If your email open rates have tanked, your ads are costing you a fortune or you’re dreading the effort required to create that 3 video series for your next launch, try audio.

Nora Sudduth, co-founder of Hello Audio walks you through how the sound of your voice can improve your opt-in rates, challenge conversions and add a little something special to help your marketing stand out in a crowded world

Key Takeaway

Audio creates a natural, cohesive conversation in a way that video and email can't replicate while being quicker and easier to produce.

We talk about

• Why audio is the new (more effective) freebie
• Where audio works best in your funnel
• How to use it to supplement what you already have (no reinventing the wheel required)
• Whether a private podcast is the new email list
• Where audio might not be the best fit for your business

Links

Click here to sign up for a free, no credit card required trial of Hello Audio. (affiliate link)

To read the transcript, grab the resources and explore other episodes go to dianemayor.com/181

Welcome to coffee and compass.

I'm Diane.

And this is a show for lifestyle entrepreneurs.

Those people building a business to support their life.

Instead of living to build a business.

If this is you stick around for strategies of doing business more

efficiently, with more ease and in a way that feels oh, so good to you.

Hey, Hey, today's guest Nora Sudduth is a business and marketing advisor who

has helped businesses sell have a $500 million of products and services online.

She's also the co-founder of one of my favorite business softwares.

Hello, audio.

Now as a podcast, I naturally have an affinity for audio.

And Nora kindly agreed to answer all my questions.

On the crossover between audio and marketing.

So how do we use audio to invite people into our

hey, Nora welcomes the show.

Hey, thanks for having.

I am excited to dive into audio as always, especially on a podcast.

But let's kick off with a little intro to you and your business journey.

Absolutely.

I actually took more of that traditional path to success, so I

actually started in corporate, so entrepreneurialism was not on my radar.

When I kind of started doing this, I spent over 15 years in corporate kind

of climbing that corporate ladder.

And I didn't hate it.

I met a lot of great people.

I learned a lot along the way.

Worked for a lot of amazing companies, from startups to Fortune 500.

But it just wasn't for me.

So I decided that, you know, I wanted my kids to be able to take

the bus home and not spend all day in daycare, you know, after, after work.

So, ended up retiring from corporate, started my own marketing

agency, built that to multiple six figures in less than nine months.

I happened to be, at the time I did this.

I was using WordPress, but this is just when ClickFunnels started coming out.

So it was like the birthday, right when they, they were brand spanking new.

People weren't using the word funnel like they do now.

Now I think it's kind of like a dirty F word, but . But I think back then it

was very new and novel and I started using the tool with some of my clients.

Had a lot of great success.

Russell found out what I was doing and we had kind of been in his orbit through

coaching programs and things like that.

But he ended up tapping me and said, Hey, would you be willing to shut

down your marketing agency and come rebuild our certified partner program?

And I did.

So that was kind of my introduction to.

Really now being with ClickFunnels and working with them for a few

years and building a few seven figure programs for ClickFunnels and for

Russell, I had had a chance to review thousands of marketing campaigns.

And so when you get to, you know, at that level of exposure and you

build that many funnels, all of a sudden you kind of start to recognize

what works and what doesn't work.

You see the trends you kind of really understand and, and really diving

deep into that marketing psychology.

And at that point I was like, okay.

This is, this is something that I, I can, this is a skill like

the, you know, I thought like the corporate thing was kind of my gig.

I'm like, Oh no, this is what I was born to do.

And now, you know, years later, I've now helped sell over half a

billion dollars of stuff online.

So product services I've haven't met.

You know, a marketing campaign that I, I didn't love to be able

to tinker with and optimize.

And you know, now as I look at where we're at now with being a

co-founder of Hello Audio, and now using audio and specifically

private podcasts for marketing, it's opening up a whole new world.

Like, oh, just.

So many new options as, as trends have shifted, ads haven't

worked for a lot of folks.

Like there's so many things that are just different with attracting and converting

leads and being able to really leverage private podcasts now to start doing

these things is, I think it is gonna be a game changer for a lot of folks.

Do you think that the pandemic has allowed you folks at Hello Audio to.

Really like grow Hello audio into the platform than it is.

Are people more interested in, let's say, a private podcast than

let me download a PDF or a three video series or whatever it is.

I love it.

I, you know, I think to some extent, yes.

But I, I think the biggest reason why people are open to using audio is the

pandemic kind of forced us to pivot.

It forced us to try new things and I think, you know, if, if things

were just continuing to work, like they've always worked, people

would probably just keep doing it.

And I think, you know, we see things like the the three part video series or maybe

not as effective as they used to be.

Webinars are maybe not as effective as they used to be.

There's a, you know, everyone has their own graveyard of PDF downloads that

they've had from over the years, and they're just not as effective in terms of

building a connection with your audience.

