Turn Engagements into Revenue - Ryan Alford

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Podcasting, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Media Consumption, Proven Podcast
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Consistency, Borrowed Interest, Dan Rather, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Borrowed Interest, Instagram, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, MacBook Air
4. 15:00 – 20:00: community, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Spotify
5. 20:00 – 25:00: Instagram, Manhattan
6. 25:00 – 30:00: Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Riverside, South Carolina
7. 30:00 – 35:00: Podcasting, Business Mindset, Mark Randolph
8. 35:00 – 40:00: Instagram, community, Podcasting, Ryan Alford
9. 40:00 – 42:08: Instagram, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Podcasting, Riverside

Notable quotes from "Turn Engagements into Revenue - Ryan Alford"

• Does not matter what you think, only what you can prove. Everyone treats podcasting like a marketing afterthought. Today's guest, Ryan Alford, proves it's actually the most…

  about Podcasting · at 0:02

• It's saturated or think it's you know reached its pinnacle 18 to 34 year olds media consumption in a late in the most recent Neielson study they're the leader in media research…

  about Media Consumption · at 0:58

• Look ourselves because we have the number one show on Apple in marketing and business and top 20 on Spotify, but so we're living we're sort of the living and breathing laboratory for the clients that we work with.

  about Spotify · at 4:03

• Week three no episode, week four episode, week five no episode. We And no consistency. They say they've done it.

  about Consistency · at 5:30

• Number one, I call it borrowed interest.

  about Borrowed Interest · at 9:57

• Interest that trigger the algorithms that might get you, in the explore feed on Instagram, might hit, a nerve on LinkedIn. And you have to set up consistent processes with…

  about Instagram · at 12:18

• Do is copy and paste. Make it super easy for your guests to share it with their networks and their community. Ask for the order if you want it to be taken.

  about community · at 15:22

• Favor, given you time and in your best way possible short of a really bad Riverside experience. You need to make them feel good.

  about Riverside · at 28:14

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles — Person · 6 mentions · first at 0:24
  Thanks, Charles. Pleasure to be here as always.
• Ryan Alford — Person · 2 mentions · first at 0:07
  What you can prove. Everyone treats podcasting like a marketing afterthought. Today's guest, Ryan Alford, proves it's actually the most powerful marketing weapon you're not…
• Dan Rather — Person · 1 mention · first at 6:28
  Isn't a real thing. And they have no real schedule of when to expect you. And so imagine if the nightly news with Dan Rather back in the day I'll age myself.
• Mark Randolph — Person · 1 mention · first at 32:29
  A new show comes with us that has no real you know base yet doesn't mean I can go get Mark Randolph the founder of Netflix to go on their show. It does.

Companies & orgs

• Proven Podcast — Company · 1 mention · first at 0:00
  Welcome to the Proven Podcast, where it does not matter what you think, only what you can prove. Everyone treats podcasting like a marketing afterthought. Today's guest, Ryan.
• Radcast Network — Company · 1 mention · first at 3:01
  Way down. It's still on its way up as a medium. And what you're seeing and what we're doing with the Radcast network is this intersection of audio and video and how these two…
• Scout Lab — Company · 1 mention · first at 39:19
  When someone reaches out to you and say, Hey, I heard you on Scout Lab. I heard you on wherever. I saw your post. Do you want people to show up and say, This is who I am. This is what my show is. This is what's going on. These are.
• Nielsen — Company · 1 mention

Products & tech

• Riverside — Product · 2 mentions · first at 28:19
• supplements — Product · 1 mention · first at 8:29
  Eliminate it? Because most people come to the market and they want to be supplements. And it's the worst thing you can do. Don't be supplements. Be Advil. Be the painkiller.…
• MacBook Air — Product · 1 mention · first at 14:00
  Mean, I got to talk to your guy before we start recording. Great guy. Probably going to make me buy a MacBook Air. But we're going to sit where finally going to get the IT guy…
• Scale It — Product · 1 mention · first at 41:46
  Don't know what it was. So, really appreciate you, Charles. You're doing a lot of great things with Scale It. Hey guys, anybody's listening, yeah, Charles has got it figured out. So, go follow his playbook. he's doing it right.
• Advil — Product · 1 mention

Concepts & topics

• Podcasting — Concept · 13 mentions · first at 0:05
• Consistency — Concept · 4 mentions · first at 5:36
• Borrowed Interest — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 9:57
• community — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 15:29
• Vanity Metrics — Concept · 1 mention · first at 0:12
  Alford, proves it's actually the most powerful marketing weapon you're not using. While others podcast for vanity metrics, Ryan proves podcasting is profit. The show starts now.
• Media Consumption — Concept · 1 mention · first at 1:05
• Newsjacking — Concept · 1 mention · first at 10:15
  So I highly believe in borrowing interest from some people call it newsjacking some call it other things but what are the hot topics hot people or hot subjects of the day that…
• SEO for Podcasting — Concept · 1 mention · first at 11:21
  Different things. So you've got those budwords, those trendy words in your show titles and your SEO for podcasting and different things like that. But then the biggest thing is…
• Business Mindset — Concept · 1 mention · first at 34:02
  Understand this is very different this isn't just be consistent There's a business mindset. There's a marketing mindset. So, I'd love for you to kind of explain it again. I'm…
• Audience Building — Concept · 1 mention
• Content Marketing — Concept · 1 mention
• Podfade — Concept · 1 mention
• ROI (Return on Investment) — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

