Give Brand Evangelists Access to Your Assets

Here’s something extremely smart. A clever PR / marketer arranged for mommy bloggers and podcasters to come for a special day on the set at the CBS comedy The New Adventures of Old Christine, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. They got to hang out on the set, mingle and have a Q&A session with the cast.

Why?

Because the protagonist, Christine, is a working mother. In fact, of the shows currently on air, it’s extremely rare to have a show centered around the character of a working mother where you actually see her also dealing with family and personal issues. Most of the time, you see the “working mom” doing her lawyer or doctor duties — no family in site.

Think about the after effect. Those mommy bloggers head back home, tell their respective audiences about the experience, more and more may tune in to watch. Get the picture?

So, embrace your audience or fan base. Throw them some swag. Create an event or special offer for them and their listeners.

It’s a great grass roots approach to spreading your message.

Check out this behind the scenes video by the Manic Mommies podcast.

-Roland

Prevent Your Podcast from Being Deleted

I currently subscribe to over sixty podcasts that vary widely in topic:

• Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Project Management
• Sales
• Technology
• Mac-centric
• Parenting
• Fan groups (e.g. television shows)
• Humor

The majority are by ordinary folks. Some of these podcasters are marketing professionals sharing insights. Most have no marketing experience. None (that I listen to) are produced by corporations.

I have great respect for all these folks who put themselves out there. They’ve taken a risk and thrown something against a wall to see if it sticks. That’s awesome. They have more guts than many of us.

These podcasts all jockey for pole position in my iTunes podcatcher software. But I have to admit, just like a fickle consumer, it doesn’t take much for me to get burned out and start dropping the weaker podcasts. Here are some reasons why I drop podcasts:

• Loss of focus — If the podcast is supposed to be exclusively about X, don’t get side-tracked talking about Y or Z. Occasional diversions are okay, but if it gives me the impression of unstructured chaos, they’ve lost me.
• Long term drop in quality — Some people try hard but just can’t sustain good, compelling, thought-provoking content. Or they get bored. It becomes evident over time.
• Decline in frequency — Sometimes referred to as Podfading. If I got used to receiving something weekly and it now comes out monthly or an even more random schedule, I loose interest, too.
• Overly opinionated — Sure I like diversity in opinion. But I don’t want to tune in week after week for repeated opponent bashing. That gets boring too quickly.
• Profanity – Maybe I come across as a prude with this one, but frequent, unnecessary use of curse words just for emphasis or to fill time is not very creative. Plus, I don’t want to have to worry about my kids overhearing unnecessary foul language. Yes, I’ll admit that I’ve lobbed quite a few f-bombs in my time, but not as content I intended to publish.

Now I realize this is all free content, and these people all have lives beyond being a podcaster. But the rules that apply to my relationship with a corporate brand apply to podcasters as well.

I’ll open up and embrace you as long as you give me something of perceived value in return. When that ends, so does my loyalty.

Not always fair, but it’s reality.

Please share your thoughts.
Thanks.
-Roland

Podcasting for Your Business

I’m an avid podcast listener. At first, I couldn’t understand why anyone would be interested. But after I tried out a few podcasts, I was hooked. While in the car, I playback content from my iPod through the car speakers. I never listen to the radio anymore.

I currently subscribe to over sixty podcasts that vary in topic:

• Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Project Management
• Sales
• Technology
• Mac-centric
• Parenting
• Humor

They all jockey for position in my list. It doesn’t take much for me to get burned out and start dropping the weaker ones.

This type of content has been around for years, but advances in the past two years have made it easier than ever for anyone to publish and distribute, as well as for consumers to access and playback.

What’s great about podcasting is that it is truly a when, where and how you want it medium.

I really enjoy producing podcasts. It’s an opportunity to be a bit more creative than traditional online marketing.

If you are ready to test the waters by publishing audio or video content, you should take time to properly plan:

1. Strategy
2. Content creation
3. Production
4. Promotion via social media

You also need to set some expectations:

1. Don’t make an unattainable goal/metrics for your podcast. Your podcast may be better at establishing affinity for your brand over the long term than measurable transactions in the short term.
2. Results take time. You don’t pull the plug after three weeks. You’ll need to earn trust and credibility. Having a reputable brand name attached helps in credibility, but if the content is overtly/heavy handedly branded, it will put off viewers. Plan at least a twelve week editorial calendar to start.
3. Make subscribing easy for the consumers and available in many different channels. It’s not all about hosting on a single Web site. The content should be distributed anywhere, any way, any how the consumer wants to get it. The consumer wants to be in control.
4. Quality content needs to be short and digestible, as well as compelling and memorable. You can always drive people to a Web site afterwards to retrieve additional content (e.g. URLs/recipes/ingredient lists).
5. Frequency is important. Weekly is best. If the podcast is good, subscribers will come to expect it. If you don’t meet expectations, consumers will unsubscribe to listen to other podcasts competing for their attention.
6. Don’t let the lawyers cripple your efforts. There’s no better way to deflate the wind in your sails than to let the lawyers on your ship. ‘Nuff said.
7. Respect copyrights — Yours and others.
8. Don’t limit yourself to just video podcasts. Not everyone has a video iPod nor the time to sit in front of a computer to watch video. Audio is certainly easier and faster to produce and has less impact on your hosting/bandwidth expenses.
9. Don’t underestimate the amount of work necessary to help consumers find your podcast. There’s no limit to the tactics and networking to help promote your efforts.

If your content is good, your subscribers will become fiercely loyal evangelists.

Please share your thoughts.
-Roland

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales Interview

Wikipedia is often a source of debate — Can users trust “facts” defined, edited and policed by the Internet community?

Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur did a good audio interview with Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, this week. Check out Net at Night podcast episode 13.

It cost a million dollars to run Wikipedia last year, most of that being hosting and bandwidth costs. That is expected to climb to 2.5 million.

Questions answered include:

• Can you use Wikipedia as a reliable source?
  Use it as a general guide to other information, but not as your sole source.
• Wikipedia versus Encyclopedia Britannica?
  Even Encyclopedia Britannica is riddled with errors. Study results.
• Should you edit entries about yourself?
  If you are popular enough to have an entry about yourself and there are factual errors, you may want to be extremely cautious about editing your info. Several alternative suggestions are discussed in the interview.
• Will they begin to run advertising on the site?
  Rather than taking advertising, they continue to depend on community donations. But that may have to change in the future.

Enjoy.
-Roland

Being heard around the world

I listen to a number of podcasts during my commute:
- Technology News (This Week in Tech, This Week in Media, DL.TV, Inside the Net, Diggnation, What’s New New, Engadget, Cranky Geeks)
- Advertising and Marketing (The Advertising Show, RadioLounge, 360 View, Business Tips and Traps)
- Mac-specific (MacWorld, The Mac Geek Gab, MacCast, Mac Tips Daily)
- Favorite TV shows (Lost with Jay & Jack, Generally Speaking Lost Podcast, SciFi Channel Official Battlestar Galactica Podcast)
- Fun (Ask A Ninja)

A few weeks back, the host of MacWorld podcast solicited listeners to record their experiences with Macs. I did because I really wanted to win an iPod Nano FM Transmitter. This morning, I found an email from the host saying my comment was selected and included in their latest podcast.

There is something cool and exciting about hearing your voice online (plus my comments are being heard round the world by MacWorld listeners).

Check it out if you are interested:
Macworld Podcast #40 05/25/2006
My comment starts about 25 minutes into the Podcast.

What do you think? Have any great podcasts to share? Please post your comments. Thanks.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional. His observations can be found at NewMediaSandbox.com and Chaos365.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

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