Turn Engagements into Revenue

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.

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.

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's.

And a lot of people look down on podcasts, 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 was podcast different in your world since you've been doing it for a decade?

Yeah, well, 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

media consumption

in the most recent Nielsen study, they're the leader in media research, very trusted.

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.

They watch and listen to more podcasts than they do television.

Period.

Drop the mic.

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, 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 a 47 years old and,

you know, we grew 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 nascent 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

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

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 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 five years ago.

And it's changed.

And we're really sort of at the forefront forefront of that and helping not only

look ourselves, because we have the number one show on Apple and 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.

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 are like, how are you doing this?

I've been doing a podcast for all these years.

I'm like, because 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 marketing year 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.

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 when they're doing podcasts and some things that you're doing at the red?

So, I'm going to get real clinical on it.

So, like, first and foremost,

you got to be consistent.

Like, here's what I have, Charles.

You don't know how many people will 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,

and no consistency.

They say they've done it.

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 in high value production.

High value production doesn't mean high cost.

High value and high costs 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 fade is real.

Okay,

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 oh i'll aged myself

i'm only one year different than you in a month we'll be the same age

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 ah 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 earth in seven days, like

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 build that sort of foundation of consistency.

And then, like what you've done in a fast amount of time, you've done that.

And then the quality, specificity, and the education or entertainment level of the show.

So who am I talking to?

Who am I adding value to?

What do I want?

Do I have a clarity in 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 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,

everything's loose, including your audience and your success.

Yeah, 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's my niche?

I want to go inch-wide, 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 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 armored 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 now they're dying to be on the show show.

So, approaching this as a business is important.

So, if they have 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?

They're like, you know what?

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?

Yeah,

a couple of different tactics.

Number one, I call it borrowed interest.

So it's a tactic in marketing where, when in a saturated place, like let's say you're in a saturated, like business show or you're an entertainment show, very saturated.

And 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 can trigger interest in your show or in your episodes that sort of tie into 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 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, it's something different, you know, like what are the trends or different things?

So you've got those Bud words, 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, how do you promote your show with a low budget?

Go look, going on other shows is free, baby.

And so

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 147.

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 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 explorer 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 going to have one show a week on this topic to this audience i'm going to cut that show up into this number of clips i'm going to post them here and again this changes for every show and what the resources that you have but you'd be amazed and i'm you wouldn't charles but a lot of people will 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.

At certain point, we get to boxes that they think they're checking, but they're not.

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'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 shit.

You look ridiculous.

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 got to talk to your guy before we started recording.

Great guy.

Probably going going to make me buy a MacBook Air.

But we're going to this situation where finally going to get the IT guy, the Mac, the Microsoft guy to switch over.

Oh, 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 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 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.

TikTok'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?

Because again, they're just so many people are lost in the oversaturation of ineffective podcasts.

Yep.

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, uncategorized or undone.

Like it goes, hey, here's all the content.

Thanks so much.

No, send them 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.

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 guest 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 into who's your niche.

Like, who are we talking to and and what matters to them?

Extracting the value from every episode for what would, okay, people love to snack.

They like to get the bite-size takeaways

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 this is back to sort of like they check these boxes, but then when you really check them, they've kind of gone halfway.

You got to go all the way.

No, I agree.

And I love that you're making copy for people.

That you're, you know, it's so easy now with ChatGPT and all that, you know, obviously make it better than just be half-assed.

It's, you know, one of the things about ChatGPT that they don't understand is it's a chat.

It's a conversation.

If you say, hey, write a thing about this and it's the 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.

Again, as you said, I know you're going to make it a million times better.

Make it so that all you 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.

Say, listen, you have two options.

Here it is 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 front load that for them, and there's 40 to 60 posts that are already designed and they don't have to do anything, 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.

Because most of the people you bring on the podcast, especially if you're in our niche, be it businesses, 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.

Change the ball.

No.

And 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, to 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, 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.

Yeah.

You mentioned that there's specific ways for specific platforms, LinkedIn and TikTok, all of that.

Yeah.

What do you find to be the most effective when you're posting content on different platforms?

Yeah.

It really goes back to what is the niche of the podcast, right?

I mean,

if you're doing,

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

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 topic of what you do.

But I will say, I mean, things like, okay, if you're on LinkedIn,

LinkedIn text posts posts do really great with no pictures and no video.

So, okay, well, it's a text post.

Well, 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 something he said in quotes.

It's all text, said it, 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 the wind out of you if you put the link in the post.

So, text-based posts 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 TikTok.

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.

Does what you're posting and what you do keep audience on the platform longer?

But that's that's the game.

Oh, it is.

And so

it 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 do I distill 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

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 those are the lenses, but then

it really comes down to who your target is and 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 off-platform them.

Well, 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 guests that you're like, oh my God, I really want to get Susie Q.

Susie Q is amazing.

Susie's going viral right now.

I want to get her.

I want to get John Doe, whatever it is.

What are the ways that you've learned to get the guests?

Okay.

One, hire someone like us.

And I don't mean that say self-serving, but has already like created the process because it's not easy and it takes a lot of time.

That's just being transparent.

I don't say that to be self-serving.