• Manhattan — Place · 1 mention · first at 24:59
  Over the years. And so a lot of people, even myself included, like I had worried to Manhattan, the largest brands in the world, done a lot of things, and we're self-limiting as…
• South Carolina — Place · 1 mention · first at 27:33
  Down like figure of speech like literally like and some of that look I have an accent. I'm from South Carolina.

Sponsors

• Instagram — Sponsor · 7 mentions · first at 12:23
• Spotify — Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at 4:07
• Proven Podcast — Sponsor · 1 mention · first at 0:00
  Welcome to the Proven Podcast, where it does not matter what you think, only what you can prove. Everyone treats podcasting like a marketing afterthought. Today's guest, Ryan.
• Radcast Network — Sponsor · 1 mention · first at 3:01
  Way down. It's still on its way up as a medium. And what you're seeing and what we're doing with the Radcast network is this intersection of audio and video and how these two…
• Apple Podcasts — Sponsor · 1 mention

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Welcome to the Proven Podcast, where it does not matter what you think, only what you can prove. Everyone treats podcasting like a marketing afterthought. Today's guest, Ryan Alford, proves it's actually the most powerful marketing weapon you're not using. While others podcast for vanity metrics, Ryan proves podcasting is profit. The show starts now.

0:17 All right, welcome back. Today we're with Ryan, and this is someone who I could talk to for days, and we will end up doing that. Welcome to the show.

0:24 Thanks, Charles. Pleasure to be here as always. So, you've been doing podcasts for over a decade now and you're doing something different than everybody else is. And a lot of people look down on podcast. They don't have this great idea towards it. And you come with a completely different angle. For those of you who are about to listen to this, hold on to your belly buttons because it's going to get intense. Let's talk about it. Why is podcast different in your world since you've been doing it for a decade?

0:46 Yeah. Well, I I'm first going to get like talk about the data. You know, I'm a data guy. like why you know podcasting as a whole and just remind people that may turn their nose up at it or think it's saturated or think it's you know reached its pinnacle 18 to 34 year olds uh media consumption in a late in the most recent Neielson study they're the leader in media research very trusted uh it was just here in the first quarter of 2024 came out with something that had never happened. And basically what that data said is the fastest growing medium for 18 to 34 year olds is podcasting.

1:32 They watch and listen to more podcasts than they do television. Period. Drop the mic.

1:41 And it's the first time that's happened. So think about this for a moment. In a world where a lot of people think podcasting is saturated, it's seen its moment, it yada yada yada, 18 to 34 year olds usage of them is at an all-time high. It is not capped out and it's now more than television. So 18 to 34 year olds are the leaders of tomorrow. And so they are being brought up on a medium that is just now becoming a leader in the way with which this consumer set absorbs content where our parents and even us I mean I'm 47 years old and

2:27 you know we grow up with TV and radio and outdoor boards and the internet comes along and all these things and social media But podcasting is still in somewhat of an early nent to rising in that bell curve. And so once you dismiss that portion, then there's like how do you do it right? And so but the but the reality is podcasting is not uh on its way down. It's still on its way up as a medium. And what you're seeing and what we're doing with the Radcast network is this intersection of audio and video and how these these two channels are coming together because podcasting started as an audio medium for distribution of content. And now you're seeing this intersection of audio and video. and the people that understand that intersection and that understand the interplay and to building the content the right way for those mediums. It's much like social media where everyone used to do the same

3:36 thing. Oh, I'll do the same thing on Facebook, same thing on Twitter X, the same thing. You have to build the content for the platform. And YouTube is the fastest growing podcast channel on the planet. So the reality is the way that you have to build a podcast is not the way you built a podcast 5 years ago. And it's changed and we're really sort of at the forefront of that and helping not only look ourselves because we have the number one show on Apple in marketing and business and top 20 on Spotify, but so we're living we're sort of the living and breathing laboratory for the clients that we work with.

4:18 So, I love that you said, you know, people think, oh, podcasts are saturated. And I will say podcasts are absolutely 100% saturated of people doing it the ineffective way. I've only been doing this for about a month and a half and we're getting radical results and it's generating income already. And people like, how are you doing this? I've been doing a podcast for all these years. I'm like, cuz you suck. You're not doing this effectively. You know, as you said, you have to do it specifically for that platform. And if you go to any marketeer in the world and you say, "Hey, I can deliver you x amount of eyes between the ages of 18 and 35, they're going to stop their meeting. They're going to have that meeting with you." So with people doing podcasting ineffectively, it's the nicest way I can say it without getting in a whole lot of trouble.

