Binge Factor Media

Your podcast has the potential to not only inspire and educate, but also to generate high-quality leads. By understanding your audience and implementing effective lead-generating strategies, you can turn your listeners into loyal customers and drive your business forward. In this episode, Alesia Galati of the Listeners to Leads podcast talks about how to convert your listeners to high-quality leads and maximize your podcast’s lead-generating potential. From call-to-actions and lead magnets to guesting on other podcasts, Alesia shares some effective ways to get your audience to stay loyal and grow. She also touches on the importance of identifying your target audience and tailoring your podcast episodes to their needs and preferences. Alesia emphasizes that when you are podcasting, you should be intentional. Whether you are looking to take your lead generation efforts to the next level or just starting out with your podcast, this episode has something for everyone. Tune in and learn how to start maximizing your podcast’s lead-generating potential.

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Maximizing Your Podcast’s Lead-Generating Potential: How To Convert Listeners To High-Quality Leads With Alesia Galati Of Listeners To Leads Podcast

I have Alesia Galati. We are going to talk about Listeners To Leads. That’s the name of her show. Alesia is a podcast manager. She runs a full-service management company and helps corporations and business owners launch and maintain lead-generating products, including their podcasts. It is her sole focus. If you are not using your podcast as a way to drive listeners to leads, you haven’t thought through the full power of what you are doing. I’m excited to have this conversation with her and hear about what companies and corporations she is working with are doing to drive that through that process. Let’s hear from Alesia Galati, and we will talk about Listeners To Leads.

Alesia, Listeners to Leads is the number one thing I hear from everyone. That is why they start a podcast. They want leads. The name of the show is perfect.

I’m not someone who comes up with snappy names or creative things. We were talking about starting a new podcast with some business friends. They were like, “It is going to be coffee and entrepreneurship.” They are coming up with these puns and my brain was like, “No. Keep it simple.”

It is a hard thing how you name your show. You have two older shows that you have done. Two Sisters and a Cult is straight right out there what it is. You had a show on eCommerce. There needs to be some clarity in what they are going to get in the name. Listeners To Leads puts it right out there. I’m interested in that. That is something I either can’t get or would like to get. That is a reason to listen to your show. It is a great name for that.

There are many podcasts about podcasting. I wanted to take that approach, but spin it more to you might not be a hobby podcaster. You can get value from my show but most likely, you are not looking to generate leads with a hobby show. Make sure that the content I’m talking about and the title I’m using are going to attract the right kinds of people. That is important when it comes to naming your show.

If it is not meant for that audience, you are going to find yourself easily pod fading. You are going to quit it because you are like, “Those are not the right people I’m getting.” There is not a gigantic return on investment for podcasters. It is not as clear and distinctive. If it is all strategized wrong, it is not going to work for you. You are going to easily find that you don’t have the motivation to keep going.

I hate when that happens. It devastates me. I know you feel similarly. I get devastated when I hear people like, “This is hard. I didn’t realize it was hard.” I’m like, “I have been talking about how hard it is for years.”

I’m tired of people going, “Start a podcast. It is easy.” Please stop saying that. You don’t say that, which is why you are on this show now. It is not the part that you think is hard, but there are lots of hard things about content marketing, in general, that have nothing to do with the podcast part.

There are many big-name entrepreneurs who are like, “If you are a business owner, you should have a podcast.” I would say, “No, you shouldn’t.” You need to figure out a few things before you jump into something like a podcast.”

Let’s talk strategy. That is what I want people to hear from you. When you started your first show, which was about eCommerce and inventory management supply chain, you were thinking about, “How can I serve that audience? How can I provide them with information?” That was the contact marketing strategy model. Listeners To Leads and the services you provide have an alignment with the strategy piece of things. How do you get people to start thinking about their bigger-picture strategy?

This is so important when you are deciding on wanting to have a podcast or shifting your podcast a little bit. I have been talking to a lot of people where they are 100 and 150 episodes in. They want to hone in on their audience and get even more clear on who they are talking to. Maybe they want to do mild brand tweaks. The audience tends to be the same, but when you are starting out, do that market research. This is what people miss.

