Announcing: The Marketing Budget Moneybomb

00:00 Alright guys, so I had an idea and i was going to make a short pre-roll announcement to put before the episodes this month but it started to get too long. And I thought fine let's just put something out in the feed that really covers all the bases and explains what this idea is and how I would hope it would work. You can see from the title that has to do with marketing and if you're a longtime listener giving money away But I'm going to be pretty candid with you about the show and our position, and the sort of stuff you say in a meeting with a marketing agency or manager or agent but not often directly. We're trying something new!

00:41 So sometimes I see my peers and our guests trying all these wild and crazy forward thinking ideas, and using the position they've made for themselves to the fullest. And I thought fuck it let's run with this weird idea I had which is really just a way to bring back the money bomb potentially something i've always wanted to do but needed to find a better less legally gray way to do it To start from the beginning, THC has always really just been a word of mouth show. I try to make the content good and hope that the rest shakes out and it truly has! I'm very fortunate but i would say that growth has slowed a little bit and in the 12 years since I've been doing it a lot has changed in the podcasting space

01:28 And people have popped out of nowhere and amassed huge audiences because they're coming from some sort of other lucrative career, and they can assemble the right teams and hit the ground running with their marketing strategy. Patrick bet David is a great example even flagrant could fit in here I'm a fan of those shows actually they are well oiled machines and obviously my show is very different from theirs And it's always been described as a conspiracy show, but they're having on Whitney Webb and JFK Jr. Not that I'm even sure I want to have them on but Alex Jones as well They don't hit the same territory we hit week after week But there is becoming more overlap than I might have thought a few years ago As a general citizen, I love to see that These ideas have to get out of lanes like ours I can be pretty objective about that

02:25 I don't feel that i need to be the most popular show even just in the alternative space by any means. But, I think anyone in my position would often wonder if they're doing everything they can do to grow their show etc etc and now with two children in the mix all my eggs are in this basket and I worry about the future of podcasting the economy and the country itself So I feel it's important to do everything i can on a personal level to be in the best position. I hope we're all doing that actually! I know that part of the reason certain shows are dwarfing us is that they are more palatable to the mainstream in general. Flagrant is a comedy show that occasionally veers into our lane, great another part of it is The Team-the agents, producers and marketing apparatus

03:20 The interns that are making the eye-catching YouTube clips and that kind of thing. Because in a lot of ways, podcasting has gone from a really simple machine done by regular folks to big business and celebrities and a lot of other stuff. And another part of it is video. Many of these shows getting deep into the millions of views are video not just audio And it's something I think about a lot, making that transition. And it comes down to two things. I like our ability to edit the audio and make it more listenable as a podcast fan myself sometimes I listened to interviews full of long pauses and you know what? I'm saying after every sentence and they just seem slow to me. A lot of fat could be cut off of those interviews

04:12 And I like that we still put in the extra effort there to make our guests and myself sound our best. In pretty much all other forms of media, the best content has some editing and i think that would be true for the best podcast as well even if it takes more time but number two when you go to video you have way less flexibility You pretty much have to be YouTube friendly And yeah, maybe your one RFK Jr. episode gets taken down but for the most part you gotta be within the guidelines of what's acceptable there and that's not gonna happen for us either I actually think that would be more damaging in terms of self-censorship than taking ads So in terms of making actual changes to the show that could benefit growing the audience I think I'm gonna stay where I am

05:05 Maybe I could have done better through the years consistently saying, Hey review the show. Share the show follow me on social media and all that stuff but that stuff isn't super important to me. I want growth for some simple reasons obviously more plus members helps me in my family. I would not deny the financial motivation to be as big as we can be but even more than that, I want to know that I can interview who I want to interview. I think i'm good at what I do and I don't want to be limited And when alternative guests come on, I want them to see a huge benefit as well. If our guests and their work and these alternative perspectives are important and right we should all want them to go further. THC is the vehicle for exactly that. Over the years at times when i felt stagnant I have flirted with some of the dark arts of marketing and representation but it's been a total waste of money. I've always come away

06:04 From a six-month trial run thinking, well that did nothing but siphon money from me. I've also been offered opportunities to be apart of Netflix shows or Discovery Channel shows as one of many talking heads But the contracts i'm asked to sign are so restrictive and overreaching that I just can't do it Which means the doors to any of those opportunities are pretty much closed But I have seen some decent results when I've bought ads directly on other podcasts that would have some overlap with us. I've done it really just a handful of times, but it has made a slight difference! Ad rates though are pretty insane to get just a 30 second spot on a show with an audience on the same tier as us is about $2500 dollars which is nuts in fact It makes me realize how much money I've left on the table over my stubborn no advertising commitment

07:00 Because 4 ads a show at $2,500 is 10k per free episode. Even half of that is nothing to sneeze at! And when I look at the Free-to-Plus conversion and the numbers of other shows... ...the messaging is pretty clear that most people really just don't care about ads There's a theory that ads affect the content but Sam triply takes ads isaac weishaupt does ads charlie robinson does that a lot of shows with the same gas and content as us make that money. And don't change the content at all because there's always some other company that wants those eyes but i'm getting way off topic that is not really what im talking about here

