In this episode, we’re talking about the long game of podcasting — the messy, imperfect, deeply human side that no one really warns you about.

Itır shares the behind-the-scenes of her four-year journey:

• why she started her podcast (spoiler: it wasn’t strategic at the beginning)
• how she built long-term relationships, collaborators, and even team members through her episodes
• the way curiosity — not trends — drives her topics
• the challenges of booking guests and staying consistent
• why over-editing kills the magic
• what she’s learned about listening, confidence, and showing up without needing everything perfect

She also gives a peek into what’s coming next for The Marketing Meeting and her consultancy, IE Brand Consulting.

This is a thoughtful, honest, encouraging conversation for anyone who wants to use their podcast as a space to learn, grow, and build something meaningful.

Where to find Itır:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itireraslan/

The Marketing Meeting Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-marketing-meeting-with-itir-eraslan/id1589765306

Website: https://www.ie-brand.com

here is our recording:

Hey there, I'm Sadaf Beynon and this is Pod Junction Podcast, the show where business leaders share how they're using podcasting to grow, connect and build their brands. Today I'm joined by Iter Erslan, founder of IE Brand Consulting, a New York based consultancy that helps companies at that tricky stage, but exciting stage.

when they're growing fast and now need to build something more strategic and sustainable. She's also the host of the marketing meeting, a podcast for founders, brand builders and marketing leaders who care about building brands that last. there, I'm so glad you're here. Welcome to the show.

Thanks so much for having me set up.

It's my pleasure. Before we get into podcasting, give us a snapshot of what IE brand consulting is, who do you serve, and what kind of work lights you up the most.

it's a soul searching question always. So it's been eight years since I've founded my company. It's a brand agency and we do brand strategy, brand design and marketing leadership. And when I say marketing leadership, it's

Hahaha.

my main niche is mid-stage brands.

Hmm.

That's such a key stage, isn't it? Those are the businesses that have the momentum but are usually spread quite thin. So it's a case of evolving from doing marketing to thinking brand, as you were saying.

Yeah, exactly. mean, brand and marketing are kind of seen as two different things in the market. ⁓ Brand seems to be a long-term plan, but some people see marketing as a tactical and short-term thing, and some founders see them very separately. But for me, it's the same. ⁓ One of them is the short-term plans that you are doing, but it needs to serve a long-term vision for brand building.

Hmm.

Mm.

Hmm.

Yeah, it can't be two separate entities. And I can see that strategic mindset coming through in your podcast too, because the marketing meeting really feels like an extension of that thinking, would you say? Yeah.

Yeah,

Yes,

Okay.

You

Hmm.

And it's been four years, I had up and downs. There were so many moments that I felt like I wanted to give a break. But it served me really well. The marketing meeting is a podcast that helps my business, helps me personally a lot. And yeah, it's been four years and I recognize that I had 56 episodes recorded. And that gives like around 14 episodes per year, which is...

Mm.

Yeah.

Hmm. that's fantastic. So four years ago you started. What was the what was the reason behind it?

not so bad thinking about breaks the time given.

That's a nice question. I don't remember what I was thinking, but I knew that I wanted to start. mean, this podcasting journey started with me ⁓ helping my sister, who's a psychiatrist, to start her own podcast. So she started a podcast and it was a podcast about work-life balance and happiness at work. And I helped her out on building the podcast, like graphics.

Hmm.

recordings and then editing and so on together with an editor. And then I said, okay, let me also start a podcast on marketing because you know, this feels right for me. And then she gave up on podcasting because she's a doctor, she has two kids and you know, she has so many responsibilities she couldn't carry on. And then I started the podcast and I carried on. ⁓ And I don't remember a

Hmm.

Mm.

clear reasoning why I started it. It felt just right. But then I have so many reasons that I can't count for having a podcast.

Okay, well tell us about those.

Well, I think ⁓ there are top three or that the podcast is serving me. The first one and the most important one is the connections that I'm building there. But it's the connections that are serving me to grow my brand agency ⁓ revenue wise. Those are the connections that I'm building to ⁓ build up teams, for example.

Mm-hmm.

the creative director that I met on the second or third episode, he's almost my business partner now. know, all the people, like some of the co-writers that I've interviewed, I worked with them, or like a photographer that I interviewed, I worked with them. So, like, I'm able to form my teams with the help of the podcast, because podcasts is a great tool to get to know a person and an area very deeply.

because I do a research before the podcast, I interview the person and to be able to interview a person you need to do a really good research and you need to understand what are the questions that you can come up with in that industry or in that category. And when you are interviewing it's a very ⁓ intimate conversation at the end of the day although it's been recorded and it's out in the world.

there are still moments like, know, there's like knocking on the door and then the person is not comfortable sharing some of the things and they want you to cut. So it's like, or sometimes they are so stressed to be in front of a camera. those, think the building of relationships is the most important one for me and building my team through the podcast. And the second one is I always try to select the topics.

