Transcript

Molly: Hey, hey, hey. What’s up? It’s me, Molly. I’m back in The Next 100. And thanks for tuning in. I appreciate it.

Yeah, I’m really excited to talk about branded podcasts in relation to founders and CEOs because I think it’s super important and I think that there’s a lot of ways that you can use a podcast that can really increase your bottom line, especially if you’re CEO or founder.

So this one is 100% for you. I really like to focus on what I call the SPA of any digital content strategy. And it’s, you know, pretty simple. But, you know, for me, it’s a pretty, pretty great formula. It’s the SPA strategy, production, and amplification. And podcasts are a great place to really exercise this method because it’s super, super effective. So any time you want to create any new content, you need to have a strategy. What kind of content are you creating? Why are you creating it? Who are you trying to reach, you know, etc., etc. need to have a strategy behind it and you also want to make sure you’re producing it really well and it looks really good. And then you gotta go show everybody.

So if you’re a CEO or a founder, you’re aware, right? You have spent a whole bunch of time trying to convince people that you have this great idea and maybe you’re pre-seed or maybe you’ve already gotten funded, but you’ve spent a lot of time like you created this technology, you’ve created this service, you’ve created something really great and you’ve gone out and you’re looking for investors or you’ve gotten investors, and you have spent a lot of time telling your personal story. Right? Because a lot of times that’s what drives these products is the people behind it and not always the service itself. So you have this great groundbreaking thing, but what’s really setting you apart is your story. So now you went out and you got the money, but now you need to tell this story to the rest of the world so you can get there by in. But you also need to go sell this product that you just got money for. Because the thing about getting money is they expect a whole lot of money back really, really soon.

So once you get those dollars, you got to hit the ground running. So there’s two different phases to podcasting for funding. So if you’re pre-seed, then you need to show on your deck that you have gone on, you know, a podcast to get the message out and do some branding. So going on other people’s podcasts and really talking about your service, your product, your story, etc., pre-seed is never a bad idea because then you can chop that content up, yadda yadda. We’re going to talk about that in a minute. If you’ve already got funding, then you have a little bit of a budget. And so you might think to yourself, Well, I should start a podcast, but you might be shocked by this. I’m going to actually advise against that because. You need to go make more money and you need to sell your product. So if you are already like multiple rounds in and you’ve got Traction Shores, creating a podcast can be great. But I think a lot of times people confuse branded podcasting meaning like, you’re going to have a podcast for your business, like your Colgate and you’re going to have a podcast about toothpaste. Like that’s not really what a branded podcast encapsulates is really much broader than that. So in my opinion, you know, in a branded podcast, the guest across the table is more important than the audience. So sure, if you’re a huge company, Colgate, Toyota, whatever. Yeah, you might have a podcast.

There’s a toothbrush company with a podcast about brushing your teeth. It’s brilliant, right? But if you’re a small business owner or your CEO or your founder, right? Like building that audience is going to be super heavy, like lift and it’s going to be an uphill battle. It’s going to take a lot of time and it’s going to distract you and take away resources from you going and selling your product and or raising more money and or telling your personal story so the cheat code to that is to go on other people’s podcast right now with OPB because that is a real timesaver right there and you can really maximize it. So again, the SBA comes back into play strategy, production, and amplification. So whose podcast are you going to go on and why? You know, Big podcasts are not always the best podcast, sometimes targeting small audiences.

You know, I love a good small audience where it can be more beneficial for your situation. And again, with a proper podcast strategy, the relationship is really what you’re going for. So it’s not just about using somebody to get in front of their network because they have a huge audience and you don’t have that audience. But also think about it in a way where you’re creating a relationship with the person whose podcast you’re going on, and then you’re therefore creating like a runway and an opportunity to do business with that person or to be referred to other people by that person, you know, whatever it might be, or maybe they have a huge network.

They can share your message, your app, your product, your service, or whatever it is that you’re trying to raise money for or spread awareness about. So going on other people’s podcasts is incredibly beneficial to you, but the strategy is super important also. What are you going to do with that content once you have gone on those podcasts and how is that podcast? How is that content going to serve the two most important things? And that’s number one, telling the story to the world. And number two, selling your product. Or maybe it’s the other way around, maybe number one, and selling your product number two is on your story. But what I’m proposing is that you can do both. You go on other people’s podcasts and you have a signature talk, if you will, right? Like if you haven’t done any presentations, then you have like a signature talk and you have your ideas and you naturally lead people and you went to tastemakers and you’re super badass, right? Like, I’m like, I am not, but I’m working on. Right. Well, you want to do the same thing with podcasts like you, you’re obviously not crafting a speech when you go on somebody else’s podcast, but you can certainly prepare ten questions that you really like to be asked and are really good at answering. You can also do a pre-call with the person whose podcast you’re going on and make sure that you’re dialing in on the things that you want to talk about. Or if you get really good, like some of these professional journalists, you know, then, you know, like Teri Schultz, I don’t know if you ever, ever listen to her. She’s amazing. She controls that conversation.

