How to Market a Podcast Using HARO
In this episode of Podcasting 101 with RSS.com, we’re speaking with Isaac Mashman of Mashman Ventures, a public relations firm specializing in personal branding. In less than four years, Isaac took his personal brand from being digitally non-existent to a branding and consulting force to be reckoned with.
Isaac, welcome to the show. Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?
Isaac Mashman 0:43
Yeah, Ashley. I mean, number one, thank you so much for inviting me on. You know, what I got going on right now, what do I do. I’m a public relations professional, I run a public relations for Mashman Ventures. I launched that in 2020. But whereas normal public relations firm focus on corporations bridging the gap between the consumer and the corporation, I specialize and emphasize personal branding. Working with people who are building out their personal brands, become the person of credibility. And so it’s been really, really great over the past couple of years doing that, also have a podcast, recently published a book, and really just a lot of different things in motion.
Ashley 1:20
That’s a lot. Okay, so let’s kind of unpack all of that. And if I read correctly, didn’t you start doing, like, public relations and, and branding and things like that for musicians?
Isaac Mashman 1:31
Yes. Wow, you did your research. Nobody has actually mentioned that before and in a question. But I did start doing it for musicians, I managed an artist for about six months. And then I decided, and this was right in the middle of a pandemic. And honestly, I think the pandemic didn’t happen, I might have continued to pursue it, because we actually had to cancel two concerts because of it. And then from there that sent the artist kind of into this depressive state because he’s working so hard. He’s trying to sell out these venues, always want to fly out.
Isaac Mashman 2:00
And we later on parted ways. And that kind of triggered me getting involved with, you know, the average individual or the entrepreneur or the business owner, and really branching out into other fields, other niches, other industries. And so yeah, I mean, music has always been a massive part of my life. From an early age, you know, I always look to music kind of as my therapy as a way for me to escape. And then it only made sense for me to get into, involved in music. But after realizing how shady the industry is, that there was no real effective way for a record label to win, and an artist to win without being 100% independent. I was like, You know what, this is, this isn’t for me, and then later on launched Mashman Ventures.
Ashley 2:40
That’s fascinating. So, so you wanted to do musicians, then you kind of got, you know, basically turned off by the industry, it sounds like.
Isaac Mashman 2:49
Yeah, well, that, that was an aspect of it. You know, in my early years in business, I was trying every single thing that I could possibly try. Like, I would do dropshipping, I did network marketing, three different companies for different times. You know, I wanted to go ahead and run a media agency, not a public relations firm, but like a solo media agency doing social media management, managing artists wanting a record label. But, you know, every single time I did one of these aspects, and one of these new ventures, I learned about it, I learned how it works.
Isaac Mashman 3:19
And I also was able to gauge how long it would take me to actually see revenue, because you can decide what your price is, what you’re charging. But at the end of the day, too, you have to take into consideration competitors, you have to take into consideration how long other people have taken to get to the place where they’re at. And for a record label, for example, it would take me probably five to ten years to really start making you know, any decent revenue from the company, as well as having enough to give to the artists that I was managing. And it’s very reliant on one or two people. And so it just didn’t have that scalability that I really desired.
Ashley 3:55
Now, you say, you’ve done a lot in the last couple of years, but didn’t you, aren’t you pretty young?
Isaac Mashman 4:02
Yeah, well, I am 21. I normally don’t start off with the age because unfortunately, you know, you say your age to somebody, they’re going to automatically discredit you, as somebody who’s ignorant or you don’t have experience or you don’t know what you’re talking about, which isn’t the case with me, but I am young, but I got started in business in 2017.
Ashley 4:20
Tell me a little bit about that. So you started basically in high school?
Isaac Mashman 4:23
Yeah, well, you know, funny enough that we’re doing a show for podcasts, right, like RSS, like, that’s awesome. Um, one of my first ever ventures was having a podcast. When I was a kid, I was going through some issues at home. You know, I don’t come from money. I came from a single parent household. I’ve watched my mom work really obnoxious shifts at Taco Bell and, you know, she would come home at night and I mean, it was great getting free Taco Bell at the end of the day, but it’s like I can barely see her. And so I was raised by my grandmother a lot in my early years.