Can a podcast be more than just content? Tomás Soares da Fonseca thinks so—and he’s got over 1,000 episodes to back it up. As the founder of ICONS of Real Estate, he’s helped top agents and entrepreneurs turn interviews into inbound leads, brand equity, and long-term business growth. This episode explores how to build a podcast that doesn’t just entertain—but sells, connects, and scales.
What You’ll Learn
• How to convert podcast listeners into high-quality inbound leads
• The systems and workflows Tomás uses to scale podcast operations
• The metrics and KPIs that actually move the needle
• Mistakes to avoid when using content as a funnel
• How to sustain consistency and momentum over hundreds of episodes
About Tomás Soares da Fonseca
Tomás is the founder of ICONS of Real Estate, a podcast network and brand platform that helps real estate professionals turn their voice into client acquisition machines. He’s produced more than 1,000 podcast episodes to date, partnering with top agents, brokers, and syndicators across North America.
Sponsors & Partners
• Odoo — Imagine you’re a business owner juggling a dozen disconnected software tools. Each is expensive, overly complex, and none talk to each other. Odoo fixes that by combining CRM, marketing, accounting, HR, and more in one unified system. 👉 Learn more at odoo.com
• For sponsorship opportunities, email ad-sales@libsyn.com.
Resources & Links Mentioned
1 ICONS of Real Estate: iconsofrealestate.com
2 🎧 Listen on Apple: https://tonydurso.com/apple
3 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://tonydurso.com/spotify
4 📧 Join the Newsletter: https://tonydurso.com/news
5 🎥 Watch the Video: https://tonydurso.com/videos
Tony’s Closing Words
Use this and let’s help you Move on YOUR Journey to Success!
Just Take Action. – Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds. Sow good seeds, do good deeds and join me on the next episode.
#podcasting #podcaststrategy #realestatepodcast #leadgeneration #entrepreneurship #contentmarketing #relationshipfunnel #realestatebranding #businessgrowth #tonydurso
podcasting as a relationship funnel, real estate podcast strategy, turn listeners into leads, inbound leads from podcast, content marketing for real estate, scaling a podcast network, podcast metrics that matter, podcast lead generation, podcast for real estate agents, authority podcasting, podcast guest funnel, podcast systems & workflows, real estate branding podcast, nurturing leads via podcast, podcast growth tactics, repurposing podcast content, podcasting for entrepreneurs, converting podcast interviews to clients, podcast SEO for real estate, consistent podcasting strategy
What You’ll Learn
• How to convert podcast listeners into high-quality inbound leads
• The systems and workflows Tomás uses to scale podcast operations
• The metrics and KPIs that actually move the needle
• Mistakes to avoid when using content as a funnel
• How to sustain consistency and momentum over hundreds of episodes
About Tomás Soares da Fonseca
Tomás is the founder of ICONS of Real Estate, a podcast network and brand platform that helps real estate professionals turn their voice into client acquisition machines. He’s produced more than 1,000 podcast episodes to date, partnering with top agents, brokers, and syndicators across North America.
Sponsors & Partners
• Odoo — Imagine you’re a business owner juggling a dozen disconnected software tools. Each is expensive, overly complex, and none talk to each other. Odoo fixes that by combining CRM, marketing, accounting, HR, and more in one unified system. 👉 Learn more at odoo.com
• For sponsorship opportunities, email ad-sales@libsyn.com.
Resources & Links Mentioned
1 ICONS of Real Estate: iconsofrealestate.com
2 🎧 Listen on Apple: https://tonydurso.com/apple
3 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://tonydurso.com/spotify
4 📧 Join the Newsletter: https://tonydurso.com/news
5 🎥 Watch the Video: https://tonydurso.com/videos
Tony’s Closing Words
Use this and let’s help you Move on YOUR Journey to Success!
Just Take Action. – Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds. Sow good seeds, do good deeds and join me on the next episode.
#podcasting #podcaststrategy #realestatepodcast #leadgeneration #entrepreneurship #contentmarketing #relationshipfunnel #realestatebranding #businessgrowth #tonydurso
podcasting as a relationship funnel, real estate podcast strategy, turn listeners into leads, inbound leads from podcast, content marketing for real estate, scaling a podcast network, podcast metrics that matter, podcast lead generation, podcast for real estate agents, authority podcasting, podcast guest funnel, podcast systems & workflows, real estate branding podcast, nurturing leads via podcast, podcast growth tactics, repurposing podcast content, podcasting for entrepreneurs, converting podcast interviews to clients, podcast SEO for real estate, consistent podcasting strategy
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Today we go deep, how to use podcasting as a strategic growth channel, what metrics matter, and what secrets Tomas has learned along the way.
00:10Like if you're genuine, people always like to know about a certain topic, but they also want to be entertained.
00:18And most people, they're not entertained by simple education.
00:21So only people that are really devoted, I'm like, okay, I want to know more about the Suez system.
00:30I'm going to listen to a podcast, like very straightforward to that.
00:45Welcome back to the podcast.
00:46Today's guest needs no introduction in the world of real estate and podcasting.
00:52Tomas Fonseca is the visionary founder behind Icons of Real Estate.
00:58It's a platform where he's produced over 1000 episodes, helping top agents and investors amplify their personal brands through podcasting.
01:08But what Tomas has realized, and what every ambitious entrepreneur should also, is that podcasting isn't just content.
01:19It's a very powerful relationship funnel done right.
01:23It doesn't just broadcast, it builds trust, it nurtures leads, and it converts listeners into clients.
01:30Today we go deep, how to use podcasting as a strategic growth channel, what metrics matter, and what secrets Tomas has learned along the way.
01:41So whether you're a seasoned founder looking to scale, or a service provider wanting to stand out, or perhaps an investor seeking better inbound leads, this episode is your blueprint.
01:54So guys, take a seat, get comfortable.
01:57Let's welcome Tomas.
01:58Hi, Tomas.
01:59Thanks for having me.
02:00Welcome to the Tony Dirsel Show.
02:02I'm so glad to have you on.
02:04You know, I'm not used to saying Tomas, but I should be because one of my brothers, my older brother, is Thomas, and we always call him Tomas.
02:12So it's kind of odd to call someone else Tomas.
02:15Perhaps that was why I stumble sometimes on saying your name, but not for long.
02:22Well, we'll try this episode when you say my name 55 times.
