OnlineMediaTips.com

We’re still trying to figure it out. And we’re still arguing amongst ourselves about what word to use. Not me. I use any and all words I need to get audience and advertisers to view my content.

Podcasting has NEVER been a good word for what we do. Leo and I talked about trying to find a way to change it two and a half years ago. I have taken Online Media as a generic substitute but that’s not always good enough.

The one thing absent from all the discussions I’ve heard on this subject is audience. Whether or not podcasting is a good word, or online media is a good descriptor, or any other word makes a better choice, depends on the audience. If I am talking to a group of Web 2.0 savvy young people, I will still use podcasting. They know the word. If I am talking to my elderly Aunt Faye, I’ll say I produce a radio program you can listen to on your computer.”

While people in our industry battle over what word to use, I suggest they first focus on the audience. How best can we describe what we do to the people who want to consume our shows? That should be the only thing that ever matters.

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This will be short and sweet. If you’re selling downloads - you’re most likely going to fail. Because advertisers are NOT buying downloads. They are buying more sales.

In my shop, we sell based on a flat-fee approach, regardless of downloads. The flat fee approach makes life easier for everyone. There are no stringent reporting requirements. There are no arguments about partial or complete downloads. We sell access to our audience and a fair and fixed fee. The advertiser is trading on the reputation we have with our audience. That’s all there is to it.
The naysayers will tell you this can’t be done. They’re wrong. I always do it that way for all my shows and am generally sold out.

The reason this works is simple. I know I have a large and dedicated audience. I know they’re right for my advertisers or I wouldn’t pitch the idea in the first place. I believe my product works.

So when the rubber meets the road I simply tell the advertiser that all they need to do is look at the results. If they’re selling more widgets than they were before they started advertising on my show, then the ads are working.

I encourage them to try it for a month and to leave if they don’t get the results they want. Most stick around month after month.

Online media ads work. I know they work. I have confidence in the product. I’m able to translate that honest enthusiasm into sales when combined with shows/blogs that make an obvious connection to the right audience for the right advertiser.

So if you’re not getting the results you want selling downloads, and most of you aren’t. Try selling your relationship to the audience. Try talking about increased sales. Work from a flat fee basis. Challenge the advertiser to try your show. It works for me.

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The more I think about it - the more I am convinced that online media should be multimedia. By combining blogs, podcasts, vlogs, screencasts, music, and slideshows, we can tell a more complete story.

Last night I went to Stanford to see a presentation by Sports Illustrated photographer Bill Frakes. He surprised me by not just showing the expected slide show, but by presenting presentations that included audio, video and stills.

He said that SI.COM received millions of page views for some of his online presentations. You can see a funny example of one he did on NASCAR on the SI site.

What struck me about this was that this was an “old” media company doing some NEW media. And that, while I am involved in podcasting, there is much more to it than that.

A new show that I’ve been working on with Alex Lindsay from Pixelcorps.TV is a good example. This Week in Photography (TWIP) has a blog, three Flickr forums, a video podcast, a screencast and a traditional audio podcast. They are all parts of the same overall entity. And the results have been impressive. We’ve never been out of the iTunes top 25 in Technology in the four months since we launched. We even made it to the top 25 overall list, seven places from Oprah! Wow that was weird. Anyway, I think - no - I know - the audiences are starting to expect more.

Is there a reason that new media producers can’t go more multimedia? I mean if SI can do it, why can’t we?

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1) New research involving podcast advertising show podcast audiences retain more information about advertisers than TV audiences.

2) The ADM has released its proposed standards for advertising and measurement. I was happily surprised that they did very little damage to the way I work. I was pretty worried that these so-called standards would be something that would get in the way of the successful methods I use to sell ads without such standards. While there are some things in there that could hurt, it’s not fatal.

I should mention that Michael Geoghegan wrote up a review of the new standards on his blog. I usually agree with him on just about everything related to new media. He knows his stuff. But I think he missed something here.

Michael is concerned that the ADM didn’t show enough leadership to tackle tough issues like what constitutes a download. I say - thank goodness they didn’t. I prefer that if any organization is going to take that on, it would be one that actually represents the entire podcasting industry, not just a fraction of one percent of it. And also, I have a basic fundamental problem with the question - as in why are we addressing it?
Radio gets sold based on a handful of diaries submitted to each market by Arbitron. Nobody asks radio sales people, “How do I know my ad got listened to? -  How do I know people listened to the entire ad?” etc.

Why do podcasters seem Hell-bent on putting themselves in the position of having to provide information our competitors don’t? Why are we willing to be held to a higher standard than our competition? When I ask some podcasters they tell me that’s just the way it has to be. Maybe - if you have no sales skills.
I’ve sold tens of millions of dollars worth of radio advertising in my career and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of podcasting advertising. I’ve done it without having to deal with that question and want to keep it that way.

3) Podshow recently fired a large number of staff people and now they’re changing their name to Mevio - okay.

4) Lastly, recent radio research from Jacobs says that the audience for podcasting audiences are up. Now what are we going to do about it?

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The Association for Downloadable Media is presenting its proposed “standards” for our industry this week at Ad-Tech here in San Francisco. All podcasters and new media producers who hope to make money at this craft should pay very careful attention to these so-called “standards.” If they are well done - they could end up helping many producers. If they are NOT well-crafted - these “standards” will cost some or all of us money and deals we could have made without them.

My experience with the ADM has not been at all positive. I am concerned that the organization as a whole, does not have the best interests of all new media producers at heart. While I believe there are some talented, sincere people associated with the ADM, I am not sure their effort will be sufficient to override the people who are most interested in self-aggrandizement.

Look at these standards carefully when they are released. Feel free to use the comments section here to tell us what you do and don’t like about them, and whether or not they might help or hinder (in your opinion) your efforts to gain advertising support for your show.

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