Aug. 9, 2020

#BTC 36: 5 Reasons You Shouldn't Hire an Outside Podcast Host

In this episode of the #BehindTheCurtain Series, James Carbary & Logan Lyles talk about 5 reasons you shouldn't hire an outside host for your podcast.

While there are some pros to having an outside host (professionalism and dedicated availability), we typically advocate for having someone (or multiple people) from your company be the host of your podcast.

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Sweet Fish is hiring! Click here to learn more.


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If you want it in audiobook format, just search Content-Based Networking or James Carbary on Audible.

Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:10.429 Welcome back to another behind the curtain episode of BB Growth. My name is 2 00:00:10.509 --> 00:00:16.350 James and I'm joined today with the man, the myth, the legend himself, 3 00:00:16.510 --> 00:00:19.670 Logan. Lyles Logan, what was the first concert you ever went to? 4 00:00:20.670 --> 00:00:23.940 Was a reliant key concert? I don't know, but a lot of 5 00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:26.739 people out there are probably not going to know who were lying in the S 6 00:00:27.420 --> 00:00:33.340 S Christian Kid Baby S Christian punk rock is kind of so take that for 7 00:00:33.539 --> 00:00:37.170 what it is. Yes, so, Logan, today we're going to be 8 00:00:37.289 --> 00:00:42.049 talking about a question that you've actually got twice in the last couple weeks, 9 00:00:42.090 --> 00:00:48.250 I think, and the question is should I hire an outside host to host 10 00:00:48.329 --> 00:00:51.840 my podcast? So obviously we produce a bunch of podcasts for a bunch of 11 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:56.880 different companies and this question gets asked and we've got a pretty distinct point of 12 00:00:56.920 --> 00:01:02.600 view on it. We've got some customers that do hire an outside host to 13 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:07.510 host their show. The bulk of our customers we actually advocate for for hosting 14 00:01:07.590 --> 00:01:11.430 your own show, and we've actually got five different reasons why we think you 15 00:01:11.469 --> 00:01:15.310 should host your own show. Again, we've got customers that do it the 16 00:01:15.349 --> 00:01:19.260 other way and they're still meeting the objectives that they're wanting to meet with their 17 00:01:19.340 --> 00:01:23.739 show. So this is not by any means a you know, if you 18 00:01:23.939 --> 00:01:26.620 have an outside host you're doing it wrong. It's just we've, you know, 19 00:01:26.939 --> 00:01:33.010 over the years we've we've developed a point of view around really five of 20 00:01:33.170 --> 00:01:38.409 the benefits of hosting it yourself instead of instead of having someone from the outside 21 00:01:38.890 --> 00:01:44.129 host your show. Actually, I got I actually got this question twice within 22 00:01:44.209 --> 00:01:47.799 the last two or three days, so within this week and within just a 23 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:53.040 couple of days, and the email exchange with one potential customer was exactly that, 24 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:56.200 like lay out the pros and cons for me and as I started to 25 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:59.280 do it in the email, was like wow, you know, it helped 26 00:01:59.319 --> 00:02:01.510 me. It's something that we've thought about, we've talked about internally, but 27 00:02:01.590 --> 00:02:06.069 we've never really said, all right, here's our stance and here's here's the 28 00:02:06.150 --> 00:02:09.310 pros and cons very definitively. So I was just like man, we've got 29 00:02:09.389 --> 00:02:13.030 to we've got to share this with with folks. And you know, there 30 00:02:13.110 --> 00:02:15.340 can be some pros of having an outside host. Like you mentioned, we 31 00:02:15.419 --> 00:02:20.419 have a few customers where we actually provide the host, but I think that 32 00:02:20.539 --> 00:02:24.020 they do they do some things to to deal with that situation and still see 33 00:02:24.139 --> 00:02:28.500 as much of the benefits as they can. However, we just think that 34 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:32.889 the benefits outweigh the negatives when you have one or multiple people from your team 35 00:02:34.289 --> 00:02:38.650 being the host, not hiring an outside host or a professional speaker to be 36 00:02:38.729 --> 00:02:43.050 your hopes. Now we've we've got outside host on be to be growth. 37 00:02:43.889 --> 00:02:47.120 We are not paying any of those outside hosts. Actually there are some cases 38 00:02:47.159 --> 00:02:51.719 where people pay us to be a host of our show, and so the 39 00:02:51.960 --> 00:02:55.039 the leverage that you have when you own the show is real. People will 40 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:59.430 even you know, as you grow your audience, you can have the opportunity 41 00:02:59.469 --> 00:03:02.509 for people to pay you to access your audience in the form of being a 42 00:03:02.669 --> 00:03:07.270 host, and that's really a business model that I don't see anybody else doing. 