The Blueprint for Very Good Outreach

Today on the podcast, we're going to be talking about outreach. Outreach over e-mail, outreach over WhatsApp. If you've been a listener of the podcast for any length of time, you know that we've been discussing these sorts of things time and time again. Now, the difference between this episode and the other episodes that we've done in the past is while in the past I've gone through lots of examples of bad outreach and things that you should not be doing, today, what I'm going to do is I'm going to give an example, a live example of outreach that I received recently.

I want to give good examples about what you should be doing in your business. And yeah, if this is your first time listening to the podcast, sorry about the noise in the background. That's because my kids are having Cakism. So I'm making today's recording outside church. So of course, you know, there are different people around, everybody doing their own thing, some people praying, some people, you know, just in catching up, all those sorts of things.

Now, if you like these sorts of things, well, not my personal life or church things, but if you like business things, how do you reach out to customers? How do you send messages over e-mail? How do you send messages over WhatsApp? Then this podcast is for you. So be sure to subscribe on Spotify, on iTunes or Apple, excuse me, Apple or any player of your choice. And my name is Tavishima Ayede. I'm the host of the show.

If you would love to connect with me because you have questions, comments, or queries, then you can reach out on 08064662140. So let's get straight to the topic for today. So like I said, we're going to be looking at outreach. And in the past I've been giving you guys examples of what not to do when you send WhatsApp messages and when you send emails and those sorts of things. But today I'm going to give you an example of very good outreach.

And when I say very good, I mean very good because I received a thing. I read the thing, I even took action on the thing. And it was pleasant for me to read this thing. And I wasn't just reading it because I wasn't just reading it because, you know, I wanted to do a tear down and come and give an example over here on the podcast. I read it. I went through the whole thing because it actually was relevant to me. And it's the kind of thing that I've been dying to see for a very, very long time.

So this will be an example. So First off, this is one thing that the person did very well with the message that I received. The thing is, it was targeted. Now, one mistake that a lot of you make when you send out messages on WhatsApp or e-mail or Telegram or whatever is you just blast, you broadcast, you blanket the message to a whole bunch of people. And that is a problem because your message is not intended for everyone.

It's not going to be well received by everyone. So you're better off just taking chances from the beginning that you send messages to people who might find it interesting, who might find it applicable. Just send it to people. Just make sure it is well targeted. And then you increase the odds that people will consume your message, they will read your message or, you know, whatever it is. Because remember, I keep saying on the podcast, the goal is not to send, you know, 500 messages and then, you know, 5 people read it or five people take action.

You're better off sending, you know, 1020 messages that are well targeted and then have half the people read it, respond to it. Because at the end of the day, not only are you being much more effective in your, in how you use your resources, but you're also increasing the deliverability of visual campaigns. But we'll talk about that, We'll talk more about that towards the end. So the message was well targeted. It was a service that can be used by podcasters.

And obviously this campaign was targeted at Nigerian podcasters. And so that was a plus because there are lots of times you receive these kind of blackhead e-mail emails and they can apply to any number of people and so you just send it to everyone by the end of the day. It is just a very vanilla approach. So in this case, the person did well. He targeted Nigerian podcasters and I received it. And of course, I received an e-mail that is obviously intended for Nigerian podcasters.

I'm going to continue reading. Then next, the outreach was relevant because this person in the e-mail, I can't remember if the person is male or female, but after I'm done giving my opinion, I'm going to open up my phone or by the way, I make the recording on my phone. So I'm going to open up my phone and then I'm going to go through this again. I'll read it to you guys. So you can see how this thing was masterful even though it was long.

So this person went straight to issues that we face in the Nigerian podcasting space. The person was talking about issues that podcast hosts like me, we like to talk about it, things that we have burning concerns about, things that we really, really care about. And that's the reason why I kept on reading even though the thing was long. Then apart from that, I don't know how this person did it because I suspect that every single thing that people put out these days is written by, you know, AI or bots or whatever.

But somehow this thing seemed tailored and it seemed customized to me because it was the kind of message that could have only been received by me and would only make sense for me because the insights that were contained in this thing were taken from my podcast alone. It was addressed to me. The insights were from my podcast alone. So even if you use the AI to craft this thing, and by the way, I suspect he did or she did, but Sha, there is no way as I was reading, it was like medicine was meant for me.

And that's also another mistake that people make nowadays. When you're sending out WhatsApp e-mail, you know, your different kind of blasts over Telegram and all whatnot. You're sending out messages that are clearly broadcast messages. And when you're broadcasting to everybody, you are clearly sure, excuse me, sorry about that, still recovering from a cold. So when you're sending out all these broadcast messages, you clearly didn't intend to speak to anyone in in particular, and that's why people don't take these things seriously.

