Author: Show Runner

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Episode 146: Should your marketing include a podcast? with Sherrilynne Starkie

Should your marketing include a podcast? with Sherrilynne Starkie

The theme of these next few episodes are channels for getting our content out there. 

The concept of marketing through a podcast is familiar to a high percent of marketers (for those listening to my show, it’s 100%), but it has some quirks that other channels don’t. 

A key issue for those thinking about podcasting is the volume of shows that already exist. There are  arguably over a million active shows on Apple Podcasts. Why would marketing in such a crowded field be a good idea?  

While this isn’t a how-to on making a podcast, instead it aims to help you answer whether a podcast should be part of your marketing mix. We’ll talk about:

  • Who makes a good podcast host and what makes a good theme for a show.
  • What podcasting has in common with PR
  • How to get a podcast discovered by your audience. 
  • Promotional options, from sponsored ads inserted into shows…to shows which are entirely paid promotion.

I brought someone on who sees podcasts from multiple perspectives; from the standpoint of a marketer and as a podcast host herself.

Sherrilynne Starkie is an award-winning digital communications consultant with more than

20 years experience working with private and public sector clients in Canada, Britain and

the USA. She has an international reputation as a social media innovator, is a prolific

blogger and podcaster and is an active community volunteer.

Her new podcast 50 Women Over 50 is a passion project in which she is interviewing

women past their 50th birthday to learn how they see the world, what lessons they’ve

learned and what advice they have for us all.

People/Products/Concepts Mentioned in Show

PESO model of media communications

Sherrilynne on Twitter

Sherrilynne’s 50 women over 50 podcast

The Marketing Book podcast

Two Minutes of Zen podcast

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Episode 145: Building your own Community, with Paul Bradley

Paul Bradley

What traits do humans have that distinguish us most from other species? 

There are a few answers, but one I like is from the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who said it was our ability to form Society. In fact, he saw it as critical adaptation that ensures our survival:  

“…the only way in which [men] can preserve themselves is by uniting their separate powers in a combination strong enough to overcome any resistance, uniting them so that their powers are directed by a single motive and act in concert.”

We can apply this to society as a whole, and to smaller communities like: countries & ethnic groups, service clubs, businesses, User groups, Client forums. All are undeniably powerful.  

Communities can defuse customer problems, encourage some to become brand ambassadors and provide a means of word-of-mouth marketing like no other channel can.

What does it take to grow and keep a community?

Our guest will help us answer that.

Throughout his career, Paul Bradley has done the posting and moderating that you have to commit to if you are going to form an online community. Ever since graduating from Tulane University, Paul has been building communities that connect and educate professionals across myriad industries.

He has been part of Social Media Pulse (SMP) – a community of practice for social media industry professionals. He also launched and ran the community program at Agorapulse. Having moved to the education sector, he currently serves as Vice President for Kaplan Community.

People/Products/Concepts Mentioned in Show

Paul on Twitter

Alex O’Hanlon

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Episode 144: Producing Videos that Produce Results, with Robert Weiss

Robert Weiss

Video is the most persuasive medium there is. That’s why Many of us are building our marketing programs around it.

Inevitably, the wildcard that crops up when we have an idea for a video is what will it take to produce it? The answers to this are all over the map. 

How much production value it takes is – as much as is needed for the video to produce your desired results. 

The impact a video has isn’t always reflective of the amount spent. 

Our guest started MultiVision Digital, a video production agency in 2010 and has made over 1,200 videos produced for every business objective. We’;ll hear from him answers on this and other questions to know about planning, producing, and distributing videos. 

Join me as we talk to  Robert Weiss.

People/Products/Concepts Mentioned in Show

Robert’s LinkedIn profile

Robert’s take on the average cost of a video:  In video form & in blog post form

Examples of the same video at three different budget-levels – How much does a video cost 

Related Funnel Reboot Episodes:

Episode 86: Video Ads with Cory Henke

Episode 54: The Visual Sale with Tyler Lessard

Episode 20: Using Video to make Content more engaging, with Casey Li

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Episode 143: Not Another Pair of Shoes, with Alexander Novicov

Alexander Novicov

As my eldest son has been in university, he’s worked part-time at a sporting goods store. The section he works in is the category-leader in the store – as you can probably guess – it’s shoes.

Need to admit that I’m not that into shoes. 

I am fascinated by the conversations my son has with customers when it comes to shoes. They not only talk about the design features of a specific shoe. They also chat about the athletes who’ve worn it or collaborated with the  brand to design it. They bring up details about how that athlete signed with the shoe company, the battling that went on between that brand and other companies to win the athlete’s endorsement. 

Clearly when people buy shoes for exercising or training for something, they aren’t just going after ergonomics.   

This back-story on the brand’s struggles matters to them, as if they’ll only wear a brand that works as hard as they do in staying fit or competing in sports. 

This bond clearly applies to shoes, but it obviously reaches to many other types of brands too. 

It’s good for products to have a strong brand message and proof-points of their value, but the true winners are those that connect their story to the customers’ internal values, or that give the customer a transformational experience. 

Today I’m talking with someone who works with what he calls  ‘meaningful’  brands, producing their media creative in a way that resonates with buyers. Fittingly, the name of his London-based boutique agency is ‘Way’

My  guest is a public speaker, an ultra marathon-runner, podcaster, skydiver and minimalist.  In 2021, he released the book we’re talking about today: “Not Another Pair of Shoes”

Let’s talk with Alexander Novicov. 

People/Products/Concepts Mentioned in Show

Seth Godin

Dyson

EpictetusAlexander’s link to obtain a Free Chapter of the book.

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Episode 142: Prove It, with Melanie Deziel

Melanie Deziel

For several years running, noted marketing expert David Meerman Scott would access all the corporate press releases captured by major wire services. These covered product launches, major client signings and other moments when companies would talk about what distinguished them from their competitors. He posted his analysis of all this data and, without fail, almost all of them chose the same words to describe themselves. They made matters worse by, in David’s words, by “using gobbledygook-laden phrases that are so overused to have become meaningless”

We know we must try to embed our brand’s personality into our writing – my last episode featured an expert talking about that. But that’s not all we can do. 

We’ve got to change the way we talk about ourselves, to cut through people’s cynicism. If we’re ever going to be believed by our prospective buyers, we’ve got to own what customers say in reviews of our products or services, and make claims about ourselves that duly represent what they could experience by buying from us. 

Though noble, pulling this off sounds like a ton of work. But the premise of the book I’m covering today is that it’s doable, if you make it part of your normal marketing workflow.  The book which came out in 2022 is called,  “Prove It.“

It’s the second book by Melanie Deziel, whose first book was “The Content Fuel Framework” She is an award-winning speaker and content creator. She has worked at various media companies, including The New York Times and Time Inc. In addition to her professional experience, Melanie has also taught courses on content marketing and digital marketing at universities such as Fairleigh Dickinson, Syracuse, and the City University of New York. 

People/Products/Concepts Mentioned in Show

One brand that proves it: Patagonia

Melanie’s Linkedin profile

Melanie’s Twitter profile

Book Contributor Phil Jones

Melanie’s agency, Storyfuel.co