Podcasting That Makes Your Clients Come to You | DJ Sprague

Sadaf Beynon

00:00:06.080 - 00:00:42.270

Want to know how top e commerce brands win the traffic and conversion game? DJ Sprague, CMO at Shopper Approved and co host of the Cash Flow Kings podcast, has spent decades helping businesses increase revenue.

On his podcast, he and his team bring industry experts to share real, actionable strategies that e-commerce brands can use to drive growth.

I'm Sadaf Beynon and this is Podjunction podcast, where we explore how entrepreneurs, CEOs and business leaders use podcasting to grow their brands, build authority, and connect with their audience. DJ, welcome to the show.

DJ Sprague

00:00:42.890 - 00:00:47.154

Thank you, Sadaf. I'm so excited to be here. I've been looking forward to this for several weeks now.

Sadaf Beynon

00:00:47.322 - 00:01:07.770

Yes, same here. DJ, your background in marketing, conversion strategies, and behavioral science is really impressive.

But what's really interesting to me right now is, is how you're using your podcast as part of that strategy. What led you to launch Cash Flow Kings podcast, and how does it fit into everything you do?

DJ Sprague

00:01:08.390 - 00:02:59.290

Well, it's a great question.

We did start out under a different brand, the E Commerce Traffic and Conversion Podcast, and then we decided to change it to the Cash Flow Kings Podcast for a couple of reasons. One, we actually are launching a product called Cash Flow King.

And second, traffic and conversion really comes down to increasing cash flow, increasing profits, gross profits, net profits, and we just like the ring of that better. And there's a lot of traffic and conversion books, podcast shows, conferences, et cetera.

And we thought, let's differentiate, let's stand out a little bit, and let's go with Cash Flow Kings, because if you're the Cash flow king in your industry, you on top of the world. So we built a podcast, really, to do a few things. One, bring in our core audience, our target audience, our ideal customer profile, our icp.

So we bring in prospects, we bring in clients, we bring in authors of books that affect traffic and conversion and revenue and growth. We bring in subject matter experts, we bring in agency owners, we bring in influencers, we bring in potential partners, existing partners.

And we use these contacts and these relationships that we build through the podcast to either acquire a new customer or solidify a relationship with an existing customer or acquire a new partnership or really get on the stage. We've been invited several speaking engagements as a result of podcasting and guesting. Or guest podcasting.

Sadaf Beynon

00:02:59.370 - 00:03:00.010

Yeah.

DJ Sprague

00:03:00.170 - 00:06:10.252

And really, in. In, in my book, your podcast, whether you're a host or a guest, you have to have a hook, a story, and an offer.

And that's a concept that Russell Brunson from ClickFunnels came up with, but if you don't have a hook, something that makes you different, something that differentiates you, a compelling story and then a story about your brand, your product, your service that brings value and again differentiates, and of course an offer, then you've got a lot of noise. So we started out with creating a very compelling book. It's a real book, 291 pages, full color, about 91 full color illustrations in it.

It comes in a really cool gift box with all kinds of goodies. People love it. It includes a gold million dollar bill. Because the idea is that we're going to help you make a million dollars.

But we send this reputation management kit out to our future guests on our show, whether it be an expert, an author, a client, a prospect, a partner. And that kit that, that free gift really gets them immersed in our brand and our story because we have a very unique and compelling story.

And so we created the book to convey that story. It's a high quality book.

It's embossed, it's full color, it's stitched, it lays flat, it's archive quality, it's a very high quality coffee table type book, hardcover, the whole bit. We went all out. And the reason is because it conveys a message of quality. It conveys a message of this is different and it is different.

It's the first and only book ever published about e commerce reputation management. It's the first and only.

And we really peel back the onion in that book to tell the story about how reviews work, how online reputation management works, how it works to drive traffic conversions, average order value, lifetime value, et cetera. And so it took about 300 pages to tell that full story.

