Nov. 7, 2022

Owned: Barstool Sports

Today we are featuring an episode from a new show: Owned, a series exclusively on AudiencePlus co-hosted by Anthony Kennada and B2B Growth’s own, James Carbary. Owned is a show that tears down popular consumer media brands and applies key learnings to...

Today we are featuring an episode from a new show: Owned, a series exclusively on AudiencePlus co-hosted by Anthony Kennada and B2B Growth’s own, James Carbary. Owned is a show that tears down popular consumer media brands and applies key learnings to B2B companies who are building their owned media strategy.

To watch the full episode, get notified of future releases, get access to exclusive content, and more, subscribe for free at audienceplus.com.
Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:12.880 Conversations from the front lines and marketing. This is B two B Growth. 2 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:20.719 Today we're doing something special. We're giving you a sneak peak of a new 3 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:26.079 series exclusively on Audience Plus, co hosted by Anthony Kennada and B two B 4 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:31.760 Growth very Own James Carberry. Owned is a show that tears down popular consumer 5 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:36.439 media brands and applies key learnings to be two B companies who are building their 6 00:00:36.520 --> 00:00:41.039 own media strategy. So, like I said, today is a special sneak 7 00:00:41.079 --> 00:00:45.920 peak, but to watch the full episode to get notified about future releases, 8 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:51.640 To get access to exclusive content and much more, subscribe for free at audience 9 00:00:51.640 --> 00:01:06.719 plus dot com. Let's jump in. Welcome to Phone, the show where 10 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:10.920 we reviewed popular consumer media brands and see what we can learn and apply to 11 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:15.120 be two B companies who are building an owned media strategy. My name is 12 00:01:15.159 --> 00:01:18.560 Anthony Kennedy. I'm the co founder and CEO at Audience Plus, and I'm 13 00:01:18.599 --> 00:01:22.359 joined by my co host, James Carbery, founder at sweet Fish Media. 14 00:01:22.519 --> 00:01:25.239 James, I'm so excited to work with you on the show. Man. 15 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:27.000 This is gonna be This is gonna be incredible. I've been looking forward to 16 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:33.079 this for the weeks leading up to us hitting record this afternoon, and this 17 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:34.359 is gonna be a blast, man, It's gonna be so much fun. 18 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:38.000 And just you know one thing, just for our our viewers listeners, like, 19 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:42.879 look, we are going to be not really commenting on sort of the 20 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:47.680 topics of that each of these media brands are really going to be creating a 21 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:51.719 content around, but really around their strategy as a whole, be it how 22 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:53.920 they produced the content, how they distribute it, how they sort of activate 23 00:01:53.959 --> 00:02:00.280 their audience and community through it. And so I give this disclaimer because we've 24 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:01.840 got a hot one for today. We've got a hot one to kick things 25 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:06.239 off. It's gonna be spicy bro. In fact, I actually brought a 26 00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:08.800 prop. I brought eggshells, actual eggshells. I don't know these are are 27 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:12.439 coming into focus here because we might be walking on them a little bit as 28 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:15.879 we talked about this one. And of course I'm talking about Barstool, Barstool 29 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:22.280 Sports, this this brand, ak is. You can't talk about consumer media 30 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:27.120 brands without bringing up Barstool. So when we were brainstorming, we we knew 31 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:30.080 what the concept of the show is going to be. I think both of 32 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:31.759 us like this, this was a brand at the top of both of our 33 00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:36.639 list. We're like, how could we not start with Barstool Regardless you know, 34 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:39.280 whether you love it, you hate it, you love their founder, 35 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:45.960 or you think he should walk off a bridge, what they've done in the 36 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:50.879 last ten or so years is impressive. I mean, for the fact that 37 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:54.479 just about everybody when you say barstool, they know what bar stool is. 38 00:02:55.319 --> 00:02:59.199 Again, like it or hate it, people know it. And I think 39 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:01.680 as B two B brands we can learn to turn from from how they've executed 40 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:06.400 their media strategy. Totally totally. Yeah, we don't condone or condemn what 41 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:08.639 they're talking about, but we're going to really break down to how so for 42 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:13.159 those of you that actually don't know what Barstool Sports is, Barstools a digital 43 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:17.919 media company that is a mix of podcast, blogs, video series, um 44 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:23.919 featuring many sort of notable figures in sports, as well as their own staff 45 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:28.560 that have become influencers now within this kind of community that they've been able to 46 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:32.080 develop. So Barstool started by a guy named Dave Portnoy in two thousand three 47 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:37.479 in Milton, Massachusetts, and as an entrepreneur, you love the story of 48 