Welcome back to Incorporating SuperPower. Got a question for you. Are you trying to find your voice in the world? Are you trying to break through the noise of the gurus who are trying to tell you how to play their game? Do you want to play your game? Do you want to break through the noise? You want to have a conversation and just start building relationships with your friends and family beyond your friends and family. Or to listeners, to customers, to people that buy from you. Right? Because that’s what we’ve got to get back to.
I’m super, super excited because my guest is the Founder & Chief Evangelist Officer for Interview Valet. Tom Schwab joins us on the call today because he is here doing things different.
We were talking before the show, and he is doing things completely counterintuitive, which is why I love what he’s doing to what everybody else mainstream is trying to sell you. Tom, welcome to the show.
Justin, I am thrilled to be here. And sometimes when the masses are going one way, it’s a stampede off a cliff. We need to pause and look and go, “Is this really working? Is this the direction I want to go?” And what really works and what is just marketing hype.
Yeah. For those of you that are new to the podcasting space, if you’re in business and you’re wanting to break into the podcasting space, always doing PR still works, absolutely. But there’s a lot of sharks in that ocean, a lot of sharks in the ocean. And podcasting is still brand new and you can leverage it in such a way; but oftentimes, it’s hard to get started. You don’t know where to start and that’s where Tom comes in.
Tom, tell us a little bit more about Interview Valet.
Sure. It’s really the idea of the best way to get heard is to get in on a conversation that’s already going on. So Interview Valet helps inspiring thought leaders get heard and introduced to millions of ideal people they could serve for the betterment of all. That’s our mission right there.
We work with authors, coaches, consultants, brands to get them featured as the guest on targeted podcast interviews. So instead of trying to break through the noise. Hey, get in on a conversation that people are listening to. Get introduced by somebody they already know, which is the host. And we have found that it works so much better. It’s a fun way to produce content and it converts 25 times better than a blog.
Yeah. I love the fact that it’s all about having the conversations, right? What’s very, very unique about the podcasting world is the people that are having conversations are having very specific conversations. And so if you want to tap into a market, find somebody that’s got a podcast in that market and get on their show. But how do you find them?
Right here.
Tom’s got that for you. So Tom, talk to me. What are some of the biggest challenges or the biggest fears that people have going on podcast shows. Why aren’t they looking there yet?
And that’s the biggest thing that’s stopping people is fear, right? Because it’s like, why wouldn’t you go and talk to thousands or tens of thousands of your ideal customers? And a lot of times people will say, “Well, I’m not ready.” Well, you’re ready to help people that are out there.
Or, “I’m not an expert.” You know, the definition of an expert, legal definition is someone by their training, their education or their experience knows more than the average person. I guarantee you, you’re an expert in your business. If you’re working day in and day out, you’re an expert. You’ve got things that could really, really help people. They just need to hear from you.
A lot of times, other people will say, “Well, I don’t know if I want to do a podcast, be a host or a guest.” And I’m like, “Do both, right?”
Being a host is a great way to nurture those current leads, those current customers, but being a guest is a great way to go out there and meet new people, get new backlinks, get new leads for that. And really, this is the golden age of podcasting here.
You know, there’s a lot of other mediums. Television and radio are all pay-to-play. They’re saturated. People aren’t listening anymore. But podcasting is new, it’s hot. People are engaged and all the data is saying that the trend is continuing.
So I think sometimes people just are waiting for everything to be perfect, but you know what? I’ve lived long enough to realize everything can’t be perfect, but now is the perfect time.
Yeah. And that’s the beautiful thing about podcasting is that there’s really no bad podcast interview because it’s all exposure, right? It’s all getting out there in ways that you would not normally get out in front of people before.
And I think there’s this myth behind podcasting, like it’s a magic bullet. And I see it from all the gurus who are selling podcasting courses on how to do a podcast. And you know, it’s going to cost you 30 grand to do a podcast to learn how to do a podcast. Not even to do the podcast, but just to learn to do the podcast.
It’s this concept of monetization, right? It’s the. Well, we’re going to monetize. You’re going to do a podcast to monetize your business. Your business should already be monetized. This is a form of advertising. It comes with an expense, not just time but money as well.
What I love about podcasting is we tell people that, from our experience, it’s a broadcasting mechanism. You are your own radio show. You get to tap into those that are attracted to your message, what you have to say and when they’re ready, because now they’ve built a relationship with you through a podcast interview or through your own podcast, now they’re going to buy from you.
So Tom, how important in today’s day and age given COVID and everything going on, is podcasting to building those relationships?
Well, you hit on it there. It’s relationships. We buy from people we know, like and trust. You know, there’s a great tweet out there from Rand Fishkin who started a company called Moz. And he said, “The best way to sell something today is not to sell anything, but to earn the respect, awareness, and trust of those who might buy.”
So to build that relationship, if you have the perfect product for me and I go onto Google, I don’t look at what you say about your product, I’m looking at what other people say about your product. So that could be reviews, but it also could be listening to podcasts, listening to what you talk about there. Listening to your podcast interviews.
Years ago, HubSpot did a study that said 70% of the buying decision is made before they even call you. And I think that’s outdated. I think it’s even more than that right now. So if they don’t find you, that sends a signal right there too; but if they find you, well, that tells them something.
Something that we struck on in the latter part of 2020 was all of our clients started to get these knowledge panels on Google Chrome when you Google them. A knowledge panel is gold, right? That is before the first listing there. So it’s like, you want to get to page one or the first spot? No. I want to get to page zero. And all it was is because they were mentioned so many times on the internet from different podcasts.
So when people Google you, when people check you out, you want them to find you everywhere. You want them to be able to consume you. And to really see somebody that, “Hey, Justin works with people like me. I like him. He can help me.”
And boy, those are the customers that you want to attract. The end of the day. None of us need more leads; we need more people that we can help.
Yeah. And what I love about it is that through the power of podcasting. One, you break through the noise of everybody else because you’re doing your thing. You’re not fighting against the same thing that everybody else is doing, right? Having your own podcast means that you don’t necessarily have to be on social media. You can market your podcast in so many different ways.
Having it on the platforms is marketing. You know, you can stair-step it; just how big you want to go, how big do you want to dream. Because podcasting gives you the power to build it like you want to build it; and not because somebody said you should do it this way, right? Because what worked for them may not necessarily work for you, are you willing to pay $30,000 to figure that out? Or do you want to figure it out along the way?
There’s nothing wrong with that. But with Tom as an ally to get you started in getting on different shows, how do you think we met? We met through Interview Valet, right? We’ve met at a couple of events in person as well, but it was because of our connection in the podcasting space that we connected.
Tom, I want to go down the rabbit hole a little bit further here in the back, and talk a little bit more about breaking through the noise and what it is that you do for your clients and so forth. But before we go on break, where can listeners go find more information about you?
Sure. Easiest place is just go to interviewvalet.com/superpower. I’ll put a copy of my book there, a free copy of the book. There’s a checklist that we give to all of our clients so you’ll be there for your first interview. And also put my calendar schedule in. So if this resonates with you, just go to interviewvalet.com/superpower.
Fantastic. Folks, stay with us. We’re going to talk a little bit more about Breaking Through the Noise right after this.
To listen to the entire show click on the player above or go to the SuperPower Up! podcast on iTunes.
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