Growing Appetite for Podcasts, Personalized Spam, and Who Should Host?

WEBVTT 1 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:15.080 Welcome in to Mike Club. This is Benji block and I'm thrilled to be 2 00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:20.480 back for this week's episode. We're gonna cover some podcasting news and a question 3 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:24.359 from our mic club community here in a moment. Just want to say thanks 4 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:30.960 for listening in and I hope that your podcast is running fantastic. We want 5 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:33.600 to help you continue to take your game to the next level and we want 6 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:38.399 to give you the news that is helpful to write where you are. We 7 00:00:38.439 --> 00:00:41.640 want to talk about things that matter to us here in the B Two b 8 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:47.600 space, and so let's dive in the news today. The first story comes 9 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:53.159 from sounds profitable and they're talking about the appetite for podcast listening worldwide. Reminder 10 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:56.439 that you can find the link to these stories and the show notes, but 11 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:00.079 uh, I'll read some pieces here and then we can discuss and right from 12 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:06.719 the article, according to an e marketer study released in October one and shared 13 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:12.599 by Statista, the number of worldwide podcast listeners has nearly doubled since two thousand 14 00:01:12.680 --> 00:01:19.599 and nineteen, with market researchers forecasting even more global audience growth by so to 15 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:23.879 give you guys the numbers here, two thousand nineteen, we saw two hundred 16 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:32.959 and seventy four million worldwide monthly podcast listeners. This year we're at four hundred 17 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:38.560 and twenty four million listeners and the projection is that two years from now will 18 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:45.359 break the five hundred million barrier. So the US podcast market, let's talk 19 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:49.560 about that for a second. Definitely the most mature, definitely the most saturated, 20 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:55.920 and they expect, the projection is that the audience will soon begin to 21 00:01:56.040 --> 00:02:00.120 plateau in the states, but in non U S mark gets you're gonna see 22 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:07.000 rapid growth that's comparable to what was happening here in the states, uh man, 23 00:02:07.039 --> 00:02:13.240 over the past five or so years. So it brings some questions to 24 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:15.400 the surface. For me. One of those questions is, okay, as 25 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:19.800 the market continues to grow, are we going to, as B two B 26 00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:25.120 marketers, intentionally try to grow our market overseas? And that's going to depend 27 00:02:25.319 --> 00:02:31.080 on your your strategy with your podcast. I can know for speaking from experience 28 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:35.919 with B two B growth. We see a pretty high number of people that 29 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:39.680 engage. It would be to be growth overseas. I think the number that 30 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:45.879 I last saw was about of our audience and Uh of course we hope that 31 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:49.520 that continues to grow now. Is that our primary target? No, but 32 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:52.919 it's always nice to see those numbers coming in and I'm assuming we'll just see 33 00:02:52.919 --> 00:02:59.879 those numbers rise as more people find podcasts in Europe and in other countries are 34 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:06.360 around the world. So I think if you're considering niche ng down further to 35 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:09.400 reach an audience, that's fantastic, but no, that you know your your 36 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:14.759 content, even when it's niche down, could apply to so many people who 37 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:20.280 are working in your space or your ideal clients space, because it's topic they 38 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:23.360 care about, even though they may not be right here in the US, 39 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:28.360 and it's important to realize that we're in that season where it may plateau a 40 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:35.840 bit. you think of when blogs reach to the height of their importance and 41 00:03:35.960 --> 00:03:38.439 they were just, you know, everyone was starting a blog. We're not 42 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:42.800 maybe fully there yet with podcasts, but you can you can see that coming 43 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:46.360 on in the states, which just means that your differentiation continues to matter more 44 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:53.439 and how you engage with the audience that you're building continues to matter as well. 45 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:57.520 Second story that I wanted to pay attention to and wanted to bring here 46 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:02.400 a cast acquires odd chaser, the world's most comprehensive podcast database. This is 47 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:06.520 from pod news and I think this is important for a few reasons. I'll 48 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:10.879 read from the press release. Here. A cast, the world's largest independent 49 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:15.719 podcast company, has signed an agreement to acquire pod chaser, the world's most 50 00:04:15.719 --> 00:04:21.959 comprehensive and authoritative podcast database. Crucially, pod chaser is all about discover ability, 51 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:27.680 the ease with which listeners can find new podcasts to enjoy and advertisers can 52 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:32.279 find new shows to align with, solving one of podcasting's toughest problems and something 53 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:39.279 vitable to the continued growth of the whole industry. Once integrate in ha ha 54 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:43.879 ha, tough, tough word there. Once integrated, this combination of pod 55 00:04:43.959 --> 00:04:47.600 chaser and a cast will push forward innovation, elevating discover ability for all in 56 00:04:47.639 --> 00:04:54.000 the industry and providing an even better resource for listeners, advertisers and partners. 