How to test and monetize your ideas with your business promotional video podcast,
CreatingReorganized show
Want to grow your business without the guesswork? In this episode of CreatingReorganized, Prof. Dr. Eleonore Soei-Winkels reveals how your business promotional video podcast can be the ultimate market research tool. Stop wasting time and money on unproven ideas and start building a loyal and engaged community that helps you co-create and test your products and services.
You'll discover a strategic, two-phase blueprint: The Feedback Loop of Fortune and The Co-Creation Engine. Learn how to harness the power of psychological principles like the IKEA Effect and The Principle of Reciprocity to turn audience engagement into actionable, profitable data.
Eleonore shares her own story of pivoting her business and provides a step-by-step guide on how to use tools to listen to your audience, validate your ideas, and launch your next big offer with a pre-sold audience, all without burnout.
This episode is your blueprint for a business promotional video podcast that's not just visible, but provides the return of investment that you deserve.
You’ll learn how to leverage automation tools, social media management, and smart surveys to gather insights, nurture leads, and streamline your content creation—without burning out. The episode guides you through building a feedback loop, co-creating offers with your audience, and launching pre-sales that validate your ideas before you invest.
Eleonore also spotlights her favorite tech stack (Podbean, Descript, TypeForm, ActiveCampaign, Thinkific, and Metricool) and shares her journey of pivoting her business model to serve small business owners like you.
If you want the benefits of a strategic, done-for-you podcasting system—without the hands-on hassle—Eleonore introduces her premium service designed for visionary founders ready to scale.
Tune in to embrace podcasting as your ultimate business asset, and start building a future-proof, client-centered business—one episode at a time.
If you are a new or aspiring founder of your small business and have no time to waste, or really struggle to do your social media marketing, you will enjoy our #CreatingReorganized show!
In my day job as a psychology professor I teach my bachelor and master students in real life, how to reorganize processes in a goal-directed and future-proof way in companies. That’s what I had done for a living as a former IT strategy consultant.
For my own career coaching business on the side, I can only dedicate a fraction of my time – because I prioritize care work for my little children. I face the same or similar challenges like all small business owners. So, I applied all my experience and knowledge to create my other video podcast #PostdocTransformation to streamline my social media marketing and to boost sales of my coaching, e-courses and affiliate products or services.
I strategically capitalize on professional tools to scale my impact according to my vision of life.
Listen and subscribe to this #CreatingReorganized show, so you will learn to do the same for your own business, to build the know, like and trust factor and to boost sales of your services or products!
Please also ask your business-specific questions, because for season 2, I envision interview episodes with aspiring and new founders like you, if you want to get your #CreatingReorganized according to your vision of life!
Dear CreatingReorganizer,
welcome back to the CreatingReorganized show! The video podcast for the savvy small business owner, the visionary founder, the courageous entrepreneur who wants to market their services and products 24/7/365 without burning out.
I am your host, Prof. Dr. Eleonore Soei-Winkels. And today we will dive into market research with our business promotional video podcast. We attract leads, who are engaged as a community and can provide honest feedback for early stage business modeling – so you don’t need to guess and in the worst case, throw your money out of the window.
This is all about something that every business owner, whether you're just starting or you've been in the game for years, secretly fears: Are we just talking to ourselves? Is my idea really brilliant and will I make money with it?
I have a confession to make. It's a confession that cuts right to the core of my own journey, the very DNA of this show. For a while, I thought I had it all figured out. On my other show, PostdocTransformation, where I guide scientists leaping from academia into business—that show is my living lab, my showroom for how to do this video podcasting thing right. I believe I should always be a user of your own services, a living example of how to make things work. I remain teachable, LOL.
And on that show, I was so excited. I decided to interview these brilliant, successful women with PhDs who are now thriving as managing directors and CEOs. These women are my personal heroes. They're underrepresented, they're under-privileged, they've beaten the odds. They're women who have successfully leaped from science into business and are now managing multi-million-euro enterprises. They are trailblazers. They are inspirational. And I thought, "This is gold! My listeners are going to be so inspired. I'm inviting them to sit at the big table with these incredible role models."
I poured my heart and soul into those interviews. I prepared for weeks. The conversations were pure fire. It felt like I was an executive sharing secrets with my audience. It was storytelling from behind the scenes of what true, long-term success looks like. I was so proud. I was giving them what I thought was the ultimate gift.
And then... the numbers came in.
Your analytical data never lies - let your podcasting retention rates and social media comments guide your way
The analytics, that cold, hard data, delivered a punch to the gut. My retention rates for those episodes tanked. Absolutely plummeted from my usual 100% weekly listeners. My audience wasn't resonating with these interviews.
Why? Because I had put my own interests above theirs. While these incredible women were my role models, they weren't yet relatable to my listeners, the PostdocTransformers. My listeners were in the thick of the struggle, figuring out their first steps into business. They needed practical, tactical advice, not inspiration from someone who had already "made it." My audience was screaming, "Give us the how-to, not just the success story!" That was my first confession. The moment I realized I wasn't listening. I was just broadcasting.
But the story goes even deeper, and it's something I’ve seen happening to so many of my business owner friends and clients. A few years ago, the demand for coaching scientists leaping into business surged. It was a clear, ripe market. But then, as it so often happens with trends, the market changed. The well started to dry up.