43 00:03:07.349 --> 00:03:10.430 I think we're really pioneering that business model, but I think it's going 44 00:03:10.469 --> 00:03:15.060 to work. I know it's going to work because we've got money coming into 45 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:17.620 our account every month because of it. So I think a combination of having 46 00:03:17.620 --> 00:03:23.939 an outside host and internal host can be beneficial. One the added revenue from 47 00:03:23.020 --> 00:03:29.490 host paying you to host your show, but also the added influence. So 48 00:03:29.610 --> 00:03:34.569 when you've got an outside person, we've got some outside folks that are influencers 49 00:03:34.610 --> 00:03:37.490 in their space, and so by them hosting our show and talking about it 50 00:03:37.569 --> 00:03:40.919 on social and talking about it to their email list, that's giving exposure to 51 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:46.759 our show that it wouldn't have otherwise had. So let's dive in Logan too, 52 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:50.800 to the five benefits that you kind of outlined in that email that you 53 00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:53.879 were sending in the last couple days. I don't know if this is necessarily 54 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:59.430 a benefit or a con to having an outside host or paying for an outside 55 00:03:59.430 --> 00:04:01.189 host to come in and host your show, but it's the added cost. 56 00:04:01.349 --> 00:04:04.590 Talk to us about that. Yeah, so I think we you did a 57 00:04:04.629 --> 00:04:09.310 good job. They're of kind of putting some caveats of where someone might say, 58 00:04:09.349 --> 00:04:12.620 well, you guys have outside hooks on on BB growth. What we're 59 00:04:12.659 --> 00:04:15.740 specifically saying is, all right, you don't have a podcast yet, you're 60 00:04:15.740 --> 00:04:17.620 getting ready to start a podcast in your like. Should it be our CEO? 61 00:04:17.740 --> 00:04:21.660 Should it be someone in marketing? Should it be the internal subject matter 62 00:04:21.819 --> 00:04:26.769 expert, like our CHR Oh, if we sell to hr or our CTEO, 63 00:04:26.850 --> 00:04:30.449 if we sell to it and and product? But what we're saying here 64 00:04:30.850 --> 00:04:34.290 is all right, if you are looking at, you know, either the 65 00:04:34.449 --> 00:04:40.519 internal cost or the external cost of hiring an agency like ours to help you 66 00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:45.759 with your podcast. There's money that goes into planning, there's money that goes 67 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:49.279 into post production, there's money that goes into content repurposing, in putting ads 68 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:53.709 been behind that content, all those sorts of things. And when you kind 69 00:04:53.709 --> 00:04:56.670 of stack that up and then you layer on all right, we've got to 70 00:04:56.790 --> 00:05:00.910 pay a premium for a killer host with radio experience something like that, I 71 00:05:01.069 --> 00:05:04.670 just think that it's going to add to your cost so much that, especially 72 00:05:04.750 --> 00:05:08.180 in the early days, it's going to be tougher and tougher to see in 73 00:05:08.220 --> 00:05:13.019 oury. So I just don't see a big justification for needing to spend there. 74 00:05:13.540 --> 00:05:17.139 I would rather get internal folks involved, not add the cost there and 75 00:05:17.300 --> 00:05:21.610 have more money to spend on the content repurposing, getting more juice for the 76 00:05:21.689 --> 00:05:26.930 squeeze, have more money to spend on the AD budget, putting paid ads 77 00:05:26.970 --> 00:05:29.490 behind the show because, again, I've been saying this offline a ton, 78 00:05:30.209 --> 00:05:32.730 so many people are running ads for their product. They're not running ads for 79 00:05:32.769 --> 00:05:35.759 their show. They're not running ads, like Chris Walker says all the time, 80 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:41.360 just to drive people to that educational content. So there's some green field 81 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:45.600 opportunity there. So I would say, as you're working with budgets where CFOs 82 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:49.389 or being very are scrutinizing those marketing budgets more than ever this year, be 83 00:05:49.550 --> 00:05:53.709 very choosy about out where you spend when it comes to your podcast and I 84 00:05:53.829 --> 00:05:58.029 just think the hiring an external host should be lower on the list than some 85 00:05:58.149 --> 00:06:00.389 of the other things. Yeah, and and so one of the things that 86 00:06:00.509 --> 00:06:04.899 you were mentioning to me offline Logan is that the reason that are considering bringing 87 00:06:04.899 --> 00:06:09.980 in and outside host this because they feel like they would be a burden or 88 00:06:10.100 --> 00:06:14.139 they would feel like they're there. Existing team doesn't have the bandwidth to do 89 00:06:14.259 --> 00:06:17.810 it and so by asking someone on the team to host the show, that's 90 00:06:17.889 --> 00:06:23.250 just a massive ask. But in reality we've actually found that, you know, 91 00:06:23.490 --> 00:06:26.129 in the second benefit that we're going to talk about here, we've actually 92 00:06:26.170 --> 00:06:30.649 found that when you ask somebody internally to host your show, it oftentimes is 93 00:06:30.689 --> 00:06:34.639 a huge value add for that person. It's professional development, it's communicating to 94 00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:39.000 that person that you that you trust them, that you want them to be 95 00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:42.600 the voice. And if you're doing video, which we think you should be 96 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:46.310 face of your brand and the the other piece to it is we think you 97 00:06:46.350 --> 00:06:51.269 should actually have multiple internal people that are hosting different series of your show. 98 00:06:51.750 --> 00:06:55.990 Again, that's another point of view that we've developed over the years, that 99 00:06:56.389 --> 00:07:00.790 the more content you can produce, the better it's going to differentiate your show. 100 00:07:00.029 --> 00:07:05.300 It's going to give you more opportunities to educate your potential customers. If 101 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:10.139 you're just doing a monthly episode, then you have one shot a month at 102 00:07:10.379 --> 00:07:13.899 hoping that your listeners are going to resonate with whatever topic it is that you're 103 00:07:13.899 --> 00:07:16.449 talking about. If you're doing three episodes a week, well, you've obviously 104 00:07:16.610 --> 00:07:24.769 just increased your opportunity to be a trusting voice that is educating your ideal customer. 