How to Support Your Program Launches & Sales with Your Podcast
Since Produce Your Podcast began in 2016, we’ve had the privilege of working with multiple types of businesses – everything from nonprofits to government agencies to $800M global corporations.
One of the biggest industries we work with is coaches and consultants who are selling online programs or courses, and are selling those through “1:many” initiatives such as webinars, live launches, video sequences, etc.
The biggest question these entrepreneurs have when first meeting us is “How can my podcast support the growth of my program(s)?”
Tip #1: “Sponsor” Your Own Show
It might seem obvious, but we have seen it countless times over the years: podcast hosts get into a singular focus of external sponsors and ads and totally miss the valuable ‘air time’ they could be giving to their own products and services.
In addition, it is not always the case that the podcast has the same name as the host’s signature program – meaning there is not always an obvious way for the listener to connect the dots themselves.
Here are a few examples of how to implement this strategy in your episodes:
1.“And today’s episode is brought to you by (your program) – our/my very own program for (target buyer) to (transformation/end result). If you want to (solve pain point of your target buyer), check out (your program) at (link).”
2.Record an evergreen promotion for your program that is added to your episodes.
3.Make sure you are calling out your program name + the transformation/end result it creates for clients in your own bio
4.Pull out a resource from your program and make it the opt-in resource you promote in your episodes, giving the audience the heads up that this is a resource that used to be exclusively for (your program’s) clients but they can download it for free at (link)
If you haven’t committed to giving your own programs their air time just yet, consider this: new Research from Acast revealed that 87% of US podcast marketers see more than double their return on investment for every dollar spent on podcast advertising.
Tip #2: Make sure you don’t silo your audiences
This is very common in the world of webinars and live launches; the business owner has an email list or an online community and they are so focused on the conversion event for those audiences that they forget about their podcast audience.
Here are a few ideas you can implement to make sure your audiences aren’t isolated from each other:
1.Pull the audio from your live launch sessions and post them to your podcast to get your listeners engaged in your conversion event.
2.Release “Q&A” or live launch session recaps on the podcast and drive your attendees there for an added resource.
3.Promote your webinar on your podcast with an easy text opt in to register.
4.Record a commercial or ad spot for your webinar and add it to your podcast episodes.
Tip #3: Give exclusive “bonuses” to your podcast audience
This is a double whammy – it makes your podcast the place to be to be a “VIP” in your community, but gets your listeners engaged with you at a high level.
You’ll notice we put the word bonuses in quotation marks there – bonuses doesn’t have to mean things like discounts. Here are a few examples of ways to make your podcast community exclusive, special and supportive of your program growth goals:
1.Ask your podcast audience for input first – you can run a survey to your listeners that can help you shape up a program curriculum, get exact verbiage of pain points that you will later use in your sales processes, run a competition to name your new program… all of these pull your listeners even closer to you by giving them an opportunity to “co-create” with you.
2.Give a code that doesn’t offer a program discount, but perhaps you run an ‘early bird’ campaign of your programs just for your podcast audience to get the first spots.
3.Give a code that doesn’t offer a program discount, but a special bonus 1:1 or group session as a thank you for being a podcast listener.
4.Record “hot seats” where listeners can apply to be on your show and do a mini coaching session with you. In your final episode, you can use that recording to showcase the work that you do and add a CTA to check out your program from there (don’t forget to keep the conversation going with the person(s) you did those hot seats with – they are likely a great candidate for your program!)
Tip #4: Work your PR!
Finally, remember to use PR and podcast guesting to continually expand your audience. If you have a program launch coming up, make sure you have interviews going live in the 6-8 weeks prior to your conversion event, driving people back to your event as well as your podcast. Your initial interview will act as the “hook” while your own podcast will help to nurture those new listeners up until your conversion event where you will be working to sell your programs/services to them.
Do you have any affiliates or strategic partners that have online communities? See if you can do a live interview or a mini value-add live session with their group, then promote your podcast in that (those new listeners will hear your conversion event CTA within your episodes and have an opportunity to register for that, too!)
Don’t forget to re approach the places you’ve already been featured; the repetition of getting in front of that audience can be highly beneficial and being able to be a guest more than once shows that the show’s host really trusts you – which gives you a leg up with their audience, too.
Are you a podcast host that is growing online programs? We can help you to integrate your podcast to your growth strategy and help make your show a strong client acquisition tool for you. Send us a message to ask about our Growth Accelerator Program (GAP) and how we are helping our clients sell their programs with their podcasts!
Produce Your Podcast is a premier podcast consulting, production & marketing agency. Our team of experts provides comprehensive, full service high quality solutions for B2B and B2C clients to incorporate podcasting into their overall marketing strategy. If you’re looking for a reliable partner to help launch or grow your business branded podcast and boost your sales and marketing goals, we’re here to help.
Click here to schedule a conversation with our team today. Let’s work together to create a high quality podcast that takes your business to new heights!