4:56 What are the things that you've been doing it for a while that people are just absolutely incorrect about and what are the things they can start doing to actually execute better

5:04 when they're doing podcast and some of the things you're doing at the Red? So I'm gonna get real clinical on it. So, like first and foremost, you got to be consistent. Like, here's here's what I have. Charles, you don't know how many people come to me and go, you know, ask sort of that question. We get down that dialogue. You know, I've done my podcast. I've made a go at it and all that. And I'll go look at just their baseline stats and week one episode, week two episode, week three no episode, week four episode, week five no episode. We And no consistency. They say they've done it.

5:39 They gave it the old college try. And look, the number one determinator of success of your podcast after quality of content, which I'm going to come back to, like is literally consistent scheduling. And it's and high value production. High value production doesn't mean high cost. High value and high cost are two different things. So, a nice mic, a good camera, baseline quality, consistent schedule releasing. So, literally, people want to make it real difficult. And Pod Fate is real. Okay, I did I did seven episodes and then I quit or then I came back two weeks later. And so, all you're telling your audience is I'm not committed. This isn't a real thing. And they have no real schedule of when to expect you. And so imagine if the nightly news with Dan Rather back in the day I'll age myself.

6:37 I'm only one year different than you in a month we'll be the same age so we're okay.

6:40 And so or whoever and imagine okay it's the nightly news but Monday we didn't feel like producing it. Tuesday we're on Wednesday uh didn't do it. Thursday you get the point. People don't know to expect it. They don't set their clock to it. They don't they don't come back to it. it's not hitting their feed and they replace you with something else. So, consistency of your show is first and foremost and sticking with it. Look, you know, depending on your religion, other than God building the the earth in seven days, like a things don't happen overnight. And so, literally, I spent six and a half years in 450 episodes, you know, a lot of consistency, a lot of repetition. And so you've got to you've got to build that sort of foundation of consistency and then like what you've done in in a fast amount of time you've done that and then the quality specificity and the education or entertainment level of the

7:42 show. So who am I talking to? Who am I adding value to? Who what what do I want? Do I have a clarity in what what I'm delivering to them? Because here's what happens when you're really clear on who your target is and what you're giving them. You it get you get real focused in on delivering that. When you're not and when it's loose, you have a loose schedule, you have a loose target, you have loose quality of content, you it it everything's loose, including your audience and your success.

8:14 Agree. Yeah. And and it's there wasn't anything I took the idea of what I've done with scaling businesses and brought it directly into the podcast. I was like, "All right, who is my niche? I want to go inchwide, mile deep. What is the massive pain they're in and how can I eliminate it?" Because most people come to the market and they want to be supplements. And it's the worst thing you can do. Don't be supplements. Be Advil. Be the painkiller. Then you can tell them supplements later, but if they're in pain right now, eliminate that pain. And if your audience, if you're not in the process of eliminating their pain immediately, it doesn't work.

8:43 When we started out as far as quality, it was, to put it nicely, garbage. I was using the mic on my laptop. I had a webcam. It was unbelievably embarrassing. And then I ramped it up and we're again, we're barely into our second season here. We're catching up to it. But to do this effectively, I think what the the biggest problem people do when they do podcasting is they're not treating it like a business. This is a business and it's an army business. And for us, it is the best marketing we possibly can do. Because the minute we ranked and we were in the top 100 of all podcasts and we were in the top 10 for entrepreneurship and top 20 for a while and we pulled that off a little bit. As soon as that happened, the phone calls you get, it becomes this amazing skeleton key. We start getting phone calls from people who I would never be able to talk to in a normal environment.

9:28 Now they're dying to be on the show. So approaching this as a business is important. So if they've mastered the ability of consistency and they've got their content so it's clean and they're giving good value, what is the next step? So, what are the things that most people mess up with? Like, you know what? I' I've tried this. It isn't effective. Maybe I've done two 300 episodes and I'm still not making a dollar or I'm all over the place. What do you tell people when they come work with you? What are the things that you want them to do?

9:54 Yeah. Um, a couple of different tactics. Number one, I call it borrowed interest. So it's a tactic in marketing where when in a saturated like let's say you're in a saturated like business show or you're an entertainment show very saturated and so I I highly believe in borrowing interest from some people call it newsjacking some call it other things but what are the hot topics hot people or hot subjects of the day that can trigger interest in your show or in your episodes that that sort of tie in to sort of what's happening in the in the world around you. And in any given niche, that might be something different. I mean, if you're a business show, it's typing into some of the most wanted and desired guests, you know, high-profile and not just big names, but big names that are hot right now talking about relevant topics, whether it's AI or, you know, some kind of marketing trend or something like that. but

10:58 something that's on their mind and that you're going to sort of you're borrowing interest from that guest, from that entity, from that subject matter that's already trending to then apply it to your show. And what and the biggest thing is so so that using that borrowed interest that could be if you're cooking, show us something different, you know, like what are the trends or different things. So you've got those budwords, those trendy words in your show titles and your SEO for podcasting and different things like that. But then the biggest thing is look, the only way something grows, it's like a garden is you got to water it. You got to promote it. You've got to get out there. Okay?

