1292: What a Record Label Can Teach B2B Marketers About Building a Brand w/ Alex Heddle

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:08.630 Welcome back to be tob growth. I'm looking lyles with sweet fish media. 2 00:00:08.669 --> 00:00:13.029 I'm joined today by Alex Hedel. He's the VP of publishing at big machine 3 00:00:13.070 --> 00:00:15.550 music. Alex, welcome to the show. How's it going today? Man, 4 00:00:16.070 --> 00:00:19.350 thank you so much, Logan to it's going great, beautifulday in Nashville. 5 00:00:19.910 --> 00:00:23.940 Absolutely so. As as listeners can probably tell from your title, you 6 00:00:24.100 --> 00:00:27.460 are not a BB marketer, at least inn't in your current role, and 7 00:00:27.579 --> 00:00:30.579 so people might be thinking, will hold on a second. We are normally 8 00:00:30.739 --> 00:00:36.530 interviewing marketing leaders at BEDB tech companies. Why are we talking to Alex here 9 00:00:36.609 --> 00:00:39.890 from from a record label? And what we're going to be talking about is 10 00:00:40.049 --> 00:00:45.170 what marketers in BTB can learn from the tactics, in the strategies that you 11 00:00:45.250 --> 00:00:48.810 employ every day at a record label. So for a little bit of context, 12 00:00:48.890 --> 00:00:51.439 Alex, tell us a little bit about your current role, what you're 13 00:00:51.479 --> 00:00:55.000 doing at the record label and and some context to kind of tea up this 14 00:00:55.119 --> 00:01:00.039 conversation. So my current role at big machine music is I lead creative for 15 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:03.590 the publishing arm of the of the label group, and so that's very much 16 00:01:03.629 --> 00:01:11.750 the creative side of of the company. I manage and develop songwriters and also 17 00:01:11.829 --> 00:01:17.109 develop artists who write their own songs. We currently have, I think, 18 00:01:17.150 --> 00:01:21.939 around twenty songwriters or wor songwriter artists on our on our roster, and it's 19 00:01:21.980 --> 00:01:26.019 really our job to, you know, develop them for the mark it. 20 00:01:26.099 --> 00:01:30.299 So these are people with talent, people that write songs on a daily basis 21 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:36.129 and really just making sure that they are producing songs that are competitive that then 22 00:01:36.209 --> 00:01:40.930 we can take and shop out two different artists or TV shows or movies or 23 00:01:40.969 --> 00:01:45.129 video games or really anywhere a copyright can make make money. Where we've really 24 00:01:45.129 --> 00:01:49.480 excelled is just in the country radio and now pop radio game though. So 25 00:01:51.079 --> 00:01:53.480 you know, whether it's yeah, like, you know, finding a young 26 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:57.359 luke combs or a young Brett, young and believing in what they're writing, 27 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:00.950 and then and the really just focusing on making sure that it's competitive sonically for 28 00:02:00.989 --> 00:02:04.909 the market. And then, of course, then you are selling it to 29 00:02:04.950 --> 00:02:07.550 different people within your own company, making sure people are prepped with right information. 30 00:02:07.990 --> 00:02:12.349 You know, on that side we're very much in product development, I 31 00:02:12.389 --> 00:02:15.699 guess you would say. We obviously we call it artist development, but with 32 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:22.620 songwriters it's kind of the same thing. And then yet even more where we 33 00:02:22.819 --> 00:02:25.740 are instructing them on what is competitive in the market. We're keeping them fresh 34 00:02:25.900 --> 00:02:30.569 on what artists are doing well right now, what we think that we can 35 00:02:30.009 --> 00:02:32.330 we can go after. I mean, whether it's an artist that, you 36 00:02:32.409 --> 00:02:36.930 know, doesn't write their own songs and you know they're writing songs in a 37 00:02:36.930 --> 00:02:39.210 room and then I am taking those songs and pitching it to the artists in 38 00:02:39.250 --> 00:02:44.879 our person the artists themselves, their producer, really anyone who's involved in that 39 00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:47.599 decision making process around them. Or if it's an artist that does write their 40 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:52.479 own songs, then I take one of our his songwriters try to make an 41 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:57.120 introduction in a natural sense, which is, you know, really where sales 42 00:02:57.199 --> 00:02:59.509 comes in. You know, whether you're pitching a song, I mean you're 43 00:02:59.669 --> 00:03:04.110 built a relationship, you got to rapport reputation that you can put forth and 44 00:03:04.310 --> 