How a Listener Becomes a Customer: The Customer Path
Lesson 22 from: Podcasting for Crafters and MakersTara Swiger
How a Listener Becomes a Customer: The Customer Path
Lesson 22 from: Podcasting for Crafters and MakersTara Swiger
Lesson Info
22. How a Listener Becomes a Customer: The Customer Path
Lessons
Class Introduction: Build Trust and Increase Sales
03:12 2Why your Handmade Business Needs a Podcast
06:42 3What is a Podcast?
03:13 4How to Set up your Studio in 5 Minutes
04:48 5How to Launch a Podcast in 1 Week
05:58 6What Kind of Show will you Have?
03:02 7About the Interview Format
06:39 8About the Solo-Show Format
16:41About the Roundtable Discussion Format
07:55 10Which Format is Right for You
21:40 11Challenge: FInd What's Out There
03:25 12Choosing the Right Topic for your Podcast
14:19 13How to Make your Show Special
02:23 14Make Magic: Combine for a Unique Show
07:46 15Content Development Strategies
16:12 16Naming your Podcast Best Practices
07:34 17How to Introduce Yourself
11:34 18How to Write your Intro
03:48 19How to Exit with Confidence
09:00 20Where does your Podcast Live and Why iTunes Matters
20:06 21DEMO:How to Get your Podcast on iTunes
07:18 22How a Listener Becomes a Customer: The Customer Path
07:58 23Your Home Base: How to Set it up for Podcast Listeners
15:19 24How to Generate Content Upgrades
12:39 25How to Leverage your Podcasts to Sell your Product
04:53 26Question And Answer
06:58 27How to Launch your Podcast Successfully
18:06 28Defining "Success" for your Business
07:41 29Other Ways to Make Money from your Podcast
08:25 30How to Find Time for it all: Tara's Exact Workflow
25:19 31Wrapping it all Up
02:03Lesson Info
How a Listener Becomes a Customer: The Customer Path
So yay, at this point you have a podcast. Yay, I got you flowers. (laughs) 'Cause it's just so exciting. So, now what I want to talk about ... Because this part is the technical part that you'll actually have to have your episodes and your host for. So I know if you guys are watching live, you're gonna wanna do this in a minute. Or if you're watching the recording, hit pause. Do all that, and then come back, because now the question is, "How are you making sales from it?" So, we're gonna talk all about how to set up your podcast, so it makes sales. So you can listen to this before you've even got it up live on the host. Every step that's gonna make it super effective. And we're also later gonna talk about how to launch our podcast to get the best results. So it's okay, you can keep watching, even if you don't have your podcast live yet. Just go back, and look at that pretty flower picture, that when you do it for me. So, how we're gonna make this happen is by thinking about the custome...
r path. So the customer path is the way that people are finding you, falling in love with you, and buying from you. It looks something like this. I like to call it the customer path, the traditional marketers call it the funnel, which sounds very painful as you fall through their funnel. But the customer path, what it does, is it draws people from where they're total strangers, to where they are complete and total fans of you. And it's a path that they walk down. And if you're creating content online, like Instagram, and emails, and blog posts, and podcasts, each piece of content that they consume, and like, and enjoy, helps them fall a little bit more in love with you. Build a little bit more trust, build a little bit more authority, and then they feel comfortable buying. This is especially important if you sell a high-end luxury good, something that's more expensive. Or something that you have to have more education to actually use. So if you have a health and wellness product, people need to understand it, before they can use it. So you need that customer path of education, and talking to them, and teaching them about it. So, on your podcast, your podcast falls in the awesome fall in love category. So people ... Well, actually it falls in a couple. So one is that new people are going to find you. Because they're gonna search iTunes, their friend is gonna recommend you. They're gonna be Googling around for a podcast on handmade business, or on jewelry. They're gonna find it. And then each episode is gonna help them fall in love, and build trust, to get to the point to buy it. Now, I'm talking about this here, I talk way more about this in detail in my other CreativeLive class about, I think it's called, "Creating the Customer Path." But we're talking about it here because it's really important for every marketing tool you use, to know where it is on the customer path. Am I talking to brand new people, who just found me? Or am I talking to customers who have been around forever? And, am I leading them to the next step? So because the podcast comes in both the find and the fall in love, you need to make sure that you're helping people who just found you, understand what you do, and why they should buy from you. And also people who have been listening for a while, help them take the next step. So that's how the customer path works. You're gonna be building that relationship, and getting them to the point where they feel comfortable buying. After they buy, there's more of a customer path. Like, they keep coming back, and they keep listening. They keep coming back and they're buying. You're building an on-going relationship. And depending on your