1 00:00:04,410 --> 00:00:06,570 Morgan Franklin: I want to make you one promise in this episode, 2 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:11,640 and it is that this isn't a political episode. It is an 3 00:00:11,670 --> 00:00:20,910 episode about politics. I know that there are a lot of raw 4 00:00:20,910 --> 00:00:26,070 feelings right now, and you know that is rightfully so. I said 5 00:00:26,070 --> 00:00:28,680 this before in previous episodes, but discussing my own 6 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,860 political opinion is not relevant in any way to this 7 00:00:31,860 --> 00:00:35,700 podcast. However, in the wake of the results of the 2024 8 00:00:35,700 --> 00:00:39,570 election, I think that it would be foolish to discount the 9 00:00:39,570 --> 00:00:44,820 significance that podcasting played in this election and in 10 00:00:44,820 --> 00:00:49,770 politics. Moving forward in this episode, we're going to dissect 11 00:00:49,770 --> 00:00:53,490 the use of podcasts by both candidates talk about what 12 00:00:53,490 --> 00:00:58,890 worked, what didn't, and how we can use the lessons of both 13 00:00:58,890 --> 00:01:03,930 campaigns to grow our own podcasts and shape our brands 14 00:01:03,930 --> 00:01:08,310 through podcasting. Hello and welcome to podcast for profit. 15 00:01:08,310 --> 00:01:12,180 My name is Morgan Franklin. I'm a Podcast Producer, strategist 16 00:01:12,180 --> 00:01:16,230 and educator. This podcast will help you create and grow a 17 00:01:16,230 --> 00:01:20,460 podcast that cuts through the noise of social media and speaks 18 00:01:20,460 --> 00:01:23,820 directly to your target audience. If you're ready to 19 00:01:23,820 --> 00:01:27,210 create a podcast that will align you with the experts in your 20 00:01:27,210 --> 00:01:30,930 industry, position yourself as a trusted leader and create 21 00:01:30,930 --> 00:01:34,260 another source of revenue for your business, you're in the 22 00:01:34,260 --> 00:01:39,060 right place. I want to provide you this information as unbiased 23 00:01:39,060 --> 00:01:42,570 and fairly as possible, because not only am I a volunteer 24 00:01:42,570 --> 00:01:46,200 election worker, but also I'm someone that believes in the 25 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:51,450 will of the people through our vote, we all have an equal 26 00:01:51,450 --> 00:01:56,700 voice, and I respect that right, no matter what party is being 27 00:01:56,700 --> 00:02:00,750 discussed, whether you're satisfied or dissatisfied with 28 00:02:00,750 --> 00:02:04,020 the results of this election, it is clear that one candidate was 29 00:02:04,020 --> 00:02:08,010 using podcasts to share their message and reach new audiences 30 00:02:08,010 --> 00:02:11,970 in a way that we have never seen before in a political race, and 31 00:02:11,970 --> 00:02:15,660 this was never clearer to me than on the actual election day. 32 00:02:15,660 --> 00:02:20,280 On Tuesday, as I said, I work as a volunteer election worker, and 33 00:02:20,310 --> 00:02:24,090 this is my fourth presidential election, working at the polls. 34 00:02:24,210 --> 00:02:27,960 Like every year, people are excited. Election day is such an 35 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:31,800 exciting day, and you would be hard pressed to find anyone at 36 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,760 the polls on election day that is not excited to be there. And 37 00:02:35,790 --> 00:02:38,430 you know, I was having a conversation before the polls 38 00:02:38,430 --> 00:02:41,040 opened, with a fellow volunteer that was there, and we were just 39 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,590 talking. She asked me what I did. I said that I was a Podcast 40 00:02:43,590 --> 00:02:47,100 Producer, and before she could even take a breath to ask me 41 00:02:47,100 --> 00:02:51,270 anything else, she just says, Oh my gosh, my son just turned 18. 42 00:02:51,630 --> 00:02:55,200 He's voting for the first time, and he's listened to every 43 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:59,370 single podcast episode with Donald Trump. He loves podcasts, 44 00:03:00,330 --> 00:03:03,360 and I was intrigued to hear this, because, you know, you're 45 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:07,230 thinking about first time voters, the youth vote rallied 46 00:03:07,230 --> 00:03:12,060 by podcasts with Donald Trump. Just really interesting. The 47 00:03:12,060 --> 00:03:16,800 candidate that would technically be our oldest candidate ever 48 00:03:16,830 --> 00:03:20,490 elected as president at the time of his inauguration, was 49 00:03:20,490 --> 00:03:27,030 reaching Gen Z voters through podcasting like How was that 50 00:03:27,030 --> 00:03:31,830 possible? Right? Well, let's take a look. So here's a list of 51 