07:43 My thought was, what if I took that $2500 and instead of buying just 30 seconds of airtime on another show. I tried to crowdsource our marketing and growth operation and gave 500 bucks to a random listener each episode we have five shows a month and $500 is such a clean number it's under the $600 IRS cap thing that's going on And some of the shows I would buy ads on, I've been a guest on or could be a guest on and that's a much bigger benefit. And free for me unless i need to fly somewhere which I'm also willing to do for the right shows. Given how the world is going right now, I think 500 bucks would make a difference to a lot of people

08:27 And I'd rather give back to loyal listeners than throw money down the bottomless pit of marketing or hiring an agent or any of these things that other guys do. So we're going to try it, maybe only last a month but i feel like taking a chance. I'll know if there's been a benefit or not because this isn't just a giveaway this is a creative use of my marketing budget like any use of it If there are no results then I just try something else But let's at least give it a go I'm going to see if enough happens in July to also try again in August, etc. And let's define what I actually think helps grow a show like the Hireside Chats. I suppose reviews and likes and shares on social media offer a small benefit. I kind of think we're past that stage but when a friend shares an hour-long interview on Facebook how often do we check that out? I would say rarely

09:25 Especially if we don't know the show and especially if we're used to them doing that. But when I see Reddit posts or forum posts asking people, what is the best conspiracy or paranormal podcasts? I do check out those lists and sometimes go forth and check out those shows. Luckily, I do see us mentioned in those conversations a lot. And I thank you guys for that maybe with this effort, we can just throw some more fuel on that fire Those posts that aren't just in our social media circles but posts outside of that, in more high-yield places. Also I'd love to see more clips being made by listeners rather than just myself! I do try to cut and share one plus clip per show but it's hard for me to keep up with again video shows lend themselves to more obvious clipping But we can still do it

10:19 A lot of the podcasting apps like Podcast Addict offer a button now to clip things. I'd love to see more general clips going around, to bring people to the full episodes! I'm sure that would help but i would say the number one most effective thing we could do with this is encourage the big names to come on THC and encourage the adjacent shows to have me on as a guest I once heard someone ask Lex Friedman how he gets such big names and does these long extended interviews with very busy and in demand people. And he said, usually someone who knows them personally is a fan and recommends that we link up

11:02 Well, I know that the alternative network is much smaller and well connected. And i know that people close to these potential guests who I can't seem to get have THC listeners that are close to them and consider their opinion valuable. I need to cash in on that a little bit guys! I can tell you right now that some of our best episodes were because so-and-so knew so-and-so and said hey this Greg Carlwood guy is a great interviewer And I'm hoping we can turn the dial up on that a bit. The Catherine Austin Fitzs, the Charles Eisensteins, the David Hatcher Childresses... Maybe even anonymous people who have direct knowledge or experience with the topics that we like to discuss. Hell even Jacques Villet! I've seen him do some really basic interviews with guys like ex-UFC fighter Chael Sonnen

11:54 who, no offense to Chael, barely even has a basic understanding of the nuances in the UFO space. Why did Jacques do that interview? Well I'm sure someone told him that was a place they wanted to see him go and that's fine but my interview requests sometimes don't go as far as a good personal recommendation or half dozen impersonal ones To this day, one of the biggest bumps THC has ever gotten was from my appearance on The Chris Jericho Show. And why did that happen? He asked his audience who he should get for a paranormal episode and enough people said me that he reached out! Even still years later people are coming back to see what I do because of that really mediocre interview...I could do it better today but its what its is

12:42 So long story short, I'm going to give the ad budget to you guys. $500 per episode to a random listener and in exchange i'm hoping that people who generally support this experiment will go the extra mile to put our name out there... To make some THC clips to share but really get more A-level guests to know that THC is a place they should come get interviewed and get more shows at the higher side chats level or higher to bring me on Because these are the things that agents, managers and marketing teams do. I can tell you for a fact that many shows that have a lot of clips that you see circulating those aren't organic they're done by some paid intern and many of the guests you see doing the rounds are because they have very pushy and effective agents and managers advocating for them something that i've always thought was a little icky

13:37 And of course, someone from that world would say that this idea I'm presenting today is very dumb because they offer expertise and a professional touch and all the right connections and all that. But I disagree! I think you guys could do anything that they do. Recommendations are recommendations. I've done great on word-of-mouth. I just want to open that mouth a little wider because the podcasting space in the world at large has changed in the last decade And let me also say this, I won't put any individual person on blast because i know the higher side chats is a controversial show and not everyone wants it to be known that they listen but i can see who my followers are. And there are some very big names in the world of entertainment that at least follow my social media so i assume they also listen to the show occasionally people that know

