How Podcasting Amplified The Boutique Hub’s Global Growth with Ashley Alderson

Speaker A: Early on, when we started the business, our motto's always been community over competition. It doesn't have to be perfect. Don't listen to the sound of your own voice. Just start. And so podcasting, I knew, was always going to be one of my main traffic sources. Not just strategies, tactics, but it's also human.

Speaker B: Welcome to Cashflow Podcasting, where business owners reveal how their podcasts have supercharged their success. My podcast completely transformed my training business, so I've seen firsthand the magic that podcasts can work. And here's the best part. You don't need millions of downloads to boost your business's revenue and impact. Let our guests show you how. Ashley, welcome.

Speaker A: I'm so glad to be here. Thanks for having me, Pete.

Speaker B: Oh, well, thank you for being here and for being a valued client. We appreciate you and all you're up to.

Speaker A: Absolutely. Thank you.

Speaker B: Well, could you kick us off by telling us a little bit about who are you and what is your business?

Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, what I do on a regular basis is I help retailers of many types. E commerce stores, mom and pop retail stores. Oh, gosh, pet stores, apparel stores, all of these types of businesses. I help them grow their business. So many moons ago, I'll say it's been 12 years ago actually, before membership sites were even a buzzword, before that was a, uh, big to do, I just had this vision of originally, I wanted to create a place where I had an online shopping mall of these boutiques. I wanted to help people like me from maybe the middle of nowhere find these great stores, even if they weren't local to them. So I started to build an online shopping mall of boutiques. And what I found when I started to build that online business was, man, it wasn't the online shopping mall that they needed. It wasn't consumer connection that they needed. They needed help running a business. Many retailers and e commerce store owners, and just entrepreneurs in general, they come from not a business background, but they're in my case, primarily female teachers and nurses and stay at home moms who wanted to create this online or brick and mortar business. And so I found if I could just connect them to how to run Facebook ads and how to do organic traffic and how to understand inventory management or just how to hire a team, things that they have no access to. I thought if I could just connect them to that information, that's really what they needed. And so, kind of by accident, I built a membership site 12 years ago to do just that. And so now that's grown, I serve about a hundred thousand stores around the world, all 50 states, seven countries. We're the largest community for retailers in the world. And we do that through a, uh, membership site, online course launches, an, um, in person business conference and event, and a number of smaller meetups and events that we host throughout the year. Plus we built our own wholesale platform, hubventory. Com, which is the place where independent retailers can go to source all of their products from great manufacturers around the world.

Speaker B: Wow. What an empire. Congratulations.

Speaker A: Thank you.

Speaker B: That is so cool. That is big and that is beautiful. And so what it sounds like, boy, you got a lot of things going on there. Could you share what are your biggest revenue drivers or I guess, offers that, that sort of comprise the majority of, of your business's revenue?

Speaker A: Yeah, three main things. So our legacy membership, our monthly membership is always number one. So we've got about 8,000 monthly members that are part of our community. Second, we have a higher level membership offer, which is Facebook ads and SEO coaching. That's a huge part of our revenue. And then our largest course, Retail Bootcamp, which is like a college level course for retailers, that's our third revenue driver as well.

Speaker B: Cool beans and can. Are you comfortable sharing the price points of these?

Speaker A: Yeah. Our membership is $59 a month or $29 a month paid annually. Our Boutique Hub Black, our upper level product is $379 a month. And then our, uh, retail bootcamp is 1997 to purchase the course.

Speaker B: Okay, understood. So then, then once they're, they're in your universe, it's, they get all kinds of other goodies from the, the warehousing and, and, and the other stuff. So, so that's really cool. All right, so within this universe, what got you thinking? Maybe a podcast is a smart move in the mix here?

Speaker A: Oh, um, Man, I feel like I was podcasting before podcasting was a big thing. I loved podcasts. I've listened to podcasts for so many years and there was just a need for my niche, my industry. Nobody was really doing it yet, and so it just became a staple. So we've launched every single week since we started, and then last year we started doing two episodes a week, and that's just been a big hit for our community.

Speaker B: Beautiful. Okay, so you liked podcasts, you thought podcasts were fun, and so maybe you're just gonna do one. Anyway, did you have a master plan in terms of how it fit into the business objectives?

Speaker A: I did, I did. So our business is called Boutique Hub. So when I think of a hub, I think of the center of a wheel. Right. And so when I started to initially brainstorm this business, I just saw all the spokes around this wheel of, uh, what are the offers on one side of my spokes, but then what are my traffic sources on the other? And so podcasting, I knew was always going to be one of my main traffic sources. Organic social was so great for a while back in the day. It's really not anymore. It's not as powerful. But podcasting for us has just always maintained such a really steady flow of traffic and exposure.