And so I think, you know, it, audio and, and specifically private podcasts are

coming at such a perfect time because of people's, there's just more willingness

to, to experiment and try new things.

A and it's easy as hell, like, I mean, private podcast.

So easy is, you know, compared to some of the other lead magnet techniques or

some of the client attraction techniques that are out there today, and I think

those two things combined along with the effectiveness and just the results

that we're seeing, I think has really created a perfect storm for a lot

of folks to gravitate toward tools like Hello Audio, to help them do.

Yeah, I feel like on the client side it's just the ease of,

you know, I'm never on a long walk or a long car journey thinking, Ooh, I

could really read that PDF right now.

Right?

It just doesn't, just doesn't land for me.

And then on the producer side, the creator side of the equation, There

is no part of me that wakes up in the morning and thinks, Ooh, I can't wait to

do my hair and makeup for video today.

End of that

Right.

Whereas for me, Literally all it takes for me to do a private

podcast is to reach over and grab my microphone and plug it in, right?

So there is some tech involved, but not a lot of tech.

But it's just, so for me it's the ease on both sides as the consumer and as

the producer of that kind of content.

So let's talk about where it sits in our funnels.

Right.

Are private podcasts like, Hello, new person, come forth and meet me.

Or are they more like nurture, Nurture, or are they like by my thing,

All of the above.

That's the cool part about this is that we've had, So let's take the

top, We'll start from the top and I'll give you some examples there.

So I had someone that was using an ebook and it was actually converting

well and I was honestly a little surprised at . Well, it was converting

to cold traffic and I was like, Really?

It was converting at 20.

That's actually pretty decent for cold traffic, brand new, you know, here's,

this is how you're gonna get to know me.

This is how you're, you're doing stuff.

This wasn't my e.

, but all we did was switch the content.

We switched it to a private podcast delivery.

So now we took, you know, we had the author speak that, that

ebook into a private podcast.

We turned it into a private podcast and now conversions went from 20% to 80%

and that was the only thing we changed.

And we was like, Okay, let's take a look at that.

Because as we think about.

Our own tendencies as consumers, right?

And, and we, I've done this.

I'm guilty as charged on this.

I'll download cuz the content is, you know, I won't opt in for something

cuz my email is worth something.

If I, especially if I give you the real one, right?

Like, that's , like, that's, that's actually really good.

That means it's like, I think your, your lead magnet is valuable and so

I, you know, I have every intention.

Of reading that PDF or consuming it, but I'm busy, like everyone else is busy.

I haven't met anyone who doesn't have a consumer or an ideal

client that isn't busy and I just think, Oh, I'll do that later.

And every time we do that, every time your lead does that or your perspective

lead does that, it takes them out of that buying cycle and you're not

able, if they're not consuming that amazing content you just spent, God

knows how long putting together.

It's not effective, it's not gonna lead them to that next

step or the middle of the funnel.

And so what we found is not only did conversions go up, because people are

like, Oh, I'll actually, I believe, I believe in myself and I'll believe

I'll consume this cuz it's easier.

I know I'm busy and I'll be able to listen to this on the go.

Now what we saw is not only the, the 80% conversions had actually

help people take the next step.

So we increased conversions by double digits on the next step of his funnel.

Just because we made it easier for people to consume the lead, the lead

magnet, the lead content that kind of led people to that next step.

So it's, it can be used in every single aspect, but as we look at from, you know,

the lead magnet to high, to nurturing and getting people, I mean, audio is

great to have people get to know you even if you're the best writer ever.

We have copywriters that use Hello Audio.

And they, they still have private podcasts of the writing.

They, they, you know, who doesn't wanna hear from the author and hear your nuances

and your personality kind of come through.

And it's a great way to be able to build relationships and

connections with your audience.

And ultimately that's what's gonna.

Create those conversions on the back end.

It's when people actually believe that you can help them, that your

product or your service is what they need at this time, right?

It's all of the things that we need to create that environment for them to buy.

It's a lot easier to do that over audio than it is any other medium.

as you were talking I was thinking.

How we're asking people to consume a private podcast is how we would more

naturally meet a person like you.

Don't turn up at a cocktail party and be like, It's nice to meet you.

Here's my pdf of, of all the interesting things about me.

And when you finish that one, you can click here and I'll give you another one.

Right.

So I can see why that kind of journey to, Okay.

What's next is feels more natural and less forced and less salesy for everyone.

Did the person keep the ebook or did they just switch the

ebook off completely and moved?

They switched it completely in this example, but we have had people keep it.

So we've had folks that have downloadable PDFs that are like checklists or.

Books or guides, that kind of stuff.

And what we've had other people do is they've kept that workbook or they've

kept that cheat sheet or whatever it is, and they just added a supplemental

audio guide to walk people through it.