It wasn't that the need disappeared. It was that the academic world itself had changed. Grad schools, universities, and research institutions finally woke up to the fact that their PhD students needed help with career transitions. So they started upskilling people internally, PhD holders who work in gradschool programs and typically who never went outside of academia, to be their career coaches. Now, those coaches might be good, but they haven't lived the challenges of building a business or working in the private sector. The expertise is different.
Pivoting my business model based on my changing demand as evidenced in my analytics
And for me, this created a profound ethical dilemma. My core audience was now "precarious scientists," living on temporary contracts, with very little disposable income. Taking money from them, when they could get something for free from their institution, felt ethically unacceptable. My business model was in conflict with my values. The well had dried up, not because of a lack of demand, but because of a market change and an ethical conflict. I tried to side with my PostdocTransformers, offering a recurrent 50% commission split for getting me booked at their grad school, but their school had tough budget cuts or delivered a similar service at no additional cost by their internal career counselors.
This led me to a complete reorganization of my business. I had to stop selling to the people I was serving, even though I solve the pain points of scientists leaping into business, because without the return of investment, that business model is not sustainable. That realization was painful, in one season break, I looked at my investment to use my PostdocTransformation show as a business marketing tool to get booked at grad schools. I looked at my return on investment, and at the same time, I looked at my bigger picture. My direct messages on LinkedIn gave me a new direction: Other business owners, seeing what I was doing, were asking me, "Eleonore, how are you building this audience? How are you marketing your services with this video podcast? Could you teach me how to do what you're doing?" Also, all my podcasting tool vendors provided me with an affiliate link to share. And I remembered my old days as an IT strategy consultant, when I trained business people to use software, and how I was able to make them want to buy, what I would teach them. I was able to find the right people for friendly user tests and make them advocates in their corporate setting. So, serving business owners, who want to market their services and products in a sustainable way is a far better match for me.
Let's pause quickly to appreciate those who sponsor this valuable episode.
I want to share with you my best marketing agent, serving my underprivileged, underrepresented, and underserved audience, leads and clients is key for me. As an Asian working mom, business owner, and professor in Germany, I can't be marketing and selling all the time. Like I said already, I'm also very mindful with my own resources.
So, I chose Podbean as my podcasting host and monetizing provider. I'm on the Unlimited Plus plan for our PostdocTransformation and CreatingReorganized shows, and every year I click on renewal, because. Podbean ensures your audience can inclusively listen and watch your podcast according to their visual and auditive needs. You can easily share your podcast on all major podcasting directories, which allows you to reach a huge audience on their favorite devices, no matter where they are. Podbean also has an ads marketplace, so you can attract and manage sponsors for dynamic ads that play based on your audience criteria.
This is a game-changer! It allows you to serve your audience with free, valuable content, and your ad sponsors financially support you independently in each episode. And of course, you'll see insightful stats per demographic, so you can tailor your future episodes and present suitable ads. And here’s a pro tip: find business who offer products and services adjacent to yours, so that you can authentically promote their business to your listeners who may need and want that anyway!
If you want to try out Podbean for your own podcasting, DM or email me "Podbean" so I can share my experience and consult with you. Please check it out via my link in the show notes. I only get a small financial reward if you become their customer using my Podbean link. Thank you for the financial support!
After this quick appreciation of our advertisement, we now return to our valuable episode.
Why I create my CreatingReorganized show (I know, very meta, LOL)
That was the seed for this show, CreatingReorganized, and it's the very foundation of my new business model. I had to pivot completely, to stop selling to one group and start serving another. If you want to think about it from a big picture perspective, check out my business readiness quiz, where I encourage you to think about the pain points of your ideal client avatar, the total addressable market, pricing strategies, operational and delivery models etc. As linked in the show notes.
While this was an example for developing a new business model for a new target group, let’s highlight your ideal clients’ pain points:
The biggest marketing and sales threat in today's world, especially with the explosion of AI-generated content is this: You can have a perfectly crafted script from a large language model, a beautiful AI-generated image, but if it doesn't solve a real-world problem for a real human being, it's just noise. Even if you are searched and found by Agentic AI, the ultimate trust-based buying decision is made by a human, not AI. And your business will become invisible. You risk getting trapped in the very same situation I was in, when I served via interview guest, while my listeners wanted my POV.
Actually, while I say this aloud, there is a huge subtopic of return on investment regarding finding, vetting, preparing, recording, editing and promoting guest interviews vs. solo episodes. If you want that as a future episode, please DM ROI of podcast interviews, so we can put that on our list, or even better, subscribe to our Creating Reorganized newsletter where you will find a form to submit all your questions regarding business promotional video podcasting.
Trapped in the Echo Chamber
So, let's talk about the hero of our story today: you. The small business owner who is busy, cost-sensitive, and wants the absolute best return on every single hour you invest. You're trying to showcase your products and services, but you're afraid you're just shooting in the dark. And guess what, I have actually a dedicated episode on how to best showcase your products and services, if you haven’t listened to it or want to reflect on that from today’s POV, I link to that in the show notes.
You're creating content, you're publishing episodes, but you're not sure if you're hitting the mark. This constant guessing, this feeling of not knowing, leads to burnout, wasted resources, and a quiet, gnawing fear that your unique voice and your incredible value are being lost.