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:42.159 you know he's starting by just like passing out flyers in in bars in Boston 49 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:46.879 and organizing these events inside these bars to you know, just just a great 50 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:53.400 classic kind of entrepreneurial story totally. And when the Internet obviously burgendes a means 51 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:57.319 of kind of building community. In two thousands, said that they launched their 52 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:00.560 online property, which really what felt like where they kind of took everything to 53 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:05.800 the next level, and bar Stool started creating a ton of exclusive content around 54 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:11.759 obviously sports, but also gambling and some lifestyle type of content as well, 55 00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:15.759 really kind of activating this community of I believe they're called stoolies that are are 56 00:04:15.839 --> 00:04:20.600 fans of bar stool. They valued the entire brand about a hundred million in 57 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:25.360 two thousand eighteen before Penn National Gaming came in and bought kind of a big 58 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:28.600 chunk of the business. But more on Dave. I mean, he's sort 59 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:31.879 of found himself in the middle of some controversy. You know, he's got 60 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.120 some slack for interviewing, you know, President Trump at the White House. 61 00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:41.639 He got some slack for, I believe, handcuffing himself to the headquarters, 62 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:46.680 the NFL headquarters during deflate Gate. As a die hard Satrios fan, right. 63 00:04:46.920 --> 00:04:48.600 Actually, I think he and the others were jailed for that, so 64 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:53.680 he's definitely at the center. You know, is no stranger to controversy, 65 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:55.839 and as you mentioned, kind of love him or hate him kind of in 66 00:04:55.839 --> 00:05:00.240 the middle of of kind of pop culture discussion today and one piece of content 67 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:04.319 I know we're going to talk about this today has really helped catapult his viewership 68 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:08.839 and engagement. Is this idea of pizza reviews or it's a franchise they run 69 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:13.120 called Pizza Reviews where they travels across the country, takes one bite at pizza, 70 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:15.480 you know, it's more than one bite, and reviews and gives him 71 00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:19.279 a score, which has turned into this kind of major kind of motion for 72 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:25.279 them. So very interesting brand that covers a lot of ground, but honestly 73 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:30.959 one that from a distribution perspective is really kind of pend I think, is 74 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:34.199 like this this idea of a new media or a new approach to media versus 75 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:38.639 kind of the more traditional. So, James, does you think about this 76 00:05:38.680 --> 00:05:42.600 episode we're gonna talk about application to be to be? What makes barstool kind 77 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:46.519 of a standout media brand? To you? I'm fascinated at that approach to 78 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:53.079 media. They're going and finding really talented personalities to carry the torch of their 79 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:56.600 brand into the marketplace. And I think we have to be more thoughtful about 80 00:05:56.639 --> 00:05:59.759 the bub so that that's one of the things that stands out totally, totally, 81 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:01.920 really excited to break down some things that you and I might do a 82 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:06.399 little bit different, but also call out some like you mentioned some really good 83 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:11.399 stuff that I think is very much applicable to be two be brands today and 84 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:15.319 how we think about our own media strategy. Awesome, let's get into it. 85 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:16.759 When't we start first with like the things that you would change? I 86 00:06:16.759 --> 00:06:19.959 think we've got we can pull up our stools website here. What are some 87 00:06:20.040 --> 00:06:23.560 things that jump out to you that you think, you know, maybe they 88 00:06:23.560 --> 00:06:26.800 fell short or maybe there's opportunity for them to prove. Yeah. So so 89 00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:30.079 the first thing that as I kind of scroll their home page, there's a 90 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:35.000 few things that it just seems scattered and disorganized. And as we were talking 91 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:40.040 about this offline, a k maybe that's intentional. I don't know, A 92 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:45.279 part of the brand is kind of scattered and disorganized, but uh, you 93 00:06:45.319 --> 00:06:47.600 know, it's the brandings, you know, it's it's inconsistent, it's it's 94 00:06:47.639 --> 00:06:53.120 messy again, that could be the brand. That could be I think part 95 00:06:53.160 --> 00:06:58.000 of the founder story and kind of passing out flyers in bars in Boston, 96 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:01.560 like they might be trying to hold on to that kind of I don't know 97 00:07:01.639 --> 00:07:06.079 that that feel and if that's the goal, Hey, they're they're not gonna 98 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:10.079 out of the park, you know. Looking at their shows page, it's 99 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:15.279 a lot of It's just a lot on a single page when you navigate to 100 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:17.199 it. You know, I'm looking at it, going where the categories? 