Podcast trust changes fast forwards work relationships

Putting your voice, ideas, message and story out into the world in a podcast can share you, your personality and your work (even if it's a community or passion project, it's still work!) give people time to get to know, like and trust you. Very often in podcasting this leads to accelerated connections. When listeners reach out they're no longer asking themselves "Do I want to work with them?" they're asking you, "How can we work together?" Jennifer and I discuss this unique trait of voice marketing.

Jennifer Navarrete, Brewing Media: https://brewing.media/

Transcript

Steph

Welcome to podcast to Connect. If you are using a podcast or want to use a podcast to find your people and make connections with them, whether it be for business or community purpose, then this is the place for you. Hi, I'm Steph from coffeelike media, and I've been podcasting for quite a while, and I have definitely grown my community and my business, both from podcasting as well as supporting mediums like newsletters and YouTube channels. And we'll talk all about that, don't worry. But I wanted to share some of the things that I have learned throughout the years, as well as some of the conversations I'm having with people about the different things we're doing to connect to folks in the podcasting space and what glorious things come out of those connections. 
In this first season, I'm repurposing episodes from earlier versions of podcast to Connect, one of which was a 30 day experience called National Podcast Post month, where a bunch of editors came on to the podcast and gave tips and advice on how to maneuver your podcast to sound good. And then it grew from there into more of the connective and outreach and community focus of podcasting. I've taken a smattering of both of those flavors, and here are a few of those that I think give you a variety, a bouquet, a rainbow, shall we say, of different tips that I think will help your business or community podcast. If you need help with your podcast, feel free to reach out to me@coffeelikemedia.com. All right, let's get on with today's tip.

Jennifer

So when we talk about your brand, right? You've spent all this time developing your logo, your colors. You've got your PM's colors, you have your specific font, you're very particular about the visual of your brand. And yet some folks put out a podcast where, you know, they're talking like this, and it's like, oh, we can hear you, but you're not as warm and rich as you could be. So think about your podcast or the audio that goes into your business podcast as a direct representation of your brand. And nowadays, people may encounter your brand for the very first time in a podcast. They may encounter you with earbuds jammed in. What is that experience like for them? And a lot of times, people who are producing, not producing, who are the talent in the show, don't have those considerations. And they just like, oh, we did it. We put it out there. We're done. But it's like, but what kind of experience is it? Are you giving an experience that's like you know, Nordstrom's, are you giving an experience that's like Kmart? I don't know. Maybe that depends on you. But I'd rather someone have a beautiful audio experience, no matter what level of clientele you're trying to attract, than have poor audio experience, because it does not represent your brand well at all. And number one, first of all, if you're doing a show and you're realizing, oh, my gosh, my audio is actually not that great, kudos to you for doing a podcast to start off with. Now the real work begins. Let's ramp up the quality of that audio so that the experience for folks who are listening is that much better.

Steph:

And I love the word warm that you used, because honestly, podcasting and our voices specifically really relay emotions. And emotions we've seen time and time again is what propels people to want to reach out, whether it be personally or, in this case, in business, emotions. And that kind of connection is what makes people want to get to know you and slash your brand, your company more.

Jennifer:

When people have heard your show, you're whispering in their ear, right? They've got the earbuds jammed in, and so you're talking to them for weeks and months and maybe even years, they feel like they know you. You're somebody that they feel very close with. So when they do reach out to you, they're not a cold lead. They're a very warm lead. They may even be a hot lead because they've spent the time to get to know you as the host and your brand, as your business, as your entity, and the things that you all do. So when it's time for them to work with you, they know a lot about you already. You don't have to convince them. They're already pre convinced.

Steph: 

That's so true. So it goes more from kind of an awkward first meeting to not, are you going to work with me? But how are we going to work together? It really. It's happened to me. It's probably happened to you too, Jennifer, because we put things out into the world as creators ourselves. And when we get on the phone or video with people, more likely we can see in their eyes that they've already consumed something we put out there. They know our voices, they know our personalities, and they're ready to work.

Jennifer:

Yep. Yeah. It is beautiful. It's exactly that. What you just said is exactly. I don't actually go and look for clients. Me and I haven't looked for clients for a very long time now. That's not to be braggy. But it's because I'm constantly putting content out there so that if you want to know who Jennifer is and how Jennifer works, and if you want to learn about me, it's all out there. So by the time people do come to me, it isn't, you know, are, you know, are we going to work together? Or it's more like, are we a good fit? Does our calendars match up? Does it make sense for us? It's already overcome the hurdle of who are you and are you good enough to work with me? That's already been answered. Now it's just the really of getting to, getting to know each other a little bit more intimately, one on one. And how can, does this project make sense for you? And if it doesn't, I'll refer out to someone who it might be better aligned with. But it's also, do, does our, do our calendars match up and, and what's your timeline? And do I have bandwidth for that? So it's a totally different conversation. So if I'm having those kinds of conversations with people who work with me on projects, then imagine what people who want to work with your business are going to have if they've already hurt you for days, weeks, months, and years. They're hot. They're ready to go. Now it's like, okay, here, I know what you do. Cause you've talked about it. Now, does this fit with what I want to do? And can you help me? And it's, again, an entirely different conversation.

Steph

Exactly, exactly.

And a huge talking about emotions, again, a huge emotion that is built during them. Listening to your clean, not perfect, but clean podcast about your company and what you do is building that trust. When you build that trust with them audibly in their ears, then that transition from listener to client and working together is just so much smoother because there isn't that, oh, are they a good company? Can I trust them? Are they overcharging? Like, there's all these questions that melt away because that trust has been built.

Jennifer:

Yeah. It's not even part of the conversation. The conversation is more in depth. And so that's a powerful thing. Now, again, it's up to you to carry the football across the finish line across to score for them and for yourself, but not having to go with who are you and what do you have to offer? And can we not? Having that conversation makes the work relationship so much better and also fast tracks that relationship.

Steph:

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of podcast to Connect. I'll have all of the information in the show notes or video notes, depending on where you are consuming this. Again, podcast to Connect is available in audio and video format, and if you need any help with your podcast, feel free to reach out@coffeelikemedia.com. Thanks so much. Bye.