So if you think about now what that can do, cuz if you think

about marketing content, right?

You got stats, facts and stories.

That's kind of what's supporting that lead magnet.

And so now you're able to kind of tell them the background.

Why this step is so important, or why this checklist works, or some of the pitfalls

of, of people that have used, or where people get stuck and you're able to tell

stories, and it's just a great way to be able to demonstrate your expertise

as the authority in whatever you do in your niche or in your, you know, area.

And then, Also be able to establish connections through those stats, facts and

stories that you're telling your audience.

And to your point, I love this.

And actually I want, this is important because if I've, I

looked at all the marketing campaigns that I've ever looked at.

You know, we talk about funnels, we talk about, you know, all

different types of funnels.

All we're doing in every single marketing campaign is we're having a

conversation with a prospective client.

That's all this is.

So if you think about marketing as a conversation, it doesn't matter how the

heck you're delivering that conversation.

Could be email, could be webinar, could be lots of different

pieces, kind of patched together.

It still has to be a cohesive conversation and we still need to have certain

things come across, like be able to, to demonstrate our ability to help them or

get them the result or whatever that is.

And so if we think about all the different mediums we could choose

to have that conversation in, right?

Cause like you said, this is a very natural, we just go to a

coffee shop, have a conversation.

What's the most likely thing that's gonna be able to help you as the business owner

or creator, get that conversation across?

It's usually an audio conversation.

It's a lot more difficult to patch together emails and a webinar and

a video and all those things and still make it feel like you're

having a natural conversation.

So we're really taking it back to the root, which is what Mark

makes marketing effective, is having really good conversations

with our prospective clients.

Right.

So now we've gone out, we've done our usual promotions that we

would do for any kind of opt-in.

We've got people, they've come along, they're like, Oh my

gosh, a podcast is amazing.

I want everything.

And they're now in middle of funnel.

So they're on our email list.

Are we now replacing, sending emails to people with podcasts or are we doing

something else that's supplemental to emails in the middle of the.

Some people do, so they have replaced him.

So I will say this, the inbox is crowded.

I don't think that's news to anyone.

We've seen marketers recommend physical mail because your physical mailbox

is actually now less crowded than your digital mailbox, You know, And

being able to open it, we've seen is, I've looked at client stats, we've,

they've seen open rates historically they've been decreasing, right?

You might get some blips and if you're really great at email subject,

you know, lines and that kind of stuff there, and you maybe your.

Open rate is consistent if you're really sending valuable content, but in general,

it's, it's actually difficult to get consistent opens in the inbox just because

people are getting a lot of content.

And so what, what the private podcast channel does is

it's kind of the new inbox.

It's a new channel of communication that now you're opening between you

and that person and you're able to communicate with them through that

medium or through that channel.

So we absolutely still have folks that use that, that, that private

podcast to continue communications.

We have, like I had mentioned TAR and K is an amazing copywriter.

She has her newsletters that she sends out.

And she speaks them.

So it's like, Hey, if you don't wanna read, you don't

wanna take the time and read.

Let me read these to you.

Do you wanna listen to these newsletters instead?

And there's a lot of, and, and for the love of all things, Holy, you know,

do you wanna listen to these instead?

Does not mean make them download an MP3 file.

Make them try to figure out where the heck that file ended up on, wherever device

they're listening to, and then try to op.

It's like, No, why would you do that?

It's a lot more convenient that the podcast app has

everything right there for you.

It's all organized, it's sequential.

They don't have to work for it.

Like if you really wanna, you're spending all this time creating this content, your

newsletters, your blog posts, all the stuff you're using to nurture that person.

Why are we not making it easier to consume?

That's the, that's where I think the magic of private podcasts come in.

So whether it's the email newsletters, whether it's workshops that you put on,

or trainings or coaching calls that you do, anything that you're doing in the

middle of the funnel, that content that you're creating that demonstrate your

expertise, that might kind of seed.

In that offer, you might be kinda laying the groundwork for whatever

offer is coming next or, or per preemptively dealing with hesitations

or potential sales objections.

All that content you're creating can absolutely be delivered over

audio through this private podcast and it actually gets consumed.

That's the magic of the middle of the funnel.

And I think it has that unique ability that it's so much easier to.

Update it to provide like a little something extra at the end.

It's just a quick recording versus, okay, now I have to think

through an email, et cetera.

So I just wanna be really clear for people who don't live in Hello Audio as

much as I do , are we saying that if you wanted to Hello Audio could replace your.

Your emailers, your CRMs, your like convert kits.

Is that where we're at?

Technically you can.

So I will say that Hello Audio is unique in our space.

When we look at all the competitors that also are quote unquote podcast host.

