The Communicate Influence Podcast

Influencer marketing is fast replacing many marketing tactics. It's such a flexible option that can be used on many levels. Small and large agencies can employ it, as can businesses and individuals.

In fact, the chances are that you've already used influencer marketing and don't realize it. For example, having a contact share your content with their Twitter following of thousands, or receiving a LinkedIn recommendation from someone with a greater profile than yours, are both forms of influencer marketing; in effect, you're using someone's influence to lift your profile.

Neal Schaffer explores the depth and breadth of influencer marketing in his new book, The Age of Influence. Neal is a social media marketer, corporate trainer, educator, keynote speaker, and author of three other books.

The Communicate Influence Podcast show connected with Neal last week to discuss his impressive new book. 

This is a meaty episode, running for 52 minutes. But not a word is wasted! Neal discusses so much of value in this episode, including:

Connect with Neal at nealschaffer.com or on LinkedIn. 

Podcasting is significantly changing journalism, which has been affected a great deal by lack of investment and a declining audience in recent years.

In this episode we speak with Toronto podcast producer and journalist Kathleen Goldhar on the impact podcasting continues to have on journalism

"I don't think you can do anything without a podcast anymore," Kathleen observes. "Every news organization has one, CBC has one . . . whether it's an original podcast where they do a lot of an amazing work or all the shows are sent out on a podcasting format.

"So podcasting is as much a part of journalism has print, as digital storytelling, and as TV news is like, there's just no separating it now."

She adds that a lot of people don't read a lot online, and so this makes podcasting an essential part of journalism.

Kathleen says that there is no one thing that makes a journalistic podcast stand out.

But the intimacy that a podcast allows for between host and listener is a key aspect of a good podcast.

"What podcasting and what audio does is it just goes straight into your brain because it's so intimate. So it's a chance to hear the people, it's a chance to hear them interact with the journalists a lot of times, which is really nice."

Kathleen says that it's essential to pay attention to your audience and think their information needs.

"Most people are listening to podcasts while they are doing something else. If you make me stop and ask who's that character? or What did he do again, or Who's this person, then you've lost me. And if that happens too many times, I'm going to turn off the podcast.

"So, as complicated as podcast stories can be, and nuanced and smart, they also have to be quite straightforward and simple. We're not reading, so we can't go back. We're not having the extra advantage of a visual reminder like you do in television," Kathleen explains. "I'm not going to make notes while I'm listening to a podcast. So I need the story itself to unfold in a very practical and a very simple way."

She adds that this doesn't mean that a podcast has to be dumbed-down. Instead, podcasters have to really think about the listener and how prepared they are to be joining you on the story.

"This is a big part of the quality for me, that's when I know that it's produced well . . . when I never have that problem (of losing the thread of the story), and the podcaster is always helping me if I do need to go back in my mind to a character that was introduced a few episodes ago," she adds.

Kathleen recommends that if you want to be a podcaster or podcast producer, the best thing you can do is listen to as many podcasts as possible.

"You should listen to a lot. I think there's a lot of people who don't listen to podcasts and then say they want to make a podcast," she notes. "And then when you're listening, spend some time thinking to yourself, why did that work for me? Why didn't it work for me? What are the pleat places that I can find inspiration? What do I want to stay away from? Is that kind of thing?"

You can find Kathleen on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

This episode sees host Sheelagh Caygill talk to branding pro Jack Fussell. He's worked with hundreds of businesses on brand strategy, and knows what makes a brand great.

Branding is so much bigger than a logo, website, or business card. Jack says at the end of the day, the most simple version of understanding what a brand is, is what your customers feel about you.

"When they, when you say the name of your company, or you say the name of your brand, or you say the name of, you know, if your individual, you say your own name, what do people think?

"Are they like, 'Oh my gosh. Yes. That's amazing!'."

The work of brand building, the work of branding in and of itself is really just building up all of that.

"Visual identity is a part of that. I mean, you, there, you know, if your, if your logo looks outdated or, you know, it looks, you know, you're some cool like motorcycle company, but if you're logo looks like a tech logo from the 1990s then it changes the way people perceive you.," says Jack. 

Branding is very much a feeling thing. We develop our feelings about a brand based on our experiences with an organization. It's not a rational thing.  