The number one thing they miss when they are launching a podcast is market research. My team spends eight hours on podcast market research. It takes effort and time. We take two weeks intermittently going back and forth between myself and my executive assistant, making sure that everything is like, “Are we looking at the right podcasts? Have they pod faded?” Here is an example. We had a client who wanted to talk about GMOs. Interesting topic. First of all, how is it going to funnel back into your business? Let’s talk about that because that is important. Is this a test for you? How much effort are you going to put into it? Those are questions you need to ask yourself.

When we started doing the market research, we saw that the majority of the podcasts about GMOs stop at about fifteen episodes. There is not a lot of conversation to be had even by the experts on the topic of GMOs. The good episodes were those of someone being a guest on a health and wellness show. We told this client, “It doesn’t make sense for you to have an ongoing full-length show or a limited series where you cover the topics you want to cover. You talk to the people you want to talk to but bookend it. Make it a bookend. That way, you don’t feel like, “I’m going on, and this is not working.” It is not working for anyone. Market research is important upfront.

I’m glad you do that market piece. We come out of this eCommerce product world. If you don’t market research, you are going to spend way much money and end up with way too much inventory that is going to cost you a fortune. You can’t afford not to do the market research side. I could see why your brain goes there. Few people do it. This is what I see on the podcasting side. They get their podcasting idea, and they think that is it. They think that if they want to talk about it, everyone wants to listen to it. They don’t always think that all the way through.

When I started my first podcast on 3D printing, I never imagined we would have gotten to 650 episodes. That still astounds me. I knew we could do over 100. I knew that before we started. I knew there wouldn’t be a shortage of things because I could already brainstorm 100 different things. When I Googled it, you could see that it was in conversations. You could go to any of the Facebook groups and you could see conversations happening. Sometimes there are topics, and GMOs could be one of them. You do have to be careful when you do that. It is just new and you are in the early stage of it. Maybe you want to wait a little bit longer but keep an eye on it. Maybe it is a limited set of topics and people who can talk about them, and there is not enough there.

As you were talking, it made me think of another part of market research that is important for people to focus on. You are going to find other people’s shows that are doing similar things and like, “I can talk about that. This other person is talking about it though.” This then leads to, “Who am I to talk about it when this other person is talking about it?” The main thing you can do is look for that thing that sets you apart. What is that thing that grinds your gears? I want to differentiate myself in my industry. What differentiates me? I don’t agree with the idea of launching a podcast in four weeks or two weeks. We take two months. We do two weeks of market research. That’s what can set me apart.

All I can say is thank you. I also guarantee your results are there. I guarantee you have fewer pod-fading clients. It still happens. Their businesses shift and things happen. It is not like you will never have anyone. I don’t have a perfect record, but I guarantee your results are more like mine because you are putting that strategy in place. You are making sure it fits in their business. You’re making sure it’s got its differentiation edge, and making sure that somebody wants to listen to it. Taking the time to do that makes a difference in the sustainability of a show.

It is also setting the expectation. A lot of us go into podcasting thinking, “I’m going to have thousands of downloads in the first two weeks. Millions of people are going to show up and listen to me.” I am sorry, but that is not how that works. I had a conversation with someone. They were potentially looking to hire us. I was like, “Let’s level set this expectation right out the gate. Before you even hand me money, you need to know that this is what we can do. This is what we have done, and these are the results we have gotten. It is a long game.”

Podcasting is not something that is going to happen within a month. It is not like TikTok. You are not going to be all of a sudden TikTok famous, getting thousands of sales. That is not how it works. It is a long game and long-form content. It can be used in a million different ways. It is fantastic and I love it. I think setting that expectation is important. Allowing yours and my clients to be able to understand like, “This is something I have to step up for a while.”

I can start to see the conversations because I have had them before. It is this can of worms that you open when you discover, and you are in that discovery process with your clients. They think they have a marketing plan, but they don’t have a marketing plan. They have marketing tactics or marketing missions, but they have no plan. How often do you get into that situation where you are like, “Let’s get down to the marketing basics of where you are and what we need to fit together?”

I know you are particular about the people you let into your clientele. We are particular as well. They have to be in business for a while. It can’t just be like, “I have the money. Take my money.” No, I’m sorry. I love you.