14:31 that a single text could give us a huge bump. Big name musicians, comedians journalists other podcasters even wrestlers people who know damn well what I'm saying about agents and managers is true they've had to do the dance and maybe they respect the fact that i'm trying to go a different way And again if these ideas and THC guests are worth spreading help me spread them If you like this idea even though you don't need $500 Help it along. So now let's talk about the logistics of getting the money bomb to the people, because it's not that easy for a podcast actually know who its listeners are if you're a plus member congratulations your hat is in the ring automatically okay so because of the membership I already have your email address and so I can reach out to you pretty easily so right there new plus member benefit you might randomly get 500 bucks

15:27 If you signed up with a fake email, as some people do. You're allowed to do it I don't really care but you might want to go into your profile page and change that for this purpose But what about the tens of thousands of free listeners? The ones who are really going to decide if this whole idea works or not Well...I have a newsletter signup on the THC website I never really use it, I don't ever mention it I haven't sent a newsletter in years because I simply never get that far down on the To Do list And I also think it's kind of lame. I don't love getting newsletters in general, but for this purpose it works if you want to be eligible for the money bomb you have to make sure I have your email. I don't logistically see another way to do it so sign up for the newsletter at the bottom of the higher side chats website and maybe I'll get back to putting out something once a month maybe not

16:18 But it's a good practice for a podcaster to have a healthy email list anyway, for those in case of emergency break glass situations where maybe I get deplatformed somewhere and I need to be able to reach out or maybe our feed breaks. So...I have to have a plan B? You know, I could see a benefit there! It's part of the success puzzle that i've neglected for years so let's make up for some lost time there But it is the best and simplest way. I need to have your email from a Plus membership or a newsletter sign up, but I'm also going to be looking out there for these posts and clips. I'm going to be searching hashtag Hireside Chats And if I see some exceptionally good stuff, I might reach out in a DM just to make sure I have your email not only for the money bomb but it's also possible that I hire a few highly effective people If this broad strokes approach doesn't work. For example TikTok

17:14 The last thing I want is to manage another social media profile. I tried making an account and putting up a few clips, but I just can't do it consistently. However if you search hashtag Hireside Chats people do post about the show on TikTok already! And that's great let's do more of that where we can do it You can now post lengthy clips on Twitter That's probably the most useful place. I don't use TikTok but I hear the volume is impressive But for this to be fair, I think it has to be random. I have to just pick a email from the list and that is our winner so there won't be an exact correlation between effort and entry but i'm hoping in the spirit of this being a good idea to cut out the parasites and go right back to the people we will get that bump and the money will go back to someone who helped however they could and actually could use it

18:11 So you can sign up for the newsletter and do nothing. But I hope if you're going to sign up for the newsletter, you also try to move the needle for me and earn the money bomb or at least be able to justify it so you're not taking from someone else who needs it and actually tried to help look, I can't vet any of this or keep tabs on it or make sure the winners are listeners who did try to help but we are just gonna do it and see what happens The other thing that's important is I need a response from the person i pick within 24 hours. I think that's reasonable if I contact you and say you're the winner, I need to hear back within a day so I can get you the money via PayPal or Venmo yes it has to be through one of those two easy-to-use systems and I want to be able to get a voicemail from you that I can play in the wrap up so we can all hear from the winners like the old days

19:01 But info about that will be in my email when I reach out. For now, it's just important that i have your email on my list and then I get a response within 24 hours if you're picked those are the parameters and in exchange I'm hoping we can blow up some clips and the higher side chats hashtag and post about THC being a good show in the space Sure, all of that. But again the biggest impact is going to be from those few individuals who can say to those A-level guests hey you should do this interview let me get you guys introduced or the same could be said for getting in the ear of those podcasts that are crushing it and maybe every so often dip their toe into having a conspiracy or paranormal guest on and making that connection for me

19:49 And I'm going to spread that $2,500 marketing budget out to people who could use it rather than just dumping it in the lap of another podcaster so they can shoehorn something about me in between their ads for Casper mattresses and manscaped razors. I think the listeners can be the best advocates. It's certainly more genuine and I know we have friends in high places if they're willing to step up a bit who knows? And as a reminder, in those situations my email address is thehiresideschats at gmail.com and really the only social media I use is Twitter so we can facilitate connections that way too. So collectively if in 30 days I feel like this has been a mutually beneficial situation and has given us a better boost than the other options for marketing budget...we can keep doing it maybe forever!

20:37 I've thrown away $2,500 on more than a few conventional growth strategies over the years. So the worst that could happen is that at least five listeners got 500 bucks and I have a healthy email list that I didn't have before part of the fun of being the boss and having complete control is doing something out of the box. It's a wild idea but I hope I'm right So go forth, dear listeners. Let's make a big push. Make sure I have your email to be eligible and let's cut out the middleman and maybe change the nature of podcast marketing as we know it right? They may write books and teach classes about this if we do it correctly! Alright but that is my pitch thanks for listening and catch you next time