Stop Selling, Start Helping: The Secret to Self-Promotion in Podcasting

If you want your audience to buy a product, you have to let them know it exists.

Welcome to youo Podcast Consultant.

Small Lessons with Big Value.

With more than a decade of experience and millions of downloads, this hall of fame podcaster is a featured speaker, author, and mentor to thousands.

Now he wants to work with you.

He's your podcast consultant, Dave Jackson.

You have to let people know what you have to offer.

So today we're talking about monetization and the number one way, the most profitable way to monetize.

You want to guess?

Go ahead.

Nope, it's not ads.

So many people think, oh, I'm going to start a podcast and get ads.

The most profitable way is selling your own stuff.

And maybe we'll talk about that in a future episode.

But I was doing a episode of the podcast review show.

That's a show I do with my buddy Eric K.

Johnson, who's got probably 30 years in radio.

And we were talking and I said, oh yeah, I talk about that in my book.

And he said, you have a book?

And I go, yeah, profit from your podcast.

Proven strategies to Turn Listeners into a livelihood.

And he said, I've never heard you mention it.

And I go, really?

And he goes, yeah.

And I go, that's weird, because I tell that to my clients all the time.

And he's like, well, physician, heal thyself.

And so we often feel if we could put up like air quotes here, salesy when we promote ourselves.

And so I thought I would share another story.

I had a friend of mine I'd known for about six months.

I helped her launch her podcast.

I saw her and I was like, hey, how's the podcast going?

She's like, it's going great.

Numbers are going up, like excellent.

I said, it's great to hear.

And she goes, yeah, but I'm not getting any speaking gigs.

And I go, what?

And she goes, yeah, I'm not getting any speaking gigs.

And I go, yeah, I got that part of my.

But you do you speak.

You're a public speaker.

And she goes, yeah, I just spoke to a bunch of high school kids in the Bronx and I was like, I've known you for six years and I've listened to every episode of your show.

I've never heard you mention this.

And she said, I kind of feel a little salesy when, you know, I self promote.

And I said, ah, like a used car salesman.

And she was like, exactly.

And I like, from the 70s.

And she's like, yep.

And I go, and those guys are just selling a bucket of Bolts.

And she's like, yep.

And I said, so you're saying your podcast is a bucket of bolts?

She was like, absolutely not.

I worked about 10 hours on the last episode, and I'm like, oh, so.

And it helps people, right?

And she's like, yeah.

And I go, then why are you stopping yourself from helping your audience?

And she looked at me and said, ah, you're good.

And it is.

It's a mental thing.

And so today, I don't know about you, I get a lot of great ideas in the shower.

And the reason for that is we don't have to worry about anything besides drowning, really.

If you think about it, that's it.

And it frees up our mind to think.

And I always tell people, you need a call to action.

You need a call to action.

I thought, you know what, the phrase call to action might be the problem, because when you think about the word call, if we go back again to the 70s, don't know why we're doing a 70s themed show today, but, you know, we used to hear about cat calls.

You know, the guys on the street, hey, honey, what's going.

You know, that whole nine yards?

Cat calls are not good.

Don't do that, guys.

Don't be creepy.

But a call, you know, or just call, like, hey, hey, right?

You're calling at somebody.

All right?

Kind of like a carnival barker.

You ever seen those?

I remember once I was in Las Vegas, fancy hotel for a podcast event, and one of the shops on the first floor.

Every time I walk by, hey, well, we don't want to do that.

And then there's action.

You know, call to action.

Sounds almost military.

We're telling people what to do.

And I get that.

So let's change that phrase a little bit.

Don't think of it as a call to action.

Think of it as a nudge to value, not a call to action.

You're nudging them.

You're helping them to something that has value, because you know your audience, you know what they want, and you've made a product or service that's gonna fit them like a glove.

It's not a call to action.

It's a nudge to value.

And don't be afraid to do that.

So my buddy that had been speaking in the Bronx, I said, you know, we.

We don't want to feel salesy.

We all think we have to do something like this Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

No, I said, here's how you let your audience know that you're a public speaker.

Start off your next episode.

And go, I was speaking to a bunch of high school kids in the Bronx, and this young man came up to me and asked me a question.

I go, there you go.

Your audience now knows you speak to high school kids.

It doesn't have to be super blatant.

You'll often hear me on this show say I was working with a client.

Well, guess what?

You just figured out that I do consulting.

Most of that is done through the school of podcasting.

But if you want to hire me as a consultant, you can.

But that's just a very mild, gentle way of letting people know about your service so that they can hire you.

Because it's much more profitable to sell your own product and service than it is to run ads on your show.

And if you need help with that, of course I can help you with that.

That's what I do.

I help podcasters.

If you go out to schoolofpodcasting.com, use the coupon code listener.

When you click on the join now button, you get step by step tutorial.

Sure.

You get an amazing community.

Sure.

And you also get one on one consulting.

Okay, but how much?

You ready?

Unlimited.

Unlimited consulting.

I was just at podfest this last week.

That's why my voice is all jacked up today.

Notice how I didn't apologize for that.

You can understand me, right?

Yeah.

Don't overdo that.

Some people.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I have the sniffles.

Well, sometimes you have the sniffles.

I can still understand you.

And I was having conversations with people all week.

I have.

We could always do the zoom call, but when I can't because, you know, I'm inducting people into the podcast hall of fame.

We can do conversations on a special app I use.

And I was having conversations all week with members of the school of podcasting.

It is unlimited one on one consulting.

So if you ever like, oh, man, I can never do this alone.

You're not doing it alone.

I am right there in your pocket.

So go out to schoolofpodcasting.com, click on the join now button, and let's get your podcast going in the right direction.

I'm Dave Jackson.

I help podcasters.

It's what I do.

And I can't wait to see what we're going to do together, because I want to be your podcast.