How I Turned My Podcast Into A Profitable Business — Claus Lauter | Why Podcasting Builds Strong Connections, What Consistency Means In Content Creation, Why Content Brings Better Profit Margins Than Products, How Podcasting Drives Engagement (#393)

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In this solo episode, Claus Lauter takes you through his e-commerce and podcasting journey. 

With 20 years of experience in digital marketing, he discusses founding a SaaS startup and running a seven-figure Shopify store. 

Claus dives into the origins and evolution of his podcast, its current success, and explains why podcasting is a powerful tool for businesses—despite the long-term commitment it demands.

Topics discussed in this episode: 

• Why podcasting helps DTC brands build stronger customer ties. 
• How low eCommerce margins risk your business without income diversity. 
• Why podcasting beats social media for lasting engagement. 
• Why even top eCommerce brands face cash-flow issues. 
• How content creation yields better margins than online stores. 
• Why merchants should prioritize profit over revenue. 
• What true consistency means in building a content brand. 

Links & Resources 

Website: https://ecommercecoffeebreak.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ecommerce-coffee-break-podcast/
X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/ecomcoffeebreak
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ecommercecoffeebreak/ 

Get access to more free resources by visiting the show notes at
https://tinyurl.com/2sh92ykh

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Transcript

[00:00:00] This episode is sponsored by Brevo. Time to take your marketing to the next level. Brevo is the all-in-one marketing platform that helps you connect with customers through email, SMS, WhatsApp and automation, all from one easy to use platform. Keep your customer data organized, personalize every message and drive real engagement effortlessly.

Try Brevo for free or use [00:00:20] ECB to save 50% on start and business plans for the first three months of an annual subscription. Head to Brevo.com/ecb. Today, you will find a link also in the show notes.

Hello and welcome to another episode of the E-Commerce Coffee Break [00:00:40] podcast. Today, it's a solo episode, is just me, no guest on the show. And I want to give you a bit of a overview of how I got here, what the podcast is about, what kind of plans I have, and also a little bit of my personal background. So start with my personal background, and I don't wanna bore you too much here, but for listeners who have been fans of the show for a long time, they already know that I'm good.

[00:01:00] Doing digital marketing and e-commerce for a very long time. I started in the late 1990s with the company Johnson and Johnson, back in Germany working when the internet just came up. I was at the right time in the right place and become, became one of the first web masters back in the time that [00:01:20] was a word, and was managing a ton of different websites for this kind of medical company.

Then I venture into a consulting company before in 2001, having my first own startup. So I was early to the game, and this was what's now called a SaaS. So we were a service [00:01:40] provider, a software service provider for event management. We developed our own service or own software. I was a long and rocky road as it is for a startup founder and I.

Sold my parts, my shares after seven years or something like that, and then ventured on and started [00:02:00] basically a new career in business development, still in digital marketing in South Africa, in Cape Town. I. Now, a few years later, I started with E-commerce. So I was a seller on Shopify for seven years.

I sold my store about one and a half years ago, and in that time I was a seven figure [00:02:20] seller. Became a Shopify partner at Klaviyo partner. I. And was really deep into the trenches of selling online, of figuring it out as a solopreneur with a small team of virtual assistants. And that was a very, very, very steep learning curve.

And even with my long background in digital marketing, I learned a lot [00:02:40] because e-commerce is a very, very different field than in the marketing fields that I was playing in before. Now, out of this. Started the podcast about four years ago. I was coaching on consulting DTC brands. And wanted to use the podcast as a way to [00:03:00] reach out to new potential clients.

And then something unexpected happened. The podcast got alive on its own. And since then, I basically spent most of my time being on the podcast creating the newsletter and basically being a content creator. I do a very little, well, I do a little bit of coaching [00:03:20] still but only with brands that I really like.

So my focus is completely on creating a bigger media business out of this. Being a content creator and what I like about the podcast, couple of things there. Obviously, it gave me the chance and as we are approaching episode 400, it gave me the chance to talk to a lot of [00:03:40] experts in the field. I learned a lot with every interview, with every episode, I'm learning something.

It helps me to stay on top of the game and also on what's happening in the eCommerce market right now. Imagine the last two years there was a lot of ai, there is a lot of movement in the sector and I'm a lifelong learner. I am just [00:04:00] being interested on what's happening and I wanna share this, obviously, with the listeners out there and give them the chance to participate.

On not only the news cycle, but also on the learning curve on what's happening. It might be apps that might be services, that might be themes, whatever you need as a online seller, [00:04:20] not only on Shopify, but also on Amazon and other platforms to stay on top of your game and to implement the latest marketing strategies and tactics so that you can make more money.

This is basically the whole concept of the podcast is finding people who have something to share, which I find interesting and which I [00:04:40] think also the listeners might find interesting. Now, I need your help there. So if you have topics that we haven't covered yet. Then please reach out to me either on my social channels or via my website, e-commerce Coffee Break podcast.

