On this episode of Rhodes to Success, we continue our case study series where I ask guests how they use their podcasts to market and grow their businesses. Philip ‘PT’ Taylor is the founder of FinCon and host of The Money and Media Podcast. He joins me on the podcast and discusses starting, marketing, and executing a niche conference, as well as how his podcast is an additional platform for the conference.

 

Main Questions Asked:

• Tell us about FinCon and when you started it.
• Was marketing and content marketing missing from the personal finance and investing world?
• What were you thinking when you decided to put on a conference?
• How did you market the conference and get people to attend before you launched your podcast?
• How was the podcast introduced to the mix?
• When did you introduce the podcasting track to FinCon?
• Talk about having a podcast co-host.
• How has the podcast helped marketing, and what have been the results with FinCon attendance?

 

Key Lessons Learned:

 

FinCon

• This was founded in 2011, and is a national conference where money and media meets.
• FinCon took the three pillars of finance, social media, and affiliate marketing and combined them into one conference.

 

Starting A Conference

• It was PT’s love for the community that was the catalyst for starting FinCon.
• When starting a conference, ensure the people you want to get together already want to get together badly.
• Open source the conference and let the community tell you what they want, and help build it with regards to locations and sessions. This helps the community having investment and ownership with the conference.

 

Marketing the Conference

• Prior to the podcast, there was a blog, social media channels, email list, social proof that other people from the community were coming to the event. 
• Use the authority of attendees to leverage ticket sales.
• PT developed a print magazine that circulated leading up to the conference, and featured the agenda and list of speakers.

 

Podcasting

• The podcasting track at FinCon was introduced in the forth year of the conference.
• Live podcasting was allowed at the event since the second year.
• PT started The Money and Media Podcast on his own and brought in Joe Saul-Sehy as a co-host.
• The podcast hasn’t increased conference registrations. However, it provides the opportunity to celebrate conference speakers.

 

The Money and Media Podcast Downloads

• The podcast download stats are in the hundreds and isn’t taking off beyond the existing community, which is around 1,500.

 

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The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic 

 

Links to Resources Mentioned

Money and Media Podcast

FinCon