Not having enough clients is one of the reasons why most businesses fail. To solve this problem you’ll need a predictable system to find customers, tell them about your offer and get them to buy. Now, this sounds like a lot of work and it is. But all of this work can be automated giving you the freedom to focus on serving your clients. So why should you automate your marketing?

Pre-qualify customers so you don’t have to

One of the beauties about automating your marketing is that you can set up the system to qualify prospects so you are only talking to people who are ready to buy. This makes selling easier because once you meet with your customer they are already sold. 

It starts by mapping out your sales process and creating content for your marketing channels to attract your ideal customer. Systematically sending them out driving people through your sales funnel ever step of the way. They are given content that will bring them closer to buying. 

Pre-qualifying people is a good way to weed out persons who will waste your time. You can do this through the type of free lead magnet you offer. The wording of your ads and even to the types of questions on your landing page forms. Not everyone is going to buy from you and that’s ok. Just focus on serving your ideal clients and your peace of mind will thank you.

A repeatable system to sell so you don’t have to

Apart from pre-qualifying customers which is part of the sales process, you need a repeatable system that you can provide all the information about your offer. A step by step system that turns prospects into paying customers. The reason why this is so good is you can answer questions potential customers ask and more through content. ANd move them closer to making a purchase. 

Repeatable meaning you create the content once and show it to many people. This can be videos, audio, images or even blog content. There are so many ways you can package the content that you just have to choose the ideal one to reach your customers. 

You can track the results

There is a quote that says 50 per cent of advertising works you don’t just know which half. Here’s the thing in order to build a predictable system you must test your first set of ideas to see if it works and tweak it until you start to see results. Tangible numbers and results can help you visually see how well your marketing efforts are performing. 

Dan Kennedy in his book magnetic marketing advocates for business owners to track the results of their marketing. Because it can help you save money and show you what is working and what is not. You will see how many persons downloaded your lead magnet, how mich read the follow-up emails you send. Who opened your sales email and click to buy from you and in some cases where they are. This type of information is helpful so that you can strategically target more persons who respond to your offer. Giving you better results.

Market automation is a good way to get new customers and help you grow your business. 

With social media companies constantly changing the rules, it becomes more and more important to invest in your own website. To start that process, you need your own domain name, but why is having a domain name important? 

Persons are able to find you

The modern-day buyer operates differently compared to in the former days. This is where ads use to drive consumer behaviour. These days, persons go on google to do a search for solutions to their problems. The results they find help them decide what to buy, or who to hire. You can be a part of that conversation. 

Say someone is looking to buy a new computer or cellphone. In such cases, they search for reviews of different options, read about the features and then decide what they are going to buy, then buy it. 

If you sell computers, persons can find a review that you did on your business website, and find you when they google computers. It works the same way as the yellow pages. The difference is, you have more space to talk about why you are different through the content on your website. If you don’t have a domain name eg: yourbusinessname.com then persons looking for computers won’t know you exist. 

Your name differentiates your brand from the competition

Toyota, Mercedes Benz, Dell are all names of well-known brands. If you ask anybody about their favourite cellphone, some will say Samsung, others will say iPhone. These are all brands. Like it or not, your name is a brand, and the name of your business is a brand. 

A brand represents a certain quality in the mind of the customer. When they think of something a brand relating to that comes to mind because they know what they are going to get. When you invest in building your brand through your domain name and online marketing, it will make it easier to grow your business from your website. It’s your sign online. That’s your real estate. 

It’s part of your marketing

When building a website one of the most important steps is buying a domain name. When you are promoting your business whether through social media, podcast, radio or TV  keep in, and you need a location to send them. If someone asks, how can I find more information about you what do you tell them? Your domain name of course. When they go to your website they will find all your marketing information,  and be in a position to make a buying decision.

Your domain name can be part of your call to action. Example visit mydomain.com for a free information kit. This will further help you sell your services while you are not there.

So as you can see, building a website and having your own domain , can help you automate your marketing, ] making it easier for persons to find you and build your brand.