00:03:07.990 really leverage to, you know, then make sure that there are giving you 45 00:03:08.150 --> 00:03:10.990 the time and respect that you need to really show you you know, hey, 46 00:03:12.030 --> 00:03:14.939 I have a great product. He please take this seriously. And then 47 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:19.979 or, you know, if you're shopping your songwriter to collaborate with an artist, 48 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:23.180 then you're really just kind of trying to work on style. You know, 49 00:03:23.259 --> 00:03:27.729 lyrics, things that you know, these this artists are definitely going to 50 00:03:27.810 --> 00:03:30.610 connect to in order to try and make that connection for them to get in 51 00:03:30.650 --> 00:03:34.210 a room together or really pedigree. So it's if it's a hit songwriter that 52 00:03:34.330 --> 00:03:37.289 has written a bunch of hits. Well, like sometimes like, let's say, 53 00:03:37.330 --> 00:03:39.650 I'm I don't know, kind the sky, like a guy like Sam 54 00:03:39.689 --> 00:03:43.919 hunt or something like that, that you know, I'm trying to shop one 55 00:03:43.960 --> 00:03:46.719 of my writers over to write with. Well, I know Sam, you 56 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:52.599 know, certainly likes more artistic, you know, forms of contemporary music, 57 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:57.389 and so somebody who can really write great lyrics. So somebody who really respects 58 00:03:57.509 --> 00:04:00.870 and slows down the creative process. I mean just thinking about these kind of 59 00:04:00.949 --> 00:04:05.030 micromoments in a room and then, you know, really just marketing that towards 60 00:04:05.150 --> 00:04:09.349 persons. You're making this connection to to people that can create together and in 61 00:04:09.430 --> 00:04:15.219 a way that hopefully yields a hit. So I love how much relationships were 62 00:04:15.300 --> 00:04:19.100 just woven throughout kind of that background and context, Alex, and I'd like 63 00:04:19.220 --> 00:04:21.699 to dig in to that a little bit because I do think there are some 64 00:04:21.860 --> 00:04:27.889 parallels for bb sales and marketing leaders, because, you know, in bb 65 00:04:28.089 --> 00:04:32.050 we usually have a very targeted list, a targeted focus of the market that 66 00:04:32.170 --> 00:04:35.329 we're trying to serve. We're trying to serve, you know, VP's of 67 00:04:35.449 --> 00:04:42.319 sales at technology companies or operations managers at manufacturing companies. We kind of know 68 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:46.639 that profile. And in bb we're not trying to reach the masses. We're 69 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:49.000 not trying to reach millions and billions of people. And when you think about 70 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:54.350 a record label you think about all the consumption on the consumer level of the 71 00:04:54.389 --> 00:05:00.389 music. But really in your role it's about focusing first on those key relationships 72 00:05:00.670 --> 00:05:04.029 and then being able to identify how do I build those relationships, how do 73 00:05:04.069 --> 00:05:08.420 I open open those doors to new relationships, how do I foster them, 74 00:05:08.660 --> 00:05:12.379 and then how do I connect what I know about them, not in kind 75 00:05:12.379 --> 00:05:15.300 of a baetan switch sort of way, but what I understand to match what 76 00:05:15.420 --> 00:05:18.579 I have to offer to them? So what are some of the things that 77 00:05:18.740 --> 00:05:23.610 you think have been helpful for you and in both opening those doors to new 78 00:05:23.689 --> 00:05:28.889 relationships and continuing to foster those with the folks in the market that you're trying 79 00:05:28.889 --> 00:05:32.529 to serve? You mention a couple key personas that you're building relationships with for 80 00:05:33.370 --> 00:05:36.920 for your company and for the songwriters that you represent. What are some of 81 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:43.240 those things that have been your secret sauce? I mean really it's just managing 82 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:47.279 what I'm putting forward to people. I mean I always is. My goal 83 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:50.509 is to always be bringing value to somebody. I never want to hustle anybody 84 00:05:51.350 --> 00:05:55.949 because honestly, they want to work with me again. And the music community, 85 00:05:55.949 --> 00:05:59.230 I mean the country music community, is small. But like, if 86 00:05:59.230 --> 00:06:01.149 you really look at the music community, like I mean can when we go 87 00:06:01.189 --> 00:06:04.180 to the grammys every year, you realize how big of a world of music 88 