This is what I call The Echo Chamber Effect. You create content based on what you think your audience wants. Your colleagues tell you it's a great idea. Your family is super supportive. And when you ask ChatGPT etc., you get even more cheerleading. You get a few likes on LinkedIn. And you start to believe that your ideas are better than they are. You're just hearing your own thoughts echoing back at you, and you're not getting any real, constructive, honest feedback from the people who actually matter: your potential paying customers. And by the way, here’s my secret on LinkedIn, and I am still on a free plan and I don’t have an affiliate link. But I chose their creator profile and I post weekly a LinkedIn newsletter for both of my shows. And BEFORE I full embraced my CreatingReorganized show, I started a CreatingReorganized LinkedIn newsletter to test my content ideas, and you can connect with me on LinkedIn (I am Eleonore Soei-Winkels) and you can browse though all previous editions. You see, I am building my CreatingReorganized show as a next layer on top of my bite sized tips in each edition.
So, the idea of market research is ingrained in my brain, but I do think, especially in today’s AI age, the written word is cheap and unbelievable in some context. When I show my voice and my face in my communication, it has a human trust-building element, that you need to test your business ideas. Remember, when I said earlier, friendly user or community test? That term is not my term, it’s a well-established market research and IT development concept. Both terms imply, that you need people who genuinely like you, who want to see you win and hence take their time to review, test and give you feedback and support to succeed.
That is why the social media aspect of your business promotional video podcast is so important. I have CreatingReorganizers and PostdocTransformers who like my posts on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. Most of them are not and have not been my students in real life, so I can attribute their effort for my work to my video podcasting.
Podbean: The Distribution Powerhouse & Analytics Engine
I use Podbean for hosting and distribution. This is my ultimate "set-and-forget" tool. I upload my video episode once, and Podbean automatically distributes it to every major podcast platform—Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, you name it. It's truly a time-saver because I don't have to manually upload my episode to a dozen different places. Only when Spotify changed something on their end, I had to go back in to my Podbean settings. I almost forgot how to do that, because I set that up 2 years ago.
But the real magic lies in their new statistics features. This goes beyond simple numbers of your latest downloads and top episodes. You can see listening trends and engagement rates of your listeners, compare a selected episode to average downloads of last episodes, 7, 14, 30 or 60 days after release. I can see, which episodes were played, re-played and replayed again. For example, if you have an educational show like this one, reflecting the episode may be easier or even different at the second time of listening. It allows me to track the average consumption time of each episode.
Let me give you a specific example of how I use this. I recently saw a significant drop-off in listenership at the 12-minute mark on one of my episodes. I went back to the transcript (which Descript generated, but more on that in a moment!) and realized that's exactly where I had a long, detailed explanation of a complex academic theory without a real-world example. It was too dense. Using that Podbean data, I now know to break up those theoretical segments with a personal story or a quick "aha!" moment. This is how you use data to improve your content and ensure you're getting a true ROI. It’s not about guessing; it's about knowing exactly what content resonates with your audience. And that’s why I have chapter markers to balance more details for the real estate seller vs. general information for all of you.
And here's your actionable prompt: For the existing podcasters, log into your Podbean or podcast hosting platform’s dashboard and identify your three most-listened-to episodes and a point where a significant number of listeners dropped off. For those without a podcast, download the Podbean app and explore a few podcasts in your niche.
You need a convenient, scalable social media presence for market research
If you don’t use social media to engage with your listeners, and most podcast hosting platforms make it really hard for your listeners AND you to engage. And if you now say, OMG, I don’t have time to be active on social media. I know, I get that, and to be short for the sake of my and your train of thought: I use Metricool, and I will pick that up later.
So, to return to “just” publishing your business promotional video podcast on all major podcast players, in the absence of social media activities, your podcast becomes a monologue instead of a dialogue. And let me share, a monologue doesn't build trust, it doesn't boost sales, and it certainly doesn't qualify leads.
What you need is a strategic, doable, and measurable way to turn your video podcast into your ultimate market research lab. You need a system that's scaleable and measurable. And you need a way to do it all without adding another 20 hours of work to your already packed week.
The good news is, a video podcast is the perfect tool for this. It's the ultimate solution to the problem of a shifting market and the threat of AI invisibility. Because a podcast, especially a video podcast, harnesses the power of a fundamental psychological principle: The Mere-Exposure Effect, according to the social psychologist called Prof. Dr. Zajonc, and that should ring a bell for all my students in real life, I will link to it in the show notes. This principle, which has been studied for decades, simply states that the more you're exposed to something, the more you like it. The more familiar you become with a person, a product, or a brand, the more you tend to trust it.
Think about it. When you show up every single week, consistently, with valuable content, your audience sees your face, hears your voice, and experiences your expertise. Over time, that consistency builds an unconscious sense of familiarity and trust. It’s how founders of a small business need a video podcast to build trust and boost sales. You're not just a faceless brand or another AI-generated voice; you are a real person with a real point of view. You become a fixture in their lives, a trusted friend, a helpful guide. And when they need to buy a service or a product in your niche, who do you think they'll go to? The AI-generated ad that popped up once, or the person they feel they know and trust? The one who has been showing up for them, week after week.