Then another good thing that this person did at the end of the message was the person included a call to action. Click here to learn more. That's also another mistake that people make when you're doing outreach. You just blast the a broadcast message and you don't tell people what they're supposed to do next. And then people read the message and they're like, OK, what are they supposed to do next? You're trying to move people down a sales funnel.

You're trying to move people up a relationship. You're trying to get people to do something. There is no point in sending out messages if your messages do not have calls to action to them. That's provided you're sending messages out for business purposes. So in this case, there was a call to action and the guy said click here to learn more. Now, at the end of the day, I didn't take the next step because the content was gated.

Now this is what gated content means. When you put out something over on the Internet, you know your free ebook, your you know, whatever it is that you're putting and then you want people to click on something to learn more. But then in order to go ahead, they have to give a phone number, they have to give an e-mail address, they have to give up something so that they can get that content. That is when we say that you offer is gated, it just means you'll put a fence around it and they have to give up something before you can, before you give up the information.

Now, me personally, I'm not in favor of gated content. That's the reason why I make my podcast episodes and I just throw it out there. I'm not asking you guys for anything. But however, if you're going to get the content, it's fine. It's OK. It's a valid business strategy. But the point that I'm trying to make is that this person put a call to action and we should all be putting our calls to action because we are business people.

There's no point in putting out outreach and we're not trying to get people to take the very next step with us. Now, some comments. The thing was very long, very, very long. But man, the thing was relevant to me. The thing was relevant. It was full of insights. And because of that, I kept on reading. And I can assure you that other people who will receive it are where they keep on reading. Well, sorry about that. Like I said, you know, I'm in church right now, so people coming, driving by, children playing.

So that's what all the noise in the background is. So even though the thing was long and when I read it, you'll see that it was long, I kept on reading because the thing was full of insights and it was relevant to me. So I kept on reading. But I mentioned to you guys that I didn't take action at the end of the day, and that's OK. When we do outreach, we win some, we lose some. It's just the nature of the game. There is nothing that is 100%.

So whenever you send put out outreach, you know, don't be angry, don't be sad. It's just one of these things. You win some, you lose some. But The thing is with the way this outreach was when I received it, I know that other podcast listeners in Nigeria will read this thing and will take action because of the level of data that was there. And it's not the level of data that is we can find readily in Nigeria. And because of the level of insight that was there, I can assure you other people are going to take action on this.

That's Nigerian podcasters who receive this kind of outreach. And by the way, I know that he reached out to, you know, as many of us as possible, which is why I think this thing was done by AI, but still was a pretty good job. So what I'm going to do now, right, is I'm going to read this message as it is. I'm not even going to bother to hide the person's identity or to hide the person's company because I'm proud of the outreach.

So I'll just put it bam, like that people can see what is I'm talking about. Oh, wait, one more thing. At the end of it, I didn't delete it. I bookmark it. Do you know why? Because even though I didn't take action today, I mean who knows, tomorrow maybe I have some small paper and might decide to take them up on the offer. Oh, sorry, those of you who are not Nigerians listening to the podcast, you know why we say pepper?

It's one of the ways where we say money in this part of the world, you know, cheddar. So when I got a small paper, I guess on small cheddar, I might hire the guy. I say, oh boy, what's up? I received this e-mail blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they how far? And I start asking them how much? What can you guys do for me? How can you guys help my podcast grow? Now, I am not the only one who's going to bookmark this thing.

Trust me, I know this for sure because like I said, the level of value, the level of insight that went into this thing is not the kind of insight, is not the kind of data that we receive in Nigeria on the regular. So any other podcaster who looked at this thing and clicked on it, I know for sure that they won't delete, they won't spam even if they don't bookmarks. They would just leave it shy in the inbox so they can get back to it some other time.

Now, this is what I was talking about, deliverability. Whenever we take actions like this, the algorithms in the inbox on the platform are noticing. So on Google, now Google will see that OK, this guy is trying to promote his business. He reached out to, let's say 100 Nigerian podcasters, and then the algorithms are going to see that the message reached out to was received by 100 people, was opened by maybe 80 people, was saved or bookmarked by maybe 50

people. And then maybe 30 people clicked on it, clicked through to take action, to take the next step. The algorithms are getting a very clear sign that this method, this outreach, this e-mail, this person who is sending this message provides valuable stuff so that the next time this person sends out stuff, Google will push it through to other people. But on the other hand, if you've been adopting bad practices, you've not been targeting your outreach.

Your outreach has not been relevant to the people who received it. It's not been tailored. It's not been customized. You don't use call to actions. The thing is too long. The thing is off point. And then if you send it to 100 people, 90 people ignore. Of the remaining 10 who look at it, maybe 8 will block you or move you to spam. Then maybe only two click on it, and then maybe only one person takes action. The algorithm in the Google inbox or in the Instagram inbox or whatever is noticing.