The ins and outs, the pros, the cons, how to do it, what to avoid, how to prioritize, how to create a positive reputation in search results, paid and organic, Google and Bing, all the way through to your homepage category pages or collection pages, to your product pages and beyond. So we use that book as a way to get on other podcasts to convey our authority, our expertise, our uniqueness.

We're not the only review platform in the world.

So to convey our uniqueness, we, we created this book and then we give away the free digital and audio version of the book to the audience, our own audience on our podcast, and then any show that we're a guest on.

Sadaf Beynon

00:06:10.356 - 00:06:10.780

Yeah.

DJ Sprague

00:06:10.860 - 00:07:20.530

So that's our offer. And, and it really, really works well.

And I would recommend that if you have a show, have a podcast, or are thinking about creating a podcast, go to the next level and think about how can we get something special and unique to the audience that goes beyond the show itself, something tangible. It could be a mini course you could take and create a three part or five part or seven part video mini course that you give away.

And that could be a teaser into your full course or a overview of your company, your product, your brand, your service. You could create a special report, a white paper, a calculator. You could work with other experts and create a compilation book or product.

But you really want to have something that people can get receive to go to the next level of learning. And so build that into your show, build into your podcast.

And for example, we always in our podcast say, don't forget to go to reputationking.com and download your free copy of Reputation King to learn more about these concepts, principles and strategies.

Sadaf Beynon

00:07:21.190 - 00:07:40.290

That's very fascinating. I love how actually the book is because a lot of on podcasting, a lot of the interviews are done remotely, aren't they?

There's very few that are necessarily in studio. And so that receives something tangible like that after having been on a podcast must really add value to the conversation.

DJ Sprague

00:07:41.110 - 00:07:45.916

Right. Value differentiation. And it allows people to really learn a lot more.

Sadaf Beynon

00:07:46.078 - 00:07:46.560

Yes.

DJ Sprague

00:07:46.640 - 00:07:51.104

About your product, your brand or your service than they would on a podcast.

Sadaf Beynon

00:07:51.232 - 00:08:04.528

Yes. So you had the podcast and then you introduced a book to take it to the next level. How long ago did you publish the book and start gifting that?

DJ Sprague

00:08:04.664 - 00:08:08.496

Yeah, it actually went in reverse. We published the book and then started the podcast.

Sadaf Beynon

00:08:08.608 - 00:08:09.460

Okay.

DJ Sprague

00:08:09.960 - 00:08:24.510

We knew that in the podcast you wanted to have a book. We wanted to have an offer, something to give away, something tangible. And so we did the book and then we launched it on a two hour webinar with Dr.Robert Cialdini.

Sadaf Beynon

00:08:24.590 - 00:08:24.974

Yeah.

DJ Sprague

00:08:25.022 - 00:09:29.366

Who is the godfather of influence. Where the world famous book Influence. It's all about behavioral psychology or behavioral design, whichever you want to call it.

We talked a great deal about the principles that he teaches in his book, which are also part of our program product. And then we show how those principles are used within our product, which is in Reputation King. So that's how we kind of launched it.

Then we took that two hour webinar and converted that into a podcast. So taking content and then multi purposing it. We also, in our first few episodes of our podcast, we actually talked about principles in the book.

Prior pre suasion, persuasion, social proof, popularity, tribalism, et cetera. We talk about these concepts. Then we went down to Dr.Cialdini's Behavioral Science lab at Arizona State University and did a one on one interview with him on these concepts, turned that into a podcast. So, you know, if you get creative.

Sadaf Beynon

00:09:29.478 - 00:09:29.942

Yeah.

DJ Sprague

00:09:30.006 - 00:10:23.540

There's all kinds of ways you can take content and repurpose it for a podcast. You can take your podcast turn into a blog, you can take your blog turn into a podcast.

You can take excerpts from your book and turn that into a podcast. We also got 35 subject matter experts and famous authors to review our book before we publish it.

