Thank you to those who have signed up this past week for Remote Notes. Whether you found it via email, LinkedIn, Facebook or social sharing, I’m happy you’re here.
In today’s Remote Notes: Five (plus one) tips to make a great podcast ad; Links and likes; Podcasts worth a listen; Music, video and shows I’m streaming; A great site for resources and insight; and a look at our initial statistics.
The Elements of a Great Podcast Ad
Let’s start with the obvious: Nobody likes advertising. But wait - we like movie previews. And we like music videos, which started as ads for records. And funny commercials seem to get shared a lot. Oh, and who doesn’t love watching the Super Bowl ads? It turns out we DO like commercials after all, we just don’t like noise. We dislike irrelevant messages. We don’t like meaningless interruptions. We hate the jarring effect that comes when we’re in the zone of a story, only to be taken out of the narrative by an ad for something we’ll never buy.
What we want from ads is really no different from what we want from the rest of the content we consume: Entertaining relevance. This is especially important in podcast advertising, where the intimacy of the medium is so direct. The relationship with the audience is intimate and self-determined.
I’ve put together five tips plus one bonus tip for great podcast advertising:
1. Podcast spots are most effective when the hosts read them. They should be informal and conversational, seamlessly fitting in to the theme of the podcast.
2. Be entertaining and informative. Humor (when appropriate) will help you avoid the dreaded “skip” button.
3. Repeat the name of the product and website at least three times.
4. Have a clear, concise call to action that is easy to remember.
5. Listeners prefer 15 second ads, and they perform the best with audience recall. Also: People skip 30 second ads, but if you habituate them to 15s, more will listen to your message, especially if it follows rules 1-4 above.
And the sixth bonus tip: Use a coupon code if the product calls for it. People love coupon codes (“Order now and use the code ‘Remote’ to get 10 percent off!”) and they will help you track the effectiveness of your ad campaign.
If I could boil all this down to one takeaway, it would be this: Make a conversational, 15 second ad that mentions the client/product frequently.
LINKS AND LIKES:
“Bob, listen to me.” The best viral video of the year - by far - comes to us from a rubgy camp in England. Leadership and empathy from a 10 year-old is something amazing to see. I would pay this kid to call me every day and give me a pep talk. It’s only 30 seconds, I and recommend going full-screen:
OMG OMG OMG OMG Speaking of ads we like, the trailer for the Star Wars: Obi Wan Kenobi trailer dropped (on May the Fourth, natch). It looks like it’s going to be a limited, six-episode series. But this is “Star Wars.” Nothing is limited.
The trailer hits a lot of the right notes. After the misfire of “Boba Fett,” there’s a lot of pressure on Lucasfilm and Disney+ to get this one right.
PODCASTS WORTH A LISTEN:
I like falling asleep to baseball games, but get too excited if the game turns good or bad. Enter Northwoods Baseball Sleep Radio, a combination of ASMR, white noise, and a host calling a baseball game that never happened. Relaxing, if almost too funny at first. (H/T to my son and fellow Red Sox fan, Izak.)
Spittin’ Chiclets: If you’re a hockey fan, or if you just like hilarious, off-color sports talk, hit up these guys. Sports with a Bawstin attitude, not your average, dry chat. It’s playoffs season. Let’s talk. (And talk they do - episodes can go three hours!) Jon Hamm is on the latest episode.
Stephen Fry’s 7 Deadly Sins: If there were any justice, Stephen Fry would be just as famous in the US as he is in the UK. Humorous, insightful and a proud atheist, Fry is a wizard with words. In this series, Fry takes us through the literature and asks: Why are these sins, let alone deadly ones? (What’s wrong with being proud? Why is lust punishable by death? Why aren’t we all dead?)
Producers/Editors: I’m going to plug a podcast I produced about six weeks ago. New England Baseball Journal’s The Base Path went from our offices outside Boston to Storrs, CT, to interview the UConn Huskies baseball coach and players. Just listen for a few minutes to hear what a difference having a sense of place makes. Tech Note: We used a Tascam DR-40X four-track digital audio recorder. You can plug in two XLR mics, or just use the great built-in mics.
MUSIC: Colin Hay’s new album, “Now And The Evermore.” Cracking good single off it: “Love Is Everywhere.” (The video is silly. Listen on Spotify if you can.) Good antidote to life right now. Great job from the former frontman of Men at Work.
STREAMING:
Paramount+ has gone to the well once again with “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.” Early reviews are good, with a 100% fresh from Rotten Tomatoes’ critics for its first episode. Trekkies will love the return of a legendary captain to the chair.
The Red Sox - White Sox game played Sunday morning in Boston was shown on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, in addition to being on NBC itself. It’s part of the net’s “MLB Sunday Leadoff” package for the next 17 Sundays. The game started at 11:30 a.m. EDT which was weird, but it’s not the worst thing to wake up, have Sunday breakfast, and watch baseball. Sports coverage is spreading out across platforms, with last Friday night’s game only on Apple TV+.
READING: Dan Kennedy’s website, MediaNation. Prof. Kennedy, who teaches at Northeastern, has taught me a lot about media over the years and has held me accountable when I’ve gone over the line. He’s been on fire lately, describing the NY Times’s in-depth reporting on Tucker Carlson and Politico’s scoop of the apparently impending overturn of Roe vs Wade.
STATS: I believe in transparency with you. Our first official newsletter went out to 45 recipients and had an amazing open rate of 76%. We had additional views from Facebook and LinkedIn for a total of 120 reads as of this writing. We currently have 53 subscribers. Thank you, especially to those of you who shared and recommended RN!
THANKS: Goes to John Cockrell for his lending his input and editorial wisdom to this week’s newsletter. You’re a can of corn, Jawwny.
OUR SPONSOR: This newsletter is brought to you by Scott’s Emulsion. Both Bill and Grannie (who makes the middle-aged among us look like the new 80, but never mind that) take Scott’s cod liver oil mix because that’s what you do, dangit. Remember our promo code: FISH BURPS and get some free Pepto at CVS.*
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