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 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 guests you just had feel like a million dollars so that you build referrals, you build recommendations, and they tell their friends or family, whatever it might be, they become your next recommendation.

Now, I'm not saying if it's Tom Cruise,

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 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 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 in every relationship as

special.

Like it's just like my, the biggest opportunity, where all of our guests come from is through my relationships over the years.

And so a lot of people, even myself included, like I roared to Manhattan, the 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,

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 more than you are.

And it's a people business game.

And so so in guest management and all those.

And then, I mean, there's this, it's all process and follow-up.

Look, at any given time, people are going through a lot of stuff.

And a no today could be a yes tomorrow.

Follow-up is everything.

Like, I think the biggest guest I've had, I think it was like one ask and it happened.

But then like.

all 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, who 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, follow-up is the biggest thing.

There's an art to it.

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 yeah it's okay recognizing what their what their specialty is and teeing 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 subtle cues, it's of human behavior and making them comfortable.

I like to disarm.

I like to.

Mine's like disarm and how do I get the guests to let their hair down?

Like that figure of speech, like literally like, and some of that, look, I have an accent.

I'm from South Carolina.

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 notice sometimes between great hosts and so-so hosts.

They want to be, the host always wants to be the expert in everything.

They're the expert.

They have the guest on,

but they're trying to steal the show because it's their show.

But you have to remember that you have that guest on for a reason.

They are your special guests.

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.

For those who don't know, we had that 1980 Ryan show, and Riverside did not like my computer.

So we might have that one, but it was

a lot.

But to your best ability, try to make them feel

like they're the expert and 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, well, 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.

Thank you.

Some people are and some people aren't.

And that's okay.

You can still be a good host 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, oh, 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 learned more about it.

We also, you know, we communicate really well, just you and I as a whole.

We just have a great dynamic.

So we already had conversations.

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 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?

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 it's 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 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 a 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 Cruise 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 Cruise.

You want 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 role, you know, base yet, doesn't mean I can go get Mark Randolph, the founder of Netflix, to go on their show.

It doesn't, 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,

a lot of people can't make that phone call.

Well, all I gotta do is text Grant.

I mean, so, and that doesn't mean he's gonna say yes.

He might say

in six months, yes, Ryan, like whatever it might be, but access to our collection of 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.

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, so you know, you explained it really well.

And for 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 can 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 is very different.

This isn't just be consistent.

There's a business mindset.

There's a marketing mindset.

So I'd love you to kind of explain it again.

I'm sorry to make you repeat yourself, but I wasn't recording the first time.

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 the 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 tenets of media, it's one of the tenets now,

but here's the environment that we're in now,

whether you're a solopreneur or a business, but someone that falls into that number two category that we're talking about that wants to have a podcast.

But here's why you want to have a podcast.

Consumers have never been more aware that they're being marketed and advertised to.

They know

the shtick is up.

Like

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 fatigued with ad-like objects,

the way with which brands, solopreneurs, and people gain authority, trust, and ultimately sales is through playing and doing

on the consumer's terms.

And that is providing education, providing value, and providing, or providing entertainment.

The entertainment game is really hard.

Ours has a little bit of it.

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.

Podcasts done the right way are earning attention.

People want that.

Yeah.

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 on many, many, many, many times when we weren't recording, that for me, it's the ultimate skeleton key.

It opens every single door if you do it effectively.

But But most people, as you said, aren't.

If you're an individual and you're like, hey, 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?

How do they be part of your world?

Where do they track you down?

So the biggest, I mean, 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.

And so you'll see me, Ryan Alford, on Instagram, TikTok, X,

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 3,010 years plus on Instagram of content.

You'll get to learn me.

You'll get to learn about my family.

You'll 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.

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 talk about free audit of their show.

When someone reaches out to you and says, 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?

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, like, 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 yeah and don't get wrong i mean we would say like, we help you with ROI on your show, but

that's too broad.

You need to say,

here's what 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 the number one lever.

Everybody thinks it's ads or sponsors.

Nope.

Listeners into customers.

And literally, that's the number one trick and figuring that out, who your target is and how it is.

And it doesn't mean you're selling on your show.

But it's laddering back to that.

Number two, sponsors, custom sponsorships, packages.

That's what we do.

We help you build those.

We reach out to brands that make sense for you.

Custom packages make way more sense than CPM-based packages because ads, which is the third lever, it's all CPM.

You needed a popular show.

You need to be doing hundreds of thousands of downloads to make any money with ads

like the ones you hear on Rogan or my show a little bit now.

But like,

hey, got to pay the bills, baby.

But like,

but like, but that's the way it is.

But yeah, come with us, be specific and know what you want.

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 oh absolutely

yeah i think we've had i don't know if you had any issues with riverside since then of course but i don't know what it was so i really appreciate you charles you're doing a lot of great things with scale it hey guys anybody's listening uh yeah charles has got it figured out so go follow his playbook uh he's doing it right

I appreciate it, man.

Thank you so much.

All right.

See ya.

Ryan just obliterated every excuse for treating podcasting like a side project.

While others are interrupting audiences with ads, he's proven that earning attention beats buying it every time.