April 2019 - Creative Agency Secrets

How to market a podcast

29 April, 2019/0 Comments/in Marketing, Podcast /by Rebecca Caroe

I got asked to give a high-level answer to this question on Quora.

My response is quite generic – the process applies to any marketing project – the detail of the methodology in each step is where each will differ.
The questioner was asking about a “new music podcast”.

Who is your podcast audience?

What type of music, where do people find and listen to this music already e.g. live gigs, Pandora / Spotify, radio shows. Find named bands who represent this genre; find discussion forums (Reddit, Facebook, Quora) where people discuss this genre.
Create a persona for your ideal listener – age, type of music liked, why they listen, how they listen, when they listen.
Research media you can use for advertising (paid); content sharing on social (earned) and media you create like a blog or newsletter (owned).
Draw up a list of collaborators and joint venture partners.
Create a media pack for your podcast; download media packs from other media you want to use.
Plan your pre-launch; launch and ongoing marketing tactics so that you get your podcast name, branding, content in front of your ideal persona listener at a price point you can afford.
Measure what you do and the return on investment of your marketing.

In summary, you have a choice to either work it out for yourself as you go along or to buy advice from a marketing expert who understands podcasts is going to shortcut your learning; improve your outcomes and save you money in the long term.

If you scope the engagement well, you can collaborate with an advisor on the understanding that knowledge transfer is part of the project – you are being taught how to do the marketing yourself.

Podcasts – the last internet landgrab?

23 April, 2019/0 Comments/in Marketing /by Rebecca Caroe

Podcasts are growing so fast that the big-money VC community have started to throw funding towards podcasting platforms. Last year Spotify got in on the act with three podcast business acquisitions and now the mega-big guns of Luminary will launch with a premium paid offering of exclusive podcast content.

Internet land grabs for all

Since the utopian early days of 2006 when this blog started, the internet has been carved up into big business ownerships first around blogging, then around social media and podcasting is clearly the next target in the sights.

Luminary is funded to the tune of $100m and will launch this week as (yet) another podcasting app. Its point of difference is the paid-for exclusive podcasting content which it has negotiated with big-name media stars like Russell Brand and Trevor Noah.

Luminary logo

The backlash from the little folks (like myself) who have built the podcasting part of the internet was predictable. A big network offering an advertising-free podcast service using media stars is hard to compete against. Particularly as the ground for competition is not only the content, but also the advertising funded model.

Independents withhold their shows

And so the war starts. Big-name networks and podcasting apps like Anchor and Parcast (owned by Spotify) are withholding their content from Luminary’s app. Read the reports from Podcast Business Journal and The Verge.

My view?

I believe firmly in the RSS feed as the tool which enables, enhances and mediates between the podcast creator and her audience. As a distributed form of content, podcasters are uniquely reliant on RSS and apps chosen by listeners as their preferred download, stream and listen medium. We are pretty powerless to influence how aggregators like iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and others handle our feeds. They set the rules.

Watch this space.

podcast, interview request, podcast guest, podcast host

Pitching podcasts

15 April, 2019/0 Comments/in Podcast /by Rebecca Caroe

I wrote this answer to What is the best way to pitch podcast hosts on being a guest. This process works for being a guest or as a host, inviting people to be your guest.

As with any sales job:

Find out what the podcast host’s topics, influences and areas of interest are
Judge whether what you can offer aligns with 1
Write a short, succinct proposal that ties up 1 & 2

Then keep good records of what you write, to whom and follow up within 1 week of the original message.

Always be polite, and thank them even if you get a rejection.

Following up the pitch

Now this is what too few other sales people do – add them to a mailing list and message them again within 3 months. Don’t write a pitch in this message. Just tell them what you have been working on and link to other podcasts you have guested with or articles you have published.

Then 6 months later, approach them with another pitch.

Rinse, repeat.

Pitching guests

Here is a sample pitch message I used. It starts by focusing on the guest and their need for book publicity, then it introduces the podcast and its track record and audience appeal, and lastly suggests a timeframe for the interview.

Dear Annie,

I saw your Facebook post about your book, Mind Games, being published next month and I wondered if you could come onto the Rowing Chat podcast to talk about it?

Rowing Chat is a monthly interview podcast focused on the sport of rowing – we have been publishing since 2013 and the network includes other podcast hosts talking about strength training, masters rowing and the US scene.

Do have a listen to some past episodes, and let me know if you have time during April 2019. My colleague, cc above, will do the scheduling.

Best wishes in rowing, Rebecca

LinkedIn changes you need

10 April, 2019/0 Comments/in Marketing, Social Media /by Rebecca Caroe

Sometimes I just discover things by trying something new. Did you know that you can find people on LinkedIn using their partial email address?

I had met a lady whose surname I didn’t know – but I had her email on the meeting calendar invite – amandam@thisbiz.com [that’s not a real address]. And so I started typing it into the LinkedIn search bar and before I wrote the dot extension, pressed enter and her name and details came up. Handy.

When LinkedIn is not linked

I was researching Chris Reed whose speaking agency represents business women speakers. And couldn’t find him on my LI contacts – and so found the company instead, thinking that maybe I’d mis-spelled his name.

There he is, listed on the company site – but the links don’t work. Thinking this was a dastardly strategy he was employing to connect to people and then dis-connect, when he hits limits to connections. And so I wrote to ask him.

There’s currently a bug that’s impacting LinkedIn. People have been talking about it. Some people can’t find their connections and can’t even tag their connections on LinkedIn. Support team at LI are now working on it. It’s a pain now. Hopefully this gets resolved soon.
Chris J “Mohawk” Reed

You can have 30,000 connections on LinkedIn – so no chance I’m hitting the throttle back stage of connecting yet. And the ‘mystery’ is solved, although not resolved.

Sales Navigator plus plus

And if you aren’t yet using Sales Navigator for your new business development social selling on LinkedIn – do some research as it can be very useful.

But do also look at complementary services such as

ByPath.com uses Kompass data to overlay org charts to LinkedIn sales prospecting [Note: there is a NZ / AU local reseller I know]
MeetLeonard.com automation of repetitive tasks in LinkedIn like auto-sending bulk messages through in-mail.

B2B Podcasting rises

6 April, 2019/0 Comments/in B2B, Podcast /by Rebecca Caroe

The rise of podcasting as a medium to reach and influence audiences, grow brand awareness and promote your business continues.

I’m delighted to announce that Terry Baucher, a self-confessed “Tax Nerd” has launched his podcast – The Week In Tax with the help of Creative Agency Secrets.

Terry has long been a broadcaster called on by news media to be an expert commentator on tax matters – working with radio and TV stations in New Zealand. This heavily influenced our recommendation that he move on from a written weekly summary of tax news which had been drawn from his twitter feed, to an audio podcast.

Podcast set-up

We chose both an audio and a video medium for this podcast. [Note, this is not suitable for everyone] and SoundCloud is the distribution medium for the RSS.

The client blog hosts embedded audio files (easy for people to listen to who aren’t comfortable using RSS or Podcast apps) and remains the central source of all content. We also chose to add in a transcript for those who prefer reading to listening.

Could you be podcasting?

The medium is growing fast and many people now prefer to customise their listening and viewing to fit times of day they choose. Growing your brand reach through podcasting can be very effective.

Just ask Terry Baucher!

Archive for month: April, 2019