101 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:21.639 How do I know, like what I'm might be interested in, what to 102 00:07:21.639 --> 00:07:26.680 stay away from. It's just a lot of cover art, uh, splashing 103 00:07:26.680 --> 00:07:29.319 there on the page. So I'm a little like, I don't really know 104 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:31.120 what to do. I'm I'm confused. Like if I don't know that what 105 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:35.240 the franchise actually is, then I wouldn't know where to clip. It could 106 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:41.360 clearly, I think, be displayed in a more helpful way for the consumer 107 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:44.480 to be able to navigate where they want to go. Some have blogs, 108 00:07:44.519 --> 00:07:47.000 some don't. You know, we don't really know the format of the show. 109 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:50.519 I guess you can you can kind of suss it out a little bit 110 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:54.199 by the names of the show. And and some of the cover art. 111 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:57.759 You see two faces on something. Okay, that's probably gonna be a banter 112 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:00.879 back and forth, but I think there's there's some work to be done there. 113 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:03.680 What are you seeing? You know, certainly, I think for for 114 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:07.600 B two B companies, there's we talked about categorization and discovery. How can 115 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:13.120 you make content discovery easier and more intuitive and maybe prescriptive for your audience to 116 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:16.839 you know, we don't really have this notion of ads and and B two 117 00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:20.600 B, but you know, we might be sort of putting up secondary calls 118 00:08:20.600 --> 00:08:24.279 to action around a book download or other things. And so certainly I think 119 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:30.120 we have this idea of advertisement. I don't think we hit people over the 120 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:31.519 head with it, as you sort of feel as you you hit kind of 121 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:35.240 oar stool dot com here. So this feels like, you know, the 122 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:41.440 last generation of like WordPress template around digital magazines. And I think again they've 123 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:45.840 built a you know, several hundred million dollar business on the back of this. 124 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:48.399 I think, to take it to the next level, how can we 125 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:52.000 bring this into sort of a modern design that's much more intuitive for the reader. 126 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:56.759 And the site gets an obnoxious amount of traffic and so when you go 127 00:08:56.799 --> 00:08:58.679 and you see that, you know, some of the most more recent posts 128 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:05.279 only have seven four A comments on them. It's just it's interesting. And 129 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:07.360 when you first brought that up, I thought, well, you know, 130 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:13.039 good on them. They're actively engaging their audience where their audience is. But 131 00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:16.080 you can do both. Could if they had a little bit cleaner of a 132 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:20.600 UI, if their site was easier to navigate, could they create a home 133 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:24.240 base where people would actually want to engage with their content on their site, 134 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:26.679 Because on their site, they're obviously going to have access to a lot more 135 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:31.759 information than they would on these third party platforms, which is where their audience 136 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.879 is. They absolutely should be there. But I think a lot of times 137 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:39.360 in B two B land we make things this or that. It's like we 138 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:43.320 have to be where they are on LinkedIn or on TikTok or whatever the platform 139 00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:46.480 is. It's like, yeah, you do need to be there, and 140 00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:52.679 you can also create an experience on your site that is welcoming and that makes 141 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:54.600 people want to go back to it. And so I just wonder if if 142 00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:58.480 the UI, if the messiness, if that works against them, as you 143 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:05.639 can see obviously drastically lower levels of engagement on these articles on their site than 144 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:09.799 than what you see them getting on other social platforms totally, you know. 145 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:13.000 And one thing that I noticed is if I were to go and actually create 146 00:10:13.080 --> 00:10:18.000 a bar stool account and sign up, that's why that's the bar, right, 147 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:20.320 In order to leave a comment on bar stools, you have to actually 148 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:24.960 authenticate and sort of subscribe to their their audience. Now I'm not met, 149 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:28.879 especially on this page here, with any compelling reason to do that. There's 150 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:33.080 no you know, explanation of hey, you'll get access for a newsletter. 