How Can Podcasting Transform Your Business Strategy with Chris Stone

Does this sound familiar? You've been told that the key to podcast success is having a large number of downloads. But let's face it, you're feeling the frustration of putting in the work, only to see minimal results and struggling to grow your audience. It's time to ditch the outdated advice and discover the real secret to podcast growth on a budget. 

In this episode, you will be able to:

• Maximize Your Impact: Starting a Podcast on a Budget

• Elevate Your Reach: Benefits of Live Streaming for Businesses

• Catapult Your Audience: Growing Your Podcast Audience

• Harness the Power: Amazon Influencer Program for Podcasters

• Foster Community Connection: Engaging with Your Podcast Community

Start getting sponsors for your podcast today!
http://www.sponsoryourpodcast.com/

Visit Chris Stone's social media pages:

Website: https://castahead.net/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisstoneatl/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@castahead

[00:00:00] Can you say that again? Say that again, Chris, because that is so good. I think that we need to say it again. Exactly. Because so many, and, and if you follow me on Facebook, man, I feel like I've been standing on a soapbox these past few weeks, but say it again for the people in the back, because I couldn't agree more.

Chris Stone: Do wnloads only matter to sponsors.

Welcome to Rocky Mountain Marketing. I'm your host, Katie Brinkley. Join us as we dive deep with the world's leading digital marketing experts every single Tuesday. It's all about giving you the strategies that are working right now, directly from those who are making an impact. With my 20 years of experience, I'm here to help you navigate the world of digital marketing.

Whether you're looking to sharpen your skills or transform your business, you're in the right place. Let's get started on today's journey to success.

Katie Brinkley: Welcome back to this week's episode of Rocky Mountain Marketing. I'm sitting down today with a good friend that I've been, [00:01:00] man.

I sat down and I was like, who have I not had on the show that every time they post on social media, I read it and engage with it. Um, I listened to their show or watch their show. I learned from this person and I was like, have I really not had Chris Stone on my podcast? And, and it's true. It, it's been like four years in the making, but today we are so lucky to have Chris Stone.

On today's show. He is a podcast producer. He's a content creator and he is the founder of Cast Ahead. He's also the co host of the show deal casters with my good friend, Jim fuse and Chris, I feel like. I want to say that we've been running around the same circles for four years, but it might even be before that because you're pretty active on clubhouse too, right?

Chris Stone: Oh my gosh. She brought up clubhouse. Everyone run for the Hills. No, I, yeah, I think I was, and I was, I was one of those people that was like, Oh my gosh, what are we going to do? [00:02:00] Look, There's a new app that's going to replace podcasting. It's called a clubhouse and everybody can podcast from their bathtubs.

And so, yeah, I think we were, we were active there, especially when Amazon was cranking up and we wanted to tell the world that they can be Amazon influencers and Amazon creators and going live in the biggest mall in the world. And. And make a little money while you sleep. And so that was a really good avenue for Jim and I to do was Clubhouse.

And yeah, we may have met there. But yeah, Podfest, lots of circles. Like you said, it's just, you know what? We're having too much fun, Katie. And then all of a sudden it's just like, wait a minute. Katie's not been on our show. And Chris has not been on Katie's show. Let's just like, stop having fun and start doing business.

No, I'm

Katie Brinkley: kidding. Yeah. No, no. I mean, I think that the stuff that you know. is so valuable for the audience of Rocky mountain marketing. You know, so much about podcasting and I feel like I've really been on a big podcasting kick lately with a [00:03:00] lot of the most recent episodes of Rocky mountain marketing. And one of the main reasons is because it's such a content generating machine.

If you have a podcast, you are never going to run out of things to post about, to create a book about, to, to make money from. I actually, that's where I kind of want to start today's conversation because you're a podcast producer as well. We know we produce podcasts and accept social, you produce podcasts at cast ahead, but you also have a ton of information on your website for the do it yourselfers and.

