True Partnerships in Podcasting

As a marketing professional I often view life through the prism of marketing/PR/comms.

When big news stories break, or topics become hot, I sometimes wonder what I would do or recommend, if I was sitting around the table at the centre of the storm. Not every day. I’m not that boring, I hope.

However, it was this type of thinking that caught me last Thursday evening during a drive home after a meeting.

Trusting Audiences

For the last decade I have religiously listened to The Guardian’s flagship football podcast Football Weekly, every Monday and Thursday, almost without fail. During that time I’ve become accustomed to also listening to sponsorship or advertising messages, usually placed at the beginning of each episode.

As with much of the advertising we’re exposed to on a daily basis, I’ve become pretty proficient at drowning it out and ignoring it. The only ads/campaigns I can really remember are those by Beer52 and Gillette.

All of this lead to me being slightly shocked when the Football Weekly cast set aside approximately 25% of their Thursday show (15–20 minutes) to let their colleague, and German football expert, Archie Rhind-Tutt discuss his recent absence, and subsequent return, due to mental health issues.

Normally this type of issue is addressed at the beginning of an episode (of any podcast) and then everyone quickly moves on, either due to awkwardness or tight content schedules. Not here.

Instead, Archie was given the time and space to discuss each aspect of his journey as in-depth as he wanted. What’s more, he was (probably*) talking directly to the group (young men) most at-risk of death by suicide in the UK, Ireland, and further afield.

I can’t speak for all regular listeners, but I was a captive, trusting audience and the message hit home with more clarity and attention than 99% of the messages currently being pushed out there via mental health charities and public health campaigns.

Partnership

This leads me to think about the power of true partnerships.

I know podcast advertising is old-hat but that’s not what I’m suggesting here. This example really reveals the power of a real partnership that makes sense, is highly relevant to the target audience, and features someone already deeply embedded into the programme, and thus trusted and listened to by the audience.

I’m not suggesting this be used to sell products or shove brands down throats (because that’s not what this is and it wouldn’t work) but the relevance and utility to public health or wider government comms messages seems clear.

Well done to everyone at Team Football Weekly.

*Obviously I don’t have their listener-ship stats/demos…but football is very popular with young men so…

Marketing Priorities

When this Seth Godin blog landed in my inbox earlier this month, it instantly struck a chord.

The “time and money” principle is something I’ve referenced again and again when discussing projects old and new.

Time 

Effective marketing takes time.

For a small business that could be sitting down for 1 hour per week and planning out content and messaging, for another it could be daily engagement on Instagram or Twitter.  

For larger businesses more time is needed on all levels - strategising, building/creating, measurement, and improvement.

Yet for many businesses, there still seems to be a belief that improvements can be made without any investment.

Money 

The other side, of course, is that businesses can pay.

You can pay for expertise, ads and coverage, or both at the same time.

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As Godin says, it all eventually boils down to priorities.

I’m guilty of falling into the trap too. Of wondering why certain things aren’t happening or progressing, but eventually it usually winds its way back to two age-old problems: time and money.

Fake News: A Battle of Perception

In the space of a week or two I read Ryan Holiday’s book “Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator” and then subsequently stumbled upon this BBC article about fake news.

Image Source: BBC News

Image Source: BBC News

Fake news has been a media buzzword since Donald Trump’s election in America in 2016 but it’s still the tried and true method of altering perception; for good or bad.

From a business perspective it can be difficult to focus on this long-term goal of changing/improving/evolving perceptions of our brand, business or product however, the last few years have shown just how powerful a tool it can be…

Changing Times in Ireland's Town Centres

Earlier this week I stumbled across this photo article on The Guardian detailing the demise and disappearance of classic, quirky old Irish shop and storefronts in our town and village centres and it got me thinking.

The world is constantly changing, seemingly faster than ever before, and with the likes of voice-activated shopping, AI and the Internet of Things all in the ascendency it doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon.

For many, that’s a bad thing but I believe we should look towards, and search for, the positives out there.

