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.
What makes a good podcast? How about a great podcast? In this episode, Emily and Steve discuss the best ways to create a valuable message to grow your podcast audience as well as how companies should be approaching podcasting as a new form of content marketing. They also discuss emerging opportunities with audio content and voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri.
Ben runs professional sales for Blue in North and South America, has been with Blue ten years
He handles B2B business, distribution, and educational sales
How does Blue differentiate in the microphone industry?
Blue’s unique history (very music focused, podcasting has been recent)
Started as a high end microphone company (many of their mics are still $6,000-$10,000)
Took premium sound and made it affordable (see their podcasting mics)
Blue’s marketing stands out - fun names like Yeti and Snowball <— please use my link if you want to buy a snowball, this helps support the show!
4:34 Story: Snowball was originally called Softball - founder story
Softball (Snowball) was built for GarageBand, per Apple’s request- a simple USB mic
Founder Skipper turned them down
Emily used Snowball on her first podcast (throwback: The Digital Dive Podcast)
Blue Microphones are the #1 SKU on Amazon for Music / Musical Instruments (these mics are not in the electronics department) - if you want to purchase a Blue Yeti, please click here to use my link to support the podcast!
Hear about podfading (half of podcasts fade after 6 episodes) in Emily’s episode with Phoebe Mroczek
8:10 Emily asks: are people ready for a more passive media experience (e.g. podcasting and voice - audio content) due to social media overload?
"Half the picture is sound" - George Lucas on the importance of audio in film
High quality audio is paramount for communication and marketing
Bad audio on YouTube is worse than bad visuals
Ben is seeing a trend of XLR mics, not just USB mics (XLR is used at major music recording studios)
If you’re paying for an expensive computer and Alienware, it makes sense to upgrade your audio too
Video games are part of his market - gamers are buying nicer mics
Joe Rogan uses a broadcast mic
People are spending more money on higher quality mics
Ben is seeing a consumer purchasing trend with XLR mics, not just USB mics (XLR is used at major music recording studios)
If you’re paying for an expensive computer and Alienware, it makes sense to upgrade your audio too (gaming)
Video games are part of his market - gamers are buying nicer mics and willing to pay
Example- Joe Rogan uses a broadcast mic
Ben with Chino Moreno, Deftones singer. “We all had the same music manager for a bit. Alice in Chains and Deftones are still with them but I’m a mic guy now.” - Ben Thompkins
Instagram: @bthompkins, @bluemicrophones
Neat use of real warm audio - true voice of a brand - that offers novelty, fun, and some utility. Good example of early voice marketing. Playful and I like that it’s based on archival material.
Example of CPG (consumer packaged good) product marketing on voice with “Alexa, order more Stubb’s Original Bar-B-Q Sauce”). Note: Tested and still working in December 2021!
Stubb’s Legendary Bar-B-Q Sauce was created by the west Texas barbecue hero and beloved Stubb’s founder, C.B. Stubblefield. Now Stubb has his own Alexa skill. The “Ask Stubb” skill pieces together past voice recordings of Stubblefield to bring recipes, stories, cooking tips, BBQ tunes, and some larger than life personality to Alexa users, straight from the man behind the brand.
December 6, 2021 update from Emily:
The Ask Stubb Alexa Skill appears to be down and no longer updated but you can see the skill page here and check out the marketing ideas, which are still solid and IMO should be revived and shared. Doing this in 2018 was pretty ahead of the game and today it would even be beneficial to simply promote the hands-free add to cart phrase below.
Ask Stubb is an Alexa Skill promoting Stubb’s BBQ Sauce and featuring recipes and archival audio
Skill created by Proof Advertising in Austin.
•” The skill includes ten tips, more than 20 recipes and a few of Stubb’s favorite songs.
• Users can order Stubb’s Bar-B-Q sauce directly from the skill.
• After the first week of launch, Ask Stubb was featured as a popular skill on the Alexa Skills Store.” -via CommArts
Takeaway:
With Alexa skills and voice right now, done is better than perfect. Establish a presence like this because this is all leading toward voice search optimization on Amazon, one of the largest search engines. Stubb's will ultimately sell more BBQ sauce because of this. In this case, it’s content marketing to drive ecommerce through voice.
If you enjoyed this podcast please leave a review on Apple Podcasts (I'd really appreciate your feedback!). Tweet me @emilybinder and let me know what you think.
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