: 00:11:43

And then they move into the Customer status.

Desola Davis: 00:11:45

This is where they've raised their hand and they've said, "you won.

Desola Davis: 00:11:48

You're Miss America, we crowned you and you're the person that we've

Desola Davis: 00:11:52

decided is going to solve our problem."

Desola Davis: 00:11:54

And at that point, your job is to make sure that their problem actually gets

Desola Davis: 00:11:57

solved and that they achieve the goals for what they paid for essentially.

Desola Davis: 00:12:02

But even after that, once their problem gets solved, what you've inadvertently

Desola Davis: 00:12:06

done is given them more problems to solve.

Desola Davis: 00:12:10

They moved from one set of problems to like, a new set of problems and

Desola Davis: 00:12:13

really, that's just life, right?

Desola Davis: 00:12:14

There's never going to be a time where it's just like,

Desola Davis: 00:12:16

"all my problems are solved.

Desola Davis: 00:12:17

I'm just at home, just really living my best life."

Desola Davis: 00:12:19

It just doesn't happen.

Desola Davis: 00:12:21

And so what happens is once they become Customers and you've helped

Desola Davis: 00:12:23

them with their goals and they can tie that success back to you

Desola Davis: 00:12:26

and your genius, they become Fans.

Desola Davis: 00:12:29

And so they look back and they say, "okay, now I have all these new problems.

Desola Davis: 00:12:33

Obviously I'm going to come to you because you're a genius

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at solving all my problems.

Desola Davis: 00:12:38

How do we work together even more?"

Desola Davis: 00:12:40

and then designing solutions for them at that status.

Desola Davis: 00:12:43

And that level is what keeps you relevant on a continual basis and actually

Desola Davis: 00:12:48

extends your customer lifetime value.

Desola Davis: 00:12:50

So all of the elements of the customer journey - Stranger, Audience, Prospect,

Desola Davis: 00:12:57

Customer, Fan or Ambassador - and so for a summit, it's pretty unique because

Desola Davis: 00:13:07

it helps highlight your Ambassadors and it helps bring your Audience closer so

Desola Davis: 00:13:15

that they can become Prospects for you.

Desola Davis: 00:13:17

So it has kind of...

Desola Davis: 00:13:18

as a podcaster, it has kind of a dual thing to it.

Jenn: 00:13:22

There you have it!

Jenn: 00:13:23

There are so many reasons why podcasts and summits work together so well, and

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we'll get into more of them next week.

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For now, think about how a podcast could impact your summit.

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If you start the podcast before your summit, you can start building an audience

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that already loves to listen to you.

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If you launch your podcast through your summit, you have

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somewhere for your attendees to continue their journey with you.

Jenn: 00:13:44

Whichever way you decide to do it, podcasts are an amazing way to