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The recent presidential elections inspired this post. However, I’m not talking about politics (nor do I want to in this forum). I want to discuss the marketing involved. Precisely what didn’t work.
The goal is to know your target audience and what they want. Right now, you might be thinking, “Check! Done Dave!
Now, do you have more than one way to inspire that person? Let’s take podcasting and do this.
You should podcast. It’s fun!
This might inspire some people, but not everyone.
You should podcast. It grows your network.
Again, this will resonate with some people
You should podcast. You reach a global audience.
That might grab someone’s attention.
You should podcast. You can grow an audience and monetize it.
This might have people asking, “Excuse me?”
For me, Vice President Harris had one message: Trump Bad - Not Trump
There were hints at policies, but most of her message was Tump Bad (and for the record, I think they both are awful, and I’m tired of having to pick the lesser of two evils).
The following TV commercial (which I think we all ignore) was, “No, seriously, Trump is evil.” At this point, the people that resonated with that message had received the message.
Even with a niche audience, we might want to find multiple ways to inspire people to listen.
The Podcast Election
I always say a podcast starts with two things:
No Audience
Integrity
Try to grow an audience while keeping your integrity.
I do not vote party lines. I vote for the person who would cast the same vote as me when making decisions for my state and country. But one thing happened, and it caused me to lose 98% of my trust in mainstream media.
There were two commercials, and I swear this happened.
COMMERCIAL ONE
Candidate A has said he will remove Spaghettios from all school lunches (I’m making this up; stay with me) and wants to remove Lou Reed from all radio. (so these are both particular items).
Then, IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING commercial one, commercial two came on:
COMMERCIAL TWO
Candidate A has said he will keep Spaghettios in all school lunches. They indeed want to take a walk on the wild side with Lou Reed and will make sure his music is on every station.
They were the exact opposite of each other. How does this happen? Because mainstream media will cash that check - every time.
Why did they report it was a close race when, apparently, it wasn’t? Because they want the candidates to spend more money on ads.
In reality, they should have done some reporting, shown proof, and identified which of the ads was telling the truth (but that would have been biting the hand that feeds). They aren’t interested in truth. They are interested in profits and ratings.
So why do people listen to podcasts instead of mainstream media? See above.
People want more than soundbites. Senator Bernie Sanders said (on a podcast) that the Presidential Debates are a waste of time. The game is changing. Who knows where Google search will be in five years? I know I’m using it less and less. Marketing around campaigns needs to and will change, hopefully for the better (I LOVED the vice presidential debate).
Moving forward, we need to grow our audience without losing the audience's trust.
Here is something funny that podcasters can take away. Audiences love a winning formula. Don’t believe me? Every Christmas story is the same.
Scene One: We are happy Christmas is coming.
Scene Two: WHAT??? Christmas is cancelled!?!?!?!
Scene Three: Do you think it will work?
Scene Four: Christmas is saved!
I saw The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. As this is a Christian-themed movie (from the people behind “The Chosen”, I braced myself for bad acting and monologues about God.
Here again, the guys who make “The Chosen” (where all of Jesus’ disciples are buff) made a cute movie that has the same feel as “A Christmas Story” with an adult narrating a time in their childhood. It was cute. It had a good message (we should treat everyone nicely) and had that “I wonder what’s going to happen next” vibe that always works (it’s called storytelling).
So when you get a winning formula, and a large audience that likes that formula? Give it to them. I talked about this back in 2017 on an episode of “Buidling a better Dave.”
It’s Like a Hallway at a Podcast Event
click for more information.
Last month’s call was interesting, and this month should be no different. I have some lines out for some companies to demo some tech, and as always, we will have open Q&As. Sign up to get notified.
My Latest Content
School of Podcasting (Follow)
Add More to Your Podcast? Remember to Subtract!
Ask the Podcast Coach (Follow)
Podcast Troubles and Rock Legends
Two Livestreaming Tools To Make Them Interactive
Stream Alive is a set of tools for live streamers to add interactivity to your presentation. You could even use this during a live presentation from stage and setup a link for people to vote live, or give away things, etc. I haven’t used it yet, but as it says above, “It caught me eye.” Expect to see this tested on Ask the Podcast Coach. Check it out.
The second one is Live Reacting where (you guessed it) people can reactive live during your live steam. Their website states, “Live Reacting helps you get more followers and engagement by adding pre-recorded videos, games, countdowns, and polls to your stream.”
Live Reacting is $20/month, and Stream Alive is $39/month. Both have a free plan, and both are cheaper when you buy a year instead of a month.
Affordable Virtual Ticket: Podindy.com
Podindy.com is November 9th. I will speak with Craig Van Slyke from the show AI Goes to College on “How to Profit From Your Podcast with the Power of AI.”
This is a super affordable one-day event, and if you can’t make it to Indy, there is a super affordable virtual ticket. Check it out at www.podindy.com and use the coupon code DAVE.
What’s Coming In The Future
Next School of Podcasting
I finally unboxed my Shure Movmic two and will be using it this weekend at Podindy.com. Expect some reflections from the event and more AI tools to make life interesting.
Need Help With Your Podcast?
Whether you’re just starting or a seasoned podcaster, the School of Podcasting can help. Helping podcasters is what I do, and I’ve been doing it since 2005
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