11:35 How do you promote your show on a low budget? Go look, going on other shows is free, baby. And so put put yourself out there. Go on other shows. Doesn't matter how big because look, I'll take every 50 new get listeners I can get. I'll take 20 of them, 40 of those because growing and having a successful podcast is a series of 147 steps. And I don't say that's like, "Oh my god, I got to do 140." No, it's just it's not one thing. It's just a lot of things that add up. And so once you get the ba the building blocks right, go on other shows, have your consistent social media, using those buzzwords, using that borrowed interest that trigger the algorithms that might get you, you know, in the explore feed on Instagram, might hit, you know, a nerve on LinkedIn. And you have to set up consistent processes with which to make this feasible. So I'm gonna have one show a week on this topic to this audience. I'm gonna cut that

12:38 show up into this number of clips. I'm going to post them here. And again, this changes for every show and with the resources that you have. But you'd be amazed and I'm you wouldn't, Charles, but a lot of people would be amazed that you know they when you go down this list, you go, okay, I'm doing the show. I do it every week. Okay. Like at certain point we get to boxes that they think they're checking, but they're not.

13:03 They're not. Not anymore. And I think, you know, not only is it important for you to promote your show, but going on other people's podcasts allow you to see it from both angles because when I first started it, I I'm used to a very different world. I'm used to being on stage. I'm used to having to fill in the gaps with a guest and help the audience figure it out. Well, that doesn't work when you're a host of a show. So, it gives you the ability to practice and have that dynamic. So working with people in that environment and going on other shows, yes, you can borrow an audience, which of the four ways to get an audience, it's the best way in the world to do it. Buying, building, borrowing, begging. Begging is the worst. Quit asking people to subscribe to your You look ridiculous.

13:40 Provide enough value, they're going to subscribe on their own. But going in and having that conversation allows you to say, "Hey, this is how I perform better." Now, you just mentioned marketing. You mentioned about how this is how I'm going to promote it. This is how I'm going to break down my social media. You've been doing this for a decade. you know how to promote this. I mean, I I got to talk to your guy before we start recording. Great guy. Probably going to make me buy a MacBook Air. But we're going to sit where finally going to get the IT guy, the the Mac, the Microsoft guy to switch over. I'm going to get letters. But in this situation, when you're cutting over and you're doing this, what are the strategies that, hey, I'm going to promote this. I I put my heart and my soul into this. I showed up. I've got the lights hitting me. I had a great conversation with Ryan. What are the ways that they can

14:22 start promoting that you found for because each platform is different that you say, "Hey, for Facebook, this is the best way. LinkedIn's this way. Instagram's this way. Tik Tok's this way. Twitter I refuse to call it anything else. Twitter's this way." In that situation, what are some of the strategies and the tools that you use to help people out that because again, they're just so many people are lost in the oversaturation of ineffective podcasts?

14:44 Yep. Uh number number one thing if you have guests on your show make it easy for them to promote the episode and have a sequence of communication with which to do that. Share all the content with them or their team. Give them all the access to the clips. Give them easy links. Make it easy for them. Make it like don't send them a folder with 17 things in it uncatategorized or undone like and go, "Hey, here's all the content. Thanks so much." No. Send them indiv individual clips. Send them a link to your Apple link, your Spotify, your individual links where all they have to do is copy and paste. Make it super easy for your guests to share it with their networks and their community. Ask for the order if you want it to be taken.

15:35 So, please share this so that it promotes you and me. Please put it on your newsletter. Please put it on your social media. More specifically, would you mind sharing this to LinkedIn with this link and this caption? Share with them a caption idea. Look, it's the same thing as PR. In PR, when you're pitching a story to someone or one of the editors, you need to make it easy for them to say yes. And a way to do that is to almost pitch the idea of the story. Hey, I'm thinking this idea. I've even written two blocks of copy. I know you'd make it a million times better, but here's what I'm thinking. So again, that just takes sweat equity. That's not necessarily money. It's your own time sending it to your guests that you've had on the show. So, okay, then social media, LinkedIn. Okay. So, you're talking to business people. You're talking to business owners depending.

16:26 So, who's your niche? like who are we talking to and what matters to them? Extracting the value from every episode to for what would Okay, people love to snack. I like to get the bite the bite-size uh takeaways from the from the from the episode if they don't have time. So, taking away those bite-sized pieces from each one, specific to the target, specific to the medium, and then making sure that your caption is specific enough while also, you know, you joked a little bit about, you know, don't beg, but you could ask them to leave a review or ask them to subscribe, you know, like you sort of have to, you know, ask for the order. And and this is back to sort of like they check these boxes, but then when you really check them, they kind of got on halfway. You gota go all the way. No,

17:20 I agree. And I love that you're making copy for people that you're, you know, it's so easy now with chat GPT and all that, you know, obviously make it better than just be halfass. It's, you know, one of the things about chat GPT that they don't understand is it's a chat. It's a conversation. If if you say, "Hey, write a thing about this." And it's a first one, refine that over and over and over again. Use someone else's voice. but to make it as easy as possible for people saying, "Hey, Ryan, I loved you on the show. This is what we're doing. You know, here's all these clips. I've given sample captions."