There's a contact form, and let me know what kind of topics you are interested in. And then I will go and reach out and [00:05:00] see if I can, can find someone out there who's an expert and is willing to hop on the show, have a chat with me so that I can squeeze the latest news out of him. This is a win-win situation for all of the engaged parties.

Actually, it's a win-win win situation. Three wins there, so it's a win for your, for you as a [00:05:20] listener, as a viewer, it's a win for the person who's on the show. And it's a win for me because I learn obviously, and for me, it has become a business. And I want to dive a little bit deeper into this, why I think podcasting is still underwriting and why I think podcasting might be even a way for DTC brands out there.[00:05:40] 

To reach new customers and to build up a relationship to their customers, specifically to build up a community of customers who then hopefully become returning customers. Now, when I was selling online DTC, a lot of drop shipping I did until I went actually into product development and we [00:06:00] developed our own product.

There is. With all costs involved, not that much of a profit margin in there. So depending, obviously on the price point of your product. What I see, and I saw with a lot of brands that I spoke to profit margins, there are somewhere in the range between 2010 and 20% on, [00:06:20] on a good day. And that's. Can be a very risky game, specifically if you take in consideration that a costs are rising, every other cost is rising, and always import fees are rising.

So your profit margin of 10% can shrink very, very, very quickly. And [00:06:40] most ETC businesses out there are cashflow driven businesses. So you might run into trouble financially very, very quickly and the big numbers that you see out there from all these gurus showing you seven, eight figure stores, these are revenue numbers.

So this is not net profit. And I wonder [00:07:00] how many of them are basically just exchanging money. Left pocket, right pocket and the profit margins property are very, very small. So. Don't get fooled by them, what you see out there. D two c E-commerce is a very hard business. It's a very, very competitive business and profit margins.

You need to optimize a lot to [00:07:20] keep your profit margins up. And now a quick break to thank the sponsors of today's episode. Are you looking to take your business marketing to the next level? Meet bvo, the all-in-one marketing and CRM platform designed to help you connect with customers, drive engagement, and grow your business.

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You will find the link in the show notes. I did this game. I sat for seven years on Shopify. You see my white hair. It's there's reasons for that. [00:08:20] Probably not only because of Shopify, but I found out that I could make podcasting my business so I can make a living out of it. It took me a very, very long time to figure it out.

I said, I'm doing this now for 400 for 400 episodes for four years. So I'm doing about a hundred episodes a year. [00:08:40] And it's a hustle. I absolutely admit this, but also it's a lot of fun and it gives me the freedom to work from anywhere in the world. As you know, I'm a slow no mat, which I call myself a slow mat, and I'm working from different countries to stay for a couple of months.

And then whenever I have the feeling I want to go somewhere else, I just [00:09:00] move over there and stay somewhere else. I've been to 70 countries. I've lived on three continents. And I'm not saying that's too break, but just to give you. The idea that a solopreneur business that is locationally independent is doable by running a media platform.

By being a content [00:09:20] creator, I. Now I'm in my fifties, so I'm not a 20-year-old influencer. You, I've met a lot of them and I still meet a lot of them at some networking events. So I have a very strong foundation of building businesses. I have bootstrapped more than one business, and so is the podcast.

It took a long time to figure out [00:09:40] how to make money with it. Most podcasts out of. There in the world, and I reckon it's about 95% of world podcasts are not making any money. And you need to really put it together. So I want to give you a bit of an idea why podcasting is a good idea. Podcast is a marathon.

It's not a sprint. You need to stay on it for a long time, to build up a [00:10:00] community, to build up trust, to have returning listeners so to say. Fans and super fans, and then obviously once you have built up this trust, you can start selling through this channel of a podcast. Now a podcast is the slowest and most difficult of all social media channels out there, but it [00:10:20] has really one big, advantage over all of other all the other social media channels. A podcast is being listened to while you're driving your car, while you're commuting, while you're the dish, doing the dishes while you're shopping, while you're at the gym. So because of the audio format, people can listen to it wherever they are, and.

[00:10:40] If they do something else with all the other platforms, you need to look at your device. Why did it be Instagram, Facebook, whatever's out there, YouTube, and you are sort of bound to a device and you can't do much else beside of looking at it. So that means I'm in your ear twice a week with my guests.

And you [00:11:00] can consume our content, our information, whatever we just provide in the show. Wherever you are, whatever you do. So big advantage there of podcast over every other medium, but it's very competitive. So there is about 4 million for 0.1 million podcasts out there, but [00:11:20] only about 10% are active. So let's say there's about 400,000 podcasts out there who have.

Launched, published an episode in the light last 90 days. We launched twice a week, every week. And so there is a high frequency, a high interval. You don't need to do this when you wanna start, but if you want to compete in a [00:11:40] market, then you need to be consistent and you need to come up with more content all the time to make the algorithm of Apple Podcast, of Spotify, of YouTube happy and get into the rankings over time.