Every podcast should have a website. Here’s why. This is your home base for all your marketing. Now with that said, the question is, what are the options for creating a website, and what is the cost to do so? With all the tools that are available, it’s confusing when choosing the right tools. Luckily they are cost-effective tools you can use to create your website.

Self -Hosted vs A  website Building Software

First up you have to understand the categories available to create a website for your podcast. So one is the self-hosted and the other, a dedicated website building platform. 

Self-hosted solutions allow you to download a content management system for you to install on your web hosting server. You then choose a theme that matches the look and feel of what you want for your site. you customize your site from there. This option gives you more control over your site. You manage the backend, and if something goes wrong you have to fix it. Of course, the hosting company’s support staff will be there to help you. 

The option of the Website Building platform is where companies offer you a full website hosted on their system for a monthly fee. You have access to modify the look of your site. They handle all the technicalities of the management of the website. they also give you a drag and drop solution for you to customise the site. 

How it works is that you sign up for an account, similar to what you do on social media, and you pay the fee and start customizing your site. This can be done in a few simple steps. You add a custom domain name and you’re done. What you have to do next, is add content.

Self-hosting options 

Now that you have an idea about the different website creation tool, what’s next? If you decide to go with a self-hosting option there are multiple content management systems available. Hee is a few to look to:

1. WordPress
2. Joomla
3. Ghost
4. Drupal

Out of all 4 WordPress is the most popular with over 30 per cent of the web powered by this platform. It has a large community and support system so you will find help for WordPress very quickly. You can find thousands of themes online both free and paid with lots of tools to customize the look and feel of your website. With premium themes, you will get additional design options. You will also need to find a web host for your site. 

Website Building Software options

 If you decide to go with the platform options there are multiple choices to work with:

1. Squarespace
2. WordPress.com
3. Wix
4. Weebly
5. Tumblr

These solutions are equally popular with different price points.  Squarespace and wordpress.com are at the top of the list. They offer drog and drop solutions. THis is so in the case of Squarespace. Weebly and Wix. If you choose a theme and add the content from there. You pay a subscription and you have nothing else to worry about, other than managing the content. 

After all your efforts producing your show for uploading, so that your listeners can enjoy, you also need a place that you can call your own. At this central place, people can find out more about who you are This defined space is a  hub to distribute your show and information. For these reasons. having a website is so important. 

A hub to distribute your show

using social media as your traffic source is good to reach your buyers directly. However, these platforms constantly change rules, and so, becomes more difficult to reach all your followers. Once you’ve built a solid website you can control all the messaging, and have an organised space for persons to find out who you are and what you do.

You can distribute all the show notes and audio directly from your blog to, all other podcasting platforms, and have another channel where people can find your stuff.

You can host other pages with special offers

Another reason for having a website is to have a space to host your offers through landing pages. This can be valuable to your marketing system  to guide your listeners to take the next step. You can’t create landing pages on facebook without having other distractions for people to click away. 

This is a good thing because you don’t want to become too dependent on Facebook to market your business. However, you can use it as a traffic source. Meaning a way to build awareness and connect with your customers and potential customers. This also makes it a tool in your marketing system.

A place where listeners can learn more about you 

A website is important for your podcast so that you can tell your listeners about you, and how you can help them. After hearing your show, they may want to check out the products or services you offer. They may not be sure whether you are the right person .this is where them going to your website prooves useful.

What information will they find when they visit your site? This information might be testimonials or a breakdown of your different offers. Each offer would be on its own page with a full explanation as to what listeners would get if they buy and how they would benefit. They would also want to know more about your background, to further find out if they can trust you. 

That’s the reason why you have an about me page to further tell website visitors why you are the best person to solve their problem. By the time they interact with you, they are already sold. 

The Wrap

These are 3 reasons why having a website for your podcast is important. It’s your distribution hub, a place to tell listeners about you and how you can help them using landing pages.

If you want to see tangible results from your podcast, a call to action is important. You want to get your audience to do something to take them to the next step in your marketing funnel, but what do you say to them? Well, that’s what this article is about. 

Before we get into what to say, you first have to decide what type of offer you’re going to give to your listeners of specific episodes. there are two kinds, hard offer, and soft offer.