105 00:07:24.930 --> 00:07:28.930 And so by having multiple people even in between, we have a lot 106 00:07:28.970 --> 00:07:31.879 of customers that are like, well, we could do bi weekly and okay, 107 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:34.360 every two weeks, they're hearing from us, but what if they see 108 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:39.120 a headline that they don't really doesn't really resonate with them and they skip over 109 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:42.920 that? Now it's a month, a month, before they've heard from you, 110 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:46.310 and if two thousand and twenty has taught us anything, a month is 111 00:07:46.350 --> 00:07:51.470 a freaking long time exactly. So consider the fact that you could actually use 112 00:07:51.550 --> 00:07:58.029 this as an opportunity to bless somebody or add value to somebody on your team 113 00:07:58.230 --> 00:08:01.939 by asking them to close the show. And if you're worried about bandwidth, 114 00:08:01.019 --> 00:08:07.180 ask multiple people on your team that you think are really sharp and whether it's 115 00:08:07.180 --> 00:08:09.980 doing different series on your show or whether you all you know, whether whatever 116 00:08:11.259 --> 00:08:16.889 structure you want to figure out there is on you to determine. But I 117 00:08:16.329 --> 00:08:20.250 think it can add a lot of value to somebody. I know that we've 118 00:08:20.290 --> 00:08:24.810 had folks on our team that get really excited about the opportunity to host some 119 00:08:24.970 --> 00:08:30.120 of our behind the curtains episodes, to host some of our customers episode Zeros, 120 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:35.039 and so look at it as that, you know, professional development opportunity. 121 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:37.440 If it's obviously if it's your CEO, it's not. I don't think 122 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:43.830 that person is really caring too much about professional development in that way because they 123 00:08:43.870 --> 00:08:46.269 probably do this sort of thing a lot. But that CEO does, does 124 00:08:46.389 --> 00:08:50.669 care about personal brand. They get a lot about personal brand right and so 125 00:08:52.149 --> 00:08:54.629 I mean we've heard from from folks all over the place that say, if 126 00:08:54.669 --> 00:08:58.740 you say the word personal brand, my my CEO's ears perk up right, 127 00:08:58.860 --> 00:09:03.379 and so very similarly to the way that we advocate for asking people to be 128 00:09:03.460 --> 00:09:07.740 guests on your podcast. When your show's not well established and you don't have 129 00:09:07.259 --> 00:09:11.649 tons of stats to put in front of them saying we have this many listeners 130 00:09:11.690 --> 00:09:15.169 and we've been ranked by this and that, you change the ask. You 131 00:09:15.210 --> 00:09:16.809 say this is the value to you. Look, we're going to promote this 132 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:20.490 on linkedin. We're going to create an episode graphic with your face on it 133 00:09:20.529 --> 00:09:24.169 and you're going to be able to share that with your linkedin network. And, 134 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:26.039 by the way, this show is just for people like you, sharing 135 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:31.519 what they're dealing with, how they're coming up with creative solutions to the challenges 136 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:35.000 that they're facing right now. So when you when you make that sort of 137 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:37.669 ask to the podcast guest, you get more yeses. Yeah, take that 138 00:09:37.750 --> 00:09:41.710 same sort of approach going internally to ask people to be a host of the 139 00:09:41.830 --> 00:09:46.710 the podcast. Hey, this isn't something we're just we're just asking. It's 140 00:09:46.750 --> 00:09:48.830 not just a withdrawal. Obviously you don't say these words, but in the 141 00:09:48.909 --> 00:09:54.419 way you communicate it you say, look, you would be a great voice 142 00:09:54.539 --> 00:09:58.340 for for our podcast. You your you're sharp, you could ask great questions, 143 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:03.059 you know the industry, you have the availability, you know and kind 144 00:10:03.100 --> 00:10:07.409 of like even if you go to someone else and in marketing or PR different 145 00:10:07.450 --> 00:10:09.649 function, Hey, we're going to have the CEO on, but they're not 146 00:10:09.690 --> 00:10:13.529 going to have the bandwidth to to do every single episode, you would be 147 00:10:13.570 --> 00:10:16.809 great as well. Now all of a sudden they're like, Oh, you 148 00:10:16.929 --> 00:10:20.009 thought of me, right with the CEO. Okay, this is this is 149 00:10:20.049 --> 00:10:22.799 kind of cool. And show them how you'll be able to help build their 150 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.960 personal brand. Now, that takes a if you're not there in the mindset 151 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:31.159 shift that personal brands are important. That's actually going to be our point here 152 00:10:31.320 --> 00:10:35.320 coming up in just a second. But so you're going to have to make 153 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:39.230 that shift. But changing the ask and showing hey, this is going to 154 00:10:39.269 --> 00:10:43.429 be valuable to the people who are participating, you're probably not going to have 155 00:10:43.549 --> 00:10:46.669 that road block that you think you are that's going to make you go and 156 00:10:46.750 --> 00:10:50.700 hire an outside host. Yeah, there's