Turn Your Curiosity into a Revenue-Generating Business Strategy | Peter Murphy Lewis

Peter Murphy Lewis: [00:00:00] I think that right now where we are from a marketing point of view, that everything is saturated, the world, it's a crowded space, and one of the ways that you can stand out is through podcasting.

Sadaf Beynon: Some start a podcast as an experiment. Others treat it as a hobby. But those who truly understand the power of storytelling, like today's guest, turn it into a business tool that builds authority and helps them grow. Welcome to Podjunction. I'm Sadaf Beynon. And on this show, business leaders share how they use podcasting to grow their brand and connect with their audience. I'm really excited to welcome back Peter Murphy. Lewis today. As the founder of strategicpete.com and a fractional CMO, he helps CEOs turn marketing chaos into clear strategies that drive growth. But what truly sets him apart is his mastery of storytelling honed through the years in TV, documentaries and podcasting. As the host of LTC Heroes, he's built a leading podcast [00:01:00] in the long-term care industry proving that great storytelling isn't just engaging. It's a powerful business tool. Peter, welcome back to the show.

Peter Murphy Lewis: It's an honor. Well, this is, you're one of my favorite podcasters. Everything you and Matt touch is fantastic. Uh, it's an honor to be here.

Sadaf Beynon: Oh, Peter, you are so kind. Thank you. The last time you were on the show, we covered a lot, but today I want to focus on how storytelling and podcasting work together as a powerful tool for business growth. I don't mean just content, but for building authority, deep connections and real impact. So with everything that you have going on from media projects to business ventures, where does podcasting fit into your bigger strategy?

Peter Murphy Lewis: I think of podcasting as kind of the gateway to long form storytelling. Um, and I, I love where you said that, you know, this isn't just, I don't, I don't remember your exact words, but this isn't just another marketing [00:02:00] motion. Uh, this is something that has an impact on pipeline. Uh, any strategist. Any chief marketing officer, any person who's in interested in account-based, uh, marketing, anyone in the revenue team, a sales team should be thinking that this is a place where you can create a relationship.

And this, this difficult time where we don't know what's happening with SEO Google algorithm updates, uh, social media, you have. You know, three to six channels that you should be on as a brand. You, uh, you don't know what's happening with your website, the deep and dark social. You don't know how your people are coming to you.

I can tell you that if someone listens to you for 15 to 20 minutes in between, you're getting in between their two years that long form storytelling, you're gonna have an impact on what they think about you and your brand. It is the easiest most. Effective, most affordable, most impact that you can have if you are a business that sells a high ticket product, um, in [00:03:00] impacting how people think about you.

Sadaf Beynon: That's incredible. Peter, how did you come across this? Like did this just kind of evolve, like as you started doing it, you thought actually this is working? Or was it a light bulb moment? What was it?

Peter Murphy Lewis: It has, so it went from. Not knowing if it would work to working very quickly and then having a domino effect.

I'll give you the abbreviated version. So I started off with a podcast in 2021, and I felt I had a huge imposter syndrome. I knew that I was the dumbest person in the room and I wasn't comfortable.

So interviewing kind of my ICP or my ideal customer pro, I didn't feel comfortable. I was in healthcare. It was hard to talk. An interview without fumbling around. And I just realized over time, if you're okay, being curious, people will forgive you for your ignorance. And if you're good at asking questions, then you can create a relationship without being the smartest person.

And it that it, when [00:04:00] it started to click, was when I started to realize when I would turn off the record button, these people that I were interviewing were. You know, large business owners, presidents of different state associations inside of my industry with healthcare. These people would stay on the phone with me for another five or 10 minutes, and, and that meant that they were enjoying the conversation, that they were gonna share it out.

I saw them start to share it, and then all of a sudden I realized that. I was gonna get into state, state conventions, and they started to ask me to bring my podcast equipment to the state conventions. Then they asked me to be a keynote speaker. And the extra thing when I, when I started to put everything together is I would, right before I would hit hit record, I would say to the person I said, you can pitch yourself all you want.

In this podcast, I know that you're legit. You're doing a favor to your audience to talk about how great you are. When we turn off the recording, do you mind if I ask you some questions? Because we're in the same industry and I need your advice, and that little prep work really made it simple to, for me to ask them afterwards [00:05:00] what I was doing, who they could introduce me to, what have they thought of my product, where I was positioned inside of the market space.

Sadaf Beynon: So how long

did you do that for?

