The "Trojan Horse" Podcast Tactic: Genius Move or Ethical Fail?| Jason Bradwell, Founder of B2B Better and Host of Pipe Dream Podcast

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Jason M. Bradwell: Hey, everyone.

Co-host: Welcome back to another episode of Pipe dream and our one in 100 series.

Jason M. Bradwell: This is Today.

Co-host: I wanted to talk about a tactic that the majority of B2B brands that we see launching podcasts are, uh, using. We call this Trojan Horsing. The idea of inviting prospective customers onto your show, um, as a means of trying to sell them something. So we're going to be talking through, you know, where this is a good idea, where this is definitely not a good idea, and some general best practices on how to do it in the most effective way. All right, here we go. 95% of the B2B brands that we speak to at B2B better, um, who are considering launching their own shows, uh, are doing so with the idea that they will be using it as a means of building relationships with prospective clients. Right. So the idea is simple. You know, we will produce a guest based interview series, um, we will invite our potential, uh, customers, um, onto the show as guests, and that is us getting our foot in the door, um, as a way of, you know, potentially turning them into a client. And, you know, I had a question come to me the other day from someone when I was talking about this, you know, around the ethics of it, you know, is it ethical to bring someone in under the guise of creating content and then pitch slap them as soon as they sit down to record? And I have to say absolutely categorically, the answer is no. That is not ethical. It is not ethical to pull the wool over someone's eyes, um, ask them to give you their time, their valuable time and energy, and then as soon as you bring them into the recording studio, virtual, in person, immediately it turns into a demo. Now, that's not to say that the idea, the concept of interviewing your prospective clients doesn't have value and can't drive real commercial outcomes. It can, but it's the way in which you do that that is important. What we always say at B2B better is that if you are going to be interviewing prospective clients first and foremost, uh, it has to be a value led exercise, right? You have to deliver on the promise that you are making to the guest that you are in this to co create content with them, to give them a platform to share their insights and their expertise and that you will go the nine yards to ensuring that that content is packaged beautifully and distributed effect, um, as a means of growing your collective audiences. Right? So a prospective customer, absolutely fine. But it has to deliver on the promise of co creating valuable content together. Now that doesn't mean that as part of that recording process, you can't tell that person a little bit about your business if they haven't heard of you before. In fact, they will probably expect it. They will want to know who is it that I'm sitting with here today, um, and what is it about them that makes me, as the guest, relevant to their audience? Um, but you have to be very careful not to allow yourself or a colleague of yours, if they're hosting the podcast, to allow that to slip into demo or pitch territory. Because if it does, it will be a horrible experience. It will be a horrible experience for the guest, um, who will never want to do any business with you. So you're defeating the whole point of the Z objective in the first place. And if you do ever decide to publish that content to your audience, no one's going to give a shit, no one's going to want to listen to it, no one's going to take any value from it. So you can definitely interview your prospective customers, but treat it as what it is, which is a co content creation opportunity where we see a lot of brands kind of miss a trick when it comes to then nurturing those contacts into potential deals is there's no follow up, right? Um, you know, it's just like any kind of sales process, the more follow up you do, um, the higher your chances are that you are going to be successful in converting that opportunity into a customer. They'll record the episode, they'll publish it, they'll do a LinkedIn post, and then that will be the end. What we advise our clients to do here at B2B better is think about, you know, how do we create these milestone moments? And we've talked about these on a previous episode of B2B better. How do we have a roadmap of activities and touch points with each of these guests that fall into our icp, that fall into the bucket of being potential customers to ensure that we're continuing to deliver value to them over the 3, 6, 9, 12 months after the podcast episode has been recorded. And so here are some of the things that you could think about doing. You know, a week after the episode is published, you send them a note telling them how many downloads it got or where it's been picked up and how successful the show was. Makes them feel good and warm and fuzzy that the experience was worth it. Um, maybe a month after that you send them a link to another episode that you've recorded with a guest, potentially someone who's a contemporary or a peer to that individual, and you, you share with them, you know, hey, they said something really interesting. It's kind of made me think about our, you together, you know, what do you think? So we're starting a dialogue, we're starting a discussion. You know, maybe two or three months after that you're going to an event. Uh, you can invite this person to join you at the event, or if you're going to a trade show, perhaps you invite them to come and record a little kind of vox pop follow up episode directly from the show floor. Um, maybe three months after that you start sending them, uh, uh, you know, uh, invitations to a private dinner that you're hosting with other guests that have been on the podcast. And after that you can then start thinking about, okay, where can we start dropping in some potential kind of, uh, sales messages, be it a product update or a white paper, um, or a case study. Because you've built that relationship over time where you've led with a value first mindset and so that the ask of, hey, can I now actually get your time to tell you a little bit about our services and how they can help your business, um, feels genuine, right, because it's coming from a trust trusted relationship, uh, rather than from a cold sales pitch. Um, so to kind of recap this episode and this concept of Trojan horsing, you know, if you are going to be interviewing your potential customers on the podcast, on your podcast with the intention of turning them into commercial relationships, absolutely, you can do that. But, um, just be very respectful and mindful of how you are approaching that conversation that you're starting by delivering immense value to that individual in recognition of their time, energy and expertise that they are giving you and that you are thinking about timing. Right. When is the right time for us to give them a message, um, that hopefully will turn them into, ah, a potential customer. So that's it for this episode of Pipedream. If you have any questions about how to build, uh, an audience, first marketing strategy or you want to know how you can turn your point of view into Pipeline. You can connect with us on LinkedIn. Connect with me on LinkedIn. Jason M. Bradwell. Um, or you can drop me an email, jasonw-better.com and I'd love to hear from you. All right, until next time. We'll see you then.