Retailer podcast promotes store and helps shine spotlight on vendor brands
By Bruce W. Cole
Last year, when Vicky Hachey decided to launch her own podcast Talk to Vicky, RHN: A Total Approach to Wellness, she saw it as the next logical step in her continuing journey in a career that spans almost three decades.
Vicky saw the podcast as an opportunity to reach as many people as possible, promoting the myriad benefits of natural health products and living a healthy lifestyle. In the process, the podcast is helping her store, her professional practice, and her vendor partners.
A registered holistic nutritionist and franchise owner of the Good Health Mart store in Hamilton, Ontario, Vicky’s career spans more than 28 years. Since taking over the store, she has developed a professional onsite wellness clinic, where she practices along with several colleagues.
Starting a podcast seemed like a natural evolution in her career development, an extension of what she does in her consulting business and in her store on a daily basis. “I learned early on in my retail days about customer service: it’s all about helping people navigate this world of natural health, not just about selling products. I feel today, it’s about going back to basics.”
Podcast serves two main roles
The podcast has a two-fold purpose, explains Vicky. “First, our aim is to offer educational measures to prioritize health and wellbeing, using natural and alternative health options. We cover topics like mindful eating; staying hydrated; enjoying outdoor activities, movement, and exercise; supplementation; and anything related to creating a healthy lifestyle habit.
“We are dedicated to fostering positive evidence-based, research-driven education. Each episode dives into real and relatable conversations with experts, who share their insights on how to make practical everyday health and wellness choices.”
Second and equally important, the podcast is about supporting suppliers. “This is also about creating more exposure for my vendors, increasing interest in products. There are so many products and they all do different things, and people don’t know the depth that is available and how specialized the products can be. One size does not fit all!”
For smaller suppliers this can be great exposure to a new audience, especially when their marketing budget is small.
Getting started
Prior to starting her podcast, Vicky spent a lot of time researching everything that is involved with creating and maintaining a podcast. When asked what she needed to get started, she quickly replied, “Good staff. Having good people on the team gave me the freedom to do the podcast.”
She decided early on that she wanted a polished, professional presentation, so she went hunting for an agency in Canada that could help her. “The agency guided me and helped me with everything I needed. They help me with everything: recording, editing, production, post-production, and photos. It would take too long for me to do all this.”
In the planning stages, Vicky researched how often to do a podcast. “If you only do it once a month, you lose listeners. So, I challenged myself to do it weekly. I went through all the people I knew who would be a good fit for an interview. There are so many great educators in this field.”
Vicky has set aside Wednesday as her podcast prep day. “I’m very regimented, and dedicating one day a week for prep is what works for me.”
Working with vendor sponsors
One aspect of the podcast Vicky continues to build upon is vendor collaboration. It is something that is growing, she says, and something she welcomes to help cover production costs.
“Some suppliers are just coming around to social media. Some get it, and some are still navigating the impact of social media. This is a good option for a lot of smaller vendors who may not have a budget for marketing or the time and know-how to do social media. This is something that makes sense for them, a chance to raise visibility for their products, their brand, and their service, to a different and new audience.
Talk to Vicky, RHN: A Total Approach to Wellness airs on all major podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube. “We promote the episode across our various channels. Additionally, we will provide clips and images for the advertisers to share on their platforms.”
Vicky says the podcast has an expanding following. “We are promoting it to more than 2,500 email subscribers, and it is still growing. We are getting between 10,000 to 15,000 views on Meta and Google, and our objective is to have 500 YouTube subscribers this year.”
The beauty of podcasting, explains Vicky, is the episode is available any time, anywhere. “It’s convenient to listen to, rewind, and re-listen to. Plus, the listener or consumer can pick the episode that most interests them at that moment in time.”
Vicky has a strong following
The biggest selling feature of the podcast is Vicky. Although she is rather humble, she is passionate about sharing her knowledge with listeners, customers, and clients. She has built a strong following in her community over three decades. In the year since her podcast launched, she is seeing its benefits. She gives an example, “I was shopping at Costco and bumped into a lady I’ve not seen in many years. She came to one of my cooking classes years ago, and since then, she has followed me on social media. She told me that she is still making a recipe I did at the class and it’s her family’s favourite, that even her grandkids enjoy now. She then proceeded to comment how she is enjoying the podcast and gave me a topic suggestion for the podcast, which I appreciate.
“One more story. A customer came in to purchase a supplement because it was recommended on the podcast. She had not been in the store since before 2020, and she has been back again to purchase the supplement, adding that it is helping her.
“Some of my reps tell me they listen every week. It is humbling because they are your peers. They give me feedback, and most of it is positive. That’s what you want to hear: positive feedback and results from your customers.”
Vicky cautions other retailers that running a podcast is a lot of work. “It’s outside the box of a retail space, of brick and mortar, but sometimes we need to think outside the box to reach our communities. Yes, it’s about sales, but it’s also about helping people.”
Share your voice
For those retailers who are considering doing a podcast for their store, Vicky has generously offered to share her experience. You can contact her at vjhacheyrhn@gmail.com with any questions.
Additionally, she has openings for guest spots if a supplier is interested in promoting their products or brand. “Send me an email and write ‘Guest Podcast’ in the subject line and I will send you all the details.”
The podcast has been a true labour of love for Vicky, part of her continuing journey. “What I love about the health and wellness industry is you are always learning. It never stagnates. What we do in this health and wellness space is unique: we invest in people’s lives, in their well-being, and in their quality of living. People remember what you recommended and how it helped them improve their wellbeing. That’s why they come back … it’s the relationship we build with them.
“I am just as curious to learn today as I was when I started working at the health food store some 28 years ago.”