02:26We'll see how it goes.
02:27Exactly.
02:28And speaking of that, and we're all looking forward to learning about podcast relationship funnels.
02:35I've got some questions because I'm looking at some things that I want to learn and get from you, perhaps things that you may have learned, and see where it goes.
02:45So I know you a little bit, and I know your partner, and I've been on one of your podcasts.
02:51No, your partner's been on my other show, on my show.
02:55For the audience, I'd like to introduce you a little bit more, and perhaps we could start here.
03:01What's your backstory?
03:02How did it all start for you, Tomas?
03:04So I'm probably not in the most normal location that your guests might be in.
03:10So I'm currently located in Vietnam.
03:14So we both have – I don't know if your light is natural as well.
03:19It looks natural.
03:20But my light is natural here because I'm already on tomorrow.
03:23So it's already 7 a.m. on Friday.
03:28So if you ever want to find out what's happening tomorrow, you can just call me, Tony, and I'll tell you what's happening.
03:34But I moved to Southeast Asia right before COVID hit, and I was a marketing graduate already with a bunch of projects that I was succeeding at.
03:51And I moved to Southeast Asia kind of like just for a little bit of a lifestyle and travel change, you know.
03:57So COVID obviously decided to write a chapter in my life, and I got stuck in Vietnam.
04:06And usually the stuck, you would put a negative connotation to it.
04:11But I was happily stuck because in Vietnam, it was one of the countries and also equally to Australia that dealt with COVID in a very good way.
04:24So, like, we were out and about.
04:26Like, I basically didn't do any quarantine in my life.
04:31Like, I think the only quarantine I did was, like, three weeks.
04:34So I was out and about, and I needed a job, right?
04:39Like, this was even remote jobs were already, like, coming up then.
04:46Of course, right now the universe of remote jobs is very much present.
04:51And there it was still, it was still coming up.
04:54But I said, oh, I need a remote.
04:55I need to live, right?
04:56I can't, I can't work on the local economy here.
04:59Like, I need to get out there and do something.
05:03And that's where I met my partner, Chris Reed.
05:06And we're putting together, you know, I mean, he already added together the other SEO, which we're basically building and optimizing websites for the real estate industry.
05:19And I always had a vision to create something more accessible and that also tackles short-term goals and not just long-term goals, right?
05:32So we all know how SEO works and, I mean, no, we all know, go check the episode that Tony did with Chris.
05:40But SEO is very long-term, right?
05:42And we were doing our own podcasts and we had the idea of bringing together top agents so we can create some authority in the industry, right?
05:55If you're a service provider, if you're an industry partner, you're very often seen as a salesman, right?
06:04Like, you're just part of the industry to sell to the main action people, right, that are doing, you know, for example, you know, the insurance, the real estate agents, right?
06:16They're the main character.
06:18And then, you know, the real estate marketing agencies, they're just trying to steal their gold, right?
06:23So that's how they usually are perceived.
06:26And we wanted the podcast to make us feel part of the community, right?
06:31Like, hey, we're actually giving back to the community.
06:34And we saw through, like, it was a great way to connect with people.
06:39So we would bring them and it would kind of be a relationship starter.
06:44And that's how we grew our business.
06:48Since then, we decided to, hey, like, if we're doing this for ourselves, what if we apply this vehicle to actually to our customer avatar, which is the real estate agents?
07:00And we give it a go for one year, one year only, with one client, only one podcast client, while we're doing our other side business, well, now side business with the SEO.
07:14And it was a probate realtor in California, Beverly Hills.
07:20And we managed to increase his production by 25% just, and it could correlate that growth directly to the podcast.
07:32Okay.
07:32So we finished that year and said, okay, this works.
07:36We're going to scale.
07:37We're going to scale this.
07:38And that's how, you know, Icons of Real Estate came to be.
07:42We wanted to build the number one real estate podcast network.
07:48We wanted to, and we did.
07:50So we now count with more than 70 podcasts around our network that we are actively producing.
07:59We also have another avenue that we help real estate agents also guests on podcasts.
08:07So that's actually something that is new, and I can talk about it more as well.
08:12That we're putting up a platform for a marketplace for podcast casting.
08:18And, yeah, we produce thousands of episodes.
08:21And we've helped real estate agents grow their business with something that is perceived as just vanity, right?
08:30So we're trying.
08:31We're trying, and we keep doing that.
08:33I'm really impressed at what you did.
08:35You went from SEO to doing a podcast, which isn't something you normally have done.
08:41And you found that you could grow somebody's business by just podcasting.
08:46And I'm like, this is such an amazing concept, you know, years back.
08:51Today, it's quite a, there's a lot of podcasts out there.
08:57There's a whole lot.
08:58There's millions.
09:00Whatever the number is, it just keeps growing.
09:02How are you able to get those leads and generate that business for that client?
09:11You know, I'm sure you made quite a few mistakes, but you were able to actually grow it and bring up other clients.
09:16I'm just really impressed at how you've learned this and actually cut through all of the, you know, cut through all of the crowd that's out there podcasting right now.
09:30Yeah, I've done a lot of mistakes and I still do them, you know, like if you're not making mistakes, you're probably doing something wrong, right?
09:39So it's, it's an evolving also kind of skill that we have, but we, we first had our first go with, with ourselves, right?
09:52So we learned a lot about the act of giving in order to get something back, right?
09:59So we, we all, we all seen entrepreneurs and I'll try to keep this, you know, broader than real estate at all times, because this is like adequate for many industries out there.
10:12Mostly, if I have to say it, mostly like B2B, but also in some B2C industries.
10:18But what I have to say is when you give, give, give without expecting nothing back, you make people, you know, vulnerable, right?
10:29Tony, if I, if I'm here with you and I, I send you a gift and I do you a back rub and I sing you a lullaby, you know, if I ask you then for, for two minutes of your time, you'll be, you'll be the devil if you say no to me.
10:44Okay.
10:45And this is actually like an experience that I, that I had in, in a shopping mall recently where I was approaching the stand because I was looking for a candle and then the lady, she put, she puts like a, um, um, how do you call it?
11:00Like a shoulder massage, like a, um, a shoulder massage thing.
11:06I don't know.
11:07I never saw it before and it was warm.
11:09Then another one came, she gave me tea.
11:12And I was like, at that time I was like, oh, I'm like, I have to buy their candle now.