A lot of people might think that having a podcast is going to be a big expense because you need to hire a team like, like you or me, but I started as a DIY or I started by learning how to use garage band and I had a cheap microphone off of Amazon and the biggest thing for me was just getting started.

So I'd like to start with some advice that you'd have for people that there's a lot of my audiences [00:04:00] as solopreneurs, people that have small teams, a lot of realtors, podcasting is a game changer for growing your business in incredible ways that I, I think that it's not, look, Let's talk about podcasting.

Why should, why should anybody listening that doesn't have a podcast have a podcast?

Chris Stone: I think you, you hit the nail on the head in terms of it can be sort of the origin of all kinds of things for you. It's because you can take a, let's just call it a live video where we start. That's usually with our clients.

We start with a live video and I know that can freak people out and people get all, you know, gripped. When they think about live video, you don't have to do video. I just want you to know that any, anyone who's listening, you don't have to do video, but why not? And so we start with a live video. And when you record anything, What we're, what we're doing right now is we're recording a conversation between two friends when you record solo, when you do anything, you can take that and turn that [00:05:00] into all types of different kinds of content that can serve your audience.

And so when I talk to people about a podcast, I immediately tell them, you're not going to make money. Just get the whole like, quote unquote, monetization conversation aside. Treat it initially as a cost center, but not a large cost center. So if you, you talked about a microphone, right? People immediately think, okay, it's a podcast.

I need a great microphone. No, you don't. You just need something to where people can hear you clearly. That's it. And so a lot of things you could do is stuff that you've already got, maybe a phone in your pocket, maybe a webcam, maybe a computer in front of you, that's okay. I don't love it when people don't have, a microphone separate from their computer, but if it keeps you from starting doing something, then use that and just surround yourself with fluffy stuff in your room.

Go into a room that is smaller, that doesn't have big, bright lights. Walls and glass and [00:06:00] things like that and start working on who you're serving and That right there is is where I where I tell everybody to start is Don't worry yet about how much money it costs where the file goes If I need to be on Spotify if I got it, you know, all of these things they'll come right we started Katie by flipping open a laptop, maybe not even having headphones, all of these things.

You just end up learning as you go because you don't, you don't walk into the gym shredded, you walk into the gym with stuff you need to do. And then you got to come back the next day. And you got to learn a few more things, maybe put a little more weight on the, on whatever you're doing. And then you just get 1 percent better every time you do it.

And it's really about that mindset. That's really where we start with everybody is we don't start with the microphone. We don't start with the headphones. We don't start with, Hey, you need to have it on Lipson and YouTube and all those things because that just makes people like run for the [00:07:00] hills. They just won't do it.

And that's why most people quit.

Katie Brinkley: Well, you said so many great things. Appreciate it. During that, I'm going to say monologue, but, but during, it was, it was great because you started, you pointed out, you need to know who you're producing the content for, who are you talking to? So many times I hear people say, well, I want to, I want to monetize my show.

And there's many ways to monetize a show other than just having sponsors. Having sponsors is great. Um, we just landed a huge sponsor for one of our clients. It makes being consistent with your podcast a lot easier when someone else is footing the bill. But it's. That's not the main reason why you should have a podcast is just to to monetize from sponsors or To be on a big network or to be the next joe rogan because that is kind of like saying well I'm going to go on instagram because I want to go viral and that's going to change my world.

Chris Stone: Yeah, it's true in in it really is if you stay with the mindset of I'm doing this to serve somebody, and [00:08:00] if that may be your key client, that may be your key, sort of, avatar, figure out what their problems are, figure out, what they have issues with, and, maybe, I don't know, you may be pest control, I mean, I literally do a pest control podcast.

I'm not kidding you. And so you understand who your audience is, what exactly their problems are, and you become the expert. You're giving them that extra 2 percent of knowledge that they have, and so they're expecting some sort of outcome from you. And that mindset alone becomes valuable to sponsors.