Hello Audio isn't just a podcast host, it's, it functions more like an audio crm.

So what we can do is just like your whatever CRM you use, Active

Campaign Convert kit, right?

There's a bunch of great ones out there.

You can.

Your subscribers, in our case, we call them listeners, right?

They're the same people.

You can tag your audience members with specific tags, whether you're,

they're buyers, they're non buyers, they're interested in X, maybe

they're at a certain revenue level.

However, you segment your audience so that you can serve them better

and so that you can have more relevant conversations with them.

Cuz that's the whole point of, of being able to segment your audience.

You can do that within Hello Audio and what we do that, no.

Podcast or private podcast provider does is we allow you to tailor the

audio content that gets delivered to them based on those tags.

So for example, in the middle of the funnel, you might have folks that are at

a certain revenue level, or they have a certain asset or, or they're a certain,

they have a certain attribute that your other audience members don't, which might

mean that they might need an additional.

Piece of information.

They might need more explanation, they might need whatever

it is that they might need.

If they have that tag and they've, they've raised their hand and they

said, I am this person, or I have this revenue level, whatever that is, you can

actually now slip in an episode in that private podcast that goes only to the

people who are tagged with that specific tag, which means whether you do this

for buyers and non buyers, You know, you whatever you, you choose to do that.

And now all of a sudden, not only are you able to reach people with audio

more, cuz we know that audio allows you to unlock all the hours of the day.

We're not sitting here at the screen.

Right.

And we can fit those into pockets of our day.

Now we're actually able to deliver more.

Relevant content.

So that might be episodes.

And we also have something that's we call dynamic content.

And all that is, is pre-roll, that little clip that you might hear at

the beginning of an episode or post roll, that the end kind of clip.

And that might be an advertisement for an upcoming, you know, offer

that you might have or a launch.

Or it might just be a personal, like, Hey, if you have any questions, Reach

out or here's my, here's my email address, or whatever that looks like.

You have a lot of options that now all of a sudden takes segmentation and being

able to deliver relevant information to an entirely different level.

I guess that like post role is almost like the PS in the email

where I guess if you were doing, if you think about, like, I'm thinking

of like that weekly kind of newsletter style email marketing where maybe

you're not in a hard promo, but you want your Ps to be like, Oh, PS if you

need to, you can still buy my thing.

That post role gives you the ability, because unlike email, they could get

your entire back catalog of podcast depending on how you set it up.

But it gives you the ability and that post role to make your PS current.

So even if you give them the whole back role, you don't want them

looking for an offer that you had six months ago or a year ago.

You want them coming to the thing that you're leading them to.

So the post role in my brain is like the PS and the email.

I love that.

I love the Ps.

It's usually structured like here's the three ways that you can work with me.

And they're usually like the super easy, like low pressure.

Like, here's, like, I have a free training.

Here you go.

If you're looking for more support, go here.

Right?

Or if you wanna book a one on one, whatever that looks like, Yes.

It, it that, that post roll clip can be changed based on tags.

It can be changed based on dates.

So if you're running an event and you wanna talk about the event,

but only up until Tuesday , you can change it, you know, and make.

Aspire and and swap something out from Tuesday on, that gives you so

much more flexibility than having to rerecord a bunch of stuff and then

wondering, Oh, am I sending people to a place that isn't relevant or an offer?

I really am not interested in selling right now exactly what that is.

Okay, so now we've brought them in with our exciting new Optin.

We've nurtured them with our D delightful storytelling in our own.

Actual voice and now we're ready to like go, Okay, let's buy something.

That would be traditional when you're like, Here's the sales page.

Mm.

What does conversion using a private podcast or audio look like?

Absolutely.

So this is where launching with audio, so we kind of have attracting

with audio, we've got nurture with audio, right?

And now we actually and connect with audio I would say kind of goes in the middle.

And now we have launch with audio.

So what we're seeing is there's a lot of traditional launch methods.

That are still very effective, right?

Depending on your niche and your price point and your audience, whether you're

running a challenge, those are still very effective for a lot of folks.

Maybe it's a, a workshop paid or not.

Yeah.

You might still be running a webinar.

You might still be running, you know, a, a video series.

There's a lot of different ways to get your launch content out there,

which would involve the sales page.

What we're seeing is that as you're bringing people through your funnel, as

you're bringing people and you're having.

Conversation with them, continuing the conversation with them by allowing

them to consume your launch content.

And again, whatever that's your challenge, your workshop, all the

things that you could possibly use.

But by putting that in audio form, we're seeing double digit

increases on conversions on the back end, even for folks.

So we have an example, We have someone that used that ran a challenge

and I would say maybe three times, you know, did the, the challenge,

same exact challenge, consistent.

Is all get out, which I loved.

Consistent conversions, like 10%.

