Podcasting Listeners Are Paying Attention

I just love it when the data weighs in to support something I have witnessed anecdotally and intuitively known long before research could prove it. Podcasting does the heavy lifting of finding niche audiences and capturing their attention in a way that is otherwise unattainable to marketers. Be sure to read all the way down to Rox's 4 L's of Podcast Success.

I am presenting here the results of two studies, one by Arbitron/Edison Research and one by PodTrac.

I was lucky to be on a panel of experts who spoke at ad:tech san francisco two weeks ago, on behalf of the Association for Downloadable Media. In our session, we released the latest survey data from Edison Research addressing both the size and the behavior of podcast audiences. Their data is oriented somewhat towards audio podcasts, and IMO video podcasts are audio podcasts on steroids.

Here's the takeaway from the lead analyst, Tom Webster

The audience for downloadable media is not only growing, but also represents a very attractive target for advertising...and those 23 million Americans are affluent, spend lots of time (and money!) online, and are increasingly more difficult to target with interruption advertising. I would love to see more and more partnerships between mass media broadcasters and independent content producers. You need each other.

You can download the full PDF here from Edison Research. (PDF)

The second study gets down to the nitty gritty: so what if there are more podcast consumers, are they paying attention? Yes, and in ways that are unheard of in traditional advertising and marketing.

• Average unaided ad recall of 68%
• Average aided ad recall of 89%
• 73% average increase in likelihood to use/buy vs control group
• 69% having a more favorable view of advertiser due to ad exposure

How is this possible? PodTrac CEO Mark McCrery summarizes it this way:

Narrowly targeted audiences, appropriate ad formats, content relevance, and show host involvement are some of the factors which come together to produce highly effective ads in online shows and podcasts.

I would describe it as Rox's Four L's of Podcast Success:

1. Love: Podcast producers deliver authentic, topic-specific content and do the heavy lifting for attracting a unique, targeted, and interested audience. People who love Hawaii watch Beach Walks with Rox.
2. Loyalty: Podcast hosts, who by virtue of sharing their expertise and some personal details, create very loyal audiences. Over 60% of Beach Walks viewers tune in every day.
3. Location: Podcast audiences largely consume the content at the physical (not geographic) location of their computer (60-70% on average) and can take immediate action when presented with offers from show sponsors. When listening to traditional radio or TV, they are not in a physical location to be able to respond on impulse. (Being able to take podcasts on the go is an added bonus of podcasts—not available to radio or TV. We show Beach Walks episodes to our seat mates on the plane coming back home to Hawaii, and that combined with a good old-fashioned postcard generates new viewers and gives travelers a personal connection to the vacation of their dreams)
4. Leadership: Podcast hosts serve as a filter for their audiences, as most will not accept sponsors for products and services they do not support. This is the best of leveraging word-of-mouth advertising with scale.

I didn't include it, but another L could be the Luxury market. Podcast users are far more likely to have attained at least a college degree, are more likely to live in households earning in excess of $75,000 per year, more likely to buy online, and more likely to use pop-up blockers. But heh, it doesn't always have to be about the Benjamin's!
What do you think about podcasting? I'd love your feedback.

We Have a New Site Design

Time to stir up the water and get a new blog design. Our previous design was very minimalist. We've decided too minimalist. We want you to be able to see the range of topics we care about, the various projects we are managing, and have room for things like Twitter and Comments too! Please tell us what you think. We splurged and bought this theme from a top Wordpress designer, Brian Gardner. (Internet oddball perhaps, but I like paying for quality services.)

One of the coolest things about blog software is how the design elements and the content are separated, kind of like how editorial and advertising once used to be. In theory, it's possible to swap out a new "theme" on the Wordpress blog, and the database of posts and comments simply gets wrapped in a new look.

In reality of course, it's not that easy because inevitably we want to tweak a little here, change a color there, add a widget, hide a widget, and make all new graphics too! It's so emblematic of the state of the web these days. On the one hand the glass is half-full: so many things are free and creativity abounds. OTOH, the glass is half-empty: it takes hours and hours to find stuff and make it work the way we want it to, a full spectrum of brain matter is useful when managing the wide and deep terrain that covers coding, design, and ultimately writing a coherent message!

I interviewed a marketing exec from IBM back in 2002. He said they had already survived 11 iterations of their web site over the past 6-7 years! Meanwhile, many small businesses are content to have one iteration every 10 or 11 years! (OK - so maybe I exagerrate a little.) Here's a list of things to think about to see if it is time to redo your website.