Peter Murphy Lewis: The podcast within five months had me being invited to conventions

within eight months. I was a keynote speaker. Um, and you know, I, we started to see the impact on our pipeline after the very first convention I went to, because we would have the sales person sit next to me and everyone would come over and say, who's the podcaster?

What are they talking about? They'd come see their friends, and the salesperson would just be able to have an icebreaker right there.

Sadaf Beynon: That's incredible. You were saying earlier about how they would stay on the phone with you. I was thinking it's um. Because you mentioned about being curious and I guess as you're being curious and you're asking that you know you have genuine interest in what they're doing, you're probably unearthing some things that they possibly hadn't vocalized before because everyone in their industry, there's some things that are just unspoken.

'cause everyone knows them. But [00:06:00] when you are asking questions from the outside, I guess it gives them a chance to talk about some things that they don't normally. Would that be right?

Peter Murphy Lewis: Yeah, I think it allows them to talk about some of the intangibles to somebody who's not an expert and they get to dumb it down. And it also gets to show them being more human, more ha uh, uh, authentic. So a little bit less industry jargon.

Um, you know, I don't think that. My success in podcast is the way that most people think that you should approach it.

But I can tell you it's the easiest way, right? The, for me to have spun up and be smart in the healthcare industry could have taken me two or three years. So I. If I would've waited, that means my pipeline would've also had the exact same delay. And being helpful, being curious, being, uh, someone just good at having a conversation like you [00:07:00] and I right now was sufficient to have a successful podcast.

I.

Sadaf Beynon: Hmm. So were you then, is that all you were focused on in that amount, in that time,

Peter Murphy Lewis: My, my, if I had to explain what my playbook was from the beginning that was very, very good, is I tried to find one thing that my guests were particularly great at, or a playbook or something that they have done that they could explain in step by step that I was turning their content into ever green. So if you're not a marketer, that means I'm trying to get someone to give me their seven step playbook for hiring or their five step playbook for finding investments or their 10 step playbook from proving culture, and then turn that into a podcast.

I'm helping this guest write that 40 page PDF book that they always wanna do on what they're an expert at, but then I'm giving away to the rest of the industry. It's a win-win [00:08:00] for everybody.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. That's really cool. I really like that. And especially as you say, step by step, it really, it gives you content and helps you understand what they're talking about. And as you say, it gives them a chance to, to put it, um, or to create a book or whatever it is they wanted to do with that information to actually get it down.

That's very cool.

Peter Murphy Lewis: Well, I, I knew that I didn't want just a fluffy podcast of people talking about their, their lives, uh, because I, I sensed that no one would listen to it other than their staff, because the CEO would send it to their staff and then their mom. But if I could get the CEO to talk about some great challenge that he or she had overcome in the last year or two, and then walk me through and how to do it.

So it makes it's actionable.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah.

Peter Murphy Lewis: That, that was gonna be helpful to lots and lots of people and it made them look good. Right? It's that 30 page PDF that somebody on their marketing team didn't think about doing, and it made it [00:09:00] evergreen enough that you got, you know, lots and lots of plays even after it was launched.

Sadaf Beynon: That's really cool, Peter, I always learn so much from you.

How does storytelling fit into this then?

Peter Murphy Lewis: Well, this is new to me, so I don't have this, well, I don't have this well polished. In the last year, I have produced and directed and hosted three documentaries, specifically documentaries that came from the podcast. So.

You know, I, I, I, I mentioned I started doing podcasts. Then I got invited to take my podcast equipment and cover people live at the trade show.

Then I got invited as a keynote speaker and a keynote speaker. Then I got invited to do a pod to do a documentary.

And the documentary is called People Worth Caring About. And all I do is I highlight. The staff, their mission, their passion of these different industries. Right now, I'm only in the healthcare industry, but soon, next year I expect that I'll be in another industry.

It might be, uh, fishing, it might be agriculture, it might [00:10:00] be waste management. And I get to tell the story of amazing companies. So I only work with great companies or great industries who need to control their narrative. And I don't think that it's any different than podcast. It's just adding video to it

and a little bit more editing.

And I think that storytelling is something that I discovered late in life. Um, putting together the dots of all the different things that I've done before. I did, I did tourism when I was 27 years old, my first company, and I was teaching people about South America through the stories of locals in South America.

I wasn't telling you about monuments, I was storytelling. I just didn't know it. And then over, over and over time finally ended up finding something that made that, that ends up, I, I just learned the term in the last. Six months, which is, you know, storytelling. And I didn't realize that I've discovered this new niche.

