Selling a Product or Service Through Podcasting | Podcraft Podcast S5E3

 

Last time around we covered affiliate marketing for podcasters. That basically means selling other people’s products and services through your show.

This time we’re moving closer to home, and that means selling YOUR OWN products and services as part of a podcast. This is aimed at anything from startup businesses looking to promote and service, to established companies that have been selling physical products for years. If you’re looking to widen the reach of your products, then this episode is for you.

Show Notes (Transcript)

• Examples of Businesses that we’ll cover
  • Products
    • Office Furniture
    • Books – Person writing science fiction
    • Beer!
  • Services
    • Photography lessons
    • Event tickets
    • Veterinary Services

Principles

• The aim of your podcast
  • Building Trust
  • Building Credibility
  • Building Authority in your niche
  • Building your brand (this is big for local businesses)
    • Even if your listeners aren’t prospective customers, they’ll help promote your brand, which filters back to the local community.
• Teaching, not selling
• Answer your customers questions
• Look at the big 5
  • cost
  • problems
  • comparisons
  • best
  • Reviews
• Looking at the examples
  • Office furniture
    • What’s the best chair for my back?
    • How much does a 4 person office cost?
  • Books
    • Best sci-fi of all time
    • Top 5 scifi authors
    • Review of another author (real authority/trust builder)
    • Is time travel possible?
    • When will we colonize mars?
  • Beer
    • What’s an IPA?
    • Why do we use HOPs?
    • What’s the best beer in the world?
    • What’s the most expensive beer in the world?
  • Photography
    • What’s the best camera?
    • What makes a picture out of focus
  • Events (take the event subject)
    • What does content marketing cost?
    • What are the best content marketing books?
  • Vet
    • What’s the best pet insurance?
    • Dogs vs cats!
• Secondary aims of the show:
  • Building networks
    • Partners to help promote your service
    • Partners who may have a complimentary product
  • Learning
    • Talking to others in your space, expands your own knowledge

Format

• Shy away from interview only
  • Great for building connections
  • Changing up the voice every now and again
  • Covering gaps in your knowlege
  • But… doesn’t build your own authority and trust half as quickly
• Get a co-host if you can.
  • Preferably a colleague/Business partner
  • Maybe a beginner?
  • Maybe an industry partner
• I always argue for the season approach
  • choose a topic, cover it start to finish
  • If that topic can relate well to a product, then excellent
  • Service businesses find this easy. Eg. Julie Christie, who’s a photographer. Did a season for beginners.
• If not seasons, then you’ll be trying to cover something new each week
  • Something related to your product/service
• If you were to choose seasons:
  • Bar – the poser’s guide to beer
    • How it’s brewed, the different types of beer, what ABV means, how to taste a beer correctly.
    • This will build huge authority for the bar, showcasing it’s knowledge, it’s specialities, it’s point of difference.
    • Say you open a little brewkit, suddenly you have a way to draw customers in from further away.
    • You may even brew on it and sell by mail order, reaching that wider audience
  • Vet – The First Dog Owners’ Guide
    • Training the dog, dog food, insurance, grooming, problems that crop up, etc.
    • Again, grows that authority, reputation.
    • It can lead to other products – a book, or an audio course?

Fears

• “But I’m giving everything away!”
  • People want:
    • to be guided
    • to be reassured
    • to save time (collation, pathways)
  • People often know how to do things, but still want to have their hand help.
  • OR, simply don’t have the time.
  • Some people argue: “Tell them the Why and the what, but not the how”
  • I’m not sure I agree. Many examples of successful companies that give away EVERYTHING, and only sell more of the product or service they offer.
• “I don’t have the time”
  • This does take time, committment, but the long term gain is HUGE
  • Just imagine, one of your competitors starts doing this in 6 months time. Next year they end up being the best know bar in the country, or the vet starts appearing on TV as the UK’s go-to animal expert. You have the chance to hit this now.

Mechanics

• Get them off the podcast
  • Prettylink for easy redirection
• For low cost products/services
  • If it’s a product for sale online, straight to the sales/landing page
  • If you’re offline, direct them to a contact form. Get in touch.
  • Or, talk about your outlet. Invite them along, but don’t labour it .
  • This is different to blogging, or video perhaps. You’ve already built trust and credibility through your show
• For high cost products/services
  • Direct to a free download or a free course
  • This requires an email optin, which then leads to an email sequence to offer even more value.
  • Increase trust, increase authority through a second medium > leads to the sale of high value products
  • I’d recommend this for local businesses too. This is how you start to grow your loyal audience, and make sure you can contact them with big events, or even future product launches which may be relevant to them.