Hmm.

based on not what's popular around that time, but based on what bothers me or what I'm questioning as a marketer in that moment in time. For example, for a while when AI Boost came in, like two years ago, I think, or maybe even more, I decided to do a series about AI, but not because of the fact that it's very popular and that I'm thinking that it's going to be very interesting for people, but because that

I don't know the answers to many of those questions and I was exploring them as a marketer as well. So it's always like what interests me I feel would interest some people like me or some marketers. That's how I select the questions and select the topics and also guests. I think this kind of serves me to learn deeper about the topic and probably serves my audience about that topic as well.

Mm-hmm.

And I think the third thing is ⁓ where most people, I think an obvious answer is ⁓ when I want to introduce myself to a new business or to a founder or a CEO, instead of approaching them to say, okay, I have a company, here are the services that I can give, would you like to work? Instead of that,

Mm-hmm.

If you host them first at your podcast, it's first of all a gesture to them that you want to host them at your podcast. And it's also an opportunity for me and as well as for them to get to know me through the podcast. So I feel that it's a really good conversation starter if I want to get introduced to a brand or if I want to increase my connection with a certain person. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

But there's a filter that I always use. I there are brands that I want to work and I feel that we would be a nice fit. But I don't always approach them with a saying that, I want to host you on my podcast. I always make sure that the person that I host would be able to help me on solving some of the questions I have in my mind either for brand building or for marketing as well. So yeah, it was a long answer, I guess.

Hmm.

No, thank you for that. And thank you for sharing those three points. So the first one was connections and really interesting what you shared about how some of the early guests that you had ended up being on your team. And also you were talking about the level of research you put in because you want it to be the right person for the show. needs to be a fit, an interpersonal fit for the listeners and also for the guest.

Do you do a pre-call?

It depends. mean, at the beginning I used to do that and I was feeling good about it ⁓ and it helps me. But for the guests, it's an extra step and it's not easy to book guests. They are busy, they don't have time. So that's why I usually don't do it right now. ⁓ But if you ask me, I would prefer to do like a 10, 15 minute call before...

Mm.

Okay.

sometime at some point. That always stops.

Mm hmm.

Yeah, I agree. It really does make a difference to the conversation because you've already met and you're more comfortable with with each other. ⁓ So your second point about topics, he said, you know, they need to be something that you're interested in, something that you're that you're learning. And I really love that approach because I think a lot of people start their shows to teach. But it sounds like you did it

to create a space where you could learn and where you could.

Mm-hmm.

wrestle with some of the ideas that were going around in your head.

Exactly.

Yeah, that's a really refreshing perspective.

Well, I mean, in the past, I used to teach at a university on brand strategy, strategy, execution, and so on. I love, let's not use the word teach because it sounds like one way, but I love talking about topics and sharing my ⁓ knowledge or things that I've learned with people.

And I really wanna make it clear to them and simple to them, easy to understand and also interesting. So it's always, and all the lectures that I built for the university was always a big research point for me. And I always like, okay, what would interest me if I were the student? So it's just like, I think that ⁓ mindset applies to the podcast also. It's just like, what I'm interested in right now and does this interest...

will disinterest the audience as well. And oftentimes the thing that interests me right now would interest some people in the audience.

Looking back, how has the show evolved over the years? What's changed about how you approach it now compared to when you first began?

The format hasn't changed too much. I'm still hosting guests and I'm not doing a solo show yet. I don't know if I ever do that. So the format almost stayed the same. At one point I switched to a format which is only one question and one topic and like 20 minutes. I tried that and I make it very simple and easy and bite-size.

Mm.

And then there were moments that it was like one hour and we were discussing about like books, coffee and so on. Now I'm, I think in that sweet spot of around 40, 45 minutes time sometimes. And we, it's usually one focused topic, a few questions. And also I always ask like, what's your favorite coffee place and what's your favorite book, either at the beginning or at the end. So the format is

almost the same. The people that I interview are ⁓ always around marketing, but nowadays I started a new flow, which I'm gonna start publishing them soon in two weeks. One of them is kind of a masterclass, not a masterclass, but like 101 to branding, something like that. like simple steps to marketing and branding.