The algorithm is paying attention. The algorithm never sleeps. The algorithm will see that OK, every single time this person sends out messages like this, it's probably of little value. So let us not push out those messages to other people. Now, this is what I mean by deliverability, and that is why I say that we ought to adopt all these best practices, because in using poor practices, your messages are not. Your messages are not effective.

They're not reaching the right people. People are not reading, people are not listening. People are not viewing, People are not taking action. You're wasting your time. And if you have to pay to boost these things, you're wasting your money. But also this thing about deliverability, because they perform poorly, the algorithms see that they are that they perform poorly and then they don't bother to deliver when you send to people.

Eventually, if you don't believe me, for those of you who use Android phones and you have Gmail, open your inbox immediately after you finish listening to this inbox, this podcast, you will see that something has come straight to inbox. And you will see that you have a separate tab called promotions. Promotions, Those are just get moved straight into promotions. Those are messages that Google things are business focus that you're probably not interested in.

So we'll just shift them there for a while. After a few months, Google will notice that you're not even checking the things promotion. Google will now send you a message saying, oh boy, how far these messages, They're here. You're not reading them. Do you want to unsubscribe whenever that thing happens? At least before I used to click on no. Excuse me before I would click on no and then go through manually and start selecting.

OK, No, keep this one, keep this one. Now what I do is I just click on yes and then I click on select all and then bam, delete all block or subscribe. You know whatever the action is. So please deliverability really, really important. Now let me go ahead and open this. Sorry, one moment. I'm making today's recording on my phone. Well, as always, always make my recordings on the phone. So yeah, let me see. OK, I think this lady is female.

OK, so let me read it. So this was the e-mail. I can't remember the the subject because I'm not reading from my inbox. So it goes like this. Hi there. My name is Andrea Demasi and I am the founder of Pod SEOI run a system that tracks 300,000 plus podcast keywords daily across Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube sales for the Nigerian business person. The sales and marketing blueprint appeared in our data set with over 54 cross-platform recommendations and chart rankings as high as #20 Let me pause here, this person reached out to say this is my name, this is the company, this is what we do.

Your podcast has been performing well over different chat rankings and your ranking as high as #20 when a Nigerian podcaster like me, because in Nigeria we don't have data, who has been worried? And podcasting, are people listening? Am I on the rankings? Am I going up, Am I going down? Are people feeling me? Are people unsubscribing for me? When you receive this kind of e-mail, this kind of e-mail, will you not keep on listening,

reading? That's the reason precisely why I kept on reading. And that's the reason why I know the other Nigerian podcasters, because there is the I said what I said podcast. There's the powerful podcast, There's the Nigeria Economic Summit Group podcast, there's the Afropolitan podcast, there's Branding on Point podcast. There's, you know, on and on and on. You know, there are many tea with tea, you know, plenty, plenty, plenty, plenty, plenty podcasts.

I can assure you that all these other people when they receive this message, these people are going to keep on reading because these are the kind of things that we Nigeria podcasters are worried about the podcast. Is it growing or is it dying? Are we making progress? I be, are we regressing? So they will pay attention. So let me continue. So Andrea continues. I pulled the numbers to see what's driving the performance.

And this is the reason why podcast SEO matters. So research shows that 70% of podcast listeners use search to discover new shows. Just like Google Search. Podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify use algorithms to decide which podcasts appear when someone searches for topics, keywords, or genres. Without proper SEO optimization, even great content can remain invisible to potential listeners who are actively searching for exactly what you are talking about.

That's the difference between ranking #3 and ranking #15 for a popular search term that can mean thousands of new listeners per month. That's why understanding and optimizing your podcast search presence across platforms isn't just helpful, it's essential for sustained growth in today's crowded landscape. So you can see that I said the outreach was long 'cause you can see is plenty, plenty, plenty, plenty word words here.

So he could have or she could have cut out a whole lot of this. But basically what Andrea was trying to say here is that if you do your work well and make sure that your podcast is searchable easily to be found on search in podcasts, that is the difference between appearing, you know #15 or appearing in the top five was really, I made that part shorter. But remember she started off by saying that my podcast is ranking somewhere around #20

that's the reason why I kept on reading because I was looking for more if info. So Andrea continues, she gives more metrics for my podcast sales for the Nigerian business person. If I didn't, the section was was headed your podcast visibility metrics. You can see why I'm saying that other people, whether it's tea with tea, whether it is a Booker and his podcast, whether it is powerful, whether it is I said what I said, whether it is all those other Nigerian podcasters,

you can see that this is the reason why they will continue to read because we do not have this information. We do not know how well we are ranking across the globe or in different podcast players. Can you see the level of insight? Can you see the level of value that this person is delivering in the e-mail? Yes, it's a lot more work, but can you see that this is what you have to do to craft a message that has high chances of being read and high chances of being acted upon anyway?