00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:08.420 it is, but you also realize how small the community of success it is. 89 00:06:08.899 --> 00:06:11.779 And so if you want to play ball, then you better bring your 90 00:06:11.819 --> 00:06:15.259 best every day. So that's why I focus so much. I'm, you 91 00:06:15.339 --> 00:06:18.649 know, just knowing intimately the people that I'm working with. You know, 92 00:06:18.689 --> 00:06:21.769 my songwriters. I need to know what they love with it, how they 93 00:06:23.009 --> 00:06:26.089 represent themselves in the room, how they want to win, as a big 94 00:06:26.170 --> 00:06:28.689 thing for me too, because, you know, if they are passionate about 95 00:06:28.689 --> 00:06:30.649 the direction that we're heading in, then I have, you know, somebody 96 00:06:30.649 --> 00:06:36.480 who's making our quote unquote, product that is passionate, feels inspired, knows 97 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:40.240 that every day they're going in and doing something that is very purposeful for them. 98 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:42.560 So, you know, once you have that, once you have somebody 99 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:45.959 that is excited to, you know, go in and make a collaboration, 100 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:48.189 happens writing these songs that then I can, you know, become passionate about 101 00:06:48.230 --> 00:06:50.910 and bring to these people, I think that that is just kind of a 102 00:06:53.230 --> 00:06:58.189 contagious factor, you know, when you have something that is so real to, 103 00:06:58.629 --> 00:07:00.579 you know, already a few people, and then you're bringing it to 104 00:07:01.259 --> 00:07:04.060 the buyer, which is, you know, really an AAR person at a 105 00:07:04.139 --> 00:07:09.939 record label or a or a producer or an artist or, honestly, sometimes 106 00:07:09.980 --> 00:07:13.500 I'm pitching stuff to video games and film and TV and stuff like that too, 107 00:07:13.620 --> 00:07:15.290 and that's a bit of a different game. But it's still great that 108 00:07:15.410 --> 00:07:18.009 you believe in your products. I mean, if you really believe in your 109 00:07:18.050 --> 00:07:24.329 product, other people will start to leave as well. Hey, everybody, 110 00:07:24.569 --> 00:07:28.730 logan with sweet fish here. You probably already know that we think you should 111 00:07:28.730 --> 00:07:31.120 start a podcast if you haven't already. But what if you have and you're 112 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:36.079 asking these kinds of questions? How much has our podcast impacted revenue this year? 113 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:41.800 How is our sales team actually leveraging the podcast content. If you can't 114 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:46.470 answer these questions, you're actually not alone. This is why cast it created 115 00:07:46.509 --> 00:07:51.230 the very first content marketing platform made specifically for be tob podcasting. Now you 116 00:07:51.350 --> 00:07:58.110 can more easily search and share your audio content while getting greater visibility into the 117 00:07:58.269 --> 00:08:03.620 impact of your podcast. The marketing teams at drift terminus and here at sweet 118 00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:07.019 fish have started using casted to get more value out of our podcasts, and 119 00:08:07.180 --> 00:08:11.339 you probably can to. You can check out the product in action at casted 120 00:08:11.660 --> 00:08:20.529 dot US growth. That's CEA ST ED DOT US growth. All right, 121 00:08:20.730 --> 00:08:26.240 let's get back to the show. Absolutely I love that you talked. You 122 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:30.839 know, we kind of started down this trail talking about relationships and you touched 123 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:33.720 on something. They're knowing. What the the people in the market that you're 124 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:37.080 trying to serve, what they're passionate about, and I think in in BB 125 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:41.909 marketing we kind of skip over the emotional aspect of it. We you know, 126 00:08:41.950 --> 00:08:46.750 if you're selling a crm software or a sales engagement platform, it's well, 127 00:08:46.789 --> 00:08:50.710 we're missing this time and and this feature fits this problem and solves and 128 00:08:50.990 --> 00:08:56.539 provides this benefit. But what's the emotional situation of the people that were selling 129 00:08:56.620 --> 00:08:58.940 to, what gets them fired up, what gets them frustrated, what really 130 00:09:00.059 --> 00:09:05.419 takes them off right and and how can we determine where their emotional