#13: The Digital Nomad | Omar Mo | Part Two

In Part Two of Episode 13, we continue our conversation with Omar Mo, the CEO and Founder of Nomads Cast. Omar shares the secret in getting "Big Name" guests on your Podcast. He discusses clever ways to monetize your content. Additionally, we explore common digital marketing mistakes. 

 
In this episode, we will cover:  

1. Getting Big Name Guests 
2. Monetizing Your Content 
3. Digital Marketing Mistakes 
4. Hybrid Podcasting 
5. Digital Marketing Tips 
6. Entrepreneurship Advice 

 For more information, visit www.ThinkBusiness360.com 

Transcript

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Intro

Rushab Kamdar 0:03

Welcome to the Business 360 Podcast where we will take a 360 degree view of all things business and under 30 minutes. I'm Rushab Kamdar and I help businesses, start-up founders, working professionals and master students think business, talk business, launch their business and grow their business.

Interview

Rushab Kamdar 0:26

What's going on, Business Heroes? Welcome to part two of episode 13, where we continue our conversation with Omar Mo. Last week, Omar gave us some great insights into the world of a digital nomad and tips on podcasts and content marketing and growing our audience. In this week's episode, Omar is going to teach us how to get those big name guests on your podcast. Also how to monetize your content and what are some of the most common digital marketing mistakes that are made. This episode will be full of amazing tips and advice so make sure to stick around. Let's get to it. So, Omar, what advice do you have to get high level guest on a podcast?

Omar Mo 1:17

The thing about podcasts guests, it's a lot easier than anybody really thinks it is and especially when you're first starting out your podcast, like getting high level guests is not hard. It really isn't. Uh, everyone thinks there's like this barrier between them and, uh, the person they're trying to get on the podcast, but really the only barriers that are ever there between these high level people are maybe if they're really, really big with social media followings, they're already used to a ton of like messages coming in. So they'll have like people in between that are answering their emails and things like that. Um, but other than that, if you can surpass those barriers and get a direct line with them in some way or form, whether it's Clubhouse or cold email or something that they're just not used to seeing as many requests for things, you'll be able to get through to them. And especially when it's really high level people with no following so barely any following that's when it really gets fun, right? You can get billionaires on your podcast easily if they don't have a social media presence as much as they should. So, um, it's a lot easier than you think it is, honestly. Where it gets dicey is like getting people like Pat Flynn or Dan Lok, things like that. That's where you have to use some elbow grease. Like for example, Pat Flynn, I got through, um, going on his live streams and just kind of pitching myself and then go. With Dan Lok, I pitched him on a Clubhouse stage. So things like that, you know?

Rushab Kamdar 2:35

So you gave a really nice tip on how some people can monetize with some ad spend from these obscure podcasters or podcast platforms. What are other ways people can monetize on podcasting?

Omar Mo 2:46

Sure. So monetizing on podcasts, I think this entire podcast industry, just to kind of give you like an overview of it, it's very, it takes a lot of elbow grease and creativity to really get traction on the monetization. And, um, like there's no set rule book, like with Instagram, oh, hey influencer partnerships like everyone knows this, right? With podcasts, there's so many different ways to monetize and you just have to think of that from your audience's perspective and you have to take an empathetic approach. So sponsorships is definitely one way, but probably the least used way and probably the least lucrative way, in my opinion, as well. Another way is building up a targeted audience on your podcast and then having your own offers in the beginning, middle and end of your podcast, where you then drive traffic towards your website or your ebook or your email lists, wherever. Then you have ways of where you can actually go and locally get sponsorships with people doing cold calling, cold emails and reaching out to these people. We're just networking with them saying, Hey, like I have this podcast. I have so and so listeners, but my listeners are very, very targeted and they're in your niche. I'll give you a podcast spot for the next 10 episodes. Give me such an amount of money. That's another way to do it. Another way to do it, and this is a really creative way that I heard recently on Clubhouse, uh, there's a guy that I follow called Adam. And the, he said he had a real estate podcast for about three years and he threw a convention at the, at the end of those three years where he had like 60 of his listeners come out and pay him like 2,500 each for a ticket. Um, and he just threw this convention and he served like lobster and steak every night and had t-shirts made and things like that. And there's just like this massive networking event and keynote speaking event. And he threw that specifically from his podcast because his listeners are so engaged and so invested in them, you know? So when you have an engaged listenership and engaged following like even five people you can monetize quite well. You know, like I've gotten a lot of business straight from my podcasts. Another way, and this is the way that you can start implementing right from day one is guest facing monetization. Having people that you would want to do business with or close business deals with on your podcast in the context of a value first ask, build a relationship up with them and then at the end of that podcast episode, after maybe you've pushed out some content to ride them, or maybe right after the podcast episode, just play it by ear, go for the close, or at least go for hopping on another call and seeing if you can show them your product, your service.

