Episode 617: The Future of the Creator Economy -How to Thrive in a $500 Billion Industry with Chandice Probst and Abbey Rodriguez

EBT617 – Chandice Probst & Abbey Rodriguez

Intro 00:00

Food bloggers. Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate your blog’s growth, and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom. Whether that’s financial, personal, or professional. I’m Megan Porta. I have been a food blogger for 13 years, so I understand how isolating food blogging can be. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported. 

Supercut  00:16

Hey, food bloggers, check out our new SEO supercut, a bonus 15 minute episode capturing highlights from SEO episodes we have recorded recently. Go to eatblogtalk.com/SEOsupercut to get access today. 

Megan Porta  00:53

We’ve all heard this term creator economy tossed around, especially in recent years. What is the creator economy? Why is it growing so rapidly? What does it mean for influencers and entrepreneurs and food bloggers? How do we position ourselves for long term success? All of these questions and so much more, will be answered in this episode with Abbey Rodriguez and Chandice Probst, both from Tastemaker Conference. We actually had such a fun conversation just brainstorming ways food bloggers can make money and find that growth and find the traction they need outside of standard ways such as making money through advertising. One of the coolest things about this past year has been watching food bloggers become so creative after seeing traffic drops and seeing their businesses go through some hardships honestly, so that your business can keep moving forward and having the traction that you wanted to have. I know for me, this was a very inspiring conversation. I hope you find that as well. It is episode number 617 sponsored by RankIQ. 

Sponsor  02:04

Good news, we still have spots available for the 2025 mastermind groups, and I want to give you a chance to grab one of them. One of the reasons this group just works so well is because when you invest in yourself and in your business in a really big way, you become more focused, dedicated and serious about your blogging business. For more information and to apply, go to eatblogtalk.com/mastermind, current member. Dahn from Savor the Best talks about investing in yourself in this clip. “I feel like when you put a significant investment into a mastermind where you’re really investing your your money, then you’re held more accountable to showing up and to helping the process and staying committed. I think that there’s a lot of other like little mini masterminds that people will form like that, and they’ll fall by the wayside, because I’ve definitely tried to form other masterminds. It’ll start up and kind of putter itself back out. And so I just I felt like, if I really wanted some good engagement and growth, that getting in and really investing myself would make a difference.”

Megan Porta  03:14

At Tastemaker Conference Abbey, Chandice and their team work daily to provide community, education and experience to the food creator community. Our main goal is to legitimize the creator economy which is set to be a 500 billion dollar industry by 2027. We’d love to discuss this very topic using the discussion ideas below that we feel would resonate with you and your audience.

Megan Porta  03:35

Abbey and Chandice, welcome back to the podcast. I know you both have been on before, but have you been on together before?

Chandice Probst  03:41

I don’t think so.

Megan Porta  03:43

Oh, first time.

Abbey Rodriguez  03:45

Yeah, it’s fun.

Megan Porta  03:46

This is fun. I’m so excited to see you guys. I get to see you. So today we’re going to talk about the creator economy and how influencers can handle that. But first, you guys have a fun fact to share?

Abbey Rodriguez  03:59

Such a fun fact. Chandice, go for it.

Chandice Probst  04:04

Right. Well, we so, you know, for the longest time as we got to know each other, we’re like, we have to be related. We have so many things in common. We have to be related. We’ll come to find out we are seventh cousins. So there’s our fun fact.

Abbey Rodriguez  04:18

Yeah, you can find that through like, because everybody’s like, how do you know that if you have there’s an ancestry app you can download, and if you have your family genealogy uploaded to it, you can find your family members next to you. You just ping each other at the same time, and it’ll just list out your your family history. It’s pretty cool. 

Megan Porta  04:38

That’s so cool.

Chandice Probst  04:40

Just need to click relatives around me and see all the people that..

Megan Porta  04:43

Oh, that’s crazy, yeah, maybe some you don’t want to know. Oh, that’s really cool that you guys are long distance related, but kind of makes sense, right? You two are such a good team. Great. Well, you might love to hear just to start off. And Chandice, can you tell us a little bit about Tastemaker? And in case people listening are like, what is Tastemaker? Tell me about it.

Chandice Probst 05:08

Yes, absolutely. Tastemaker conference was founded by Abbey here in 20…

Abbey Rodriguez  05:16

17

Chandice Probst  05:17

I was gonna say, 17. Up 2017 and I came on just a few months after. It is a one stop platform for all things food education for creators. Food creators specifically, so we have a big event every year where 500 food creators from around the world gather together to learn, to grow, to build relationships. It’s so exciting. It will be taking place in January of next year in Las Vegas, as we co-locate with the Fancy Food Show. We are so excited about this new partnership, because all attendees also get a ticket to the Fancy Food Show, which is not open to the public and has hundreds of incredible brands. So that is very exciting. And then, in addition to the in person conference, we have a virtual conference that was started out of during the time of, you know, COVID, when we could not meet together, we wanted to keep going, so we started the the virtual conference. And we thought, well, it will last a couple years. But then after we realized there were so many people due to, you know, like their the economy, or, you know, the cost of travel or health that couldn’t, couldn’t go different places. So they wanted the opportunity for education through Tastemaker still. So we just continued our virtual conference. So that’s every year in September. And then we also do, usually one summer retreat. We went to Italy this summer. That was our first ever retreat. Yeah. And next summer, we’re going to be not going international, but going to a beach somewhere. We’re very Oh, so that’ll be fun. And then lastly, on the website, we also have a community, our collaborative Tastemaker collaborative, where you can continually learn and grow and watch replays and webinars. We do monthly webinars, and then we, Abbey and I have a bi monthly podcast where we chat about all things business.