57 00:04:54.040 --> 00:05:00.920 Now we're reading from a press release, but discoverability is, time and time 58 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:04.600 again, one of the things that everyone complains about across the board. It's 59 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:08.920 bad for the listening experience because it's hard to find new shows. It's bad 60 00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:13.560 for advertisers because if it's hard for listeners, imagine trying to find the right 61 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:16.040 niche and in the right type of show, knowing their numbers, all of 62 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:20.639 that stuff for the advertisers wanting to partner with shows and then obviously partners as 63 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:29.680 well. It will lift the entire podcast arena when we have clear numbers, 64 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:33.279 when we have easy discover ability. And I I see in the future not 65 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:39.519 just one podcast company acquiring another and not just the rise of data, but 66 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:44.959 I think we're just going to see more and more companies come into the podcast 67 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:50.160 game to deliver uh, what we're all hoping for and wanting. It'll be 68 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:54.680 fun to see the tools that develop over the next five or so years. 69 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:58.639 I'll read one more piece here, Bradley Davis. He's the CEO at Pod 70 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:02.800 chaser. He said Pod chaser and a cast have a shared ethos around supercharging 71 00:06:02.839 --> 00:06:09.120 the open podcast ecosystem and creating the best tools possible for listeners, podcasters and 72 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:13.759 advertisers. So again, if we can get those three aligned, where us 73 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:17.800 as show hosts and those that are behind the mic, those that are listening 74 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:23.040 to these shows and then advertisers, if we can get those three uh easily 75 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:27.279 kind of working together and in unison, it will be uh fantastic. So 76 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:31.720 I had this question written down. If I could see a major new innovation 77 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:38.040 in podcasting, what would I hope for? and to me it's just a 78 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:40.879 dashboard of truth. That's the thing I keep coming back to. It's like, 79 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:45.040 okay, I know that are you know whoever you host through, they 80 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:48.319 probably have some sort of dashboards. You see some numbers. Apple has done 81 00:06:48.360 --> 00:06:51.639 a good job of saying, Hey, here's your podcast download numbers, just 82 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:56.319 on our but I don't want to like have to go to all these different 83 00:06:56.360 --> 00:06:59.639 sites and then compile a spreadsheet or anything like that. I just want to 84 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:02.720 know all right in front of me, here's a breakdown of where people are 85 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:06.639 consuming the content, how much they're consuming, and I think if someone can 86 00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:11.439 clear up all the data questions that we have, they're going to make a 87 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:15.160 ton of money. That's the tool I want right now for podcasting. And 88 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:18.040 if I was making that dashboard I would also have some sort of easy way 89 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:23.399 to incorporate a sign up of like, you know, listeners that want to 90 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:27.720 stay connected and their comments and that sort of thing, like they could all 91 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:30.240 appear on this one dashboard. So yes, it's giving you dat about listens, 92 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:36.720 but it's also making it easy for people to actually connect with you as 93 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:40.560 the host. That would be that would be the dream scenario. Alright. 