Jack says that a brand strategy session is different with every organization. He says the first thing is to understand the customers, whey they are thinking, their views, and preferences. 

"When that customer is sitting there looking for something online or they're searching through an app or whatever, what are they thinking? What are they feeling? What do they experience amazing?"

The secret of a brand is understanding what makes the company unique and understanding what the biggest needs and values of the customers are.

For companies with reputation issues, a new logo, new website, new letterhead is not going to fix this problem.

Jack says empathy is actually the heart of branding. Brands that do really well - it is all about empathy. It's all about putting yourself in the place of the other person. It's understanding how they feel.  Empathy is actually like wearing someone else's emotions.  

"If they're excited, we become excited. Like we really do! We really do put ourselves in the place of that customer.

"And, you know, one of our favorite brands is Disney. We love to go to the parks. It's just, I get to be a kid again.

"You can tell that they've built their entire brand around empathy, that they understand when someone, you know, Well, just every part of it from the moment you call in to the way that they, um, you know, they just explain everything so carefully."

Jack Fussell is a brand strategist with Campfire Social. Find him on Linkedin. Listen to his podcast, Onward Creatives. 

Many podcast transcripts are uploaded to podcast websites with the belief that they benefit search engine optimization.
But is this true? Carl Robinson, founder of Tizz Tech and host of the Voice Tech podcast, has used and then removed transcripts, and saw no difference in traffic figures. I had a similar experience.
The issue could come down to the quality of transcriptions generated by platforms such as Otter and Descript. They need improvement - a human has to remove errors while adding speaker names, subheads, and pull-out quotes.
Paying someone to do the work adds a cost for independent podcasters, who often podcast without a budget.
However, there is a reason to add transcripts or closed captions to episodes - for the hard of hearing. A recent class action lawsuit against Gimlet Media has brought this issue back into focus.
In the complaint, filed last week in New York, plaintiff Kahlimah Jones argues that Gimlet violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to provide closed captioning on various podcasts.
In this episode we explore the use of transcripts, and whether every podcaster should include them with their episodes.
Carl Robinson's agency is Tizz Tech, and his Voice Tech Podcast is here: https://voicetechpodcast.com/. And you can find him on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

Fernando Angulo is Fernando is Head of Communications with SEMRush. In this episode, Fernando gives an in-depth discussion about how to market an e-commerce website. 

He takes listeners through all the essentials, including SEO, advertising, Google Tools, paid-for options, and social media. This is the second and final part of our series on e-commerce platforms and marketing. You can find episode one with Kevin McCall here.

How to market your e-commerce store

Key takeaways from this episode include:

• Research your niche and what's happening in your industry before beginning any marketing. Use available analytical tools to help with this task
• Track all referral traffic, including traffic from social media and or affiliates
• Use tools to identify competitor traffic
• Really good content is essential. Hire a writer if you don't a stellar writer in-house. Web content is your online salesperson!
• Use your blog to create targeted content marketing, although this can take time to boost SEO
• If your website is new and you need leads set a budget for online advertising.

Show notes:

You can find Fernando on LinkedIn. Here's his recommended reading for this episode:

Large study about Featured Snippets
https://www.semrush.com/blog/large-scale-study-how-to-rank-for-featured-snippets-in-2018/

E-commerce Study free Ebook
https://www.semrush.com/ebooks/ecommercetrends/

Listen to part one with Kevin McCall on selecting e-commerce platforms.

This episode is sponsored by Podmotion.co, a new podcast creation and promotion agency launching soon! Go to Podmotion.co for more details!

COVID-19 impacted thousands of businesses globally, and a lot of smaller businesses had never made the jump to an online presence.

Suddenly, they were without sales, and had to scramble to get online. Some businesses are still dealing with the transition to ecommerce, especially smaller businesses and bricks and mortar stores. 

In this episode, Kevin McCall, founder and technology lead with Podmotion.co, discusses the best solutions and what to look at when integrating ecommerce.