Megan Porta  07:11

Oh, that’s so fun. Thank you for that recap. You guys have done so much in the past few years for food bloggers. Thank you for showing up for us, and you’re such a light in our space. So today we’re going to talk about the creator economy, which is growing rapidly. In case somebody doesn’t know what that term means. Abbey, can you kind of explain that for us? 

Abbey Rodriguez  07:33

Yeah. So another fun fact about me, Megan, is I am getting my master’s degree in sociology, specifically digital sociology, and my thesis is about the politics of the creator economy. So I have been like, deep in the research mode of, you know, participation, participant observation, and, just like, qualitative interviews, and just helping have, like, a research agenda for the creator economy to help legitimize it, because that’s kind of our fourth pillar, is community, education, experience, our brand values, as Chandice was saying. But this fourth one that’s kind of emerged is legitimacy, because, as you said, like it’s rapidly growing, it’s become an industry, and I think that there is still some misunderstanding or just ignorance, really about, well, what is it? Like you said, what is it? And so I think a really good definition, working definition that I’ve been going off of is that the Creator economy operates as a decentralized business model, and it allows creators to build sustainable careers and communities around their passions and talents in the digital age, meaning that they have their own idea, they have their own brand and business, and essentially just create digital content, you know. And there’s a whole lot we can go into about that, you know, talking about different platforms and AI and all the things that are a big concern for creators right now. But yeah, in a nutshell, that’s what it is. It’s, it’s entrepreneurship on your own terms. Yeah, digitally.

Megan Porta  09:02

It’s like a dream come true, right? For a lot of people, totally. That’s what people want, is the flexibility and the freedom to be able to do what makes their heart sing on their own terms when they want to do it. So that’s such a great definition. I didn’t know you were going back to school, Abbey, that’s so great. 

Abbey Rodriguez  09:19

Yeah, I’ve been in it for a while, so I’m just finishing up my thesis now. It’ll be done and within the next year. So yeah,

Chandice Probst 09:26

Abbey is a student, she’s always going to be in school, I feel like. 

Abbey Rodriguez  09:31

Probably.

Megan Porta  09:32

I know those people who are just that’s their lives, right? They are always learning. So this creator economy, since it is growing so rapidly, what does this mean for us? For food bloggers and influencers?

Abbey Rodriguez 09:46

Chandice, what are your thoughts on that? I’m curious to hear your thoughts first?

Chandice Probst 09:49

Well, I think as it’s growing so rapidly, the number one thing we just did a we just did an event about keep it real in New York City with Raptive, where they were. We’re they’re working with Google and other, you know, big, big tech to really make sure that we’re ethically utilizing AI, so making sure that our creators are shown first on Google, not AI. And so I think getting back to the roots of connecting with your audience, that’s the best part, in my mind, about the Creator Economy, is that you get to connect directly with your audience, and that’s what you sell. That’s you’re selling the things that you love, just like Abbey said, your passion. And so getting back to that root of connecting with with your community on social media, through your newsletter, really creating that sense of involvement from them as well, I think is good. Of course, there’s the SEO and all the things that we always have to keep in mind when we’re building blog posts or writing or creating recipes and things like that. But when it comes back to it at a at its root, I think as we grow and as the creator economy continues to to thrive, we need to really know our why and make sure that our community also knows that. 

Megan Porta  11:09

Do you think that, like everything you said, Chandice, like the you know, connecting with your community, just really knowing where to find them and showing up authentically is a good way to establish long term growth and success in your business?

Chandice Probst  11:26

Think it’s going to be the only way in the future, because, because there are so many new things coming out that if people you what, what was that question that someone said, if your site went down, how many people would message you and be like, where’s your website? You know, where’s your newsletter? What happened to your Instagram page? So you want a community, yes, that that truly loves you and will grow with you. And we’ve seen the success in so many creators who are doing it right, because they’ve built that. Then they take them over to their newsletter, and they show them something new over here, and then they take them over here to YouTube and show them something and then it just continues to create that longevity that you’re talking about, because it’s not just one facet. You can show them so many different ways to show up in this area.

Megan Porta  12:12

Abbey, what are your thoughts on newer bloggers? Because I know newer bloggers are having a really hard time right now because they don’t have the history, right? So they don’t have an established YouTube channel, or they don’t have an established Instagram feed, so they’re really getting hit hard because they don’t have that big brand that Chandice was talking about. So what do you think about? I don’t know what’s in store for new bloggers?

Abbey Rodriguez 12:40

Yeah, I think a big, like a key trend to look out for, for newer bloggers, especially in food. I think, I think you can do this in any, any area, but food specifically is niche, niche focus, like niche communities. Because I think that is just the easiest way at this point, I think to make yourself stand out. I think the days of just being like, I have a food blog, you know, as a broad spectrum of like, I just post delicious recipes like that. That’s nice, but that works for the people who, you know, are at the very top, like you said, who have the big name and who have they were kind of in the right place at the right time, I think because it was so new, you know? And I think there were just a lot of factors that there’s a lot more details now that we have to look for in so many more platforms. And on the one side, I think it’s great that there’s so many platforms, because you have options. But at the same time, I think people have this paralysis of there’s so much information, like, where do I go, how do I start? And so that’s just kind of based on my research, and what I’m seeing the people who niche down and, like, even hyper niche, I think is, and also, do you say niche or niche? Because I definitely, 

Megan Porta  13:51

I say niche. like, niche would be spelled N, I, T, C, H, I feel like, yeah, yeah. I think we’re right. 

