#037: How Podcasts Won the 2024 Presidential Election

This isn't a political episode - it's an episode about politics.

In the 2024 United States Presidential Election a powerful campaigning tool was unleashed on voters and pundits alike: podcasts. 🤭

In the age of 15-second videos it might be hard to believe that 3 hour podcasts and other multi-hour media shaped this election, but it did. In this episode we’re going to dissect the use of podcasts by both candidates, talk about what worked, what didn’t, and how we can use the lessons of both campaigns to grow our own podcasts and shape our brands through podcasting.

Please Note: I did my best to provide this information in as unbiased and fair a way possible, not only am I a volunteer election worker, but I’m someone that believes in the will of the American people, and the privilege of democracy. This episode was not an attempt to be political or make a political statement, just the observations of a podcaster trying their best to make sense of politics and the business of campaigning. 😀

📌 Work with Me 1:1 for Podcast Coaching and Development:
https://morganfranklin.media/contact-morgan-franklin
https://morganfranklin.media/contact

📌 Shop My Podcast Template Store:
https://podcastsforprofit.com/

👋🏽 Let's connect! You can find me on LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok.

🙋🏻‍♀️ Questions? Comments? Ideas? Message Me:
[e-mail]

Creators and Guests

Host

Morgan Franklin

Morgan Franklin is a podcast producer, strategist and educator. Since 2020 Morgan has founded and produced multiple top ranking podcasts from the health industry to beauty. Featured everywhere from Good Morning America to Martha Stewart Living Morgan's passion and knowledge for branding and podcasting have helped countless business owners and brands grow their impact and bottom line podcasting. Morgan is the Founder of Podcasts for Profit and Morgan Franklin Media, in addition to host of Podcasts for Profit with Morgan Franklin.

What is Podcasts for Profit with Morgan Franklin | Podcasting Strategy for Podcasters?

If you’re ready to create a podcast that will align you with experts in your industry, position yourself as a trusted leader and create another source of revenue for your business you’re in the right place. Podcasts for Profit will help you create and grow a podcast that cuts through the noise of social media and speak directly to your target audience. Stop letting the algorithm determine your social marketing strategy. Stop letting trends dictate the kind of content you’re able to create. Hosted by expert podcast strategist, producer and educator: Morgan Franklin, Podcasts for Profit is your step-by-step guide to creating a podcast that will transform your business, opportunities and life.

Morgan Franklin: I want to make
you one promise in this episode,

and it is that this isn't a
political episode. It is an

episode about politics. I know
that there are a lot of raw

feelings right now, and you know
that is rightfully so. I said

this before in previous
episodes, but discussing my own

political opinion is not
relevant in any way to this

podcast. However, in the wake of
the results of the 2024

election, I think that it would
be foolish to discount the

significance that podcasting
played in this election and in

politics. Moving forward in this
episode, we're going to dissect

the use of podcasts by both
candidates talk about what

worked, what didn't, and how we
can use the lessons of both

campaigns to grow our own
podcasts and shape our brands

through podcasting. Hello and
welcome to podcast for profit.

My name is Morgan Franklin. I'm
a Podcast Producer, strategist

and educator. This podcast will
help you create and grow a

podcast that cuts through the
noise of social media and speaks

directly to your target
audience. If you're ready to

create a podcast that will align
you with the experts in your

industry, position yourself as a
trusted leader and create

another source of revenue for
your business, you're in the

right place. I want to provide
you this information as unbiased

and fairly as possible, because
not only am I a volunteer

election worker, but also I'm
someone that believes in the

will of the people through our
vote, we all have an equal

voice, and I respect that right,
no matter what party is being

discussed, whether you're
satisfied or dissatisfied with

the results of this election, it
is clear that one candidate was

using podcasts to share their
message and reach new audiences

in a way that we have never seen
before in a political race, and

this was never clearer to me
than on the actual election day.

On Tuesday, as I said, I work as
a volunteer election worker, and

this is my fourth presidential
election, working at the polls.

Like every year, people are
excited. Election day is such an

exciting day, and you would be
hard pressed to find anyone at

the polls on election day that
is not excited to be there. And

you know, I was having a
conversation before the polls

opened, with a fellow volunteer
that was there, and we were just

talking. She asked me what I
did. I said that I was a Podcast

Producer, and before she could
even take a breath to ask me

anything else, she just says, Oh
my gosh, my son just turned 18.

