(285) Tiago Faria: Discover the Best Marketing Secret

Tiago  Faria , digital business expert and podcast marketer shares his insights: 

-        How to be consistent in content creation

-        Learning through consistency and perseverance

-        The magic of being booked as a podcast guest

-        Why podcast guesting is a great marketing asset

And so much more! 

VIDEO OF THE EPISODE: 

🎬 YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/XNpdrn3x0c4 

 BOOK:

📖 Check out my book on Focus: The Magic of Focus

📚 If you’ve read the book, please rate it here: Leave a Review

📋 Check out the Substack Blog: https://thefocusbee.substack.com/

RELEVANT LINKS: 

📘 Bonus Gift! xxx 

ABOUT Tiago  Faria :

Tiago helps experts do the most fun marketing they'll ever do and attract the most presold leads they'll ever get. He does this through podcast guesting.

His expertise primarily caters to coaches, consultants, service providers, or freelancers who rely on trust and expertise to sell high-ticket products or services.

Over 15 years in the world of marketing and digital business, Tiago has had the pleasure of:

·       Working at Google's European headquarters in Dublin for 8 years,
as a Google Ads specialist and consultant for some of the biggest companies in
Europe and the Middle East

·       Completed a 120 day challenge on YouTube
in 2021, creating 120 videos in 120 consecutive days

·       Booked 67 podcasts in only 4 months, being featured as a guest on
top 1-2% podcasts like Podcasting Your Global Career,  Straight Talk No Sugar
Added Podcast, and Marketing Speak

CONNECT WITH Tiago  Faria : 

🌟 LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiagofaria/

CONNECT WITH KATIE:

✨ LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/thefocusbee

🎤 PODCAST: https://thefocusbeeshow.buzzsprout.com/

🌟 LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestoddart

📝 BLOG: https://thefocusbee.substack.com/

ABOUT THE HOST: 

💫 Hi, I’m Katie – engineer turned entrepreneur. I am the founder of The Focus Bee, award-winning, international, high-performance company, that provides coaching, workshops, and trainings on sustainable high performance and leadership. I started my career as a hydrographic engineer working at sea and I now support high achievers (entrepreneurs, founders, executives, and leaders) to thrive in their life & business.

🚀 As a keynote speaker, I frequently speak at summits, conferences & podcasts. For my weekly podcast ‘The Focus Bee Show’, I interview thought leaders, speakers and authors. 

🔥My mission is to empower people to lead with Alignment & Purpose & Joy so that they can Connect with the Magic & Thrive!

Transcript

Katie: 0:00

Welcome back to the FOcus B show. This is Katie Stoddart here, aka the Focus B. And on this show I interview high performers and leaders around the world to discover their secrets on peak performance, productivity, mindfulness and leadership. So if you want to take your performance and your leadership to the next level, then you're in the right place. Listen up and I and connect with the magic. It's a real joy to be here with Thiago Forte. Thiago is a digital business mentor. He helps people to make their marketing. More fun and more effective and he. Does all of this through podcast guesting. Thiago, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining.

Tiago: 0:54

Thank you so much. Such a pleasure to be here. Super excited and cannot wait to talk about that random experiment I did last year that changed, really, my business this year.

Katie: 1:03

Amazing. And it's so nice to talk about marketing because I'm in the midst of assimilating and learning a lot about marketing. Just went through Russell Brunson workshop. We were talking a bit about it off air and reflecting on it. And it's such a.

Tiago: 1:17

The experts, like, I have these books here, the expert secrets for secrets that come together.

Katie: 1:21

That's literally on my reading list. I'm planning on reading his four books this summer. So this is bang on point. But to begin with, one of the things that I read in your bio is that you said that you filmed 120 videos over the course of 120 days as part of a YouTube challenge. And I'd love you to share. How did you manage that consistency, the creativity, that entire process?