Abbey Rodriguez  13:58

Okay, great, the word nitch, and I don’t like that.

Megan Porta  14:01

Niche. Yeah, that’s a bad word.

Abbey Rodriguez  14:04

But yeah, that, that’s my thought on it. I mean, what do you think? I think you are a wealth of information too, Megan, because, like, you see this from just your your masterminds and how you coach and help people. What have you seen?

Megan Porta  14:17

I agree. I think the hyper niche, like, you know, not doing desserts for, like, even gluten free desserts, but like, getting even more niche, like

Abbey Rodriguez  14:28

Gluten-free cookies…

Megan Porta  14:29

Right to gluten free cookies. I mean, really, the ones that are super, super niche seem to be taking off. Because I do know a few people who have created second blogs that have just absolutely taken off in the past year. And then there are people, I feel so terrible for them, but they have small blogs that are, you know, one to two years old, that are absolutely crushed, and they their traffic is gone. So it’s like, what is the difference between those two? And I think that is, like, the niche is huge. Yeah. Chandice, I would love to hear if you have any thoughts on that too.

Chandice Probst 15:02

Yeah. And I think it is, it is a hard one, because I do know someone who started a I think it was a third site, and it was very niche, very, very niche, and it was doing very well, and then it got hit and lost almost everything, probably like 85 probably like 85% of their traffic. And so you just kind of have to wonder what was missing there. Actually, what we found was missing was the personality. It was a very, I think it was started to sell, and so there wasn’t a whole lot of there wasn’t a face. There wasn’t anyone attached to it. It was just a blog that was niche. So in addition to making sure you’re niching down, and I was going to say the same thing of you as you have, like, Okay, you have, so you have a vegan blog. Great. What’s the specialty on the vegan blog? What the thing that you’re known for there? So going even more, even more, even more than you think you need to. But also Google will hit you if you’re not sharing that personality too and your About You page is so important. It’s so important and and to be backlinking to that often too. I started my second site last May, and it is a beast to A) manage two blogs, and thank goodness I have a team that helps, like that’s helpful to do, to have and, but B) to get that traffic coming. I mean, the Instagram is growing because I have another Instagram that helps it, and I can share things like that, but the traffic to the site is taking for ever. I was totally planning on being on with an ad network by now, and I am not, and so I just want to put that out there for everybody else that it just it takes time, and I have over 100 beautiful posts all SEO research, but what I did not do was hone in because I wanted all the holidays. It’s holidayfoodandfun.com and that’s great and all. But I need to be known for something more specific than just all holidays. You know what I mean? 

Megan Porta  17:02

Do you think you’ll change that, or do you think you’ll just run with the all holidays, and eventually it’s going to take off, right? 

Chandice Probst  17:09

I’m going to keep it all holidays, because that’s what I love. It’s my passion. But I’m going to hone in on a corner of that real of the my blog, real estate there, of the things that I want to be known for, and I want to be the authority on in that space, and then share other stuff as well.

Megan Porta  17:29

Yeah.

Abbey Rodriguez 17:30

Can I get my take on that, though? Like, as an observer, I feel like my superpower is observing patterns in other people’s things, like this is what I see. So I think to follow up what Candace was saying, like, hyper niche it but have your personality in there. Like, if we look at the people that are really successful on social media these days, I think kind of a formula that works is get, you know, your social media platform, whether that’s Tiktok, YouTube, Instagram, whatever that may be, come up with the formula that works of being hyper niche. Like, repeat the same thing. Like, you notice the people that do like they wear the same thing, and they’re in the same position in the kitchen, and they just have it really is a template. I think people like consistency. Like, psychologically, we like to see that. And so Chandice even seeing you be like, Oh, it’s holidays. But I’ve noticed, like, if you look at Chandice says holiday food and fun. The things that are working for her are Q4 holidays specifically, I would say your your cornerstone is Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. And those are probably the things you’re going to be well known for. And then, yes, it might grow and be huge, and you get all the traffic, and the fourth of July and Easter and St Patrick’s Day can come in. But I think, like, it’s those things that you’re like, hey, what am I well known for? What are people responding to? And like, on your Instagram, as an example is, for instance, like people are responding to the Halloween content and the Christmas content because, like, that’s what people love. And you can just tell when people are excited about things, too. And I think that’s where the human element comes from. It’s like, what lights you up? You can people can read that energy, yes, that’s my qualitative thing, right? You can’t, like, you can’t fake that.

19:08

Again, that the reels that do the best are the ones that I think on the least, but they matter the most. Like, I’m just gonna share this trip of Abbey and I from Salem, and be like, here’s your sign. Go with your girlfriends to Salem. That’s the one that went viral. I’m like, alrighty, then and I went back and looked at the other one, and it was, again, the things that I that I didn’t plan ahead necessarily, but meant the most. It does shine through. 

Megan Porta  19:32

So if somebody’s listening and they’re like, Okay, I want to tap into that community piece that you guys are talking about how important it is to just get into your emails and really communicate with people and be yourself authentically, like we’re saying, How do they get started with that?