We want some of our clients to update their sites; "unfortunately," we built them with the most modern tools available at the time, so the sites are surviving, if not thriving. If it's not broken, don't fix it makes sense. But then there is the question: what opportunities are being missed that can only be gained with new technology?

One last thought. I used "we" a lot in this post. Really, it is Shane who gets the big kudos as he researched the WP themes, did all the extra programming, and even added some upgrades to the templates that he is sending back to Brian, the original developer. Mahalo nui Shane. You are no ka oi!

WebClips for Your iPhone

UPDATE: There have been other postings that say making a larger icon, 158x158 for example will produce higher quality results. We haven't found that to be true. BUT, we have standardized on 60x60 for our Webclips icons and until Apple actually produces its own icons for its own website(s), we'll be sticking with the 60x60 size. Thanks to @cdevroe (Colin Devroe) for pointing out the original article that discussed the larger 158x158 format.

There was a new iPhone update today, and Apple is sweetening the scene for those who've resisted hacking their iPhone. One of the coolest new features is the ability to add an icon to the main screen that will take you to a web site of your choice. iPhone will grab a square screen capture of the site and show you the URL under the icon.

Or! You can create a webclip which generates a custom icon for iPhone users. Think of it as a favicon that works with your phone bookmarks.

This feature was released less than 24 hours ago; and I'm happy to brag that our tech guy, Shane Robinson, has already mastered the process and started branding our company web sites. Shane got started with this HowTo from vjarmy:

Create a 57x57 PNG.
Name it "apple-touch-icon.png"
Throw it in the root folder of your website. (Not the root of your server, the root of your web documents.)

More details about iPhone at the Apple Development Center.

Here are the direct paths to our three iPhone WebClips:

HAF Members - Let’s Get the Jan 24 Party Started

I've been asked to speak at the Hawaii Advertising Federation annual "university" this coming January, 24, 2008. Since I want to evangelize about new media, I'll be using our blog to start connecting with the members as well as asking for input from others of you who have opinions and recommendations.

For the members of HAF:

• what do you love and hate about the internet and technology?
• how often do you read blogs or consume podcasts?
• do you have an iPod?
• on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being a technophobe/luddite and 10 being a geek, where do you rate yourself?

For the rest of you:

• what do you think of the state of advertising?
• what do you want to hear from a company, as a consumer of its products and services?
• are there do's and don'ts for companies who want to converse with their customers and potential customers?
• what's the best way to reach you and influence your buying habits?

Site ReLaunch: Coffee Kids

Coffee Kids has been our client for almost a decade. As a nonprofit, they help coffee-growing families learn new skills and develop sustainable lifestyles, as the coffee industry suffers from a glut of over-production that keeps income low to the first line of coffee workers - those who cultivate and pick the beans. It's not an easy story to tell when you and I are used to paying four bucks for a grandé latté. They depend on their web site as the key communication tool.

Their site has been due for an upgrade for years, but time and money constraints have meant the web site has been on the back burner. Years ago we set them up to collect online payments and also use Contribute software to edit their pages. It was a good tool at that time, but had out-grown its usefulness. It had many limitations and required a software license on each computer that was being used to make updates, not to mention training.

Their new site uses Expression Engine software, which is our favorite enterprise content management system. It is highly flexible from a programmers point of view, very easy to work in from an editor's point of view (right in the browser - no extra software required), and very easy to control multi-user access from an administrator's point of view. With just 1.5 hours of training, the staff was busy adding new Businesses to their searchable database, uploading photos, and blogging in both English and Spanish! Click on the thumbnail graphics to see full size screenshots, then follow the numbers for a detailed analysis below.