Tiago: 1:46

Well, I was inspired by Mister Miles Beckler. He's one of the good guys of Internet marketing from the US. And he basically said, you should do something for. He said 90 days. I just went over it because, I don't know, just because I wanted to be overcome it. So he said, do something that keeps you uncomfortable for 90 days so you can get a new skill. And I was like, this is a brilliant idea. We're going to accelerate my process here. I was still at Google, actually. I was still working there. And I started with a 90 blog posts in 90 days on my blog. That's how I, you know, started creating my own, basically becoming better at the craft of writing because I never felt like a creator. And this was a great way to break that silly belief that many of us have. And yeah, I just announced to the world, okay, I'm going to start creating 90 block articles in 90 days. Told my wife, my friends, and it kept me accountable, not only because I was having a specific timeframe challenge, but also because I told others. And then I started seeing how easier the process was starting to become after many days. Of course, it was hell. Writing is very hard, but I did so even during holidays and, you know, down periods. And that basically, you know, ramped up my career again, just new. I think it gave me a skill of becoming patient, you know, and just going with the flow, doing the work, and not thinking immediately about the immediate result, which is a huge trap we all have at the beginning. And that helped me at the beginning to be, okay, let's be patient. Let's just do it until something happens, and not if something happens now, immediately, or I'll try something completely different. Even though I still fell, in many ways, shiny object traps after that. But, yeah, then I did that YouTube thing on YouTube videos. 120 videos on YouTube. Insane. I always thought I was not someone with skills, presentation skills or anything. You wouldn't panic in the presentations at work, but, you know, I did. The first video was awful. The second video was terrible. Third video was, that's okay. And then you get at the momentum. But the fact that we're doing every day, it's, you know, it starts building up your. Your own momentum, basically. And at some point, okay, I found my voice. I think it was at around video 30 that this is starting to, you know, getting more comfortable and getting a new skill. But it would have never happened if I just did one video here, video next month. It's super, super. I don't know if you want to gain a new skill quickly. I think it's the best approach 90.

Katie: 4:27

Days in a row of any skill and constant improvement on the previous ones, I think it helps when you don't just do do it, although that probably helps. But if you think, okay, in the previous video, in the previous article, maybe I use these words too much or not enough, and then you learn that and you put it in place for the next. So there's a. A feeling of growth and a feeling of progress. Like you said on video 30, you could feel that you've progressed. I love this.

Tiago: 4:52

And you get immediate feedback, you know, because you're publishing, you're going live, right? You're shipping it. And I got some comments like, people like this and more views on this. Okay, let's talk more about this topic and less about that one. So that's it. So many wins you can get out of it.

Katie: 5:07

Ship your work. Right. The term shipping, I always think about Tesco. One of the things I learned to through thest with that, he talks about juggling and throwing the balls in the air, as when you attempt to do things in your business, but you don't know if it'll work out. Instead of getting all hooked up on the results and the outcomes, you should just try things. So ship that work. You just throw, throw the juggling balls, and the catching takes care of himself and itself. And this is what I reflected on when I was going through a really tough business part. In my business, I used to think, okay, I'm just juggling. I'm throwing the balls in the air. Try this, try this, try this. But of course, then it can lead to burnout if you overdo it. Right. You can't throw too many balls in the air at the same time, but at least continuous action and progress and consistency, which is also what you did.

Tiago: 5:59

Absolutely. I think it should be. Every new entrepreneur should have this lesson ingrained in their mind. I wish I had it immediately, but it really is the biggest trap that makes most people quit. Right? They start something, it doesn't work immediately. They try a different thing, never allowing themselves to reach that. We need a specific how to say, not a momentum, but like there's a threshold of pressure of energy that at some point, okay, it starts working. But you only get there by doing a lot of things in a row. Right. Consistently, like you said.

Katie: 6:31

Yeah, yes, consistency. Consistency, patience, perseverance, constant improvement and almost, yeah, very consistent, like you said, the 90 days or the 180 days in your case. And this leads us, actually to that experiment you wanted to talk about, which is you got booked on 67 podcasts in four months.