Abbey Rodriguez 19:47

Like with their their newsletter? I mean, I think like there are that’s the tricky thing about this, is I feel like there’s this balance of being your authentic self, but setting up your process in a smart way that has a funnel. My personal opinion, email is everything in this day and age. We were talking, where were we chanted when we were talking about I started going off in this tangent of being like, well, everybody says you own your your your email list and your website. I mean, you technically don’t, because the Amazon servers own that. But that’s a whole other beast we can get into another day. But like, I think, like to go along with that saying, like, that’s, that’s kind of where our polling is at, and what we’re hearing people tell us, because how we we structure our classes and our content that we give to the Tastemaker community, we’re constantly trying to pull people and see, like, what are they talking about? What are they caring about? And Megan, you probably hear this too, and know this from your own experience, it’s your website and your list. But I think right now, there is a really good trend going on with using your socials to funnel people to your list, or going on podcast or going in appearing places or speaking and getting yourself out there. It’s really about relationships, in my opinion, and so, so maybe you don’t have a huge following, so, but, you know, some really great people that are doing cool things, and you have an interesting point of view and perspective, you know, sell that, go tell people, and then I think that’s how you get a word. I think podcasts are like a huge, huge win. You know, if you don’t have a platform, that’s really big. Sometimes maybe that might be hard to get the buy in for somebody to let you on. But I think if you have something interesting enough to say, people are going to want to hear it. And I think that that’s a good way to really grow your list. But Chandice, what are your thoughts? 

Chandice Probst  21:30

Well, one of our teachers, Molly, from What Molly Made, is the most incredible person at this, in my opinion, and she’s done such a wonderful job, and we’re so excited to have her come teach in January at Tastemaker, but she really does that perfect combination of that of like, the the template with her newsletter, but then also the personality, like, when I get her newsletters, I love that there’s a funny meme in there because it makes me chuckle, because I can hear Molly’s humor, you know. But then also, she’s sharing those things that are in season. She’s sharing things, and one of the best things she did was she taught me, and she’ll teach everybody more in depth about this, but to take your most viral Instagram reels and put them into an E or those recipes and put them into an e book, and then you put them, put the little videos together, and when you put that video out and you say, okay, and, you know, comment, you using many chat or something, comment recipe or comment book, and I’ll send you this free ebook of all my top recipes. Every time I’ve done that. So I did that. I followed Molly’s instruction, I created it, and I’ve gotten 1000 subscribers every time I post that. Oh, and it’s been really cool, because she’s like, just post it once a month. Like, just keep posting it once a month. And so if you do that, by the end of the year, you have 12,000 new subscribers. And obviously that’s different. Moly went from, I think she gained 40,000 subscribers from hers because hers went viral, but it’s continued to do well for her, but that’s my point. Is people are looking like when I see reels on Instagram and it says free eBook for something I love, I’m like, of course, easy. I’ll give you my email, no problem. And then, plus, I like their content that they keep giving. So Molly, from What Molly Made, is one of my favorites. She’s a wealth of knowledge for that. It’s not what she does for her business, as far as teaching creators how to do that, but she will be doing it at Tastemaker in January. But that was just one tidbit that she gave to me, and I was so grateful for that, because at that time, I didn’t really know how to grow my email list other than just the traditional put that thing up on your website, save this recipe, those kind of things. And those are great, but this is way more impactful. 

Megan Porta  23:39

What a great tip. I love that. Abbey, what you said earlier, I so 1,000% agree with the relationship thing. Relationships are everything, and if you lean into those, you can so quickly tap into that I don’t know, just the magic of those connections. And you can increase everything, like traffic, traction, money, everything will go up if you lean into the relationships. What are your thoughts on that, Chandice? 

Chandice Probst  24:07

Well, I was going to say one other thing that I was so grateful that Haley from ConvertKit taught me is she was teaching us that with your email so you don’t have to have a forever series anymore. I think a lot of people are getting rid of those. I like mine because mine’s a gluten free specific so in my forever series, we talk about a gluten free pantry, gluten free travel, gluten free whatever. And in my very first email, I welcome them, and I say, I’m so glad you’re here. I know what it’s like to be gluten free. I was diagnosed with celiac disease 16 years ago, but at the very end, this is the key. At the very end, I said, What can I help you with? Because I know this lifestyle is hard, and I want you’re here, so I want to help you. I cannot tell you now how many emails I get in my inbox as a reply to that first, and Susan’s like, thank you so much. I’ve been looking for a donut recipe, and then I can link her to the donut recipe. Or, Oh, my son just got diagnosed. We’re all we don’t know what to do. I’m so stressed, and I reply to every one of those emails personally, and I say, Hi Susan, thank you so much for being here. I know how hard the early diagnosis is, and I talk to them, I have had a new sense of community just from asking that one question at the end of my email. So now almost all my emails have a question at the end, and those don’t get as many replies, but that first one, the first email in their inbox, when they’ve joined, they’re like, Oh, she actually cared. And then when they get the email back, I’ve had them reply and be like, I didn’t think that you were personally going to respond. So thank you. 

Megan Porta  25:19

Oh, that’s authentic, and that is true engagement and true just connection, right? You’re building that community. So sincerely, I’m sure people truly appreciate that. Just that one little question, that’s all you have to do. But one little question in your email.

Chandice Probst 25:51

If you’re if you’re a baking blog, you can say, I know the holidays are coming up, what can I help you with your Thanksgiving table? What can I help you with your Christmas desserts this year? Whatever you want that add that question in that was a game changer, absolutely. 

Megan Porta  26:04

Yeah, Abbey, when you mentioned podcasts, were you more referencing being a guest on podcasts for food bloggers or people starting their own podcasts, or both?