Speaker B: Mm. Mhm. Okay, so that's the. Matt, the goal there, the steady traffic and exposure that the podcast generates. And have you found that to, in fact be true? It is doing just that.

Speaker A: Yeah, it really is. Our podcast has always been one of our main sources of traffic to our membership. And it's one of the things we get the most feedback on, whether people are a member of ours or not. They love the podcast. It's like where they come to verify. Ah, uh, do I really want to do business with this person or not? It humanizes the brand. And one of the biggest things for me, I think, that's led to success in business is building a community. And I think in order to build community and give people a sense of trust and relationship and a place they can call home is. There has to be a figurehead. People want to do business with people, not companies. And so when people felt like they could really connect to me through the podcast, and then these other voices that I was really, you know, elevating along with mine, these other guests that I would have, other successful business owners and such, once they felt like they had that, then they were much more apt to join our community and become vulnerable in the same way with one another. And so early on when we started the business, our motto's always been community over competition. And I think the podcast really helped expose what that means to a lot of people. Mhm.

Speaker B: Well, I think you've said that so perfectly. The podcast is where they come to verify. Hmm. M. Do I want to do business with them? Because I've been in that spot many times. I think as a, as a prospective buyer, it's like, okay, that sounds good. I'm liking the words that you were saying. What might that look, sound, feel like once I get into it, or what are you. Do I have a. A trustworthy, likable vibe to you? Are you going to give me what I'm imagining? I'm hoping that you're gonna give me, or are you gonna give Me a different flavor of something that isn't quite what I was after. And you can verify all of that by listening to a few episodes be like, oh yeah, this is exactly what I want. Yes, thank you. Perfect, let's do it.

Speaker A: Yeah. It's so true. And I think about that even with purchases I've made. Right. If I've been interested in joining a Mastermind. Right. Or buying somebody else's course, I a lot of times will verify them through a podcast. And either I find, wow, this is a really genuine person. They're dropping bombs for free on the podcast. I can't imagine what the rest of their content must be like. Or unfortunately, sometimes you find, wow, this is a really arrogant person who I feel is just kind of throwing me some slime that I don't really want to touch with a ten foot pole. So it's pretty quick to figure, uh, out which one it is.

Speaker B: Okay, don't be an arrogant slime thrower. It's one of our takeaways from this conversation. I love it. Yeah, I think often what my disappointment from potential service providers is like, oh, it kind of feels like you're telling me the same generic things that Google or ChatGPT could surface for me. I was hoping that you'd get me some stuff that's either novel or so detailed we're getting into some nuance and some nitty gritty make or break things that might not have occurred to you beyond your own common sense and Googling.

Speaker A: Mhm. Yeah, exactly right. Nobody has time for fluffy.

Speaker B: That's right. So no slime, no fluff. We want the good stuff. Okay, so then back in the day you said 2018ish podcasts are cool. We want consistent exposure. It's delivered that beautifully. And so then how did cashflow podcasting enter into your, your life and journey?

Speaker A: Well, I think just finding ways as an entrepreneur to build efficiency is just such an important part of it. So have you read the book who, Not How?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: I think it's just such a great example of as an entrepreneur, a lot of times I think we can just beat our head against the wall thinking about how do I do this? But someone's already figured it out, chances are. So who can help me get there faster is the question. And so that was really the choice for us of who already does this and does it really well, that can help us get there faster. We don't have to climb this giant learning curve, but we can, we can get there with a little bit more ease, certainly.

Speaker B: Well, and it Sounds like, I mean, you said every single week for over six years that consistency is exceptional and frankly, hard, maybe impossible to do without some assistance, in my opinion, unless that's your number one life priority is your podcast. It's usually. It's not for just about everybody.

Speaker A: Right? Absolutely.

Speaker B: Mhm. Well, can you tell us a little bit about any of the process or memories or moments in the course of, uh, getting the podcast launched and produced?