third reason that we're going to talk 157 00:10:50.740 --> 00:10:56.100 about. Why it's very strategic for you to have a host internally or someone 158 00:10:56.340 --> 00:11:01.940 someone from your team that is hosting the show is that the thought leadership created 159 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:09.809 from the podcast doesn't necessarily get associated with a human at your company, and 160 00:11:11.370 --> 00:11:13.210 that's that's a really big deal. I mean, just to your point, 161 00:11:13.289 --> 00:11:18.450 Logan, on personal brand, you have the opportunity to build a personal brand, 162 00:11:18.490 --> 00:11:22.399 to build thought leadership for a human or multiple humans at your company, 163 00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:28.679 and we all know at this. I think it's pretty common knowledge to believe 164 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:31.639 that it's way easier to trust to human than it is to trust a logo. 165 00:11:33.070 --> 00:11:35.309 Talk to us about this. Yeah, man, this is something we've 166 00:11:35.350 --> 00:11:41.269 been preaching for the last year or two and man, it really was driven 167 00:11:41.309 --> 00:11:45.750 home a week or two ago when one of our new good linkedin friends, 168 00:11:45.789 --> 00:11:48.940 Matthew, who's the director of content marketing over at gravy and now a new 169 00:11:50.059 --> 00:11:54.179 customer. They signed up with us and the day after they signed up for 170 00:11:54.100 --> 00:11:58.419 to have US help with the launch in the production of their podcast, he 171 00:11:58.539 --> 00:12:01.610 posted on Linkedin. I think the opening line was like, let me reverse 172 00:12:01.649 --> 00:12:07.529 engineer my recent buying process for you, and he walked through how the fact 173 00:12:07.570 --> 00:12:11.889 that he was seeing my content on Linkedin, your content on Linkedin. Dan 174 00:12:13.009 --> 00:12:16.000 Sanchez, our director of audience growth who's now a cohost of the show, 175 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:20.000 he was in an engagement group with a few of US already on Linkedin and 176 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:24.120 he said, you know, I see the not only the content that sweetfish 177 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:28.639 has been putting out, but I feel like I know these guys over here 178 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:33.830 on the team and my comfort level with sweet fish versus another podcast production company 179 00:12:35.309 --> 00:12:37.429 that I haven't seen on Linkedin. I don't really know the team other than 180 00:12:37.470 --> 00:12:39.950 Hey, I hopped on a sales call and I met somebody on a zoom 181 00:12:39.950 --> 00:12:46.259 call first time seeing their face. There was a big impact to that buying 182 00:12:46.340 --> 00:12:50.059 decision. This isn't just something we're kind of spouting off and saying people can't 183 00:12:50.100 --> 00:12:54.779 connect with people more than logos. We you know, because it fits into 184 00:12:54.860 --> 00:13:00.090 our strategy of podcasting. It literally drove business for us here within the last 185 00:13:00.169 --> 00:13:05.090 couple of weeks and not only had, but matthew felt so, so compelled 186 00:13:05.769 --> 00:13:11.169 that he shared that on Linkedin and tons of engagement on that pose. And 187 00:13:11.490 --> 00:13:16.039 so I think that that drives the point home that people connect with people more 188 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:18.080 than logos. They trust people more than than logos. It's part of the 189 00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:24.320 reason why personal profile still over index compared to company pages on Linkedin. I 190 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:26.909 think it's less about the algorithm. I think it's less about the way people 191 00:13:26.909 --> 00:13:31.710 are using those profiles and more about the fact that when I see a comment 192 00:13:31.909 --> 00:13:35.909 from my brand on Linkedin, I'm like WHO's behind this? Right? And 193 00:13:35.269 --> 00:13:39.990 you know, I know that there have been some brands with success on platforms 194 00:13:39.110 --> 00:13:43.340 like, like twitter, but you look at twitter's decline and there are a 195 00:13:43.419 --> 00:13:48.980 lot of faceless, nameless accounts out there that it's like who am I really 196 00:13:48.019 --> 00:13:52.700 engaging with, whereas Linkedin, you know the person, you see, you 197 00:13:52.820 --> 00:13:54.970 get to know them, even if it's just by their profile picture. That 198 00:13:56.049 --> 00:13:58.370 might be three, three years out of day. You know, I know 199 00:13:58.610 --> 00:14:03.690 Steve Watt, I know ethanviewed, I know these people that are regularly engaging 200 00:14:03.769 --> 00:14:09.129 with my content and and knee with theirs. And so by giving people the 201 00:14:09.370 --> 00:14:13.639 opportunity to connect with at least one person, if not multiple people, who 202 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:18.000 are cohost of your podcast, you're leaning into this reality of the way that 203 00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:22.120 people make buying decisions and, yes, even make buying decisions in b tob 204 00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:28.230 as we just saw with with Matthews sharing of his story at gravy. Yeah, 205 00:14:28.470 --> 00:14:31.590 I love it. So the connection that you are listeners and people that 206 00:14:31.710 --> 00:14:37.350 engage with that repurpose content on Linkedin, that that human connection is a real, 207 00:14:37.659 --> 00:14:43.580 real benefit of having someone internally host your show. The next piece that 208 00:14:43.620 --> 00:14:46.419 we're going to talk about is more around the thought leadership side of what I 209 00:14:46.460 --> 00:14:52.139 was referring to earlier. Talk to us about that