So if you serve a A niche like I just talked about pest control, but it could be anything be plumbing. It could be I don't know why i'm just talking about trades, but it could be anything underwater basket weaving And so if you have something like that that is very valuable and there you may have 30 people that listen Every week, but those 30 people are extremely valuable to people who [00:09:00] sell products for underwater basket weaving, right?

And so They don't they actually don't really care that much You About how many downloads you have, they just know that this is something that's going to be more valuable than, than lighting your money on fire with Facebook ads.

Katie Brinkley: Yes. Yes. Preach. And you also wanted to say, you also said something else I thought was really important.

You know, Chris, with so many owners there, or business Leaders, having a podcast allows you to step into the spotlight and going back to clubhouse. I, you know, here I am sitting, I've, I got almost 350 episodes under my belt now. I didn't even really have a podcast and I had just started it, felt real uncomfortable still.

If you want to go back and listen to some bad audio and bad podcasting, go ahead and listen to the first season of Rocky mountain marketing. It's still up there because I want everyone to see that you can always continue to grow. Um, but. You know, there's times where I go back to clubhouse and [00:10:00] that's what we were doing.

We were just sitting there talking into our phones. And the more that you talk, the more that you talk with others about something that you're passionate about. And honestly, for me, I love talking about podcasting and social media. You know, I can talk about it all the time. I'll talk on anyone's show about.

About it, you know, I would love to have that be my main job, and I kind of have been able to make it be my main job. That's what I do with the majority of my week, that and sales calls. So I mean, that's, that's what, what I'm getting to is, you have to be able to share your message. And the more times that you talk, the clearer it will become.

That's how I came up with the whole four post strategy. Is because I was talking about it on all these different shows about not posting so much on social media. And then one host said, It's almost like it's, it's like a whole system, like these four posts. And I was like, You're right! It is! And that's how I was able to write my book.

So I mean, if someone's sitting there saying like, Well, you know, you're talking about pest control. You're talking about, you know, trades or basket weaving, whatever, there's a [00:11:00] podcast out there already like that. How am I going to be different? What would you say to them?

Chris Stone: Such a great question and a lot of the clients that I serve are sales trainers katie and they are on stages Internationally and and they do they get in front of companies and they talk about You Sales and to a person will always tell you this always people have products and services and they're pretty much the same.

Like, uh, you know, whatever it is, whatever piece of software, they kind of all do the same thing. Only difference between the products and services that Katie has, products and services that I have, Katie. So if you're someone who's doing a podcast and you go, well, I wanted to do it on leadership, but they're, you know, throw a rock and you're going to hit a leadership, podcast, right?

It doesn't matter. You don't have to necessarily change everything just because somebody else has something because you are you. You bring your own unique voice. You bring your own unique [00:12:00] set of skills. Your voice is more attractive to certain people than other people who have a leadership podcast.

There are no rules. So can be your, call it your authentic self if you want. I know that's sort of a phrase that's overused. It's true. And so, you know, yes, there are tons of leadership podcasts, but there are tons of leadership podcasts that are extremely popular and there's millions of people that listen to podcasts.

So get out there and get something. And, you know, first podcast, not gonna be good. You just talked about your, it's a bad audio quality or whatever, but you had something to say. And you continued the reps and reps and you gained the community that you have. Well, you have that mindset of like, Hey, I'm not going to do it because everybody else has the same thing.

That's just going to keep you from starting and doing creative things that set yourself apart from others who are. Basically talking about the same thing

Katie Brinkley: that it's exactly true And and I think that the more [00:13:00] you do it the better that you'll get you'll start But the beginning I used to say all the time and I would also Say, you know, and you know, and you know as I've gotten better I've you I've realized it's better just to hold a thought Instead of trying to fill the blank air, the, you'll get better the more that you go.

And the biggest thing is the consistency. And this is where I think that having a partner like, like you or me, or, or even just having some sort of a guide. Will help because if you, if you give yourself a break and you say, oh, I missed that week, well, now you've already fallen off the wagon. And the consistency part is, is the thing that will keep you getting better and will help you grow your community.