Cause of Changes

Before we get to that, it’s worth considering the cause of the changes our centres have been experiencing over the last two decades.

Although I’ve worked on a number of Ballymena BID projects in the past (and as a result heard all kinds of reasoning for problems in our town centres) I would never claim to be an expert in this field.

However, I think the problems can be roughly divided into three: out-of-town centres, national chains and “the internet”.

You could also throw rising rates and rents, as well as a squeezing of disposable incomes, into the mix but the three major issues listed above have pulled shoppers away from town centre streets and in to massive outlets or back into their living rooms behind screens.

Major national chains closing branches and shops post-recession is the icing on the cake…

The Not to Distant Future

Pretty bleak, right? Yes and no.

There’s no doubt that our town centres are currently struggling through a transition phrase right now.

Centres throughout Ireland, Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK are littered with closed, vacant and abandoned lots but that doesn’t always have to be the case, and most likely won’t.

In the face of unlimited options more and more consumers have chosen local or different (just see your closest specialty coffee shop as an example) and I can see this trend continuing in the years to come.

In the face of 360 degrees competition, high rates and rent (which will hopefully drop when councils and landlords realise an empty lot in a dying town is worthless) and the omnipresence of the Internet – I believe we’ll see a leaner, stripped down, more adaptable retailer emerge.

Local crafters, artists, Internet-first retailers, service providers and even YouTubers or creators could fill those empty spaces and breathe life back into our town centres.

So it isn’t all lost, yet.

A Few Favourites

Finally, it wouldn’t be right to highlight the article above without picking out a few Counter Digital favourites (obviously all images credited to and owned by Trevor Finnegan) so without further ado:

Foxes.jpg
Franks.jpg

Two Lessons to Learn from Waterstones Unbranding

Earlier this week it was discovered that Waterstones, the UK book giant, had recently opened three new stores in various locations across Britain.

Normally this would be a non-story but from the outside looking in, you’d never know these bookstores were owned and operated by Waterstones. In an unexpected move the retailer decided to “unbrand” and create new shops that looked and felt independent to the untrained eye.  

The only signifier of corporate involvement, in each shop, was a small, easily missed, sign and consumers didn’t like it.

The whole issue lead me to think about branding and marketing in general before coming to two simple conclusions…

Take Action

James Daunt, Waterstones CEO, originally comes from an independent bookstore background and has been a resounding success since taking the helm and his latest move can be vindicated to a certain degree.

Taking action and moving with the times is the surest way to remain relevant and present in an ever-changing market but clearly there is a right way and a wrong way to achieve this. Unfortunately for Waterstones, this time round, they chose the wrong option.

One local Northern Ireland example of noticing market changes and reacting, that thankfully happens to be positive, is Utility Bear. For those that don’t know Utility Bear is a luxury male and female underwear e-commerce brand.

From the outside looking in you might assume the business stemmed from somewhere as glamorous as London or New York but in reality the business grew from a normal menswear shop called Spences in Ballymena, County Antrim.

The team at Spences clearly noticed a shift in customer buying behaviour (a move towards online) and the need to relate to a younger audience.

Noticing market changes, wants and needs and taking action is a massive positive step but only if you apply it alongside the second conclusion of this piece…

Don’t Deceive Your Market

If you come to the conclusion that your business is positioned one way but that your target market wants something different it can be very easy to slowly get sucked into a world of deception.

Over the past two years I’ve worked with different clients operating within the food industry. Competitors were promoting an “organic” message but, due to small differences and legal requirements, my clients couldn’t.

It would be incredibly difficult for the general public to determine the difference and we probably could have gotten away with using the “organic” tag but we had to refuse the temptation and create different, alternative messages to market with.

This might seem like a negative but, in reality, limits and constraints usually lead to more creative thinking so the opportunities will always be out there.

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It will be interesting to watch Waterstones next move. Let’s hope next time round it’s slightly more open and transparent.

Have you noticed changes and trends within your own sector? I’d love to hear about them!