So we have 35 reviews in our book from people like Dr. Cialdini, David Meerman Scott, Roger Dooley, etc. Famous authors in their space.

And then we got them on our podcast and they also talked about our book because they read it, they wrote a review for it. So another way to create social proof and authority for your book, which then translates into your podcast.

And now again, you're repurposing that content.

Sadaf Beynon

00:10:24.080 - 00:10:51.748

Yeah, I'm listening to you. You've been very intentional about the podcast, the book, and how it complements what you do with Shopper Approved.

And that's, that's really interesting to me because sometimes you just kind of fall into podcasting and they, oh, actually this could, this could be a great marketing tool for my business.

But you've been very intentional about not only just having it, but how you're launching it and you know what it needs to look like before you press the go button.

DJ Sprague

00:10:51.924 - 00:11:11.760

Well, thank you. We have been, we spent a lot of time, honestly, we spent a year writing the book.

We spent months planning the podcast and get our guests all lined up and our topics.

And we study experts, you know, we study the people that have really done a phenomenal job of growing their business and we take lessons from, from them as well.

Sadaf Beynon

00:11:11.880 - 00:11:12.368

Yeah.

DJ Sprague

00:11:12.464 - 00:12:09.690

But honestly, the, the symbiotic relationship between the book and the podcast is such a natural way to build authority, build expertise, differentiate, stand out. And it has gotten us on a lot of other podcasts as guests.

Yeah, podcast much, much, much, much bigger than ours, you know, some of the top 1%, because we send out that, that kit, as I showed you, it's not just a book, but it's, it's a whole reputation management kit and it has a personalized greeting card that goes with it, and it really makes a big splash. In fact, we've had a lot of the podcast hosts talk about the book and hold the book up when they're introducing us.

It's like, yeah, you know, we, we got the book, we got the kit, and we're, we've Got DJ and Scott right here today, and we're going to talk about how to become a reputation king in your industry, for example. And so it really paves the way.

Sadaf Beynon

00:12:09.810 - 00:12:10.490

Yeah.

DJ Sprague

00:12:10.650 - 00:12:23.008

And it's a great way to stand out. I can't say enough about that duality of being an author and being a podcast host and ultimately a podcast guest as well.

Sadaf Beynon

00:12:23.144 - 00:12:25.968

That's very cool. So what made you decide to do it that way?

DJ Sprague

00:12:26.024 - 00:12:53.692

Well, we wanted to make sure that we made an impact, that we stood out, that we had something to give away, something to leave behind, something that would take people to the next level versus just a podcast, just another podcast. And that's why we did it that way.

Now, you talked about intentionality, and that's one thing I wanted to talk about today, as we talked about a few weeks ago before the podcast, is creating your dream 100 list.

Sadaf Beynon

00:12:53.796 - 00:12:54.124

Yes.

DJ Sprague

00:12:54.172 - 00:12:55.468

If you remember that conversation.

Sadaf Beynon

00:12:55.564 - 00:12:56.412

I do.

DJ Sprague

00:12:56.596 - 00:15:00.830

And the idea there is create a list, a written list, a spreadsheet of who are the top prospects I want as my ideal customers. I call it the Dream 100. It could be Dream 50. It could be Dream 500. It's just a name. Right.

But who are the people we want as clients that really fit our ideal customer profile, or icp, and reach out to those people? Send them what we do. Send them our kit, invite them on our show. Who are my best customers?

Who are my customers that have had the greatest results and seen the greatest impact from our product or service? Invite them on the show.

Who are the partners that we really want to work with because they create a synergy that will help our clients go to the next level? Invite them on the show. Send them the kit. Who are the subject matter experts in the industry? Who are the authors? Who are the trade show directors?

Who are the journalists? Who are the association directors? And think about the entire ecosystem of your industry. Could be suppliers. Right?