So I will be touching base on a few key points in marketing and branding and hosting guests and asking them very simple questions. Because some of the things that I discuss with the guests are too complicated and technical to some people. That's what I recognized. So I try to make a simple version of the podcast. But the second format would be, ⁓ I started interviewing founders and CEOs.

on how they built their brand. So this is something that I started yesterday actually. I recorded the first podcast. So the format is almost the same as I mentioned, but the topics are varying depending on the year, on the context, and so on. Yeah.

Yeah.

wow. Sounds exciting. So what kind of impact has it had on your business? Even if it's indirect? Like, have you noticed that clients, collaborators or opportunities have come through the podcast in ways you didn't expect?

As you said, cannot say directly, like for example, I interviewed this person and it turned out to be a business at the end. It never worked for me like that. It's always indirect, but it helps me have an ownership in the space. For example, if I want to be known as a marketer who knows AI, then I can do a series on AI and then I can act as

an authority because I'm interviewing people, I'm getting to know people and so on. ⁓ So the answer to your question is there is no direct ⁓ revenue that is flowing to me for the podcast, but there is an indirect benefit of getting to know the teams, hiring contractors, finding the best people and also like a word of mouth that's been created by me interviewing someone and that person.

maybe know someone. So it's just like a snowball effect.

Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. That's the beauty of it. That the ROI often isn't immediate, but it's that compounding effect of those authentic conversations that you're having over time.

Exactly, yeah.

What have been some of the hardest parts of keeping the show going?

I think I can count a thousand reasons.

I think I'm given at least four or five breaks. I know that sustainability is the key for podcasting. But I always came back, even if it's like four or five months of break, I came back. I think recording is not

hard. The part that to book new episodes is the hardest thing for me. To find the people, researching them, approaching them, trying to an appointment and finding the right time to meet is the biggest challenge throughout this process. Because it's not that, you know, there are friends that are approaching me or there are people that are approaching me to get an interview.

on my podcast. It's been since the first year I get a lot of interview requests. But it's just like, I mean, I don't build the podcast flow based on the interest that is coming in. I build it based on the interest that I have. So I just want to build the audience myself. I want to build the guest list myself. I think that's the hardest part. If I were to accept most of the invitations that comes from agency founders or so on to meet,

⁓ I think it would be really hard, easy to find the guests, but I'm taking the hard pass on, you know, really being very clear on who I select as a guest. That's the hardest part. The other part at the beginning and also at the first and second year, I think I spent a lot of time in searching for the best equipment and obsessing the sound.

all these details rather than focusing on recording new episodes. I was too much of focus on the process itself. Okay, who's the producer? Who am I getting help from? How am I editing the podcast and so on? Those things I spent a lot of time which right now it's sound It doesn't seem reasonable because the sounds if it's not so bad It's okay. And if since we are using really good

I mean, I have a Shure mic and it's a pretty decent one. I mean, it doesn't matter if I place it like this or like that. I mean, you don't have to find the best angle to put the mic because it's a good mic at the end of the day. As long as you have good equipment, it will serve you. You don't need to obsess the details like the small technicalities behind it and so on. I think I spent a lot of time searching for equipment, switching equipments and so on. That was...

the hard part. And the third part is I think I push myself too much about the frequency at the early years, because, you know, with social and also with podcasting, people say that you have to publish at least one episode per week. At the beginning when I started, there was a rule that you should be publishing at least once a week, which is, I think, insane.

I mean, there is no way if you are especially hosting guests, there is no way that you can publish one episode per week if you have another business running in the back. Of course, if podcasting is your only thing, then it will be nice. It will be fine. But I have a business to run and I have very limited amount of time. And I found that my ⁓ best is to record 12 to 14 episodes per year. If I'm able to hit that number,

I'm successful because there's like breaks, there are times that I have to really focus on projects, so I have to give like sometimes one or two months breaks, even in winter time. So I think the frequency is something that, I mean, as long as it's okay and sustainable for me, it is okay. I don't mind who is saying what's the rules and what's on.

Yeah, The cadence or the frequency of how often you release your episodes really needs to depend on you your topic and your audience. So if you're doing one once a month or if you're doing two a month or whatever your cadence is, whatever you've chosen, and then just being consistent in that cadence is important because then your audience knows.

what to expect. Going back to guests, you that that was the hardest or is the hardest part. How do you get around that? How do you manage it?