00:03:31,920 --> 00:03:36,180 every podcast that Donald Trump guested on during his campaign 52 00:03:36,180 --> 00:03:40,020 for president during the 2024 election, and I'm gonna go in 53 00:03:40,020 --> 00:03:42,660 chronological order, because there are quite a few of them, 54 00:03:42,660 --> 00:03:47,730 from June 2024 to october 2024 with just a brief summary of 55 00:03:47,730 --> 00:03:53,190 topics covered and the length of that episode. First is impulsive 56 00:03:53,190 --> 00:03:58,020 with Logan Paul in June of 2024 So Donald Trump made his 57 00:03:58,020 --> 00:04:01,830 podcasting debut with Logan Paul, who is a social media 58 00:04:01,830 --> 00:04:06,030 influencer and professional wrestler, on the impulsive 59 00:04:06,030 --> 00:04:09,120 podcast, and during this episode, he discussed topics 60 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:14,520 like AI and even how he uses AI in his own speech. Writing this 61 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:20,220 interview was 53 minutes long, fast forwarding two months 62 00:04:20,220 --> 00:04:24,060 later, guesting on the this past weekend with Theo von podcast in 63 00:04:24,090 --> 00:04:27,930 August of 2024 they're kind of talking about a little bit more 64 00:04:28,410 --> 00:04:33,000 personal topics, like Donald Trump's decision to abstain from 65 00:04:33,210 --> 00:04:37,830 alcohol and smoking, and how his life of sobriety has been 66 00:04:37,830 --> 00:04:42,390 influenced by his brothers Fred struggles, who died of substance 67 00:04:42,390 --> 00:04:48,450 abuse at only 42 this episode was about one hour long. Next in 68 00:04:48,450 --> 00:04:52,800 September of 2024 Donald Trump was featured on the LEX Friedman 69 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,790 podcast where he discussed his views on things like medical 70 00:04:56,790 --> 00:05:01,950 marijuana losing the 2020 election. China, Joe Rogan and a 71 00:05:01,950 --> 00:05:05,850 variety of other very current topics. This episode was one 72 00:05:05,850 --> 00:05:11,130 hour and three minutes long in early October 2024 Donald Trump 73 00:05:11,130 --> 00:05:14,880 goes on the flagrant podcast with Andrew Schultz, where he 74 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,210 talks about abortion and reiterating his stance the 75 00:05:18,210 --> 00:05:21,600 decisions on abortion rights should be left to the states. 76 00:05:21,780 --> 00:05:26,730 This episode was about an hour and 30 minutes long. On october 77 00:05:26,730 --> 00:05:30,810 14, full send podcast host Donald Trump for a discussion on 78 00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:35,970 Elon Musk world war three. His message to first time voters and 79 00:05:35,970 --> 00:05:39,360 if he's going to be on the Joe Rogan podcast or not, which I 80 00:05:39,390 --> 00:05:42,810 thought was pretty interesting. This episode was 38 minutes 81 00:05:42,810 --> 00:05:48,840 long. Next Bus him with the boys in mid October of 2024 Trump 82 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:51,720 appears on bus him with the boys, which is a podcast by the 83 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:55,200 media company Barstool Sports, where, during the interview, he 84 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:59,820 discussed his motivations for entering politics, including his 85 00:05:59,820 --> 00:06:03,870 concerns about border security and trade deals. This episode 86 00:06:03,870 --> 00:06:08,340 was two hours and 15 minutes long. On october 17, Donald 87 00:06:08,340 --> 00:06:13,890 Trump joins PBD podcast with Patrick bet David On this 88 00:06:13,890 --> 00:06:18,600 episode, he discusses domestic enemies and expresses his own 89 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:23,250 concerns for Kamala Harris political stances. This episode 90 00:06:23,250 --> 00:06:28,530 is one hour and 26 minutes long. On october 21 Donald Trump talks 91 00:06:28,530 --> 00:06:31,950 pro wrestling an election with six feet under with Mark 92 00:06:31,950 --> 00:06:37,140 Calloway, aka the undertaker. He's famously the most tenured 93 00:06:37,140 --> 00:06:41,160 wrestler in WWE history. And lastly, I'm sorry, I know this 94 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,910 list is long, of course, the now infamous episode of The Joe 95 00:06:44,910 --> 00:06:49,110 Rogan experience in late October 2024 Donald Trump appeared on 96 00:06:49,110 --> 00:06:53,340 Joe Rogan's podcast, engaging in a wide variety of discussions 97 00:06:53,340 --> 00:06:57,120 that included topics like Robert E Lee's military strategy and 98 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:01,560 speculation about life on Mars. This episode was two minutes shy 99 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:05,490 of being three