business model, there might be a huge, long relationship and path down that, after they buy. So, when you're thinking about your podcast, the question is really, what's the next step for your listeners, and your path? So another thing that I wanna make sure you keep in mind, is that you are entirely responsible for your path. You are going to build it. I get people that are frustrated that, "Well, I've been putting out these podcasts episodes and lots of people listen, and they don't do anything." Well right, did you tell them what to do? The path is entirely in your hands, it's entirely your responsibility. You are the one who's going to guide people to what the next step is for them. This is actually a question in your workbook, on page 11. What do you want listeners to do after listening? What's the next step for them to take towards you and your business? If you don't tell them, they won't do it. And that's your fault, it's not theirs. So, one of your customer paths might be, they find you. Maybe they find your podcast, maybe they are Googling around and they find you, maybe a friend recommends you. Maybe they meet you at a craft show, and they're like, "Oh, that's great." Then they listen to your show, and then from listening, they go to your site. And then from your site, they actually buy. Does that make sense? That's one way that customers can get to actually purchase from you. And you need to have this in your mind, so when you're recording and you're writing your podcast, and you're writing your description, you know what it is you're leading people to do. So if your site is pretty effective at converting into customers, that's the path you want them to take. You want them to listen, and then go to your website, and buy. And I'm gonna give you a little insight. An easy way to get them to do this, is to give them something right here. So, if they go to your site to buy, that you give them a coupon code. So like, you might say, "Just put in code PODCAST20, and you'll get free shipping, if you order today. Or you order this week." And anybody who listens to that episode with that coupon code, can go to your site, and use it. And it's great because it gives you feedback on who is buying, and where they came from. If you have a very specific podcast-only code, you'll know they came from your podcast episode. Which also shows you how effective you are at using your podcast to make sales. If nobody ever uses that code, you know it's not working very well. So, you can give them something to go do that. You don't have to, but that is one way of tracking it. Because Apple doesn't give us any of the details, you don't know how many people are actually listening, versus how many people are just listening to the first 15 seconds and stopping, versus not. So this is a way of really measuring. Not only who's listening, but then what they're doing with it after they listen. So that's one way your path can go. So, the thing to keep in mind is that coupon code is going to be living there forever. So you need to make sure that if you have a shop with coupon codes, you either say, "This coupon expires October 24th, 2017," or ... You either say that, or you leave that coupon code live forever. So, a lot of people's ... On shopping sites, their coupon codes expire, or they can set an expiration date. You don't wanna have it expire, and not say that it expired, or you'll just get emails from people being like, "What happened?" You can also say something like, "This coupon code, I can't promise it'll be live forever, it'll be live for the end of 2017." That'll also get people to act sooner. If you put a deadline on it, they'll act even faster. So another customer path that they might take, is to find you, listen to your show, subscribe to your emails, and then buy. So, before I had my podcast, I had my email list. And my email list was already effective at making sales. So, what I do, is people who listen to my show will know, I invite you to go to my website, and sign up to get the transcript. So I'm not just asking them to subscribe to emails, I'm giving them something when they sign up. So they only get that transcript after they put their email address in a box. And then I email it to them. And I'm gonna talk about the technology I use to make that happen. So if you're like, "What, how does that happen?" I'm going to explain it. But you could also give them ... The coupon code could come after they've subscribed to your emails. Or you can ... There's so many things to give them. We're actually going to talk about it in a minute. There's so many different ways you can incentivize them coming back to your site. But what I want you to really get firmly in your mind is you have to be the one that makes that happen.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Bonus Materials
Ratings and Reviews
Tess
I design embroidery patterns and I love podcasts but I wasn't sure what I would talk about in my own podcast without being able to show pictures. After watching this course I already have 20+ ideas for podcast topics, plus I now know how to get a podcast up and running, step-by-step, AND how it fits with my business goals. Tara Swiger is an excellent teacher and coach. I filled page after page with notes!
Rhonda M.
Excellent, practical information.
Dawn Craig
Student Work
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Podcasting