Our goal at One Stone Creative and on the Business Podcast Blueprint Show is to help companies harness the power of podcasting to enhance and expand their existing marketing activities, but today’s guest has taken a different approach – one that has been wildly successful. Paula Thomas has strategically built a show to be the dominant voice in her industry of loyalty marketing. We’re going to be chatting about making a commercially viable show, creating the team you need to maintain it and the importance of beginning with the end in mind.
Paula Thomas is the mastermind behind Let’s Talk Loyalty, a top 5% podcast globally according to Listen Notes. Paula has built a thriving podcast empire from the ground up. Her creative approach to podcasting and clever marketing moves, as well as her expertise in sponsorship and partnerships has made her a go-to expert in the field.
Tune in to hear Paula and me chat about:
- Her background in digital marketing and her passion for loyalty marketing inspired Paula to start a podcast.
- Consistency was key to building the success of Let’s Talk Loyalty.
- Paula’s focus on interviewing compelling brands attracted her target audience. “What I learned by doing is probably one of the most important early things, was [that] I really wanted to interview brands that were compelling to my audience,” she tells me.
- Paula went all-in on building the podcast as a business. This was crucial to her success.
- The sponsorship model she adopted is simple and effective:
- 30-second host-read ads, with one sponsor per show;
- 3 shows a week, 156 read out slots to sell;
- She also offers executive interviews, 2-3 per sponsor per year. These interviews focus on thought leadership and are clearly labeled as sponsored content;
- Content is appealing to both sponsors and audience.
- Limit advertising to 1 minute per show to avoid content overload and appeal to both sponsors and audience, Paula advises.
- Partnering with loyalty industry associations helped Paula promote her show.
- Paula has a full-time team for production and publishing, including a client success manager to manage sponsors.
- Paula considers her podcast as a product and is proud of its commercial success.
KEY QUOTE:
“Our whole distribution strategy for the show is to be the default audio content creator for every loyalty industry association in the world.” – Paula Thomas
RESOURCES
One Stone Creative | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Website
Paula Thomas | LinkedIn | Let’s Talk Loyalty