Key consdierations include:

• Integration with an existing inventory management system
• Age of existing website technology
• Which ecommerce platform to select
• Pros and cons of ecommerce platforms, including ongoing costs
• Positioning of product and services in the new ecommerce store
• Marketplace or destination store
• Strategy to respond to competition
• Search engine optimization

Kevin also talks about how to present your goods online, along with returns, exchanges, and the overall customer journey. Does your selected solution work with your ecommerce stratecy?

Finally, when your ecommerce store is up and running, how will you advertise it? Kevin gives a brief overview of this. He also looks at how to select a developer for your ecommerce project.

This episode is sponsored by Podmotion.co, a new podcast creation and promotion agency launching soon! Go to Podmotion.co for more details!

Voice technology is set to have a significant impact on the podcasting work flow in the coming months. 

This episode is actually created with voice technology in the form of a new mobile and web app call Rumble Studio. 

Developed by Carl Robinson, Rumble Studio lets any organization create and publish audio content for a number of uses, including interviews, content marketing, and audio content projects. 

Episode transcript

This is Sheelagh with Communicate Influence. This episode has a flavour of the future to it. It points to what podcasting could be in coming months. This is because it's created with a new mobile app called Rumble Studio.

Rumble studio is a web and mobile application that lets anyone or any organization record and publish audio for content marketing. It's easy and makes dropping episodes super fast.

For this episode, I did a quick interview with Carl Robinson, who is actually CEO of Rumble Studio. To do this asynchronous interview, I pre-recorded my questions into the web app, and Carl, who's based in Paris, recorded his answers in the app the next day.

In fact, this is Carl's first ever interview with Rumble Studio.

For the next stages, Rumble Studio let me upload our intro music and record this intro within the app. To use Rumble Studio, you don't need equipment or special skills.

There's no scheduling involved. You simply record your questions and let an interviewee know when it's ready for their answers. You do this by inserting their email address and Rumble Studio sends the interviewee an invite. 

Potential uses of voice tech

The potential uses for Rumble Studio are really exciting. It's going to open up audio creation to many more people. And it's going to be great for hard-to-reach guests or people in different time zones who simply can't connect.

Rumble studio isn't just confined to question and answer interviews only. A creator can use Rumbel for solo podcasts or simply to create some audio

In my view, rumble studio won't replace real, live human interviewers, or podcast editors. Butut it will definitely enhance a podcasters or content creator's work. I'm think journalists will find this tool incredibly useful, too.

I've had fun using Rumble Studio and it was great to connect with Carl on this.

The only thing I think needs a bit of improvement is the interface and the instructions. I can see how some guests may find it challenging or daunting at first glance. Carl assures me that this is something his team is working on.

In a few weeks I'll have a full human, interview with the CEO himself - Carl Robinson of Rumble Studio.

You can connect with Carl on LinkedIn.

Podmotion.co - episode sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Podmotion.co, a new podcast creation and promotion agency launching soon! Go to Podmotion.co for more details!

A diversified agency with the ability to pivot

Linda Andross and Ken Evans, partners at APEX Public Relations and Ruckus Digital in Toronto, discuss the impact of the global pandemic on PR and marketing agencies.

APEX is a fairly diversified agency, and Ken and Linda observe that agencies that are diversified and can pivot quickly have done reasonably well, while specialist boutique agencies, such as event mangement consultancies, have struggled. 

Preparing to leave the office when the pandemic arrived

Linda and Ken discuss the last week or so at the office as they kept up to speed with fast-moving developments. They prepared to send staff home to remote work, while communicating with, and supporting, clients, and staying in touch with other partners, such as IT, suppliers, and building management. 

During this time, Apex PR was preparing to launch a media trainign program. This was shifted to online training, to which clients responded well. They were also introducing a new client acquisition model - so there was a lot going on in the weeks before the pandemic hit.

The future of PR and marketing agencies

Linda and Ken also discuss:

• The work they did with clients following the brutal murder of George Floyd 
• Their advice to public relations and marketing agencies hit badly by the pandemic.
• How to move conventional services online.
• The use of media sensibilities to develop an ability to anticipate challenges from different perspectives.
• Their views on whether remote working is here to stay.
• How to best support staff during this kind of situation.
• Why public relations is better positioned to whether the current global crisis compared to advertising agencies, and lots more.

You can find Linda Andross and Ken Evans at APEX Public Relations.