Tiago: 6:52

Yeah, I don't recommend anyone, by the way, to do it. I basically closed the blinders, locked myself in the office, just doing a lot of, a lot of all of this. But, yeah, I think that habit I got from the 90 day challenges and 120 day challenges is what sparked that experience. Because basically I bought a coaching program, one of my mentors, and he told me that, okay, podcast guesting is an amazing way for you to create a big network of amazing hosts and use referrals to increase your sales quickly. So I, okay, this is perfect for me because I hate it. I was already kind of burned out of creating content, video content, like 120 videos. And then I kept doing it and I created live Facebook groups. So as I was in this Amster wheel of content and I was like, okay, it's enough. I don't want anymore. So this just sounded perfect for me. Okay, no content, good old referrals, networks, networking. So I did it, and I did it obsessively. So for four months, I didn't do anything else. Booked myself for those 67 podcasts. Of course, not all of them were recorded. I still have some being recorded at this point after almost seven months. But it gave me an amazing, amazing insight into what works, what doesn't, like, how to become an amazing guest. I did all the mistakes possible. Of course. I just had rambling. I was just, I don't know, doing all the mistakes possible. And I was also getting a lot of feedback from. From podcast hosts because I was having those pre interview chats. You know, some. Some hosts asked to talk about, you know, check if you're a good fit or agree on kind of what topics are. And I remember one lady was having that interview, pre interview chat. The podcast was too big for me, and she, at some point, she told me, okay, Tiako, can I give you a piece of feedback? You're just giving advice, you know, you know, you don't have. You're just another one in the same pack. You know, you're not saying something that makes you stand out. You don't have a property framework. You're not telling your origin story in a way that's compelling. So, okay, let's take a. Take note of all of this. So I keep kept going, kept iterating, and at some point, I was also publishing all my interviews on LinkedIn because I have to expose all this initiative that I'm having. And some people approached me, asking, thiago, what the hell are you doing? You're suddenly everywhere. Can you show me how to do it? And they gave me, okay, okay, maybe the market is telling me there's a need here, and I could add value through my previous experiment. And, yeah, that's what sparked this idea of creating this business. And it's interesting because those interviews were being published, but one of the hosts sent me an email saying, yeah, here's the file interview for you to share with your social media followers. But also, here are five reels that you can use of interesting parts of interview to share with your audience. I was like, oh, my God, this is gold. It's like free content created from me, extracted from me, basically through a conversation. My most authentic, genuine content that I could ever produce. It's very different than staring at the camera and trying to be interesting and cool and awesome while we're having conversations is a completely different vibe. You can be yourself. You can be relaxed. That's why I call it this is a dream marketing scenario, because you don't have to create content. Some people spend 1 hour trying to create the best reel for Instagram. While you could be having that, the same hour you could have a chat like we are having here. Imagine the amount of clips, short clips we can remove from here. It's basically a dream and also the dream selling scenario, because you have this long form content that you can share with your co leads that need to be warmed up, for example, and they see your story, they see you in action, they see your best content, and they can consume it for long periods of time. And then of course, you have access to that new audience, right? The podcast host also shares with his own audience, his or hers. So there's a lot of amazing wins that you can get out of this. So that's exactly why I love it so much.

Katie: 11:06

It's beautiful. And also, one of the other aspects that you mentioned when we spoke a bit before the beginning of the interview today was the network, because I've met so many amazing people through my podcast, people that I would never have connected to or spoken with if it hadn't been for the podcast and the learning. Also, and this is more from the podcast host perspective, as a podcast guest, great network sales, being authentic connection, but as the podcast host, you also meet these people and learn from their expertise, like I'm learning right now through what you're saying and what we spoke a bit, a bit about off air, about the origin story and being able to craft the great origin story. And all these sort of things come through the learning of having a podcast. So highly recommended for people listening. If you want to start your own podcast or be a podcast guest, remember you can contact Thiago to get onto the podcast. So I'm curious, since you started your pivoted rather your business towards focusing on podcast guests, what have you found to be the greatest challenge?

Tiago: 12:16

That's an interesting question. So the biggest challenge at the beginning was of course to validate my own method because I did it all myself first. It's a bit different than trying to, because basically I now have done for you service what I pitch my clients to go on relevant podcasts. I was a bit skeptical about that process, but since I used the same approach I was using, I used very I think you've been through the process. You received my email, so I wanted to be very different from all the spammers. So my approach is more like a fun, engaging kind of email that is completely not spammy, not pitchy. I even say the liners, the pitch is coming. Hello, attention. Here it goes. And also make sure I listen to a bit of an episode to create some connection with the host so he's not just a random guy pitching me again. But yeah, the process worked the same way. Basically, I have the same kind of success rate, basically, the pitches I do, and I'm increasing my network because it will make my life easier, of course. But the first challenge was that one. Okay, this is working. The second challenge was, okay, how can I make sure that I can compress all my learnings from those four months into just a couple of calls that I have with my clients to make sure they have a compelling story, some proprietary framework rolling, a unique mechanism that makes them stand out? It's just not another coach. That was a big challenge at the beginning because I'm almost reframing the way they position themselves, not only for podcasts, but for any other kind of positioning. So it was a bit hard. The client that we worked together with, one client, he was actually one of my first ones. It was not easy to go through that process, but at the end, we managed to. Okay, we created a very cool story that we were not expecting to create, because sometimes you find details of your story that you only find when you actively thinking about different stages of your life and et cetera. So it was very interesting part. And also because he also didn't believe very much in kind of having these frameworks. It's very coachy. But I told him, no, it's your process. He doesn't have to be something that, like, factory. He was not very happy with that. But we managed to turn it around and make it still very compelling, still very interesting. So I think those two areas were my biggest obstacles. So first to pitch for clients and then to. To basically repurpose, reposition my clients way they show themselves to the world.

