Growing your audience through podcasts with Chloe Williamson
The following interview is a transcript excerpt from The Heallist Podcast episode. Listen to the full audio version below and subscribe to get notified of new episodes.
Unlock the secrets to transforming your wellness expertise into a powerful podcast presence as we uncover the hidden potential in this vibrant medium. Sit down with us and Chloe Williamson, a guru in podcast marketing, as we unearth strategies to rise above the noise and establish your authentic voice in the wellness landscape. Chloe is a Client Account Manager at Interview Valet, specializing in podcast marketing for health and wellness brands. She blends market research with creative storytelling to create impactful campaigns that resonate with target audiences and generate lasting promotional content. Chloe’s experience spans diverse clients, from osteopathic centers to skincare companies, where she helps them stand out as industry thought leaders. Her deep understanding of health and wellness enables her to craft tailored strategies that build trust and foster long-term audience relationships.
Podcast Guest Booking Strategies
Chloe Williamson: Outreach is your best bet and if that is not something that's daunting, I would recommend looking into an agency because we would do all of that legwork for you and we have trusted expertise and market research that could help you through that. But if that's not even interesting to you, putting yourself out there, find a way to get in touch with that host. If that doesn't work, what else is that host doing? Who else is that host talking to? Could you get in touch with them? Could their audience provide something to you? I would also look into communities. I don't have to tell health and wellness practitioners about the benefits of community building. That's the hallmark of this whole industry. There's a lot of power in that. You might know someone who knows something, who subscribes to the substack and has the information to get with this host, and you can get in there.
Ultimately, I would look at how you're representing yourself. If social media is not something you use, check your website. Do you think you represent yourself well? Also consider what you would say, because if you're even interested in reaching out, I imagine you have the confidence to say what you need to say. That also tends to be a roadblock for most people. They don't feel like they could long form talk about what they're trying to talk about in an interview. It could seem intimidating. But you're an expert for a reason. People pay you for what you do because you know what you're talking about, and that's where imposter syndrome can come in a bit. Confidence is key there and just absolute surety in what you're doing and how you can help people.
Maximizing Long-Form Content for Wellness
Chloe Williamson: I know social media can be a bit of a contentious subject. A lot of people don't like social media and I know that in health and wellness, it can seem obsolete. I urge everyone to try it out. I think there's a little bit of unavoidability when it comes to our current world and social media. I think you have to assimilate a bit. I'm not saying you have to go full force and become an influencer. You can even do something like a blog or a newsletter. I love long form content. I'm a very big advocate for that. So I know that blogs are not exactly at the forefront of our online media these days, but there's still a lot of benefit to them, and you could even leverage your podcast interviews to beat those up too, because it's just more content for you to use.
Leveraging Podcasts for Wellness Expert Growth
Chloe Williamson: If you're interested in starting a podcast, I would say get a good webcam, get a professional microphone. If you're not going to be posting video, the webcam is not as important. I still think you should have it just to clearly see the guests that you're going to be speaking to. But the microphone is non-negotiable. You have to have a professional microphone, because a podcast with bad audio quality is hard to listen to. Sometimes the simple pronunciation or the sound of someone's voice could make someone not listen. So if it's bad audio quality, they're probably not going to.
Then, find out what podcasting platform you're going to use. If you're looking at Apple/Spotify, they're mostly going to post anywhere. If you're trying to do a Spotify exclusive, that's a whole other take. And then, if you want to find people for your show, look into agencies. A lot of agencies can help you do that. Do a lot of research, see who's out there. I also recommend guesting. If you're intimidated by the idea of podcast guesting, you have to remember at the end of the day it is just a conversation between two people. You're probably still going to be sweating when you're doing it and making your notes, and there's a lot to be said about that, but ultimately it is a conversation between two people, so it should be natural. And if you know that you're providing the value, the rest will happen as it happens.
The Marketing Side of Podcasting
Chloe Williamson: Make posts, make audiograms, make images, produce clips. Find the most punchy statement that you said during it and make that a tagline for something. You can turn one simple sentence into a whole campaign, even if you were really determined enough to do it, and then it's cross-promotion too. The host is also going to be promoting this stuff too, so their audience is going to see it, your audience is going to see it, and then it's evergreen content. Just keep doing it.
And then, no matter what social media platform you choose to use, or if you're not a social media, if you're more of a newsletter you can still use that content in there, because you can make a reel out of it. Every pitch that you do from now on for yourself can include. If you do more interviews, you're just opening more doors to do more interviews, because if a host sees that you've done it and they have an example of what you've done, maybe they'll want to keep using you. Similarly for hosts, if there is relevant content out there that other people are talking about, tie it back to you talking about it. You can pillage someone else's content to promote yourself. There's no rule that says you can't do that.
If social media is not interesting to you, I would urge you to at least look into LinkedIn. I do think there's a lot of benefits there. But if you're into more traditional forms, this is still really beneficial to you. You can still use it, you can still market it. It's still content. It's not technical content marketing, because it's not on social media, but it's content that you can use over and over again.
Authentic Podcasting and Guest Placement
Chloe Williamson: Everything is very manufactured and that's another benefit of podcasts is that you get this whole conversation amongst two people and it would be authentic. Sometimes you can tell if it's not, if it's overly rehearsed or if it's filled with too much sales pitchy language. You can snuff that out, and to keep that authenticity at the top of what you're trying to do is really important, because that is going to help you with that discernment with what's going to work for you and what's not.
You should say yes to a lot of opportunities, but you know when something is not going to be good for you and you should say no. That doesn't mean that there still isn't benefit in that audience. Those people could still learn a lot from you. You may just have to appeal to them in a different way. Maybe look into other podcasts those people are listening to and see if that works out for you.
If you are a podcast host and you are not 100% positive if a guest is going to be a good fit for you but it's not a no off the bat, look into pre-calls. Pre-calls can be a really good tool for hosts and guests to get a feel how the conversation is going to go, if it's even going to work out, because no-transcript wastes of time because you're still learning more about the process. You're learning more about your content. The host is learning more. If you are the host, you're learning more about what you want. It's all a learning process and none of it is pointless.