This episode is brought to you by Podmotion.co - a new podcast creation and marketing agency base in Toronto. Visit Podmotion.co for more details.

Like what you read and hear? Consider supporting our podcast development at buymeacoffee.com. Thanks to our latest supporters, Cleidi Hearn from Ireland, Aaron Sherle from Arizona, U.S. 

We all face procrastination at some point in our lives. That conscious and perhaps deliberate process employed to bring about failure - according to psychologists.

Procrastination is employed for various reasons - we don't like the task at hand, there's something better on offer, or we're not sure how to proceed.

Some people say they procrastinate because they're tired - although other's aren't convinced that's a case of procrastination. More just a case that someone needs a break or even a good night's sleep.

In this episode, we change formats and have a discussion rather than an interview. Host Sheelagh Caygill and screenwriter Daanish Ahamed discuss why they procrastinate and methods they've used to successfully end this behaviour.

Daanish details a special method he has developed to break cycles of procrastination. Briefly, it is using a friend to offer a reward if the task is completed on deadline. The reward is unrelated to the task and therefore diverts attention from all the distractions and excuses the procrastinator creates, and makes it easier to focus on what needs to be done.

If the procrastinator fails to meet their deadline, they must provide a reward to their motivating friend.

Daanish is offering to put this method into practive with five listeners. Find out what Daanish's offer is and how to take advantage of it in this episode!

You can find Daanish Ahamed at LinkedIn and on Twitter.

If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us grow and reach more people, consider a tiny bit of support via Buymeacoffee.com

Rapidly changing public and employee expectations mean CEOs must start using social media to ensure they express the right sentiment at the right moment. 

The West has gone from a situation whre most executives were afraid of using social media for fear they might make some kind of mistake. 

"In recent times, especially since Trump and particularly since COVID-19, we've reached the point where fear of being absent from social media -especially if something goes wrong with their company - that fear of being absent is greater than the fear of being there and making a mistake, which was part of their initial reluctance," explains Bob Pickard, author of a chapter in a new book about CEOs and social media.

The book, The Social CEO: How Social Media Can Make You a Stronger Leader, has been written by Damian Corbet. Bob's chapter is How PR Disasters are Driving CEOs to Embrace Social Media. 

"The embrace has been fully informed by the current tides of opinion in the marketplace," adds Bob. 

When something goes wrong with a company or a complex organization, like a government or a non-profit organization, all eyes go online looking for the leader, and that's why the leader has to be on social media. They have to orchestrate, communicate, and relate to people right from the start of any incident. "To most executives, this is a relatively new area of endeavor. Many executives, particularly the more experienced ones, were brought up in a world of control, a world of hierarchy, a world of defference," explains Bob.

"It's not like we could wave a magic wand and change the way that they've been thinking for their entire career about how it is that they should communicate with people," he adds. 

Some (CEOs) expect that they're going to be sitting on top of the commanding heights of information, broadcasting their views to an appreciative audience of people who will just passively consume whatever they say. 

"All of a sudden, rewiring your mind to deal with peer-to-peer horizontal communication where people expect to be listened to and demand have their voices heard, that's not for everybody," says Bob. "That's not the career experience of many executives. It's something they've got to wrap their heads around and deal with.

"We've done some research here in Canada . . . the public now expects the chief executive to communicate about the activities of the company which they lead, especially if something goes wrong, such as a crisis. It's not really optional anymore. This is going to become mandatory for executives to signal their leadership online through social media."

Donald Trump's use of social media in 2016 was a digital disruption that broke through earlier resistance. A lot of executives looked at how Trump was elected President of the United States, basically, by running and emoting his campaign through a Twitter feed.

"They didn't want in most cases to be like Trump. In fact, I think the majority would be horrified to be like that," notes Bob. "They did watch the case study of his undeniable and unexpected success, feel the power of social media for the very first time in terms of driving real incomes."

A lot of CEOs regarded social media as a waste of time, assuming it was frivolous, where they would tweet about what they had for breakfast that morning. But the power of social through the Trump case study really galvanized people to go out there and give it a try.

Go to Communicate Influence to read the full article with this podcast.

Fine Bob Pickard on LinkedIn and Twitter.