Think about the entire ecosystem and then make a list of all those people that you could benefit from by creating a stronger relationship with and by inviting people on your podcast. It's a great way to create that relationship, create that bond.

Because, you know, there's conversations that happened before, conversations that happen after, conversations that happen during. And all of that creates trust, likability. Right. Multiple touches. And so it's a great way to also kind of pay it forward.

You're going to invite somebody on your show that you're currently not partnering with, but you're going to give them a great boost in SEO because of the podcast, in authority and credibility, and Then take it from there. So pay it forward.

Sadaf Beynon

00:15:01.450 - 00:15:14.066

I love that. I love that. And it's so strategic, isn't it? It's not just like, I'll have a podcast and I'll just invite some interesting people.

This is being very, as you said, intentional about who you're going after.

DJ Sprague

00:15:14.218 - 00:16:09.072

Yeah, I think being intentional and strategic is important. Otherwise you're just, you know, randomly having people on that either reach out to you or, you know, somebody. But they're maybe not the right fit.

But, hey, they're interesting. Let's. Let's have a conversation. I think the more strategic you are, the better, because you're only going to run so many podcasts.

You only record so many in a week. Maybe it's one, maybe it's three, maybe it's five. Whatever it is, you still have limited time and capacity.

And you want to make sure that you're always delivering to your audience, people that are influencers, that are experts in the industry. So, for example, we talk to E commerce owners and executives.

We want to make sure that everybody on our show can add value to the e commerce owner or executive. If it's about, you know, not. Not to bash, you know, wellness, but if it's about personal wellness, what does that have to do with e commerce?

Sadaf Beynon

00:16:09.216 - 00:16:09.824

Yeah.

DJ Sprague

00:16:09.952 - 00:16:25.648

Right. Or if it's about training your dog, Neat Tricks has nothing to do with E commerce.

It might be a great show and a great topic, but you want to make sure that you're always delivering something of value to your core ideal customer profile.

Sadaf Beynon

00:16:25.824 - 00:16:39.856

You've been very strategic and intentional about getting your podcast up and running. Have there been any surprises along the way that you weren't? Because I know you. You were anticipating a lot of things that were going to happen.

But was there some that you didn't anticipate?

DJ Sprague

00:16:40.048 - 00:18:11.416

Excellent question. We all do. Right? First of all, they don't really grow. Podcasts don't grow that fast organically. If you do nothing.

Yeah, you should spend half your time that you put into producing your podcast, adding your podcast, into promoting your podcast. You should. You should boost your podcast. You. You do need paid ads, paid boosts.

You need to strategically ask everybody that's been on your podcast as a guest to share the podcast, like it, you know, give a. Give a rating and review, share with everybody. You know, You've. You've got to get audience, and that takes work.

Just posting content these days and hoping for the best. Yeah, it's not. It. Right. Doesn't work. So, again, thinking ahead, how are we going to Promote each and every episode.

Put a budget for each and every episode to. To boost those. Make it really easy for your guests to share it. Yeah.

For example, once the show is live, send them a link, say, here's where it is, here's the reels, the shorts, the full show. You know, you can, you can see it here on all the different social platforms you can like and share those. Make it easy.

The easier you make it for your guests, the easier they can share it. Because if you make it an effort, they're not going to do it. Right.

Sadaf Beynon

00:18:11.488 - 00:18:12.140

Yeah.

DJ Sprague

00:18:12.720 - 00:18:16.824

And here's another thing. It's a little self serving.

Sadaf Beynon

00:18:16.952 - 00:18:17.800

Yeah. Go ahead.

DJ Sprague

00:18:17.840 - 00:18:33.918

But if you reach up and get much bigger names on your show, then their name alone in search is going to help lift your podcast visibility. Because people are looking for so and so. They're not looking for you.

Sadaf Beynon

00:18:34.054 - 00:18:34.414

Yeah.