They have to know what works and what doesn’t work. It may not be fully articulated into a clear content marketing plan, but they have tested enough to understand what works with their audience. They understand who their audience is.

They are not at the beginning phase where they are trying to figure that out. If they are, I tell them, “Go guest on some podcasts. Talk to some podcast hosts. Get on some shows, and see if podcasting is even a good idea for you. Do you have an established audience? You are not going to see great results right away if you don’t already have an established audience.”

These are basic business things. This is coming from a business degree and a marketing degree, as well as seven years in manufacturing. These are things that businesses do that a lot of entrepreneurs are like, “I have this great idea. I’m going to run with it.” There is so much more that goes into it that I don’t think we consider.

As you are saying that, what I’m thinking is it is too often what I hear from large businesses with 50 employees or more, for instance. They have not even considered podcasting as a model, which is a mistake personally. That is your ideal audience, to be honest with you. What do you talk about as the return on investment for them? They think, “Podcasting is for an entrepreneur and a celebrity. Podcasting is not for a company.”

We do work with some big companies as well as some nonprofits. There are a few different ways they use them that is different than the normal entrepreneur. Normal entrepreneurs are looking to do more of one-to-many, get more reach, and get out into more spaces. Whereas the business owners that we tend to work with and the nonprofits we work with are more about brand awareness, and creating more of a clearer picture of what it is that they stand for and who they are serving. Their return on their investment tends to look like being able to have those one-on-one conversations with their ideal clients.

Podcasting is a great way for businesses to do this, but a lot of entrepreneurs could learn from that. What are your goals for your podcast? Is it to get listeners? I know you have feelings about this, and I do as well. It is not about the listeners. It is about the connections, conversations, and conversions that you are making. That is what it is about.

Making sure you are being intentional. That is what you can learn from these businesses. The nonprofits are also looking to expand to senate levels, talking to people who are higher up in political stances, where they can have those conversations, and bring more awareness to those spaces. We tend to work with people who are more on LinkedIn than on Instagram and TikTok.

That tends to be more of our client base as well. On nonprofits, I see this on multiple levels of things. One is it is hard to keep your donors. I say that from that level because it is not investors. There are top-level sponsors and people you have long-term relationships with that are always keeping your nonprofit going. The super fans or the super sponsors, if you want to call them that. At a donor level, it is hard to keep them engaged. If you are not constantly in front of them making a donation pitch, it is hard to get them engaged and involved. A podcast is a great way to do that.

If you are also using that podcast with another layer or strategy on it, it is like, “I want to have conversations with these people about our area, whether it is health and wellness or GMO, but I can’t get them to have a conversation with me because they are thinking I’m lobbying them. If I have a conversation on my podcast, no problem. It is all set.” That multi-layer of strategy is essential. I don’t know about you, but we don’t always do it all at once. I think through the path for them, but I don’t always have them do it all at once. What about you?

I end up telling clients to do it more in chunks. I’m like, “In this quarter, you are going to talk to this type of guest.” We do strategize with our clients on the types of guests they are going to have. Does it make sense for their actual listeners? Does it make sense for the goals of their show? We also talk through, “In the long term, what programs do you have coming up? Who do you need to have in place to promote those programs or to promote those things? It makes sense to have them on before. You need to start talking to them now.” My brain works similarly where it is like zooming out, seeing the big picture, and zooming back in. Where do we need to tweak things?

If you give it to them all at once, it is too much for them, and also because the show has to build. Let’s talk a little bit about that because I want to touch on the three things we always talk to everybody about. Listener growth and engagement is the big area that everybody is worried about. You are talking about listeners to leads. If you don’t have enough listeners at all or enough of the right listeners, you are in trouble. What is it that you think are some of the most effective ways to determine whether or not you have the right listeners and grow that?

The first thing to look for is what is that listen-through rate. I know you have talked about this on your show as well. I was talking to a client about this. We were looking through those numbers. I was like, “Your solo episodes are getting a lot more listen-throughs. They are getting listened-backs. People are engaged with that content. That is an easy way without being like “Call me” to your listeners to get that information.