Logan. Yeah, it's 210 00:14:52.259 --> 00:14:54.330 interesting to me when I really think about this. If you have your own 211 00:14:54.370 --> 00:15:00.929 podcast, you're directing the content but you're not providing the host or the multiple 212 00:15:00.970 --> 00:15:05.129 cohost as with people from your team. There's an ad spot for your company 213 00:15:05.450 --> 00:15:09.639 on the show, but other than getting to direct the content, it's more 214 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:13.519 just like sponsoring or advertising on a podcast. And so to me, to 215 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:18.360 spend all this money and all this effort and all this focus to launch your 216 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:22.549 own podcast, to sustain your own podcast and try to grow that audience just 217 00:15:22.710 --> 00:15:26.230 to be a sponsor. I mean you could, you could spend that money 218 00:15:26.269 --> 00:15:31.429 to get that sort of result. I think more wisely and go to a 219 00:15:31.549 --> 00:15:35.580 company like right side up that focuses on podcast advertising and connecting you with existing 220 00:15:35.620 --> 00:15:41.019 podcasts that have an audience that fits your your niche, and go and advertise 221 00:15:41.139 --> 00:15:45.100 on those podcasts, and we actually recommend that. You know, people do 222 00:15:45.299 --> 00:15:48.500 that as they're trying out the podcast space. Or go and try and get 223 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:52.250 their executives onto other podcasts, like, you know, using a company like 224 00:15:52.370 --> 00:15:56.970 interview Valet. Shout out to Tom Schwab over there, a great guy. 225 00:15:56.529 --> 00:16:00.809 But do those things, but then when you're ready to do your own podcast, 226 00:16:00.210 --> 00:16:04.759 really do it right. And so to me, just being a sponsor 227 00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:11.440 of your own podcast feels like a big missed opportunity because you're not and it 228 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:15.679 kind of ties back to the previous point. They're not really connecting with a 229 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:19.389 human they're not really seeing that, hey, this company is so invested in 230 00:16:19.470 --> 00:16:26.669 in highlighting these conversations with my peers and this this industry shop talk that I 231 00:16:26.830 --> 00:16:30.669 can get value from. They're just kind of an observer and I think you 232 00:16:30.789 --> 00:16:34.220 know there's some benefit there, but again, there's other ways you could get 233 00:16:34.220 --> 00:16:37.860 that benefit if you're having your own show. If you're going to have your 234 00:16:37.860 --> 00:16:41.620 own show, go all in and have your own show. Yeah, so 235 00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:47.929 on one of our customers that does have how they have someone from our team 236 00:16:48.129 --> 00:16:52.289 hosting their show for them. They use the show a lot to have the 237 00:16:52.409 --> 00:16:56.169 host interview a lot of different executives at their team, and so that's kind 238 00:16:56.169 --> 00:17:02.159 of the counterpoint to what we're saying right there, where they're directing the content 239 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:04.880 and they actually are shining the spotlight on a lot of their internal people. 240 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:11.880 Those internal people are not necessarily doing you know, they're not becoming hosts, 241 00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:15.190 they're not doing it on a consistent basis, but they are using the that 242 00:17:15.390 --> 00:17:21.150 the the customer that I'm thinking of is a very large company and so they've 243 00:17:21.150 --> 00:17:23.829 got lots of different employees that they've been able to shine the spotlight on by 244 00:17:25.029 --> 00:17:30.099 having their own show. So just a small little counterpoint to that that if 245 00:17:30.180 --> 00:17:36.900 you can still you can still do that to a certain degree by not having 246 00:17:36.900 --> 00:17:41.500 a host, but by about it differently at bit. You got to be 247 00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:45.009 able to sustain that structure. So, like in that case, we provide 248 00:17:45.049 --> 00:17:49.809 the host and we're helping them conduct interviews with partners, with customers and with 249 00:17:51.009 --> 00:17:55.490 internal subject matter experts, so they still get that voice of the people on 250 00:17:55.609 --> 00:17:59.240 their team. I think of another customer we work with in the quality engineering 251 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:03.440 space and we provide the host on that one. I do some hosting for 252 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:07.720 that show. However, it's not just me as the host and one of 253 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:11.559 one of their guests. They have one of their one of their executives on 254 00:18:12.150 --> 00:18:15.950 and I'm just kind of playing moderator role, and so that could work if 255 00:18:15.990 --> 00:18:21.589 you really think that, hey, we need someone with the ability to craft 256 00:18:21.630 --> 00:18:26.910 the conversation and guide the conversation. That could be a format where, if 257 00:18:26.950 --> 00:18:29.819 you go there, you could still get some of the benefits we're talking about 258 00:18:30.099 --> 00:18:33.099 of having a consistent voice from your team on the podcast. Have the host 259 00:18:33.220 --> 00:18:37.339 more play moderator between an executive or a subject that our expert on your team 260 00:18:37.740 --> 00:18:42.890 and an external practitioner or influencer. Yeah, the fifth and final thing that 261 00:18:42.970 --> 00:18:48.369 we'll talk about. To me it's the it's the biggest reason why you should 262 00:18:48.369 --> 00:18:52.089 have someone from your team hosting the show, and that's content based networking. 