Lessons

Lesson Info

Choosing the Right Topic for your Podcast

So we are gonna talk about what your podcast is about, how you're gonna continue to create content, so that you don't run out of ideas, and also intros and outros. How you start the podcast, how do you end the podcast, because later in the day we'll talk about how to actually turn it into sales, how to get them in your website, and lead them down the customer path that will get them to buy. So the first question now, is what is it about? What is your podcast gonna be about? Spoiler alert it's really simple. It's about the audience. Your show needs to be about the audience you're serving. And the audience you're serving is your best buyer. If you want to use your podcast for sales, then you need to always be talking to the person who will want to buy the thing you're selling. If you were talking to your peers or the other people in your industry already, they're not gonna be your best buyer. Your best buyer is the person who doesn't make the thing you make, that doesn't know about the t...

hing you make, and they want it in their life. So your show is gonna be about that audience, and your audience, always be thinking about your best buyer. So the key, the real key, it doesn't matter about your website or your host, or even what you title it. The key is to make your podcast, the key to making your podcast an effective marketing tool is to create a show, and build a relationship with that buyer. So we're gonna dive much deeper into who that buyer is, but I wanna just point out that what a lot of people do is they will make a show talking about what they wanna talk about. And what you wanna talk about might be interesting to your peers or the other people in your industry, but that's not gonna serve who your product serves. So always wanna keep in mind the relationship with the person who wants and needs your thing, and not just like industry behind the scenes news, because that's not gonna lead to sales. And I see, and I've had friends who have built really successful podcasts and blogs and videos that were all for other people doing what they do, and then they didn't understand why they didn't make sales. But that's because they weren't serving the people who were gonna pay them for their skills and their experience. So we're gonna talk a little bit later about combining the thing you wanna talk about with the thing they want you to talk about. But first let's focus on them. So, the first question is who is your best buyer? If you've made some sales, you have a buyer in mind, so I want you to write down on page five of your workbook, your very best customer. Describe her in as much detail as you possibly can because this is your audience, and everything you do in your podcast is gonna be for this person. It's gonna be for the person who is already your buyer, who loves what you make, who loves what you do, who wants to just spend all of their money with you. Right? That's a person you want listening. That's a person you want tuning in. Because that's a person that's gonna make this effective. And if you aim it at the person who's already the buyer, what's gonna happen is that more people like her are gonna listen. So people, you really find listeners to your podcasts by creating the kind of show they want to listen to and the easiest way to do this is not to come up with it out of your own head, but to really go to the source. Go to the person who is already like that, and talk to her about what she wants. So we have a couple questions that you can ask yourself to start creating the specific content of your show. So first you wanna describe who she is. Everything you know about her. And actually before we move on, I wanna say that whenever I do this with clients and students, they always say "well my best customer is like this, but she's kind of weird. Like there's not a lot of other people like her. She's totally unique. I promise she has nothing else in common with anyone else." No, that's not true. (presenter laughs) If she's your best buyer, and she spends tons of money on your product or tons of money with your service, or she hires you to do all of her classes, or she shows up at every event you do, that's what you want more of. And if you can list her qualities, what she cares about, what she's interested in, there are more people like that out there. So she's not a special snowflake. She is the person you want to focus on. And I'm gonna say this again and again, but the way to really make an effective show is to speak directly to one person, and if you make that one person your biggest fan, A. You're gonna have a better energy because you're gonna be like "oh she already loves me." So that's gonna instill some confidence, but also you're gonna reach more people like her. Because there are lots more people, maybe not exactly like her, maybe not as weird as her, but they have the same interests, they care about the same things, they have the same perspective, they want the same thing from you. And what some people do at this point, is instead of thinking about their best buyer, they think about who they most want to impress or who they most want to win over. Or someone who once told them "you have a stupid voice". Right? (presenter laughs) And you can't create a podcast from a place of confidence and energy if you are thinking about a person who doesn't like your work. So you're not creating a show or any any marketing materials at all that are trying to win people over. You're creating a show to delight the people who are gonna love what you do. So I want you all in the chatroom, and Liz is already furiously writing, to write about your best customer. Everything you know about her and why she buys. And then we're gonna go into some more detail. Did you have... We have Annie on the line. Can we have one best buyer profile? I have multiple. I have someone with multiple personalities otherwise. But I guess it's a common thread between your buyers. Because they're buying the same product. That they share that in common at least. Exactly, that's exactly what I was gonna say. Which is that they, as unique as they are, you might be focused on their outward personality, like "oh she's outgoing" and "she's quiet". Well that probably doesn't have as much to do with why she buys your product unless you sell noise canceling headphones or something. What they have in common is what leads them to buy your product. So if you're like Dawn and you sell yarn, they're knitters, they like certain colorways, they might be inspired by the names of your yarn, they probably knit the same kind of products. So you could have somebody who's a mother of four, and you could have somebody who's a 13 year old girl, but they're buying the same yarn because they're knitting the same products, or crocheting in your case, the same products out of it. They both really like complex, cabled sock patterns. So that's the thing we're looking for that you know about your buyer. And with that example, then you would create a show that spoke to knitters who make complex, cabled sock patterns. Because that's why she's buying your product. So sometimes it'll be what she's doing with your product, right? Like a whole bunch of different people might use your mug to drink their tea during their quiet meditative time. Because it's like a beautiful handmade mug, but they might have a lot of different personalities. Or, it might be that they're in the same season of life. Right? Like they all have young babies at home. They're vastly different women, but they all have young babies at home. Or maybe their babies are going to college for the first time. So even though they're different personality-wise, they have these same qualities and that's why they're buying your thing. Does that make sense? Yes, so you can make different buyer profiles. Like if you want to picture people as you record your podcast. I