What do you say to people about how many episodes that they should have? How often they should produce? Should they do seasons? What's your what are your thoughts on that?

Chris Stone: It definitely varies. You'll you'll learn [00:14:00] people who are interested in podcasting and maybe haven't started researching and going through it and consuming a lot of the the business that is podcasting.

The number one answer you'll always get from a podcaster about podcasting is it depends. It depends. No, but seriously, it's And I, I go back to that mindset of who you are serving. If you un like, have a picture of that person in your mind and what they're doing throughout the day, don't assume that everybody that is, that person is listening to every single show that you have.

Right. But if you, if you have that vision of like, okay. Be it's a mompreneur who, maybe has kids and they, she's got to take them to school in the morning and she has, uh, you know, a 12 minute commute. Like I'm getting very, very niche, but like, these are, these are things you think about when you put yourself in the shoes of your ideal viewer, listener, you go, is this person going to consume it while they're walking?

Are they, are they, you know, like all of those things. And when you do that, then you start to [00:15:00] go, okay. My key audience is super, super busy. What am I doing, doing an hour and a half interview? Chris Stone, you know, I, I need to understand that I have to create content that serves the person that I'm trying to serve.

It's a lot to ask someone to do that. Now I consume a lot of content, but I have a rule, Katie, one of my rules. One of the three rules, I'm going to, I'm going to talk about my three rules. I know I realize I'm rambling, rambling here. First rule is a listen to music every day. And music is, is in my DNA. I grew up playing in bands.

I 28 years for Sony music. It is my, it's in my DNA and it is what it's me creative. And that's the reason why I do it. When I listen to music, it just sends me. To the creative space, it makes me create. And so that's rule number one. Rule number two is I make my. Chris,

Katie Brinkley: before you, before you get to rule number two, Chris, this is why you and I like, we're connected, you know, my Myspace background, you know, my love of music.

I am a [00:16:00] huge music listener and really the only time. Well, and you brought up a good point about knowing who it is that you're creating the content for. And I say this often because I was producing weekly. Podcasts for Rocky mountain marketing. All of them were guest interviews. And I, I went back and I looked to see which episodes did the best.

Cause I was kind of hanging around this, like a similar download mark. And I was like, gosh, it's okay, but it's not really growing. And I went back and looked to see which ones were doing the best. And honestly, it was the ones that were just a little bit shorter and they were by myself. So that's why I'm crazy and decided to do two episodes a week.

And this is where I say. Launching the solo episodes saved my podcast. Yeah. So these solo episodes, 8 to 12 minutes of me talking about whatever's going on in the world of social media, because there's always something. And it saved, I say it saved my podcast because it brought in new listeners, and it made them say, Okay, well.

Well, what else does she have to say? And then they listen to the longer guest [00:17:00] episodes. They if they don't have enough time to listen to the longer ones and they can listen to a short one. So this is where it's really important to know who it is that you're creating content for. And then also, again, Chris, this is you and I offline and need to talk music one day.

All right. Rule number two. Let's hear rule number two.

Chris Stone: Rule number two is, make my wife laugh every day. And the reason is, is because. She married me for my sense of humor, definitely not my looks. So, uh, you know, and because she's, because my marriage is important to me, that's a rule that I make. Because if I don't make her laugh at least once a day, then it's, you know, I don't know, things just don't go well for me in my marriage unless I can make her laugh.

And if things are going wrong in marriages, which they do evidently, I still make her laugh. And so that is, that's rule number two. And then rule number three is to the original point before the music is please create more than you consume. So [00:18:00] this is really what gets you off of your rear end and gets you in front of a camera and a microphone For something that is going to have you you've got to create something.

It's a 12 minute, quick cast It's a minute video that you're going to chop up into social media or it's Like creating something because you can sit back and watch Netflix. You can even go, you know what, I'm going to get on YouTube and I'm going to watch the latest Pat Flynn episode and look and think that you're consuming that.