So, I mean, I don't know where I'll be in six months, but I wouldn't be where I am if it weren't for podcast.

Sadaf Beynon: That's really cool. Um, one of the, or the documentaries that you talked about, I've watched one of them. It's really, [00:11:00] really good. I'd love to know, which one do you have? I, I guess you can't say which is your favorite, but which one were you most drawn to?

Peter Murphy Lewis: Well, healthcare, I think would be the, the answer to start off, and I was drawn to it from a human point of view

because. When I got into long-term care, um, into the private equity kind of turnaround project that I was invited to be the vice president of marketing for, I didn't realize I was gonna immediately find a connection related to the fact that my grandparents had been in long-term care.

So I started fall in love with the industry because of how important my grandparents were to me and how are the caretakers. So I think what. Makes this job so enjoyable for me and has an impact on me and the viewer, is the fact that I've fallen in love with the people who are telling me their story.

And I don't, I think it goes back to uni. You just asked me beforehand or we were talking about what I thought my, my secret methodology was. It's just being curious. If you're curious in other people's [00:12:00] life, uh, that's gonna make you likable and want people to talk to you when you turn off the record button.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. Yeah. It's really about, um, I was talking to someone else about this earlier today, not storytelling per se, but as you're speaking, it's coming back to me that it's really about becoming a student of the person that you're talking to

and really understanding what it is that, like, how they see things through their lens and

how, how they've had those experiences.

Peter Murphy Lewis: One of the reasons that I love storytelling and in part, you know, one of, one of the children of storytelling is podcasting, um, is that I think it's the easiest, fastest way for you to establish authority.

And you're not gonna do it through a blog, you're not gonna do it on LinkedIn in one post. You're not gonna do it in Instagram in one post. Right? And I always think of the example for y um, of as myself as a client. Yesterday I listened to a podcast episode. Uh, of a gentleman who's a YouTube [00:13:00] consultant and he was on a podcast that I hadn't listened to the podcast in a year or two.

It was about digital nomads and, and doing their businesses abroad. And I listened to it and the podcast host, uh, the podcast guest's name is Shane. I got off the podcast listening to it. I listened to it again, and I went immediately to his page and signed up for a demo. His SDR sales development rep told me that it was gonna cost over $4,000 just to get one month of consulting, and I said.

Sign me up

Sadaf Beynon: Wow.

Peter Murphy Lewis: and one in one podcast of 45 minutes. I immediately signed up. I, if he would've jumped the SDR, I would've signed up. I would've given my credit card yesterday.

Sadaf Beynon: I love that. So what was it about it that was so compelling?

Peter Murphy Lewis: It's that he explained in a very simple way how everybody could take his methodology and implement it themselves. Now, I don't wanna implement myself. I have enough money to pay him, so he holds my hand. I want it done with you. I don't, I can't afford done for you.

I don't wanna do it done, done by myself.

I [00:14:00] want it done with you, and that's why I'm gonna hire it. I think if you're doing anything over, you know, two to $4,000 for any type of service or product, uh, it's the best way to establish authority.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. Wow. I love that. Peter, what's been the biggest challenge in, um, in using storytelling to make your podcast a growth driver in, in your business?

Peter Murphy Lewis: I think that the, I think that the biggest challenge for using a podcast or a documentary for. Growing the business is probably the operational side.

So the first podcast I did, I outsourced it to a podcast agency. Uh, the next podcast that I'm about to launch, I'm gonna outsource to a podcast agency.

Getting outside of that kind of prospecting and creating the one pager and getting people booked and then doing the editing, I outsource all of that. Um, so I'd say that's my biggest challenge, but I think I made the right decision in making sure I found a good agency to do it.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. I mean, it's [00:15:00] about playing to your strengths and what you, what capacity you have. Right. Um, so tell us about this new podcast that you're launching.

I.

Peter Murphy Lewis: It is around the documentary. It's gonna be a podcast, um, in the long form storytelling space. I'm not certain of the name. It might be the same name as the documentary that I've trademarked people worth caring about. I'm excited. I have a co-host, uh, who's been in the, in the documentary process with me, and I think that it'll be launched by July or August.

Sadaf Beynon: That's great. Congratulations.

So Peter, have you then, um, so with this new podcast, with the long form content with storytelling, are you doing this because you've seen a direct link between great storytelling and business results?