263 00:18:52.210 --> 00:18:56.799 I mean, I obviously am biased because I wrote a book about this concept, 264 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:00.400 but I know from me with with this show, would be to be 265 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:06.039 growth. Had I not hosted the first seven hundred episodes myself, I would 266 00:19:06.039 --> 00:19:11.630 not have been able to build relationships with people that have now become long standing 267 00:19:11.789 --> 00:19:17.069 customers of ours, and so me hosting the show, as you know, 268 00:19:17.269 --> 00:19:21.269 the salesperson for our company in the early days before you came along, Logan, 269 00:19:21.750 --> 00:19:26.140 is the reason we've been able to build the foundation of actually having customers 270 00:19:26.180 --> 00:19:30.579 and people giving us money. And so the relationship that you can build with 271 00:19:30.819 --> 00:19:36.019 your guests, if you're doing content based networking and you are trying to interview 272 00:19:36.140 --> 00:19:41.450 ideal customers that could potentially work with you by featuring them on your show, 273 00:19:41.650 --> 00:19:45.730 doing a collaboration with them, building a friendship with those people that you can 274 00:19:45.769 --> 00:19:52.920 actually do business with potentially is a massive, massive benefit of having someone internally, 275 00:19:52.039 --> 00:19:56.240 whether it be somebody from your sales team or whenever your executives, be 276 00:19:56.359 --> 00:20:00.200 the host of the show. You now own that relationship with the guests and 277 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:06.759 you can strategically capitalize on that relationship, because people buy from people they know. 278 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:10.269 I can trust, and so this is not a ski Zy. You 279 00:20:10.390 --> 00:20:15.789 know, I there's one particular guy on Linkedin, Logan, that just bashes 280 00:20:15.670 --> 00:20:22.099 this idea. He's just so romantic about the the podcast being all about the 281 00:20:22.220 --> 00:20:26.220 content, all about the the you know, the romance of the content, 282 00:20:26.339 --> 00:20:29.740 and where like a bro like, yeah, the content does matter, but 283 00:20:30.019 --> 00:20:34.259 that why not use your show to build very strategic relationships with the exact people 284 00:20:34.299 --> 00:20:37.009 that you know can buy your product or service? It doesn't mean you have 285 00:20:37.089 --> 00:20:42.809 to twist their arm and be skisy and sales e and and trick them into, 286 00:20:44.130 --> 00:20:47.690 you know, trying to buy from you. It that we don't do 287 00:20:47.809 --> 00:20:49.480 that at all. I don't think if you talk to any of our guests, 288 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:52.960 of the one, thousie hundred, seventeen hundred guests, however many guests 289 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:56.599 we've found on the show, I don't think a single one of them would 290 00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:02.319 tell you that that we tricked them into buying from us or to being on 291 00:21:02.359 --> 00:21:04.750 the show so that we could sell to them, at least to my knowledge. 292 00:21:04.789 --> 00:21:07.230 I mean I can't think of any. Go Talk to Ethan, but 293 00:21:07.549 --> 00:21:11.589 go talk to sang Raum Vajer A, talk to brandon red linger. These 294 00:21:11.630 --> 00:21:17.869 are all folks that we initially built relationships through content collaboration and now they are 295 00:21:17.990 --> 00:21:21.339 customers and they are advocates for us and they don't feel like they got, 296 00:21:21.500 --> 00:21:26.420 you know, roped and doped into something. I literally am on sales calls 297 00:21:26.420 --> 00:21:30.299 James Sometimes where I'm explaining content based networking and I say hey, look, 298 00:21:30.579 --> 00:21:33.849 there's a reason you see this microphone in front of me and you see a 299 00:21:33.970 --> 00:21:37.369 mic flag that says be to be growth, because I head up sales for 300 00:21:37.450 --> 00:21:42.569 sweetfish and I'm also the primary cohost of our podcast that is by design. 301 00:21:42.769 --> 00:21:47.599 We don't make any bones about it. We don't try to hide that whatsoever. 302 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:52.920 I I post on Linkedin about the strategy. This strategy. I talked 303 00:21:52.920 --> 00:21:59.119 about it here on the podcast very regularly and you know it's not like hey, 304 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:03.269 the recordings over and then the timeshare presentation began. They just got the 305 00:22:03.470 --> 00:22:07.430 the free lunch. And this is something that you know. A recent episode 306 00:22:07.430 --> 00:22:12.269 we did with Dylan Hay who started his podcast primarily he's not a customer, 307 00:22:12.670 --> 00:22:15.740 but he's been friends with you and the team here at sweetfish for a long 308 00:22:15.779 --> 00:22:19.339 time and he closed a deal with one of his guests in the first twenty 309 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:22.220 eight days of his podcasts. Go listen to that episode. will put it 310 00:22:22.299 --> 00:22:26.900 in the show notes. He's doing things that align with the strategy and also 311 00:22:27.140 --> 00:22:33.250 create great content. He's asking questions of his guests that make great content, 312 00:22:33.410 --> 00:22:37.210 like what is your team struggling with right now? What's your team most proud 313 00:22:37.250 --> 00:22:41.289 of? Those are things that lead to great content that that guests peer want 314 00:22:41.410 --> 00:22:45.839 to hear about. But guess what, they also if they say, Hey, 315 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:49.240 we're really struggling to figure out our Uri on our PPC campaigns, well 316 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:53.400 in in the story that Dylan shared. He didn't even have to bring it 317 00:22:53.480 --> 00:22:56.839 up post interview, like just by the proximity of getting to know Dylan. 