17. Can You Give Away Too Much Free Content On Your Podcast?

People tell me all of the time that they’re worried about giving away too much content for free on their podcast and then listeners will never buy their programs and services. I completely understand where this worry is coming from, AND I can tell you that I don’t believe it’s true. So, in today’s episode, I’m going to explain why this isn’t likely to hurt your sales, and what you can do to set your listeners up to become customers.

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Transcript

Welcome to podcasting for introverts. I'm Julia Levine, AKA The Podcast Teacher. I'm a fellow introvert, entrepreneur, and educator. If you want to start a podcast and expand your reach without social media, this is the show for you. Let's get started. Hey. Hey. And welcome back.

Today, I'm going to address one of the most common objections that I receive about starting a podcast. People tell me all the time that they're worried about giving away too much content for free on their podcast, and then listeners will never buy their programs and services. I completely understand where this worry is coming from, and I can tell you that I don't believe it's true. So in today's episode, I'm going to explain why a podcast and free content isn't likely to hurt your sales and what you can do to set your listeners up to become customers. So let's first talk about why giving away free content is important. Some type of free content is a very important top of funnel activity. If you're not familiar with that marketing term, top of funnel simply refers to the initial interactions that a potential customer has with you. The top of the funnel is focused on awareness of you and the problem that you solve, as well as education.

So if you picture a funnel, it's wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. As potential customers take steps towards working with you, such as opting into a freebie and getting on your email list, they're moving into the narrower part of the funnel. Not everyone will take these steps. So the goal is to attract a wide audience at the top of the funnel, and then a certain percentage will continue down the funnel. Anyway, a Podcast is a perfect top of funnel activity because it brings awareness and education to a ever. They've likely been burned more than once by a coach or a program, probably online, that made big promises and then didn't deliver. And we're living in the age of AI, so it can be hard to tell who really knows their subject and who's just regurgitating chat GPT content. It's said that it used to take someone interacting with your content 7 times before they trusted you.

Now that number is significantly higher. I've heard numbers ranging from 20 to 50. The point is that people are hesitant, and it makes it harder to earn their trust. So you need to show up and prove that you're worthy. Your free content is almost like an audition. You need to demonstrate the range and depth of your knowledge on your subject. It's very difficult to demonstrate this if you're keeping a lot of your expertise behind a paywall. You've got to put your cards on the table.

You need to answer their unasked questions of, does this guru really understand what's going through my head right now? Do they understand my struggle? Do they truly have the answers that I'm seeking? Okay. So hopefully, I've convinced you that you need to give away some of your best content. And I bet your next thought is, yeah, but I've gotta keep some stuff locked away for paying customers. Right? Well, yes and no. There are a range of opinions on this topic, and I'll go over several of them here. But what's best for you will largely depend on your specific programs and services. Some people say to give away the what of your content, but not the how. I don't agree with this as a hard and fast rule because the how can demonstrate your teaching style, which is really important for demonstrating expertise and establishing trust.

But it depends on your subject matter and then also what your paid offers are. I personally like to strike a balance between the what and the how. So I'll give you a few examples from this podcast. In episode 7, I gave you the what of the podcasting equipment that you need as a beginner. I didn't give you the how, mostly because visuals are important for demonstrating this particular how, and I can't do that on an audio only podcast. Then in episode 16, I walked you through the what and the how of choosing a podcast name. So you need to think about your content and your offerings and what makes sense to deliver in a podcast format. I personally recommend a combination of the what and the how.

Another natural question is, how much of your content should you be giving away for free? Again, there are varying opinions on this ranging anywhere from giving away 50% to a 100% of your content for free. I personally fall on the higher end of the spectrum, believing that gatekeeping information doesn't lead to earning trust. The question of how much to give away can also depend on your specific programs and services. If you offer any form of coaching, access to you is what they're paying for. So you can give away all the information in the world. People are still going to pay you to help them implement and apply the information to their specific situation. But you do want to be strategic about the content that you're giving away, in what order you're presenting it, and what paid offer you're leading them toward. So let's say that you're willing to give away 80% of the content in one of your programs for free on your podcast.

Great. But I highly suggest that you don't do this in a linear fashion and deliver your program lessons one after the other. That's making it a little too easy. So skip around and sprinkle the information throughout different episodes. You're still putting the cards on the table, you're still showing your knowledge, and you're still earning trust. People will pay you for that same content in a convenient, step by step, linear easy to follow plan all tied up in a bow because they know it will get them results faster and without headaches. Sure. There are going to be a handful of people who are willing to dig through your back catalog of episodes and put all the pieces together, and they will never buy anything from you.

But if they do, you can still sleep easy knowing that you've helped to them. You've made a difference in their life, which is a reward in and of itself. Plus, they may recommend you to someone else who will buy from you. Okay. So, finally, when you're presenting your content, deliver it in a way that shows them the next natural step is to purchase a program or service from you. Set them up for success. So what obstacles do they need to overcome before they're ready to take the leap? What will build their confidence? And, of course, don't forget to tell them what the next step is. Give them a call to action so that when they're ready, there's no question of what they should do next.

Okay. So to summarize and answer the question of, can you give away too much free content on your podcast? I think the answer is no. Remember that people will pay you to implement the content, get it done faster, and to apply the information to their specific situation. I know it can seem scary and counterintuitive to give away so much of your content for free on your podcast or elsewhere, I've had hesitations myself. But every time I release the fear that people won't buy from me if I give too much away and I just show up and focus on giving value without gatekeeping anything, my efforts are rewarded. So give away your content, earn trust, and enjoy the benefits. Talk to you again soon. Thanks for listening.

If something in this episode resonated with you and you're thinking about starting your own podcast, I have a free resource that will help you. It's called the podcast road map, 7 questions to start your journey. To grab it, just head to the podcast teacher.com /roadmap. See you next week.