11:17Like I've, I've got a massage and a tea for free.
11:21Like I have to buy their candle, which was expensive, but I had no other choice.
11:25So like with the podcast, like what we did is we, we are giving people's voice, uh, we are, we are giving them a space in our, in our community, uh, in our, uh, in our channel.
11:38Uh, we're giving them content to share with their own, uh, with their own audience.
11:42And we're giving them authority because every single podcast that you come through is another authority, not just for your clients, not just for your partners, but even it works really well on SEO.
11:53It really works well on, on Google, right?
11:56If Google can see that you go on podcasts, they see you as, as an authority, as an authority.
12:01So as we give, give, give, the only thing that we ask back is kind of the time that we say like, Hey, this is, this is our, our spiel, right?
12:09Like, uh, as you, as you say, so before the traditional sales cycle of like pitch first, uh, relationship after, um, we focus on the relationship and giving value first, and then we pitch after.
12:24And the pitch is much more welcome and you can have, uh, uh, a much more, um, kind of straightforward conversation.
12:32The other, the other thing that we learned is through the podcast and through creating content, because you're doing this simultaneously, you can't be just focused on the, on the sales funnel, right?
12:45Like, uh, because you can't be just inviting people to your podcast and then you never post anything or you just do a five minute podcast and then you try to pitch them for 40 minutes.
12:55Like, it doesn't work like that first, like you do need to create the content, but amongst like creating the content for, um, even on the time that you're like, um, trying to find the guest story and asking some questions is almost masked as a little like qualification, uh, part.
13:13So even the questions that you would ask to, uh, to, uh, to create content, they can be, uh, they can be the replacement for like the sales qualification questions that you would ask on a sales call, right?
13:29And they're most, they're very, uh, well received because you're creating content.
13:34You can ask anything and they'll say it back, right?
13:38So it's, it's just, it's, um, it's a vehicle that we've come to, uh, perfect over the years and we apply to real estate.
13:47Uh, it works a little different than, uh, if it would be like a B2B agency, uh, but it still works well.
13:53And we have plenty of success stories, uh, uh, to tell, to tell from it.
13:58I think you're one of the top real estate podcasts out there.
14:02Uh, by the way, uh, Chris had shared the number with me before.
14:07Um, back then it was, I think it was even, you've even hit number one, but anyways, this is Tomas Fonseca.
14:14We're talking about podcasts, relationship funnels, and you can find him at icons of real estate.com.
14:23That's four words, icons, I C O N S icons of real estate.com.
14:28Tomas, I want to kind of get into this real, uh, real relationship funnel.
14:33And I'm curious, so why you picked real estate, you, you're both SEO experts.
14:38You, this is your world, your passion, and you, you, you went into real estate and you did a really great job.
14:44I'm just curious, how did that part, uh, how did that happen?
14:50So it's when you, the riches are in the niches, right?
14:55Uh, with real estate agents, um, I don't want to say that they're all the same.
15:00Okay.
15:00They're not, uh, if, uh, if anyone listening, please don't, don't throw rocks at my door.
15:06Uh, but they, they think the same, uh, they have the same goals.
15:10You know, most of them, uh, they have the same objections, right?
15:13So that's why when you have like one unique, uh, customer avatar, you can get to know them better, uh, and tailor your, your process, uh, and your marketing to them.
15:24Okay.
15:25So obviously like we all know, uh, how, how good is to, to niche down your business.
15:30And for us, we, we started, uh, in SEO, uh, in real estate back, uh, on our SEO days and we just got, we got one hit, uh, with, uh, one client that was Avery Carl.
15:44And, and this was, um, yeah, like eight or nine years ago.
15:49And we had tremendous success with it, like tremendous success with it because the SEO, when it comes to real estate is much more straightforward.
15:58than any other business, because it's really like house for sale.
16:02And, and then you have a few authority, uh, authority keywords, and that's almost it.
16:08Of course, there's more to it, but, uh, it's, it's pretty simple and it's very easy duplicatable, right?
16:13So we thought, oh, okay.
16:14So we need to just find an agent in every single city, apply the same strategy, and we're going to win.
16:20And, uh, we managed to help Avery go from, um, uh, a 59 million volume team to go to, uh, over a billion.
16:28All right.
16:29So that's like, uh, I don't even know the percentage.
16:32I'm not really good on, uh, had math.
16:34Uh, but it's, uh, we managed, you know, to 50 times our business.
16:38Uh, obviously the, the credit for that is not a hundred percent to us.
16:43She's an amazing entrepreneur and, and real estate professional, but we were there, uh, along the run, um, getting visitors to our website and getting conversions through the website consistently.
16:56Okay.
16:56So she even had to take out her number from the website cause she was getting too many phone calls and she built, uh, since then, like a call center around, like with dozens of agents picking up cause the phone is always ringing.
17:09So we, we grabbed that and say, okay, let's, let's give it a go in real estate.
17:13And I mean, it went well.
17:14And then, um, by the time that we were in part that we started podcasting, um, we, we, we already so immersed in the industry, Tony, that we decided like, yeah, let's just give it a go for, for the same folks.
17:27And it's, it's, it's working amazingly.
17:31Absolutely amazing what you've done.
17:33I'm very curious and as a, and I'm sure all the podcasters that listen as well, how do you, how do you, what's the success or the secret in turning those passive listeners into leads, you know, and, and, and, and providing leads even for clients, not just leads for yourself as well.
17:52Was that just good SEO?
17:54There's gotta be more to it.
17:55Yeah, there's more to it, you know, like, uh, the first one, like, it's like, you need to have a vision for the podcast, right?
18:04Like, so if, if the podcast does not have a direction, uh, it's not, it's not, it's not going to work, right?
18:10Because if you're just making the podcast just because, uh, you can't really attach any growth to that and you'll be, you know, three months down the line, six months down the line, you, you drop some dollars to it, you drop some time to it.
18:21And then it's just going to get frustrated because you'll get zero results and 10, 10, 10, 10, uh, 10 views, right?
18:28And the 10 views, they're your friends and family and neighbors.
18:31Uh, so it's, it's really important to, uh, to set those goals first.
18:36So you can then know, uh, what type of strategy you need, right?
18:41And like, what do you need is, is you need to look at the two avenues, right?
18:45Um, and the one avenue is the relationship building that we were talking about before.