318 00:22:57.079 --> 00:23:02.150 He knew that that's what their agency, didn't he and the guest turned into 319 00:23:02.150 --> 00:23:06.630 a prospect by raising his hand post interview. Dylan didn't have to swing and 320 00:23:06.990 --> 00:23:10.470 throw a right hook. But even if you did, like even you know, 321 00:23:10.589 --> 00:23:14.099 post interview with a guest, if they're talking about thought leadership and they're 322 00:23:14.099 --> 00:23:17.579 talking about we need to figure out new channels, because I asked a question 323 00:23:17.619 --> 00:23:21.539 about what's on the horizon for you guys in the second half of two thousand 324 00:23:21.539 --> 00:23:25.339 and twenty and I say, Hey, you guys haven't thought about a podcast 325 00:23:25.420 --> 00:23:26.769 in all those new channels, right? They're like, well, no, 326 00:23:26.930 --> 00:23:32.849 we have done like that doesn't feel that doesn't feel sleazy, that doesn't feel 327 00:23:32.890 --> 00:23:36.170 like a right hook, because I like a conversation. It's right. It 328 00:23:36.210 --> 00:23:41.210 feels like a conversation and I've just spent thirty minutes talking shop with them about 329 00:23:41.369 --> 00:23:44.359 marketing. So they know that I know what I'm talking about when it comes 330 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:48.920 to market I don't just happen to sell to to marketers. So the relationship 331 00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:55.000 aspect, I don't think can be overstated. Now this is something Dan and 332 00:23:55.079 --> 00:23:59.349 I were talking about the other day offline, is that there are certain people 333 00:23:59.349 --> 00:24:03.470 within your organization that are probably really good networkers by default. You do this 334 00:24:03.630 --> 00:24:11.460 really well. I remember hearing an interview with an author about the superconnector on 335 00:24:11.859 --> 00:24:14.539 growth years and years ago and I was like, oh, that that makes 336 00:24:14.579 --> 00:24:18.740 so much sense for people like me who have been in sales for a long 337 00:24:18.779 --> 00:24:22.779 time. But it's it's really about the relationship building, and so I think 338 00:24:22.859 --> 00:24:26.569 what a lot of marketing teams kind of struggle with is man are our CEO 339 00:24:26.809 --> 00:24:29.970 or our cofounders, they're really the networkers, because in the early days of 340 00:24:30.009 --> 00:24:33.730 our company, how do we get our first customers through their relationships and through 341 00:24:33.809 --> 00:24:37.730 their their network? Right? Are salespeople? There are, you know, 342 00:24:37.849 --> 00:24:41.759 there are some that are all about the presentation or all about delivering that Roy 343 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:45.359 presentation, but a lot of salespeople they are just naturally good networkers. They're 344 00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:49.640 good on linkedin and those sorts of things, but they're like, I can't 345 00:24:49.640 --> 00:24:52.829 go to sales, they can't be cohost of the podcast. We say they 346 00:24:52.829 --> 00:24:57.589 absolutely should be. I think more and more marketers are starting to get this 347 00:24:57.789 --> 00:25:03.950 in the their eyes opened up to there's value in me creating relationships for our 348 00:25:03.069 --> 00:25:07.029 brand, even if it's not a prospect that I can hand over to the 349 00:25:07.069 --> 00:25:10.900 sales team and say hey, go get them. That's not what we're saying, 350 00:25:11.099 --> 00:25:15.019 but you know, case in point. You built a relationship with Matt 351 00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:19.180 Hines, who has a very successful, long standing agency, Carlosdalgo. I 352 00:25:19.259 --> 00:25:23.890 think they were actually just both together on an episode of this show. They 353 00:25:25.130 --> 00:25:30.170 have never been customers of ours paying for our podcasting service, but guess what, 354 00:25:30.609 --> 00:25:36.839 they are very strategic relationships to have in the bebe marketing space. Matt 355 00:25:36.920 --> 00:25:41.680 has referred us to people, Carlos has referred us to mutual customers. They've 356 00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:45.319 both contributed content to this podcast and promoted our show in some former fashion. 357 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:49.869 And if we if we have an ask of one of those one of those 358 00:25:49.910 --> 00:25:52.589 guys, I know that they would take our call and they would respond to 359 00:25:52.589 --> 00:25:57.710 our email. So it's not always relationship to meeting to close deal. There 360 00:25:57.869 --> 00:26:03.390 is a there is power and there is a multiplying effect in having a network. 361 00:26:03.390 --> 00:26:07.140 I mean Dan and I were also talking about a service provider in the 362 00:26:07.180 --> 00:26:12.900 marketing space that's kind of adjacent to us, not not competitive but somewhat complimentary, 363 00:26:14.220 --> 00:26:15.619 and we're looking at their pricing page and he was like, Oh, 364 00:26:15.700 --> 00:26:18.089 this is really cool. I should ask him how we did this. Oh 365 00:26:18.130 --> 00:26:22.890 wait, I just had their CEO on our podcast. I could totally ask 366 00:26:22.970 --> 00:26:26.569 them right. And it changes because you have relational equity. So I just 367 00:26:26.809 --> 00:26:33.720 want people to start to broaden the look at we're marketing. Can build strategic 368 00:26:33.880 --> 00:26:41.640 relationships with potential buyers, with strategic potential referral partners and with industry influencers or 369 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:45.440 someone else I was I was just thinking of Oh, Eric Olson has been 