Funnel Reboot

If you want to  communicate your message to others in this world, you only have four channels to choose from. Paid, Owned, Shared and Earned. If we expect to get some attention through shared and earned media, we should be prepared to face resistance, because we’re competing with the biggest and most attention-grabbing stories out there.

My guest Phil Gaudreau is a former journalist, who has turned his talents to serving the communication needs of other businesses. He does this through Make it Matter Media, the agency which he runs jointly with his wife Catherine. From their base in Kingston Ontario, they work with a diverse range of clients, including small and medium businesses, politicians, and not for profit organizations.Phil has also been actively engaged in the academic realm. He has worked with educational institutions such as Queens University, St. Lawrence College & Algonquin College, starting with communications roles and progressing to become a part-time professor of the subject.

An area where Phil loves to apply his writing and podcasting skills is generating awareness for businesses in less-populated regions. Ever since he teamed up with an Ottawa-based publisher in 2019, he has been the front-facing piece of several media properties focused on Eastern Ontario, which is as large as, and is as sparsely populated as the State of Maine.  His profiles convey how these companies bet their future on the local labour force, and how much is at stake for the community where the company chooses to locate.

If your brand, or your client’s brand, shares any commonality with the ones Phil works for, then you’ll agree with me that it’s really tough to get media coverage for organizations like yours. That’s why we need to hear from Phil, because he employs the scrappy, entrepreneurial tactics that you will need in order to get your message out there.

People/Products/Concepts Mentioned in Show

Phil on LinkedIn

Phil’s company Make it Matter Media

Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point

The Conversation Weekly podcast

Half as Interesting

The Weekly Planet by Mr Sunday Movies

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

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

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