Abbey Rodriguez 26:13

I was referencing being a guest as you know, as we know. I think starting one is challenging, and I think it comes down to right we have this impact versus effort matrix that we use. I actually taught about it at the IEA Summit. But I think when we when we look at how we are making those decisions, of like, what’s going to move the needle? What am I looking to do? What is my goal? Where do I want to have growth and then be thinking about that? And I feel like pot being a podcast guest is always just a solid answer, because I think podcasters have, they’re usually pretty niche, and they have, like, a pretty solid audience that I think it’s a really, really engaged audience, and so thanks for having us on this podcast. That’s huge. But like all of the food blogger podcast that we know of, you know, everybody just, like, loves them and like, eats it up. And it’s just such a nice way. Because I think, right, it’s that connection of just hearing somebody’s voice and hearing how they talk and how they are. You can get a lot from watching and just listening to somebody. It feels like you’re kind of in the room with them having coffee and, I think, or tea, or whatever you drink. I think that is that, again, that piece, it feels so relational, because we are, we’re just sitting here having a conversation that’s really hard to get through the screen. I think even when you’re just watching somebody on a reel or on a YouTube channel, and it’s all produced and everything like, yes, you you’re getting that, but it’s not as, I think, like that nuance, just laid back conversational piece, which I think is huge, huge, huge.

Megan Porta  27:45

Yeah. I had this kind of epiphany moment the other day. I’m sure we all have that as entrepreneurs who are constantly thinking, I’m assuming everyone else is like that. But I just had this moment where I was like, Oh my gosh. For food bloggers, I mean, I’ve been carrying this message forever, as you guys know, but for food bloggers to have a podcast right now, it would be so beneficial for their business, because of what you just said, You were connecting so authentically with people, but you’re also you own like your podcast. You can say whatever the freak you want to say on your podcast, you own it, just like you own the content on your blog, and just like you own your emails, you have control over your podcast. Nobody’s going to, you know, barge in and tell you how to do it. So I just was like, Oh my gosh, I need to refresh this whole message. It was a passion a few years ago, just getting food bloggers in to podcasting, and then, I don’t know, just life got in the way, other business projects got in the way, but it is, I think it would be so huge for a brands right now.

Sponsor  28:52

Food bloggers, hey, taking a really quick break here to talk about RankIQ, with all of the changes Our industry is facing right now. We are hearing a lot of advice from different people, and some of it feels really confusing and conflicting. One of the things I’ve been hearing lately is that it no longer works to write posts based on low competition keywords. I do not personally agree with this. I want to tell you why, because my analytics are telling me that it definitely still works to write posts with a low competition keyword focus. The posts I’ve published in the past few years that I have found on RankIQ and that I have run through the optimizer on RankIQ are performing really well for my blog. I have used a strategy recently that has helped to keep my traffic afloat during this very tumultuous time. I find older blog posts to redo and republish. I use the pro blogger’s guide to updating old blog posts published by RankIQ, search for that on Google, put them through the RankIQ optimizer. These republished. Posts are quickly rising in the rankings as well. Focusing on low competition keywords is still a good strategy for getting traffic. So I wanted to encourage you all with this head to rankiq.com to browse through tons of food niche categories and grab some of those low competition, high search volume keywords to focus on. Go to rankiq.com to get started today. Now, back to the episo

Abbey Rodriguez  30:23

I love that the food blogger podcast evangelism. That’s like your mission that you’re on. Everybody start a podcast? Yes, would be interesting, though, because, like, how many food bloggers have a podcast to go along with? Like, their website? Not many, like, not many. That’s actually a really good idea. Who’s gonna start it, who’s listening? I feel like we should give them a prize.

Megan Porta  30:45

I know well. I mean, I talked about this at Tastemaker a few years ago, and then a few food bloggers got on the train. I think it was Melissa from Mama Gourmand, she started one podcast, and Susie from Mom’s dinner. There were a handful of people who did, but then they’ve since dropped off. But I just think I should start a podcast for my food blog, because, yeah, there’s no better way to expand your brand than through a podcast. So I I’m just, I don’t know, I feel very passionate about this right now.

Abbey Rodriguez  31:17

Especially, yeah, with the whole AI thing that it’s like, how can I have my voice come through? Like, I think that’d be cool to be like, Hey, I know you don’t want to read about how this is my grandma’s recipe, but I have a whole podcast episode about my childhood, and it’s really great story. I would click on that and listen to that, right?

Megan Porta  31:35

Do you guys know Christine from Cook the Story? She has a daily food podcast, you guys, and she is crushing it. She won, I don’t remember, like, Pop Sugar award or something. She won a wow Award for Best Food podcast, yeah, it’s Cook the Story. Because she produces five minute episodes every day. She just batches them, like, once a month, she sits down and creates, like, this is my gravy recipe. Here’s something really cool about it that I don’t talk about in the post, and just gives kind of the insider details. So there’s something to that.

Abbey Rodriguez  32:08

And that feels manageable. Like, when I was talking about the impact versus effort, I think, like, sometimes we think, like, I have to have this whole production, but if, yeah, if you can find ways to just make it part of your workflow. Like, I mean, that’s kind of what we did, like, we just have conversations on Zoom, which we were doing with webinars anyway. So we’re, like, we could just be taking the MP4 and be uploading. It doesn’t have to be over produced. It can be, you know, a little grassroots type of effort. But like, I think people kind of like that. I think it’s for sure hear the raw, unfiltered parts of life. 

Chandice Probst  32:40

YouTube is not for everybody, and so it’s nice to have the option. It’s kind of like radio versus TV, right? And so the podcast you have, yeah, like I said, a lot of people YouTube just feels like too much. It’s not their thing to be in front of the camera. But with the with a podcast, you can more just have your voice shine, and a lot of people are much better at that than like video, per se.