Speaker A: Oh my gosh. I think one of the best parts about being a podcast host, if I may, is I get to experience the story in the same way that the listener does. And it's brand new to me. So moments where I've had a guest that either moves me to tears or where I've got my notebook out and I'm just taking as many notes as I possibly can as this person is speaking. I just think that's the exciting part of just learning from a fresh perspective. So those are always the beautiful moments for me. And then, uh, the other thing, I think as a podcast host, that's kind of funny. I think we all are just our own worst critics. And so every podcast episode I've ever launched, I've never listened to. I refuse to listen to any of them. So they go out and they either live or die, I don't know. But then people will find me in the community. They'll find me in person at our events that we're hosting and things, and they'll give me their podcast experience of I fall asleep listening to your voice, which sometimes feels creepy. Or they'll tell me I'm driving with my kids and, and they will give compliments on the podcast and, and I just find it funny that they love it, they relate to it, they, uh, can get so much from it, but I myself don't ever want to listen to it. So I think it's just something that podcast hosts can relate to that you don't have to like the sound of your own voice or listen to it, but it can still provide value for other people.

Speaker B: I like that a lot. I also don't listen to my own podcast, even though I think it's very often. Sometimes it's like, ooh, this is an episode I need to review. This is the information I need right now. I kind of like my show and find it enjoyable, which is, um, probably a good thing, but I don't feel the need to listen to it because. And I'm deadly serious. Cashflow podcasting is just so perfect at doing the audio. It's like I don't need to from that, uh, from a babysitting or quality control perspective. I know it's just handled, which is awesome. In terms of entrepreneurial time leveraging stuff. I'm with you there. You don't need to like the sound of your own voice. And it's funny, I think when you've got a great microphone and a great audio production team, it's actually pretty appealing to listen to, so you might be surprised. And, and we don't have to like the sound of our own voices. It's just the listeners have to find that them not so horrendously annoying that they're going to turn us off, which is pretty high bar or low bar how you measure it.

Speaker A: Absolutely.

Speaker B: Cool beans. Well, I'm also curious to hear if any particular challenges, hiccups, roadblocks you encountered along the way of, of launching and, and executing the podcast.

Speaker A: I think one hard lesson that I learned along the way was the editing team. That's critical. What you guys do to provide quality is really, really important. But the other thing that's important if you're a busy entrepreneur is to have whoever your right hand person is that's going to manage all the other pieces of the podcast, making sure you really trust that person and how they're performing. So I've had a few podcast assistants. Generally they're people that are on our marketing team that are planning out guests and communicating with guests and then tracking the performance of the shows. I've had a few different people in that role in the company, and some performing much better than others. The times where I found our numbers were just the best on the podcast was there was somebody trying to innovate how we were showing up on the show every single week. I had one time where I had a girl who I felt like this was her third job. She was only working a couple hours a week just doing podcast assistant work. And it was such an afterthought that she wasn't being accountable to the numbers. And so the more I dug into the numbers of how the show was performing, we quickly fired her because it was not, it was not gonna land somewhere good. So you've gotta have that assistant I think that's hands on, that's analyzing the numbers and the performance that's willing to say, hey, let's try new things, let's try new guests, let's collaborate to get in bigger stages. Let's experiment with how we're promoting the podcast on other social channels or in our email. Maybe it's time for new cover art. Whatever it is, we need to run giveaways to drive downloads and ratings and reviews, that sort of thing. That position is really important to have for a successful podcast.

Speaker B: That's really intriguing there. So one of the takeaways is just keeping it fresh and new and novel. We're experimenting, we're exploring, we're mixing it up so it doesn't get stale. And that in and of itself, the newness alone is new. Nifty. I'd also be curious to hear, as you've been through different quality folks and different quality things, what. What are some kind of best practices, worst practices that you've seen for just show growth?

Speaker A: Well, best practice, first thing is only attract number grows. So if you aren't actually tracking, what are my downloads, how many ratings and reviews do I have, what is the traffic generated from the podcast, and the unique URLs that I'm using in my show notes back to whatever my offer is. If we aren't tracking that, then we're. We just have a happy hobby. That's all this podcast is, is a hobby. So tracking, I think, is important. And then that person who is working on the podcast has to be integrated to your marketing team. So whatever offers you're running right now, whatever the next promotion's gonna be, the podcast person has to be just very intricately familiar with what your marketing schedule is. They can't be adjacent to it because things feel choppy and not integrated. And then I think the third piece is that person has to be really great at collaboration. They have to know exactly who your ideal customer is and what your target market is, and then who else is serving it, maybe from a different perspective. So they can get you on other shows and they can get you good guests and do podcast swaps and all of that.

Speaker B: Beautiful. Yes, I have seen indeed, that being a guest on other podcasts that are relevant is about the top thing you can do in terms of making downloads jump. And that was a theme I've heard again and again from other podcasters at the Podcast Movement Conference. So that resonates well, I'm curious, since you're doing such a great job with your. Your data linking and tracking, can you share any. Any numbers associated with how you know that this podcast, sure enough, is indeed supporting this business?

