Tony Guarnaccia is widely recognized as an authority on digital marketing and has driven results for thousands of businesses across the globe, from small businesses to the Fortune 500. He helps authors, coaches, consultants, and other entrepreneurs grow their businesses either by speaking as a guest on podcasts or by hosting their own postcast.

Watch my interview with Tony. You can read a short version of the interview below the video.

Who do you serve and who are your clients? 

My clients are authors, coaches, consultants, agencies, healers and those who want to grow their audience, income and impact, through podcasts, either as a guest or having their own show as a host.

What is their problem, their need, and what are the symptoms of that problem?  

85% of people who create podcasts usually fail, especially within their first 8 episodes and I want to make a difference for those people. I want to fix those problems and make it my mission to make their podcasts profitable for them through my company, Castocity.

What are the common mistakes people make or obstacles they face when they’re trying to solve the problem on their own or with other solutions?

There are 2 primary mistakes that podcasters make: 1) They don’t focus on marketing; they don’t grow their audience. 2) They don’t monetize. These are the reasons why they lose their incentive to move forward; they have no vision for what they wanted to do; and ultimately they fail.

For podcast guests, a lot of the time, they become guests to gain influence and influence leads to income.  There’s one core thing that’s necessary for this and that’s having a clear message.  And that’s the problem they usually have — not having a clear message to convey to their audience.

What is unique about your solution that helps people avoid those mistakes or overcome those obstacles so they can finally solve their problem? 

For both podcasters and podcast guests, we simplify the communication and one of the best ways to do that is through having a one-sheet or media kit. It helps summarize your messaging and present it in a way that’s appealing in a unique, high-value way.

How did you gain your own expertise, and how did you turn that into a business? 

I grew up in small business. My parents had a small bakery in Connecticut. What I found out unfortunately is that people don’t know what they don’t know. So at the age of 12, that business failed. We lost the car, we lost the house, I even had to give up my dog to my oldest sister and ended up living in a basement for a little bit of time. Even though it was a challenging time, it set up the foundation of where I wanted to go. Years later, I went to a university, signed off on entrepreneurship with the idea of rectifying the past. I started one of the first online bakeries. We baked cakes with a photo on it. We won best product at the New York Incentive Show and ended up doing cakes for Jennifer Lopez, Jay-Z, big corporations. Here I was in my late 20’s and that business end up failing as well. And so I had my 2nd major failure in life. At that time, I was newly married with a baby on the way. I had lots of debt. It was not a great way to start a new marriage. Clearly, I was missing something.

So I went on a 10-year journey to work with some of the best companies in the world like Google, Ford, AutoNation, a dozen of Fortune 500 companies, and many small businesses. I spent $400M on ads. So I took all that experience and that’s when I started my marketing agency about a dozen years ago and started applying those principles of small business. That’s when I started writing the book a decade after that and then I decided to pivot into podcasting to democratize the idea that everyone has a voice and that podcasting can be profitable.

What’s one tip that people can use, one valuable free action that you can recommend that people can implement that will help them with their problem?  

I already told you about the first pillar which is the message. The second pillar is to have a compelling offer. There are 3 components to this:

1. What is the structure of the offer? What is it exactly that you’re offering?
2. How is this offer going to be promoted?
3. Where and when is it going to be promoted?

I created a free tool, a software solution, to help with these things.

What is one free valuable resource you can direct people that will further help them solve your problem? 

The core thing I’m promoting and giving away today is called Podcast One Sheet. It is a tool, like a resume, for getting booked on podcasts. It has 3 key components:

1-It helps you position yourself to be a great guest by helping you develop your message and helping you present it in a unique way.
2-There is also that tool, an offer builder, where you can build your offers step by step.

3-A premium tool, the podcast finder, to know which podcasts you should be guesting on. I usually charge $500 for it and I’m giving it to your audience for free.

Here’s the link: https://podcastonesheet.com/podcastfinderforellen

What’s the one question that I should have asked that would give great value to our audience?

The most important thing is to take action. That’s why I give these free tools so people don’t have an excuse and just take a small step.

The book I referenced before is actually inspired by my mother because she grew up with polio and wasn’t able to move at all. Her vision for herself was to someday be able to wear high heels. By taking small steps, she reached her goal. That’s actually the title of my book, Small Steps to Big Profits. So what I encourage people to do whenever I speak anywhere is don’t wait for perfection, just take a small step each day and eventually you’ll get there. And so hopefully these tools I’m providing will help everyone take that small step so they can get that vision of where they want to go.

What’s the next step?

As Tony says, take that next step and start speaking? Click here to pick up Tony’s tool and get started.