17:45 Again, as you said, I know you're going to make it a million times better. Make it so that all they have to do is click. You know, one of the things that we do is we automate a lot of the stuff for my clients and we haven't done it yet for the podcast, but we automate all of their stuff, all their posting, everything for them. So, listen, you have two options. Here it is. It's all for your or by the way, we set up an account for you. It's already set up for you. All you have to do is log in, put in your information, it'll authenticate and it'll post everything for you. When we frontload that for them and there's 40 to 60 posts that are already designed and they don't have to do anything.

18:15 There hasn't been a single time I haven't had a client just go, "Okay, I'll just I'll just do what you want." Okay, cool, fine. But they're doing so many other things. Cuz most of the people you bring on the podcast, especially if you're in our niche, be it businesses,

18:26 they're doing this because they're trying to monetize something, which means they're running a business, which means they barely have time to see their wife and their kids. They're exhausted. So all of a sudden now you've given them hardcore assets that they could implement immediately changes the ball game.

18:40 Now when you give them the assets sorry I was just going to say Charles another thing that people don't think through is you know just like you just said your guest is coming on your show maybe to do you a favor if you're small and getting started but they also to promote themselves promote what they're doing. Be thoughtful in your questions knowing why they're on your show. Don't just say, you know, tee them up for success and to look good. There's some there's art to that. It's not just what you think. And maybe if they have experience, they know what to say.

19:16 They're going to get to it. But if you force them to sell it, they've got to sell it. But if you ask the right questions, it comes off better for them. And they're more likely to want to use that content, too. Absolutely. And make sure it's in their words, not yours.

19:32 Yeah. You mentioned that there's specific ways for specific platforms, LinkedIn, Tik Tok, all of that.

19:37 Yep. What do you find to be the most effective when you're posting content on different platforms?

19:43 Yeah. Um, it really it goes back to what is the niche of the podcast, right? I mean, if it's if you're doing uh if you're a comic book podcast, you know, like it's probably like Twitter X and I don't know, Discord or something. But like if if you're a business, you need to be on LinkedIn. I would argue Instagram. That's probably my biggest channel just because I have history there and sort of have spent a lot of time in and out of the podcast, invested there with giving value. And so a lot of that answer is where is your audience at depending on the the topic of what you do. But I will say I mean things like okay if you're on LinkedIn LinkedIn text posts do really great with no pictures and no video. So okay well it's a text post. Well a a really cool quote from your podcast. Hey I had XX on the show this week. This really stood this really like stayed with me. this thought that he had and you put

20:47 something he said in quotes. It's all text said, you know, and then add a link in the comments. Don't put the link in the post. Put a link in the comments. That's a good trick right there. The algorithm really sucks your the wind out of you if you put the link in the post. So textbased post for LinkedIn. Video is getting higher in their algorithm. So those video clips do matter if they're done right. And then Instagram, you know, they've been trying to compete with Tik Tok. So reels always typically perform better, but carousels still do good because it gets more. Look, all of these platforms are built on this algorithm.

21:28 Does what you're posting and what you do keep audience on the platform longer? But that's that's the game.

21:35 Oh, it is. And so content needs to be aligned with that platform to keep whoever your audience is that's engaging with your content there longer. Carousels can be effective with that because they're swiping. You've got a 10 carousel thing. That's time that you're keeping them on your post. If it's compelling content that's distilled the right way. Well, how do I steal it the right way? If you don't know your target and what's important to them, then you've got a bigger business problem. So,

22:09 yeah. And so, it's not about speeds, feeds, and features. It's about what problem did you solve? What insight did you give from your podcast? What entertainment or education did you give? And so, it's it it those are the lenses, but then it really comes down to who your target is of where you should be. And when you go into this, I think one of the things you said most people miss, they're like, "Okay, well, I'm going to put out this content. It's going to make me look really good, and then I'm going to offplatform them." Well, the the platform is not going to let you do that. You have to make sure you're doing everything possible to keep them on platform. The next thing that's challenging for people is getting good guests. And I know how I hacked this system because it was pretty simple. But you've been doing this a lot longer than I have. How do you get those those guests that you're like, "Oh my god, I

22:54 really want to get Suzie Q. Suzie Q is amazing. Susie is going viral right now. I want to get her or I want to get John Doe. Whatever it is, what are the ways that you've learned to get the guests?