Katie: 14:52

Yes. Now, I remember receiving the emails where you pitched this specific guest that came onto the show. And it's true what you said, the personable approach, when you actually said, I listened to this episode and we were discussing this aspect, and it was very detailed, and then there was also humor. Right. Like, the pitch is coming, etcetera. And I. I always read my pitches for guests. I shouldn't say that on the show, right? But I do, and I check. And what I liked most is to ask for at least a video, because I can tell instantly what the person is talking about, their style of speaking. And I can make quite fast decisions based on video. If it's lots of text or lots of links to podcasts, I'm supposed to listen to. That's way more time consuming. What I did at one point was keep all the podcast guests that were recommended to me in one big fold on my email. And then one day I just went through all of them and sort of, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. But I do like it because then you meet certain people that you would never have met before.

Tiago: 15:52

You wouldn't have.

Katie: 15:53

And some are great pitchers and really interesting people. So it's a privilege. Amazing, amazing. So now this is your full time business and you focus on helping people to get booked on podcasts. And how do you feel this differs? So you already said you get shorts and content from it and people maybe reach wider audiences. But what else do you think makes this method stand out compared to usual? Maybe just email marketing or social media marketing? What's so special about podcast guesting?

Tiago: 16:27

So, yeah, the multiple wins you already mentioned, the access to new audiences. Basically it's earned media. You don't have to. I mean, there are some podcast hosts that actually charge for episodes, but the minority is like, I don't know, 2% of them. You don't need to do that. There's a lot of podcasts available out there. And with amazing people access to new audiences, then the repurposing of the content of your most amazing, authentic content that you can do, basically you're always getting positioned as an expert, right? You're being interviewed by a third party. It's validating your expertise. And those followers of those experts, they have this kind of, how do you say it, like bias of, I forgot the term. But anyways, since he is an authority and is interviewing this person, this person must be an authority as well. I should trust her, right? There's this unconscious thing that is happening in the background that is very different. When you start showing up on many interviews, people look at you, I don't know, they look at you differently. I don't know how to explain it, but it just is so they have less authority and leadership that is shown to the market. And also the networking part, I think that's the, I think the most unused part of podcast guesting. Both ways hosting and guessing is most guests, they go on a show, maybe you had this experience before. They go on a show, on your show, and then they just disappear. They never talk to you again. They never help with promoting the episode. You know, that happened a lot. And of course I was guilty of that at the beginning stages. I didn't know what I was doing. But then I understood that we're trying to help the host. Everyone has to win out of this equation. So a lot of things can happen in that interaction. Because you're having 1 hour with the podcast host, he sees you in action. Here's your story, here's the way you work, here's your examples, et cetera. And it's a good opportunity for you to nurture that relationship, not just during the interview, but afterwards. Send some follow up emails thanking the host, showing how you will help to promote the episode, showing how you will contribute to the growth of the podcast. Because if you do that in the right way, and if you're curious, you ask questions, you can either create a partnership with that person, like referral partnerships, you never know what can come out of it. Or even if they are your target audience, they can very well become your clients because you're having an amazing relationship, they see you in action, etcetera. So the networking and the nurturing of relationship is probably the most underused part of podcast testing. And I think it's one of the biggest ones, one of the biggest benefits you can get, because imagine you go on 1020 podcasts and you suddenly have 20 people that are looking to help you, finding ways to contribute to you because you contribute to their lives. So I think that's the biggie there that most people ignore.

Katie: 19:26

Yes. And it reminds me that the very first person I interviewed became my client because we were talking afterwards. And anyway, it's a long story, but it ended up being a coaching relationship and wonderful client that I worked with. And that was my first podcast episode where I invited him on the show. Also, I think people, when they're invited to talk on the podcast, they also feel it's a privilege, so they're in a safe environment, they feel happy, and they think a bit differently. And that led us to have a deep conversation after the podcast, which led to the coaching relationship. So it's, yes, a lot of things can happen, and many other relationships and connections have happened since then, of course. But that was a good starting point.

Tiago: 20:14

Absolutely. It's like an excuse that sparks a relationship that you would not have otherwise. It will be impossible. Also, in terms of a host, I think the point of view of podcast host is also because I also had my podcast in the past, and that was my first way to gain some momentum when I started my own business, I was like, okay, how can I enter the market quickly in a way that stands out, positioned myself as an expert fast, and I was like, okay, I should interview the current experts, the current influencers in my own niche market because I can have access to their audiences. People see me as an expert because I'm interviewing those people. And it's a good excuse to create a relationship with someone you admire as well, because sometimes if you try to purchase that person through LinkedIn, they're like, ah, who's this guy? But if you say, hey, I'd love to have you on my podcast so you can share your story, talk about this amazing thing you did, I would love to share it with my current audience if I have something or share it with the world. It's the best excuse to network with people you admire. So maybe you've had such experience, Katie, as well.