151 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:37.000 We're actually producing exclusive content just for Stools that you can you know, have 152 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:41.840 access to as part of being a member. So no doubt it makes sense 153 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:45.600 to engage in social and these channels where people are and I know that that 154 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:48.720 they definitely do that. But in a world where you want that engagement data, 155 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:52.360 you want that deeper appreciation for what the community has to say about a 156 00:10:52.360 --> 00:10:56.519 given piece of content or media, you've got to give them a reason to 157 00:10:56.559 --> 00:10:58.679 subscribe. You've gotta make it easy, but you also have to build kind 158 00:10:58.679 --> 00:11:03.639 of come helling content that communicate that properly in order to drive a lot of 159 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:07.840 that that engagement. So you know, it would it surprise me if they 160 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:11.919 really invested in that and made commenting sort of a given. That's not the 161 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:16.200 only reason to subscribe, right, I think they might be able to drive 162 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:18.399 some more engagement overall. But let's talk about the good stuff, because there 163 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:20.879 is a lot of things here that we want to we want to learn from, 164 00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:26.000 and so what we're gonna do is look at various parts of barstool. 165 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:30.000 We've covered some at a very high level here, and apply the learning specifically 166 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:33.320 to be to be companies and so really excited about this. The first one 167 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:37.080 is actually cadence. And I've heard, you know, when you talk to 168 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:41.159 content marketing leaders or folks that are sort of gaining followership kind of in the 169 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:46.919 space, they talk often about the secret to success is to be constantly pushing, 170 00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:50.039 pushing new content to be consistent with the tab a steady cadence of release. 171 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:54.919 And what blows me away by bar Stool is I think we see it 172 00:11:54.960 --> 00:12:00.360 here in the latest tab like every ten to twenty minutes their launch a new 173 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:03.879 piece of content. And when you go to social there's a bit of like 174 00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:07.759 you know, perhaps and repurposing or amplifying like old pieces of content. But 175 00:12:07.799 --> 00:12:11.840 it's down to like, you know, every what is it ever? Every 176 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:15.960 five minutes or so, like an insane amount of publishing happening on the social 177 00:12:16.039 --> 00:12:20.200 channels, but even on the owned property here. And I don't think it's 178 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:24.000 fair to make that the bar for B two B marketing companies saying Okay, 179 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:26.600 you have to release content every ten minutes. You know that that's probably a 180 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:30.919 complete model is very different, right, I mean every exactly, you know, 181 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:33.759 every piece of new content is dollars for them, add dollars, no, 182 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:37.200 no doubt. And the only thing I would say that is somewhat positive 183 00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:41.000 of Kate, it's not every ten minutes again, but like having the steady 184 00:12:41.080 --> 00:12:45.440 drum beat is the sense that there's life, it's alive, it's an active 185 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:50.039 thing. It's not this like static blog. It's like there's every I can 186 00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:54.440 come to expect as a member of this audience or community that every so often 187 00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:58.480 I'm gonna be met with something that's new and entertaining or inspiring where that's gonna 188 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:01.840 help me in my career as a you know, professional, basic whatever industry 189 00:13:01.879 --> 00:13:05.080 that we're in. I think this next takeaway, ok that that I think 190 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:09.080 rolls really well into like how do you how do you get the cadence right? 191 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:11.000 And I think one of the ways you get the cadence right is by 192 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:18.240 diversifying your media property. So really, what I love that barstool is doing. 193 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:22.279 They're creating all of these micro franchises, right, like, all of 194 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:26.279 these different types of shows that they're putting in work to one source the right 195 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:30.360 on our talent, like we talked about earlier, but they're also doing some 196 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:33.279 incredible premise development work, some show development work to say, hey, what's 197 00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:37.240 the angle of the show going to be? Because they've allowed themselves, they 198 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:41.039 set themselves up with I think so many B two B brands think about it 199 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:46.360 just in terms of we have our one media property. This is our one 200 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:50.039 show, this is our one thing, and it's like and that premise may 201 00:13:50.039 --> 00:13:52.919 not connect, it may not be very interesting to a big chunk of your 202 00:13:54.039 --> 00:13:58.200 potential audience, but you're forcing them to be like, it's either this or 203 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:01.039 nothing, because you're not doing anything else. And so I love looking at 204 00:14:01.320 --> 00:14:05.360 what barstool has done totally totally. You know, my wife is not the 205 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:09.840 target market at all for bar stool, but she loves pizza reviews because it 206 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:13.039 just cracks her up. It gets it's kind of having these conversations about, 207 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:16.960 you know, pizza in general and what we happen to be in Connecticut, 208 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:18.840 which apparently, according to Day is like the pizza capital of the world. 