Megan Porta  33:05

So yeah, can you guys talk about diversifying revenue a little bit, not just getting traffic from different sources, so Pinterest, Google, Facebook, but actually branching out of the world of traffic and focusing on maybe products or brand sponsorships or something like that. 

Chandice Probst  33:25

Yeah, we have an incredible sponsor this year at Tastemaker member full, and they have a great they have great stuff. And so I think it just goes right into lending, right into what we were talking about, about, you know, branching out, if you’re going to start a podcast, then you can also get sponsors for your podcast. If you are going to be doing YouTube, there’s a lot more things that you can do to show people’s products on your YouTube page. And so with member full, it’s talking about monetizing with membership. Again, I’m going to bring Molly up because she has a really great membership called the Guacamolly Club. It’s so cute and cute. And then Susie has Susie’s what is hers the barbecue group. I can’t remember what it’s called, but Susie from Hey girl, hey also has one, and so membership is a really great one right now, when we’re talking about community and connection. People are looking for ad free options on your website, and so with member full, you can create a membership for your community where, you know, for 4.99 a month, they don’t have to look at any of your ads on your website, for example. But then they also get extra content. You would deliver extra things to them. So I think that’s a really I think that in three years, many, many, many food bloggers will have a membership. And I think that us being on the starting side of that is a good thing. Same thing with a cookbook. I think every food blogger will have a cookbook in five years. And so I think getting. And that’s another we have an incredible sponsor, FireWire publishing, and they do the most gorgeous books that look just like linen bound, that look just like Joanna Gaines cookbook, like the quality, you literally cannot tell the difference. So if you’d like a personal introduction to Morgan over there, I’d be happy to give it to you, but hit their work is so phenomenal, and the price point is crazy amazing. It’s crazy because it’s just for the product that you’re getting. So I think membership, I think a cookbook, I think those are really out, branching out in ways. I remember I was thinking back to this, looking at I when I lived in Arizona, like 10 years ago. I used to work with the celiac disease Foundation, and we used to do celiac awareness nights with MLB and MBA teams around the nation. This is when I was really big into my celiac disease advocacy. And I would be on the morning show. I was a contributor regularly on the morning show down in Arizona, good morning Arizona. And I would take at the time I didn’t really understand, like, paying, charging someone actual money. But what I would do is I would look around town about all the things I wanted. I’m like, I want donuts from there, gluten free donuts from there. And I want this from here, and I want this from here. And I would email companies too, and I would create a segment around gluten free travel, for example, I got so many awesome products sent to me because I was going to feature them on the morning show, and they were like, we’d be happy to send you that. Then I did a whole allergy friendly, gluten free lunch box segment, and I got the cutest planet box lunch boxes. Those are expensive, a ton of different lunch boxes that we still use now, and it was because I reached out about being on this show. So my point is, at this point now, I would also probably charge, I would also charge a fee, but those are different ways that you can branch out and diversify your income. Is through television, through a membership, through a cookbook, the cookbook people are making so much money with their cookbook sales.

Abbey Rodriguez  37:06

yeah, and to follow up on that, if I can hop in real fast, I think, like, that’s a really good example, you know, to bring this back to, like, the creator economy as an ecosystem of what that means by, like this decentralized business model, whereas, historically, right, we’ve relied on ads and we’ve relied on the Google gods and all these things. And that is such a good example of how creators are taking it into their hands and partnering with these companies that see the value of Creator content and are creating things like, how can we support you? You know, like these publishing self self publishing companies that are creating affordable price points, that are high quality, that you can you don’t have to rely on a publisher, because I published a cookbook with Simon and Schuster, and it’s not a lot of pay. It’s so much work, it’s a lot of back and forth. And it’s like you don’t really make any money. It’s like you might as well, you know, I think, Take your own time and have control, creative control over that, no or the membership, so you don’t have to rely on ads. And I think, to some degree, though, too, we are talking about things that people can do that have a really established brand. So for, you know, those who are listening that have that, and they’re thinking about that, or even creating a product, I think, like if you have a really established brand, you know, if you have a flower that you use in your recipes all the time, instead of linking out to people and making affiliate money, like, why not put the time and energy into making your own product? Because you already know that people are going to buy and they trust you, they’re going to buy your products. And we’ve seen some incredible people create their own product line that just flies off the shelves, and they can’t really keep it stocked because it’s so successful, because they’ve built that trust, and they do have that but like I said, I think that comes with a certain caliber of notoriety, and just being well known within, not notoriety that’s kind of a negative impact or like a stigma, I guess. But like they, they’re well known within the community, and they have a really, really invested audience. But I do think there are ways, too, that you can create a product, maybe, if you don’t have this huge audience, but you have a really good idea, I think you could definitely go down that route. And I think to just add to what Chandice was saying, like anything that builds community. So I’m always a big advocate of people doing events, because I think that is a hugely untapped area for revenue. But, you know, we were talking a little bit before about how much emotional labor events can be. So I can see, like the barrier to entry there might be a little higher than some things. And I think it just comes down to, what are your goals? How much bandwidth do you have? And like, what realistically is going to have the impact to move you towards your goals? 

Chandice Probst  39:50

Even for the small bloggers that I know, there’s a lot of them that listen as well, and they’re wondering, yeah, that would be great to create this one day, or this or that, but you know what even if you only have 1000 visitors per month, you can still do a membership for those people, because they already just love you. I don’t know if you look at my open rate on my holiday food and fun email is way better than the other one, but there’s not very many people on there, but the people who are there are opening, reading, listening and so start small. Start when you’re already at that smaller place with even just doing a small order of cookbooks. And then they have their very first, yeah, they have your very first cookbook that that is kind of like a heirloom one day where, where nobody else will get that copy, only those originals, you know. And same with the membership. You can start with those things with very few followers. 

