Becoming an “Expert” isn’t for everyone. Not only does it take dedication to learning and significant time mastering your craft, it also requires you to share your knowledge and passion. We are thrilled to see our long-time client Claudia McLaughlin doing just that. She recently took her expertise in home editing, move management, and interior design to the next level—and, bonus, got more eyes on and followers of her core business.
Claudia owns CMFTO, a Chicago-based move management, interior design, renovation, and home editing company. Navigating the industry for over 25 years has amassed Claudia a wealth of knowledge and a deep network in the real estate and senior living sectors. Recently, she recognized that her team’s passion for educating and inspiring clients could be channeled into something bigger. Something like…a podcast!
Season 1 of Claudia’s podcast, Just Call Claudia, is now complete. You can watch video episodes on Youtube, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
So what did it take to launch a podcast? Read on for our expert advice!
Find a trusted production partner
To kick off the project, we connected Claudia with Big Teeth, a local Chicago production company that would handle recording and editing the podcast episodes. Big Teeth found a studio space and produced both audio and video versions of the podcast episodes. Claudia selected her guests and scheduled the recording sessions, and Big Teeth worked with her on a rough outline and guest questions for each episode. Orso, meanwhile, focused on distribution logistics and a marketing plan for the podcast.
Be thoughtful about distribution
After a couple months of behind-the-scenes work by Claudia and Big Teeth, the first season was ready for our team to review and prepare for distribution. In addition to creating a podcast playlist on CMFTO’s YouTube channel, we wanted to be sure to meet the Just Call Claudia audience where they were most likely to listen: we chose RSS.com as our audio distribution tool because of its status as an industry standard and because it distributes widely, both to the big three in podcasting (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music) and to smaller platforms.
Incorporate your brand foundations in copy and cover art
When it comes to podcasts, episode notes and cover art need to hit the sweet spot between detailed and simple. Having a good understanding of CMFTO’s work and values allowed us to write snappy episode notes that offer an at-a-glance summary of the whole episode while including compelling details in line with the CMFTO mission.
Similarly, the program’s cover art needed to be eye-catching, simple, and on-brand. After some experimentation, we choose to keep the focus on the expert—Claudia, of course—through a beautiful photo stamped with the podcast’s title.
Plan for and promote that first episode
As we prepared for launch day, we crafted a marketing strategy for the podcast, including social media posts, blog posts, and email newsletters. With the help of Orso’s social media expert Melanie, we landed on key strategies:
- When Episode 1 of Just Call Claudia went live, we launched a collaborative post with Claudia’s first guest, Nancy Nugent (a well-known luxury real estate agent in Chicago). This meant the post was shared both on the CMTFO profile and on Nancy’s profile, increasing the episode’s awareness, listeners, and social media engagement.
- A few days later, we boosted that post on Instagram. This means we allocated a small ad budget to share the post to others who may be interested in it. That small action had a major impact: increased views, clicks, and new followers for CMFTO.
As always, be bold and have fun
Putting one’s expertise out in the world takes work—just ask Claudia how thoroughly she prepares for each podcast interview!—but time and time again, we see how that passion resonates with our clients’ audiences. Our podcast marketing efforts had the follow-on effect of boosting overall engagement with CMFTO itself: in 2025, CMFTO saw a 47% increase in website traffic, and a huge increase in social media followers and engagement.
Claudia’s goal for Just Call Claudia was simple: she wanted to try something new, have fun doing it, and share her and her colleague’s expertise with her audience. We’re so pleased that she achieved that goal, but also gained a wider audience for her work, and developed a content library that immediately imparts her expertise to the press or prospective clients.
But wait, there’s more! We’ve wrapped Season 1, and Season 2 of Just Call Claudia is already in progress: you can watch all episodes on Youtube, or listen wherever you get your podcasts. We love helping our clients solve complex problems and share their expertise. So, get in touch if you have an idea for that podcast you’ve always wanted to record!