Speaker A: Oh, man. Well, a couple things. One number I'm really proud of is we're just about to cross 3 million downloads.

Speaker B: Congratulations.

Speaker A: Thank you. Yeah, we'll do that this season. We're just launching season seven, and then just traffic every single week. If I know I've got 10 new members a week coming over from the podcast. I can extrapolate that out and what their lifetime value is and look at the value of the podcast.

Speaker B: And is that roughly the number you're seeing 10 new members a week? M. From the podcast?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: All right. It's pretty cool that you've got clear linkages. What's the old saying? Half my marketing works. I just don't know which half. Not to get too inside baseball tools and tactics, but what are basic means by which you are doing the tracking? You say you've got a dedicated, uh, URL that you're driving people to from the podcast, or how does that attribution flow work?

Speaker A: Yeah. So if you're using UTM codes in your Google Analytics and you can track everything from your show notes, that's one way to look at it. But then also, if you have a questionnaire, when people sign up for your offer, hey, how did you hear about us? They don't always fill it out. Right. So sometimes the numbers are a little bit waffly, but we consistently hear that the podcast is one of the main sources, uh, that they hear about us. And then also if we have in person events, we're always asking that question as well. Hey, how did you find the boutique hub? And the podcast consistently is one of the things they give back to us.

Speaker B: That's cool. So 10 new members a month or a week?

Speaker A: Well, it's a week, but I mean, it fluctuates. That's how you, uh, that's so fantastic. It's a week, but it fluctuates. Yes.

Speaker B: That is beautiful. Congratulations. That's.

Speaker A: Thank you.

Speaker B: Wow. Well, the ROI on that, it just must be exceptional then, in terms of the retention. And again, you can tell me to shut up when we're getting too proprietary. But like, what does that mean in terms of lifetime value?

Speaker A: Well, it depends on what offer they take. Really? Yes, it's a significant lifetime value. Gosh. I just, I think it's important when you're deciding how are you going to monetize your podcast, you kind of have two options. And, and for us, monetizing the podcast was not to take outside ads or to sell other people's products, but we had our own. So this is, uh, this is like directly linked to our income. Right. But I think that's what a lot of people struggle with. I'm going to start a podcast, but how am I going to actually make it make money? At the end of the day, you've got to have something to sell, in my opinion. So I think that's been really successful for us.

Speaker B: That is absolutely true. In terms of it's possible you could just become an exceptionally popular influencer that has gazillions of downloads and then your ad spots for better help or some meal kits can add up to substantial sums. But for most of us, that's probably not going to happen. 3 million is exceptional right there. Congratulations. Most of our clients, frankly have far fewer downloads, but it's fine because they're serving niches with high ticket offers and that it is sufficient to be wildly worth it to do the podcast based on the customer acquisition and support that that business asset brings for them.

Speaker A: Yeah, it doesn't have to be huge numbers. They say the riches are in the niches. So I think the more you can dial in on a very specific audience, the more financially successful it can be. And it doesn't have to be a large amount of downloads for sure.

Speaker B: That's beautiful. And I'm curious now you've also got an Instagram page with a, uh, healthy, around 20,000 ish followers. Kudos. Is there sort of any synergy or cross content stuff that happens between Instagram and the podcast?

Speaker A: Yeah, that's a great question. So actually we have two major Instagram accounts, so my personal account's around 20,000, but our business account's over a hundred thousand. How we link the podcast to that. So we launch new episodes with guests every Tuesday and then we do a quick five minute Friday, like a learn and go kind of an episode every Friday. And so on Tuesdays we will launch the podcast graphic on the hub's Instagram account, the larger one. But then it's a collaborative post with the Hub and my personal account, and then we're sharing those to our stories and our guests are sharing those. They're tagged in all those posts. So Instagram and the podcast definitely have gone hand in hand. We see a better response with a podcast on Instagram than we do on Facebook. So we push it a lot harder on Instagram. And then on Fridays we share those. Not necessarily in the news like in the feed on Instagram, but we share those in our Instagram stories. And then a lot of people, we encourage people at the end of the episodes to screenshot what they're doing while they're listening to the podcast or to share some of their favorite episodes. And so we see a lot of our listeners sharing on their Instagram and tagging us what episodes they've loved or what guests they've loved. And then we'll reshare all that content as well.

Speaker B: Uh, that is fantastic. All right, well, zoom into a little bit about the experience of working with cashflow podcasting. How has that experience been for you?