Megan Porta  40:43

Yeah, some great ideas. Do you guys have specific thoughts on brand sponsorships? I know a lot of food bloggers are moving toward that now that traffic is kind of volatile all over the place. What is working right now with brand sponsorships and not just working but working authentically? 

Abbey Rodriguez  41:04

Yeah, that’s our Chandice’s question. Yeah, this is her bread and butter.

Chandice Probst 41:12

We have so so many great brands that are finally understanding the influencer marketing is the way to go, and I tell this to our brands and to brands I speak to every single day, influencer marketing is shown to be 11 times more effective now than traditional marketing. Please, please use that quote when you sell yourself truly. It is much more effective. How many of you listening? Megan, Abbey myself, how many of you have been influenced by an ad from an influencer or they told you, oh my gosh, I love this. I bought it. Here’s a link. I do it all the time. I wish I didn’t, but I do, because I find, Hey, that looks great on her. I love that. That’s such a great kitchen tool. And I absolutely am. I utilize influencer marketing in my purchasing, and my guess is most everyone else does too. So we just need to keep making sure that brands know that that’s how people are buying now. And so that’s a huge thing that I tell brands all the time, is influencer marketing all the way should be a huge portion of your marketing budget over the traditional marketing. So as far as a creator, selling themselves again, coming back to that passion, what is this is where the niche does help, because where, if you have that, where you’re an authority, and you can say, I’m an authority on vegan, no bake desserts, that was way, way, but I’m just saying, if you’re, you’re the authority on vegan no bake desserts. Now, what products do you use constantly to make those desserts? What brand of dates are you using? What brand of this, that and the other are you using and reaching out to those people and letting them know a lot of your desserts are on page one, and your your reels do really well, or all of these things, and then putting them into the work that you’re already doing, authentically. And it does not have to be new recipes or new content. You can reach out and say, I have this viral recipe that is kicking butt on Google, and the last reel that I did did really, really well. I would love to do a new reel with just some slight changes using your product, and also backlink that in the post that’s already created. That’s great. And then you don’t have to, you get paid for something you’ve already done, and then just simply repurposing that. Does that make sense?

Megan Porta  43:35

Yeah, no. I love that. Some great ideas. Did you have anything to add to that, Abbey?

Abbey Rodriguez 43:40

I feel like, honestly, Chandice, Chandice is over all of our sponsorships at Tastemaker, and she does a lot of work on her website. I don’t really, I am just on the side of observing people and researching what works and what doesn’t, but I will say in terms of, just like the Creator economy ecosystem, how big brands and advertisers are in in that when breaking it down and kind of defining like, what does it look like, and how many different actors are there, right? You have your creators, but then you have your platforms, and then you have your brands. You have your advertisers, your agencies, your Creator tools, investors, venture capitalists, regulators, policy makers, the consumers, the audience, and like all of those play a huge part. And I think that, like Chandice was saying, like, my big piece of advocacy right now that I’m working on is helping legitimize it, and we become legitimized in the Creator economy through brands buying into what we’re doing like Chandice was saying influencer marketing is is continuing to grow, right? They in this year 2024 to 2025 I think it’s $250 billion is being spent on influencer marketing. That’s projected to reach $500 billion in 2027 that’s half a trillion dollars. So I think to see that and be like, hey, companies are seeing the value of this. They’re seeing the return, they’re seeing the conversions, they’re seeing all these KPIs that actually matter, that that are moving their product, or whatever their goal might be. And I think we can educate brands as creators as we’re and are doing our own due diligence and our own research to sell our own products, but as we’re educating them along, you know, alongside each other, using these stats and information, I think like collectively, we help legitimize it, and that’s important. 

Megan Porta  45:33

Yeah, great message you guys.

Chandice Probst 45:34

Some other ways right now, Q4 is a great time to reach out to some of those brands that you love and use all the time. And if you have a robust email newsletter saying, I am going to create a holiday guide with some little blurbs about some of my favorite products. And this is an A very simple buy in you’re included in the holiday guide. We have a link to whatever link you want, whether it to be to Amazon or to your website, a picture of your product, my blurb about why I love it and which recipes I love to use it in, and it’s X number of dollars and maybe a smaller buy in, because they’re being featured with a bunch of others. That is a great way to diversify your income in Q4 for the holiday guides, I think people are not doing those as much back 10 years ago, people did them all the time. Yeah, let’s bring back some of those things that actually help our community love but then also help you gain some of that income that you’re looking for as well. So I think that’s one that’s really important. We actually have a brand right now, one of our sponsors who’s looking to take on a lot of ours. They are looking to take on new creators and influencers, but one of them specific is Wonderful Pistachios. They just released, and if you want a personal introduction to them, I’d be happy to give that to you. They just released their new they’ve never done a holiday flavor before, and it’s so good, it’s cinnamon sugar, and they are looking for creators to talk about it, to include it specifically in holiday guides. That’s what she asked. I would like good information. Yeah, so jump on that right now whoever’s listening, yeah, 

Megan Porta  45:38

Someone’s all over pistachios right now. They’re going to call you immediately. 

Chandice Probst  47:14

They’re also going to be releasing a new product at Tastemaker, which is so exciting, and they are looking for influencers and creators to actually create recipes with that new product. It’s such a it’s just a wonderful one for the kitchen. You’re going to love it, but they are specifically at Tastemaker to find those creators. So that’s a good thing to be aware of when you’re there, that there are brands looking to work with you. 