Descript: The AI-Powered Editing & Content Repurposing Co-Pilot
Next up is my co-pilot, Descript. This tool is mind-blowing. It's an all-in-one audio and video editor that transcribes your episode automatically. You can edit the audio by editing the text. I used to have to record and save all my host-read ads separately, and it was a real hassle to go back and update them for every episode. But now, Descript's AI makes the rough edits in minutes, which saves me so much time! From this season 2 onwards, I will now update and read my ads fresh for every single episode, so you know this isn't some stale, pre-recorded message. This unique recording makes a huge difference in your listening experience and, honestly, in the conversion rate for my ads, which is key for me and you, as my ads revenues pays some of my podcasting costs, so you can listen to my shows for free.
Descript is my ultimate AI sandbox. Here is a step-by-step look at how I use it to get from raw audio to a full content distribution plan:
Transcription and Filler Word Removal: I record my raw video and audio. Descript’s AI immediately transcribes it. It also automatically identifies all the "ums," "ahs," and stuttered words. I can then remove all of these with a single click. It's like having a professional editor clean up your audio in seconds, without ever touching a single audio wave. In very few exceptions, I will touch the single audio waves, which is also easy, but really seldomly needed.
Generating Show Notes, social media articles posts: I then use Descript's AI to generate a detailed, enganging captions from the cleaned-up transcript. This saves me hours of writing and ensures the show notes are accurate and keyword-rich, which is great for SEO.
Creating 20 plus Social Clips: Here's my favorite part. Once the show notes are done, I use Descript to identify the best, most impactful soundbites or video clips from the episode. To be honest, I use a different tool for the video backdrops to make the branding truly unique to both of my shows. With a few clicks, I can create short, dynamic, animated video clips perfect for Instagram Reels, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts. I can even have the AI generate captions and relevant hashtags. This is how I can create 20 plus for every 45 min episode in under 1 hour.
It's truly a co-pilot that automates all the tedious, repetitive tasks that lead to burnout. This is why I mentioned in Episode 9 that AI should be your co-pilot, not your replacement, as linked in the show notes.
And here's your actionable prompt: Download the Descript free trial, as linked in the show notes. Use your smartphone to record a quick, one-minute video of yourself talking about your business, then upload it to Descript to see the magic of the AI transcription in action. DM me, if you need me to consult you.
If you want to try out Descript for your own podcast editing, DM or email me "Descript" so I can share my experience and consult you. Please check it out via my link in the show notes. I only get a small financial reward if you become their customer using my Descript link. Thank you for the financial support!
And now, let’s get back to our inspiring CreatingReorganized episode!
Win your ideal customers by sharing your why!
And do you know what information will boost your listener’s trust? When you share with them your why! If you want to re-visit your Why, please listen to our episode: Why founders of a small business need a video podcast to build trust and boost sales, as linked in the show notes.
What you need is a strategic, doable, and measurable way to turn your video podcast into your ultimate market research lab. You need a system that's scaleable and measurable. And you need a way to do it all without adding another 20 hours of work to your already packed week.
I'm here to show you exactly how to do that. The first step is to stop broadcasting and start listening. Your video podcast is not just a stage for your ideas; it’s a living lab. It's time to turn your audience from passive listeners into your most valuable business partners.
To get the free lead magnet, listeners click a link in the show notes, and they land on a conversational form created with Typeform. What I love about Typeform is that it feels so human and conversational. It's a great user experience that makes people feel seen and heard, not just like another entry on a spreadsheet.
Their new AI feature can provide real-time answers to common questions within the form itself, making it a smoother experience for your potential lead. My quiz, "Check your readiness to leap out of science," is a perfect example of this. I wrote the questions to feel like a one-on-one conversation.
If you want to try out Typeform for your own lead generation and qualification, DM or email me "Typeform" so I can share my experience and consult you. Please check it out via my link in the show notes. I only get a small financial reward if you become their customer using my Typeform link.
The 4 step - feedback loop
This is where my story becomes your roadmap. My background in industrial and occupational psychology, and my years as an IT strategy consultant at Accenture, have taught me one undeniable truth: systems are what save you from burnout. And my own entrepreneurial journey has shown me that the best systems aren't the most complex ones; they're the ones that make your business smarter, not just busier. They're the ones that harness technology to automate the mundane and free you up for the visionary work.
And just in case you haven’t noticed, I love storytelling, that is literally my Spotify podcaster persona in 2024, LOL and I will put the screenshot on my show notes, LOL. If you need a reminder about why storytelling wins, listen to our CreatingREorganized episode Storytelling from behind the scenes for engaging your leads, as linked in the show notes.
So, let's turn our attention to the actionable plan. This isn't just theory, it's a blueprint for building a resilient, AI-resistant business. The plan has two simple, yet powerful, phases. The first is what I call The Feedback Loop of Fortune. It's about using your video podcast to actively listen to your audience and turn every single episode into a data-gathering opportunity. The second is about using that data to Co-Create your next product or service, so it’s essentially pre-sold before you even launch.