And you're learning from it unless you apply it. And actually create it, it, at least for me, like I said, these are my own, my own rules. I have to create more than I consume every day.

Katie Brinkley: Yeah, man, that's, and that's something that's, I have a hard time with, it's hard, you know, create, creating every day.

Um, but you know, you think about it and. Whether it is creating a podcast or for you, you know, you have deal casters, I actually do want to [00:19:00] move over to deal casters for a minute because it is, it is different. And, you know, you brought it up during clubhouse, you know, like that's one thing that you were really, that's right.

When the Amazon influencer program came out was during the clubhouse days and there's multiple ways. To share your content outside of just YouTube, you know, podcasting, Facebook, repurposing into shorts. And one of the things that, the things that you do. You're an Amazon influencer and people who have a product to sell.

So I have my book. I could sell that. I have my guide, like the whole planner that I could sell it's available. Let's talk about that for a minute. So. Tell us what that is and who, whose ears should be perked up a little bit right now. Oh,

Chris Stone: I've selling, started ramping up, uh, mostly because of what was happening in Asia.

And so there was all of these, you know, let's call them influencers. I know that, that, that, that phrase has been tarnished, a little bit, but, you know, call it creators, that sell. So [00:20:00] it became very popular and Amazon launched their influencer program in 2020. And, uh, what it did is it allowed people, uh, to go live on the platform in Amazon, where your, your actual live show is, on a product page.

So Jim Fuse and myself, Jim from Fusion Marketing, a really good friend of mine, and I do similar things. We produce, shows for other people. Inevitably, what was happening was we would Deal with prospects, deal with clients. And it was always about tech. It always landed on tech. Like, Hey, you know, what is that microphone you have?

And why, why should I do this? And how do I do this? And how, what about this virtual thing? What about a teleprompter? And like all of these things that just ended up. And so they would just, a lot of my clients, Katie would just go, can I just give you my credit card number and you can just order it for me and ship it to my house?

Like it was just, it was this huge cumbersome process. And Amazon launched the Amazon influencer program. And Jim called me that day and said, Hey, we're Amazon influencers. I was like, [00:21:00] well, what are you talking about? Two hours later, we had developed the show, designed the logo. Had our first set of guests because we were like, this is where we're going to go live.

We want to be a differentiator, right? I want to go live in Amazon and just talk about selling products the whole time. This isn't, you know, even though it's quote unquote QVC home shopping network ask a lot of people do that. And some people very successfully do that. Yeah. And I are not like that. We're not, we're not going to go live on, on QVC and, and, and do this stuff.

But what we can do is have shows where we can talk to some people like Katie Brinkley and, you know, have a podcast, see if we could get away with it. And it actually worked. And, uh, we were surprised at how successful it was early on. It's changed, early on. And we were like, Woke up one day, looked at our Amazon associates account and said, Oh wow, where did all this [00:22:00] come from?

And the first thing we did, Katie is instead of tried to gatekeep that information, he decided to podfest and take an entire day and talk about it and tell people how to do it and set people up in the room because happened initially was there was a bunch of people that would jump on the platform.

Didn't really know what they were doing. And like,

Katie Brinkley: that was me. That was me. I didn't know what I was doing. I tried. I mean, trust

Chris Stone: me, you were, you were still light years ahead of some people that it was the first time they've ever done anything like this, the platform needed better content and there was a lot of people that were gaming the system and trying to just make money, where they didn't have their avatar.

Like we talked about it. Set up. They were just like, I'm in it for me. I'm in it for to, to do as much, to make as much money as possible. I don't want to say it ruined it for a lot of people, but it just definitely did not make watching Amazon live streams, that enjoyable because there wasn't, there was some people that were doing a really great job, of putting content on there.

We still go [00:23:00] live there. When we go live, we go live on the platform and you know, you make a little money from from what happens and generally for the people that are hearing this for the first time, we're having a conversation with someone like Katie Brinkley. We have her book in the carousel on Amazon.