So channel or channel your inner Teri Schultz and you really want to control the conversation when you’re going on these podcasts. So as if the founder and CEO are trying to raise money, you want to make sure you’re telling the story and selling your product. So you want to make sure that every time they’re asking you a question, you’re leading it back to having them down the path that you want to go in. And what’s going to happen is then once you have that production right strategy production amplification, once you have that interview done, you know you want to well, first of all, let me not get ahead of myself. Production means quality. To me, production is quality. It doesn’t mean piecing it together. Hiring somebody on fire means quality. So buy a microphone. You know how much I love telling you how to buy a microphone? Make sure you have a decent camera angle. Right. Like I’m using a Logitech camera. I bought this super badass Opal webcam and my laptop was too old. And I’m in Costa Rica. I can’t even plug the thing in, but I’m using a Logitech cam. I just put it on a selfie stick and I put it in front of the screen. So it looks like I’m making eye contact with you. You know what I mean? Like, you know, you don’t have to completely overthink it here, but you want to, like, show up looking good so that your presentation can be the best possible, and then you can use that content later.

So now once you’ve gone on that interview, you can take that link, you can take that video that you’ve been on and you can chop it up into lots of little pieces of content, short-form video. And if you were intentional and strategic about the things that you talked about, then you’re going to have three or four or five different clips of you telling your personal story and you the person and you the founder and how you got here and you came to this realization. But then you’ll also have a whole bunch of clips about your product and how revolutionary it is and how great it is and how it’s on the market and what it’s doing for people and what it’s revolutionizing.

Whatever, your shtick is with your product service app, whatever, then now you’ve got content to represent. So even though you went on one interview and it was somebody else’s podcast, you’re not just relying on their audience because you’re taking that content, you’re chopping up. You’re creating content that’s going to serve you and your personal Instagram. And of course, the company by furthering your personal story. But then you’re also going to have clips that you can use for the company’s Instagram and the company’s LinkedIn profile to make sure that you’re really taking all the boxes and you’re going on one podcast and now you’ve got eight pieces of short-form content.

My puppy’s walking around the background and distracting me. But now you’ve got eight pieces of short-form content, and you’re killing it because you went on one podcast, but you’re showing up everywhere. And if you’re really smart, you’re making sure if it was really like well-known bad guys that you’re keeping the guest or the host, rather, in some of those clips to give you that social proof so that you can also tag that host because that’s the other way you win this game is by the amplification, right? The A and the SBA, you got to then take all those clips and you need to tag the shit out of everybody involved in that thing on the Internet. And you need to use all eight of those little short clips and you need to put them all on LinkedIn or your TikTok or your Instagram or whatever it is your audience is, and where you’re trying to reach people and make sure you’re tagging that podcast that you went on, tag the host, tag the network, tag the producer, tag anything.

You can just get it in front of people so you can take one interview and now you’ve got a piece of content for the business, for you. You’re killing and you’re tagging everybody on LinkedIn. And now you have really amplified that singular message or that singular interview that actually has multiple messages in it. And, you know, it really kind of touches on this idea. Like, I hate the concept of repurposing content because I think it’s inaccurate, right? To me, repurposing is like I did a panel discussion and I’m taking an interview and I’m chopping it up and I’m repurposing it into a completely different piece of content. Being intentional and strategic and highly visible with your content is not repurposing it. It’s just being smart. So if you go on somebody else’s podcast and you can take all that content, you can put it all over your social media and you’re really maximizing the visibility with the content that you are creating. You’re not repurposing it, you’re not recycling it. You’re being crazy intentional with the visibility of your content to make sure that you are raising that money.

Because at the end of the day, you are the CEO, you are the founder, you’re the thing pushing this thing uphill, you’re the face behind the thing. And so you got to get in front of people and show them why these people invest in you and why your product and your service, your app, or your revolutionary product is so great. And I know that can be really difficult. So my advice, right, the best way that you can use this fantastic medium of podcasting is by going on other people’s podcasts and then maximizing that content. But again, you have to make sure you look good. You sound good. You know what you’re talking about and you’re driving everybody to the point that you want to go. So there’s a lot of other things you want to do, make sure your CTAs are to really drive people to one link, and if possible, maybe create different landing pages so you can track things. But I’m not going to get into all that. I think the basic thing here is that going on with other people’s bad guys is a goldmine. But here’s the pro tip of the hour, right?