So she continued, Listener ratings, Spotify 4.9 out of five. OK, I already have that one because Spotify gives us. So to give me my rating on Spotify, they say I'm 4.9 out of five and seven-year ratings. By the way, those of you been getting value from this podcast, now you're listening to this thing on Spotify. Come on now, come on, help your boy out. Now there are over 3500 of you that are listening to this thing on Spotify.

Only 78 of you gave me ratings. Come on, help your boy out now. It's nice if you guys are giving me money rate the show. Then they all told me that I am #20 in business on Apple podcast. I'm #20 out of 1321. I bet you should clap for your boy 1321 podcasts on Apple that are business related and your boys in #20 making a clap for me. I beg making progress, making progress. Then they also told me how apart from giving me all these ranking that now, so you, they rank now.

So you, they rank here. This is how you're ranking there. That's how you're ranking. Then I started giving me keywords that I'm ranking well for. So Nigerian Business Innovation, whenever people search Nigeria, when they search business or they search innovation in Apple, my podcast is the number one that will show as showing me, giving me more of this data now. So my blood is sweet me, I continue to scroll and continue to read.

Can you see what I mean? When like if you personalize the message to somebody, you target this message to somebody, you increase the chances that it is being read. They're not talking about podcasting in general. This guy or this babe, Andrea, Andrea, Abbey Andrea. Anyway, I'm not sure because the Andreas that I know are female, but in my boys class there's an Andrea who is the guy. So this guy or this babe is talking about me and me alone.

That in Apple, if somebody types Nigeria or Business Innovation, I will show up #1 then cultural nuance in diaspora, somebody types in any of these terms, diaspora culture, I will show up #1 Nigerian perspective. If people type Nigerian perspective in Apple podcast, I will show up #1 then Spotify ranking, they gave me the same breakdown. Entrepreneurship advice Nigeria, If you type in any of these keywords, I will show up #1

Nigeria, Business Innovation. OK, we'll tackle that one. Number one, marketing tactics Nigeria, you type in those key terms, I will show up #2 please, you should be clapping for me. Those of you who've been listening for, for a while, these podcasts were going places. So we made progress small, small. So this is the breakdown that he gave me. Then another section, what this keyword snapshot reveals about your podcast.

So they went on into telling me, you know, the good things, how I'm making progress and what the data suggests. And they said that I'm that I'm ranking with over 54 keywords. Then what else? Anyway, that's just general gist that he gave me about the podcast and this was the call to action. They now said that if I wanted a much more detailed report, by the way, which Nigerian podcast podcaster will not want a more detailed report, information like this, We're not getting it.

You're doing, you're giving us this data which Nigeria will not want it. So it says click here to view the complete data set. And of course, I clicked through to see the data set, but of course it was, it was gated. And I understand how these games are because you know me, I'm in sales now. Once I provide my details, you know, they're going to call me, they're going to send me e-mail. And you know, I'm not ready for all that yet.

So let me just chew when I ask for small change, what I'll now do is I'll click on it to view the complete thing. If I, I will look for that number. I even call them and say, hey, what's up? Thanks for the report. I've been thinking about how to grow my podcast, reach wider audiences, not just in Nigeria but abroad, you know? So let's talk. What services do you guys offer? I definitely will call them back. So even though this thing was long and I would not say that any of you should create, do any kind of outreach that is this long, Basha, it's the perfect example to show what can happen when you Create an e-mail or you create a WhatsApp message or a Telegram message that is targeted to the right audience,

that is relevant to the people who are receiving it, that is tailored and customized to the recipient. And when you include a call to action and when you put value and insights in those messages. So I think just make today's episode to brag about your boy and how much progress I'm making on the podcast. But I just wanted you to see what good outreach looks like so that even if there's a problem like in this case, because that e-mail, the e-mail was long.

I won't lie, it was long. The e-mail itself was a report, not to talk about the report that I wanted me to go and click and to look through. But the thing was chock full of value and it was relevant to me. So I kept on reading. So whenever we do tear downs over here on the podcast, please take it serious. The things that I suggest, you know, take them, apply them, because when you're able to make this thing work, magic happens.

People will open your messages, people will read your messages, people will respond to your messages in the way that you want them to. And of course, if we can get all this kind of engagement going, what happens? Your business grows over time. But just remember, some people take action, some people don't take action. You never win 100% of the time. So me, I didn't take action yet. Well, someday I might anyway. Let me just stop it here.

I've said the main thing that I need to say. So thank you very much for listening. Remember, if you'd love to connect with me, you can call, send me a text message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140. Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys some other time. Sorry about the noise in the background again, because today is a very busy day in church. Well, by the way, for those of you who are regular listeners,

I'm trying out a new audio recording setup today. So just let me know you know what you think, whether the audio quality is better this way or better the old way. So thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you some other time.