ChaosScenario

No advertising budget? Start a blog.

I guess it's true what they say -- necessity is the mother of all invention. For the past few weeks, I've been looking around for innovative advertising and communications solutions, and while watching a vlog over at RealVerse (which I found by watching a vlog at HotAir), I discovered a barbeque joint called "Mothership BBQ" in Nashville, TN that does all of its advertising through a blog that the owner created. Apparently he is experiencing some success from it.

A few things that caught my attention about his experience:

1. The blog existed before he had the idea to begin the restaurant.
2. The blog was authentically personal.
3. The blog had local success BEFORE he decided to advertise anything on it.
4. There is a large blogging community in Nashville.
5. They all talk to each other.

I think, in this instance, had any of the four conditions not been present, the owner of the company would not have experienced such a successful launch. Now, people who have no advertising budget also won't have much of an interactive budget, but there are lessons I think we can safely learn from this.

1. Just having a blog doesn't guarantee success.
2. Authenticity and committment are key.
3. Develop relationships with other bloggers.

This all also happens to fall neatly in line with what David Armano wrote in a recent entry on Logic + Emotion regarding the aversion advertising agencies have to be innovative.

Armano says that traditional advertisers hesitate to come up with or implement innovative but untested ideas. It is difficult to define a blog strategy that can be tied to a definite ROI, and it is therefore risky with "a steep downside."

This particular medium (as well as any others we can think of) puts us in position to blaze a trail for everyone who follows us, but we cannot live in a vaccuum. The entire history of traditional adverstising and human interactions informs everything we do. While we should feel excited about the prospect of what we might find while mining the hills, we should also feel committed to making the most of whatever we find, like 3M did when it turned its failed mining operation into one of the world's most innovative companies.

It's true -- our clients depend on us to deliver more than aesthetic beauty. They depend on us to deliver more than functionality. They depend on us to deliver results that agree with and build upon the brand our clients have poured their lives into through all of its channels of delivery and communication, but we can neither let what has worked in the past limit what we're going to do in the future nor completely forget and disregard what has proved to work in the past.

I guess if striking that balance were easy, everyone would be doing it. - Cam Beck

Podcast pay per call

Even though Google has still not implemented pay-per-call, and I haven't heard anything about the success of Ingenio over at AOL, pay-per-call is expanding. In an attempt to monetize podcast beyond just sponsorships, Ingenio and Podbridge have teamed up  to offer pay-per-call ads that will be placed in pod cast. Apparently the ads will be able to target people based on geography and demographic since most of Podbridge's podcast are from sources like BBC, Clear Channel and Bloomburg. I'm interested to see it in action. I can see how you can geo target pod cast from local radio stations, however, for properties like BBC and Bloomburg, I'm skeptical. Perhaps with those you can only do demographic targeting. Ithink this will just have to be a wait and see. (via Marketing|Vox) - Paul Herring

Podcasting Sponsorship for Travelocity

In my latest article on ClickZ, I talk about our recent efforts to help Travelocity explore the world of podcasting. The article ran on Tuesday of this week, and I've received a ton of feedback about it from readers. Podcasting is growing quickly as a marketing platform and people are eager to learn how it works. As I point out in the article, "how it works" is relatively undefined. With the exception of a few networks which are aggregating podcasts and offering some standardization, it's really something you have to negotiate on a case by case. Either way, we're really excited about podcasting as a platform. Check out the article here. - Pete Lerma

All Hail the Amazonians!

Kudos to Amazon for experimenting with the use of video. They hired a mainstream comedian to host a show, "Amazon Fishbowl with Bill Maher," which will air twelve episodes over the summer. The pilot show is available directly on Amazon.com, but it does not appear that Amazon is supporting podcasts for the time being, which I think is a mistake. People like being in control of how they consume their media, but I still have to applaud Amazon for the effort to bring new, interesting content to their substantial audience.

I just hope the effort isn't wasted. Amazon and Bill Maher both say they hope the left-leaning host steers clear of politics, but by the time the first interview (with Stephen King) was finished, I found myself saying, "Okay. I get it. You don't like Republicans." It's one thing to make an edgy show, which is admirable. It's another thing entirely to alienate a good 30% of your audience.

It's too early to say whether this will be successful in terms of audience size, but with a sponsor like UPS already locked in for the pilot, this opens up new advertising avenues for marketers that we have to consider. - Cam Beck

Ask A Ninja

Don't Believe the Forrester Hype

Forrester has been creating quite a bit of buzz for themselves on the heels of their latest podcasting report, claiming that only 1% use podcasts. In fact, Forrester is predicting that only 700,000 households in the US will use podcasting in 2006.

When I first saw people linking to this article, I was immediately suspicious. Why? Because everyone else's numbers had been much higher. Take, for example, the Pew Internet and American Life project report from March of 2005 (before iTunes adopted podcasting) that stated 6 million Americans have listened to podcasts. In addition, consider Apple's announcement (after the Pew report) that in the first two days of podcast adoption, they topped one million subscriptions.

So why should you not believe the "hype" around Forrester's report?

1. Forrester is only measuring those who "regularly" download and listen to podcasts... not the total marketplace. Heck, without coughing up the $250 for the report, we don't even know what "regularly" means.
2. Forrester is talking about "households", not individuals.
3. This one is the BIG issue - Forrester is only counting people who listen to podcasts on a portable media player! That's what it says in this Information Week article on the report. If this is true... it's huge! A recent study suggests that only 20% of podcast listeners do so on their portable media devices!

This latest Forrester report, in my opinion, was aimed at generating controversy rather than giving us real insight into the podcast listening audience. Spread the word! Forrester got it's buzz... but we still want real data. - John Keehler

The Paid Podcast Model

Only a few people have even attempted to try and publish a podcast that isn't free. Rush Limbaugh is doing it, but there aren't many. Now, one of the most popular podcasts out there is giving it a shot.  Podcasting News reports that The Ricky Gervais podcast, which recently received a Guinness record for podcast downloads, is now migrating the show to a paid format through Audible.com. You can listen to a free teaser for the "second season" of the podcast, but it will cost you $6.95 for a month of podcast listening pleasure from here on out.

Certainly this podcast has the opportunity to make some money. With such a large audience, even if they only get a small percentage of folks to cough up the funds, they'll be making a pretty penny. But how much of the audience will they lose? Would they make more money in ad revenue with a larger free audience? What does Audible do for digital rights management to keep people from spreading the podcast in the public domain once they've paid for it? These are certainly some of the questions being tossed around by podcasters.

And speaking of paying for podcasts, when is iTunes going to implement the ability for publishers to start charging for podcasts? - John Keehler

Oprah, I'm So Disappointed

John Keehler and I were having a debate the other day about the gender make up of the podcasting audience. I told John that when Oprah launched a podcast, the female audience for podcasts would skyrocket. Well, it looks like that may never happen now. Oprah has signed a 3-year, $55 million contract with XM Satellite Radio. Oprah and Friends will launch in September of 2006 with a variety of original audio programming from Harpo Radio, Inc. My hope is that there still may be a chance to do something podcast related. Oprah, if you're reading, "Call me, we'll go podcasting." - Pete Lerma 

Podcast discussion in Dallas with John

For those of you in the Dallas area, our own John Keehler will be participating in a panel on pod casting at the Dallas/Ft. Worth Interactive Marketing Association meeting tonight. If your in the area, come by at 6:00pm and check it out!