Today, we're diving deep into Phase 1, the Feedback Loop. And the psychological principle that underpins this entire strategy is The Principle of Reciprocity. It's a fundamental aspect of human psychology, and you see it at play in every successful relationship, both personal and professional. It’s simple: when you give something of value, people feel a natural, unconscious pull to give something back in return. For us, the value we give is the free, insightful content in our video podcast. We show up every week, we provide real solutions to real problems, we share our expertise, and we give it all away. In return, we get the most valuable currency in business: our audience's attention, their engagement, and their honest feedback. We are building a client network with our business promotional video podcast by giving, not just by selling.
So, let's get into the nitty-gritty of how to set up this system for yourself.
I use Thinkific to host my free and paid e-courses and memberships. It’s simple, professional, and helps me present my freebie as a high-value educational tool. They have a fantastic AI-powered tool that helps me draft my course outlines in minutes!
If you want to try out Thinkific for creating your own e-course and mentoring membership, DM or email me "Thinkific" so I can share my experience or consult you.
Please check it out via my link in the show notes. I only get a small financial reward if you become their customer using my Thinkific link.
Feedback Loop, Step 1
Ask Strategic, Open-Ended Questions in Every Episode
Most people end their podcast episodes with a generic "Thanks for listening!" or "Leave a comment!" That's the equivalent of a store owner standing silently at the front door. It doesn't invite conversation. You need to be the strategic, active guide who opens the dialogue.
Your questions should be specific and tied directly to the core problem you’re solving in that episode. They should be designed to give you market research for a winning business promotional video podcast.
Let's imagine you are a professional organizer. You’ve just done an episode on "How to Declutter Your Digital Life and Find Your Important Documents in Under 10 Minutes." Instead of ending with a generic, "Let me know what you think!" you could say, "I've shared my best tips for organizing your digital clutter, but what's the one thing that still feels overwhelming? Is it your email inbox? Your desktop folders? Or do you have 10,000 photos on your phone that you just can't bring yourself to delete? Let me know in the comments or send me a DM."
See the difference? You've just learned the single biggest pain point for your audience. That's a longtail keyword in disguise. You've just discovered the exact language they use. If three people say they can't bring themselves to delete their photos, guess what your next episode should be about? Or maybe your next e-course?
This is the very same strategic shift I made. When I was so lost in my own head with the PostdocTransformation interviews, my business was stalled. But when I started listening, when I started asking in my DMs, "What's your biggest marketing and sales pain point?" the answers were clear and they pointed me to my new audience: small business owners. The well hadn't dried up; I was just looking in the wrong place. And the map to the new well was in my listeners' feedback. It took me such a long time to understand that. I was always wondering, why my LinkedIn reach actually has decreased, but I suddenly get likes and comments from bigger LinkedIn accounts, who are clearly not scientists but rather are podcast guests, podcasters, speakers, consultants, business owners. And that is why I always have a comment in my LinkedIn for my PostdocTransformation show social clips: “Hi founder and small medium enterprise owner, are you intrigued how I created this social clip for marketing my service and products? I explain my strategy, tools and tactics in my second show CreatingReorganized for the business owner who wants to market and sell 24/7/365 without burnout and then the link to my show, of course.
ActiveCampaign for integrated email marketing automation, website builder and customer relationship mananagement
I'm expanding my digital business, and I use ActiveCampaign as the centerpiece of all my services like my email course, podcast, newsletter, show notes, website, sales page, merch shop forms—whatever it is, as needed. As a former IT strategy consultant, I have high requirements for my tech stack, and ActiveCampaign offers so many integrations to all my other apps. I use it daily to control, and for every new product or service, I start with ActiveCampaign to dovetail the data workflow from the start. But it’s set and forget, and every time I sit down to design a new product or service, I am amazed about how much AI is infused into ActiveCampaign.
If you want to create your own digital business with various AI-driven lead magnets and funnel options, DM or email me "ActiveCampaign" so I can share my experience and consult you. Please check it out via my link in the show notes. I only get a small financial reward if you become their customer using my ActiveCampaign link.
Feedback Loop, Step 2
Leverage Your Show Notes and Your Digital Habitat
Your video podcast on a platform like Podbean is the central hub, but your audience is everywhere. They're on LinkedIn, on Pinterest, on Instagram, and on TikTok. You have to meet them where they are and ask the same questions in their digital habitat.
This is where the magic of a social media management tool like Metricool comes in. You can batch create your posts for the entire week and schedule them to go out automatically. This is a crucial step to avoid burnout. You set it up once, and it works for you. You don't have to be on your phone every day, constantly posting. The system handles the heavy lifting, allowing you to focus on the high-level strategy and creation.
For LinkedIn, you can share a clip from your video podcast with a professional-sounding question. Something like, "We're talking about lead generation today. Is your biggest challenge attracting new leads, or is it turning the ones you have into paying customers?"
For Instagram, you can use a short video reel with an energetic visual, asking your audience to share their behind-the-scenes struggles. "What's one thing in your business that feels totally disorganized? The one thing you're secretly struggling with? Be honest! No judgment here!"
For Pinterest, if you have a visually-driven business like a handmade goods shop, you can create a beautiful pin that links to your episode and asks, "What's the #1 thing you struggle to find in your niche that you wish was a product you could buy?" This is direct market research.