state aligns 131 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:09.129 with what we're passionate about as a brandon and what our what our why is? 132 00:09:09.210 --> 00:09:13.889 And then in telling a story, where your product or your service weaves 133 00:09:13.009 --> 00:09:16.649 in, weaves into that. You kind of mentioned another thing that we're very 134 00:09:16.690 --> 00:09:20.289 passionate about here, Alex I. It was kind of subtle on what you 135 00:09:20.370 --> 00:09:24.399 said there, but you essentially alluding to playing the long game, that you're 136 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:28.960 always adding value. You're not looking to every interaction. I deposit this, 137 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:31.480 I get this back out right, I'm going to deposit, I'm going to 138 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:33.519 deposit, I'm going to deposit. Like Gary V says, Jab Jab, 139 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:37.159 Jab, right hook. It's not Jabb Right Hook, Jab right hook. 140 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:39.470 Right. I'm going to give and take, give and take. It's give, 141 00:09:39.509 --> 00:09:41.509 give, give, and then it's probably going to come back to you 142 00:09:41.669 --> 00:09:46.509 before you even ask if you're if you're giving enough. At the same time 143 00:09:46.470 --> 00:09:50.710 you do, you know, as marketers, as salespeople, we've got quotas 144 00:09:50.750 --> 00:09:56.019 to hit, we've got pipeline to generate. There is a responsibility for the 145 00:09:56.139 --> 00:10:01.740 business results. So how do you balance that mentality and being competitive and somewhat 146 00:10:01.779 --> 00:10:07.330 aggressive, passionate about what you do and getting that message to the right people 147 00:10:07.769 --> 00:10:11.450 without come thing across as hey, I'm just trying to hustle? It's that's 148 00:10:11.529 --> 00:10:13.529 really my end game. How do you balance that? And what do you 149 00:10:13.570 --> 00:10:16.850 think other sales and marketing folks could learn their Alex? I mean, I 150 00:10:16.929 --> 00:10:20.049 think it depends on the context of first of all, there's a quote that 151 00:10:20.049 --> 00:10:26.200 I love from our CEO. He always says like, you know, welcome 152 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:28.120 to the music business. Like how long do you want to play, as 153 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:30.840 in like welcome to the Casino? How long do you want to play? 154 00:10:30.840 --> 00:10:33.840 Do you want to throw all your money down and walk away in two weeks, 155 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:35.590 or you want to learn the game? You want to figure out how 156 00:10:35.669 --> 00:10:39.789 you can play the longest, how you can be involved and how you can 157 00:10:39.789 --> 00:10:43.350 make the biggest impact. And you know, I think it depends in the 158 00:10:43.389 --> 00:10:46.110 context. With us, when we were starting this company out eight years ago, 159 00:10:46.909 --> 00:10:48.909 we were we were small. We had a budget that had kind of 160 00:10:48.909 --> 00:10:52.139 been set out in front of us of money that we're going to be able 161 00:10:52.179 --> 00:10:54.460 to grow our company with, but it wasn't through acquisitions, it was it 162 00:10:54.580 --> 00:10:58.419 was really through signing and development. So I mean really for us it was 163 00:10:58.500 --> 00:11:03.059 like, you know, when you have like three or four or five songwriters 164 00:11:03.139 --> 00:11:05.450 early on, you have a lot of places you can go. And so 165 00:11:05.570 --> 00:11:09.090 yeah, there is always a need to be in front of people in selling, 166 00:11:09.769 --> 00:11:11.809 but you know, if you have other avenues, if one if one 167 00:11:11.850 --> 00:11:16.169 area is not appropriate just yet, well you can still build a relationship by 168 00:11:16.330 --> 00:11:20.360 like, you know, sharing good content with that person or sharing time with 169 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:24.879 that person or just honestly becoming a friend or at least building reputation where you're 170 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:26.279 showing, Hey, I'm doing this over here and I'm going to come come 171 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:30.080 to you at some point. But you know, there's other for me it 172 00:11:30.200 --> 00:11:33.990 was always I can go focus on this over here, build more reputation for 173 00:11:33.029 --> 00:11:37.029 our song where just build more of a story over here, so then eventually 174 00:11:37.029 --> 00:11:39.350 I can bring it over here to a place that, you know, I 175 00:11:39.389 --> 00:11:41.389 couldn't go over and try and