The Power of the Podcast: Unlock Your Brand's Marketing Potential

Beyond Q and A: How to Use Your Podcast for Business Growth and Brand Alignment

• Pedal Stomper Productions - Josh Troche

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If you're a small business owner or marketing manager wondering how to turn your podcast into a true marketing powerhouse, this episode is your blueprint.

We go beyond the typical Q&A format to explore actionable ways to align your podcast strategy with your overall content strategy and podcast branding. Learn how to drive audience engagement, integrate natural calls to action, and build stronger brand alignment with each episode.

We explore how to use your podcast for business growth by implementing smart podcast strategy and content purposing techniques that multiply your reach. Learn how to craft powerful episode hooks that grab attention, structure your show around core brand pillars for stronger brand alignment, and prepare guests for optimal promotional impact. 

We also share tips on repurposing content across platforms and using your podcast as a high-impact small business marketing tool. This is your guide to transforming your show into a true marketing powerhouse through intentional podcast branding, strategic content strategy, audience engagement, and results-driven calls to action.

Don’t just record, strategize. By integrating these powerful tools, your podcast becomes a vital part of your business marketing engine.



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Can, going beyond just the normal question and answer session really transform your podcast into a marketing powerhouse? You betcha. It sure can. You want to find out how? Well guess what? You need to stay tuned. Thank you. Glad you are back for this week. I'm really excited to talk about like, the structure and the questions and stuff like that behind it. And really, how does like start to finish to turn your podcast into this marketing powerhouse? So before we get into that, speaking of marketing powerhouses, I want you to do me a favor. Go to Paddle Stopper productions.com. Make sure you are signed up for our newsletter. Comes out about every other week. Sometimes we get it every week. We really we talk a little bit about like the podcast. From that week, we go into a deeper dive on one of those sections to make sure that you've got the right information. It's all actionable stuff for us. It's just a way to stay in contact with you. So do me a favor. Paddle Stopper productions.com. Go sign up for that. Now let's get into the meat of the show. Because what I want you to start with, who is going to your customers have questions right? I mean, no matter what you do, no matter what you sell. I mean, it could be bon bon because people are going to be like, how are these made? Where did they come from? How do you make them things of that nature? So your customers are always going to have questions, at least hopefully they do. Why not find out what your customers want to hear? Use the social media platforms. Heck, use your newsletter. Do you have an email newsletter? Use your email newsletter to reach out and say, hey, look who's got a question. Additionally, and this is something that we do all the time. We've got our 30 minute no Pitch podcast consultation where we sit down with you, we talk via we won't we don't typically use zoom. We'll use Google meets right. Or we'll even use Riverside. But we look at those conversations and we say, look, what is what is the thing that we're typically talking about. In fact, next week's episode is all about audio, and it stems from that, because that is a big thing that we're always getting questions about or ways that we're helping people with their podcast. So look at those conversations that you're having with your customers. And what are those the what are those questions that they're asking? In that what you can do is you can if you've got 2 or 3 customers that have asked the same question, tag them. Let them know the show's coming up. Send them a personal email saying, hey, I know we talked about this, but I, I answered your question on on the show this week, and I really want to thank you for bringing that up. Once again, it it's going to and it's going to enrich that relationship that you have with that customer or that possible customer. It's also going to help create pre-show buzz. Ask them if they'd be willing to share it. You'd be surprised how many people like, hey, look, I answered your question on this. Could you share this with your network? A lot of cases people will. The biggest piece of this is people know you're hearing them. They know that you're that you're listening, that you're engaged. That is huge. I mean, let's face it, we all want to be heard. Whether it's by a podcast host, our spouse or anyone, it doesn't matter. Being heard is one of the just best, best things that can happen with someone. So make sure that people know that they are heard. I from there. Now that we've got kind of the stuff sourced, you know what I'm going to break into next? You have to have, hook. Every episode needs to start with something. Just kapow. Yeah. I mean, bring people in. Make them excited. I mean, establish this, establish what the episode's about. But do it in a way that makes sure that people want to tag along for that ride. I know so many, so many podcasts host that start out with like, hey, this week I have Bob on and Bob's going to talk about the things and you're like, why do I want to listen to Bob? I, I mean, Bob could be a great guy, but why? Why would I want to listen to him? If you say, Bob is here to solve all your problems, you have a specific problem that I know you've been facing all the time, and Bob is the guy that typically solves it. And that's why I'm having him on my podcast. Now you've got someone interested. Make sure you find a way to do that. This I mean, that the the that bit that hook is the single most important thing to your podcast. Now, another way that you can do that is you can take a sound bite from whatever Bob, your guest said and find that most important thing that Bob said, find that thing that just