Home Page Before	Home Page After

A Few Home Page Highlights
1 Toolbar	Old site: no search. New site: full search plus CSS tools to easily let the user change font size. Donate and Contact are easily found on every single page.
2 High Impact Headline	Old Site: lots going on, no real focal point, a lot of reading required to get your attention. New Site: Wow - color, font size, and brevity all work to stop the visitor and create an emotional connection via a powerful statement of fact.
3 Time-sensitive Call to Action	Via a PHP script, we pull the date in (like a lot of sites do) but we integrate it into the message of the page. It is then immediately followed by three strong actions. Surely one of them will speak to you! This is an editable area, so the client can include as many as they want at any given time. A special link style was created to give this call to action even more prominence and draw users into the site. We are especially proud of the features added to their Business Members database, and pages that encourage people to visit their donors, tell a friend about the local businesses, and support special programs offered by donors. By helping Coffee Kids help their donors, the web site strengthens the donor partnerships.
4 Use Flickr to Manage Photos	Why build a private cumbersome photo gallery when they can join the Flickr community? One of the original (and still one of the best) social applications, it allows for easy upload of pictures, tagging of pictures, creating and belonging to groups, and a little script here automatically feeds in new pictures to the home page. Not only does it help Coffee Kids easily manage their many compelling pictures, it helps them network with others over at Flickr, finding new supporters.
5 Embedded Video Message	Coffee Kids wants to explore using video - which is very hot right now. Because video is much harder to create, we decided to try placing a short intro message on the home page as a way to start. However, this high impact placement can be converted later to a video blog post if desired. We like to build the bones first and then let the site's function and content grow organically over time.
6 A Blog	It's my opinion that you just aren't serious about communicating with your audience if you don't have a blog. Like many companies (and non-profits especially) they had concerns. "We've never done this." "What if people leave bad comments?" "It takes too much time." But luckily and ideally, they now have a staff member, Kyle Freund, who is leading the challenge to provide support and coaching inside the organization. Coffee Kids is also rare in having a multilingual blog—perfect because so much of their work takes place in Central and South America. We've also coded simple buttons in the admin so editors can easily add accented Spanish characters without learning the code.

Donate Page Before	Donate Page After

Making Donations Count
1 Easy to Sort Donor Groups	Old site: one long cumbersome donation page. New site: separate pages for individuals and businesses, because Coffee Kids really has unique messages and requests for each group. The generic donation information is clearly displayed on a separate page, easily accessible to both groups.
2 Custom PayPal Programming	Old Site - default PayPal button functionality. New Site - custom programming for a cleaner, more flexible user interface. We also added the option for gift donations, thereby removing yet one more barrier to give. By continuing to use PayPal, Coffee Kids can leverage the very low transaction fees and very wide user base without incurring custom shopping cart software expense.
3 Colorful clear graphics	The entire look of the site is more modern, easy to navigate, and user-friendly. The submit buttons include help messaging to make the donation process even easier.
4 Multiple Donation Choices	The new configuration allows for different amounts for individuals and business, and allows each group to make a one-time or recurring donation. The layout clearly sorts the two, instead of having them all lumped together as on the old site. This allows for a simple, deliberative process for their donors which means fewer clean ups by office staff for mistaken donations.
5 Interactive Donate button	Every inside page of the site has this bold Donate button, that rolls over to red and answers the "Want to Donate?" question with, "Your gift really helps." A smart strategy and simple programming makes for a high impact conversation with site visitors.

With all this lean CSS design, re-thinking of the content strategy to use social apps wherever possible, and the inclusion of a blog, search engines love this site! And the possibilities for expanding further into social media and community building are amazing.

Old Media and New Media Working Together

I just love it when this happens.

We do a daily video podcast aka internet TV show called Beach Walks with Rox. Last weekend, YouTube featured us on their Travel channel page. We had over 80,000 views in less than three days. (We will eventually be rotated off this page...)

The episode was about a tree and mulch blessing (or oli in Hawaiian) the was conducted by the Lani-Kailua Branch branch of one of our clients, The Outdoor Circle. It featured awesome chanting by Haunani and ʻIlima Stern of Aloha Blessings.

And a circle it is, as I then sent out a few press releases to local media. Erika Engle, author of "The Buzz" column in the Star-Bulletin Business section, called me for an interview and wrote a really terrific article, ostensibly because of the YouTube story but she delved deeper and we got into an interesting (IMO) discussion about how businesses, especially Hawaiian tourism businesses, can use these new media and social networking online tools.

After I gave her a boat load of examples, she asked, "Why doesn't every business upload their stuff to YouTube?" Great question, dontcha think?

What I don't get is why the online version of the article does not have links to our business website and the the Beach Walks site being discussed. It's easy to do, but traditional print media seem to be "link averse" as if they will lose a site visitor. More importantly, they provide an even better resource by including the link (which creates more customer loyalty) and they always code it easily enough to open in a new window - keeping the main media site alive and well on the viewer's computer.

Oh, and I sure wish I could have left a comment on Erika's page to thank her and add to the conversation. I wonder, does it get lonesome writing without response?? Leave your comment here for Erika and I will send her the link to this page.

