How To Make Sure A Podcast Interview Leads To Real Business Prospects
As an entrepreneur, doing a podcast interview is one of the best ways to access a new pool of leads. Here are some ways to make sure you get the most of those interviews.
By Brandy Whalen and Ryan Estes
- Kitcaster
- July 28, 2021
- 11:44 pm
- Doing a podcast interview is one of the best ways to access a new pool of potential business prospects and leads, especially if you’re looking for clients to buy your software or trying to find investors for your startup.
- When a prospect hears an entrepreneur’s personal story, it can push them over the edge to act and go forward with the purchase or investment. Going on a podcast provides you with a unique opportunity to share things that you don’t always get the chance to share, connecting you with prospects on a personal level.
- You don’t need to go on a “big” podcast to find success. In fact, podcasts with smaller audiences that cater to people in your niche are often the best platform for gaining prospects that will actually pull through.
As an entrepreneur who wants to convince prospects to purchase your product, it’s important to show them how your company stands out.
Instead of sticking with the typical pitch — which limits your ability to make an influence on prospects and leads — consider going on a podcast — or twelve! — and making your case there. Not only will you be able to reach new prospects this way, but you’ll also be able to develop a personal rapport with them that is truly unique to podcasting. When a consumer feels like they know an entrepreneur, they’re a lot more likely to buy their company’s product.
Podcasting also allows you the opportunity to get technical with hosts, diving deeper into your product and explaining your knowledge to a wider variety of audiences. In short, podcasts are some of the best tools to get the word out about your company. So why not take the opportunity?
Here are some ways to increase the value of your podcast guest experience, ensuring that you’ll make a significant impact on whoever’s listening.
Want Your Podcast Appearances to Generate Leads? Story Craft Can Help
If you’re serious about getting prospects from your podcast appearances, you’ll want to do some media training before stepping up to the mic. Speaking on a podcast doesn’t come naturally to everyone — and that’s normal! — but with a few tricks, you can quickly improve those skills. Here are a few ideas to help you prepare to be an excellent podcast guest.
(Learn more about Kitcaster’s Podcast Story Crafting.)
Prepare Anecdotes and Stories
One of the best ways to make yourself relatable to prospects is by talking about your experience in business and the hurdles you had to overcome to get to the place you are now.
This is especially true if you’re selling to other entrepreneurs and business leaders. People who’ve been in the business world for a long time will connect to your stories of hardship and growth, and people just starting off will be grateful for the reassurance that most everyone has some personal business war stories to share.
Either way, you’ll access a pool of people who will be glad to know more about you, and having that personal relationship might cause them to take that step to purchase your product or investing in your company.
Identify Interesting Statistics
If you prepare some startling statistics that help illustrate why your product is necessary, you’ll catch people’s attention and invite them to think more about your service and do their research.
Add some meaning behind the statistic, and allow the podcast host to ask questions. Providing numbers can be helpful when attempting to engage prospects and encourage them to learn more.
Learn the Mechanics of Good Conversation
When talking on a podcast, you’ll want to think about the words you’re using, taking meaningful pauses when appropriate (which will also help the people editing the show!).
Write down some key points that you’d like to discuss during the interview and keep them on a notepad next to you while you’re recording. Beware of being too rigid, though — allow the host to engage with you in an exciting conversation!
Finally, be personable! Podcasts are a relatively casual way to sell yourself and your product. Engaging in some friendly banter with the podcast host is a great way to show your charisma.
Use Your Podcast Interviews To Create Tons of Sales Funnel Content
The people who gain the most from being a podcast guest do more with the interview when the recording is over.
After the podcast goes live, you’ll want to make the most of the goldmine of content you now have available, bringing the information you shared on the show to prospects who are researching through a variety of formats.
Now that you have so much material already available to use, it’ll be super easy to transform that content into something like a blog post (like this one, based on one of our podcast episodes!) or a newsletter. And your marketing team will love you for this — they won’t have to be tasked with writing a blog post out of thin air!
You can use one podcast interview as fodder for content for months. Putting the great information you shared on the podcast in many different formats will keep driving home your message, taking someone from basic awareness of your product to actually making the purchase.
If they can’t stop hearing, watching, or reading about you, you’ll be top of mind when they need to make a decision — to purchase, invest or engage in some other way.
Things to Know
- Simple traffic won’t always drive the greatest return on investment: Unless your company has a very high lifetime customer value and a sales cycle where a single customer can make a huge difference in your sales quarter, it will benefit you to supplement this web traffic by repurposing content, including podcast interviews, that will cast a wider net and help you reach a bigger audience.
- “Big” podcasts aren’t the only thing worth your time. Though it might be fun to land a spot on one of the “name brand” podcasts, the truth is that most people listening to some of the biggest business podcasts aren’t always looking to take action — they’re more interested in entertainment. On the other hand, suppose you’re featured on a more niche podcast that caters to an audience of people who are genuinely looking for a product like yours. In that case, you’ll be able to nerd out a little bit on the show, impressing like-minded listeners with your technical skills and encouraging prospects to look into your product.
- Podcasts aren’t just an opportunity to talk. Podcast conversations can be an incredible source of aha moments. For example, when you’re participating in an interview, the podcast host might share something that will equip you to talk to prospects and customers differently — maybe even more clearly — about your product or service.
