Let’s dig into some behind the scenes content suggestions for you because this is I think the most tossed-out idea when people start talking about content ideas. They’re like, “Oh, we’ll take a behind the scenes.” Sometimes that is met with a complete shutoff because the service provided or the consumable being offered is very visual, and taking the behind the scenes of manufacturing, that’s really hard to do on a podcast.
Today, I want to talk specifically about some ways you can do this regardless of how visual your offering is, regardless of how in the weeds or techy your solution might feel. We’re going to talk about three ways you can do this. I really encourage you to look at your Q2 content calendar and pick at least one of these. This could be something you do all the time and it’d be incredibly helpful.
The first way podcasters can use behind the scenes content to drive sales
Bring a client on to share the before, the during, and the after of a project. Not just before and after, not just the “I was A and now I’m Z”. Show them B through Y. Walk them through the process. The reason I brought up this idea that you could do these over and over again is you do not have to walk through every step of the process in every conversation. Look at where one client really had a big moment inside of your process and tell that story. Share the beginning. That big moment. Maybe it was a light bulb moment that really helped them turn a corner. Then show the after in the terms of a service. Show through the stories where they really thrived in the process, where they had a surprise win in the process. Use the back and forth of the conversation, the interview style, to really story tell these moments, and paint them a picture.
It is an incredible way to take your listeners behind the scenes because no longer are they thinking about the thing you do or the expertises you have as this vague concept. What it instead becomes is a process they can see themselves in. It becomes a process where they can visualize what their experience would be like. That’s so, so powerful because it’s going to help them have the questions they can’t have when it’s just this mythical thing, because they don’t know enough to know what their questions are. How often do you run into where you’re on Instagram, or you’re in a group, or you’ve done a webinar and you go, “Okay, does anybody have any questions about the offer? Does anybody have any questions about what this mastermind looks like, what this program looks like, or what this service looks like?” It’s just met with crickets because they don’t know enough to have questions.
One of the things I love the most about our episode, What Working With Uncommonly More Looks Like, is that it creates questions. Now they have a general picture of what this looks like and they can say, “Oh, in this piece, I’m going to have this specific need. I need to ask if that’s possible.” That’s why I want you to be walking them through not just the before and after, but use your stories to walk them through the during and sit down with a client. Do this as an interview. Walkthrough the story and the experience together. Let your listener into that back and forth because that’s part of the seeing behind the scenes. Because now, I’m also seeing what you sound like not just as a podcaster, not just as someone trying to sell me the thing but now I understand what you feel like and sound like in the container with your client, when you talk to somebody you’re working with, that’s really powerful.
The number two way podcasters can use behind the scenes content to drive sales
Sit down with strategic partners. Let me dig into this because this one is very similar to the other one, but I want you to be really strategic about these partners and who you bring on because this works incredibly well when you have somebody who you frequently work with, who helps clients before you work with them or after you work with them. I’m going to just make up some scenarios here that are slightly outside of my expertise. I might be totally wrong, just go with me.
If you are somebody who works, let’s say you’re a business coach and your expertise where you really shine and help clients is marketing their offer, selling their offer. Sales process, marketing tactics, that’s what it is. The fact of the matter is you can’t really deliver, you can’t really support those clients unless they understand their offer and have put together a firm offer that they know is their offer. It’s hard for you to really help them and see the biggest impact you can make if they’re a fuzzy offer, if they’re not really sure what they’re selling.
Strategic partner for you might be somebody who specializes in helping clients build their offer, test their offer, and finalize. They really build out a system that they work people through over and over again. That would be a really fantastic strategic partner for you to sit down with because you are then able to take them behind the scenes of why those two things are important. You’re going to be able to talk through how what your strategic partner does impacts your work. You can talk about what your process looks like and where they needed information that working with the person before you, that offer person, helped them get. You’re really going to take them behind the scenes in both services. You’re going to take them behind the scenes of both processes.
But why that’s valuable is because now when they come to you, they’re going to have a very clear understanding of what they need to have ready. Even the people who already have this are going to go, “Oh, I know all of that,” but that’s because you went through your process. You went through what you do and highlighted what information you would need from the offer person. Look at ways that you can bring in those people who you are referring clients to because they’re not ready for you, or you’re referring clients to because they need another piece of clarity, or another support. This is something we do, not infrequently, when clients come to us. They want to show, they have a show but it’s just not selling, “I know. Cool. Tell me a little bit about who you work with, who you want to be listening to.” They can’t tell me who their ideal client is or it’s super vague. I tell them, “I would really encourage you to look at who you’re working with, what you’re selling them, and get some support in that area before this.” Because a podcast is only helpful if you’re really clear on those things because that’s who we’re driving to where. This is just a how. This is just a vehicle.
The car doesn’t matter if there’s no one in it and we don’t know where to take it. Look at where you have that same setup, those people right around you. This is great because if you don’t have these people in your life already, these are incredible referral sources to be building in. When you go to make the decision around what kind of guests you want to have, look at those guests because there is an opportunity to really bring them behind the scenes of why these pieces fit together because you have two experts having an incredibly high-level valuable conversation.
The number three way podcasters can use behind the scenes content to drive sales
Get specific about the behind the scenes of your work. A great example of this is an episode I’ve already mentioned in this episode which is What Working With Uncommonly More Looks Like. I’m not taking you behind the scenes of podcast production in there. Different agencies do different things. We don’t talk specifically about how we edit or how we do show notes. No, we’re just talking about the process. Here’s what working with us looks like. We have some clients who’ve done really great versions of this episode on sales calls; what a sales call with me looks like. Bring them into what you do specifically. Take it out of the theory. Take it out of the deliverable. What does the process look like? What are the steps involved? Walk them through that.
I love the What Working With Uncommonly More Looks Like episode because of this, every single client we signed in 2021 listened to that episode as part of figuring out whether we were the right fit. I send it to referral partners. I got a couple of DMs over winter break from people saying, “Hey, I’m working with this client and they want to start a podcast,” or “Hey, I’ve got a friend who really needs podcast support. Do you have anything I can send them? I know you’re on break.” Yeah, send them this episode. They ended up on my calendar. They have a complete understanding of what it’s going to look like. They understand what questions to ask. I mentioned this earlier but that’s my biggest win with this is people get on those sales calls with me now. They have specific questions about their show and our process. I’m not eating up time telling them, “You’re going to get A and B, and C and D.”
We’re talking about how this work could impact their business specifically. We’re not talking about theories. We’re not talking about ideas. We’re digging into real value. You know what that does? It converts, baby.
Even better, it converts the right clients and it helps those who aren’t the right clients say, “Nope, UM’s not for me. I’m going to go look elsewhere.” They get to do that. In many cases, I can refer them somewhere which is super cool. I want you to look at one of these three. Which one? Pick one. Any one. Are you going to roll out next quarter? At least one of these in Q2 needs to be on your calendar.
Bonus points, if you don’t have all of Q1 planned, it’s only February, do this in March. Do this next week if you don’t have next week’s episode planned. Look at how you can build these episodes into your content calendar ASAP because they are incredible assets to have to be putting in email sequences, to be sending people when they ask for referral information, to get people started with you. If you want to know more about what working with us looks like, building out content like this that really impacts your ability to drive sales with your podcast, reach out. We do have space to start working with some new clients this quarter. I sincerely hope one of them is you. With that, I will leave you. We will talk again next week.