hustle, but I'm just not going to do 176 00:11:41.429 --> 00:11:43.710 it. I'm going to go when it's appropriate and when I'm really bringing value 177 00:11:43.750 --> 00:11:48.740 to them. So I think it's just being really respectful of timing, because 178 00:11:48.740 --> 00:11:52.059 it really does play so much into into growth, you know. I mean 179 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:56.059 it's knowing, knowing when you're we're when you're ready to take advantage of the 180 00:11:56.100 --> 00:11:58.779 right situation. Yeah, absolutely makes sense that I hit the nail on the 181 00:11:58.820 --> 00:12:01.730 head there. Yeah, absolutely, and I have a follow up question to 182 00:12:01.889 --> 00:12:05.850 that, Alex, because I think that the stage you describe kind of talking 183 00:12:05.850 --> 00:12:11.009 about the earlier days of the company, when you're kind of that that disruptor 184 00:12:11.169 --> 00:12:15.720 you're not the the biggest player in town yet, that sort of stuff. 185 00:12:15.960 --> 00:12:18.639 There are a lot of companies that we talked to that are maybe at that 186 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:22.240 stage in their own start up journey. Maybe they've got their seed round or 187 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:26.039 they've got a series a of funding and they're just starting to kind of try 188 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:31.470 and take on the bigger names in in their space and in very different industries. 189 00:12:31.830 --> 00:12:33.990 And so they've got to make a decision. How do we go to 190 00:12:35.149 --> 00:12:37.230 market? Do we do we try to, you know, run a bunch 191 00:12:37.269 --> 00:12:41.629 of ADS and and try to get a bunch of direct response? Do we 192 00:12:41.750 --> 00:12:46.940 go the the long game of creating more content and building very strategic relationships, 193 00:12:46.980 --> 00:12:52.580 it sounds to you, as opposed to kind of pounding the phones and making 194 00:12:52.620 --> 00:12:56.779 a ton of sales calls and and and try and say hey, do you 195 00:12:56.820 --> 00:12:58.220 want to work with us? Do you want to work with us? Do 196 00:12:58.259 --> 00:13:01.610 you want to work with us? That was that was not the the Mo 197 00:13:01.850 --> 00:13:05.210 that you took book, even though it's like, Hey, I'm responsible for 198 00:13:05.610 --> 00:13:09.370 you know, we've got to drive new business. Do you think that that's 199 00:13:09.370 --> 00:13:13.600 a leadership thing that some organizations? I can imagine, you know, the 200 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:16.879 CEO saying, well, we don't have time to kind of play the long 201 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:20.360 game, like we've got a sink or swim now, as much as I 202 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:22.840 see kind of this long game that you want to play building relationships and in 203 00:13:24.039 --> 00:13:28.350 adding value without that direct ask was that a struggle to kind of balance that 204 00:13:28.509 --> 00:13:31.230 for you in the early days or not? And and how did leadership kind 205 00:13:31.230 --> 00:13:33.350 of play a role in that? I mean, no, they were. 206 00:13:33.990 --> 00:13:39.470 They were definitely on our tails when I were losing money, but luckily we 207 00:13:39.549 --> 00:13:43.220 were able to turn that around pretty quickly. I think that it can. 208 00:13:43.539 --> 00:13:46.899 You know, it depends, once again, depends on the product. Some 209 00:13:46.019 --> 00:13:50.139 things you just had to mass market, you know. Sometimes you sometimes you 210 00:13:50.259 --> 00:13:54.620 have to spend that money just to freaking honestly shove it down people's throat until 211 00:13:54.620 --> 00:13:56.570 they know that they need it, they know that want it. But I 212 00:13:56.690 --> 00:14:00.090 think that there's a happy medium there because, you know, when you're not 213 00:14:00.210 --> 00:14:03.490 able to play the long game and you, you know, do have that 214 00:14:03.610 --> 00:14:09.250 pressure of maybe some finances and or bosses or owners or whatever partners, whatever 215 00:14:09.250 --> 00:14:11.039 you're dealing with, I think that there's, you know, a strategy that 216 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:15.600 we like to use so much is, let's identify, you know, the 217 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:18.919 tastemaker, like, let's identify that that point in the market that can make 218 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:22.960 waves and let's go make a fan of of that person. So it's like 219 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:26.350 for us it's like yeah, okay. Like on our creative side, you 220 00:14:26.389 --> 00:14:30.629 know, I'm marking usually to marketing, usually to individuals and trying to get 221 00:14:30.669 --> 00:14:33.830 them to you know, record a song or to take my song right and 222 00:14:33.870 --> 00:14:37.669 put it, you know, in a room with another artist. But I 223 00:14:37.750 --> 00:14:39.779 think more than anything, it's like, you know, we also use publications. 