3 ways to remind podcast listeners they can pay you for services or products

While other people's podcasts can give you a sense of how to put together episodes that people are excited to listen to, but they often don’t model effective strategies for someone who wants to leverage their podcast to make sales in their business.

After two years of running Building Balance, I’ve learned a few strategies you can use to remind listeners that you offer valuable services or products without resorting to direct CTAs or explicit promotions.

These are also great ways to introduce the idea of working with you without scaring off new listeners.

To remind people that they can buy from you, try a mix of these strategies in your content:

1. Share real client or customer stories vs generic examples

When talking about struggles your listeners may be facing, or about benefits of your services or products, it's more impactful to share examples from real clients and customers, instead of relying on hypothetical examples. This approach subtly encourages listeners to consider hiring you or purchasing your products.

By recounting actual stories and highlighting how you've helped previous clients, you provide tangible evidence of the value you bring.

Plus real examples helps your content stand out in a sea of AI generated fluff!

I was reading through a client’s content outline for her very first podcast episode. In one paragraph she listed a few examples of struggles someone might face in their marketing. In my feedback, I encouraged her to consider talking about a couple of real-life clients instead of general examples to remind people that she’s a professional who can help with these struggles.

Example: Instead of saying, "Imagine if you could get your podcast out into the world within a few weeks, using free tools “, I could say “After picking my brain for an hour, Katie was encouraged to start working on her podcast – and published her first episodes in just 5 weeks after our call."

(See what I did there?)

Caveat: A great use case for hypothetical examples is when you want to serve a certain type of person, but you don’t have real-life examples of them, yet.

2. Mention your clients or customers over and over

Incorporating mentions of your clients or customers throughout your podcast episodes can effectively remind your audience of the work you do without explicitly promoting your services or products.

By referring to specific instances when clients have sought your expertise or sought your products, you create a sense of social proof and demonstrate that people are already benefiting from your offerings.

Here are a few ideas to give an idea of the kinds of phrases you could include – or even introduce your podcast episode topic with:

• “This question/topic has come up recently in conversations with clients…”

• “Last week a customer asked about x…”

• “I noticed a theme that kept popping up in my client calls this month…”

• “A past client/customer reached out with this question…”

3. Interview past clients or happy customers about their experience with you/your product

To help your listeners get a sense for what it’s like to work with you and what kinds of things you/your product can help with, consider interviewing past/current clients or happy customers.

This approach showcases your ability to deliver results while giving potential clients or customers an opportunity to hear firsthand accounts of how your services or products have impacted others.

These interviews can serve as fun testimonials and motivate listeners to reach out to you – just remember to talk through their entire journey.

What was life like before they worked with you, how did you work together, and what short term and long term benefits have they noticed since working with you/using your product?

While you may want to include direct CTAs and explicit promotions into your episodes, it’s equally important to find ways to remind your audience that working with you or purchasing your products is an option. By sharing real client stories, mentioning clients or customers consistently, and conducting interviews with satisfied individuals, you can effectively plant the "work with me" seed in the minds of your listeners.

This subtle approach keeps your services or products top of mind, even for those who may not be ready to make a purchase immediately.