18:50Um, and the other avenue is through the content creation, right?
18:53So this through content creation, while you're positioning yourself as an authority, you can, uh, create a gigantic knowledge base, um, that you can use for your own benefit.
19:05Okay.
19:06So now when it comes to, um, converting passive listeners, I would say that's the hardest thing in podcasting.
19:15Okay.
19:16Depending on the product that you have, if you're selling bar, if you're saying $5 Barbies, I wouldn't say it's too hard, right?
19:22But if you're selling like a $50,000 coaching program, uh, converting a passive listener, it's not going to be as easy, right?
19:30You need to have, um, uh, a funnel that you can put them on.
19:35You need to have something, uh, to give away, uh, to get, to get their contact details, right?
19:40So I'll really just look at your product first and this can, uh, uh, vary in the, uh, in a, uh, in a multitude of ways.
19:49Uh, but I would say, uh, one, one, uh, one advice is to be genuine.
19:56Okay.
19:57There are a lot of other podcasts out there that they try to stick to the script or, or even, even try to cover a lot of, a lot of interesting topics.
20:07Like if you're genuine, people always like to know, uh, about a certain topic, but they also want to be entertained.
20:14Okay.
20:15And most people, they're not entertained by simple education.
20:18So only people that are really devoted, I'm like, okay, I want to, I want to know about, uh, I want to know more about the sewage system.
20:26I'm going to listen to a podcast, uh, like very, uh, straightforward to that.
20:31Uh, if you, if you're able to have a little, like entertaining around the podcast, usually, you know, laughter helps, um, uh, as, as you're giving the education, that's, uh, where you can captivate more listeners.
20:45Right.
20:46And especially if you're in a local market, you can't just be putting yourself out there with like, for example, with real estate about like real estate, real estate, real estate, you know?
20:56Sometimes we do, um, a podcast episode, for example, uh, that we're, uh, interviewing, you know, uh, the, uh, the fire department had, right?
21:06Or we interviewing a charity doing, doing great things for the community.
21:10So it's, it's kind of like you're positioning yourself as a part of the community that you want to sell to.
21:16Okay.
21:17And believe me, you give, give, give, you will come back to you and people will get to you already knowing you.
21:24Right.
21:25Uh, there's a lot of people doing business that they still need to present themselves.
21:29It's like, Hey, this is me, blah, blah, blah.
21:31This is what I do.
21:32And like while doing podcasts, the leads that you're generating, they come to your door without already knowing you.
21:39You can't go straight to the, get to know them parts and not try to pitch yourself because the podcast did that for you.
21:46I have a lot of questions.
21:49I don't know where to go first.
21:50I'm thinking of your, your podcasting for real estate.
21:54And that's brilliant.
21:55And I got, and I understand the model because once you understand all the SEO and how it works, it's, it's the same for all, uh, just about all real estate brokers.
22:05They all want to sell a house or a building or, or land or, or what have you.
22:11So I get that part, the funnel part.
22:15Cause you're, I, I, I should, are your podcasts.
22:19Well, they're obviously not focused on a particular property because that, that would be very timeless.
22:27But I'm curious about the funnel and the leads because here you are talking about being the authority figures on podcasting for real estate and about real estate and all this information.
22:40How does that funnel work where now people are reaching out to you?
22:44Is it you're advertising or you're talking about different, different opportunities?
22:48How does the, how does, what, what is it that engages that person to come in and, and want to be on your list and, and become, and becomes a lead for you?
22:57So you've got to ask for it, right?
23:01So that's where, you know, the, the call to actions, uh, the call to actions come in.
23:05And really sometimes like when you, when you say like, uh, uh, please follow me and subscribe.
23:11And sometimes even before when I, when I saw that I would, uh, I would feel like a little bit cringy, you know, like, ah, like you're begging me to do, to do something, but it's, it's actually, it, it works, right?
23:24So that's why you see, you know, content creators always saying like subscribe and, uh, uh, um, and, and like, and comment because it works, right?
23:33So whenever you have, for example, like a lead magnet, right, Tony, um, and you want people to, to go download it, you know, say it out loud, promote it, right?
23:43And that's where you can even like, uh, trace back each, each episode to see like how, how it works.
23:49And you can even put the link that you put on, on the episode, it can be a unique link.
23:54So you can see from which episode you're getting the most hits on your lead magnets and you can see like, okay, this is what it's working better.
24:02Right.
24:03For example, if you have 10 episodes and you're promoting, uh, for example, a lead magnet there, um, and, uh, on, on the, on the podcast episode, and this is where it, where it gets interesting, Tony, like we can only get into a certain, uh, uh, surface of, of a topic.
24:19Right.
24:19Like probably I could talk 10 hours about this.
24:23Uh, I'll probably need to focus and, uh, eat something in between, but we could talk 10 hours about this.
24:29So we're only going to talk like a few minutes about this.
24:33There is much more, uh, to unveil around the world of podcasting.
24:38Right.
24:38So you can, you catching someone's interest.
24:42And it's more like, if you want to find out more, like I have, uh, for example, we have, um, podcast, uh, frameworks.
24:49We have five podcast frameworks, um, that we, that we give away to people and we promote that on every podcast that I go.
24:57And we promote that on our own podcast.
24:59Like we get, we get submissions every single day.
25:03Okay.
25:04Um, and it's really like, you need to have, uh, a lead magnets, something to give away.
25:10Uh, you need to spark some interest and you need to then, uh, distribute that lead magnet to your, to your viewers.
25:17And then it's really like engaging with them.
25:20Um, even in the beginning when you're, when you have just a few, a few followers, uh, or, or a few listeners, like you have the time for them.
25:28Right.
25:28Not like Tony here that he cannot be sending, you know, uh, thousands of messages every single day.
25:34Right.
25:34To keep up with this audience.
25:35Uh, but if you're just starting out and you see like you have a new follower, right.
25:40For example, you obviously you need to promote this out there.
25:43You have a new follower on Instagram.
25:45Hey, like, don't be like, Oh, I have a new follower.
25:47And then just celebrate it, you know, cause you should, you know, celebrate happy wins, uh, small wins.
25:53Um, go, go ahead and message, go ahead and message that person and say, Hey, thank you so much.
25:58Like they don't even find it odd.
26:00Right.
26:00Um, thank you so much.
