Podcasts

Podcasts

Do you listen to podcasts? Do you have a favourite? I do. I have several favourites. Are podcasts the new medium? Will they replace radio? I am showing my age, but isn’t a podcast an early days radio program?

Sometimes I used to tune in to the old radio shows on CORUS and listened to murder mysteries, comedies, or the Lone Ranger. They were awesome. When I was young and away at boarding school in Port Hope, Ontario, I used to stick my transistor radio under my pillow and use an ear plug. Way down on the low end of the radio dial, I could listen to Harvey Kirk deliver the CTV National news from a TV station in Ottawa at 11:00 p.m.—way past official lights out! Today, CTV, Global, and others run their 6:00 p.m. TV newscasts for the hour on their local radio stations. Podcasts offer everything from kids’ programming to sci-fi, from controversial topics to how to cook, mysteries, interviews, and business insights. It is just over different transmission waves, but really the phenomenon of the podcasts of today is nothing new. It is just recycled like so much of what we do.

This came up recently during a conversation with a client. We were talking about the power of podcasts and how when well integrated into a sponsorship marketing strategy, they can be effective. But as I highlighted, a podcast might not be the solution. I urged the property to ask more questions—get to know the client better and understand their ability/capacity to provide content for a podcast, the reality of timelines and ongoing commitment, ownership of the product, who else (if anyone) would be involved, and so on. Like any other channel to reach an audience, a podcast needs to be the right product at the right price at the right time.  There are lots of great new tools to create experiential engagements, generate alterative revenue channels, and be an industry leader, but everything comes back to the basics. We can recycle everything and call it new, but they all hinge on one thing—relationships and understanding your partner.

If we don’t understand the pain point of our partner, if we don’t understand their capacity to deliver, and if we don’t understand the culture of their organization, no tool, no matter how good (like a podcast, AI, AR, digital signage, etc.) the channel might be, if we don’t understand the client, none of those tools will work. This is where we led this client. We got them to slow down, and rather than pitch this awesome podcast idea, we got them to step back and do further discovery. They learned a lot—a whole lot! In fact, engagement through a podcast is the right channel, but not in the way our client thought. Their partner actually has a subsidiary company that is a production house and was already producing products for them. This would cut the costs of the property immensely!

The point is that great concepts are only great if they fit. Step back. Slow down. Understand and then provide solutions versus pitching products you want or need to sell!

Please remember to stay HIMPS! (Healthy, Isolate when possible, Masked, Physically distanced and Safe!).

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2 Comments

  1. I am SO glad to a TMC on this topic! I am also a big fan of podcasts. I listen to sport ones and also business and marketing ones. It is a good point that just because the sales person or fundraiser think it is an awesome idea, doesn’t mean your audience will enjoy it. The more streams and engagement you receive from your stakeholders with assets (podcasts etc), the more attractive they are to potential partners.
    Thanks, as always for your perspective!

    Reply
    • Thanks Josh… stay warm during this storm period.

      Reply

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