But in any case, the article was written well, accurate, and managed to mentioned the many people involved. Mahalo Erika! And mahalo to Mary Steiner, CEO (and blogger) for The Outdoor Circle who emailed this morning after having read the article. Hmm, I wonder if she has a Google Alert that notifies her whenever "outdoor circle" gets mentioned online??

Surfing Tip: Right-click (or control-click) on all of the links in this article if you want them to open in a new window. It's a web surfing power tip that comes in handy frequently.

SmallBiz America Relaunched

We love it when clients come to us thirsty for making the web work for them. David Wolf clearly has an appetite that puts him way out in front! A successful entrepreneur across industries as diverse as music and bagels, he came to us to help him develop a new business strategy. The result is SmallbizAmerica.com.

Phase One includes a full blog software-based site with separate RSS feeds for David's podcast, The Smallbiz Brain as well as for his text blog. He manages all of his content from a web-based admin. (Duh, need I say that? All of the sites we have built since 2000 have had this feature.) Throughout the course of development we all did a lot of research on numerous platforms, recording tools, and hosting options enabling David to really zero in on just what he wanted to do and how he could do that most efficiently. (Click on the thumbnail graphic to follow through on the numbered items.)

1. Blog software provides so many benefits! Newest articles are always on top, featured on the home page. Visitors can leave comments and be part of the discussion. Articles can be filed in multiple categories. Search engines love blogs.
2. David can select Featured Articles from his content to be highlighted on the home page, with a simple checkbox feature in his admin. They show up regardless of the date originally posted. He can strategize whom to put there, based on various business factors.
3. We have an embedded audio player for first time visitors to get a quick intro via audio while they are perusing the many possibilities on the home page.
4. The Tool Bar gives quick links to david's "evergreen content" (the about us stuff that doesn' change often) as well as the site wide search engine, and the user tools for getting on the email list or subscribing to David's site content. The tool bar is on every page of the site.
5. There is a graphic link to David's Live365 internet radio station providing a 24/7 stream of audio content, some of which is also broadcast on select AM radio stations across the US.
6. David can add new Categories and external links (Blogroll) easily from the site admin. Linking to others is good netiquette and helps your visitors find even more useful information.

Phase Two will be launching shortly, as he brings on additional experts ("RSP's") who will have their own radio show podcast channel and mini-site within Smallbiz America. Plus many more features that will make his site the place to hang out for tips on running a successful small business. Please check it out and leave David a comment that you were there!

Why the new Facebook “Endorse” Model Works for Me

Today Facebook announced that it will allow companies to create profiles inside the social networking web site. Individual users can then endorse or be "fan" of said company. Just like Facebook, independent media producers can serve as a very valuable filter for their audiences when it comes to products and services. In more crass terms, stop being ashamed of having corporate sponsorship, and duh, don't take on any sponsors whom you do not trust or support yourself. Business ethics 101. People like Chris Brogan are happy to call you out when you use the tools effectively.

What we are really enabling now is a whole new self-sustaining system whereby people who make stuff (P-producers/plafroms) attract people who like that stuff (A-audience) and can be supported by companies who want to tell us about their stuff (S-sponsors/advertisers). I presented this Player's Triangle concept at the Podcast & New Media Expo this past September and I think it is an incredibly efficient way of connecting people and building businesses.

The independent producer - be it Facebook or Meredith Medland of Living Green Podcast - gets the party started. The platform/show both have natural filtering mechanisms built in. They are built of networks of people who have organized themselves based on shared interests not irrelevant data like geography or age.

Audiences are very tired of being sold to every waking moment, and I have written before how advertising is broken. Nonetheless, they still want to connect, to be entertained, to be informed. The platforms and the independent producers are doing that, while traditional media struggles to find a place in this new world. The internet has also trained people to want things for free. I think this is partly because that was how early internet companies competed against each other and because it is relatively cheap to built an internet business. Not so easy to sustain one though.

And that is where commercial sponsors come into play. They have the budget and the desire to reach new customers. They have been trained to think a 2M audience is better than a 20K one, but that was before targeted audiences. The Long Tail as Chris Anderson elucidated, is about this revolution where meaningful and profitable transactions are taking place directly, without the radio or TV station required.

How long will it take until we never have to get an un-targeted or mass-mailed advertisement again? Well, a few generations probably, but this is a start. Who wants to be the first company to stop using mass marketing tactics and instead commit to only targeted message delivery?

I think of it as an organic circle of commerce. We find each other by shared interests and not by accident in the thousands of messages blast at us daily. I can hear the quiet coming already. And I love how this supports people like us who are creating a first-class internet tv programs that our viewers want to be free.

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