It can be difficult to get your listeners to engage with you outside of the podcast or to take that next step with you. What is the data telling you to do? What is the data telling you you need to know in order to create the right type of content? The first place is to look at what those listener rates are and see what content is resonating with your audience. That tells you right there.

The second thing is to make that call to action for your audience. Even if you’re not seeing a lot of people come back and talk to you, it will grow. I promise. If you keep asking and saying, “If this resonated with you, send me a DM. If you think this is interesting, send me an email. I want to talk to you.” There is something about being a podcaster that creates what I like to call the celebrity effect, where people meet you and they fan girl hard.

I have been at events where people are like, “Would it be okay if we took a selfie together?” I’m like, “Yes, I’m nobody.” It is an unusual thing. From an audience perspective, it’s like, “Reach out.” We were talking about Tiphany before this interview. She is right here in this area. It took her almost a year of knowing about me for her to talk to me. We live in the same town. I’m like, “How am I unapproachable?” There is something about the podcasting host position that gives you that authority level.

What it has to do is you are with that person in their most intimate moments. It is even more than video or blog writing that creates that deeper connection. Your listeners are listening to you while they are driving to work, driving from work, walking their dog, or doing dishes. You are with them throughout their day like a friend. When I would listen to podcasts, I can’t anymore. It hurts my ears sometimes to listen to some of those.

I have a hard time retaining it now. I feel for you. No pun intended on my last name here, but it’s a job hazard. For those of us who are podcast strategists, we have over-listened to shows.

When I did, I would listen in the shower. In my most intimate moments possible, these people are with me. I would fan girl if they were like, “Hey, Alesia.” I would be like, “What? Me? They really know me.” They don’t. It’s fine.

It means that you do have to do what you are saying, which is to reach out more and offer that opportunity because it is not something that’s a go-to in their mind. You think, “I’m giving you all of this content. I’m being generous with it.” You still haven’t offered them the opportunity to connect with you. They need to hear that.

Invite them even if it is not in the DMs. Let’s say it is a co-working opportunity that is virtual where maybe once a month you invite them into your space. Maybe it is a getting-to-know-you for the listeners where you’re like, “I’m going to answer any questions you guys have. Let’s hop on here.” It’s something like that where it takes them to that next level where they can engage with you.

I also have one client who does this well. I don’t have the mental capacity to do this, but she does it. When she is on a show and she sees a spike in her new social media followers, she will send something out to them like, “Where did you find me?” Just to start that conversation like, “I checked out your page. Here is this point of thing that we might have similarities. Did you hear me on this podcast? I love that you listened to me there. Did you have any questions about what I said?” It is from a place of serving, interacting, and creating that engagement.

It is inviting it in a greater way because there are a lot of times we don’t ask the question. It is coming across our mind, and we think, “We will follow you.” We haven’t reached out to ask the question that is burning.

Make social media social.

That is what it is for. Is there anything, even if it is a paid program or something, where you find that listener growth is happening? I get like 100 a day. I know junk and spam are not going to do anything for you. Have you found anything that you feel works?

The only thing I believe works and can help with allowing you to grow and the listeners to stay is to be a guest on other people’s podcasts. Create those connections with other podcasters that have similar audiences. That is where you are going to see long-term growth.

High Quality Leads: Being a guest on other people’s podcasts can help with allowing you to grow and listeners stay. Create those connections with other podcasters that have similar audiences.

I couldn’t agree more. I keep saying that and I feel like a broken record. Thank you for saying that.

You are welcome.

Let’s talk a little bit about that guest model. Do you teach your hosts how to find the right guests? Would you have some principles on screening for that?

Just like any content that a business owner is creating, you have these content pillars. I call them your content buckets because I have an eight-year-old and a five-year-old. We go to the splash pad. You imagine that big bucket that falls down and splashes everybody. It runs through all those funnels. That big splash is your brain. It’s all of those brilliant ideas that you have in your head like, “Yes, I want to talk about this big question.” Does it belong on your podcast or not? That is the question.

Should I let that one fall to the ground or put a bucket under it?