DJ Sprague

00:18:34.462 - 00:18:46.798

They're looking for this author or this expert or this speaker. They may not be looking for you. And of course, if they share it on their networks, then they have a much larger audience than you do.

Sadaf Beynon

00:18:46.934 - 00:18:54.046

That's such a good point. Yeah, no, that's really good. Do you always do reels and shorts along with the links?

DJ Sprague

00:18:54.078 - 00:19:04.706

Yeah, yeah, we do it just, you know, it's one of those things that. It may not change the world, but it's part of the recipe.

Sadaf Beynon

00:19:04.818 - 00:19:07.970

Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. I find that.

DJ Sprague

00:19:08.010 - 00:20:13.602

The other thing is. Think about your thumbnail. Always do audio and video. Don't just do video or just do audio. A lot of people just do audio. But you're missing YouTube.

And YouTube is huge. But think about your thumbnail first. Have a clear high contrast thumbnail with large font, short title. Think about how to. Titles, contrarian titles.

Why your website sucks. You don't need SEO to succeed. What? Of course. Right. Something that's going to catch people's attention. And how to. People love to learn how to.

And they want to know, why don't I need SEO anymore? Or why doesn't SEO work anymore? Now it does, but that's the contrarian headline. Right. Or the shock bumper sticker. You know, why your kids are ugly.

You know, something like that. That just gets people's attention. You got to stand out. Yeah. You have to get attention. It has to be in three to five words.

And you have to have high contrast thumbnails with. With very readable fonts.

Sadaf Beynon

00:20:13.746 - 00:20:14.210

Yeah.

DJ Sprague

00:20:14.290 - 00:20:25.394

And design that first. You know, think about that thumbnail. Because if the thumbnail doesn't work, if the title doesn't work, rethink the show.

Rethink the topic and make sure that that thumbnail is going to work first.

Sadaf Beynon

00:20:25.482 - 00:20:35.714

That's really good advice. Thank you. Dj. Now that Cash Blow Kings podcast is an established and integral part of your business. Where do you see it going next?

DJ Sprague

00:20:35.802 - 00:20:40.462

Honestly, we hope to get even bigger names on our show.

Sadaf Beynon

00:20:40.586 - 00:20:41.110

Great.

DJ Sprague

00:20:41.230 - 00:21:26.928

We've had with the original show, we had lots of authors. We had about 25 different authors on our show. But we want to continue with that.

We want to get bigger names, bigger executives and CEOs from larger E commerce sites.

We just want to keep reaching for the stars and get big, authoritative, expert names, whether they be other brands, websites, authors, speakers, experts. Because that brings a lot of credibility and authority and SEO to the show. Yeah, because again, people are looking for, you know, a big name.

Russell Brunson, for example. He's on my bucket list. I'd love to get Russell on our show.

Sadaf Beynon

00:21:26.984 - 00:21:28.576

He's on your Dream 100 list.

DJ Sprague

00:21:28.648 - 00:21:29.664

That's right, DJ.

Sadaf Beynon

00:21:29.712 - 00:21:38.058

This has been such fun. Before we go though, where can people connect with you and learn more about your podcast and your business? Shopper Approved.

DJ Sprague

00:21:38.154 - 00:21:56.906

Thank you. ShopperApproved.com is our e commerce ratings and review platform. ReputationKing.com is our book.

You can buy the physical book or download the audio and digital version for free. And you can go to cashflowkings.com perfect.

Sadaf Beynon

00:21:57.018 - 00:22:05.060

And for those tuning in, you'll find all the links and details in the description. Dj, thanks so much again for joining me today. It's been a real pleasure to have you.

DJ Sprague

00:22:05.100 - 00:22:06.468

Thank you, Saif. Appreciate it.

Sadaf Beynon

00:22:06.524 - 00:22:18.000

And to everyone listening, if today's conversation has got you thinking about how podcasting could help you grow your business, I'd love to talk. So from DJ and from me, thanks for listening and I'll see you next time.