We have her guides her like her microphone that she's speaking into. There. And so when someone's shopping and they see this show and they're like, I don't know what Mike Katie's got, but I want that Mike, because I want to be like her and they'll buy it. And so, or they'll buy the book because she's talking about the book.

And that's what we're interviewing. So really did it, Katie, because. It was a way for us to demonstrate what we could do as remote producers in creating a show. Had no idea that it was going to make any money. And the reason why we continue to do it, even though we're not making nearly as much commission revenue from it, is because it was fun and still is fun.

We love to do that show. Jim and I are very good friends to hang out. We love to do creative [00:24:00] things. Talk to people like you and have a show that happens to be on Amazon. And yeah, it's, you know, you make a little commission revenue, but that's not why we got into it. We did it because we wanted to demonstrate our abilities as remote producers and to have fun.

Katie Brinkley: Chris, I love the fact that you guys go live because, you know, there's, there's been a couple hiccups in this podcast episode. When I started the episode, I spilled my coffee all over my, my desk and my keyboard, you know, then we had some like video things pop up, but that is something that happens, you know, if it happens live.

People don't, you know, say, I'm pointing, you know, people sit around and wait, they're like, don't worry about it. We're still here. People understand. And it really helps build the know, like, and trust factor. I mean, I think that podcasting is one of the best ways to really, to really build trust with an audience.

But. If you're doing a live show, it grows even faster.

Chris Stone: And I'm sorry to cut you off there, but I will say this. And for those that are just freaking [00:25:00] out when they think when they hear that live video thing, Katie, and they think, well, if I'm ready to do that, I just want to record something on Riverside or I just want to, you know, maybe you don't see me yet.

Right. And I'm just recording audio or whatever. And they hear the live thing is there too. Okay. I am a perfectionist. I am a recovering perfectionist. I, we, we, we talked about, I always say, you know, and, um, and, uh, ramble at times and all of those things, right? Tell you this, gotten better. The only way that I could get to this point was go live.

Because that just pushed through the perfectionism. Going live, I'm doing this, we're gonna go. And yes, first shows, we're gonna go. Absolute cringe. Go ahead. Go. You can go to deal casters YouTube channel. They're all up there It's super cringy. And one of our first episodes was with a dave jackson of a mutual friend.

Yeah, he's been on the show

Katie Brinkley: Yeah,

Chris Stone: and uh, yeah, I mean I I was like I go back and I watch and I listen to that and i'm like, oh God, i'm sure [00:26:00] dave was like, oh But whatever I mean, you don't you first shows are going to be Not good, but your second show is going to be better. Your third show is going to be better than your second.

And so on and so on. You just got to go through perfectionism. If that's something that someone's struggling with a video really, I don't want to say it killed it because I still have the, the perfectionist thing going on on a lot of stuff, especially on video that's, that's recorded, but live video absolutely helps.

Katie Brinkley: So I want the biggest takeaway from today's episode. Someone's going to say, man, I had no idea on this. I want you to tell us what person should go live on Amazon, because I think a lot of people might say like, oh, well, I want to have a leadership podcast or, oh, I'm a social media podcast. I want you to tell us who should have a live show on Amazon and how they can use it in multiple ways.

Other than just having a podcast. I think

Chris Stone: Amazon is one place for you to put a show. [00:27:00] Uh, when, when we go live, we put it on Facebook and YouTube and Twitch and Nick, and we put it in a lot of different places. And Katie, you talked earlier about looking, being a nerd and looking at your data and understanding, okay, this shows resonating here with these people.

So. It's a really good reason, first of all, you have to get approved by Amazon and they just look at your social proof and they go, okay, they have 2000 followers or whatever on YouTube, you're approved. You can go live on the platform. A little, a little cumbersome to do it. The process in and of itself is not great, however, can make, you can make a little money doing that and doing product videos.

And so I wouldn't, I used to be, you know, we had a whole day of podfest talking. Hey, look, go get the money people. This is, you know, go and do this on Amazon. It's changed. So I'm not going to tell you and it might change for the better in the future. But Me, it's just another place where we're going to put our live content, just [00:28:00] like we do on Twitch.