224 00:14:39.980 --> 00:14:43.100 You know, we use billboard, we use rolling stone, we use 225 00:14:43.620 --> 00:14:50.220 various professional music publications and songwriter magazines, stuff like that. People things that 226 00:14:50.299 --> 00:14:52.850 we know that are you know, our industry, you know, pays attention 227 00:14:52.850 --> 00:14:58.370 to and we folks on making sure that our songwriters regularly doing interviews, they're 228 00:14:58.009 --> 00:15:03.129 they're making there's themselves more of a public profile over time. And then, 229 00:15:03.210 --> 00:15:05.529 you know, really if it's, for instance, Scott or Chet who's the 230 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:09.039 CEO of our company, you know, if we need get something done really 231 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:11.840 quickly, will we can go right to him because we do that relationship and 232 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:15.679 he can make big ways. You know, there's sometimes you're looking to kind 233 00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:18.120 of build a grounds, grounds well and sometimes you looking to make a splash 234 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:22.509 and you know, I think that having the ability to do both and having 235 00:15:22.549 --> 00:15:26.789 respect for the timing of each of those situations and for what situation it's appropriate 236 00:15:28.629 --> 00:15:31.509 is very essential. Yeah, absolutely, Alex. as we round out the 237 00:15:31.509 --> 00:15:35.299 conversation today, I want to draw one more parallel between your world in the 238 00:15:35.379 --> 00:15:39.139 in the music industry, and be tob sales and marketing and something you alluded 239 00:15:39.179 --> 00:15:43.980 to earlier. It's the relationship between taking taking your product to market and then 240 00:15:45.019 --> 00:15:48.740 giving feedback. So in a BB context that might not it's not going to 241 00:15:48.779 --> 00:15:52.169 be songwriters, but it is going to be your your product development team, 242 00:15:52.250 --> 00:15:54.970 your product team, who is providing updates if you, you know, have 243 00:15:56.090 --> 00:16:00.610 a Sass platforms, something like that. And so I think the lesson there 244 00:16:00.690 --> 00:16:03.960 for sales and marketing teams is is to if you don't have that line of 245 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:10.600 communication into your product team at some level to be able to provide some feedback. 246 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:14.200 We're hearing this about our service. We're we're seeing demand for this in 247 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:17.360 the market, but we don't have an answer for it. To make sure 248 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:19.870 that you open those lines of communications. Do you think that's that's kind of 249 00:16:19.870 --> 00:16:23.590 the lesson there as we try and bridge that gap between music industry and be 250 00:16:23.750 --> 00:16:26.629 to be a one more time today. I mean I think the close, 251 00:16:26.990 --> 00:16:33.419 the closer your product developers are to the actual market, the better. You 252 00:16:33.500 --> 00:16:37.220 know. I really think that you know people that are creating creating a product. 253 00:16:37.299 --> 00:16:41.659 For me, it's, once again, songwriters. I am constantly telling 254 00:16:41.700 --> 00:16:45.059 them, Hey, so andso is getting ready to record a new album. 255 00:16:45.100 --> 00:16:47.730 Hey, so and so is getting, you know, looking for a hit 256 00:16:47.889 --> 00:16:49.649 to put on the radio. So and so it's looking for, you know, 257 00:16:51.250 --> 00:16:53.210 a song for their new EP. You know, we're always informing people 258 00:16:53.250 --> 00:16:56.570 on this and then we're also informing of like what's coming up? Oh, 259 00:16:56.570 --> 00:16:59.169 there's this new sound over here that you should check out. I think she's 260 00:16:59.250 --> 00:17:00.799 really take take a look at this and see what you can add to it 261 00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:04.640 to see where you can take this because, honestly, if they're just you 262 00:17:04.759 --> 00:17:10.680 know, some people can create magic in a dark room in that you know, 263 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:12.960 in the back corner or some place in Silicon Valley or Nashville, Tennessee, 264 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:17.190 or in New York City or you know wherever it is, but more 265 00:17:17.309 --> 00:17:21.829 often than not we're improving on existing ideas and so we have to know what 266 00:17:21.990 --> 00:17:26.309 those existing ideas are at the market in order to really take that next step. 267 00:17:26.910 --> 00:17:30.380 So I really, I really believe that sales teams and once again I'm 268 00:17:30.380 --> 00:17:32.579 kind of a bridge gap. Ay, I do a little bit of both, 269 00:17:33.220 --> 00:17:36.059 but I really believe that, you know, the more informed, the 270 00:17:36.259 --> 00:17:38.940 more information that's going from your sales staff, it's your product development company. 