209 00:14:20.039 --> 00:14:22.519 We went out of our way to try whatever number one or number two was, 210 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:26.879 Salies I think, and New Haven. So I love the idea of 211 00:14:26.919 --> 00:14:28.559 micro franchises. I think it makes a lot of sense. I think it 212 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:33.039 makes it memorable first of all, and I think you get touched on that 213 00:14:33.080 --> 00:14:35.279 as you're talking about it, and it's familiar. It's something that you might 214 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:39.679 have seen before in popular media or consumer media, what have you. We 215 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:43.600 have a format for this show where it's a tear down show, right, 216 00:14:43.639 --> 00:14:48.240 We're looking at various media properties and we're talking about what we think is good 217 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:50.519 and bad. It's an opinion show, but it's it's this idea of saying, 218 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:54.519 maybe we shouldn't just think about our our B two B content as a 219 00:14:54.519 --> 00:14:58.840 fire hose where it's like all just like one thing and we're doing all of 220 00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:05.159 it in one way. Like, let's think about differentiating the formats across again, 221 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:09.759 podcasting, video, live events or live streams, all these types of 222 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:13.519 things. But then like, let's find these franchises of topics that our audience 223 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:18.039 or community or customer or prospects you name it, care about, and let's 224 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:20.960 go deep and let's build something that's memorable. Let's borrow from entertainment, let's 225 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:24.879 borrow from consumers, borrow from the bar stools of the world, from a 226 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:28.559 format perspective, and apply it to the topic that we care about. The 227 00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:33.120 third one is interesting. It's this idea of using executive The executives are spokespeople 228 00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:39.480 at the company as sort of like personifications of the brand and better or for 229 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:45.519 worse, that is Dave Portnoy. He is the ethos of the Stoolies and 230 00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:48.679 he has of course a massive followership here on Twitter. Now again, he 231 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:54.840 himself is controversial, irreverent, you know, not afraid to speak his mind, 232 00:15:54.440 --> 00:15:58.679 major sports buff, gambler, like you name it. There's a bunch 233 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:03.600 of things that many ways to describe this man. But that sort of makes 234 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:07.960 up the brand, right that is sort of like what they talk about, 235 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:12.159 It's what their followership wants to engage with. And I think there's a huge, 236 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:17.080 huge learning here for for B two, be in that your CEO or 237 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:22.000 your spokespeople whoever they are sort of become the brand over time has done the 238 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:26.240 right way. Now, your point earlier about let's not just stick a microphone 239 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:29.720 in front of people even if they're not entertaining or compelling or you know, 240 00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:33.240 have anything important to say, is sort of an important nuance. But I 241 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:40.960 do think that companies buy products from people. People that they want to follow, 242 00:16:41.080 --> 00:16:45.879 people that they inspire, that they're inspired by, Folks who there's some 243 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:49.480 missional alignment behind kind of the movement they're trying to create. And so this 244 00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:56.840 whole like notion of purchasing decisions happening, you know, just walking out a 245 00:16:56.919 --> 00:16:59.399 checklist and buying a product that checks all the boxes. That's that's not how 246 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:03.919 people buy. People buy things motionally, and so it's important whether it's you 247 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:07.880 as the founder, as the CEO, whether it's you as like evangelist or 248 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:12.160 whoever, somebody that can embody the values of your company and be willing to 249 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:17.200 go on the record, to be transparent, to be vulnerable. And I 250 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:22.519 think that's a key learning and forcing. Unfortunately, I think that's just the 251 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:26.160 way buying will happen and continue to happen move forward. I actually the step 252 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:30.319 that we've taken on this front with sweet Fish is to try to empower multiple 253 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:33.680 people on our team, as we have three, four or five different people 254 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:40.480 on our thirty five person team actively engaging on LinkedIn every single day. I've 255 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:45.400 just experienced the fruits of it being worth it totally, totally. This is 256 00:17:45.880 --> 00:17:52.200 the idea of internal evangelists and sort of mobilizing