Most podcasts are booked 3 to 6 months out. So if you plan on hitting the decks and raising some more money in January, Boo-Boo, you better go apply to get on some podcasts right now because you’re already late. If you want to do things in Q2, then you want to start working on that around Christmas time. So, you know, everybody’s booked up even, you know, some of the smaller podcasts are booked up and if you want to get on the really good podcast are definitely going to be booked up for at least three months. So give yourself a proper runway to get that done. Now, I always advise hiring a real company. I am adamantly opposed to things like Fiverr and not because I am opposed to any sort of global workforce whatsoever. Most of my team is all over the world. I love flex and time zones. I just find it to be very predatory and it’s not a reliable source and people deserve to get paid more than that.

They deserve to get paid a living wage in whatever country it is that they live in. So I would really like to consider bringing somebody in full-time or hire a company like Heartcast Media and we will white glove it for you and we will pick the timestamps and we’ll make you look super, not make you look. But we will show the world how smart you are and show the world how great your product is. And we will do all that for you. All you gotta do is send us the link. But whatever it is that you do, don’t underestimate the power of other people’s podcasts and raise a whole lot of funds because those are active audiences. That’s evergreen content you’re maximizing on somebody else’s entire audience, and ultimately you’re going to get better at really talking about yourself and your product. All of this is like riding a bike, even me, right? I’ve done some public speaking.

Could definitely be better. Even though I’ve had great success with the people. They give people laughs and people’s lives. Crime, but whenever we don’t focus on the negative around here. But the point is, I think I’m pretty good at it, but really I kind of suck. And when I started this podcast, I listened to it because I can’t expect other people to listen to it if I can’t listen to myself. And my God, I have so much room for improvement even right now. So what this podcast has done is really make me more intentional with my content, sharpen my sword, and get me better. This public presentation is more succinct with my thoughts, offering value, not speaking too fast, and really trying to get better at my craft. So going on other people’s podcasts is a great way to really narrow down your CTAs, really get your signature talks in line, get more confident, and listen to yourself so you don’t say and write because that’s my jam, right? I say that all the time. So you listen to yourself, and improve upon it, right? Strategy, production, amplification.

Then go on a little sprint. Right. I’m a big fan of three-month sprints. Go on a three-month sprint, go on as many podcasts as you possibly can and a three-month period, and then take all that content. Imagine if you made eight videos from every podcast that you went on. So right you have like the whole YouTube video, but then you made four clips, right? You know, for you and four clips for the business and now you’ve got eight clips. You went on four podcasts a month. Let’s just say for six months, that’s 20 guys a year. You’ve got 160 videos actually of 168 videos now that are going to that you can use on Instagram, you can use on Tik Tok, you can use on LinkedIn, you can use on Twitter and you can use on Facebook and you can use those over and over and over again because. The algorithm, right? So wouldn’t you benefit from having 168 videos from just being super intentional and going on a targeted list of really great podcasts to expand their reach? You know, like one podcast a week was for, you know, six months, man. I don’t think that’s that big of a deal. I did my math wrong. I said a three-month sprint, but I gave it six months’ numbers. I’m not really recording this because I’m not perfect. So the point is, if you did a six-month sprint, you’d have 168 videos.

That man is probably wrong. But the point is, I’m not good at math, but podcasts are a great way to market your product. So if you want some help with that, we have booking agents in Heartcast Media. We can set you up with really great podcasts. We buy them, we book them on that, but you can also do it yourself. Places like Pod Match and Podcast guys, and there’s all kinds of platforms for you to go on and do it. So if you are really busy and you don’t want to spend that time, you can hire somebody and if you have some time you can start setting them up now. But that is a fantastic way for you to maximize other people’s podcasts and their distribution and their investment in their time. But you gotta make sure you look and sound good because they’re not going to pay you to be on your podcast if you don’t have a microphone. Because unlike you’re being in meetings, people are a lot pickier about having people on their podcast that does not have a microphone. So little pro tip there. So I promise to get these short and I feel like this one’s going a little long.

So those are the most important things to consider, the three most important things to consider when you’re trying to raise money as a CEO or founder, and how you can use a podcast to get that done. So I hope this was helpful. There’s no book report this week because, you know, to be honest, I’m not reading a book a week anymore. I keep hearing the same books. I’m listening to the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership for the third time. And I’m about to listen to $100 million offers after that, not only the fifth time for that book, because, you know, they’re so valuable. There are so many gems in them. And I and I and I, you know, I went out of my way to listen to a bunch of books authored by women, but then I just felt like I was checking boxes to read, like, like, so I’m just sort of rewinding a little bit and I read so many other books that I’ll share with you, but I think there’s just enough information today, so thanks for hanging out with me. I hope it was valuable and I’ll catch you next week where I’m going to have even more tips about how a podcast can make you more money in your business today.