94 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:46.040 Third Story. Personalized spam is still spam. This is from pod movement and 95 00:07:47.399 --> 00:07:53.240 I think this is just a good quick read for you. Again, you 96 00:07:53.240 --> 00:07:56.040 can click and read the whole thing. I'm gonna read one sentence here. 97 00:07:56.079 --> 00:08:01.480 Marketing emails that promise a number one podcast in thirty days clearly spam. Linkedin 98 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:05.639 messages hawking fake reviews also spam. But what if you're tagged in a promotional 99 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:09.360 tweet that was just sent out to others one by one? It's a gray 100 00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:16.240 area. We'll call it spam light, semi personalized and half sincere. I'm 101 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:18.439 not on twitter, so I do not get tagged in this type of stuff, 102 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:24.439 but I I am constantly deemed messages where I'm sure the person is patting 103 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:28.720 themselves on the back, going hey, I personalized my reach out. I 104 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:31.799 get emails all the time pitching guests for B two be growth and it's semi 105 00:08:31.799 --> 00:08:37.720 personalized, half sincere. It doesn't help you when you're doing a reach out 106 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:41.840 if you're looking for guests to say hey, I listened to the episode, 107 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:43.960 or even Hey, I gave the show a review. It's nice that you 108 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:48.519 gave the show a review and maybe you did go and listen to like thirty 109 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:50.240 seconds in the middle of one of the episodes so you could screenshot it and 110 00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:54.679 show me, but it's very easy to see through that and spot it and 111 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:58.200 no one would want that done to them. When you put hard work into 112 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:01.720 a show, you don't want someone to semi personalize or reach out. You 113 00:09:01.720 --> 00:09:05.960 would rather, or I won't speak for you, I'll speak for myself. 114 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:09.639 I would rather you come in cold and just tell me what you do and 115 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:13.879 how you could potentially be an asset, or you could give me, uh, 116 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:16.240 you know CC, put me in an email where you're going to connect 117 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:20.639 me to a great guest, rather than you acting like you know me or 118 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:26.879 trying to be personally. That's not personal. So, if I'm going what's 119 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:31.240 the better strategy, the better strategy is just to admit that you're coming in 120 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:37.240 cold rather than acting different. UH, ask yourself if the post that you're 121 00:09:37.399 --> 00:09:43.000 you're tagging or the email that you're taking people in the tweet is legitimate value 122 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:46.519 or if it's just because you're like trying to hit a quota, and how 123 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:52.279 would you respond to the emails or the information that you're sending out. So 124 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:56.039 to me again, personalization is a big thing, especially if you're going after 125 00:09:56.120 --> 00:10:01.799 guests and you don't have like an agency doing guests reach out for you. 126 00:10:01.559 --> 00:10:09.039 Just you have the opportunity to be honest, to be straightforward. You should 127 00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:11.960 have done your research enough to know why you want to make the connection, 128 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:16.879 and doing that ahead of time is going to make the whole process better. 129 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:20.559 And so that would be that would be what I'd say on this. And 130 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:26.240 yes, personalized spam is definitely still spam. So I say allowed Amen to 131 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:31.759 this article and I just want us to get that when it comes to guest 132 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:37.600 coordination for your show, don't send out a hundred and a half personalized to 133 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:43.240 emails. It's IT looks bad. All right. That takes us off my 134 00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:50.639 soapbox and into the question from the MIC club community for this episode, and 135 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:56.679 the question is, how do we decide as a company who should host our 136 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:01.759 show and what do we look for in a good podcast host? This is 137 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:07.559 a conversation we've been having internally at sweet fish and uh, I'm gonna just 138 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:11.840 continue to use our show, in my experience, as jumping off point. 139 00:11:13.480 --> 00:11:20.320 But B two. B growth started as a show that was led by our 140 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:24.120 founder, so he was doing the interviews, he was you know, he's 141 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.759 the one that built the thing and when you have your CEO in that driver's 142 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:35.360 seat, is obviously going to be extremely helpful for uh, people actually wanting 143 00:11:35.399 --> 00:11:39.039 to listen. When, when, when you're CEO, when the person driving 144 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:43.080 the strategy in a lot of ways and driving the team is the one behind 145 00:11:43.080 --> 00:11:46.919 the MIC. If there are any good people, listen because there's there's a 146 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:50.759 certain just buy into the authority that they bring. We've tried multiple things. 