Now the e-Commerce Coffee Break podcast by now is number five [00:12:00] in feed spots ranking on a global perspective in the Shopify category. It's a 5%. It's among the top 5% worldwide over all categories, all topics, and we have a ton of listeners every day. All episodes are being listened all the time. But that took a long, long time to get there.[00:12:20] 

The show obviously, is run by sponsors, by advertisers by featured interviews and a couple of other things that are affiliate marketing. So there's a number of different income streams there to make this possible. And with the podcast goes the newsletter, which also goes out twice a week. The newsletter, [00:12:40] again, there is the chance to have ads in there.

I have. Very good brands by now that are using the newsletter to promote their brands to my audience. Again, a lot of content creation there. So four times a week we send out either either the newsletter or the podcast. And with me, I. That means by now I'm not a solopreneur [00:13:00] anymore. I have a team in the background.

They're all freelancers, virtual assistants, so no one is under contract. And but it's a, a well-oiled machine by now, so it works really, really well. And anyone out there can make this work. So if you have a brand and you sell something and there's a story to what you sell [00:13:20] and you can continuously add to this story, then you can look into podcasting.

You might do this as for free, just as a marketing channel to sell more of your products or services. That's one way to do it. Or as I do, you become a content creator and you make this a media business, then you can shift over there. And I just [00:13:40] want to give you a number and not giving you my revenue numbers.

So I'm just give you the idea. This is by now a on its way to a six figure business. But the profit margin. Is far, far higher. So I have profit margins on the podcast that are in the range between 65 and 75% depending on the months. Compare this [00:14:00] to your 10 or 20% profit margin and the hustle that you have with the online store.

I am. Willing to say that this is the more fun business. Depends what you wanna do in life. If you wanna scale, then a eCommerce store probably is the better way to get to bigger numbers. Even with smaller profit margins, depending on the product. [00:14:20] I'm at the point in my life where I just want to travel.

I want to have location, independent freedom. And just wanna make enough money to finance all of this of my lifestyle. So the podcast can do this if that is something you wanna do. And I get approached a lot with networking events of people. It's like, how can I do this? And this is why I'm doing this episode [00:14:40] today.

This is absolutely doable. Podcasting is simple, but it's not easy. So simple means the technical setup, relatively easy. But you don't need much there. There's a lot of services for editing and whatever you can buy on Upwork or Fiverr to make this work. So you don't need to become an editor yourself and then [00:15:00] you can publish your first episode.

But again, it's a long term game. If you're just thinking, I publish 2, 3, 10 episodes, I will get tons of listeners, visitors, and business. You are on the wrong path, so I'm just giving you this as an advice. I don't wanna ramble much longer than this. I just wanted to give [00:15:20] you an update about the show. So, as mentioned, we are approaching episode 400.

I have a long list of guests piling up with interviews that I'm doing within the next couple of weeks. I will take off a week myself in June and do a little bit of traveling and we will stay. Basically, or will try, me and my [00:15:40] team will try to get better with every episode. We are doing a lot of AB testing in the background and I hope that you, the listener, still like what we're doing.

And as mentioned, I wanna motivate you to contact me anytime I read every email that's coming in, and give me your feedback, your ideas, your [00:16:00] criticism to make the show bigger and better. And the bigger and better the show is, the more interesting guests I can get on the show. That's it for now. I see you in the next episode with my next interview, and stay tuned for whatever's coming next.

Thanks so much. Have a great day. Bye-bye. Before you leave, don't forget [00:16:20] to visit the sponsor of today's episode. Time to Take your Marketing to the next level. Brevo is the all in one marketing platform that helps you connect with customers through email, SMS, WhatsApp and Automation. All from one easy to use platform.

Keep your customer data organized. Personalize every message and drive real engagement effortlessly. Try Brevo for free or use ECB to [00:16:40] save 50% on starter and business plans for the first three months of an annual subscription. Head to Brevo.com/ecb. Today, you will find a link also in the show notes.

Hey, Klaus here. Thank you for joining me on another episode of the e-Commerce Coffee Break podcast. Before you go, I'd like to ask two things from you. First, please help me with the algorithm so I can bring more [00:17:00] impactful guests on the show. It'll also make it easier for others to discover the podcast.

Simply like, comment, and subscribe in the app you're using to listen to the podcast. And even better, if you could leave a rating. And finally, sign up for our free newsletter and become a smarter online seller. In just five minutes, we create content from more than 50 sources, saving you hours of research, and helping you to stay on top of your [00:17:20] e-commerce game with the latest news, insights, and trends twice a week in your inbox.

A hundred percent free. Join now at newsletter dot e-commerce coffee break.com. That's newsletter dot eCommerce coffee break.com. Thanks again, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Have a good one.