26:02Like if you, do you come from the podcast and you can just assume that they did, because if not, you can then promote the podcast.
26:09So it's, there's really like a gazillion of ways that you can like interact with them and try to bring them closer and closer to you from just a long, uh, a long distance, uh, listener to a close, uh, a close client or a close partner.
26:26I have so many more questions.
26:28The more you answer, the more questions I have, I want to talk about metrics.
26:33I want to ask you about your KPI, but before that it's, it's, as I understand it so far, it's having a very good, uh, offer or giveaway that you, that you give people about the topic or subject.
26:46And they, and in your podcast, uh, you grow that person's want or desire for that.
26:53And then they will, uh, subscribe or, or whatever and get that giveaway, which then is where that's where your funnel starts is now that they've got this, this paper, this information secrets, whatever it is you're giving.
27:11So now that moves, that moves them along to being, uh, perhaps being a lead or a prospect for, for your clients or something, but that's, that's, that's, that is the key is having a really good giveaways.
27:24Is that right so far?
27:26Yeah.
27:26Uh, actually one thing that I could add on that, um, that we, we, we do it with different clients in different ways, but it's to build a community around, uh, uh, around your product.
27:39Right.
27:40Of course it needs to be focused on, on your niche or on your industry.
27:43Uh, but it will build a community around, around your brand, not around your, around your brand.
27:47And you can have both the guests be part of that community.
27:51So like every guest that comes in, uh, is part of the community now.
27:55And you can also have the, uh, the listeners join the community.
28:00Right.
28:00So that's another call to action that you can have is invite them to the community because then you'll have your, your, your little private group that you can market to.
28:09That you can be much more tailored to and people as they, as they feel like, okay, like this content is like just for me and this, you know, couple hundred people here.
28:18So I'll, I'll put either, uh, to convert listeners, I'll put either like a lead magnets or, uh, invite them to, to the community where you can then mark, market to them directly.
28:31Very smart.
28:32Brilliant.
28:33And I love it.
28:35Would you say that what's the key, uh, the key metric that we need to follow, or perhaps we've already discussed it, that drives that real growth?
28:46What's, what, what's the KPI that you think we really should be paying attention to as a podcaster?
28:52So I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll say, well, I'm not going to say one with a weird acronym, uh, Tony, uh, it's, I'm going to say one that it's actually even the most standard one.
29:05Okay.
29:06Uh, which is return on investment and the podcast needs to be seen as a vehicle for growth.
29:13Okay.
29:14If you want to do, if you want to do a podcast and talk about, you know, wood carving, uh, and, uh, and, and your travels.
29:22And just because like, you, you want, you want, you want to share, like, that's okay.
29:26It's kind of like this podcast is not, this, this episode that we're recording with Tony, it's not really, uh, for you.
29:32And like, we deal with podcasts that want to grow businesses.
29:37Okay.
29:38So you can't be seen as a podcast, just as something that you're funneling money and time into without getting something back.
29:47Like, so attaching a return on investment on the podcast for me, like it's the most important KPI and it's what we do with every single client of ours.
29:57It's like, like you, you pay us this.
29:59We want, we want this to be like a tiny little fraction of, of the return that you get.
30:05Okay.
30:06So both return on investment and actual conversions is, is the KPIs that, uh, that we look for more in podcasts because even the vanity metrics,
30:17of views, engagement, comments, follows, subscribes, YouTube, YouTube, YouTube subscriber, Instagram following, and all that, uh, all that doesn't matter if nobody's buying from you, does it?
30:31Uh, and I prefer to have a podcast with, you know, 50 listeners, uh, and, uh, five of them buy then to have a podcast with 5,000 listeners and one of them buys, right?
30:47So it's, uh, we're really focused about the results here and about making, you know, podcasting seen as a, as a vehicle for growth and, and not just like another stream of media out there.
31:00I like that.
31:01I like that.
31:01That's a very good way to look at it because it's not just the numbers on having the podcast.
31:06It's, it's the numbers of engaged listeners, whatever that is.
31:10So I get that, um, in podcasting, there's many facets or parts.
31:16There's, you know, um, your content, there's doing shorts, there's doing a video or just audio.
31:22There's, uh, promoting the guests.
31:24There's all these different pieces.
31:26And I would, you know, being a podcaster, I've been doing this for a decade.
31:30Now I'm looking for, uh, uh, compare notes, anything you've learned that are really important to get your audience.
31:39Uh, well, uh, kind of, you talked about that a little bit.
31:44You did very well in podcasting to such a degree.
31:47You felt very comfortable in going to other real estate brokers and other people in the industry and saying, Hey, look at what we did here.
31:54So that's very much a proof is that, so I'm just kind of, um, going over a couple of things here on what's really key, uh, to stay focused because, um, that's very important so that you, there's a lot of choices out there.
32:13There's a lot of alternatives, alternatives, but you're very focused on how you get your, on how you get your people.
32:18So I'm looking for any, uh, any secret weapons you might have in your toolkit on this.
32:24Um, yeah, so any secret weapons, I mean, I'll, I'll share, I'll share one tool.
32:30Um, and then what, what I can share is, uh, a little bit maybe of, of, of, of, of the framework that we have.
32:38Okay.
32:39Uh, because I do believe in, if you're, if you're doing something, you know, you gotta do it right.
32:44Because if you do it half-assed, you'll get half-assed results.
32:48And, and those usually half-assed results, they're zero.
32:51Right.
32:51Um, but if we're talking about tools first, uh, I found this tool not, not long ago, actually.
32:59Uh, I've been using it, uh, constantly, which is called Eddie AI.
33:04So it's H-E-D-Y, um, space AI.
33:10I actually, I should contact them for an affiliate program, some sort, because I've been promoting them heavily.
33:15Uh, but it's basically like a live, uh, uh, meeting coach.
33:21So you can actually use it for, uh, for business meetings and you can use it for any, any other, any other type of interactions.
33:28Uh, people use it as well for, uh, when they go to events and they're talking to people.
33:33Uh, but this works as an active, uh, let's call it like podcast coach.
33:39Uh, so for example, Tony, if you would be using this tool, you're interviewing me while you'll have like your phone next to you.
33:46So it's like, it's built on your phone.
33:48Um, and it's listen, uh, it's listening actively to the conversation and it's proposing you, uh, it has a couple of things.
