Let's start with the question. If two years after the publication of the first episode of this podcast, everything was a success, what would you like to see happen in my area / my company? 

This question keeps us awake at night and we could spend entire meetings discussing it with our clients, because the answer changes a lot depending on the industry, the area leading the podcast, or the topic we are dealing with, and that is why we would like to group our experience in 3 possible answers, each one with examples.

🤑 Podcast to increase my sales 

The most obvious, the most desired, but the one that needs more stars aligned to make it happen: sales through the format. 

Many companies think that through podcasting they will achieve new revenue streams or become a direct source of leadsAnd yes, that can happen, but there are several things that must align for it to happen. Our biggest example in this regard is Máquina de ventas: today it is responsible for 45% of the new leads of Sandler Colombia and the main driver of sales of its digital products. 

What is behind the podcasts that do become synonymous with more sales? 

They are podcasts that find a perfect crossover: that the audience's biggest pain is the biggest pain I solve. And not only does it solve, but it's the field in which I have real experience and expertise. 

What does this look like in Sales machine? 

On the one hand, the audience is very clear: workers in commercial areas who want to sell more, or better, at all levels. What are their strongest pains? Precisely, lack of knowledge and/or tools that prevent them from improving sales and breaking the current limits they already know. 

On the other hand, we have Sandler, one of the best consulting and training companies in the world, which addresses all those pains at all business levels. There are trainings for junior people up to managers and leaders of commercial areas. 

Now, what would happen if Sandler only had products or services for managerial profiles? In this case, the podcast would probably be a source leadsBut there would be a very large part of the audience that could be hooked but far from representing a sale. In this case, the return would not be sales and a large part of the value that the podcast leaves would be in the branding. 

What if, to this same audience, the product we are selling solves an "indirect" pain? For example, "having a better computer". While several of the listeners might happen to need a better computer and have the purchasing power to buy it, it would be very difficult to understand how the podcast increases my computer sales. 

When I said that this is the point that needs more stars aligned is because it is very easy to disguise my products as "pains" and make 30-minute commercials in podcast version. The key is always to deliver value (real value), give knowledge that solves needs and explore as many sides of the same issue as possible. 

Here is an image to show you the diversity of topics of the last episodes in Máquina de Ventas: 

💥 Podcast for positioning. 

This is one of the places where podcasts have the best chance of bearing fruit and doing a job so well done that it can open other doors.

What is the key? Simple and with three steps: 

Step 1 Put the topic you want to position yourself on at the center of the podcast.

Step 2 Talk about it from as many faces and as many guests as possible.

Step 3 Worry about providing content full of real added value and not about starring or "self-promotion".  

In general, companies get the first point right: they decide on a topic and then jump right into creating content. But 80% of the cases fail in points 2 and 3, and, because of these failures, they finally fail to see the fruits of positioning. 

Usually, companies choose a broad and interesting topic: artificial intelligence, for example. However, they then say, "Here, let's get our vice president talking, we interview our artificial intelligence projects and, at most, our suppliers." 

This train of thought makes perfect sense from the company: "I pay for it, so my people speak", but it doesn't make any sense from the audience. If I want to learn about artificial intelligence, why would I want to hear only the perspective and success stories of a single company?

Two examples of companies that have managed it very well with our podcasts: 

• Gasco: a company, whose main product is liquefied gas, but that is positioning itself in energy transition issues with its podcast What Watt. The podcast has discussed many sources, ideas and initiatives in the energy transition, with just over 30 external guests. As a result of the podcast, the company achieved partnerships with several of the interviewees, gained recognition in this community for providing a space to make energy transition initiatives visible, and has been part of the academic content of university professors.
• Bancolombia: the company decided to open up the conversation about innovation and openly share how innovation processes work, both internally and externally. This, the first podcast launched by Bancolombia, continues to be the most successful today, becoming a key content consulted by innovation teams in large companies and putting Bancolombia at the forefront of the innovation process. top of mind in a subject that, although at first glance does not have a strong correlation with a bank, is very relevant for the positioning of your brand. 

In addition, this same positioning effect also happens with internal audiences, in cases where the company does not find interesting ways to bring key messages to its own culture. 

🎙️ Prospecting strategy disguised as a podcast.

In this scenario, the return on a podcast is crystal clear: your guests are your prospects. The question is: if there are so many ways to prospect, why do it with a podcast, does it work? 

Important: It is necessary to have a very clear profile of who we are going to talk to and make the podcast a space in which, even if they are our prospects, the conversation has a clear intention to leave valuable content for the audience. It is not a "lock-in", it is a genuine invitation to talk and get to know each other around a topic of common interest. 

Many of the podcast's benefits come to light here: 

- Invite someone to a podcast in a cold mailing is much more pleasant than inviting you to a business meeting. Usually the response rate to participate in a podcast is up to four times higher versus a cold mailing. 

- The podcast can become the perfect opportunity to qualify a prospect: to better understand the partner's pains, motivations and challenges and begin to connect from there. 

- Closeness and reciprocity are two very difficult things to achieve with a cold prospect. However, they are very easy to achieve when you create a space for genuine conversation. In addition, the prospect has a chance to reach the audience we are building. 

Each of these ways has many more versions and above all ways to land each objective in a podcast. Tell me how your experience has been or if, suddenly, the answer you wrote down is not included in these three. I'd love to chat.

Then, having clear why we want to make a podcast (and only after that), we start thinking about how to do it (see next article).