This consistent presence, managed by a tool like Metricool, harnesses the Mere-Exposure Effect. The more your audience sees your face and your brand across different platforms, the more familiar they become, and the more they trust you. This is how you build a brand for founders. It's a strategic, scaleable and measurable marketing and sales result for your business. It's not just about getting more followers; it's about building a foundation of trust that will eventually convert into sales.
Feedback Loop: Step 3
Set Up a Formtype Survey for Deeper Insights
Now, the public comments and DMs are great, but sometimes people are shy. They don't want to air their struggles out in the open. That’s why you need a more private, intentional way to gather data. This is where a simple, well-designed survey comes in.
In your show notes, your email signature, and a dedicated link in your social media bios, you can say, "Want to help me shape the future of this show? Click here and tell me your biggest marketing and sales challenge."
The key here is to use a tool that makes it incredibly easy for people to respond, and for you to get the data without any friction. That's why I love Formtype. It’s not a clunky, boring survey. It’s a beautifully designed, engaging form that feels more like a conversation. You can set it up in minutes.
You can ask questions like:
"What’s the biggest problem you’re looking to solve in the next 90 days?" (This tells you what they're ready to pay for!)
"What specific topic would make you drop everything and listen to a podcast about it?"
"What's your single biggest challenge with consistent content creation?"
This allows you to go beyond the surface-level engagement and get to the real, raw pain points of your audience. This data is pure gold. It’s the kind of information that turns a struggling business into a thriving one. It’s how you qualify leads and convert them into paying customers by knowing exactly what they need before you ever have to ask.
This is the ultimate secret weapon for the small business owner who fears burnout. The goal is to build a "set-and-forget" system that works for you 24/7, 365 days a year. My work as an IT strategy consultant taught me that automation is the only way to lead an entrepreneurship-family life balance.
You can set up a simple automation in ActiveCampaign that is triggered the moment someone fills out your Formtype survey.
Let's imagine you're a career coach, and in your survey, you ask about their biggest fear. If a listener checks the box for "I'm terrified I'll lose my job because of AI," your ActiveCampaign automation can:
Tag them as "AI Fear."
Send them a personalized email that says, "Hey, I hear you. The fear of AI is real. Here's a quick checklist to help you make your skills AI-resistant." This is your free content, and it’s a perfect example of a free content vs. paid offers, the best mix for your video podcast.
Start a short email sequence that, over the next few days, provides more free tips and then subtly introduces your paid offer—maybe a workshop on "Becoming the Future-Proof Founder."
This is how you create a sales funnel with your video podcast. You're not manually sending emails. You're not scrambling to figure out what to say. The system is doing the work for you, serving your audience with exactly what they need, at the right time, while you're cooking dinner for your kids, or picking them up from school, or just having a cup of coffee. You are strategically and intentionally building a trusted relationship, and you're letting the technology handle the rest. This is what it means to balance human and AI efforts in your business promotional video podcast.
Now, that's just Phase 1 of the plan. It's the engine for listening. The next phase is about using all that incredible feedback to co-create your products and services. And that, my friend, is where the magic truly happens.
This level of authority means I don’t have to convince people that I know what I'm talking about or that my methods work. My podcast, and this powerful endorsement, has already done that for me. It allows me to position my services as a premium, high-value solution for clients who are already convinced of my expertise, significantly reducing the sales cycle and increasing the perceived value of my offerings.
Here's your actionable prompt: Think about your Brand & Authority ROI – Beyond the Numbers: How can your business promotional video podcast boost your brand and as an authority, which would allow you to sell your offerings at higher price points, or even new target groups with bigger pockets and ready to spend their money with you?
In our next part, we're going to dive into the final, and in many ways the most profound, pillar: the personal and professional ROI. We'll talk about the technology I use to automate everything, from content editing to social media scheduling, and reveal a new service for those who want the ROI without the hands-on effort.
The 3 step Co-Creation Engine
Now, my dear CreatingReorganizer, you've done the hard work of listening. You've used the tools and strategies we discussed in the last episode to turn your video podcast into a living, breathing market research lab. You've gathered data, you've heard the raw, unedited thoughts and struggles of your audience. You know what keeps them up at night.
The question now is, what do you do with that goldmine of information?
This is where we move into Phase 2 of our strategic blueprint: The Co-Creation Engine. This is the part of the process that not only builds products and services your audience desperately wants but also makes them feel a sense of ownership, a deep investment, in what you're creating. This is your secret weapon against the noise of AI-generated content. You can't fake a genuine, collaborative relationship.
This phase is powered by two profound psychological principles. The first is The IKEA Effect. A brilliant concept that shows people place a disproportionately high value on products they have helped create or build. Think about it: when you spend hours assembling that flat-pack furniture, you feel a sense of pride and connection to the finished piece. You're far less likely to throw it out because you invested your time and effort into it. We're going to harness that same principle to get your audience to invest their time and their input into your next big offering.
The second principle is The Scarcity Principle. This one, popularized by Dr. Robert Cialdini, is all about the power of urgency and limited supply. People are wired to want what they can't have, or what they might lose access to. By making your co-creation process a limited-time opportunity, you create a powerful incentive for your audience to act. This is the psychological lever you'll use to drive early adoption and prove your concept.
And as a reminder, this co-creation opportunity also qualifies your leads immensely! If that doesn’t ring a bell, please listen to How to qualify leads and convert them into paying customers, as linked in the show notes.