Right?

10% conversions.

Every single time they ran this challenge, all they did was add audio

and it bumped conversions up to 19%.

All they did.

And it was like

So they just, they took the challenge content

it.

Made it easier to consume.

and recorded it.

Essentially, they spoke it out loud into a microphone.

That's

and they already had all the content, so they didn't, It was, you know,

I think it was videos that they had done

in their Facebook group.

they

just

dragged and dropped it.

They just dragged and dropped it because Hello Audio strips the audio for you.

So you don't even have to go to like janky sites.

If you have the video, just drag and drop it in.

yet just by creating a, a private podcasted version of their launch content.

So it's still protected, right?

It's still like you're, and you're now able to see who's listening and when

they're listening, which is, you know, usually data if you've got your video

out there on YouTube or whatever, like.

Probably not seeing granular by, you know, by email address who's listening

and when, and that now allows you to be able to even make the conversation

more relevant with those folks.

But, but no matter, we've seen people do this with workshops, with

challenges, with webinars all even we've had folks read their sales page.

Into a private podcast as part of their launch sequence, and it increased

conversions just because, I mean, it's like, it's not rocket science.

We're just actually allowing them to consume it.

If you think about, if you know the typical drop off day after day,

if you're running like a five day challenge, right, Monday through

Friday, it's pretty, pretty standard.

There's a significant drop off day to day, right?

When, when people aren't showing up or whatever it looks like By putting

that into a private podcast and in one.

People do This is by making the, the popup.

It's like a popup podcast, which means this is not an insurance policy for you.

This is, you know, if you've missed it, consume it.

Cuz this thing's going away on Friday.

And now all of a sudden you're creating this built in urgency, which is, you

know, there's a marketing tool in your toolbox to be able to allow people to

binge that content easily on the go, while they're on the go with, you know,

earbuds or whatever they're doing.

And if they consume your launch content, that's, that's what launch content is.

It's designed to help you be more ready to buy.

So just by making it easier to consume, by putting it into audio form, we're seeing

folks double, sometimes even triple their normal conversion rates just because

people are actually consuming the content.

Wow.

I'm a little speechless, which is unusual for me.

. Is there anything that you think in traditional marketing that we either

can't or maybe shouldn't do with audio?

You know, I, It's interesting.

I.

Is I look at some folks that have very visual content, like very meaning like

if I'm teaching something that's like, click and point here, do this here.

Here's how you do this type of thing.

You know, initially I would've thought that probably isn't the

best place to only do audio.

But now as I'm looking at the data and I'm seeing case studies come back even

by offering the audio only version of.

It allows people to, that it, it increases repetition.

They hear it once, it takes the pressure off, and quite frankly, if they only

offered it in video, people still.

Aren't consuming it now, at least they kind of hear it once and now they kind

of see where that person is taking them.

So, you know, that would be kind of the first thing I think about is all the

folks that are doing more visual content.

But what we're seeing is the data proves that audio is still useful

for consumption and then ultimately increasing conversions even on audio.

I, you know, for me, I look at all.

The options and the possibilities and every single piece of content that

I've seen business owners create from the top of the funnel all the way

through onboarding that new client and delivery and audio just makes it easier

in every single aspect to consume.

So there's not a single piece of, and I'm not anti videod, like I'm

definitely not, I don't love creating them as a creator for all the, you

know, hair, makeup, and video editing.

That.

Well, if you've ever done it, you understand you're

probably, you, you get it.

You understand why people don't wanna do it.

But you know, for all practical purposes, no matter what your

content is, it's so easy.

You can get a feed up in literally minutes.

And I'm not just saying that, like, just be, I'm obviously biased with

audio, but it's so easy to do.

With the results and the conversion numbers that we're seeing and how much

it increases audience engagement and audience, just all of it, it's, it's a

worthy experiment for everyone to do, no matter what content you're creating.

And I think that keyword there is also experiment, Because you wanna

be kind of sure that things are worth the effort if you're gonna do save video

or like run a massive challenge in a Facebook group, et cetera, et cetera.

Whereas because this is kind of easy to put out.

You could do a little like mini test case of it, see if it works.

If it doesn't, it's probably taking you half an hour to build the thing if you've

got five, five minute episodes, right.

Because Hello Audio will do the transcript and everything for you anyway.

So to me, that I find I'm vastly more likely to be like, this is a topic

I'm interested in talking about.

Let me talk about it.

Let me tell people I've talked about it.

Are people listening to it?

And then if they're not, I'm like, Oh, okay.

I'm either not explaining this correctly or like, Hey, I can see they've dropped

off after episode two out of 10.

The, I'm not engaging them in this topic either.

Like, how do I go back a step?

Right?

So it gives you, I find really like fast data.

Yes.