33:58He has a couple of prompts.
33:59So like one thing is it propose you questions, right?
34:03So you say, oh yeah.
34:04Uh, oh, Tomás just said this.
34:06Um, you can follow up by saying that.
34:08So it's actively like promote, um, uh, giving you questions to ask too.
34:13And then you can also ask questions to it, right?
34:17You can also write and be like, Hey, yeah, Tomás said this, or I don't remember what Tomás said.
34:23Can you remind me about the name of, of, of the city was born.
34:27Right.
34:27Um, and then like, and then she can reply to, so it's, it works both as, as an assistant, as a, like, uh, um, uh, a passive, uh, a passive and an active assistant.
34:40Right.
34:40And, uh, and, uh, I've used it to like review my own also, uh, performances.
34:45So he also like gives you feedback on how to perform better.
34:49And, um, I mean, chat GPT, um, can do all of that, uh, after you record, right?
34:57Chat GPT doesn't, uh, doesn't provide you feedback, uh, uh, uh, actively, uh, during the recording.
35:04So this is a tool that does, I mean, it's completely free.
35:07Uh, again, I'm not going to pitch their, their membership plans cause I don't have a commission yet, uh, but it's completely free for the first, I think 300 minutes, which is more than enough, uh, for you to realize if you, if you want to pay for it or not, I don't even know the price.
35:21Uh, but it's, it's pretty cool.
35:23Um, so that's the tool that I, that I have to share, Tony.
35:27Uh, maybe you'll, you can download it on your phone as well.
35:30I'm curious just about that right there.
35:32If it's not distracting, because for example, when I'm interviewing, uh, someone such as you, anyone, I really zone in, I'm really following, I'm listening, I'm, I'm comparing my world to your world.
35:45And I'm asking questions and I'm thinking it's not distracting to have this other thing say, oh, ask this question, ask this question, or, or say this, you know, I'm just, I'm just kind of thinking with it.
35:56Um, yeah, obviously with the, with the, uh, with the experience of being a podcast, right, Tony?
36:03And, uh, like you've, you've interviewed a bunch of people, like on your first podcast, like nothing can distract you, right?
36:09Because you're need to be like focused and focused better.
36:12I think like with some experience I can be able to, you know, like talk with you.
36:17And even obviously it's not like while I'm talking that I'm down now, like, okay, now I'm on the phone and I'm doing this.
36:22Of course, like you need to be a little bit like discreet.
36:25Uh, there's also like the, the web version of it.
36:28Um, but you need, you need, so you need the phone to record it, but then you can access the, uh, uh, the, uh, the session on your computer.
36:38Right.
36:39And it's really easy to then like go maybe like on, on a different tab, you know, for example, you know, right now, like I'm not on, on the, on the StreamYard tab.
36:48I'm on another tab, right.
36:50That I could, uh, easily access, access information.
36:53Um, but, but yeah, it's, I wouldn't say it is, uh, very, very distracting.
37:00The only thing, um, that is sometimes like goes in my way, because I always like to wear like headphones.
37:08Um, it, you, you can't wear headphones, right?
37:12So right now I'm not using it.
37:13So you, uh, as they, the phone needs to listen to the recording.
37:18So it needs to be, you need to be using speakers.
37:20So that's for me, that's the only challenge.
37:22I got you in my, in my question, which is a, which is a big question.
37:27I'm going to comment on some points.
37:29I'm going to comment on myself.
37:31I have mentioned, uh, uh, secret weapons in the toolkit.
37:35I talked about show notes.
37:36You mentioned chat GPT and heady space AI, and I can say that for chat GPT, once it has
37:44all the information of your interview, I find it relatively good in giving me just a couple
37:51paragraphs of the show notes.
37:52Like what did we talk about?
37:54So that's pretty easy.
37:56I, I think I can just about anybody can work it out, but it, it kind of, that saves some
38:01time on the show notes where, uh, I'm for my show, I'm not doing a huge transcript because
38:07those are pretty easily done these days by a dot AI, but the, but the SEO rich keyword,
38:14uh, not keyword, but SEO rich show notes of what we talked about.
38:19That's really important.
38:20I find the various AI programs are good with that.
38:24And something I just learned a couple of days ago, which probably I should was a
38:31available earlier is my, uh, podcast recording, uh, platform.
38:36You mentioned stream yard.
38:38They're now doing, uh, taking the videos and they're, they're, they're providing a shorts
38:43for me and they're relatively very good.
38:46And it's like, things are just getting easier.
38:48There is AI in it, but that's one way to repurpose content.
38:52And you know, there's places, there are some key places, about four or five platforms, very
38:59key to repurpose, uh, that may not be, uh, all, but that's very, very important is getting
39:05shorts out there.
39:06And my views have grown many thousand more by just putting out shorts.
39:12So there's, there's something I want to mention.
39:14And there are some platforms that are free and some that are rather complicated.
39:20Um, but the free ones aren't, aren't so bad.
39:23No, and even like, even the paid ones, I would say like, they're not too expensive, right?
39:30Like, uh, um, we use, uh, we use Riverside, uh, for, uh, for our own podcasts and we, we
39:37propose Riverside for, for all of our clients.
39:40Of course, like if you already have a paid zoom account, sometimes I don't want to pay
39:44$24 more, you know, like whatever your choice.
39:47Uh, but, uh, with Riverside, yeah, I think it's like, uh, a few, uh, a few, a few dollars
39:53and it does exactly that, right?
39:56So whenever yesterday I was recording an episode, uh, I mean, yesterday, it was still
40:00here today.
40:01So in your, this morning I was recording an episode and, uh, as soon as I finished, even,
40:08even creates, so it creates like, uh, images that you can, um, automatically, uh, post on
40:14your social media, um, and it, it creates like magic, they call it magic clips.
40:20So it's basically different short form reels.
40:23And if they propose you like, you know, 20, 20 of them, uh, it creates the, the, the transcript
40:29and the show notes.
40:30And it's like, and without you asking for anything, right?
40:34And of course, like we, we, we didn't get too much into the repurposing of the podcast
40:40and the promotion of the podcast.
40:42That's why I said, we can talk for 10 hours only.
40:44But, but yeah, like with the podcast, you can, you know, create, uh, create more than
40:50one, uh, short form video.
40:52Uh, you can create, you know, quote cards, uh, although they, they don't usually, uh,
40:57work as well as, as reels.