Rushab Kamdar 5:05

So when we talk about podcasting and we talk about content creation, uh, you know, let's kind of lean towards what are some of the biggest mistakes people make on all those sides? You know, we could start with podcasting first and then we can move to content creation and marketing.

Omar Mo 5:19

Sure. So podcasting mistakes, definitely. So, if you don't have a brand built up yet, don't just discredit, uh, audio quality. A lot of people think they don't need good audio quality. You don't need the best audio quality in the world, but something that's and it's small things that add up, right? But something that's just going to set you apart from other podcasts that people listen to is better audio quality. So don't just be talking on your headphones or something, right? A mic like this is good enough. And it's relatively inexpensive. It's about a hundred bucks. Um, so that, uh, don't add to the noise ratio, okay? Um, whenever you're doing the signal noise ratio, don't just do very informational level topics that people can just find sub surface level information on. Like the things that I'm speeding right now like I'm telling you right now, these are things that you're not going to find easily with a Google search or on Instagram or anywhere like that. You know, I'm more advanced level topics here. Uh, but it's anyone, anybody that could apply it. But if you bring on guests that just stay on the superficial level of things like motivation and things like that, that they can work, but because they have an emotional context to it, but if they're just superficial, no vocality, no vocal tone, just kind of like a boring lecture of really basic things, no one's going to engage with that. No, one's gonna care about that, right? So you're always trying to think about, what's going to set you apart from other podcasters. What makes someone wanting to keep coming back to you, right? And it's even little things like, like don't be flat bringing emotions, have conversation instead of just ask straight questions after question after question, um, those are some of the mistakes that I see right off the bat. Don't put too much pressure on yourself when it comes to the podcast, be relaxed. And this comes with experience naturally. You know, I, I do this great host training slide session with all my clients that I have because really a good podcast isn't just on the outside. I would say 50% is on the internal as well. It's about how good of a host you are. It's how you can manage conversations and direct conversations and cut bad threads and go to good threads, so on and so forth, right? And that comes with experience. Um, now on the content side, what mistakes that I see is again, the biggest mistake that I see is a signal to noise ratio. I think a lot of businesses just expect that they can just throw some content out there and it's going to magically make, get them more business. And we all know it's 2021 that does, that doesn't happen, right? It's how can you cut through the noise and really put stuff out there and then leverage where the organic traffic is coming on social media to your fullest advantage, right? And some key tips right there that I can give you guys is if you're making video slash audio content, make the first five seconds, the most engaging, no matter what platform it is. That's universal. That's a universal law right there. Uh, make sure that you're on, you're spending more of your time on platforms or on features of platforms that are giving you higher ROI. Like right now it's YouTube shorts, Instagram reels, and TikTok, and LinkedIn as well. Uh, and focus less on creating content for your Facebook page because Facebook has killed that. So that's another mistake that I see that people are still sticking to all the ways and not really innovating and, and using new platforms and new features. Um, and number three, like do your research like constantly be testing A and B. AB testing, seeing what formats work, seeing what formats don't, optimizing, looking at your analytics, that's really how you grow. You don't and that's really how you get business. And the fourth one, bonus one here, is engagement. Do not forget to engage with the people that are already following you. There are human beings on the other side. Like, I like to think of it this way, if even one person, and this is a very business way to look at it but if even one person that's following you on Instagram, if you have 200 people that are following you, if even one person gives you 10k, if he gives you $10,000 just to do a service for them, I mean, it pays off, right? So what do you need 2 million followers for, if you're getting 2000 followers and 10 of them give you $10,000 each? You're already making a hundred, $120,000 a year right there, right? So focus on nurturing who you have just as much as bringing on new people.

Rushab Kamdar 9:20

So, first of all, great things. uh, great advice over there. I wanted to take it back to the first point that you were talking about, which was bringing in those, those guests and have making sure they are, um, not superficial in their, in their topic. So I I've had another guest that spoke about two ways of doing a podcast, the hybrid method. One is you bring on guests, but also time to time throwing in a solo episode in there, you know, where it's just you, so that your audience gets to know you better versus just being an interviewer. What's your, uh, advice or suggestion on that?

