Katie Paine of KD Paine and Partners, the Queen of PR Measurement, was in Toronto recently for a Third Tuesday meetup and the Roundtable on Social Media Measurement. I was fortunate to get a quick interview with Katie, in which she touched on the value of measurement and how it's often misunderstood in the business world.
You can listen to this 18-minute podcast at the Trafcom News Podcast blog. Please let me know what you think!
By popular demand (a few emails, really!), I'm publishing my article on podcasting inside the corporation right here for you.
If you're using a podcast inside your organization, I'd love to hear your story.
Stan Didzbalis, co-founder of AgencyLink, impressed me when I met him a few weeks ago at a meeting of the Alliance of Independent Practitioners (AIP), a subgroup of the Toronto chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Stan was there to deliver a talk called “The Feast Before You,” in which he shared an overview of current business trends that favour nimble independents. He knows his stuff, having devoted his career to making things happen in journalism, marketing and PR.
AgencyLink, his new venture, aims to bring together PR clients and firms in a new, more productive way. In a short interview you can download right here, you’ll hear Stan briefly talk about this, but the main subject of this quick podcast is the world of independent communicators and how they can specialize to survive.
By the way, this audio file is part of a pilot series I’m working on for AIP. It currently lives behind a firewall at the IABC eXchange, but in the future, we’ll be making some of this content public.
If you’re an independent, be sure to check out AIP Toronto.
Here are the show notes:
00:45 Intro of Stan Didzbalis of AgencyLink
01:20 About Agency Link and its mission
01:57 Independents must specialize; if you try to be a chameleon, you’ll end up a charlatan
03:10 Corporate clients want people who understand their business, who can come in and provide value from day one. Specialization also helps you to target your marketing.
04:00 Being a trusted advisor
04:20 Value of networking and building alliances
06:09 Comments from members at the meeting
Now here’s something fascinating: Brand Tags. As the site says:
The basic idea of this site is that a brand exists entirely in people's heads. Therefore, whatever it is they say a brand is, is what it is.
What comes to mind when you see the logo for Harley Davidson or Texas Instruments or Saturn? Check out Brand Tags for yourself and you’ll grasp the idea immediately.
When I spot a creative and yet so very simple tool like this, I wonder about using it internally as an adjunct to an employee survey. Some corporate communicators actually do want to know what employees think of the company and its products, as well as its internal programs. Can you imagine a corporation employing something like Brand Tags to gauge employees’ gut feel?
Hat tip to Michael Seaton of the Client Side Blog, who pointed to a post by Seth Godin. Funny enough, I do subscribe to Seth’s blog, but hadn’t read it in a while (did I say that out loud?). Fortunately, I can count on my network – which includes Michael – to point me to the good stuff.
New and would-be podcasters often ask me if running an ad on their show is a good idea. As Shel Holtz would say: “It depends.”
Before you can answer the question for yourself, you have to step back a minute: What is the purpose of your podcast? Do you want to educate your clients? Garner new prospects? Build your professional reputation? Entertain the masses? Or what? If you become a podcaster simply to make a buck, you may be disappointed.
A recent blog post by Eric Eggertson raises the issue of advertising on podcasts.
I am a fan of For Immediate Release and a friend of Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson. As I said in a comment to FIR a while back, I often enjoy the Custom Scoop Media Monitoring Minutes that appear on FIR, and I like some of the creative Ragan spots. Those that aren’t creative are at least informative (especially if you’re in the communications field). So do I mind Shel and Neville running these spots? Not at all. Do I think it’s a good idea for them to earn a few dollars from their podcast, to at least cover some costs? Yes, of course. As a podcaster, I know how much time and energy it takes to produce an information-rich show, which FIR is. I derive lots of value from their twice-weekly podcast, so it’s a fair trade-off to ask me to consume a few short sponsored spots.
I also think that the content of the spots on FIR is aligned with the core message of the show; it’s all about communications. If they were running ads for cars or shampoo, I’d feel differently, I’m sure.
What about ads that aren't short? I agree with Eric on this one. Longer, highly produced spots are a distraction, and devoting even more talk time to discussing the ads on the show (under the guise of being conversational) is even worse. I’d probably fast-forward through them. If they annoyed me enough, I’d stop listening to the podcast in question. I’ve dropped a few shows from my iTunes directory for this very reason.
So let’s get back to the podcaster who’s trying to decide whether to run an ad. Ask yourself this: Is the money you’d earn worth the risk of alienating your listeners? Are the ads relevant to your audience? Is the time devoted to ads just a small slice of the running time of your show? Overall, what do you gain and what do you lose?
When people ask me why I don’t accept ads on the Trafcom News Podcast, my answer is always the same: I am the sponsor of my show. I don’t earn cash from my podcast, but it has opened up many opportunities, helped me to meet some very interesting people, and has indeed generated consulting business for me over the last almost-three years. So, yes, a podcast can be profitable, but not necessarily because of ads.
If you're a podcaster, please consider the role of show notes as a marketing tool and a service to your audience. As you'll learn by listening to Trafcom News Podcast 74, The secrets of show notes, "Google hates you" if you're a podcaster who doesn't take the time to write show notes.
In this 22-minute podcast, you'll get advice from experienced podcasters: Nicole Simon, Christopher S. Penn, Dave Jones, Wayne MacPhail and Aaron Strout.
And be sure to listen to Chris Penn's secret for getting his show notes picked up in the Google News feed!
Have you been invited as a guest on a podcast or radio show? Before you sit down at the microphone, listen to these tips for giving good audio so that you’ll be invited back. At the same time, you’ll be making the most of the investment of your time. (After all, both you and the host should benefit, right?)
Here’s a preview of the tips:
Please tune in to this 14-minute podcast and let me know what you think! You can download the MP3 file on the Trafcom News Podcast page. You’ll also find detailed shownotes there.
If you work for a nonprofit, you'll be especially interested in this podcast, which is based on a conference call where a group of us talked about communications ideas for nonprofits. The discussion ranges from finding skilled yet inexpensive voice talent, recruiting volunteers, communicating with donors and the public, and the reluctance of some colleagues to adopt new technology.
To keep the discussion going, I've created a wiki to accompany this podcast. If you work in the nonprofit sector and you want to share ideas or resources, please contribute to the wiki (email me for the password). Of course if, you were a participant in the conference call, I really hope you'll add your thoughts to the wiki.
Hop over to the Trafcom News Podcast page to listen to the podcast.
Thanks to Connie Crosby, Dave Fleet, Eden Spodek, Jay Moonah, Katherine Matthews, Rob Lee, Sean McGaughey and Tommy Vallier for organizing PodCamp Toronto 2008. I was able to attend only on Saturday, but was glad I did, especially for:
Late in the day, I participated in an informal roundtable discussion with Victoria Fenner and Wayne MacPhail on “Corporate Podcasting Best Practices.” Because many of those who streamed into the room were involved in nonprofits, we devoted some time to talking about podcasting in this sector. Another hot topic: “selling” the podcast to clients, and discussing the contentious issue of measurement and ROI. Thankfully, Connie Crosby saved us from white-board-less-ness with her quick creation of a live slide deck as we talked. Wow. You’ll find it on Slidehsare. Thanks to Connie, and to Victoria and Wayne! Also take a look at Michelle Sullivan’s blog post about this discussion as well as several other PodCamp sessions.
If you missed PodCamp Toronto either in person or the live stream, watch for the media archives, which will be posted soon.
Photo credit: Wayne MacPhail