40:59Um, but when you're posting the reels and you have a guest, one very important thing
41:05is inviting them to be a collaborator.
41:08Okay.
41:08This man sound basic for a lot of people, but I've, I've talked to a lot of people and
41:13they didn't, they didn't know what collaboration posts are.
41:16So like the collaboration posts on Instagram is when you invite the other accounts, uh, to
41:22also kind of, uh, share the post with you and you will be shared on their feed.
41:28Right.
41:28And this can like multiplicate, uh, the amount of views you have.
41:35Like if we, if we, for our own podcast, if the guest doesn't accept the collaboration
41:41request, we'll have a few thousands, uh, of views.
41:46Like, uh, I wouldn't say we would have more than 10,000 views.
41:50Okay.
41:50Every time a collaborator request is accepted, we always have, always have more than 10,000
41:58views.
41:58Okay.
41:59We even, uh, reach into the half a million views on, uh, uh, on one, on one time.
42:05Okay.
42:05So yeah, that is a lot of tips and tricks out there, Tony.
42:09That's a, that's a little over my head and I have not done that before, but I'm going to
42:14listen to this again and I'm going to jump into that.
42:16I like that that's worth its weight in gold.
42:19I can tell right there.
42:20I can tell, uh, we've gone over a lot of things and the basics are basics though.
42:26You know, they're in terms of podcasting, whatever you have, and I've been saying this
42:32for years and years and years, you'll, you can only help your business by adding a podcast
42:37to it.
42:38It just doesn't matter what your business is.
42:40Well, maybe it does matter.
42:42Uh, let's just say most businesses, the majority of businesses can be aided by podcasting.
42:46And there's the, the technology is off the charts.
42:50You know, I didn't know about the collaboration, but that's, that's an old thing, not an old
42:55thing.
42:56It's been around for a while, but there's AI, there's repurposing, there's automatic show
43:00notes.
43:01There's, there's now, uh, taking a, uh, shorts and putting B roll in there and, and, and
43:08making them more entertaining.
43:09I mean, it's just off the charts, but for podcasters, there's still some basics.
43:15And I want to get your point of view on for someone who is, let's say is new or starting
43:23off on podcasting.
43:24What are some of the key steps that they should really go into that you think are the most
43:28important steps to take?
43:30Um, all right, so let's go through the steps and then like one by one.
43:36And, and again, the basics are the basics and common sense is common sense, but sometimes
43:41the basics are not the basics because what is basic to someone is not basic to the other.
43:47Right.
43:47For example, like the collaboration post, if, if you talk to any, you know, uh, 19 year
43:54old, uh, model, uh, on, on Instagram, uh, collaboration, you know, has been there all, all her life and
44:01that's all she knows.
44:02And if you don't know about this, like it's, but it's, but it's normal.
44:06Right.
44:06Um, for the steps, I would say like, first one is define your, uh, uh, business goals.
44:15Okay.
44:16I'm not talking, I'm not talking about the podcast goals, talking about your business goals.
44:20It's, it's the podcast that should be tailored into your business and not the opposite.
44:26Okay.
44:27So first you really need, you really need to have a good positioning of your own business.
44:31You need to have your branding established and you need to have your goals.
44:35Okay.
44:35Your objectives.
44:37And then you're gonna, you're gonna, uh, assert what's going to be part of those goals.
44:43Right.
44:43Because the podcast is not going to be, uh, like the Superman, right.
44:48It's not going to save your business a hundred percent.
44:51Like you still expect it to get, you know, some other business from, from somewhere else.
44:55You're going to then decide from part of those goals, how much do you want to attach to
45:02the, to the podcast goals.
45:03Okay.
45:04And then from that, you can start building out the strategy, right?
45:09So the strategy includes on defining your audience.
45:13Uh, the strategy includes on defining your content, uh, on the content.
45:18Uh, it can, uh, it can, it has two factors.
45:20Like one is, you know, the format of the content.
45:23Do you want to do solo episodes?
45:25Uh, solo episodes, they, they usually go more into indoctrination of, of yourself and, and
45:31authority.
45:32And of course, you know, content, it doesn't really work for the relationship funnel parts.
45:37If you don't, if you're not talking to anyone.
45:39Right.
45:39Uh, so you, you, that's more of like of a self relationship funnel there.
45:43Uh, you can sell to yourself, but it still works pretty well in terms of like, uh, gaining authority.
45:49Um, and you can have interviews like, like Tony has, um, and you can have a mix and then you
45:56have to decide between virtual interviews.
45:58Uh, like we're doing here that of course allows us to be talking to anyone in the world with
46:04a stable internet here, uh, right now, Vietnam, California with, uh, 15 hours, uh, of, uh,
46:11time zone difference.
46:12Um, or you can do it in person, which, uh, for, uh, for the, for the purpose of content,
46:20it is better.
46:21Okay.
46:21If you, if you go out there, you know, like to the greatest podcast in the world, you
46:26know, the Joe Rogan experience, uh, the diary of the CEO, or, you know, call their daddy.
46:32Uh, they're all live shows.
46:35Okay.
46:36That's not a coincidence.
46:37Okay.
46:37So the live shows and the ones in person, uh, they are more powerful.
46:42Okay.
46:43But the, the convenience of, uh, recording a podcast as well from, from your living room
46:51or from your office, uh, isn't biddable.
46:54Okay.
46:54So once you define that, uh, you then need to define like your audience, uh, if I, I probably
47:01said that already, uh, you need to define your customer avatar, right?
47:05Sorry, not your customer, your guest avatar.
47:08So your audience and your guest avatar, sometimes they're different.
47:11Okay.
47:12Uh, so once you define your guest avatar, you can go out there and start inviting guests,
47:19right?
47:19The first part to inviting guests is going to be a little bit difficult because you have
47:25nothing to show.
47:25Like your podcast is not out yet.
47:27They think you're a lunatic.
47:29Like, what do you mean?
47:29You're inviting me to your show.
47:30It doesn't even exist.
47:32Uh, but you can then also flip the script and say like, you can be the pioneer of the
47:36greatest show ever, whatever.
47:38Um, but you go there and you're inviting guests and then, uh, next step is literally recording
47:45episodes.
47:46Um, you need to be recording, uh, a batch.
47:49Okay.
47:50Don't record one episode, be all excited, release it the next day.