Yeah,

That's a nice question. I don't think I have a fixed process. As I mentioned, if there's a topic that I'm interested, I started searching for the person. And ⁓ either I do like a Google search or I do a search in my network on LinkedIn and so on. And then the second filter is that I try to find

a topic or a speaking event that this person has been to because I want to make sure that the person is good speaking and so on because some of the people that for example I see on LinkedIn that writes perfectly well and so on may not be great podcast guests because they are either too shy or verbally they are not so great. And I always want to make sure that when I do the filter of the guests,

I'm able to watch or hear, listen to one of their episodes in the past, or like they're speaking or so whatsoever. If I don't have that, I usually don't book that guest because I had a few instances where it was really hard for me to continue the conversation with a very well-known guest, for example. That's the second thing. And also... ⁓

Recently, what I started to do, I'm reading a lot of magazines like for, know, magazines like design, ⁓ brand building and so on. And if I read a really nice article about ⁓ brands or about like a founder or so on, and I get inspired by it, I take the note and I approach that person saying that, okay, I read this article about your brand or about you. I would be interested in... ⁓

recording a podcast. So that's something that I started doing as well. ⁓ That's how I booked the guests. I approached them through LinkedIn. Sometimes I recognized that some of the founders, especially brand founders, they use Instagram more than LinkedIn. I think it's the agency people and the people that are on the services side use LinkedIn more because we want to create business from there. But the founders and the CEOs are usually

Sorry.

not extremely active on LinkedIn. Or maybe they are getting too much ⁓ messages or DMs and so on, cold messages, and then I get lost in the middle. So I either send them a company mail or Instagram or LinkedIn. I try to reach them out from different locations, but it's not easy. Yeah.

Yeah, I totally

get that. I even the have to navigate that tension between being creative and staying So, Iter, when you reflect on the whole journey, what has podcasting taught you, not just as a marketer, but as a person?

I thought that I was quite resilient and quite stubborn when it comes to a task and completing that task and sustaining it. But podcasting is tough in terms of sustaining it. No matter how disciplined you are or how resilient you are to tasks and completing things, it's a long game.

it is.

I can say. ⁓

Sustaining it was a big teacher for me. I mean, I've learned that I'm not so disciplined when it comes to very long term commitments in terms of, you know, doing it on my own. And then other than that, I think I started to become more ⁓ free talking to the mic. I'm having, I'm not having difficulties talking to

someone just like you that I've met just recently. So it helped me, I think, gain some flow in terms of how I communicate, how I express myself. And also, yeah, I learned a lot about the podcasting world on its own, for example, because as a marketer, podcasting is a tool and also is a medium that you can use to grow your brand.

And as a marketer, I learned how to do it for my own and so that I'm able to consult on it or help on it to a brand that I work with.

Yeah, you're right. It is definitely the long game and there's so much to learn. I know you were saying that when you first started, you were so focused on the equipment and making sure you had everything down to the, nth degree. And I think

It's something a lot of podcasters will probably appreciate because a lot of them will start there. What do I need? Where are all the things I need? But actually all of those things are quite easy to get a hold of. It's all the other stuff later that really challenges and pushes you to grow, you know, how to become a better listener, how to be more curious, how conversations that enable that human connection about slowing down that I think there's a whole.

intimacy of podcasting that really forces you to listen deeply, which is also the foundation of a good brand strategy.

Yeah, exactly.

For podcasting, there is one thing that I would like to add in terms of for people that are thinking podcasting. At the beginning, as I mentioned, I was too obsessed on light, equipment, camera, and which tool should I be using? How do I record? Where do I cut? And I was even giving guidance to the editor on the seconds to cut. I was so desperate about that. ⁓ But I think...

Mm-hmm.

It's just that you should not be cutting too much, in my opinion. Like if it's very well edited, when someone listens to it, it doesn't feel right. That's how I feel when I listen to podcasts. So I don't like too much edited podcasts. But it's also that you don't have to do every technical thing on your own, especially for business owners that are doing their podcasts or that are planning to do their podcasts. Just leave it to the experts.

For example, you don't need to know how to do the sound engineering yourself, or you don't need to do the editing yourself, because people say that there are so many tools out there, like Riverside and so on, that makes it very easy for a podcaster to edit their episode and ⁓ launch it at ⁓ the time. But there are people who are experts in that, and they will be able to help you

Yes, of course it's a cost, but it's all about how much, for example, if I'm spending three hours to edit a recording, whereas someone that has the expert on this is able to finish it in half an hour, then I would outsource it to that person. So I'm the believer of outsourcing some of the technical things when it comes to podcast hosting and podcast recording.

Hmm.