Peter Murphy Lewis: Yes, I'm doing it because of that. I'm doing it. From a human point of view, because I like talking to people who make a difference with their staff,

and the best way to do that is through a podcast. If I go knock on your door, you're gonna think I'm a salesperson. If I send you a cold email, you think I'm a cold.[00:16:00]

I'm a salesperson. If I want to create a relationship with you right away where I make your company, your staff and your leadership look amazing. It's a podcast.

So there, I wouldn't do it if it weren't going to help out my business, but I also wouldn't do it if it weren't about building a true relationship because why would I spend two hours a day talking to a microphone with a person?

I don't know unless I'm interested in them and their story.

Sadaf Beynon: Hmm. So, um, you're saying how some, sometimes it's hard to get people to respond. What's your experience been then, like when you say, look, I wanna have you on the podcast, I wanna get to know your story. Is that, are people quite, um, eager then to, to have that conversation with you? Or have you had some nos.

Peter Murphy Lewis: My, my recommendation for the startup is just record five podcasts with people that you already know and you feel comfortable with, but you're interested in. You don't have to structure it, you don't have to fabricate it. Maybe think about five [00:17:00] topics that you know that they're great at or that you admire them for.

And then just start there. And if you never publish the podcast, it doesn't matter. Don't worry about the nose. Once you land one or two good interviews, that's gonna be enough. Assets, it's gonna be enough quality material for you to get it out, and then you're not gonna get very many nos. I started off, I didn't start off with any big players.

I didn't start with presidents or CEOs until I probably had 10 podcasts underneath my belt as far as I know. Um, I didn't get any nos. I might've gotten, some people said, let's wait and see, or my schedule's busy. But they ended up coming around six months later, once they realized that this, it was quality.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. Great. So what if someone, um, as you say it's just starting out, but then wanted to add a bit more storytelling because it works,

what would be some tips that you would give them?

Peter Murphy Lewis: Mm-hmm. Some tips around storytelling. I, I would, you know, there's, um, I like to go to Tim Ferris [00:18:00] and he has some interesting questions on his podcast that start up with good conversations, and he has a book that's, I think it's like Tools for Titans, and he asks these people, what is one habit you have in your life?

That you think makes you successful. What's one failure in your life, um, that marked who you are. So just go find some simple, interesting questions. Have those in your tool book. Um, I actually think you should have those anyways. Like if you're gonna have friends over tonight for dinner, you don't have to be the person who talks the most in the room to be the person that people are happy, that's there.

Ask the most interesting question and you're gonna be invited back to drink nice red wine, um, tomorrow and the next day. So. Probably all of us should get better at listening. If you wanna get better at listening, come up with good questions. Um, that's where I would start. And you don't need to go listen to Tim Ferris.

Use your AI tool. Say, what are 15 interesting questions that I could ha that I could ask, uh, you know, sit off today and, and, and, and it'll help you come up with, and it'll look up your history and your [00:19:00] profile and they'll find something else.

Sadaf Beynon: Cool. Thank you. How do you see your podcast evolving to serve your business? even better with the, with the use of storytelling.

Peter Murphy Lewis: Yeah. I hope with the podcast that I'm going to be able to target the people who need to share their story, not the people who are already on the podcast circuit. So my goal is I'm going to target people who have great companies on application slides, Glassdoor. Organizations that have great reviews in different places, but might have a bad reputation in the news, and I wanna help them control it.

So my goal, and you know, I have a friend who's helping me position our documentary on Amazon Prime, and what she loves about the story is that I'm going after Underappreciated Industries. Like nursing homes and helping them tell the story when no one in traditional media wants to let them get it out, we wanna trash them because we're [00:20:00] afraid of aging, we're afraid of memory, we're afraid of Alzheimer's, we're afraid of death.

And so we blame that. We blame all of our fears on these caretakers and giving them a voice. That's where I want to take the podcast. It's, it's gonna be a more. 1 0 1 version of what my documentary is because my documentary is done with high-end broadcast quality cameras with a TV production company.

And no, it costs over a hundred thousand dollars documentary with, with the doc. With a podcast, you can hire an agency for two to $5,000, two to $10,000 a month, and you could get the story out even faster. Sure.

Sadaf Beynon: That's amazing. Like for the people who, whose stories you're telling. That's just really incredible, isn't it? To, to have, um, some light. 'cause I think a lot of the people you're talking about are under underserved, aren't they?

