Why do we often put up a front in our business lives to disguise our real selves? In this episode, Emily and Kate Bradley Chernis, Co-Founder and CEO of Lately, are breaking down that front for a refreshing take on being yourself in the business world. Plus, tips on navigating the psychological impacts of pandemic PTSD.
Since the onset of the pandemic in the U.S., data from Acast has shown that podcasts aren’t just for your commute to work. In this episode, Tess Neudeck, Marketing Marketing, Americas for Acast, and Emily Binder talk finding guests for your show, the future of podcasting, and how to monetize your podcast.
Guest: JJ Ramberg is the co-founder of Goodpods, the new app where you can follow your friends, influencers, and favorite podcasters to see what they're listening to. JJ spent 13 years as an anchor on MSNBC and also co-founded the coupon site Goodshop.com. She is the author of two books -- the Wall Street Journal immediate bestseller, It's Your Business, and the children's book The Startup Club.
Intro: We all love a little “good” in our lives. In this episode, host Emily Binder and JJ dive into the optimism and simplicity that JJ’s app Goodpods offers to its users. The app provides users a way to give and get recommendations for podcasts from their friends and fellow users in a world where podcasting is becoming more and more popular.
Emily and JJ continue their conversation to discuss the ins and outs of building an app, making money, podcast advertising, the podcasts they’re loving right now, and more.
0:55: Meet JJ Ramberg
1:20: What is Goodpods?: Gravitating towards goodness.
“At its core, it’s just a way to find great new podcasts, and for podcasts to find new listeners.” - JJ Ramberg
3:45: Goodpods is Goodreads for podcasts. Download the app and claim your handle now. Follow @emilybinder and @JJ on Goodpods.
Co-founders and siblings, JJ and Ken Ramberg
5:00: The origins of Goodpods. JJ co-founded Goodpods with her brother Ken. They are both big podcast listeners.
“In 2019, 50% of the US population has at least listened to a podcast, and a third of them listen at least monthly.” Via Edison Research
6:05: These days, podcasting offers so much more than entertainment. More people are turning to podcasts for up to date news and information about what’s happening in the world, and sharing joy with those around them.
8:30: Podcasts are “low commitment.” You can consume information and entertainment more simply and easily. It’s a short-form content, and that’s the opposite of what we’re experiencing on social media.
9:20: Social media can be a negative space these days, linked to depression and addiction. But podcasting offers positivity, education, and entertainment.
10:21: Sharing podcast recommendations from the app: Ologies hosted by Alie Ward (check out the COVID-19 episode entitled Virology)
12:10 JJ loves Cool Mules podcast from CANADALAND and 10% Happier with Dan Harris
“These conversations are happening everywhere. We’ve just codified it, so you don’t have to remember them anymore.” - JJ Ramberg
15:55: Designing the Goodpods app: “We wanted it to be familiar” - JJ Ramberg
16:50: Beta testing: Goodpods is constantly adopting the app to be as simple and user friendly as possible.
17:01: So how does Goodpods make money? As a listener, a lot of people fast forward through ads. Is podcast advertising in a good place? Is it effective?
19:00 Podcast advertising is going to change in the coming years. Emily recommends: Six Pixels of Separation #700 – Seth Godin on Podcasting
“It’s not about how many people are listening, but what is the quality of the audience. Are they interested in a really niche topic? Because this medium lets you get so niche.”
21:20: Discussing parasocial relationships. Why do we sometimes feel like we are friends with podcasters, tv characters, etc.?
22:00: Growing podcast viewership is often the number one goal or metric for a podcaster. What is the best way to promote a new or existing podcast?
23:58: Emily and JJ discuss “Calls to Action,” or CTAs. It’s tough to get a reaction sometimes; you have to make things as easy as possible for the listener.
25:20: There are 800,000 podcasts. Don’t try to compete with the top podcasts on the charts, compete within your niche, and build the target audience for your specific brand.
“We weren't trying to be everything to everybody. We were just trying to be what we’re supposed to be for our audience.” - JJ Ramberg
28:38: JJ’s podcast recommendations: WeCrashed, a podcast about the rise and fall of WeWork, and the Ten Percent Happier Podcast with Dan Harris.
Goodpods is always looking for feedback and suggestions for their app. If you would like to submit a comment or suggestion, email JJ at jj (at) goodpods (dot) com.
Goodpods Co-Founder JJ Ramberg
Guest: Claire Winslow, CEO Best Practice Media joins Emily Binder to discuss the evolving definition of creativity in advertising, plus the problems with the ways that we recognize and award women in business.
Claire and Emily discuss whether “advertising as we know it is dead” - prompted by Larry Light’s opinion piece in Forbes. The author writes:
The focus on short-term, disposable viewership is an unfortunate byproduct of the digital age. Sustainable advertising campaigns designed to create and reinforce brand loyalty will be a thing of the past.
The love affair with digital, data and devices has eclipsed the understanding that truly creative, memorable, persuasive and consistent advertising has an important role to play in brand building. Advertising is not a single use wet wipe. The primary role of marketing in general, and advertising in particular, is to create, reinforce and increase brand loyalty. -Larry Light
Audience segmentation and funnels are the new form of creativity
We should not limit the word “creativity” to a traditional definition of coming up with the ideas - it’s more than the ideas because it also involves the technical skill and strategizing of promoting the message, which can be done creatively even if it doesn't resemble Mad Men
The evolution of language: it always changes. Look at Olde English. Old people always dog young people - it’s the pattern of humanity.