Yes.

And, and I think that's one thing that if you think of traditional or

more conventional podcasters, right?

Like folks that have amazing shows like this, you don't get.

That granular data, yes, you might be able to see how many

people are listening to this.

Right?

And, and by the way, if you're listening, we think you're amazing.

But we don't get to see your, your email tied to your listening

stats and with private podcasts you do, you do get to see that.

So you have data around.

Exactly how do you and what do we make decisions on when it comes to running

experiments and having a business?

No matter what we're doing as an entrepreneur, we look at the data and

then we make choices, and it's all, to your point, it's all in experiment.

Marketing is just a series of experiments, and I think what makes it so cool to your

point is when we look at audio and we see the results, there's evidence there and

it's like, well, It's also easy to do.

It's easy to run, and it's inexpensive to run that experiment.

I would much rather run an experiment to create a private podcast to

see if that increases conversions or increases engagement through a

challenge than I would trying to drop another 10 grand on ads like that.

There's something about being able to make this.

Accessible not only to your listeners, to your audience, and now they can, They

can listen to your content whenever, wherever, which I think is amazing.

But as a business owner, as a busy creator, this is accessible for you

to pivot, to test messaging, to see if people are interested, to test,

to see if you have the right stories.

Go back to the stats, facts and stories, right?

Like, are you using the right stories to create engagement?

Are you.

to evoke emotion like audio is the best way, and I think the easiest and fastest

way to be able to test those things.

And I guess nobody ever got upset when they discovered a new podcast

and it had like a hundred episode.

But if you say to someone, Right, I'm gonna send you a hundred emails.

You've signed up, here's a hundred emails today in your inbox,

that's a really different vibe.

Right?

If someone emails us more than, like, once every couple of days, I'm following

somebody's launch at the moment.

More from like a, I'm curious about their style versus an

intense need to buy the product.

And they have emailed me every single day this week, sometimes a couple of

times a day, but they're very upfront about their strategy at the beginning.

So like I'm expecting it, but it's still a bit jarring.

Every time they show up in my inbox, I'm like, How can there be another email?

Right?

Whereas, When my, one of my favorite podcasters Steven Bartlet, who is

Diary CEO, upped his production from like once a week to, I didn't even

know how many episodes he puts out his prolific multiple every week.

There was no part of me that I was upset by that,

Yep.

There was no part of me that was like, Ugh.

And his episodes are an hour and a half.

Oh.

They're in depth juicy interviews, right?

If somebody sent me the email equivalent over an hour and a half

podcast, I would just be gone.

If somebody sent me the blog equivalent, I would be gone.

Whereas we're prepared to listen to somebody tell us a story

in our headphones, right?

I love that analogy.

It's perfect.

It's, it's so true, right?

Because it's, it's like you control and it's, it's bingeable at your pace

and then as the creator you get to see who your super listeners are, right?

So like at Hello Audio, we have the Super Listener score, which allows

you to see who are those folks that are binging and that are super

interested in what you have to say.

I.

And you, I guess you could even segment with that and be like,

Here's a little super listener bonus.

Yep.

That's kind of like the subscriber level of like normal

iTunes or whatever, right.

Where you can subscribe and then you can see all those bonus episodes,

but you can't access them like, Oh, I want in, I wanna be in the club.

So what is your favorite thing that you've seen somebody do at any

point in the funnel from a marketing perspective, what's the favorite thing

you've seen someone do with Hello?

This is rough cuz there's so many unique ways to do this.

I.

you pick a couple.

I'm, I appreciate that.

Thank you for not letting me eliminating to one cause.

That's a rough one.

I think so, first and foremost, the popup podcast.

I love, like, limited time exclusive popup podcast.

I love that.

I, that the, just the, the strategy itself, it, it's like built in urgency.

I am.

I am not a fan of bro marketing.

I am not a fan of fake urgency or fake scarcity.

Like all that crap can just die like a very quick death very, very soon.

Right?

But when you have a podcast that's like, Hey, this is gonna expire, it's

gonna go away, and that's a real thing.

You're like, I, this is like, Because what are you doing as an owner?

You're like, I really want people to consume this information and I'm making

it really easy for them to consume it whenever they want to, whenever

it fits into those pockets of time.

Those popup podcasts I think are amazing.

We had Amy Porterfield just used a popup podcast for her list

building into the launch of dca.

So as she went into her launch for dca, she absolutely used Hello

Audio to do a popup podcast, which I thought was an amazing way.

For her to kind of have that exclusivity, the, the ability for, to build urgency to

consume it, in order for her to build that list prior to launch, which I love that.

You can do it for launches that have anything that's time sensitive

and with Hello Audio, you can also do Evergreen ones as well.

So it doesn't have to be date driven.