How do you filter those guest ideas or those guest topics through something that allows you to then have better conversations that are going to be beneficial for your listeners? We have one client for whom instead of doing those content buckets, I like to have a list. Let’s dial back a bit. Mine are podcast marketing, podcast monetization, and podcast content. I also throw in podcast launching sometimes and mindset, which I know you have talked to Tiphany about on the show. People miss that mindset piece behind podcasting a lot. It is so important. Everybody, go back and listen to that episode because it was fantastic.

It is that cold start model that people get nervous about on a podcast, but you are working with businesses that are already established. They already have clients, partners, employees, and these things in place. They shouldn’t be as daunted by that like, “If I start a podcast, I don’t have any guests. Who is going to want to come on?” You already have a reputation.

They get distracted. It is easy to be like, “I’m going to have this person on.” I was like, “Let’s dial it back a bit. Is your guest list diverse? If that is one of your values, how can you make it more diverse? You want to talk to someone about this topic, but you have maybe two old White guys in a row. Maybe we switch it up a bit. Maybe you find someone else to talk about that topic who is still an expert and can still offer value to your audience.”

It allows the host to take into account like, “I’m a business owner. I have these besties and people I can talk to, and people I am buddy-buddy with.” How can you also expand that? Podcasting isn’t just about you creating content but it is also about creating those connections you can then take to the next level with partners, collaborators, and people that might potentially work with you in the future. It is important to expand and not just, “I know what I’m talking about. Here is my list of people. It is going to be great.” Get clear on what your goal is for your podcast so that you can achieve it without getting distracted by all the things podcasters tend to be distracted by.

High Quality Leads: Get clear on what your goal is for your podcast. You can achieve it without getting distracted by all the things podcasters tend to be distracted by.

If you are not using your guests as leads or as expanders in your business, thinking, viewpoints, network, or community, you are making a mistake in one of the great values of podcasting.

I was talking to someone where she was like, “It wasn’t fit to work with us at all.” I told her straight up, “I don’t think that we would be a good fit. You should go in this direction. I’m happy to do a strategy session with you. We can talk through strategies.” One of her things was, “The podcast is me having conversations with my friends.” I was like, “Yes-and. Let’s take it a step further.”

What about talking to people who have incredible stories? Do you know how many millions of people have incredible stories? There are Facebook groups you can go to to find people. There are places like PodMatch where we met and where you can find people. You can go to social media sites and find people. It is possible to expand who is in your network, which can lead to more opportunities for you. It is a win-win all around.

Let’s talk about return on investment and monetization. That is a big point of conversation with a lot of your clients. If a business decides to spend its time on podcasting, it is a question of not just the money they are spending but the time they are spending. Is this going to have a return for the company? Whereas entrepreneurs are a little bit more willing to take a risk and try something. It is a test. Business is a little more conservative. What do you see as your own return on investment? You said monetization. Some people have that in their heads.

In my podcast, I use it specifically for those listeners who are going to eventually work with me or talk to someone who might work with me in some capacity. I have gained two clients that are ongoing from just the podcast. Back to the fan girl thing, she got on the phone with me. I didn’t have to pitch them anything. They were like, “Alesia, I listened to your podcast and it is fantastic. I love what you are doing. Where do I sign?” I was like, “Slow down. This needs to be a fit for both of us.”

That is one area that I’m going to call return on investment monetization that people don’t measure, which is having fewer phone calls to close a client. That happens all the time from podcasting.

You don’t have to sell them because they are already sold. They already know, like, and trust you because the things you are telling them are getting them results. If they are already taking action from your free stuff, they are more likely to take action from your paid stuff. For the nonprofits we are working with, what is that return on investment? That would be them being able to have those conversations with someone who had their lives changed due to their nonprofit, which leads to someone saying, “I heard that story. I want to donate.” There is a spike in donations after sharing that story.

We saw this with a client who shared her own story and got a huge spike in engagement. You know her as the leader, but it made her more personable and real. People were like, “I want to stand with her. Let me know more about her.” We had another client who had someone. They sold group programs and things. It is more of the entrepreneur side. Someone binge-listened to nineteen of their episodes in three days and signed up for a $6,000 group program.

It’s the power of binge-listening. That’s why my show is called the Binge Factor. When we find that happening, the monetization model is clear. It is clearly coming through, whether it’s the speed of them buying from you or it is upgrading and buying more from you. Those two things could be happening.