271 00:17:38.980 --> 00:17:44.890 With respect, that is important, because that relationship can become contentious, the 272 00:17:45.009 --> 00:17:47.930 better, because that's how people grow, that's how people are challenged, that's 273 00:17:47.930 --> 00:17:52.009 how people think creatively and don't get complacent. Yeah, absolutely, and that's 274 00:17:52.009 --> 00:17:56.289 how you create products that the market actually wants. You know, I love 275 00:17:56.410 --> 00:18:00.200 one of the I forget where this quote is from, but don't don't take 276 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:03.640 your product and try and find people to to buy it. Find what people 277 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:10.079 are wanting to buy and create a product to offer them. I'm at really 278 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:12.789 not quoting that well, but hopefully I get the point across there. That 279 00:18:12.829 --> 00:18:15.190 kind of sums up what you were talking about there, Alex. well, 280 00:18:15.269 --> 00:18:18.950 this has been a great conversation, man. I really appreciate you being down 281 00:18:18.990 --> 00:18:22.710 for this. I think it was a little bit of a changeup episode, 282 00:18:22.789 --> 00:18:25.269 and a fun one at least. A great conversation for me. I hope 283 00:18:25.349 --> 00:18:27.619 listeners got some value out of it. Alex, if anybody wants to reach 284 00:18:27.619 --> 00:18:32.740 out get connected with you, or just anything else exciting that you guys have 285 00:18:32.859 --> 00:18:36.059 going on at the company that you want to share with listeners today, what's 286 00:18:36.380 --> 00:18:40.700 something you want to share their I mean what's going on the company? Last 287 00:18:40.740 --> 00:18:45.609 week was our eighth year anniversary and we've actually in the same week we celebrate 288 00:18:45.650 --> 00:18:51.009 our thirty number one hit song as well as currently we're we've been thirty five 289 00:18:51.329 --> 00:18:56.200 weeks straight at the top of the billboard hot country songs chart with two songs, 290 00:18:56.200 --> 00:19:00.640 specifically tenzero hours by Justin Bieber and Dan Shay, Co written by our 291 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:04.960 writer, Justin, your Dylan and Laura Velt's, who co wrote the bones 292 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:07.960 by Mary Moris that then took over for that, mistaking it. So we're 293 00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:12.630 having a hell of a birthday. That's awesome, man. And you personally, 294 00:19:12.630 --> 00:19:15.509 if someone wants to reach out or stay connected, what's the best way? 295 00:19:15.910 --> 00:19:18.990 Linkedin twitter, what's the best way to stay connected with you, man? 296 00:19:19.230 --> 00:19:22.269 I mean I'm not like, I'm not on every social I am on 297 00:19:22.430 --> 00:19:26.740 instagram and that's pretty much where I live and my handle is public, but 298 00:19:26.859 --> 00:19:30.299 it's literally just my name, Alex Hedel. Awesome. Well, thank you 299 00:19:30.380 --> 00:19:33.859 so much for a great conversation, Alex. this has been a ton of 300 00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:34.980 fun, man, of course. Yeah, thank you guys so much. 301 00:19:36.019 --> 00:19:42.609 I appreciate it. Is the decisionmaker for your product or service a bdb marketer? 302 00:19:44.089 --> 00:19:48.529 Are you looking to reach those buyers through the medium of podcasting? Considered 303 00:19:48.650 --> 00:19:52.680 becoming a cohost of BB growth? This show is consistently ranked as a top 304 00:19:52.759 --> 00:19:56.920 one hundred podcast in the marketing category of Apple Podcasts, and the show gets 305 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:02.640 more than a hundred and thirty thousand downloads each month. We've already done the 306 00:20:02.759 --> 00:20:07.269 work of building the audience, so you can focus on delivering incredible content to 307 00:20:07.390 --> 00:20:11.829 our listeners. If you're interested, email logan at sweetfish Mediacom