Rightlook Radio is an example of a small business that’s using podcasting to grow its profile and establish leadership in its field. The San Diego-based company provides education, training and materials to support people in the auto reconditioning business. It has 20 employees and has been growing between 30% and 50% each year since its founding in 1998.

Stephen Powers is the founder and president. He has been reconditioning cars since he was 17. Powers is savvy about technology and he’s a born marketer. Rightlook’s slick website is a cut above anything else in his business.

When Powers was introduced to podcasting last year, he immediately saw its potential for his business. He spoke to some experts in this field and then invested about $5,000 in good quality equipment. This is important because podcast quality is a differentiator. Rightlook had some experience in multimedia, since it already produced videos for its own training programs.

Rightlook Radio launched early this year. The format is talk show style, with extensive first party interviews with customers. Its purpose is to demonstrate the potential of auto reconditioning as a career and convince people that Rightlook services can help them grow their business.

Format decisions are important. Rightlook could have gone with more of an instructional approach but chose to highlight the founder’s personality and customer successes. This works for Rightlook because Powers has an engaging, friendly style and he’s a natural for radio. Interviews with customers help reinforce the message that auto reconditioning is a great way to make a living. The interviewer is a female employee, which is a good choice because it infers that this is a good business for women, too. In fact, one of the shows spotlighted a reconditioning business run by women.

Powers is clearly a born marketer. Rightlook has promoted the podcast in full page ads in a Professional Car Washing & Detailing magazine (yes, there really is one!) as well as including it in other advertising, both print and online. The company published press releases and made t-shirts. When clients come to visit, they get a tour of the professional-looking studio. Rightlook looks hip and in step with technology.

Powers doesn’t have any hard statistics on the podcast’s success, but says downloads have been in the thousands. It doesn’t really matter. The whole program paid for itself after one customer signed a $24,000 deal after following a salesman’s recommendation that he listened to the podcast. Another show about ozone machines resulted in the sale of several machines in the days after the podcast launched.

Continuing the series is a no-brainer. Operational costs are next to nothing, and the buzz and visibility that the program generates in its industry is well worth the effort, Powers says. “Without question, we’re going to continue to do this for a long time,” he says. Podcast are also an interesting potential channel for delivery of training and marketing materials.

Thanks for Michael Geoghegan for the referral to Rightlook.