And we'll get comments from people on Twitch. We'll get comments from people on Amazon. There's a community that we built there on Amazon. People go on Amazon, which are shows books from people like, the Brinkley. It's just another Avenue. Now, something that you really like, it's like the most important thing in your podcast journey.

Absolutely not. I think it is definitely something where you want to stream to that platform. And like you said, Katie. Go into your data. They give you all kinds of data on Amazon. Not as good as YouTube, but they'll, they'll go in there and you, you can go, okay, here's where people are dropping off. Here's where, people are resonating.

Here's my views. Here's how many hearts and how many likes I'm getting. This kind of content is resonating with people on these platforms. And so I'm going to kind of follow those clues. Success leaves clues. And so, You know, we all have influences, right? We all have people that we really love to listen to and to watch.

You know, Conan O'Brien is, is, is, O'Brien needs a friend as a podcast that I love to listen and to [00:29:00] watch. That doesn't mean that you should copy everything. You should use your influences, but develop your own voice based on your avatar. So, so I, I'm, I'm rambling a bit, but to answer your question more specifically, you Person that should be on Amazon is somebody that is doing a video show that ultimately has products that are associated with it.

So if I'm talking about, you know, leadership and I have a leadership book. Yeah. Okay. Put it in there. If you're talking to somebody else that has equipment and things like that, because you are going to get questions based on the products you have. in the carousel and Amazon does watch these live streams and they'll go, this person's on, this podcast talking about something that has no products, you know, they're just putting vacuum cleaners in the carousel and this is, so they'll, they'll just boot you right out of the program if you, if you do stuff like that.

So you got to be careful, follow along with, with what they're doing. But there's plenty of people that do, that interview authors, and you know, [00:30:00] once in a while we'll be interviewing an author and somebody will ask a question about the headphones we're wearing. And we just kind of weave it into the conversation, answer the question and move on.

And you know, kind of serve the audience.

Katie Brinkley: That's a really good point. Like I was thinking that for when I'm on your show, I should have put in my bookshelf. I should've put in my ear, the headphones that I have on. You still do? Yeah. I can send them, send them one of the links later today. But, okay. So as we wrap up today's episode, you talked, we talked a lot about knowing your audience, knowing who it is that you're creating content for, because that is one of the, the biggest reasons why you will have success from having a show.

How do you find data? That's one of the biggest questions. People ask me, I did an entire master class on it one day and I'm just knowing who it is that you're talking to and it blew my mind how many people were just looking at the generic, you know, podcast host stats, and that was all the data they were looking at.

So what advice do you have for [00:31:00] people? for looking at their data so that they know exactly who they're talking to and what content is resonating. Excellent

Chris Stone: question. For podcasters, hosts are better than others with, with analytics. I predominantly use captivate for my shows and for, a number of shows that I also produce, but some of these other shows use blueberry, there's buzzsprout, libsyn.

I use a cast pod bean. A cast is another one. So, so I have access to all of these hosts as I manage their podcasts as well. I think captivate does the best job in my opinion of giving the analytics that I can actually use. It's not just, here's how many downloads, right? Downloads are not, downloads are only important for you to gauge as you go along.

And ultimately, you know, a sponsor may go, how many downloads do you get? Which is, I hate, I hate that more than anything. Same. Because it really is just like, they, you don't understand that if you [00:32:00] serve, especially a niche audience, downloads don't matter. It's the consistency and the audience that that is there that is downloading and listening to it.

Can you say that again? Say that again, Chris, because that is so good. I think that we need to say it again. Exactly. Because so many, and, and if you follow me on Facebook, man, I feel like I've been standing on a soapbox these past few weeks, but say it again for the people in the back, because I couldn't agree more.

