pFflvyFiItpiUoZwMlRYyl9GmchSrLA: Interview

Seven Ways to Maximize the Marketing Potential of Your Audio Interview With an Expert

You've found the expert. You've conducted the interview.

If you've done your homework right, you should now have in your possession, information that your clients want to hear.

But how best can you make that information work for you?

The answer lies in recognizing the enormous potential for self-promotion that the interview holds. A positive experience for the listener - both in terms of content and delivery - reflects well on your business.

So follow these seven steps and go all out to create one.

Make sure you edit the interview. People don't want to listen to the "ums" and "ahs" and boring bits that form part of everyday conversation. Get rid of them.

Add an introduction to that audio. People want to know what they are about to listen to. So let them know who is doing the interview, who you are interviewing, and what is the listener going to hear. An introduction puts everything into perspective.

Promote your products at different points in the interview. Let's face it, if you're interview is any good, people will be listening. Don't miss these opportunities. Insert "calls to action" at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the interview.

Upload your best work to iTunes. I have over 200 interviews on that site. When people download my interviews, they see that I am the artist and are given the URL of my website. It's a great gateway to new potential customers.

Make sure you insert an ID3 tag on your work. These are tags you can code your audios with. They ensure that even if people share your work with their friends (which is increasingly likely to happen ), the end user knows who you are!

Use every part of the audio "real estate." Most CDs are 70 minutes in length. If your interview lasts 50 minutes, fill the space. I like to surprise the listeners of my CDs by announcing: "Here's an unexpected bonus for the last 20 minutes of this CD." These bonus interviews are particularly powerful marketing tools. They also allow for further opportunities for promotion.

Finally, thank people for listening. Not only does it make them feel like their time was valued, it also makes them feel good about you - increasing the likelihood that they'll continue their relationship with your business.

So that's it.

It's possible for customers to hear your audio interviews without ticking all of these boxes.

But, if you want to increase the chances that they purchase from you, you'd be crazy not to do them all.

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What to Tell Your Interview Guest to Expect Before the Interview

Your experts expect you to act like an professional. You'll need to tell them exactly how the interview is going to take place.

This is how I handle it. You'll explain that you will call them by phone. You tell them that you need them to be on a hard wired phone. You do not want them talking from a cell or cordless phone. You explain that you need one hour for the interview.

You explain that you do not want any interruptions. You tell them that you will record the interview. You relax them by telling them that it's just you and I talking. Tell them that you will retain all rights to the audio interview but after the interview is done, you will provide you a copy for them to review. Then tell them that once the editing is complete you will publish the interview on your website.

All of this is negotiable. Most people understand that when someone does an interview with you, they get to promote their book they talk about their website. It's important that you take control and set the criteria and the ground rules for the interview.

Take charge and have the confidence because you're the boss and they will follow and do whatever you say. I called it the attitude. If you're doing them the favor, you need to have the attitude. You're doing them the favor, interviewing them, not the other way around.

That all comes with you're confidence. And so, if you don't have the confidence, just act like you do, even if you don't.

How Long Should an Audio Interview Be?

How long should an audio interview be? One best way to set up your interviews is to separate it into parts. I think it is a good idea for a couple of reasons. Let's say you want to increase the value of a product. So let's say a teleseminar goes three hours and you know if I had it as just one file. If I wanted to sell it later and I say, "Okay, if anyone is interested in buying this teleseminar it's just one audio file or on one DVD, here it is." I could increase the value and break down the three hour recording into maybe six 30 minute sessions so when you go to a Web site you see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6. It's easier to download and I think it gives it an increased value by having it in parts.

For the most part if my interviews are over 60 minutes I'll do a Part 2. So if I have an interview that goes like with John Carlton, I think we went an hour and a half and I broke that up into two parts. If they really go long, then I will make it and I try not to make it any more than an hour, at the most, no more than 70 minutes.

Another reason is I'm pretty sure if you convert a digital MP3 file into an audio CD Rom I think the capacity on those CDs is 70 or 80 minutes. I think its 70 minutes, so if you go over 70 minutes you'll have to get another CD and if you're selling a physical product that is going to cost you more money on the duplicating and printing.

Paul Hartoonian, he goes with publicity stuff, and he's been on a lot of radio interviews, like 2,000 or 3,000 radio interviews. He was saying how he tries to keep his interviews to an hour or less and if it is going to go over an hour he says why don't we schedule another interview because people's attention starts to drop off at about an hour.

If I'm doing an interview and I've secured it and it's a pretty big name, I'll usually tell them to have 90 minutes available. If it's really going good and I'm not quite finished, I will try my best to keep going. I'll say, "Look, I'm not quite finished, do you want to keep going or do you want to reschedule?" I'll give them the choice but sometimes you only have that one time to get that interview.

I've had people say we can keep going and I'm able to get the whole interview and I've had people ask to reschedule. Anyone who said they would reschedule with me has honored that and rescheduled. So either way will work.