The first question (unless I’m wearing a pink shirt) you’re going to ask me about podcasting is this:
So what can podcasting actually do for my business?
It’s a logical poser. If someone is going to pay me £500 for a series of three podcasts and an hour’s coaching, they expect and deserve to know what the Return On Investment is going to be.
To their question, the answer:
It will sell more stuff for you.
All it asks from you, my new and gorgeous client, in return are three things:
- A clear vision of where you want to take your business
- An understanding of what’s unique about your product or service
- What your product or service will do for your customer.
I’m assuming here you have the passion to succeed. You wouldn’t be reading this otherwise, and you certainly wouldn’t be talking business with me.
It will sell more stuff for you.
And it really will. If that’s what you want it to do.
I’ll tell you why. Every single customer in the world wants more value from their purchases. Everyone wants to feel like they have strong bonds. Everyone is insistent they know as much as possible about what they’re passionate about.
I know that what you offer to your customers fuels passion. Food to floristry, musical instruments to mechanical support, whatever it is you offer there has to be a fascination with either you or your service before any transaction takes place.
A podcast will not only reinforce that idea in your customer’s mind – it will build on it until your customer wouldn’t even contemplate going anywhere else.
Podcasting helps you to attain a front of mind position, time and again.
But what do I talk about?
That’s the fun part. The very best way to crush it with your podcasts is through customer feedback. You know by now the most frequently asked questions by your client; you know the best things about your product that ace the competition; at trade fairs and exhibitions, and networking events, you’ve seen the raised eyebrows from impressed suppliers and partners. So you effectively already have all the content you need to start reaching out and showing people you
listen
to what they have to say, and you
respond
because these people are important to you.
Make it easy for people to tell you what they think. Don’t be afraid to use your podcast to respond to negative feedback. In fact, embrace it. I know Cliff Ravenscraft does and he’s one of the most capable podcasting coaches on the planet.
Listen, respond, and unwittingly you’re building those relationships upon which products and services are sold.
And as your reputation grows, and people come to you in mass, ask them to share with you their stories of success or change relating to their use of your services or products. Success stories are the new, abbreviated and far more potent case studies. Harness these, build entire series of podcasts on them. And tell the world what your customers are telling you. Your audience of billions is waiting to hear these stories. So go and tell them on iTunes and YouTube.
People buy people, remember? Your podcast means you’re virtually there.
And it’s a whole lot easier than you think. Talk to us.
Picture by Chuck “Caveman” Coker.
