In the simplest sense, a private podcast is one where YOU control who’s listening and for how long. But there’s a LOT more to it than that. 

If you’re here, you already understand the power of audio. It creates a real connection between you and your audience, listeners can consume content on the go or while multitasking, and completion rates are higher compared to video. And that’s just the beginning! With that in mind, it’s easy to understand why MP3s and podcasts are often used to share content…but what if there was an even better way?

Enter private podcasts! Let us explain…

It used to be best practice for anyone with an online program to offer downloadable MP3s of their content. While those MP3s did technically allow you to listen on the go, they also removed so much of the convenience factor (especially when you can’t even find the MP3s on your device after downloading).

But what’s the difference between a typical public podcast and a private podcast? Read on and discover four key differences between public and private podcasts.

READING TIME – 5.5 MIN

Private Podcasts Aren’t Open To Just Anyone

Yeah, yeah, we already covered this. But before you skip ahead, we have to rave a bit more! That’s because this simple feature leads to ALL the other amazing differences between public and private podcasts.

Whether your favorite public podcasts are educational or entertaining, you probably just clicked the subscribe button. Easy! After that, it’s still pretty simple. You wait for a new episode to be posted and then you listen at your leisure. And that’s how it is for anyone else who wants to consume that content.

But think about the creator of that show. From their end, there’s very limited visibility into who’s specifically listening. That’s because those access links are open to the general public. Yes, hosts can get SOME basic information about the number of downloads and perhaps the device their listeners are using. However, that information doesn’t really help you understand, from a lead generation perspective, who’s specifically listening and what content listeners are most interested in.

From the user end, private podcasts look, feel, and operate just like public podcasts. From the host’s perspective, however, things are a lot more interesting. Private podcasts use individual unique access links that are tied to specific email addresses. That means YOU control who listens and for how long. It also means…

A Private Podcast Gives You Access To More Data

Because private podcasts use unique access links, YOU now have access to more data. This makes private podcasts phenomenal for lead magnets!

Your ideal customer can provide their email address and, in exchange, you’re giving them a unique access link to audio content that’s tied to that specific email address. This feature allows you to monitor and analyze WHEN and HOW MUCH they’re consuming your content.

That’s the kind of data that can influence your overall content strategy for higher conversion rates.

You Can Deliver Content Differently With A Private Podcast

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Not all audio is created equal! And when it comes to content delivery methods, private podcasts beat out public podcasts any day of the week.

In a typical public podcast, all of the content is available at once. New episodes are posted and then immediately made available to all subscribers. With private podcasts, however, you have the option of controlling how content is delivered.

Yes, you can still deliver content just like a conventional public podcast. While that’s great for releasing live content, you can also choose to deliver your content in more of an evergreen dripped format.

For example, say we joined your podcast to listen to your amazing content (duh). Our Day One would be today, but if you had another ideal client that discovered your private podcast a week later, their Day One would be the day that they joined. Basically, you’re able to drip out content day-by-day, bi-weekly, or whatever customized schedule you’d like to use.

You could also drip that content out based on when someone opts-in, or choose to do an instant feed where all the content is there at once and can be binged by that listener. The former is often helpful when you have listeners that simply want to consume the data and you don’t want to rely on them coming back to the podcast every single day. You can just give them all the content at once, let them binge, and then take the next action in your customer journey!

Private Podcasts Can Personalize Content with Dynamic Features

If we absolutely HAD to pick our favorite difference, dynamic content would definitely be a top contender. That’s because it really seals the deal when it comes to creating that personal connection!

With Hello Audio, you can do things like use a listener’s first name in an episode title to get more of their attention. You can even tailor the conversation to each individual listener based on tags!

Think of it this way. If you think about how a typical email marketing system will work, you can tag someone as a buyer or non-buyer and both could have access to the same private podcast. With tags, however, they’re getting different content based on whether they’re a buyer or a non-buyer. That might be an entire episode or, with dynamic content features, you could add unique pre-roll and post-roll content.

Having personalized pre-roll (something that plays before an episode) and post-roll content (something that plays at the end of an episode) can have a major impact on your listener’s overall experience. You can think of this as an ad, or you could run a specific promotion with dynamic content.

So, not only are we able to reach them through this amazing communication channel they’re already using, but now we can do some pretty ninja stuff in order to make sure that the info they’re listening to is relevant to them.

Have More Questions About Private Podcasts?

Try our FREE Hello Audio Instant Demo! You’ll learn about the different types of private feeds, which ones may be right for you, actionable steps to create and deliver your first private feed, and LOTS of helpful resources.

Ready to get started? Try Hello Audio FREE for 7 Days!

You already know you’ve got something important to share, otherwise, you wouldn’t be here. Let’s get your content into your audience’s ears as soon as possible. Start your free trial today and get all the support you need to add value to courses and funnels while WOWing customers. Let’s make it happen!

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