He's voting for the first time,
and he's listened to every

single podcast episode with
Donald Trump. He loves podcasts,

and I was intrigued to hear
this, because, you know, you're

thinking about first time
voters, the youth vote rallied

by podcasts with Donald Trump.
Just really interesting. The

candidate that would technically
be our oldest candidate ever

elected as president at the time
of his inauguration, was

reaching Gen Z voters through
podcasting like How was that

possible? Right? Well, let's
take a look. So here's a list of

every podcast that Donald Trump
guested on during his campaign

for president during the 2024
election, and I'm gonna go in

chronological order, because
there are quite a few of them,

from June 2024 to october 2024
with just a brief summary of

topics covered and the length of
that episode. First is impulsive

with Logan Paul in June of 2024
So Donald Trump made his

podcasting debut with Logan
Paul, who is a social media

influencer and professional
wrestler, on the impulsive

podcast, and during this
episode, he discussed topics

like AI and even how he uses AI
in his own speech. Writing this

interview was 53 minutes long,
fast forwarding two months

later, guesting on the this past
weekend with Theo von podcast in

August of 2024 they're kind of
talking about a little bit more

personal topics, like Donald
Trump's decision to abstain from

alcohol and smoking, and how his
life of sobriety has been

influenced by his brothers Fred
struggles, who died of substance

abuse at only 42 this episode
was about one hour long. Next in

September of 2024 Donald Trump
was featured on the LEX Friedman

podcast where he discussed his
views on things like medical

marijuana losing the 2020
election. China, Joe Rogan and a

variety of other very current
topics. This episode was one

hour and three minutes long in
early October 2024 Donald Trump

goes on the flagrant podcast
with Andrew Schultz, where he

talks about abortion and
reiterating his stance the

decisions on abortion rights
should be left to the states.