23:06 Okay. One, hire someone like us. And I I don't mean that safe self- serving, but it's already like created the process because it's not easy and it takes a lot of time. That's just being transparent. That's I don't say that to be self- serving. I I I say it because I used to hire people like I'm telling you what I did. So, I hired people, had guest management services and all that. So don't do that anymore. We have a part of our build. But number two, surprise and delight. So look, the best way to get the next guest you want is to make the guest you just had feel like a million dollars. So that you build referrals, you build recommendations, and they tell their their friends or family, whatever it might be. They may they become your next recommendation. Now, I'm not saying if it's Tom Cruz, you know, Tom's going to do that favor for you. But I'm saying, but a lot of people aren't going after necessary celebrities. But the

23:59 experience that you give your guests in your lineup already will assist you in getting the next guests because then you can leverage them and the experience that they had to get more and better guests because you can ask them for referrals where they'll gladly because if you know you gave them a wonderful experience, you invited them nicely on the show, you provide them an easy follow-up, you were on time, you asked the right questions, you gave them great content, you sent them all of the things that we talked about in an easy way and really promoted them, they're they're going to want to add to your success and to give you other referrals. So, that's one thing. The other thing is you need to treat every opportunity and every relationship as is special. Like it's just like my the biggest opport where all of our guests come from is through my relationships over the years. And so a lot of people,

24:57 even myself included, like I had worried to Manhattan, the largest brands in the world, done a lot of things, and we're self-limiting as creatures. Like we we tend to forget some of our greatest hits and even some of the best things and things that we've done. And so go back through like who you know, who you've met, who's connected to who and ask them for, you know, adi, you know, suggestions or if you know people within the network. I mean there's six degrees of Kevin Bacon like but literally like everyone's connected than more than you are and it's a people business game and so in guest management and all those and then I mean there's the it's all process and followup look at any given time people are going through a lot of stuff and a no today could be a yes tomorrow followup is everything like I think the biggest guest I've had I think I was one ask and it happened. But then like all

25:53 the other ones that are sort of middle of the road probably took like 10 follow-ups. Like and I don't mean like bugging them. I'm just saying like, "Hey, can we get you on the show?" Getting a little bit of a bite, following up with that, chasing it down again, sticking with it till you get it booked. There's a It's a It's followup is the biggest thing. There's an art to it.

26:14 Yeah. when so there's also an art to asking questions and you talk about how to make your your audience and your guests specifically feel like it was a wonderful experience and it's just like dating there's certain things you do and there's certain things you do not do unless you guys have already defined a safe word but that's totally different in this environment when you're going to do this what are some of the questions that you lock in on that like hey you know what this one works really well these are questions I always try to ask my guests these are things that I always try and do these are my my bread and butter that really is proven to really help out and make the guests feel like they're amazing.

26:46 Yeah, it's okay. Recognizing what their what their specialty is and keying them up for success. I mean, the biggest thing is sometimes people have like these same 10 questions that they ask, but that might not be setting up that specific guest for success and showcasing their expertise. And so if you understand the expertise of your guest, you can tee them up to be the expert. And I think it's it's subtle cues. It's of human behavior and making them comfort. Disarm. I like to disarm. I like to mine with like disarm and how do I get the guests to let their hair down like like figure of speech like literally like and some of that look I have an accent. I'm from South Carolina.

27:36 I think some of my approach and you know loosening things up is just by your personality but leverage your own best personality skill sets in that regard. But again remember here's the biggest thing that I noticed sometimes between great hosts and and so so hosts. They want to be the host always wants to be the expert in everything. They're they're the expert. They have the guest on and but they're trying to steal the show because it's their show.

28:07 But you have to remember that you had that guest on for a reason. They are your special guest. They are your sovereign person that have done you a favor, given you time and in your best way possible short of a really bad Riverside experience. You need to make them feel good. So for those who don't know, we had that night fun show and Riverside did not like my computer. So we might have that one, but it was a lot of

28:33 but to your best ability, try to make them feel like they're the expert and they're you've rolled the red carpet out for them. And look, keep it conversational, man. Like it's just let your hair down, too, and talk about things and be fluid. And like some people are better at this than others. Like you clearly, Charles, you're a pro. Like what? Like you're we're talking, you're formulating as we go. You have some notes, but like you you're good at it naturally.

29:04 Thank you. Some people aren't and some people aren't. And that's okay. You can still be a good host even if you aren't naturally like, "Okay, well, I got to write down these things." But sort of have topics that you want to get to that you weave in like a tapestry instead of a I don't know a cloak that you're just I'm going to choke them down with it. Some people can wing it. Some people absolutely can wing it. And I'm not one of those individuals. I sat down and I researched every guest that I had. I went through if I can get a hold of their book, I'm going to read it. Before I went on your show, I went and I watched a bunch of your episodes. I made sure I got learn more about it. We also, you know, we communicate really well.

29:41 just you and I as a whole. We just have a great dynamic. So, we already had conversations.

29:45 But if you're going to be a host, have those conversations. Now, you do something different than most people. You're actually your org actually helps out other podcasts. They come to you, you know, when they're struggling or they want to go to the next level. What are the things that most people when they come in that they're just making mistakes and you're like, "Okay, welcome to our environment. You know, you're under our wing now." What are like the first two or three steps that you sit down and you have these conversations with them? Because I get it, you've done this, you've monetized this, you're number one in marketing for an exceptionally long time. What are some of the things when people are just struggling and they're like, you know what, I need Ryan to save my butt. What are the first couple steps that they run into when they do that?