them to be content creators on 257 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:55.720 behalf of the brand. It trement makes a lot of sense, and I 258 00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:57.400 think there's a lot of value in there. The other piece, I think 259 00:17:57.400 --> 00:18:00.680 this takes us actually the fourth application for B two B companies. You spoke 260 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:04.920 about this earlier. It's external voices. It's how can we actually use not 261 00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:11.079 just our teammates, but influencers out in the market. And it's something Bartolo 262 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:14.599 has done really well, and you sort of te examples earlier. I think 263 00:18:14.599 --> 00:18:18.200 we're in the early days of influencer marketing and B two B, but you're 264 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:21.440 starting to see it, like I'm seeing folks like my friend Nick Bennett is 265 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:25.599 getting offered brand deals and you're seeing it pop up a little bit here and 266 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:30.720 there on LinkedIn. But what a massive opportunity, and like Gary v says, 267 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:33.480 it all the time, and it's it's under priced attention. Right now, 268 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:38.319 I think that you can go and get a LinkedIn influencer for I would 269 00:18:38.359 --> 00:18:41.359 imagine it's pretty affordable because there's just not a lot of people doing it right 270 00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:45.839 now. I think what's gonna happen, ak is I think you're gonna see 271 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:51.920 companies start to hire creators. I just think there are some really special opportunities 272 00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:53.880 for companies to come alongside and go, hey, we want to take your 273 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:59.920 superpower of understanding human psychology, understanding how these platforms work, and we want 274 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:04.079 to infuse you onto our team because we want to engage our community in ways 275 00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:08.319 that you've clearly figured out how to do it on TikTok, Instagram, whatever. 276 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:12.599 Totally. Totally. We've got one final takeaway here for for B two 277 00:19:12.599 --> 00:19:18.359 B companies, and it's this idea of being authentic to your community and bar 278 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:23.480 Stool again love mar Hadum reveres their community of stool leaves as as their own, 279 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.319 and they've come up with some non traditional ways to actually reach them and 280 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:32.319 serve them. And the one that you and I were chatting about was merch 281 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:37.599 which again seems wild for a B two B company to consider producing merch. 282 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:40.880 But we'll get to that in a second. But in general, what I 283 00:19:40.920 --> 00:19:44.960 love about this is they might come up with an inside joke on Twitter or 284 00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:49.000 something something happens in popular culture or media or the Boston Celtics or in the 285 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:53.039 finals or whatever, and within twenty four hours they have a piece of merchant 286 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:56.519 designed the launched on the store and they sell out within hours to their community. 287 00:19:56.920 --> 00:20:00.759 There's like a speed to it. There's a real events to it, 288 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:06.400 but it's this like feeling of almost like belonging, like I have this T 289 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:10.119 shirt or hat or whatever, and I am a part of something greater than 290 00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:15.160 myself, whatever that it means in barstool land. So I know you loved 291 00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:18.039 this one as we were talking about tell me why. Yeah. So I 292 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:22.680 just think one. I think if you're thinking about this particular piece of it, 293 00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:26.000 right, the merch piece of it, part of what makes the merch, 294 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:32.759 I think. So it drives so much affinity it feeds one another in 295 00:20:33.079 --> 00:20:37.880 that if you're thinking about merchant this way, then it's gonna be a forcing 296 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:41.240 function with your kind of your media properties to go, Okay, what's the 297 00:20:41.319 --> 00:20:45.640 recurring bit that AK and I can do every week on this show, like, 298 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:49.319 can we comment on something you know where we're always you know, talking 299 00:20:49.319 --> 00:20:53.400 about the last episode of the Bachelorette or whatever, because we know one of 300 00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:56.599 them has a secret obsession, even though it says that it's it's really his 301 00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:03.759 wife's thing. Like those things, when you inject those elements into your show, 302 00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:06.759 even though it's B two B and it's you know, you want to 303 00:21:06.759 --> 00:21:10.359 be sharing helpful, educational content. When you inject those kind of things, 304 00:21:10.839 --> 00:21:15.160 the outflow of that is like people resonate with it, they connect with The 305 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:17.759 thing that I commented on is I was looking at their march. I was 306 00:21:17.799 --> 00:21:22.440 like, their merch makes you feel like you're part of the insiders. Like 307 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:26.079 truly, you get it, You understand it. You listen to the show, 308 00:21:26.119 --> 00:21:30.480 you understand that the joke. You understand that you're on the inside. 