This episode was about an hour
and 30 minutes long. On october

14, full send podcast host
Donald Trump for a discussion on

Elon Musk world war three. His
message to first time voters and

if he's going to be on the Joe
Rogan podcast or not, which I

thought was pretty interesting.
This episode was 38 minutes

long. Next Bus him with the boys
in mid October of 2024 Trump

appears on bus him with the
boys, which is a podcast by the

media company Barstool Sports,
where, during the interview, he

discussed his motivations for
entering politics, including his

concerns about border security
and trade deals. This episode

was two hours and 15 minutes
long. On october 17, Donald

Trump joins PBD podcast with
Patrick bet David On this

episode, he discusses domestic
enemies and expresses his own

concerns for Kamala Harris
political stances. This episode

is one hour and 26 minutes long.
On october 21 Donald Trump talks

pro wrestling an election with
six feet under with Mark

Calloway, aka the undertaker.
He's famously the most tenured

wrestler in WWE history. And
lastly, I'm sorry, I know this

list is long, of course, the now
infamous episode of The Joe

Rogan experience in late October
2024 Donald Trump appeared on

Joe Rogan's podcast, engaging in
a wide variety of discussions

that included topics like Robert
E Lee's military strategy and

speculation about life on Mars.
This episode was two minutes shy

of being three hours long. And
the totally crazy thing to think

about is combined for all of
these episodes, these podcasters

have delivered a watch total of
over 50 million views on YouTube

alone. So that's not even
podcast downloads in the

traditional way that we think of
them. That's not streams, that's

not anything else, that's just
views on YouTube. And that is

absolutely insane to me, and
this might be obvious from their

introductions, but all of the
hosts are male and carry a

consistently male centered
audience. And while I've

listened to clips from all these
podcasters, I do not claim to be

fully equipped to speak on their
audiences any more than just to

say, I do believe they are
targeted at young to middle aged

men, and they are doing an
excellent job like it is all

executed flawlessly. Also, I
want to acknowledge that there

were many other live Twitch
events and streaming and radio

shows, and I did not include
them here. I was trying to keep

it strictly podcast oriented,
but Donald Trump was staying

very busy on podcasts and
streaming circuits. No one can

say he was not putting in the
time there on podcasts, because

Absolutely he was. So let's take
a look at Kamala Harris and how

the Harris campaign use
podcasting to help share their

message and draw in those voters
that might not have known the

vice president very well up
until this point, on september

30, Kamala Harris joined Alex
Cooper on call her daddy, which

is Spotify, second most popular
podcast in the United States and

also has about 1 million
subscribers on YouTube. During

this episode, Kamala Harris
spoke about the grit that it

takes for a woman to seek public
office, the toughness that her

mother instilled in her, and the
importance of reproductive

rights in this election. This
episode was roughly 40 minutes

long again, airing on september
30, Kamala Harris joined all the

smoke with NBA champions Steven
Jackson and Matt Barnes to

discuss the Harris plan to boost
the economy and her perspective

on America's progress on social
justice. Next on october 28

Kamala Harris joined Brene Brown
on unlocking us with Brene Brown

for conversation on the strength
and fragility of democracy, the

power of strong coalitions, and
how to commit to justice and

fairness that can both ground us
and drive action. That interview

was one hour long and a lot like
Donald Trump, Kamala Harris did

appear on a variety of radio
shows and other media like The

Howard Stern Show, the Steve
Harvey Morning Show and The

Breakfast Club. When we look at
the overall listener audience of

the Harris features, it shows a
much more diverse story than

Donald Trump and where he was
featured. But. But a far less

consistent one. And again, I've
listened to clips from the

podcasts, and I do not claim to
know the full analysis of their

audience, but when I'm looking
at these three podcasts

specifically, and we see their
target audiences are young

women, young to middle aged men
and middle aged women, you're

casting a wide net, but not
really driving home the message

to any specific person. Here's
my perspective on why podcasting

really worked for Donald Trump
in this election cycle, and it

didn't for Kamala Harris. What
do I always say about

podcasting? Know your audience,
know your audience. Both these

candidates do know their
audience, but they are speaking

to them in totally different
ways. And in all fairness,

Kamala Harris had a much broader
area to cover, seeing as the

country was just getting to know
her in about 100 days, that's a

lot of work to do. That's a lot
of people to speak to. However,

it does not mean that your
message is reaching the targeted

audience. In the upcoming weeks
and months, you're going to hear

a lot about the significance of
paid, owned and earned media,

and for the reasons that I've
discussed in this episode, let's

take a look at each one of these
and talk about what they really

mean, let's start with paid
media. You pay for it, so that

can be anything from a Facebook
ad to a billboard, anything you

pay for that is getting your
message out there. Next is owned

media. And owned media is
anything that you create, for

example, a Tiktok video that you
made, or a blog post, you wrote

your own podcast, any content or
media that you create and post

and own yourself is owned media.
Lastly, is earned media. Earned

media is the trickiest, but I
would argue the most important

media for gaining consumer or
voter trust in the digital age.

People are smart. They don't
trust ads. Yeah, they don't

trust ads anywhere, and they
don't trust you. Audiences are

very wary, and do you blame
them? This is why earned media

is so important, and whether you
like it or not, Donald Trump did

a spectacular job of
capitalizing on earned media.

I've heard some speculation
around that his youngest son,

Barron Trump, is a big fan of
podcasting, and some of the

podcasts that he went on, but
regardless, he knew who his

audience was, and he was able to
use that earned media that he

got to speak directly to this
audience. Donald Trump is

amazing at this and he has been
for most of his life, and

whether it's magazines or TV or
any kind of media that he can

shape and mold to his narrative,
he is very hands on with the

media. Does he hate them? Yeah,
most of the time, but also it is

his secret weapon, because he
can use that earned media to

accomplish the things that he is
trying to do. Looking at the

Harris campaign and how Kamala
Harris used podcasting, I'm not

100% sure it was used in the
best way, even for the small

amount that she utilized the
platform. If I could give some

constructive criticism and my
own thoughts, it would be this,

get in character, get in the
environment. When I watched the

caller daddy interview, it was
unlike any of the other episodes

of that podcast that I had ever
watched, but not necessarily in

a good way. It felt very
buttoned up, which I'm not

saying is a bad thing. I'm not
saying that if your podcast is

buttoned up, that that's bad.
I'm saying that it wasn't the

call her daddy brand. It felt
very disingenuous to the

experience of listening or
watching that particular

podcast. And I know that they
were hosting the Vice President

of the United States, right? You
got to be a little bit more

professional, but maybe it was
either that that was the wrong

show for Kamala Harris, or her
team should have worked with the

podcast to create a little bit
more laid back environment for

everyone. It felt forced, in a
way, and especially for this to

be one of the only long form
pieces of media that the Kamala

Harris campaign put out that
wasn't a prime time interview, I

think it could have been
optimized to yield better

results. All right, so we've
covered the good and the bad. I

am grateful to these campaigns
for using podcasting as part of

their election strategy. I think
that was incredibly smart. I

made this joke on Tiktok last
week that sometimes, as a

podcaster, that podcasting can
feel like the coolest and lamest

thing about you. And I think
that is really true. What I want

you to take away from this
episode. Code an election is

that podcasting is legitimate.
As cliche as it might be for me

to say people don't trust media.
People trust people. People

trust connections. And no matter
how many millions or billions a

campaign spends on ads, it can't
create the same connection as

sitting down with another person
and talking about how you really

feel, what's really going on.
How do we as a country actually

get through this? Whether you
have a podcast that you want to

make more attractive to high
profile guests, or you're a

podcaster that wants to be
featured on other podcasts as a

guest, I'd be happy to help you
create the strategy and help you

win in whatever you are doing.
I'll have a link for my hourly

consulting in the episode
descriptions. You can also reach

out to me at Morgan, at
morganfranklin dot media. So

that's Morgan at morganfranklin
dot media. I also have my

digital product shop. Those are
templates that I have created

that I use every day as a
podcaster, that I use for my

podcasting clients that will be
linked below, or you can go to

podcastforprofit.com and as
always, I can't wait to listen

to your podcast. Hey, thank you
so much for joining me on this

episode. If you enjoyed the
podcast and you'd like to hear

more episodes like this one, go
ahead and subscribe to the show.

New episodes air every Monday
morning. And if you found this

episode valuable and you want to
help other business owners and

podcasters, will you leave me a
five star review? It helps the

show rank higher in the charts
and brings more entrepreneurs

the information they need to
start making money on their

podcast.