147 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:54.840 We've had multiple hosts and that actually worked for me to be growth. If 148 00:11:54.840 --> 00:11:56.679 you go back in the archive you could find those episodes. Uh. And 149 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:01.159 then now, since November, I've taken taking over the show and we were 150 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:03.240 running into daily show and it was working great, having a lot of guests 151 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:07.399 on, but it's a different type of show than it would be if it 152 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:09.480 was founder lead. So one of the questions I would be asking is how 153 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:16.399 involved is your CEO in your content strategy? How feasible is it that she 154 00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:22.480 or he would want to be more involved and become part of this podcast that 155 00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:26.000 you have, and could you even bring them in for an episode a month 156 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:28.159 or start in a simple way like that, without adding too much onto their 157 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:33.919 plate, but letting their voice be an integral piece of this, the podcast. 158 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:37.399 Okay, if that's totally out, then clearly like your marketing leader is 159 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:41.759 probably going to be the one that is best suited for this, simply because 160 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:46.000 they know the power of podcasting and content. And then I would look for 161 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:52.039 are there people in your organization who are just great at conversation and do they 162 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:56.039 have at least a good enough knowledge level where they could sit behind a mic 163 00:12:56.120 --> 00:12:58.440 and there could be a good back and forth if you did like a co 164 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:03.679 host situation. What you don't want is you don't want to just take someone 165 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:07.639 by title and throw them behind a mic other than your CEO, other than 166 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:15.000 the person that's really spearheading the charge. You could get pretty creative internally and 167 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:18.360 obviously topically, it's going to depend who should whoo, who should be in 168 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:22.840 on the conversation. The other thing that we think a lot about now is 169 00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:26.120 it is fantastic to be able to reach out and talk to people at other 170 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:30.799 organizations, your ideal clients and all of that, but how do you infuse 171 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:33.759 your unique point of view into your show. So if you've been caught in 172 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:39.360 a space where you're doing these interviews and you're asking questions and that's really all 173 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:41.879 you're doing, is there a way, even if it's an interview style, 174 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:48.440 for you to really share your company's opinion, because you want that mixed in, 175 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:52.320 otherwise you're sort of building affinity for them and their brand instead of you 176 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:56.519 and your brand. But it's your show, so maybe it's a mix of 177 00:13:56.759 --> 00:13:58.799 I do these interviews and we make sure that the spotlight is fully on the 178 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:05.000 Gamest, but then we also do shows where it's just us talking about our 179 00:14:05.080 --> 00:14:09.240 opinion on a certain topic and giving away our way of thinking about it. 180 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:13.440 That then adds value to the market and people will listen into that because they're 181 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:18.840 there for you and for your opinion. So what is a great podcast host 182 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:22.279 do? What do they look like? I think they have some level of 183 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:28.039 enthusiasm and some level of comfort behind the Mike, but that can also be 184 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:31.879 learned over time and if you can ask good enough questions, if you can 185 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:37.919 be a good enough conversationalist, the energy you bring isn't necessarily the obviously the 186 00:14:37.960 --> 00:14:41.240 only thing that matters. You want expertise as well. So short answer, 187 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:46.080 you decide to try to get your CEO involved, if they will be, 188 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:50.279 and if they won't be, then I would have it sit in marketing and 189 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:54.840 I would do a co host situation and get a couple of people involved. 190 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:58.799 But never be afraid to do some trial and error and don't commit to something 191 00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:03.919 forever and you don't have to. You can always run six podcast experiment, 192 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:07.960 you know, and and okay, after we release six we're gonna go back 193 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:11.440 to the drawing board and we'll go from there. Don't commit to something too 194 00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:15.519 early when you don't have to. All right, that wraps up this episode 195 00:15:15.559 --> 00:15:18.759 of Mike Club. Thank you for listening, thank you for being part of 196 00:15:18.759 --> 00:15:24.399 our Linkedin community and uh, I really have enjoyed this time where Dan has 197 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:28.759 been out being with the baby. I think we have a few weeks left 198 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:31.919 of this and then he'll be back. I hope that you're getting tremendous value 199 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:35.080 and if you have any podcasting questions, please feel free to reach out to 200 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:39.320 me. I love connecting with people over on Linkedin. Just search Benji block 201 00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:50.720 and we'll be back next week with another Mike Club episode. By everybody