was shocking or was, I mean, just a great answer and put that first. Now, I'm going to warn you on that. Some people, I have seen them do this. They put the entire question, the entire answer. There. Your hook should not be 3 or 4 minutes long. And I see that all the time. Your hook 15 to 30s tops. People aren't going to stick around that long to to listen for what the the big the big moment is sink the hooks in early. Make it that shocker moment. Make it that just revelation. Make it that thing that is just frames them as this expert guest. Let's high level insight that is huge for you. That is what's going to make the difference in your podcast being successful, because that's going to keep people listening from there. I want you to make it like if you've got a guest, you need to like what I like to call it is that brand bridge questions. How does your guest or how does the topic you're talking about relate to your brand? How does it relate to what you do? So many people bring guests on that are just random people, and they may be very smart, and they may have some amazing things to say, and they may be somewhat relevant to your topic. But how does it lead back to your brand? What is it? What does what does them being on your show do to help you? Once again, you guys know I love shout outs to Bill at the Late to Grid podcast. He does a phenomenal job of talking with people about their racing journey, because he is all about educating people about their racing journey, and once again, that comes back to how he and his brand can help them with that. There's your shout out. Bill is nonetheless. It really is. It's making that connection. Chrissy at the Better Business podcast, she does the same thing. She's talking about health insurance. She's talking about HR. She's talking to people about how they can make theirs better. And in a lot of cases, the answer that people get is like, hey, this is an answer if you want to do it on your own. But it's easier to call us. That's a great way to do things. You're educating people. You're offering them value. Because the other piece to that is, is the fact that once again, you're going to have an educated customer show up. I love everything related to that. So make sure that like when you're when you're asking questions, how do those questions relate back to your brand? How do they relate to what you do or how do they relate to moving your mission forward? There's there's a from the marketing aspect of it is it really is. It's the art of the non salesy sales pitch. Here's great things. Here's great information. Here's what we do with it. That is that is educating your customer. And it's not doing it in a salesy way. But they're probably going to conclude that, hey, it's probably a good idea to have these people help me out. I want you to take the next step in. This is making sure that besides just the brand bridge is that when you're looking at the interview or when you're looking at the topic, it's structured around like the core pillars of your business or what you do. For us, it's easy. I talk about success as a shared thing. The better we make you as a podcaster, the better the podcasting industry is going to be. Overall, that's great for all of us. Success is a shared thing that is great for all of us. What I worry about is some people just have random chats about things and they don't look at their pillars, they wander around stuff. They may not even end up talking about something that's really relevant to their brand. So if you make sure that like your pillars are involved with this, like I said, for us, our core values success is a shared thing. That's why we do the podcast. Maybe. I mean, look at radical innovation, effortless sustainability, building a community. What are the things that like, are core pillars of you, of your business? Make sure that it fills in one of those core pillars for what you're doing. The next thing is, is I want you to make sure that you, we like to call it mining the content. We use some AI tools to help us get those social media clips, but we encourage people to ask direct questions that are going to build those sound bites. If you ask someone something that's got a five minute answer to it, well, guess what? That's probably not going to fit into a reel or anything like that. But if you ask them something that's going to have a concise answer, that will really change the amount of content that you're going to get on the back end of this, it it's go into the the podcast with this marketing mindset of how can I get these pointed things? Now, what I don't want you to do is just go in and ask 20 questions that all have one, like one sentence answers. That's not good for anyone either, but get that short answer up front. That short pointed answer. Ask those awkward, short pointed answer questions up front and then get the explanation later. Then go diving back in for that explanation. But that's a it's a two step process. So many people leave out that first step and they just let people roll. And then it's tougher to find those like sharp points anywhere in the podcast. People will sprinkle brilliance throughout the podcast, but they won't put a chunk of it in one spot. So what I what I tell you to do is try and make sure that you're asking that pointed, concise question that's going to have a sharp answer where people are going to answer that right up front. It's getting that 15 to 45 second answer is just a huge deal for getting that that backend social media content. Once again, this is doing this. With this. It's being intentional about this. We have two new people that we see as podcasts that are out there where people are just going on and saying, look, we're going to have a great conversation. And you might, but it's gotta those are tougher to come by if you do the planning, if you do the preparation, if you do the work to make that great conversation, you end up so, so much further ahead with where you're going to be in terms of that back end content. The other thing I want you to do is next step is look at those calls to action. It shouldn't be, hey, visit our website. It needs to be relevant to the conversation. Earlier