hours long. And the totally crazy thing to think 100 00:07:05,490 --> 00:07:09,990 about is combined for all of these episodes, these podcasters 101 00:07:09,990 --> 00:07:15,210 have delivered a watch total of over 50 million views on YouTube 102 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,450 alone. So that's not even podcast downloads in the 103 00:07:18,450 --> 00:07:20,850 traditional way that we think of them. That's not streams, that's 104 00:07:20,850 --> 00:07:23,760 not anything else, that's just views on YouTube. And that is 105 00:07:23,850 --> 00:07:27,000 absolutely insane to me, and this might be obvious from their 106 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:31,050 introductions, but all of the hosts are male and carry a 107 00:07:31,050 --> 00:07:35,130 consistently male centered audience. And while I've 108 00:07:35,130 --> 00:07:39,780 listened to clips from all these podcasters, I do not claim to be 109 00:07:39,780 --> 00:07:42,690 fully equipped to speak on their audiences any more than just to 110 00:07:42,690 --> 00:07:47,220 say, I do believe they are targeted at young to middle aged 111 00:07:47,220 --> 00:07:52,140 men, and they are doing an excellent job like it is all 112 00:07:52,140 --> 00:07:56,070 executed flawlessly. Also, I want to acknowledge that there 113 00:07:56,070 --> 00:08:00,000 were many other live Twitch events and streaming and radio 114 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,210 shows, and I did not include them here. I was trying to keep 115 00:08:03,210 --> 00:08:06,900 it strictly podcast oriented, but Donald Trump was staying 116 00:08:06,930 --> 00:08:11,340 very busy on podcasts and streaming circuits. No one can 117 00:08:11,340 --> 00:08:15,090 say he was not putting in the time there on podcasts, because 118 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:19,890 Absolutely he was. So let's take a look at Kamala Harris and how 119 00:08:19,890 --> 00:08:23,850 the Harris campaign use podcasting to help share their 120 00:08:23,850 --> 00:08:29,070 message and draw in those voters that might not have known the 121 00:08:29,070 --> 00:08:33,390 vice president very well up until this point, on september 122 00:08:33,420 --> 00:08:37,440 30, Kamala Harris joined Alex Cooper on call her daddy, which 123 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:42,720 is Spotify, second most popular podcast in the United States and 124 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:46,170 also has about 1 million subscribers on YouTube. During 125 00:08:46,170 --> 00:08:49,680 this episode, Kamala Harris spoke about the grit that it 126 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:53,520 takes for a woman to seek public office, the toughness that her 127 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,940 mother instilled in her, and the importance of reproductive 128 00:08:56,940 --> 00:09:00,930 rights in this election. This episode was roughly 40 minutes 129 00:09:00,930 --> 00:09:06,150 long again, airing on september 30, Kamala Harris joined all the 130 00:09:06,150 --> 00:09:10,350 smoke with NBA champions Steven Jackson and Matt Barnes to 131 00:09:10,350 --> 00:09:14,700 discuss the Harris plan to boost the economy and her perspective 132 00:09:14,700 --> 00:09:19,770 on America's progress on social justice. Next on october 28 133 00:09:19,770 --> 00:09:24,030 Kamala Harris joined Brene Brown on unlocking us with Brene Brown 134 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:28,290 for conversation on the strength and fragility of democracy, the 135 00:09:28,290 --> 00:09:32,460 power of strong coalitions, and how to commit to justice and 136 00:09:32,460 --> 00:09:37,020 fairness that can both ground us and drive action. That interview 137 00:09:37,020 --> 00:09:41,340 was one hour long and a lot like Donald Trump, Kamala Harris did 138 00:09:41,340 --> 00:09:45,390 appear on a variety of radio shows and other media like The 139 00:09:45,390 --> 00:09:48,360 Howard Stern Show, the Steve Harvey Morning Show and The 140 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:52,500 Breakfast Club. When we look at the overall listener audience of 141 00:09:52,500 --> 00:09:56,880 the Harris features, it shows a much more diverse story than 142 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:01,890 Donald Trump and where he was featured. But. But a far less 143 00:10:01,890 --> 00:10:04,740 consistent one. And again, I've listened to clips from the 144 00:10:04,740 --> 00:10:08,220 podcasts, and I do not claim to know the full analysis of their 145 00:10:08,220 --> 00:10:11,460 audience, but when I'm looking at these three podcasts 146 00:10:11,460 --> 00:10:15,030 specifically, and we see their target audiences are young 147 00:10:15,030 --> 00:10:20,010 women, young to middle aged men