It could be, you know, Hey, I, you, you get seven days to listen to this because I

believe it's really that important to you.

So I, I love popup podcast.

Yeah, and I think also for somebody like me who is.

Really comfortable in the audio thing.

Like that's a, that feels really easy to me.

If you told me I needed to create like some kind of like challenge

or video series or anything, I can think of 20 reasons off the top of

my head why that's not gonna happen.

But if you said to me, Okay, Diane, you need to have done a

popup podcast by the end of the weekend, it would just be done.

It's

Right.

So let's just revisit for anyone who isn't a podcast, Let's do a quick refresh on

what kind of tech are we talking about?

Let's talk through how complicated this is.

Cause I think your stats really do sell that it's a solid marketing tool,

if not a cut above marketing tool.

But I know people will be listening and they'll be like, Well, I don't really,

I don't like the sound of my voice.

Like all the things you hear about the reason.

Like, people will often say to me like, I wanna do a podcast, but

I've been thinking about a podcast.

But I think until you do it, it feels like this huge barrier.

So Can we remove that barrier to people trying.

To use podcasts as a marketing tool,

Yes.

Yes, I think so.

I think I hear that a lot, right?

I, I've been thinking about a podcast, and I think the biggest thing is there's

a difference between a public podcast, what everyone thinks about when you

hear, I wanna start a podcast to grow my business, that's, most people are

talking about a public podcast, right?

Where you're doing shows like this or you're interviewing and Yes,

like you could, you could tell people, it takes a commitment.

You have to schedule interviews, you've gotta find folks.

You've gotta, like, there's, there's some consistent work that needs

to be done, and it's all great.

. And if you're not really feeling that, you don't, you don't need to be a

podcaster to have a podcast because you can enjoy private podcasts, which

all that really is, is just, it's using the podcast communication channel,

which millions and million, hundreds of millions are using every single week.

So if we look at just a quick stat the folks that, the number of hours

that are people are consuming podcast.

Data, like content in a podcast app is rivaling the number of hours that

people are on Netflix every single week.

So there are millions of people who are already listening to stuff.

It's like, why are we not meeting them where they're already at?

They're in their podcast app listening to content, and you don't need to

be a podcaster and have a show or an interview style show that is

like a weekly or a daily thing.

To have a square, to own a square inside their podcast app.

You can have a private podcast and podcast, all sorts of different content,

whether it's your lead magnet, your video series, your blogs, your newsletters.

You have, you have a lot of options when it comes to creating a podcast.

And it comes, you know, when we look at the tech and what's really

involved, we've had folks that don't have a microphone, they just act.

They open up their voice recorder app on their phone.

And they just talk into it.

They send the file, they save the file.

Maybe they have a bunch of files in Google Drive or whatever that is, and

they just use that to create a podcast.

We have other folks that record, they might have a conversation

of their coaching on Zoom.

We have a direct integration with Zoom, so you don't even

have to download and upload.

Like you could connect your Zoom account and it shows up

already in your audio inbox.

But it's, it can be that easy where you don't need to worry about

having the expensive mic, you don't need to worry about, you know,

having that overproduced show.

It could just be you, your voice and you sharing your expertise,

and that's what you're packaging up in that private podcast to be

able to share with your audience.

It's, it's a lot easier, I think, than people.

Then people might realize, and that's actually one of the strategies and

one of the reasons why we chose the marketing strategy that we did is

because when we saw that over 70% of our users launched their first feed

in less than a day, and then usually we have a bunch of other people that

are like, Oh, if I would've known how easy it was, I would've done it too.

We're like, You know what?

We just need to let people experiment with it.

And that's why we chose to do the seven day trial without requiring any

credit card whatsoever, is because it's like, Hey, you know, we say it's

easy, but let's put our money where our mouth is and, and prove it to you.

And so that's, I think that's a thing is if you're thinking about it, try it.

It's not, you know, you don't need a credit card to try it.

We're not gonna charge your bill you right away.

Like you can just literally try it and see how easy it is to, to be able

to, to launch a private podcast in, in a very, very short amount of time.

Whereas that content in any other way could absolutely take days, weeks,

months, and for some folks even years.

Yeah, I'll be sure to link that in the show notes because I think that is the

key to whether you're public podcasting or private podcasting, is you have to start.

, it's, it's never gonna get easier while you're thinking about doing it.

You have to actually try it.

I mean, how amazing would that be?

And you don't need to worry that it's this polished thing that's

gonna live on iTunes forever.

Like, you can take it down the next day if you want, if you hate it

that much, but you probably won't.

Oh, I could talk about audio like all day.

It's just so exciting to me.

I think it's a super powerful platform and I obviously, otherwise I wouldn't spend

my time and effort creating a podcast.