I talked about, hey, sign up for the the email. And then we talked about like working with those email things. It's relevant. It's not random. Don't give ten calls to action throughout the thing that are just, hey, do this, this, this, this, this. Because at that point then listening to your podcast, to me becomes a job. And I don't want or need another job. I want to listen to your podcast and I want to enjoy it. So find a way to ask some questions that may work. Your call to action into that. Once again, for I'm going to say Chrissy with the Better Business for Small Business Leaders podcast, between her health insurance and HR firms, when like she talks to someone about health insurance, there's a lot of great information there. And she says, call your broker. Well, in a lot of cases, guess who that broker is probably going to end up being? Well, I mean, I haven't called my broker, but these people seem really nice, so I'm going to call them instead. Once again, it's a related call to action. It's a relevant call to action. And this kind of goes along with that like non pitchy sales pitch. Once again you're telling people, hey, go do something for your own good. And if you just happen to call us, that's even that much better. From a marketing impact standpoint, it's going to provide like this immediate tangible result. It makes the it makes the call to action feel helpful. And like I said, not an ad. It's it. This is where so many people fall short with their podcast because they're they're losing the lead generation side of it. And they need to have that with that for for it to be successful. So make sure that you've got that integrated call to action that is going to work well with your podcast. The other thing I want to talk about, too, is making sure that your guests are prepared. If it's a question and answer, if it's not a question, and answer if it's a solo episode, make sure that you're prepared, but make sure that your guests are prepared. Give them something to use, like before the podcast and give them something after the podcast. What do I mean by before the podcast? Make sure they've got the link. Make sure you talk about like, hey, cameras set up. Make sure you talk about headphones. By golly, make sure they're wearing headphones. A big sticking point for me. But those types of things make sure that you, you set them up for success with that, that after the show, send them direct links to the podcast on all of the platforms Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart radio, Pandora, I mean Google or Google Podcasts now, YouTube podcasts. Holy cow, it's been a long day already. That that to me, it's give them everything in a package. Additionally, if you're cutting stuff up into clips, send them some of the clips, send them some of that stuff that like on the back end of stuff like, hey, here's a couple of clips, can you post them and tag us in it? If it's on Instagram, make sure that you invite them as a collaborator. Do those things. Maximize your value for your time? Does it take a little bit of effort? Sure. Is it the fun part? No. But those are the things that will really help you in growing your show and working to to to get that audience. The easier you make it for your guest to share the episode, to share the social media, and to share your message, the more likely it is to have happen. We found overall, it's probably about two thirds of people will share at least something. So don't think that you're not because you're not batting a thousand with this. You're a failure. There's a lot of people that won't end up sharing stuff, but if you keep in mind that you're that you still need to do it because that is high value in terms of getting that other person's audience. It's a great, great thing to do. And by making it easier, you increase those odds. So what the quick recap of this first, engage your community. Find out what they're curious about. Get those questions. Find out what they'd like to know. Second, make sure you write a hook that's going to tell them, hey, this is what we're doing, and we're answering your questions. Third, act as like the brand bridge. Make sure that you are tying this in to your brand and focus on like a brand pillar. That's the fourth piece. Focus on a pillar of the brand. So find a way to tie it into the brand overall, and then find a way to drill down even further and focus on one of your brand pillars. Fifth, make sure you repurpose your content. That's I mean, it's a huge it's a huge thing with the podcast. Make sure you're able to cut that up and send that back out. It's it's it really is what turns your podcast into a marketing tool. The next thing is, is create that valuable call to action. It's got to fit it. It should it shouldn't sound like work to people. That to me is the biggest part of it. With to an effective call to action. It shouldn't sound like work for people. For me, the call to action that I'm going to leave you with is, I really want to talk to you, because I want to find out more about your podcast, and I want to help. We've got our 30 minute no pitch podcast consultation. There's zero pitch in and you can ask me whatever you want to about podcast. We will take a look and take a listen to at last couple of episodes, you and your podcast to give you like, hey, here's what you can do with your camera, here's what you can do with your audio. Here's what we may suggest with editing. We'll look at things like that and we will make suggestions for you if you want more information, if you want pricing, whatever like that. I'm happy to disclose that, obviously. But really for us it is 100% no pitch. We are here to help you get better. As a podcaster, we want to make sure you look good. We want to make sure you sound good, and we want to make sure that if you have guests, you are asking the right questions. Links below if you want to go ahead and sign up for that. Nonetheless, do me a favor. Make sure that you take care of yourself if you can take care of someone else too, as I will see you very, very soon.

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Josh Troche

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