AP 0298: How Do I Promote My Products During My Podcast?

AskPat 298 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: What's up everybody? Welcome to Episode 298 of Ask Pat. Thank you so much for joining me today. We have a fantastic question today from Bella.

Awesome. Now let's get to today's question from Belah.

Belah: Hey Pat, this is Belah Rose. Thank you so much fro everything you do and are. I am just so appreciative of all of your help. I've been listening to you for awhile. I send all of my friends to you. I just started podcasting. My show is Delight Your Marriage at DelightYourMarriage.com where I interview amazing people who inspire wives to live in whole hearted intimacy. I'll be launching in March, and I had a question.

A lot of times, my guests touch on topics that are so applicable to a product I'm offering, but I feel too pushy or sales-y to mention it on the interview especially since a lot of the guests are promoting their own book or product that's obviously associated to the content they're providing for free, but they also mention their product. As you suggest, I want my audience to first and foremost, like and trust me. Is it better to just let them find it on the website on their own? Should I mention it in the interview, or should I break in and have a little advertisement for my product in the middle of the interview? Again, I really love the way you podcast. I really would love your thoughts because I know, like, and trust you, and it's been a huge, huge benefit. That's the way I want my audience to see me. Thanks, Pat, for everything that you do. I really cannot be more grateful.

Awesome. Take care. Bye.

Pat Flynn: Hey Belah, what's up? Thank you so much for the question. Also, I want to thank you for the support and the kind words there in the beginning. I truly appreciate it. This is why I do what I do, to hear things like that. Thank you. I really appreciate it, and I want to wish you the best of luck on your launch for your podcast coming up this month. If it hasn't launched already, best of luck. If it has, awesome, keep up the great work.

Now let's get to your question.

So you're conducting an interview, and the person you're interviewing, talks about a topic that you actually have a product about. Awesome. That's cool. That's a validation of what you're talking about and what you're creating products for. That's excellent. You have a perfect guest on the show, obviously. Now, there's a fine line here. I think the best way to think about this is kind of who you are speaking to and who your audience is. That's one in the same, but also the person you are interviewing. For and out of respect for the interviewer, it would be a little bit rude, I think. I know different people have different opinions about this, so we can all talk about it on Twitter actually. Use the hashtag #AskPat298 if you want to follow up with Belah, and we can talk about this.

My thoughts are during the interview, if somebody were to mention some topic and then they had a product for it as well, and then I come in and chime in with a pitch or just a mention of my own product that is a competitor to that product, I wouldn't feel good about that. I'd feel like I was just being used or if I was that person who had originally come on your show, I'd be like, “oh well, I thought I was going to get a chance to talk about my thing.”

There's obviously opportunities to become an affiliate for that product, which is really interesting, or you can mention it later in the episode, which we can talk about as well. I think out of respect for the person you're interviewing, you don't want to mention it right there. I'm sure you weren't going to do this, but let's say, for example, somebody comes on AskPat and says, “Oh, I have a product, it's a podcast player.” “Oh, by the way, did you know I have a podcast player? It's at SmartPodcastPlayer.com.” That's just rude, right? Obviously, you wouldn't do that, and I don't think anybody in their right mind would do something quite like that. It could come off that way, is kind of what I'm getting at. You don't want to do that.

Now, breaking up the show with an advertisement for a particular product related to that content. Again, if that person doesn't have a product, then I think that's perfectly fine and actually recommended. You are getting people to listen about a particular topic, and if you have a product that relates to that particular topic or category, then by all means you have every right to put that right in there. You should. You would be doing your audience a disservice if you didn't mention that. If they have that product, and you're in the middle of the interview, and you interrupt that interview with an ad for your own stuff, that doesn't look go. That leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Now, if we get to the end of the episode, for example, an you're doing a recap, and you're properly sharing and letting people know who are listening, that they have a product, and you give that person some good exposure, then I feel like it's okay to put in yours at the end too.

Now, some of you might now agree with me. Again, it depends on the situation. It depends on the relationship and things like that that you have with this person. You obviously want to, and I think this is something I would do if I was going to do that, in that episode, I would ask that person if that was okay, to get their permission to do that, which I think would be a very generous thing to do. I think in most cases, they would say yes because they are a guest on your show. It's your show, so you could do whatever you want with it. I think just the idea of you asking eases that a little bit. It eases the tension that could perhaps stir up from a situation like that.

Now, I keep mentioning this. If this person does not have a product, whatever that category show is about, you should absolutely be promoting the products and items related to that particular show.

Now, let's talk about the show notes. The show notes is something different. That's something that you drive people to who are listening to your website where you have all this information. Then yes, I think it's okay to have it there too. You're going to have links for that other person, but you're going to have links for your own stuff too. Perhaps, they're not right next to each other but maybe at the end of the post in a little highlighted box. That seems like it's a little bit more justified. Again, it's your own site and it just happens to be in a post that happens to have a competitor's product or a friend's product in it, but it's at the end of your post, and you're highlighting your own stuff related to that content; I think that's totally fine too.

What do you guys think? Use the hashtag #askpat298 and leave your comment on Twitter. Belah and I will both follow to see what's up and see what you guys think about it.

I don't think it's as bad as you might think. Again, if you just don't interrupt during an interview, then you're not being pushy or sales-y. Of course, in how you pitch your product, that's going to determine in whether or not you're coming across as sales-y or pushy also. What works for me is just being honest with people all the time and really transparent. That even goes with talking to those people who are going to be on the show and telling them what you're going to do and continually being honest with your audience as well like, “Hey, this person's product is great. Their content was fantastic. Their free content here on the show was awesome, and I happen to have one too.” Again, not right in the middle of it because you want to let them know that you appreciate their time on and you're not just high jacking them. In the show notes, at the end of the episode, I feel like that's perfectly fine.

What do you guys think? Use the hashtag #AskPat298, and you can let Belah and I know what you think.

Belah, thank you so much for this great intriguing question today. I really appreciate it, and an Ask Pat t-shirt is going to be headed your way for having your question featured here on the show.

For those of you listening, if you have a question you'd like featured here on the show, all you have to do is head on over to AskPat.com, and you can ask it right there on that page thanks to the Speakpipe widget.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate you listening in today. I do want to end with a quote from Steve Maraboli. He says, “Forget yesterday. It has already forgotten you. Don't sweat tomorrow. You haven't even met. Instead, open your eyes and your heart to truly precious gift: today.”

Cheers. Take care, and I'll see you for the next episode of AskPat.