and middle aged women, you're 148 00:10:20,010 --> 00:10:25,380 casting a wide net, but not really driving home the message 149 00:10:25,380 --> 00:10:29,580 to any specific person. Here's my perspective on why podcasting 150 00:10:29,580 --> 00:10:32,730 really worked for Donald Trump in this election cycle, and it 151 00:10:32,730 --> 00:10:36,090 didn't for Kamala Harris. What do I always say about 152 00:10:36,090 --> 00:10:41,010 podcasting? Know your audience, know your audience. Both these 153 00:10:41,010 --> 00:10:44,190 candidates do know their audience, but they are speaking 154 00:10:44,190 --> 00:10:47,490 to them in totally different ways. And in all fairness, 155 00:10:47,490 --> 00:10:51,600 Kamala Harris had a much broader area to cover, seeing as the 156 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:55,710 country was just getting to know her in about 100 days, that's a 157 00:10:55,710 --> 00:11:00,570 lot of work to do. That's a lot of people to speak to. However, 158 00:11:00,810 --> 00:11:05,100 it does not mean that your message is reaching the targeted 159 00:11:05,130 --> 00:11:08,550 audience. In the upcoming weeks and months, you're going to hear 160 00:11:08,550 --> 00:11:13,470 a lot about the significance of paid, owned and earned media, 161 00:11:13,470 --> 00:11:16,830 and for the reasons that I've discussed in this episode, let's 162 00:11:16,830 --> 00:11:20,370 take a look at each one of these and talk about what they really 163 00:11:20,370 --> 00:11:25,470 mean, let's start with paid media. You pay for it, so that 164 00:11:25,470 --> 00:11:30,060 can be anything from a Facebook ad to a billboard, anything you 165 00:11:30,060 --> 00:11:35,070 pay for that is getting your message out there. Next is owned 166 00:11:35,070 --> 00:11:38,100 media. And owned media is anything that you create, for 167 00:11:38,100 --> 00:11:42,480 example, a Tiktok video that you made, or a blog post, you wrote 168 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:48,600 your own podcast, any content or media that you create and post 169 00:11:48,630 --> 00:11:55,140 and own yourself is owned media. Lastly, is earned media. Earned 170 00:11:55,140 --> 00:11:59,400 media is the trickiest, but I would argue the most important 171 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:05,430 media for gaining consumer or voter trust in the digital age. 172 00:12:06,090 --> 00:12:09,930 People are smart. They don't trust ads. Yeah, they don't 173 00:12:09,930 --> 00:12:13,620 trust ads anywhere, and they don't trust you. Audiences are 174 00:12:13,620 --> 00:12:17,850 very wary, and do you blame them? This is why earned media 175 00:12:17,850 --> 00:12:21,720 is so important, and whether you like it or not, Donald Trump did 176 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:25,620 a spectacular job of capitalizing on earned media. 177 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:28,650 I've heard some speculation around that his youngest son, 178 00:12:28,650 --> 00:12:31,590 Barron Trump, is a big fan of podcasting, and some of the 179 00:12:31,590 --> 00:12:34,740 podcasts that he went on, but regardless, he knew who his 180 00:12:34,740 --> 00:12:38,940 audience was, and he was able to use that earned media that he 181 00:12:38,940 --> 00:12:43,590 got to speak directly to this audience. Donald Trump is 182 00:12:43,590 --> 00:12:45,930 amazing at this and he has been for most of his life, and 183 00:12:45,930 --> 00:12:50,280 whether it's magazines or TV or any kind of media that he can 184 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:55,560 shape and mold to his narrative, he is very hands on with the 185 00:12:55,560 --> 00:13:00,810 media. Does he hate them? Yeah, most of the time, but also it is 186 00:13:00,810 --> 00:13:04,980 his secret weapon, because he can use that earned media to 187 00:13:04,980 --> 00:13:08,970 accomplish the things that he is trying to do. Looking at the 188 00:13:08,970 --> 00:13:12,870 Harris campaign and how Kamala Harris used podcasting, I'm not 189 00:13:12,990 --> 00:13:17,460 100% sure it was used in the best way, even for the small 190 00:13:17,490 --> 00:13:20,550 amount that she utilized the platform. If I could give some 191 00:13:20,550 --> 00:13:24,420 constructive criticism and my own thoughts, it would be this, 192 00:13:25,230 --> 00:13:29,520 get in character, get in the environment. When I watched the 193 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:33,360 caller daddy interview, it was unlike any of the other episodes 194 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:37,020 of that podcast that I had ever watched, but not necessarily in 195 00:13:37,020 --> 00:13:40,920 a good way. It felt very buttoned up, which I'm not 196 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:43,200 saying is