My own journey is a perfect example of this. When I realized the well had dried up on my previous business model, I had to pivot. But instead of just creating a new service in a vacuum, I used the feedback from my audience to build it with them. I'm taking the pain points they shared about sales, marketing, and burnout, and I'm building a solution that is tailored to their exact needs. I'm not guessing anymore; I’m responding. And this is how you turn a problem into your greatest entrepreneurial opportunity.
Here's how you can do it too, using your video podcast.
Co-Creating Engine, Step 1:
The "Sneak Peek" Episode
Once you've identified a recurring pain point from your feedback loop, dedicate an entire episode to a "sneak peek" or "thinking out loud" session. This is your soft launch. You're not selling anything yet. You’re simply exploring a solution to a problem your audience has already told you they have.
Here's how you could script it:
"I’ve heard from so many of you in my DMs and survey responses that consistent content creation is a huge struggle. You're all telling me you want to create a video podcast to market your business 24/7/365, but you just don’t have the time to sit down every week and create an episode.
So, I've been thinking about this problem. What if I created a strategic seasonal content planner just for small business owners? It would show you how to batch record your video podcast in one day so you can set it and forget it for an entire month. It would also give you social media post ideas for platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram.
What do you think? Would a mini-course on this topic be helpful for you? What’s the number one thing you'd want me to include? Let me know in the comments below!"
This single episode is a masterclass in market validation. You're using the IKEA Effect to involve your audience in the product design. You’re inviting them to a conversation, asking them to help you build the perfect solution for their problems. And in doing so, you're making them feel invested. You are not only building your client network with your business promotional video podcast, but you are turning that network into your product development team. It's a low-risk way to do market research for a winning business promotional video podcast before you ever spend a single dollar on production.
Co-Creation Engine, Step 2:
The A/B Test Episode
Now, let's say your audience is split on a topic. Or maybe you have two great ideas and you’re not sure which one will land. Your video podcast is the perfect, free tool for an A/B test.
Let’s imagine you're a financial literacy coach for small businesses. You've heard from your audience that cash flow management is a huge challenge. You're debating creating a course. You have two potential titles:
Option A: "Cash Flow Confidence: The Simple 3-Step System for Business Owners"
Option B: "Money Mindset Mastery: How to Conquer Your Fear of Numbers and Grow Your Business"
Both titles address a pain point, but which one resonates more with your audience? You can create two very similar episodes, perhaps on two consecutive weeks, with two different titles and two different core themes.
Using your analytics from Podbean and Metricool, you can track which episode gets more downloads, more likes, more comments, and more link clicks to your show notes. This is a free, powerful, and measurable way to maximize the return of investment of your business promotional video podcast. The data will tell you exactly which problem your audience is more motivated to solve. It tells you which offer they're more likely to buy. It's the ultimate way to balance human and AI efforts in your business promotional video podcast—you let the data, not just your gut feeling, inform your decisions.
Oh by the way, that was my mental cue. Related to this episode on market research, you can also reflect on the different types of return of investment your business promotional video podcast should have. As linked in the show notes!
Co-Creation Engine, Step 3:
The "Pre-Sale" Power of Podcasting
Once you have a clear idea of what to build and you've validated your concept, it's time to leverage the Scarcity Principle and the IKEA Effect to launch a pre-sale. This is the moment you ask for money, not just feedback. This is a very clear free content vs. paid offers, the best mix for your video podcast.
You’ll dedicate an episode to the launch. You'll say:
"Because so many of you told me you needed a solution for consistent content creation, I've listened! And I’ve created it with you in mind. We're launching the beta version of my new 'Batch and Blast' mini-course. As a thank you to my loyal listeners who helped me shape this idea, you can get access to the course at an exclusive 50% off. This offer is only available for the next 72 hours, and I'm only accepting 50 beta members."
The pre-sale is the ultimate proof of concept. You’re asking for a credit card number, not just a vote. And you're using The Scarcity Principle to motivate them. A limited number of spots, a limited time, and an exclusive discount for your listeners.
This is where a tool like Thinkific comes in. You can create a simple sales page in minutes and start taking pre-orders. I’ve used Thinkific for my own course offers, and it's a seamless experience. You don't need to be a tech guru. You can set it up quickly, and it's part of my "set-and-forget" system. It allows you to test and monetize your ideas with your business promotional video podcast in real-time, all while building a highly engaged community.
So, you see, you don't have to guess anymore. You don't have to shoot in the dark. Your video podcast is more than just a marketing tool. It’s a strategic business asset that allows you to listen to your audience, co-create your next great offer, and launch it with a powerful, pre-sold audience. It’s the ultimate way to scale your video podcast for exponential business growth, goal-directed and without burnout.
The Stakes, The Solution, and The Future-Proof Founder
Now, dear CreatingReorganizer, we’ve come full circle. We started this journey together, standing in the digital echo chamber, wondering if we were just talking to ourselves. We talked about my own business pivot, the moment the well of my original coaching practice dried up, and how I had to find a new, ethical, and sustainable way forward. We talked about the psychological principles that make a video podcast the ultimate business asset. We've laid out a powerful two-phase plan to turn your audience into your co-creation partners. We’ve given you the strategic roadmap.