Back to what we were talking about in the beginning. That doesn’t happen in the beginning when you don’t have a back catalog for them to binge. Podcast listeners are bingers. You are not going to see that in the first two months, which is why we tell clients, “Don’t look at anything for the first three months. We will look at it. Please don’t look at it.”

High Quality Leads: Podcast listeners are bingers. And you’re not going to see that in the first two months.

This is also why it is a slower start in podcasting. Setting expectations with your client base is essential because you are telling them, “You’re in it for the long haul.” It is why we see it start to ramp up after 25 episodes.

We have one client whom we do audio and video courses for them. They are doing more of a certification style to their business model. They are a real estate investment firm. I never thought in a million years that I would be creating a podcast for a real estate investment firm.

I have ten of them. That was an area that grew for us first, real estate and finance. I was shocked, but we have not found an overlap yet. We are still going.

Their way is like, “We are going to do these limited series. We want to educate our audience during the off-season of our courses and programs, and when we are training people. We have this interesting topic that people are getting engaged about. Let’s do a whole series on that.” It creates that extra aspect. I was talking to a client of ours. She works with health providers like psychiatrists. They own the building and a bunch of psychiatrists work for them.

Each of them is doing webinars. I had no idea that psychiatrists and therapists were doing webinars. I was like, “That would be a great way to do a limited series podcast. Why is no one tapping into this?” Turn those webinars into podcasts. Reach new audiences with the content you are already creating. If you are already doing it and it is something that people can listen to, they don’t have to see you get the results and feel like, “I connect with that person. I want to work with them.” This is something that I have seen a lot with the shift in AI. It is the bias that can come with AI. Audio allows anyone who looks like anything to get their message across. I love that so much. There is no bias.

I have given six lectures already in the last couple of months alone on AI and why podcasters are going to be at a great advantage. It is simply because you cannot remove the emotion from the voice. It is not possible. There are some AI tools you might use that might over-edit to the fact that it doesn’t sound real anymore. That is a mistake.

For the most part, you can’t remove the emotional impact of what you are saying. When that lands into my ear at an intimate time in the day, as you were pointing out before, my message has a greater advantage than anything else they will read or see, especially when their brain is going, “Is that real or not?” It doesn’t happen when we hear a voice. We are not questioning everything.

Every time I see an ad or a marketing email, I question whether or not it is real. Is it a scam? Is it real? If we are always coming from that place of skepticism, no messages are able to land in the right spot. However, podcasting doesn’t work like that because it is not being pushed into you. You are choosing it. You are listening to it, and you know it is real.

You trust the person. You listen to enough of their episodes to say, “I like them. I vibe with them. I align with their values and what they say. Let’s go.”

I review a dozen podcasters a month. I check out their shows. It is my model for everything. I listen to at least three of your shows. Because PodMatch does such a great job of matching us up, I only do an initial check, and then I wait until we are about to interview so that it is fresher in my mind. A lot of times before, I checked you way before and I have to refresh myself on who you were. I was like, “That is more work.” I like this model of it. All I have to do is do a quick check of a few things to confirm that what I’m hearing and what I’m reading are accurate together. The match is accurate, but I knew that it was when I was reading your stuff.

Now that I listen to your show, I started to get into this place of your binge factor is the epitome of what I want to see in a podcast. You do it all right. There are red flags that happen in a lot of people’s shows like things they don’t do well and don’t realize it is having a counter effect to what they are doing. I try not to point out the good things they are doing and give them a nudge in the direction of where they want to go.

Here is what I hear about your show. I hear your perspective and fabulous advice. I hear you talking directly at and on the level of the people you want to attract. That doesn’t often happen in a show where you get all three of those things in the right place. It is why I’m sure your listeners are turning into leads and clients for you because all of those are in place and built together.

If the example of what you are doing for yourself is what you do for your clients, this is a win-win for all. This is why they should work with you. That is built into your show already. I do have to ask you this though. You don’t do that many solo shows. You do them every 4 or 5. They are spotted throughout here. Have you checked your own statistics on that one?

I have. There is not much of a difference between my solos versus the others. My goal with the solos was to create a content bank that I could personally repurpose in a bunch of different ways. I found that I get winded after twenty minutes.