309 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:33.519 And who doesn't want to feel like they're on the inside. You know, 310 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:37.880 I love you said inside joke because I think that is the spirit of this 311 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:45.640 and the mentality of it is we are creating content or programs or campaigns or 312 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:49.400 initiatives that make the community feel like they're on the inside on something and with 313 00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:52.160 something like merch having fun with it, right, having kind of a humor 314 00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:56.400 elements to it is helpful. This is something a gain side that we you 315 00:21:56.440 --> 00:21:59.440 know, again, without necessarily knowing what we were doing. I think did 316 00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:02.599 pretty well in the sense that every time we had our conference, which was 317 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:07.599 for the customer success community, we always try to find ways to create an 318 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:11.960 inside joke at the event that became an experience. So we recorded a hip 319 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:15.839 hop song all about customer success and about how no one knows exactly what they 320 00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:19.480 do at work every day and have to explain their their existence. And we 321 00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:26.279 hired look alike actors from the cast of Friends, and we recreated an episode 322 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:30.799 of Friends where we find out that Chandler's job all along was a customer success 323 00:22:30.839 --> 00:22:33.880 manager and no one really knew what that meant. So a bunch of weird 324 00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:37.319 things that don't don't go model those exactly merch might be lowering fruit. But 325 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:42.920 the point is finding ways to be authentic as a brand and engage your community 326 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:47.200 in a way that speaks to them as humans, makes them feel like they're 327 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:51.079 on the inside. There's something really powerful there. So that's the five we'll 328 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:56.000 walk through the one last time. Five things we love about bar Stool that 329 00:22:56.359 --> 00:23:00.319 b two B companies can apply first as the cadence of content that they release 330 00:23:00.359 --> 00:23:04.519 and how they amplify on social seconds is the idea of micro franchises. Third 331 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:08.160 is how they use their their CEO or their founder, their executive team, 332 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:15.079 or folks within the company is overall as influencers or as content creators really representing 333 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:18.559 the ethos of the business themselves. For is how they engage outside voices and 334 00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:23.960 outside creators and influencers and bring them on platform into their own network to help, 335 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:27.519 you know, create more rich programming for their audience and for their community, 336 00:23:27.799 --> 00:23:33.039 and also serving more kind of authentic voice to their brand. And finally, 337 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:37.920 their way to actually engage their community creatively and authentically with things like merch 338 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:41.480 to make them feel like they're on the inside. So if you're watching this 339 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:44.599 or a B two B company like there, these are things you can apply 340 00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:47.880 and how you build your brand today. Okay, man, this is this 341 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:49.960 is gonna be a blast. We're just coming off home plate here on our 342 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:53.880 way to first base, and uh, I'm so excited about what's to come 343 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:59.480 here. So if you're listening to this and and you've got a media brand 344 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:03.319 that you want us to break down, hit up a k on on Twitter, 345 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:07.640 you can hit me up on on LinkedIn, James Carberry c A R 346 00:24:07.799 --> 00:24:12.440 B A R Y, Anthony Canada K E n A d AFO on social 347 00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:15.160 and let us know, like, what are the media properties that you want 348 00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:18.799 us to break down. I'm really excited to keep this going, man, 349 00:24:18.839 --> 00:24:21.759 this is going to be a blast totally. And if you want to actually 350 00:24:22.119 --> 00:24:25.640 stay in touch with what we're doing on Owned, make sure to subscribe on 351 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:27.680 Audience Plus. That's the best way. We'll keep you up to date on 352 00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:33.680 the latest information when another episode drops, and we'll keep you on the inside 353 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:37.160 of our community as we kind of see what we can learn together about all 354 00:24:37.160 --> 00:24:40.000 of the great things happening in the super media world. Now we can apply 355 00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:44.559 that to our businesses. So with that, I'm Anthony Canada from James Carberry 356 00:24:45.319 --> 00:25:03.599 and this is Owned B two B. Growth is brought to you by the 357 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.960 team at sweet Fish Media. Here at sweet Fish, we produce podcasts for 358 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:10.240 some of the most innovative brands in the world, and we help them turn 359 00:25:10.279 --> 00:25:14.960 those podcasts into micro videos, LinkedIn content, blog posts and more. We're 360 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:18.079 on a mission to produce every leader's favorite show. Want more information, visit 361 00:25:18.119 --> 00:25:26.880 sweet fish media dot com.