370 00:26:45.480 --> 00:26:48.509 a customer for a long time. I think he's one of those marketers who 371 00:26:48.630 --> 00:26:53.069 really get this. So it's not normally just hey, in marketing our job 372 00:26:53.190 --> 00:26:56.349 is to build relationships, but it can be a way that you can add 373 00:26:56.349 --> 00:27:00.029 additional value into all the tactical stuff you're doing in marketing. Yeah, so, 374 00:27:00.109 --> 00:27:06.099 so, looking at the added cost, looking at the benefit of so 375 00:27:06.500 --> 00:27:11.420 to someone internally, looking at how listeners can connect with a human behind your 376 00:27:11.460 --> 00:27:15.650 brand, looking at the thought leadership and how that thought leadership gets associated with 377 00:27:15.809 --> 00:27:22.170 your brand when someone is hosting, and then the fifth and final one being 378 00:27:22.369 --> 00:27:26.890 the relationships that you build with the guests. When you can own those relationships 379 00:27:27.289 --> 00:27:33.000 yourself, or somebody from your team can have those relationships with the guests that 380 00:27:33.240 --> 00:27:36.960 you are featuring on your show, it is so much more strategic than having 381 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:41.960 someone outside your company owning those relationships, and so we hope that you've gotten 382 00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:45.470 a lot of value out of this. We hope that you walk away with 383 00:27:45.589 --> 00:27:49.190 these five, five reasons that you should host your own show as opposed to 384 00:27:49.349 --> 00:27:53.109 having someone else host it for you. We hope this is helpful. We 385 00:27:53.390 --> 00:27:56.390 hope we hope that it opens your eyes to be. If if you're not 386 00:27:56.470 --> 00:28:00.740 already in the world of podcasting, we hope that it opens your eyes to 387 00:28:00.500 --> 00:28:04.099 to some reasons why you should be, and we would obviously love to work 388 00:28:04.140 --> 00:28:08.180 with you. But but we just want more people in the space. So 389 00:28:08.220 --> 00:28:11.380 if you want, if you want to do it in house. Ivy Linkedin 390 00:28:11.460 --> 00:28:15.730 the other day. Man The this strategy of content based networking has literally changed 391 00:28:15.730 --> 00:28:21.529 the trajectory of my sales career. I want people to see how they can, 392 00:28:21.769 --> 00:28:25.089 how they can do this, whether they work with us or not. 393 00:28:25.210 --> 00:28:26.920 It's a big reason why I've been telling people, Hey, we're not sure 394 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:30.759 if this strategy is going to work with us. Hey, will write some 395 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:33.319 email copy and either you guys use that on a list that you have or 396 00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:37.799 will build a list for you, because like test it out and see and 397 00:28:38.359 --> 00:28:41.710 maybe that that validates it and you come to us, or maybe it validates 398 00:28:41.750 --> 00:28:45.829 it and and you go and be successful with it. Either way, I 399 00:28:45.990 --> 00:28:48.950 think is a win and that's that's why we're so passionate about the stuff. 400 00:28:48.990 --> 00:28:52.190 Man, we're two for to doing that right where we've done that? We 401 00:28:52.269 --> 00:28:56.380 said, Hey, let's let's send some emails out to your ideal customers and 402 00:28:56.420 --> 00:29:00.420 ask them if they want to be on a be on a guest and be 403 00:29:00.579 --> 00:29:03.380 guest show. Yeah, and too, very different personas. One was a 404 00:29:03.500 --> 00:29:10.609 consultancy that focuses on early stage founders of SASS companies, and the other was 405 00:29:10.650 --> 00:29:15.930 a Sass company focusing on customer success professionals and customer success leaders. We crafted 406 00:29:17.170 --> 00:29:21.130 the messaging in kind of our typical fashion, focusing like you talked about in 407 00:29:21.210 --> 00:29:23.839 the Oprah Chapter of your book, picking up the spotlight and shining it. 408 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:27.200 You don't need a reason, you don't need an excuse, you just have 409 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:32.839 to pick up the spotlight and blow and behold it works. One of one 410 00:29:32.920 --> 00:29:36.039 of those with this SASS founders. We sent out a hundred emails. We 411 00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:41.349 got an over fifty percent reply rate, and that was a show that was 412 00:29:41.390 --> 00:29:45.029 not live yet. It was just kind of like a market test and we 413 00:29:45.190 --> 00:29:48.910 got a fifty percent reply rate, even with people saying, oh, the 414 00:29:49.150 --> 00:29:52.700 podcasters saturated, people are getting tired of the ASS. That's just not the 415 00:29:52.819 --> 00:29:56.220 case that. Check out the episode I did with Ritoishi, one of our 416 00:29:56.259 --> 00:30:00.140 producers, on the five reasons it's not too late to start a podcast. 417 00:30:00.500 --> 00:30:03.099 When you really put it into context and you hear things like that, you 418 00:30:03.259 --> 00:30:07.730 realize, hey, there's still a lot of opportunity here. Yep, all 419 00:30:07.730 --> 00:30:10.769 right, we'll shut up now. We know that you hear US ranting and 420 00:30:10.849 --> 00:30:14.450 raving about podcast all the time. Connect with Logan on Linkedin, connect with 421 00:30:14.529 --> 00:30:18.769 me on Linkedin, and we are really looking forward to talking to you next 422 00:30:18.769 --> 00:30:26.480 time. Is your buyer a BB marketer? If so, you should think 423 00:30:26.519 --> 00:30:30.039 about sponsoring this podcast. BB growth gets downloaded over a hundred and thirty thousand 424 00:30:30.119 --> 00:30:34.480 times each month and our listeners are marketing decision makers. If it sounds interesting, 425 00:30:34.519 --> 00:30:37.789 send logan and email logan at sweet fish Mediacom