30:22 The biggest thing is a lot of the stuff that I've already talked about, you know, is having someone they finally gotten to the point where, you know, maybe they're successful professionally or they own a business and they're wanting this podcast to take off, but it's stagnant. is is having someone to manage all of those things consistently. I mean, it's like we could sweep it under the rug and say, "Well, I've got four VAS and I got three of these and we're doing these things." And then you go look at it and it's not consistently the things that we've been talking about for 30 minutes. It's

30:56 it they aren't doing it. So having someone that's dedicated to them to do all of these things at a high level to help them manage it to take it off of their plate that I mean that is the blocking and tackling of what it is. I mean then there's the nuance of okay is the branding right? Is the photography for the show right? Is the show art right? Is it is the production quality good enough? Like, is there uh because there's there's a standard. And look, I don't the first thing we don't do is go, "Oh, you got to have a $4,000 camera and a $2,000 mic." No, that's not what I'm saying. But it can't be the mic from your laptop either. And so, you know, it can be, but people tune out really quickly if they hear bad audio and they don't know you. Like Tom Cruz could start a podcast tomorrow and he would be afforded a lot of okay, I'll deal with that. Like audio is not great. The camera is a little fuzzy. But that's Tom

31:59 Cruz. You want to hear what he has to say. He has equity already built. So if you have no equity built, no no trust and authority built with the audience. You don't want to lose it before you even say the first word. And so a lot of it is those types of things. And then look opening up the guest the access to the guests that we have that don't immediately become just because you know a new show comes with us that has no real you know base yet doesn't mean I can go get Mark Randolph the founder of Netflix to go on their show. It does.

32:33 But the opportunity for that at the right time is there when you're with us. You know if you want Grant Cardone on your show uh a lot of people can't make that phone call. Well, all I gota do is got text Grant. I mean, so and that doesn't mean he's gonna say yes. He might say uh in six months, yes, Ryan, like whatever it might be, but access to our collection ability and the processes that look, we have built six years worth of processes, standards, and execution tactics that we will that I gladly give away like on this show. I'm not trying to hold them back, but sometimes you don't know what you don't know. You don't have the people to execute all of those things within the set and series that they need to happen.

33:20 I think the biggest part that we, you know, we talked about it before we started recording that you bring to the ball game is it's not a podcast. This is not a hobby. This isn't this is a huge branch of your media and your marketing. this isn't to so you know you explained it really well and the listeners who didn't get to hear it I'd love for you to kind of explain your mindset when it comes to podcasting because I think if people could understand and embrace this mindset which is hard to do because I could tell you about it all the time about how to work out and how to get in shape and do all that but you need a trainer you need someone to hold your hand who can keep you accountable and understands it on a high level you've been doing this for a decade you come in with a very different mindset when people work with you they have to understand this is very different this isn't just be consistent There's a

34:02 business mindset. There's a marketing mindset. So, I'd love for you to kind of explain it again. I'm sorry to make you repeat yourself, but I wasn't recording the first time.

34:10 Yes. So, let me say this. Some people start podcasts because they want to document their knowledge. It's truly a hobby, and that's okay. But I'm a firm believer and the people that we counsel and that we coach and as a you know a lifelong marketer and owner of an ad agency and a podcast network. I have a premise and a belief that podcasting is not only one of the future tenants of media. It's one of the tenants now. But here's the environment that we're in now with whether you're a solarreneur or a business, but someone that falls into that number two category that we're talking about that that wants to have a podcast. But here's why you want to have a podcast.

35:02 Consumers have never been more aware that they're being marketed and advertised to. They know the the stick is up like it's they're getting hit. They're tired of commercials. Everything is in here it is. Everything is interrupting their flow of life and what the entertainment or whatever they want to watch. That commercial in the middle of the TV show is just in the way of that TV show. The ad on your Facebook feed is just getting away of seeing your cousin's sister's uncle her birthday party or whatever it might be. That content that you wanted to get to the ad is an interruption. So, in an environment where consumers don't want to be interrupted, they're they're they're fatigued with adlike objects, the way with which brands, solarreneurs, and people gain authority, trust, and ultimately sales is through playing and doing content on the consumer's terms.

36:03 And that is providing education, providing value, and providing or providing entertainment. The entertainment game is really hard. I I ours has a little bit of it. I I you know, on any given day, I might be better than others, but it's more the education and the value that we provide. And so, you've got to have your podcast. And the way that people do it, and why podcasting is so that you can showcase content that demonstrates your authority and knowledge while also adding value to the consumer. Because think about this, ads are disrupting people's attention.

36:45 Podcasts done the right way are earning attention. That people want that. Yeah.