For example, I was getting help on editing at the very beginning and that person was just editing based on the feedback that I was giving. But now I'm working with a producer that knows me, that knows what I don't like. And when I record, it's all in his hands. I mean, like it's gone. ⁓ So I don't need to think about the post-production phase. I just take care of finding the guests.

recording it and then I'm done. And then I'll only step in once the podcast is launched so that I can, you know, post it in my channels. So that post-production, I always outsource it. And I recommend to people who are new to podcasting to outsource the post-production to the experts. Otherwise, it's going to be very hard. Of course, if it's not a hobby, if it's a hobby that you want to learn it, you want to understand it,

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

then go ahead, but if you are out of time and if you are short in time, just give it to the experts. That's what I can suggest.

is overwhelming to figure everything out. And I think you're right. Like if you've got a team that you can depend on, absolutely do that. if you're doing it on your own, to be encouraged that actually the whole process is a learning curve, the whole process ⁓ from the editing or even the guess, finding the guess all the way to learning how to be a great host.

Yeah.

I think it's also good to be mindful that no one listens to your first few episodes anyway, because they don't even know they exist. So it's fine to just get started as imperfect as it is, but you'll learn as you go, the more you can remain consistent in what you're doing and learning the craft, you absolutely will get there.

you

Yeah, and I think being a good podcast listener really helps being a good podcast host. Because when I listen to podcasts, I always have this in the back of my mind, this sounds really interesting. Why doesn't interest me? Because maybe, for example, they are talking some out of context topic and so on. So I think listening to podcasts that are not my own mind really helps me to...

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

understand what are interesting to me, then I'll be able to apply the same to my episodes as well.

Yeah, for sure. That's a really good point.

Yeah, but for example, at the beginning, at some of the shows, there's like so much intro or like so much ads and so on. With ads, I can understand it. But I skip, if the intro is too long, I skip it. And I like the shows that starts fast. And then they start fast and they sometimes don't jump into the topic and then they rather talk about like a...

think that they are doing at that moment or the coffee that they are having and so on before they jump into the conversation. I think these are important signs for any podcaster to consider. Listening to podcasts really helps.

Hmm.

Yeah, definitely, If there what's next for IE brand consulting and the marketing meeting any new directions you're excited about.

So two questions you asked. What's ahead for IE Brand and what's ahead for the marketing meeting podcast? So for the marketing meeting podcast, I'm exploring right now the YouTube. Right now, till now, YouTube was always like the last thing. was just like we were just putting the episodes out there and then not doing anything at all. No optimization, nothing.

Okay.

Okay.

And recently I've started looking into that and YouTube is a very different platform than others. ⁓ I don't know how I'm going to continue there, but ⁓ I started talking to a team there to get help on YouTube. And as I mentioned, I have two new episode plans. One of them is marketing 101, like touching base on some

very important topics on marketing and starting really from the simple and step-by-step going into technical. And the other one is interviewing the founders of brands. And that's what I have on the feature of the marketing meeting. And for the business itself, right now I wrapped up a very long project of four years.

And it was a lot of learning and I was a fractional CMO ⁓ for that brand. And I recognized that fractional CMO needs a lot of structure. There are like so many fractional CMOs out there helping brands. ⁓ But I don't find their methods suitable for me after doing it for four years for a brand. So I'm...

⁓ just going through the phases and processes that I apply in my projects and I'm fine tuning them and I'm also about to launch the third version of Wine website soon. Yesterday I gave a feedback. So these are all the things that I'm working on right now. Like I think when you have a business, it's always evolving. Like every project that you do, it evolves. And when you build the company, the thing that you have in mind for the things that you will do,

Yeah.

is not going to be the same in six months or a year or even eight years later. So it's just like, it's a never ending evolution, I must say.

Yes, and a very full plate, it sounds like. Iter, thank you for being so open and honest about the reality of podcasting and brand building. This has been real fun.

Yeah, yeah, it is.

Thank you so much for hosting me.

You're very welcome. But before you go, if our listeners want to reach out or find out more about what you do, where can they go to do that?

⁓ If they want to listen to the podcast, it's the marketing meeting with it here at us on at Apple and Spotify and also YouTube. But they want to reach out to me. They can find me on LinkedIn very easily. I'm very responsive to emails out there. ⁓ And my ⁓ name on my surname is my LinkedIn handle.

Awesome. To those listening, thank you for being here. All the links that Iter has just mentioned can be found in the show description. Do reach out and connect with her and do check out the marketing meeting

I hope you walk away from this conversation feeling encouraged not to chase perfection, but to keep showing up with purpose. Thanks again for listening and bye for now.