Speaker A: You guys have been seamless for us. We've got on a great schedule and routine of when we get you the assets and how quickly you get them back. There's been times where I know we've been like, oh, hi, sorry, this is a rush, like, we need this tomorrow. But your team's been amazing to work with, so we're going to be there for a long time to come.

Speaker B: Super. Thank you. Well, it is amazing to think about just how long some of these client relationships have been going. So. So thank you and it's beautiful. We're honored to have your trust and that's lovely. I'm curious, any schemes for the future and how you think the podcast may be supporting those.

Speaker A: Oh, gosh. Schemes for the future? I just think continuing to share content for us, that's not just business focused, that's not just strategies, tactics, but it's also human. I think integrating that type of content for our specific audience has been really important. So, yes, we come to the podcast for this tactic and this niche and this business, but I think at the same time, we have to realize people are humans and they just want to connect with other humans. Or maybe they want to know, hey, I have a bit of a shit show and maybe somebody else does too. So making sure we're always sharing the human side of the brand, Whether it's myself sharing things that are happening in my life or with my family as I grow this business and giving a behind the scenes look at what we're doing besides just sharing the good. There's a lot of good. There's a lot of fake good out there on the Internet. And I think it's just as important to share the lows as much as the highs.

Speaker B: Oh, I like that a lot. Sometimes the social media landscape feels just like a. Ah. Um. Hey, everybody. Look how awesome me and my life is. Yes, there is something very real about and refreshing about sharing. Hey. And whoops. This didn't work out. It was a bummer. And here's some lessons learned.

Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. One of my dear friends who is not in my industry, but in an adjacent industry has gone through a really rough time this year and she's been sharing, documenting her journey through, walking through this process. And I think it's safe to say she's had one of the most successful years she's had on her podcast because it just humanized her in such a way that so many people could relate to. So it's been fun to watch that happen. Not that it's been fun for her to walk through, but the impact she's been able to have on other people by sharing an authentic version of herself, that's been really inspiring.

Speaker B: Beautiful. Well, tell me anything that you wish you might have done differently along the way with the podcast.

Speaker A: I think everybody would say they should have started sooner.

Speaker B: Okay, start.

Speaker A: If you're thinking about starting, just start. It doesn't have to be perfect. Don't listen to the sound of your own voice. Just start. And the more you can collaborate with other people, the better. Start early. Collaborate. Don't be embarrassed. Oh, it's just my podcast. Or it's just a little podcast. Don't minimize what you're doing. Hey, this is my podcast and I'm so proud of it. And just get going with it. Be extremely consistent. I think that's the other big thing too, how you're showing up, what kind of fresh perspectives you're giving. You don't have to know everything. You just have to know 10% more than the next person to provide value in their life. I think we can get so hung up on being perfect and having all the answers, and that's not what people are after. So just keep showing up.

Speaker B: Oh, I like that notion a lot. And if you know 10% more, you are of value because so imposter syndrome is rampant and it's easy for us to say, oh, there's, I don't have much to, to say about that. I think it really speaks to a notion of human nature in that our areas of greatest strength can often be invisible to us. And we, uh, think that, of course, it's easy for everybody. And so what I have is not so special. But no, in fact, it's not easy for everybody. And that means it's a special strength of yours and people can benefit from what you have to say. And I think about, if you ever work with a great designer or artist or whatever, you're like, that's amazing. Like, oh, why not? I just did 20 minutes. I just fiddled with it. And that's sort of the way it is with everybody who has some substantial strengths. So. So right on, Ashley. Let's not undersell what we are bringing to the table here.

Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah. Share your gifts and don't be too humble. Show em out there, but don't be, you know, an arrogant slime bag. We talked about. But don't be so humble that you're not willing to share what your gifts are.

Speaker B: Perfect. Any final thoughts, Ashley?

Speaker A: No, I just appreciate, you know, the opportunity to come on and I don't get to share this version of the boutique hub and our business very often. So I appreciate the opportunity and thank you for the work that you guys do and in making our podcast successful.

Speaker B: Well, Ashley, that's perfect. Thank you for the years of, uh, business and it's been so cool to see you grow and flourish and best wishes for the future.

Speaker A: Uh, thank you so much. You as well.

Speaker B: Thanks for joining me today. If you're ready to start your podcasting journey to grow your thought leadership and boost your revenue, schedule a call with, uh us@cashflowpodcasting.com chat. Don't wait to take your business to the next level. I'm Pete Macaitis and until next time.