Omar Mo 9:54

So good cadence. That's the kind of cadence that I use for my podcast. And I tend to use it a lot for a lot of my clients. And that's simply because doing those single value-based episodes, builds that connection and your thought leadership in this space. If you only did interviews, people are going to start to associate themselves with your guests instead of you. Um, and you don't want that. If you're a good podcast host, you won't let that happen. You can steer the conversations in a way and bring input in where they're they're used to you as a host. But, uh, it's a good cadence to have, especially when you're first starting out for the first 50 episodes, I would say, um, that depending on how many interviews versus how many single value-based episodes you're going to do is really, really dependent on what your business is. If you're doing it for a business, if you're doing it for a hobby, what the reason is behind the podcast in the first place, right? Because I've seen many successful podcasts that just have single value based episodes as well. And they work incredibly well. It really is dependent on kind of, kind of the, um, the angle you're trying to take, right? Um, it really is. So I'd say my biggest answer for that would be it's dependent, right? All of these formats work, all of them work.

Rushab Kamdar 11:02

Any suggestions or thoughts on consistency as far as weekly versus monthly versus sporadic, which some people do.

Omar Mo 11:09

I would definitely say weekly. Monthly, I think it's too, too long, drawn out unless your a like story-based podcast or something that's very, very highly polished because then you have people anticipating for the next episode. Uh, then it almost becomes like radio show asks really, really nice, like audio quality and music and all sorts of stuff. But 99% of podcasts aren't like that. Uh, or even if it's a series based podcasts, they can definitely get away with once a month. But if any other podcasts where you have episodic, uh, and, but not serious, I would say at least once a week. Definitely not sporadic cause you want your audience to know that they have consistently content they can come to expect when you're releasing your episode, they come to tune in. Uh, what you do. If you're, if you're sporadic, you can miss a few weeks and that's okay once in a while, uh, even though it's probably not good to, but you can miss it without hurting your numbers too much. But if you're sporadic, your audience is never going to know when your show is coming out. And if they don't know when your shows coming out then half of your audience might completely miss your show. So, um, that that's a negative sporadic. Now I would, I'm coming from the camp now where to really even more stand out in the podcasting industry to even step it up from once a week to maybe twice a week or three times a week, or however many more that you can do.

Rushab Kamdar 12:25

That's interesting. Appreciate it.

Omar Mo 12:27

There's a good reason for that, if you don't mind me saying here, there's a good reason for increasing the frequency. Every single podcast is getting more downloads, right? So if I have 70 listeners and this is let's say beginner level podcasts, that's 70 listeners on the first podcast, 70 listeners on the second podcast episode, 70 listeners on third podcast episode, and I've released all three in the week. I've essentially got 210 listens versus someone who released one episode once a week, one episode next week so that would be three weeks at 210 listens, right? So, uh, more frequency and we even do this thing where we call it, call it a relaunch strategy once in a while as well. Like we do this on a bi-annual basis generally, but you release like four episodes at once in the same day with like a two hour difference in between each, maybe like some sort of mini series that you do and try to rack up the download numbers for all four episodes and rack up as many subscriptions and reviews for all four of those episodes. And that way, actually, the iTunes or Apple algorithm will actually boost you a little bit and get you more visibility that way. So.

Rushab Kamdar 13:28

Yeah, I know. Um, a friend of mine is, uh, started a podcast as well and what they've done, which is very interesting strategy, I think it's similar to that is they take an hour interview and they break it into three episodes.

Omar Mo 13:40

Hmm. That's a good idea. Yeah, that is a good idea.

Rushab Kamdar 13:44

So, you know, that way it's not content creation brain freeze, where you're sitting there and thinking, what else can I speak on or talk about, you know, and putting the pressure on yourself. So it was just, uh, another interesting thing, but, um, uh, that one's for free for you.

Omar Mo 13:59

Yeah. I'd like to talk to that guy because that's something I'd like to test now that I think about it.

Rushab Kamdar 14:03

Yeah, absolutely. So I'll leave you with this. What advice do you have for any entrepreneur, whether they are a aspiring entrepreneur or an experienced entrepreneur? And this could be as general as possible.

Omar Mo 14:15

Okay. Keep going ,honestly. Grit, determination, and persistence. Those three will get you anywhere you want. Anywhere, you know, and I have to remind myself of that too a lot, you know? And I think anybody does. We're all in situations where there are moments where things get hard or things get tough and there's adversity, but I promise you, if you keep going, you'll see results and it will happen for you. Just how dedicated are you is the question.

Rushab Kamdar 14:40

Awesome. Well, listen, Omar, I want to thank you for being a guest on the Business 360 Podcast. I really appreciate the insights you shared, the value you brought and I look forward to bringing you back sometime down the road.

Omar Mo 14:52

Thanks for having me on, man.

Outro

Rushab Kamdar 14:56

Thank you for joining us on the Business 360 Podcast. To learn more about our guests, go to ThinkBusiness360.com. In life, I follow two things that keep me grounded. Number one, if you only listen to someone's successes and not their failures, you've only heard half the story and number two, compete with yourself and help everyone else. You stay classy, Business Heroes.