47:54And then, and then like you're stuck with nothing.
47:58Right.
47:58So like you need to record a batch of episodes, um, and then you need to plan the release,
48:05right?
48:05You need to plan the launch.
48:07Um, amongst that, of course, and this can be doing simultaneously that you're doing everything.
48:13You need to work on the branding of, of the podcast, which includes, you know, the introduction,
48:19uh, uh, the outro, uh, any, any cover art that you want to have.
48:24If you want to have a virtual background as well.
48:26Uh, so there's a couple, a couple of things that you need to work on there and the templated,
48:31uh, thumbnails or templated, uh, uh, real frames.
48:35Uh, so that's a bit of work there and, and then you launch, right?
48:40So you launch, uh, the most common launch that it has.
48:45And, uh, this is, you know, based on statistics, you need to launch with at least three episodes.
48:50Okay.
48:51Don't launch it with just one episode, launch it with three.
48:53Because when we launch with three, um, it's, it's going to be the most kind of like, uh,
49:00impactful episode, right?
49:01It's the first one.
49:02Unless like you're having, you know, uh, Donald Trump, uh, as a, as a guest or something like,
49:07uh, um, the first one is going to be the most impactful for your, let's call it your sphere
49:12of influence, which is going to be your first listeners.
49:15Okay.
49:16Uh, don't go out there, like looking for new blood when you have like blood right there,
49:21uh, in your, in your fridge, right?
49:24That's what, you know, vampires say to each other.
49:26So the first episode and the launch is really important.
49:30So if you only have one episode, uh, people are going to only going to listen to one and
49:34that's it.
49:35And then you might lose them next week.
49:37They might not listen to the second.
49:39If you launch with three, you give the opportunity to binge watch.
49:43You give opportunity to people to find out more and to get interested.
49:47And then it's much easier to, uh, to captivate a listener with three episodes that I've listened
49:52to three episodes than I've listened to one, right?
49:55And then it's, I mean, the other steps is just keep running, right?
49:59Like you start walking and then you, and then you start running and then you keep running
50:03and you keep, keep, keep posting, keep releasing, keep promoting, uh, put yourself on, on podcasts
50:10as well.
50:11That's a great way of promoting your own podcast.
50:14Uh, you can go on shows like the Tony Durso show or the icons, the real estate podcast.
50:19Um, and then it's just keep, keep on running.
50:23I love those points.
50:24And those are very, very good points.
50:26I'm nodding and agreeing with everyone.
50:28And I want to ask if someone in the audience is interested in getting help from you or wants
50:35to talk podcasting that you'll, you, it doesn't have to be just real estate.
50:40You'll, you'll, you can help or talk about other, other types of podcasting and styles
50:46or methods or, or help people with other factors on their podcasting.
50:50Is that, is that correct?
50:50That's correct.
50:53Uh, we do have, uh, other podcasts that are not part of real estate.
50:56Okay.
50:57So the real estate is the niche that we, that we, that we grow in.
51:02Okay.
51:02And we, and we have our efforts in growing, uh, but we have a lot of people, uh, that come
51:09to us for help and we, we can help them.
51:11Okay.
51:12So you can reach me, uh, at, you know, iconsofrealestate.com.
51:17If you want to, if you want to surf our website, uh, if you want to, if you don't want to surf
51:21our website, you can go straight to my email, uh, Tomas at, uh, iconsofrealestate.com.
51:28So Tomas, that's a Hless Thomas.
51:31So he said T O M A S at iconsofrealestate.com.
51:36And if you want to know, speaking of lead magnets here, if you want to find out like a
51:40little bit more, uh, around our framework, uh, and, uh, kind of like a little bit more
51:46extensive, you know, tips and tricks on how to get guests, how to launch the podcast, how
51:51to host the podcast, uh, uh, how to distribute it.
51:55And I'm forgetting about the other one that we have, but we have five frameworks, uh, that
52:00we're giving away, uh, uh, for free and you can get them at iconsofrealestate.com, uh, podcast
52:10framework, uh, podcast dash framework.
52:11Okay.
52:12Okay.
52:12Iconsofrealestate.com slash podcast framework dash podcast slash, uh, podcast dash framework.
52:23I'll give you the link maybe to put on the show.
52:26If they go to iconsofrealestate.com, will they see it there somewhere on that homepage?
52:33They'll see it somewhere.
52:34Yeah.
52:35They'll see it somewhere.
52:35Wonderful.
52:36Wonderful.
52:36Wonderful.
52:36Once again, Tomas Fonseca, we talked about podcast relationship funnels.
52:42I could speak all year.
52:43I could speak for a long time about this.
52:45So could Tomas, there's so much.
52:47We just dabbled on a few things, lots to talk about Tom Tomas.
52:51I just want to thank you.
52:53It was good advice.
52:54Very great, uh, to have you on, uh, you know, your stuff.
52:58These are very, very good points.
53:00And I really hope it helps a lot of people.
53:01I just want to thank you so much.
53:03Thank you so much, Tony.
53:05I had a blast and thanks.
53:07Thanks for doing this.
53:08I'm happy that we're doing this even on different days.
53:12You're on Thursday.
53:13I'm on Friday and, uh, it's amazing.
53:15I'm looking forward to seeing the episode live.
53:18I'm looking forward to speaking to you more about what's happening tomorrow.
53:22Okay.
53:23Well, thank you so much.
53:24All right.
53:25Thank you, sir.
53:26That was wonderful.
53:27Wonderful.
53:27Wonderful.
53:28Just loved it.
53:29Just loved it.
53:30And, um, to our audience here, if you like this, please share this with your friends.
53:35Tell them about Tomas.
53:37Tell them about what he does with podcasting, not just real estate, but if you're in real
53:41estate, he could help you.
53:43Uh, they have so much knowledge.
53:46They help so many people with their podcast, whatever you're doing, whatever level you are,
53:51go to his site, get those frameworks.
53:53And just, it just helps you and grows and grows your business.
53:58And wherever you're getting this, please follow the show.
54:01It helps to bring more amazing guests to you.
54:05All right.
54:05Let's use this and let's help you move on your journey to success.
54:09Thanks.
54:09Remember, just take action.
54:12Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds.
54:18Sow good seeds.
54:20Do good deeds.
54:21And I'll see you on the next episode.
54:23Bye.
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