But now, we must talk about the stakes. The stakes are incredibly high. If you choose to ignore this blueprint, you risk becoming just another voice in a sea of AI-generated noise. You risk spending months, maybe even years, creating products and services no one wants to buy because you were guessing instead of listening. You risk that quiet, gnawing frustration that leads to burnout and the eventual closure of a business that you poured your heart and soul into. That is the dark path. That is the path of the past.
But the reward? The reward is a business that is not only profitable but also deeply resonant. A business that is perfectly aligned with what the market needs because the market helped you create it. The reward is higher sales, a loyal community, and the confidence that comes from knowing you’ve built something that your customers not only want but helped you bring into the world. That is the path of the Future-Proof Founder. That is the path of the present and the future.
This is your mission, and it's a critical one. I challenge you, right now, to take one strategic step: go back to your last three episodes and think about one open-ended question you could have asked. Then, commit to asking that question in your next three episodes. It’s a small, manageable step, but it’s the first step out of the echo chamber and into a thriving, profitable conversation. It's the first step to building a business that works for you, not the other way around.
Your Tools as a Future-Proof Founder:
My Integrated System CreatingReorganized
Now, if all of this sounds amazing, but you're worried about the technology, about stitching all the pieces together—I hear you. My work as a career transition coach has shown me that the tech stack is often the biggest hurdle for bright, creative people. I know the feeling of wanting to throw my laptop out the window. That's why I am a huge fan of building an integrated, automated system that works for you. I call it my "set-and-forget" stack, and it’s what allows me to lead an entrepreneurship-family life balance. These are the same tools I recommend to my students and clients, and they are a crucial part of my own business.
My video podcast is hosted on Podbean. This isn't just a place to put my audio files; it's a powerful hub for distribution, monetization, and analytics. It's a partner that helps me get my message out to the world with a single click.
To create the episodes themselves, I use Descript. Its AI-powered editing features are a game-changer. I can edit my audio and video by simply editing the text, which saves me hours every single week. It's the ultimate tool to avoid burnout in the production phase. It’s part of how I balance human and AI efforts in my business promotional video podcast.
To run my social media and get my message in front of the right people, I use Metricool. It allows me to promote my video podcast on social media and drive traffic to my business without being on my phone all day. I can schedule my posts on platforms like LinkedIn and Pinterest in one go, so my brand is consistently visible. This consistent presence is what builds that trust we talked about, thanks to the Mere-Exposure Effect.
From the feedback-loop and co-creation engine to your sales funnel
To power my feedback loop and create a sales funnel with my video podcast, I use Formtype and ActiveCampaign. They are a dynamic duo. Formtype gives me beautiful, conversational surveys that get me the qualitative data I need. And ActiveCampaign takes that data and automatically tags my subscribers, sends them a personalized email sequence, and helps me nurture them all the way to a sale, all while I’m doing something else. It's the ultimate AI-resistant asset because it’s a smart system that allows a real human to connect with other real humans at scale.
Finally, to test and monetize my ideas with my business promotional video podcast, I use Thinkific. It's where I host my courses and workshops, and it's so easy to use. I can set up a quick sales page for a pre-sale in minutes, and it handles the payment and course delivery for me. It’s how I get to experiment with free content vs. paid offers and make sure my business stays profitable.
These tools are not just a random collection of apps; they are a thoughtfully integrated system that allows me to be a living example of a woman who capitalizes on technology to build a successful business without burnout.
CreatingReorganized, Your Ultimate Solution:
A Done-for-You Podcasting Service
And hey, if all of this sounds amazing—the strategy, the principles, the tools—but you're sitting there thinking, "Eleonore, I just don't have the time to do all this myself," I hear you. Loud and clear. That's exactly why I'm excited to share that we are putting the finishing touches on our premium, done-for-you CreatingReorganized Podcasting Service.
We built this service for the established small business owner who knows they need a video podcast to build trust and boost sales, but whose time is their most valuable asset. We understand that you're a visionary, not a video editor. You're an expert in your field, not a social media manager.
Our service handles the entire process for you: the strategic market research to ensure your show is hitting the mark, the professional production and editing with Descript, the seamless distribution with Podbean, and the strategic promotion with Metricool to get your message in front of your ideal clients 24/7. We’ll build the feedback loop and the co-creation engine for you. We'll build the system so that your business can thrive without you having to be the one in the weeds of content creation. It's the ultimate way to scale your video podcast for exponential business growth, goal-directed, and without burnout.
We'll be sharing more details soon, so make sure you're subscribed to my newsletter in the show notes.
Thank you so much for joining me today. Remember, you have a unique voice and a brilliant point of view. You are a Future-Proof Founder because you're willing to listen. Your business is your living lab. Use it to test your ideas and build a business that is truly resilient. Until next time, happy CreatingReorganized according to your vision of life!
Hey, do you want to pick my brain, explain me your marketing challenges and see how business podcasting can help you strategically to reach your goals?
Book a free discovery call to learn more about my tech stack so you can benefit from that in your business marketing!
Thank you for listening to our CreatingReorganized show, now we are at 6.7 k listenings and counting!
I'm your host, Professor Dr. Eleonore Soei-Winkels, and now I wish you a happy CreatingReorganized according to your vision of life.