Katie: 21:21

Yes, yes. I love the fact that now systematically, when I read a book that I enjoyed, I reach out to the guest, to the author to have him as a guest. So that started when I read reboot by Jerry Colonna, and that's a leadership book. That's excellent. And I read it, reached out to him, he accepted be on the show. I was super happy. It was a great book and he's one of the top leadership coaches in the US. And that was an amazing experience. And then I thought, well, if it worked once, it can work again. And so I systematically do that when I read books.

Tiago: 21:57

And we should not be afraid of, as a host, we should not be afraid of inviting even the bigger people because I was first like, should I send the email to this guy? You're probably going to ignore it. But then I invited all the people I admired, like I had on my podcast, Chris Doe. I don't know if you know him as a huge marketing guy in design, lots of people I admired. And then I even got an answer. He said no, but I think he got an answer from Seth Godin. He said, ah, thank you so much, but I cannot right now. So we should not be afraid of inviting people because also, people love to talk about themselves and people that are at this level, they know they went, they got there not for being picky, but because they would abundantly accept small podcasts, big podcasts. It's basically momentum, numbers gain, and we should not be afraid to invite who we want.

Katie: 22:47

Absolutely. Okay. So for people listening who maybe they want to give it a go, they want to become a podcast guest. They're interested in what you're saying and they think, okay, they want to give it a try on their own. What would you recommend them to begin with if they want to become great podcast guests?

Tiago: 23:02

Well, as I told you, I set up a couple of things that your listeners could enjoy for free. Basically because I know how hard it is to get booked on podcasts to impress the host. Know exactly how to be an amazing guest, and you don't have to go on 67 podcasts to figure it out the hard way like I did. I already cracked the code, and I can share it here with whoever is interested in doing this. So first I gathered you can get access to my being an amazing guest worksheet that I use with my clients. And if you complete that, you'll immediately position yourself as an attractive guest that stands out from the pack, and you can become an easy guest for hosts. And I'm also going to share an interesting worksheet, which is the origin story, where you can just answer a few prompt questions and suddenly you have a hero's journey. Probably this framework hero journey, adapted to the podcast guesting world where we work on your story in a way that connects with the listener, that resonates with the listener, and not just a bunch of facts about your life, which is boring. Nobody cares about this, right? Because this is exactly where most people screw up on podcast guessing or any other kind of workshops or your webinars. So it's not telling stories, because if you're getting a good podcast and you're nothing, not generating the results you want, you're messing up on this point. You're just telling instead of storytelling or wrapping your content and your tips in some story of your own or client story. So that's a big e here. So storytelling, and you would have access to this worksheet. And then I also have the email template that got me booked on 67 podcasts. If you guys want it, it's also going to be there. I got a lot of answers from hosts saying, I usually don't answer to these emails, but I have to say this is one of the best I've ever got. So this will make you stand out, get you through the hosts filters, and get you booked. So to access that on my LinkedIn profile, I created a short link to make it easier. So at thiagofaria pt gift, I can send you the link. Afterward you get to that specific LinkedIn post, and all you have to do is just comment gift on that post, and I'll share it with you in there. And I'm publishing a lot of my content on LinkedIn and basically doing what I preach and what I show my clients how to do it. I'm doing it on my own LinkedIn, repurposing my podcast appearances.

Katie: 25:27

Amazing. That is so useful. And I actually will check them out. Also, I think it's amazing to put everything in a clear framework, be 100% clear on your origin story. These things always need to be refined. So fantastic. Thank you so much thiago. We have flown through these 30 minutes at the speed of light. You've shed so much value and for all the people listening now you have a bit of a clearer idea what's expected as a podcast guest. Maybe you also inspired to start your own podcast. It's been wonderful. Thank you so much thiago for joining today.

Tiago: 25:59

Thank you so much. It was a true pleasure and hope people get something valuable, even if it's small thing they can implement now. I'll be very happy.

Katie: 26:06

Yes. If anything, the importance of consistency that we mentioned at the that's already super valuable. Like just a reminder of how important it is to be consistent and not drop the ball. I think that's already amazing. And then everything you shared about the podcast world, I think it's fantastic. Thank you Thiago, thank you. Thank you so much for tuning in today to the focusbee show. I would absolutely, absolutely love to hear your feedback. So let me know in an Apple review or YouTube comment what was most valuable for you. And feel free to share this episode with a friend or a family member. Wishing you a wonderful, magical and focused day ahead.