Instead of taking slogans from traditional media and putting them on social ads, reverse it and let inexpensive social advertising inform the traditional ads which are more expensive to produce:
Case study from Claire's agency Best Practice Media: Buc-ee's Texas road stop, an amusement park/gas station - how Claire’s team is helping Buc-ee's choose effective copy for their road sign using digital (A/B testing 15 slogan options on Facebook to inform outdoor advertising).
More info: Buc-ee's, the convenience-store chain with a cult following and 'world-famous’ bathrooms
Female Founders Are Changing the World. Please Stop Calling Them 'Mompreneurs' and 'She-E-Os': Enough with the cutesy nicknames - Inc piece by Leigh Buchanan
Social Media Week Austin: smwatx.com
Twitter: @bestpracticesmm
The official Tuesday night event at Project Voice:
Increase the discoverability of your Alexa Skill or Flash Briefing live at #SkillSetters premiere cocktail hour!
Come share your Alexa Skill or Flash Briefing, speed dating style! 50 Alexa Skill creators have the opportunity to give a short elevator pitch for your Skill in 1 minute to each person in the room. After each interaction, guests can scan each other’s QR code badge that opens their Skill on mobile.
You’ll leave with up to 50 new users, new friends, and great ideas! Come network with the #SkillSetters at Project Voice!
Emily Binder (Voice Marketing with Emily Binder)
Daniel Hill (The Instagram Stories)
Amy Summers (The Pitch with Amy Summers)
With featured guest Bradley Metrock, host of Project Voice along with Audiobrain and more great sponsors! Register now, spaces are limited.
The key feature of micro moment marketing is to embrace the idea that you have but a few seconds to capture the attention of your target consumer. In those brief seconds, brands are challenged to convey a concise message that is relevant to the consumer. Otherwise, they're on to the next article, tweet, or email and you've lost their attention.
On average, 150 times a day consumers experience purchase moments, research moments, and discovery moments, just to name a few. How can marketers be sensitive to these moments in the buyer journey to make our messaging more effective and less interruptive? How are brands from tires to cookies taking advantage of micro moments?
Melanie Touchstone discusses micro moment marketing
Micro-moments are small occurrences throughout the shopper journey during which consumers are ready to act. Google narrows these moments down to four key categories:
want-to-know moments
want-to-go moments
want-to-do moments
want-to-buy moments
How do you market to consumers in a way that takes advantage of these moments in the buyer journey?
2:00 It’s the small occurrences in the consumer journey when they’re ready to act - get into your customer’s mindset
2:15 The four types of micro moments, according to Google
5.23 Incorporate into your strategy: the micro moment
5:30 80% of mobile use in evening
6:00 Content shock: consumers are bombarded by information (we spend 4.7 hours per day on smartphones)
6:40 Seasonality - tire brand example and micro moment search terms
8:05 Serve the need the consumer has based on search and context - even with PPC basics
8:38 The want-to-know moment
8:55 Oreo marketing with Game of Thrones: embossed cookies for each GoT house, and on Twitter: #GameOfCookies #ForTheThrone
10:15 Game of Thrones Oreos
10:30 Sunday Scaries - Instagram phenomenon #SundayScaries
11:30 Production value is less important than quality and sensitivity to the moment in the buyer's journey
12:20 Guardian looked at shiny high production value videos on IG stories and return on effort wasn’t as high, so went for a lo-fi approach which worked better. "Lean into the culture of the internet." Source: The Guardian finds less polished video works better on Instagram Stories
13:15 Why lo-fi posts were more popular - on Instagram, people are looking for their friends, so brands who look that way blend in more and seem more natural
Digital Marketing Strategist Melanie Touchstone helps fast-growth businesses develop and expand their brand presence through strategic, inbound marketing. Having spent over a decade working closely with the innovation ecosystem, Melanie has unique insight into the needs of early and middle-market companies. She specializes in brand and channel marketing.
Twitter: @MelTouchstone
Instagram: @TouchstoneMarketing
Enjoy this? Hear Melanie and Emily discuss email marketing in Episode 31: Simplify Your Marketing
Pippa:
Check out our sponsor, Pippa.io and get a $25 Amazon Gift Card when you sign up for a year of hosting at beetlemoment.com/pippa
Topics:
Email marketing - design and messaging - what works?
Social media
Design, graphics, and what works - case study - going from color to black and white
Personalize brand messaging
Winning subject lines
Keep it simple
Don’t try and fool customers
Video coming soon! Check back the first week of March.
Melanie Touchstone talks with Emily about how simple marketing works. For email, social media, and more.
Year-end episode. Predictions - keeping it simple, two areas of focus:
Social media - tech companies and their manipulation-based business models will change. They’ll evolve in two ways: First, greater transparency that frustrated users will seek. Second, more cohesion with government (as Steve Case posits in The Third Wave).
Facebook (including Instagram), Twitter, and LinkedIn: the revenue models are based on manipulation through constant feedback loops that surveil users (the product). This is the new fast food. Users will begin to see it as unhealthy like they do cigarettes and Big Macs.
Voice marketing - why smart speakers and voice assistants are like the automobile in 1903 (famous Ford/Horace Rackham quote). Voice is not a fad.
1-minute clip:
Also mentioned:
06:40 - Brian Roemmele, The Oracle of Voice re: “computerese” - Brian is spot on. 06:40
08:16 - Mitch Joel (I quote Mitch re: the 1.0 state of smart speakers and how it’s like the internet before the hyperlink - hard to navigate). Spot on again.
Join me at The Alexa Conference on January 15-17, 2019. Get 20% off tickets with promo code: ALEXASPRK203