But I also do have multiple private podcasts for a lot of different things

now when people are taking this free trial, I really just wanna give them

a little inside Scoopy scoop about why they should go and do this now.

Because I know you've got little super secret something coming in October

for all of your Hello Audio users.

Yes we do.

So it's so exciting cuz we, we get a lot of folks who may not be super

interested in building the six figure or seven figure business.

Right.

But they definitely wanna monetize their expertise.

I mean, who couldn't use a couple of extra thousand bucks a month, Right?

Or some

extra cash.

right?

There's always shoes.

There's, you know, I would say the Peloton rower, but I just saw the price

on that, so that's not gonna happen.

But But is it, You know, everyone could use some extra cash,

whether you wanna take your family on a vacation or whatever.

And so there's a lot of folks out there that wanna just monetize their

expertise, but the thought of creating.

A traditional video course is just daunting.

I mean, it's like the slides and the makeup and it's like, oh,

you're trying to do all the things.

And so what we're doing is we are gonna run an audio course accelerator

for everyone who is on a paid plan with Hello Audio, and we're gonna

help everyone in that accelerator.

Build an audio course and hopefully within those 30 days sell their audio course.

So we're gonna go over the structure of how to create that course.

We're gonna also, we're gonna be with everyone every step of the way, and we're

gonna give them some real, practical, easy strategies to actually market

and sell so that people can monetize their expertise in such an easier way.

Than audio.

No other tech stacks, no other, you know, technical things required.

It's just all within Hello Audio.

And it's gonna be really awesome.

We're so excited to be able to share that with our.

And that's an opportunity to get input from.

Two people who are incredibly good at what they do.

Nora, who is the marketing pro, and then Lindsay, who is a professor who literally

taught for a living and taught people how to build courses as her business before.

Hello Audio.

So I think that's a winning combination.

So get in there, play around with it, decide if you wanna upgrade,

and come and join us in creating that course in the accelerator.

I'm very excited.

I am too.

I'm so excited.

Oh.

So to finish up, I always ask my guests the same two questions.

What is your number one lifestyle boundary for your business?

Oh, this is a good one.

I have been historically horrible at setting boundaries.

I will say though, as I've gotten older, I have gotten much better.

And so I have very specific time blocks on my calendar.

Where I do not take calls.

So my LY cuts off after a certain time every single day.

And that is right now the time of day where my kids come home from school.

So I am actually able to greet them face to face and not have my face

either in a computer or on a phone.

So that is my biggest boundary and I, it's made a world of difference.

Just, I only have so many summers left with the kids

before they go off to college.

That is probably something I'm the most proud of putting in place and sticking.

Amazing.

I think that's a pretty big boundary.

You're like, Oh, I haven't really have any boundaries.

It's like, yes, that's

a pretty huge boundary, especially because that's, I think, a very easy one to move

out of the way when it's inconvenient.

it's very easy to be like, they're not gonna notice for one day if I'm not there.

Right.

And then one day becomes

Seven in a row and Yeah,

Exactly.

Okay.

And then finally, what is the worst piece of cookie cutter advice you've

been given in your business journey?

Oh God.

That I've been given.

I've heard a lot of crap.

There's so many.

The one that sticks in my head, probably because of my experience

working with all of the marketing campaigns that I've looked at, is, is

the whole one your one funnel away?

I, I can't, I can't.

It's just, I, Yeah, just the phrase itself, it's like, You're one really good

conversation away from making a sale.

Like that's okay, but funnels are not the field of dreams.

They're not magical.

They're not like, it's that, that one phrase.

it creates a visceral reaction for folks that.

Marketers and for folks that have sold, like I've helped sell so many

millions of dollars of things, it's like I know what it takes to actually

have a successful campaign, and it's not just being one funnel away.

So that's kind of my, the one thing that I think bothers me, that

gets to me every time I see it.

Especially not these days when you can't just run ads to that funnel.

Like back in the days of traffic, maybe you were a little closer to being one

funnel away, but in today's times, you're a really large amount of money

Yeah, Yeah, it's, it's very different how, you know, back in the

day when Facebook ads worked and you could literally, you could have crappy

offers or crappy pa, like there's so many things you could get away with.

I would say even five years ago.

That you cannot get away with.

There, there were things that you could have done that would've made millions

five years ago or four years ago, and, and now people won't even, it's, it's not

even in, it's, doesn't even register as something they would want to engage with.

So, yeah, it's very, very different.

Awesome.

Well, this has been a fabulous chat.

I'm sure people will want more Nora and more Hello Audio.

Where is a good place on the socials for them to find that?

You can find me at Nora, either norasudduth.com or at Nora Sudduth on

Instagram and you can connect with us on Hello Audio at hello audio fm on Instagram

awesome.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for having me.

It's been a blast.

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