You’re Not a Podcaster. You’re an Audio Influencer.
You’re not a podcaster. You may have a podcast, you many even have a degree in podcasting, but in today’s day and age, you are so much more.
So. Much. More.
You have more to give than the ‘protesters.” You have more to say and your influence is WAY greater. So why are they making all the cash?
It’s because you don’t know how to sell yourself. Your value IS NOT in your downloads. THEIR value is in the downloads. It’s YOU. You, your point of view, your hustle, your loyal fans….that is what advertisers want.
But you say, “Yeah right, but they SAY they want downloads.”
No, they’re not. That is what the networks are SELLING them. That is what the agencies are marketing to them. That is NOT what they want and not what they’re buying.
They are buying influence. Influence over audiences, very specific audiences, that are their ideal customers.
This current model of podcast advertising that we see, the downloads-for-dollars, bigger-the-better, the-cheaper-the-ad-the-larger-the-ROI, it is 100% broken. And the biggest evidence of all of this is the fact that networks and big podcasting companies are struggling to find and track ‘success measurement.”
Before ‘professional’ podcasters, there were tons of advertisers already. They got great results. They had partnerships with podcasts and they were amazed at how well their ads did on podcasts. This was for 7 years before Serial came along. This is the way it’s always been.
Now, Subaru and Home Depot and Zip Recruiter are pouring money into podcasting and they are demanding to know if it’s working.
But if it was being sold or bought correctly, THEY WOULDN’T NEED TO ASK. They wouldn’t need KPIs and ROI and dynamic ad creations and whatever else they’re concocting to give the advertisers what they want.
Try and remember, the people selling those ads were working in radio. They only know how to sell what they know, and what they know is circulation. They don’t know how to sell influence or even TALK about it, because they’ve never done it before.
A perfect example is the first IAB Podcast Upfront, designed to show off podcast advertising to every major ad agency in NYC. They paraded out Katie Couric, Marc Maron, Jim Breuer, Shaq and Adam Corolla. But these people mostly just went out there and said, “yeah, doing a podcast is fun.”
And the advertisers said there thinking, “….and?”
AND the audience loves it. AND the audience loves US. AND millions of people out there are listening to podcasts and forming intimate relationships with the guy who talks to them about trivia or the girl with the history podcast.
AND they couldn’t prove that. (They did better on year 2.)
YOU, my friends, my independent podcasters, you know the truth. You have created and cultivated community, conversation, valuable insight into these people and these topics….insight that Katie Couric and Ira Glass and the gals from 2 Dope Girls will never know, nor do they care about. You say to try something, and your audience loves you and feels they know you and wants to try it.
THAT is what makes sales and needle moving for podcast advertisers. NOT. DOWNLOADS.
You are an audio influencer. And it’s time you start selling yourself as one.
Keep an eye on this blog, follow me on Medium, or check out the Podcast Success Academy from Podcast Websites where I post a ton of content about audio influencers. This is the first in many lessons of how to think of yourself as (and become) an audio mogul. It’s the key to getting any sponsors you want, regardless of show size.