Megan Porta  47:40

There are options. There are definitely options that we don’t know about, right and we’re not thinking about that’s what I love about this creator economy, is that people are being so creative. The word is right in there, but yeah, people are getting out there. They’re exploring new ways to make money and to connect. And I know this past year has been really hard for a lot of people with traffic, but it’s been really cool, from my perspective, to just see how creative we all are, and just Isn’t that the coolest thing? I mean, from from their perspective, they’re like, whatever, this sucks in some cases. But from my perspective, it’s like, Wow, you’re so awesome. You guys are amazing. 

Abbey Rodriguez  48:20

Resilience, resilience.

Chandice Probst  48:22

It is hard. I feel like the hardest things I’ve been through in my personal life are the things that help me grow the most. And I feel like it’s the same. It forces us to get out of our comfort zone, try new things, work harder, focus in, dial into our community. So while it is a tough time, for sure, for many creators and and income and revenue, I’m excited to see what comes out of. 

Megan Porta  48:46

Yeah, yeah. I love that. We all have that perspective. So last question, in this creator economy, how important are events like Tastemaker for just fostering those connections and, you know, getting first hand information about our new world ahead of us.

Abbey Rodriguez  49:04

I mean, well, obviously we are a little biased, but events are so important, and that’s the irony here, as our world becomes so digital. And you know, with machine learning and artificial this and intelligence that it how helpful and wonderful and great those things are like it allows us to be living our life on our terms and having all of this creative freedom that we’re talking about. But I think, like the digital we get digital burnout, and I think having those analog in person connections are the antidote to that, and that is really what Tastemaker is about, is coming back and bringing people together. First and foremost, it will always be the most important value. And so, yeah, Tastemaker, it’s important. So we want you to come. We want you to be there. And even the events that you’re doing, too Megan, like, I think any event that any food creator group is doing, or any creator group is so important. I think people should take advantage of those. If it works within your budget or the timing, make it happen. Make it a priority. I just know in my life, like my success in everything that I’ve done from a career standpoint, has been because of in person, events and connections, like my career, my jobs, my friendships, my relationships. Everything really has come down to that. And I think, like, that’s the big takeaway, is relationships matter. Those are not going anywhere. There’s no algorithmic bias there. Like you’re in control of that. And like, that’s really what, like, life’s about I think at the end of the day. 

Megan Porta  50:36

Mike dropped there. That was amazing, Abbey. Go ahead Chandice?

Chandice Probst 50:41

I was just gonna say part of legitimizing the Creator economy is knowing that value for yourself. And with any career, this is a career that you’ve chosen, and with any career, it requires continuing education, and that should be done on a, you know, a large scale, at like conference, like Tastemaker, but then also at those smaller retreats where you’re connecting with a group of 12 people, and it’s you’re building friendships where, for example, like Carly and Alexandria, you end up being a bridesmaid to one of these gals later on, you know, and that’s the greatest reward for Abbey and I in doing this, is hearing the friendships that were built, the connections that were made, that have gone on and lasted years and years to come. And so while it is isolating sometimes to be in this career, when you get out and you try new things and you do new things, you can have that re, you know, vitalization, when you come back and go, Okay, I’m ready to power through. And then you’ll continue to talk to those people and network with those people and bounce ideas off of them, and those friendships will be what get you through those highs and lows of life. One of my favorite things, my mom always taught me about anything in life, especially she was talking about marriage. But also, I believe this goes for our career as well. There will be highs and lows. There will be peaks and valleys, but as long as we’re trending upward, that’s a good thing. And some of those valleys feel very, very low, but trending upward in the right direction is a good sign.

Megan Porta  52:11

Beautifully said. What a great way to end you guys. Thank you so much. This was such a fun conversation. So good to reconnect with you too. To end, I would love two things from you really quick, either just a quote or words of inspiration, anything off the top of your head, and then tell people where they can get information about Tastemaker. 

Chandice Probst  52:29

My favorite, Maya Angelou, when she says, people were will forget what you say, but they’ll they’ll forget what you say and forget, I believe, what you taught, but they’ll always remember how you made them feel. 

Abbey Rodriguez 52:43

This is the the hill I’m going to die on saying in the Tastemaker world. But you know, you don’t ask, you don’t get. So be bold. And I think fortune smiles on the bold. I also like that thing. 

Chandice Probst  52:57

So it’s scary out there, even when you feel scared. Go do it anyway. 

Megan Porta  53:01

Do it anyway, exactly. I love it. How can people learn more about Tastemaker?

Abbey Rodriguez53:06

So you can learn more about us on our website, Tastemaker conference.com, you have all of the resources and events and all the things we’ve mentioned so far in this podcast episode. And you can also follow us on Instagram. We’re pretty active over there. It’s just Tastemaker conference and Megan. If people want to buy tickets to the conference, can we give them a special discount code just for your listeners?

Megan Porta  53:32

Of course.

Abbey Rodriguez  53:32

There’s not very many tickets left, so by the time people listen to this, it might be sold out. But Okay, for our podcast, yeah, just in case, our all the podcast. You know, podcasts we’ve been on, we’ve offered $100 off the ticket. So there’s there’s general admission tickets, and there’s a couple of VIP tickets left. But we’d love to extend that $100 off if anybody wants to come to Tastemaker in Vegas. It’s January 19 through the 21st of 2025.

Megan Porta  53:56

All right. Well, thanks again, ladies, and have a wonderful rest of your day. 

Outro  54:03

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. Don’t forget to rate and review Eat Blog Talk on your favorite podcast player. Thank you and I will see you next time you.