 Robert Bly in his book “How to create irresistible offer” explain these in detail. 

The Hard offers aim is to get a sale right now. Your goal is to create a bundle package that your listeners can’t refuse. These offers are good when people are ready to buy your product or service. 

Soft offers are a bit different and aim to get listeners to ask for more information or join your email list. This is great for persons who are not ready to buy but want to hear more from you. once they join, you can send them more marketing information later. 

So which one of these offers should you use for your show? That answer may vary. The reason is, you have the flexibility to adjust the offer to the content, and that’s important. Not everyone will be ready to buy, so you might have to put out a sales offer, or do a campaign push. Better yet, have guest talking about a book, then a hard offer can be used. 

Examples of soft offers

Many internet marketers stress the importance of growing your email list. This is the key to helping your business grow. Soft offers are great a call to action for this purpose. Here are some examples of soft offers you can use on your podcast. 

1. Download our free meal planner to keep track of what you eat. Visit freemealplan.com 
2. Download our free guide about 10 mistakes people make, when buying carts. Get the guide at buycars.net/guide
3. Sign up for our free course on how to pay less in taxes
4. If you’re having trouble finding a plumber get our free guide to finding the perfect plumber at plumberguide.com
5. Get our free guide to personal branding now

As you see in these examples, the words you use must spur them to action. Signup for a free trial now. These are all soft offers. They help your listeners evaluate whether or not they want to buy from you. 

Examples of hard offers

Hard offers are what you’ll need, to get your listeners to” buy now.” These are statements you make to generate a sale. Here are examples of hard offers.

1. Visit mybrand.com and use the promo code fire to get 10 per cent off your first purchase.
2. IF you use the promo code hustle to get 50 per cent off if you sign up for an account.
3. Buy the book now at 9.99 on amazon
4. If you sign up now for an account using promo code podcast get 30 per cent off

If you listen to a lot of podcast you will start to recognise the use of these offers to get listeners to take action. They fit naturally based on the context of the show and your listeners won’t feel pressured. 

When crafting offers to call your listeners to action you have to give them a reason to act now. Also, remember the context in which to place your offer. ANd let it flow naturally throughout your show and you’ll be fine.

If you’re struggling to decide whether or not to start a podcast, you’re not alone. You might be asking whether it makes sense to do it? What’s the benefit going through the hassle of producing it? Will it help my business?

 These are all marketing questions. A podcast is a communication channel, which is audio and would fall in the same place as radio. The format is the same. The only difference is that you control the messaging.  When deciding to start a podcast there’s one question you need to answer. Are my customers podcast listeners?

Do my customers listen to podcasts?

This is the most important question you need to answer. Is this an effective medium to reach my customers? Do any of them subscribe to other podcasts? If they do its a no brainer to start one and start communicating with them.

It’s a principle that Dan Kennedy talks about in his book NOBS guide to direct marketing for non-direct marketing business. “Go where the fish are.” In your marketing plan, this would be part of your overall distribution strategy to reach your customers. 

To find out if they listen to a podcast is to ask them. Use survey tools like survey monkey to find out what they listen, if they listen to podcasts. You can ask them face to face when you can, or use a card in your office and have them fill it out. 

Based on the results of the survey, you can decide whether it’s an effective medium to add to your marketing mix. 

 if a large portion of your customers and potential customers listen to podcast it makes sense to use the medium. 

What do I say on the podcast

This question might come up if you’re looking to give podcasting a go. 

To start you can answer basic questions that come up from time to time. This will give you a few episodes. You can also address issues that you see happening and talk about it.

I wrote about this in a previous blog post which outlines a framework that can help you generate lots of ideas for your show, and how to turn those in podcast episodes. 

A podcast is an intimate medium and you have to feel comfortable speaking into a microphone and hearing the sound of your own voice. Not everyone will want to do this and that’s ok. You might be better suited for writing a blog or you can try video if that’s what you’re most comfortable with. 

If you think podcasting is best for you, then jump in and get started. You’ll enjoy it and build your business at the same time.