really recommend going with one, and then looking for what connects them because that's gonna shape your content. But picture just one of them as you talk. If you're having a hard time, pick the one you like best. Like you like to talk to best. Because I'm sure you have lots of fans of your work, but maybe some of them, you, it's not as much fun to work with or talk to as it is other ones. So, when you are thinking about your buyer, we're gonna ask some questions about that buyer to come up with content ideas. The first question is, what does she need to know to buy your work? This is yarn at the yarn shop in Ashville. It's just too beautiful. So what does your buyer need to know in order to purchase your work. Does she need to be educated on health and wellness? Does she need to know what an essential oil is? Does she need to know how to knit? Does she need to know how to knit with hand-painted yarn so that they don't pool? Does she need to know how to take care of your hand-sewn bag or hand-formed mug? What does she need to know in order to buy it, and then what she need to know in order to use it. If you list all the things she needs to know before she can buy, and you do podcast episodes about that, what you're doing is getting her ready to buy. You're getting her so that all of your questions have been, her questions, have been answered. And she's just like good to go and can purchase. So and this is what I really focus on a lot in my own podcast is, moving people from wherever they are, to where they would need to be in order to get the most out of one of my classes and books. So if you sell a product, where does she need to be, what does she need to know, what knowledge does she need to have to get the most out of the product that you sell? So you write down a whole list. This can then be your podcast ideas. So what we're doing here is generating all different topics that then we can take different angles from. So the next question to ask yourself is "why does she buy your work?" So this is kind of what we were talking about. Like what season of her life is she in? What is she going through? And what does it bring into her life? And this is a really important one when it comes to your podcast because if your work is goofy and silly and fun and then you record a podcast like this and you're very serious and you always have it together. That's not gonna, that's not gonna line up with your brand and it's not gonna be in alignment with the kind of customer you serve. So I do like goofy, loose, fun, in plain english business advice for crafters and makers. So if I showed up like Like when I show up with my pink hair it doesn't surprise anybody or blow anybody's mind. Because it's already part of what I'm doing. And my site's hot pink so it all goes together. But you need to think about what your work brings into their life. Does it bring a sense of peace and calm? Does it bring a sense of wellness and well-being? What is the thing that you bring in people's life? So Liz was talking about when she mentors people, they are, you didn't say this, but I'm sure they're inspired by the fact that you've been able to build your business and have the kids. And so many kids? (laughs) And so what you're bringing into their life is a sense of "oh it's possible. I could do this." Also you're self-reflective and you're always looking at what's working. So that's what your work is already bringing. So then it makes total sense for a podcast to bring that. And then it also helps them see, "oh that's why I'd work with her." So you look at what is already existing in your relationship with your buyer. You put it on your podcast, and it will build those new relationships with new buyers. Does that make sense? Yeah? I think sometimes people see or hear you and they're like "oh if she can do that, then I can do that also." And it's not like a slam on the individual but it's more like "I wanna be up in that same playing field as that individual." Yes. So people who are imperfect who are doing really cool things it gives other people confidence they can do it. And it might come from a place of like "oh, well she's imperfect. I could do that too and I love her." Or it might come from a place of "if she can do it, I can do it for sure." So when I told you guys to listen to podcasts, part of that was listening to how bad some of them are. And like, it's so easy to say "oh geez, they've got listeners. I could do it and have listeners." It's okay to be inspired either way. You just don't want to be catty and mean and tell them. I like to compare it to like when I was in school for art like I saw a ton of artists. I had to take a lot of art history classes. And you're like "oh I'm learning this from this individual but I wanna take what I know from there and make this with my art. Out of what I'm learning from this individual." Right so that inspiration but like doing it in your totally own way. Totally. So that's what you wanna think about when you listen to other shows and when you think about what you're doing. I always think that I might be inspiring people to do their own thing both because I'm doing it and because they're like "psh she doesn't have it together. She's a hot mess and I could do it too." Right? (laughs) So like, I'm okay with either kind of inspiration. So you can take that from the podcasts you're listening to, from the people you see succeeding in it, but you can also think "what can I bring into their life." For a lot of us, because we're small business owners, just the fact that you share what you're doing in your small business, inspires other people who might not even want their own small business. So if you're a hand dyer of yarn, knitters might buy your work because they're like "it's so that she's doing this on her own. I love her color sense and she really went out and did it." And they feel bonded to you. So don't be shy to talk about the business side of things as well. You don't wanna do business lessons if your audiences aren't business owners, but you can talk about what you're going through, your struggles and all of that because it's gonna make people feel more connected and really like get inspired by what you're doing. When people are inspired by what you're doing, they wanna be part of it so they end up buying from you because they wanna be part of it. So also want you to look at what are the questions you get asked the most often? Just like we talked about, it's really easy to make a Q & A episode. It is really easy to just collect questions from your buyers and then make episodes about them. So not only is this going to give you content, but it's going to give you content that answers people's objections. Objections are what are keeping people from buying. If you can answer those objections before they ask them, before they feel it, they'll be so much more ready to buy. They'll just like jump right on it. Oh wow, my objection was it was kind of expensive and I don't know why. Or my objection was do you ship to Italy? And if you mention that in a podcast episode, because you get asked it all the time, they won't have to ask that question. They will have the answer and that will just make it that much easier for them to buy. So all of this, even though we're not talking about sending them to their website and making a call to action, this is all related to making sales. Because if your content is doing the work of getting people ready to buy, when you do invite them to buy, they are gonna be prepared for it. They're gonna be ready for it. So I know you're feeling good about the lists that you've made of possible answers. I'm making lots of notes. (presenter laughs) Excellent. Lots and lots of ideas. That's my goal, is for you to leave here, not only knowing how to record your podcast, but have plenty to do. So like you never run out of ideas. Because that's what stops us is we're not sure what to talk about.