Chris Stone: Do wnloads only matter to sponsors. And your downloads should only matter for you if you're gauging how your show is proving. And so if you start with five and you start, you build it and now you're at a hundred, you know, so you're, you're actually just building this audience and serving a niche audience is, if a sponsor's like, Hey, I, you know, you, if you don't get a hundred thousand downloads a week on your podcast, we're not going to talk to you.[00:33:00]

They're not, they're, they don't understand, like, this is a niche audience that is engaged. And so I would say back to your original question in terms of how you look at your data, downloads is just one thing. It's like views on Instagram reels or views on Tik Tok, right? You just like many comments, how many engagements, how many reposts, how many shares the share is the, is the ultimate.

It's like. There's no marketing that's any better than someone saying, love this video, I want you to watch it. I love this podcast. I want you to listen to it. Pairing is the most important metric, my opinion, that you could ever have because that's what's going to increase engagement. It's like when you walk into a record store, Katie, we're going to go back to music on this.

Katie Brinkley: Yeah.

Chris Stone: You walk into a record store. You're walking around, you go into the, you know, you look like you're into heavy metal. You walk into the heavy metal section, you're like, okay, let me look through some, some new releases. What happens if, you know, some tattooed bro walks up with a [00:34:00] mayhem shirt on and goes, Hey, have you heard the new Johnny and the Losers record?

You're going to be like Johnny and the Losers. Oh man, you got to hear this Johnny and the Losers record pulling you over. And you're listening to this because this person knows what they're talking about. And you're like, okay. But my, my point is this, is that podcasting is out there in the world, right?

You were listening and people are sharing and that is what's going to really resonate is is the share more than anything I don't know how we started talking about mayhem and Johnny and the losers But

I don't know if Mike, Johnny and the Luthors is a real band or not, but that's a pretty, I would say it's a pretty lousy name. I mean, I don't know if they're setting themselves up for success. Shout out to Johnny. Yeah.

Katie Brinkley: I don't know if Mike Johnny and the losers is a real band or not, but that's a pretty I would say It's a pretty lousy name.

I mean, I don't know if they're setting themselves up for success

Chris Stone: Johnny

Katie Brinkley: Well, Chris, this has been such a great episode. I definitely would love to have you come back and talk about really growing your show because I, it, there's so many different ways to grow it, but. The first part is just getting started [00:35:00] and, and having your audience for who you're creating for in mind and, and just really understanding that it's only going to get better.

You have to keep creating if you're going to get better and build your community. So Chris, people can check you out at castahead. com. Check Chris out on LinkedIn.

Chris Stone: Castahead.

Katie Brinkley: net net. Sorry. Castahead. net. Chris is very active over on LinkedIn. You know, tell us, tell us all the different ways that people can sign up to work with you, can learn from you, all the things, Chris.

Chris Stone: Castahead. net and we've got a launch playbook for you there. All you got to do is give me your email address. I won't spam you. I do send out some stuff as a linkedin newsletter as well, and it really helps people sort of a lot of the stuff we talked about is how to create how to how to get through this mind junk that we have and create content and create more than you consume.

Flip open your phone, do videos, all, you know, some, some tactical ways for you to be able to, create things, easily so you get better. And one day you can be as awesome as Katie Brinkley. Katie, thank you [00:36:00] so much for having me on your show. You're so awesome.

Katie Brinkley: Thanks so much for joining me, Chris.

And uh, you know, I check out Chris, he's a wealth of knowledge. See him speaking on stages all over, listen to his podcast, watch him on Amazon, do all the things. Chris, thank you so much for joining me on marketing.

Thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of Rocky Mountain Marketing. I hope you're leaving with valuable insights and the inspiration to lead your market. If you've enjoyed our time together and found today's podcast episode useful, I have a small favor to ask of you. Please hit that subscribe button to stay updated with the latest episodes.

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com to connect, to find more resources, or just to share your journey. And be sure to pick up your copy of my new book, the [00:37:00] social shift at Katie Brinkley. com slash book. Thanks again for tuning in. I'm Katie Brinkley, and I can't wait to dive into more strategies and stories with you on the next episode of Rocky mountain marketing.

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