Peter Murphy Lewis: Yeah. Well, I mean from a human point of view, I always tell people when I'm in front of the camera as a documentary or as a TV or on a podcast, I always feel like I'm leaving [00:21:00] something for my son. I. My son's eight years old and it's way easier for me to jump on and interview somebody that intimidates me.

If I, all I have to do is think about, all I have to do is impress my son. What's gonna impress my son? Was I nice? What did I ask good questions? Was I sincere? Did I listen? And for some reason, that allows me to be a lot more relaxed Next.

Sadaf Beynon: That's very cool. I love that perspective. Am I impressing my kids? Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna use that one.

Peter Murphy Lewis: Oh, you don't get nervous easily, so I don't think you need to use my tricks.

Sadaf Beynon: I think I might too. So Peter, do you think businesses that embrace storytelling over those that focus on just information, say, do you think they are, um, more successful?

Peter Murphy Lewis: I think that right now where we are from a marketing point of view, that everything is saturated, the world, it's a crowded space, and one of the ways that you can stand out is through podcasting. I, I just, I just. Think that [00:22:00] it's very, very simple. Every single client that I try to help out with, and I'm usually working as a fractional chief marketing officer with clients that are doing somewhere between three and $15 million a year in annual revenue.

The very first thing that I try to figure out is where's their ICP and how can I talk to them on a podcast? That's either pitching their CEO or their subject matter expert on podcasts, or is it time for us to have our own podcast where we could bring in our happy customers and make them look better and bring in our prospects and make them look better, and we can start a relationship.

Sadaf Beynon: Absolutely. I agree. I think podcasting is just such a powerful marketing tool for, for any business. It's, you know, there's got so much potential, like even how you're using it now with, with your documentaries, you know, it's just, it's incredible the, the potential that it has and the scope that it has.

Peter Murphy Lewis: I, I wanna, I wanna share something small and tactical that I think any non marketer would still understand and be able to replicate. If you already [00:23:00] have a podcast and you about to give up on it, you can follow this strategy. I. If you don't have a podcast and you feel that you're behind the times, like all of your competitors started a year behind ahead of you, don't worry.

Go to YouTube and look at the video that you can easily talk about with one of your guests that allows you to talk about your company and your product and search for it in YouTube. Then go find versions of that question in YouTube and find the videos that have the most amount of views. With the least amount of subscribers.

Now go do a podcast around that, put that on YouTube, and you are going to get 5,000, 15,000, 25,000 views because somebody didn't know how to take advantage of the video that already got thousands and thousands of views. The reason it doesn't have subscribers, 'cause the audio was off, the thumbnail was bad, or they didn't continue on with the podcast, they gave up.

So all you have to do is go do a better version and you're gonna see an [00:24:00] impact on your pipeline within three to six months.

Sadaf Beynon: Wow. That's incredible. Thank you for that. How did you, um, how did you come across that?

Peter Murphy Lewis: It was from the podcast that I mentioned 20 minutes ago from the guy named Shane. Yep. And I just recorded two videos today doing the exact same process. And that's what I'll be doing in my podcast as well. So if you go to my YouTube today, you're gonna see two videos that were loaded in the last three hours following the strategy I just shared with you.

Sadaf Beynon: Awesome. Great. Peter, thank you so much. I mean, I, I love what you've said. It's clear that your podcast isn't just for content it's a key part of how you connect and how you share your expertise. So it's, it's great.

Peter Murphy Lewis: I appreciate it.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah, I've really enjoyed this, uh, really enjoyed talking about how you use podcasting to grow your business and how you're, you know, you're gonna be evolving it and adding another podcast into the mix. And, um, but before we go, Peter, where can people connect with you? Learn more about your business and of course to into LTC Heroes podcasts.

Peter Murphy Lewis: Uh, LinkedIn. I [00:25:00] use LinkedIn every single day. I post every single day, uh, Peter Murphy Lewis. I am the only Peter Murphy Lewis on LinkedIn. Go connect with me. Tell me what you liked about this podcast, and um, I look forward to hearing about your podcast journey.

Sadaf Beynon: Awesome. And for everyone listening, I'll drop all the links in the description so you can check it out. Peter, thanks so much for joining me today and sharing your incredible insights with us.

Peter Murphy Lewis: Appreciate it.

Sadaf Beynon: And to everyone listening, if today's conversation has got you thinking about how podcasting could help you grow your business, we'd love to talk from Peter and from me.

Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.