I don’t do solo shows longer than twenty minutes unless I have a co-host.

I’m at the point now where it’s like, “I’ve already said this. Go back and listen to that episode.” I have some solos I’m planning up. In 2022, it was like, “I wanted to do a solo every other week. Let’s try to keep with that format.” In 2023, it is shifting more to I want to be on more podcasts, which means I need to interact with more podcasters. If I can invite them to my show, I can see, “Is this a good fit for me to be on their show? Does it make sense to me after we have that conversation? I saw that you hadn’t had anyone to talk to about XYZ. Would you like me to come on your show to talk about that? No pressure, you can let me know later.”

There is already that reciprocal effect there of like, “We have created rapport. You like my energy. I like your energy. Let’s keep this conversation going.” That is more the strategy. I still want to create excellent content. Because of the style of my show, I am amplifying these podcasters and what their show is about. I’m also talking through how they started and how they keep going. That allows me to still show up as the expert, which does not happen with a lot of guest shows. That is something that I should be careful about.

Sometimes they don’t shine enough. People don’t understand, “She is providing services. I need to work with her.” It gets confused in the process. That is why I do like to have this show here. There is a whole sister show. I probably should call it the parent show because it is Tom and I. Feed Your Brand is our show with all the solo topics. We don’t do it here. It is a little bit different model. I don’t have to do it here, but this show intertwines all the time. We are getting it. We are just doing it in a different model.

If you are open to it, I would love to share an idea that I have for you. I prefer to offer to have someone on my show first. You came on my show first. I’m going to be on your show. I have signed up for it. It is going to happen. I invited you to my show first. I like that because it puts us in a place of I have given first. Because I know that I have great promotion and follow through, it is a built-in part of my process and team.

If you come to my show, we built a great rapport, and we want to have a follow-up conversation anyway, we now have that set for the future. When I come to your show, we are going to have another conversation. In that time, I will have promoted you. I will have given you all my tools. You will experience what we do as a company.

What I find is between the time I invite someone on my show, and then I go on their show, they either have already decided to have a conversation with my team or in that call, they were like, “How do I get in touch with your sales team?” They become a client. That happens in that process without me doing anything but having been the first to give. Of course, our process is there. I know that what we got is good. That might work for you as well.

Rather than putting the mission of guesting as that your guest selection is a podcast swap or somebody who already has a show, but by inviting them on, they are going to reciprocate later. When they see what you do well and how you think, it is going to make for a better show. I also find that there are a lot of podcasters out there who don’t do their homework. You are on my show first and you didn’t do your homework. I’m sure you do because I can hear it in your show.

I’m sure you do your research, but there are lots who don’t. If I’m on their show, and they are meeting me for the first time, they have no idea. They didn’t do any homework. They didn’t even read my bio. That is not good because you don’t get into the conversation fast enough. They are still trying to figure out where to take it.

That is why I take the first fifteen minutes before the recording. I’m an Enneagram 1, which, if you guys know anything about the Enneagram, that means there is my way and all the wrong ways to do it. I’m highly disappointed with anyone if they don’t do it my way. I go into the conversation. This person has never listened to me. They don’t know anything about my show. They don’t know what we’re talking about here. I will set them up with everything they need to know. That way, it can make for a better conversation, and we are already jiving.

You are still doing the heavy lifting, whereas if it went the other way, you don’t have to. They already know you. What I find is that sometimes I don’t want to be on their show so I just find a way out. It will eventually happen, but that is okay. You didn’t have to disappoint them and turn them down. It falls off the calendar. There are too many podcasters who come in with the wrong mindset and expectations. What’s the best advice you can give them to shift that and get them focused on the right model and right path or to get started right?

Talk to someone. Don’t do it all alone. Hire someone like Tracy, myself, or someone who has been there and done it. Even if you talk to someone who has a podcast and you are like, “Can I buy you coffee and talk to you?” It is something like that, where you get an idea of what it takes to have a podcast before you jump into it headfirst.

I don’t want you to pod fade. Tracy doesn’t want you to pod fade. It can happen, but don’t let that happen right away. Be strategic about it and go into it with the intention just like you would any other content like starting a YouTube channel. You are not just going to start it. No one does that. You have to have an intention and do it with purpose. My number one advice is to talk to somebody.