36:54 They want to be part of a community. It's something that I found more than anything else. We have more communication and more connection to other people than we've ever had before, but we feel completely alone. If you can provide a community for these individuals because you know your niche and you're speaking their language, marketing 101, and you're giving them value and eliminating a pain, they will be drawn to you and it'll raise your social proof more than anything else. We talked about this, you know, many of many, many, many of times when we weren't recording that for me, it's the ultimate skeleton key. It's opens every single door if you do it effectively.

37:29 But most people, as you said, aren't. If you if you're an individual and you're like, "Hey, I I need to do this. This makes sense. Ryan's been doing this for a decade now. I'm doing it wrong." How do they track you down? What are their first steps? How do they get access to you? How do they start this process of hopefully saving their hobby, starting to become consistent, but having the guidance? Because you can go to the gym all day long, but if you don't have a proper trainer, you're not going to get the gains. How do they find the Ryans?

37:57 How do they be part of your world? Where do they track you down? So, the biggest I mean I'm I've had the blue check before you could buy it on every platform. It's the benefit of having a top show. They actually give you that to you. Um and so you'll see me Ryan Alford on Instagram, Tik Tok X, um LinkedIn, but Instagram is probably the best place because here's what I'll say. I'm going to give you the website, but go go look at my 3 and 10 years plus on Instagram of content. You'll get to learn me. You'll get to learn about my family. You get to know why I do things, how I do things, and the insights that I give away for free and have been for 10 plus years. So, go let me earn your trust by going and digesting the content that I've been putting out. Go look at that on Instagram. But then you can go to ryanoffer.com to learn more about me or the radcastnetwork.com for a free audit on your show.

38:57 When when people come in and they always ask me when they reach out to me, I'm sure you get it as well. They ask me, "How you doing? What's going on?" Hey yo, please don't do that. Formulate a specific question. They're specific. I'm great. Thank you for asking. But why are you here? Let's get to it. What are the things that you wish people would have prepared before they come in? Like you talked about free audit of their show. When someone reaches out to you and say, "Hey, I heard you on Scout Lab. I heard you on wherever. I saw your post." Do you want people to show up and say, "This is who I am. This is what my show is. This is what's going on. These are my goals." Do you want them to have that or do you want them to start building a conversation? What's the best way to approach you, let alone find you?

39:34 Clarity of outcome and objectives. Like, you know what? If you aren't clear on that, then you don't need to come to someone like me. you know, like it's like like I have clarity in why you're doing your show, who your audience is, and what you want the outcomes to be. And let me tell you this, making money is not the it it's sort of the last outcome, and it matters.

39:58 Yeah. And don't get me wrong, I mean, we we would say like we help you with ROI on your show, but that's too broad. You need to say, here's here's what would would help. I need help or I have questions about how I can gain more customers for X business targeting X types of people with my podcast and I'm looking for how to do that or because here's the thing, there's three ways to make money on a show. Number one, turning listeners into customers. That's your that's the number one lever. Everybody thinks it's ads or sponsors. Nope. listeners into customers and and literally that's the number one trick and figuring that out who your target is and how it is. It doesn't mean you're selling on your show. It's it's but it's lading back to that. Number two, sponsors, custom sponsorships, packages. That's what we do. We help you build those. We we reach out to brands that make sense for you. Custom packages

40:59 way make way more sense than CPM based packages because ads, which is the third lever, it's all CPM. You need a popular show. You need to be doing hundreds of thousands of downloads to make any money with a ads. Uh like the ones you hear on Rogan or my show a little bit now, but like uh hey, got to pay the bills, baby. But like

41:19 yeah, it but like but that's the way it is. But yeah, come with a spec be specific and know what you want.

41:26 Gotcha. And they track you down. Instagram is the best, man. I really appreciate you. Thank you so much for jumping on and being part of this and and I will figure out coming back on and not have the computer crash on you again. That was

41:37 Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I think we've had I don't know if we had any issues with Riverside since then, of course, but I don't know what it was. So, really appreciate you, Charles. You're doing a lot of great things with Scale It. Hey guys, anybody's listening, yeah, Charles has got it figured out. So, go follow his playbook. Uh he's doing it right.

41:54 I appreciate it, man. Thank you so much. All right, see you. Ryan just obliterated every excuse for treating podcasting like a side project.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Turn Engagements into Revenue - Ryan Alford"?

In order: 0:00 Podcasting, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Media Consumption, Proven Podcast; 5:00 Consistency, Borrowed Interest, Dan Rather, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles; 10:00 Borrowed Interest, Instagram, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, MacBook Air; 15:00 community, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Spotify; 20:00 Instagram, Manhattan; 25:00 Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Riverside, South Carolina; 30:00 Podcasting, Business Mindset, Mark Randolph; 35:00 Instagram, community, Podcasting, Ryan Alford; 40:00 Instagram, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Podcasting, Riverside.

What is mentioned in this The Proven Podcast episode?

33 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Podcasting, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Consistency, Borrowed Interest, Ryan Alford, community. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Turn Engagements into Revenue - Ryan Alford"?

The episode runs 42 min; the transcript is about 8,087 words in 75 timestamped sections.

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