a bad thing. I'm not saying that if your podcast is 197 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:45,630 buttoned up, that that's bad. I'm saying that it wasn't the 198 00:13:45,630 --> 00:13:50,640 call her daddy brand. It felt very disingenuous to the 199 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:54,450 experience of listening or watching that particular 200 00:13:54,450 --> 00:13:58,500 podcast. And I know that they were hosting the Vice President 201 00:13:58,500 --> 00:14:00,930 of the United States, right? You got to be a little bit more 202 00:14:00,930 --> 00:14:05,280 professional, but maybe it was either that that was the wrong 203 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:09,990 show for Kamala Harris, or her team should have worked with the 204 00:14:09,990 --> 00:14:13,260 podcast to create a little bit more laid back environment for 205 00:14:13,260 --> 00:14:18,870 everyone. It felt forced, in a way, and especially for this to 206 00:14:18,870 --> 00:14:23,640 be one of the only long form pieces of media that the Kamala 207 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:28,470 Harris campaign put out that wasn't a prime time interview, I 208 00:14:28,470 --> 00:14:31,680 think it could have been optimized to yield better 209 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:37,440 results. All right, so we've covered the good and the bad. I 210 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:42,120 am grateful to these campaigns for using podcasting as part of 211 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:46,260 their election strategy. I think that was incredibly smart. I 212 00:14:46,260 --> 00:14:48,900 made this joke on Tiktok last week that sometimes, as a 213 00:14:48,900 --> 00:14:53,910 podcaster, that podcasting can feel like the coolest and lamest 214 00:14:53,910 --> 00:14:58,590 thing about you. And I think that is really true. What I want 215 00:14:58,590 --> 00:15:01,920 you to take away from this episode. Code an election is 216 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:07,080 that podcasting is legitimate. As cliche as it might be for me 217 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:13,110 to say people don't trust media. People trust people. People 218 00:15:13,110 --> 00:15:19,080 trust connections. And no matter how many millions or billions a 219 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:24,630 campaign spends on ads, it can't create the same connection as 220 00:15:24,630 --> 00:15:29,160 sitting down with another person and talking about how you really 221 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:35,550 feel, what's really going on. How do we as a country actually 222 00:15:35,550 --> 00:15:39,930 get through this? Whether you have a podcast that you want to 223 00:15:39,930 --> 00:15:42,960 make more attractive to high profile guests, or you're a 224 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:46,020 podcaster that wants to be featured on other podcasts as a 225 00:15:46,020 --> 00:15:50,160 guest, I'd be happy to help you create the strategy and help you 226 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:54,660 win in whatever you are doing. I'll have a link for my hourly 227 00:15:54,660 --> 00:15:57,960 consulting in the episode descriptions. You can also reach 228 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:02,730 out to me at Morgan, at morganfranklin dot media. So 229 00:16:02,730 --> 00:16:07,800 that's Morgan at morganfranklin dot media. I also have my 230 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,920 digital product shop. Those are templates that I have created 231 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:14,220 that I use every day as a podcaster, that I use for my 232 00:16:14,220 --> 00:16:17,640 podcasting clients that will be linked below, or you can go to 233 00:16:17,700 --> 00:16:23,130 podcastforprofit.com and as always, I can't wait to listen 234 00:16:23,130 --> 00:16:28,320 to your podcast. Hey, thank you so much for joining me on this 235 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,290 episode. If you enjoyed the podcast and you'd like to hear 236 00:16:31,290 --> 00:16:34,500 more episodes like this one, go ahead and subscribe to the show. 237 00:16:34,530 --> 00:16:37,710 New episodes air every Monday morning. And if you found this 238 00:16:37,710 --> 00:16:40,530 episode valuable and you want to help other business owners and 239 00:16:40,530 --> 00:16:43,530 podcasters, will you leave me a five star review? It helps the 240 00:16:43,530 --> 00:16:46,920 show rank higher in the charts and brings more entrepreneurs 241 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:50,190 the information they need to start making money on their 242 00:16:50,190 --> 00:16:51,120 podcast.