Thinking that you can handle this all by yourself, even if you have a sound background and all of these other things. There is so much you are not considering. Having a guide along the way and someone to help you strategize at the beginning is even more brilliant, which is why I’m glad you have your company and your business. Thank you for having that. Before we go, is there anything at the forefront for how you look at podcasting, how you think about podcasting, things that you want to test out and try, and things you see going on that you are excited about?

I feel like you talked about this on LinkedIn or someone else did. SEO is the future of podcasting. I cannot stress that enough. We are focusing heavily on SEO for our clients to ensure searchability not just on Google but also on these podcast-listening apps. Our clients’ episodes are getting found because of millions of episodes and podcast out there. We want to make sure that the content we are producing is getting seen. That is important to us. Taking the business to the next level of being able to step back more into that strategist role rather than being in the day-to-day, which I’m excited about, and being able to enjoy that and do what I love, which is telling my clients what to do.

I look forward to you telling more clients what to do. I have to say that because I can’t wait to hear the resulting podcast. Alesia, thank you so much for being on the show. I appreciate your contributions to the podcasting world. Listeners to Leads is a must-listen.

Thank you.

—

The perspective on this idea of business podcasting is in line with many people I touch and are following us, following this show, and subscribing here. We are looking at getting more from our show. One of the things we need to do well is to drive that into leads. This model of making sure that we are taking people off of our social feeds and podcast feeds. We are taking them off of where they are out there in the world and bringing them back into our ecosystem, home base, and lead-generating mechanism, whatever it might be. It might be our email list or lead generator trying to get to the opt-in form.

Whatever you are going to do with that, that idea that they come into our community is critically important here. I’m glad there is a person like Alesia gathering that up for her clients and gathering that information and sharing it with you on her podcast, Listeners To Leads. There is such an important part of the cold start model, which is a common terminology in technology.

We need to expand our ability to get both parts of our platform working together. Often, we have one but not the other. We may not have leads, but we have clients. How do we get them to do both? How do we get our clients to help us lead generate? How do we get leads that will lead to more clients who will lead generate for us?

There is a whole bunch of this cold start. We got to get both sides of our platforms working together. That is out of balance. It is why many of you go starting on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and other places because they claim to have a lot of people out there. Are they the right fit for you? Is this the right system? Is this the right place to be in? If it is, that is fantastic. Start in a place that has more. That is why we started with podcasting. Start in a place that has listeners who are out there seeking information.

When you start attracting them in, you got to continue that filter down from listeners to leads. You got to continue down that whole path. Alesia has a lot of great tips. I hope you learned a lot from this episode. Go follow her and listen to a show. There are lots of wonderful things over there that might be perfect for you.

I’m excited to bring you another podcaster every week here on The Binge Factor, but you need to be a part of that process too. You have to let me know what kind of podcasters you want to hear more from. If you love listeners to leads, tell me that so I can find more great podcasters like Alesia. Let me know how we are doing here and what you want more of. You can reach out to me anywhere on social media. You can go to The Binge Factor, send us an email straight over the site, and fill out a contact form. There are 101 different ways to reach me. All you got to do is Google me, and you will be able to find and contact me.

As always, you can join me and my partner, Tom Hazzard. We are live every single week for our Feed Your Brand podcast. That is the sister podcast to The Binge Factor that talks about tips, tools, and tactics for marketing and promoting your show, and all the things surrounding your show. We do that every single week live on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. We are everywhere all at once. Come check that out. Every Wednesday at noon Pacific Time, we are live posting our coaching call and recording our Feed Your Brand episodes. We love for you to join that as well. Thanks, everyone, for tuning in. I’m Tracy Hazzard. I will be back next episode with another great podcaster like Alesia Galati of Listeners To Leads.

Important Links

• Listeners To Leads
• Alesia Galati – LinkedIn
• Episode – Tiphany Kane – Past Episode
• Two Sisters and a Cult
• Feed Your Brand
• https://www.Facebook.com/AlesiaGalatipm/
• https://www.Instagram.com/Alesia.Galati/
• AlesiaGalati.com/media/

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