Nov. 4, 2022

Using Paid Media to Grow Your Owned Media | The Journey

James and Dan provide behind-the-scenes documentation of the journey to turn B2B Growth into every B2B marketers’ favorite media property. Today's discussion: When gated content can be useful and how we are using it. 
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James and Dan provide behind-the-scenes documentation of the journey to turn B2B Growth into every B2B marketers’ favorite media property. Today's discussion: When gated content can be useful and how we are using it. 
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Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:12.880 Conversations from the front lines of marketing. This is B two B Growth. 2 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:21.160 Welcome back to the journey here on B two B Growth where we're documenting our 3 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:26.960 journey of turning this show into every BDB marketers favorite show and how you can 4 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:33.719 do the same. So today we are talking about using paid media to grow 5 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:40.200 your owned media, and this is something we have recently unlocked with B TWOB 6 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:42.600 growth. If you've been listening to the show for a while, you you 7 00:00:42.679 --> 00:00:47.600 heard Hiss mentioned a few weeks ago we became the number one marketing podcast in 8 00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:54.200 the US because we started doing paid acquisition. Dan talk to us a little 9 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:58.320 bit about about what we've been doing here. We've been using programmatic ads to 10 00:00:58.679 --> 00:01:03.439 the hyper target people on iPhone devices and sending them straight to Apple, the 11 00:01:03.479 --> 00:01:07.840 Apple podcast app. What the call to action to follow us on Apple podcasts, 12 00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:11.920 and we can drive them now in such a way where we know we 13 00:01:11.959 --> 00:01:15.640 can like essentially guarantee a short amount of followers, and of course you get 14 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:21.359 some followers and people some percentage of them unsubscribed, like almost immediately because they 15 00:01:21.719 --> 00:01:25.040 subscribe, listen to an episode or two and then they're like it's not for 16 00:01:25.079 --> 00:01:27.640 me, and they back out, but it's still like a fantastic way to 17 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:33.400 grow the show is not only is a generate more followers, but it generates 18 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:37.040 downloads. And then the benefit of generating a lot of followers and downloads in 19 00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:38.760 a very short amount of time is it boost you up in the rankings like 20 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:42.280 no other apps Like I've never seen a boost in the rankings like this from 21 00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:47.200 just driving the types of behaviors that Apple wants to see to drive you up 22 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:52.000 at the rankings. But I think the lasting impact of the seeing the increased 23 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:57.480 downloads well after the campaign, see the lift of like more downloads for our 24 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:01.719 show is so good that I'm like, oh my gosh, why have we 25 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:07.079 not been doing this for a long time. I'm like, even, I'm 26 00:02:07.079 --> 00:02:12.000 thinking of my past experiences in different companies now and I'm like, oh, 27 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:15.759 I wish I like if I could go back and tell past self, Hey, 28 00:02:15.800 --> 00:02:19.240 past self, set aside ten to fiftent of your budget just to grow 29 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:24.240 an audience, newsletter, YouTube, channel, podcast doesn't matter. Spend ten 30 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:29.800 to fift of your budget because that becomes a growing asset that then makes you 31 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:34.080 less dependent on that paid media. Because I remember I was dependent on paid 32 00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:38.000 media almost alone to grow my past companies. We were good at paid media. 33 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:40.560 We understood Facebook ads, we understood Google ads, YouTube ads. We 34 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:44.599 worked it and it was great, but it was always we always needed more, 35 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:46.840 right because as soon as you hit your targets, well, they they 36 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:50.560 expectations change and you're just like, dang, well and I need more budget. 37 00:02:50.840 --> 00:02:53.639 And then of course you start losing efficiencies at some point, right. 38 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:55.400 But I wish I would have just started, even from the very beginning, 39 00:02:55.479 --> 00:03:01.159 just setting aside ten to fift of the budgets that I became slowly over time 40 00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:07.919 less and less dependent on paid media to hit my my my targets yeah um, 41 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:09.960 and have my own owned audience that I can have for a long time 42 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.039 prevent I was making good content for them. A lot of the questions I've 43 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:19.400 obviously been an evangelist about this kind of programmatic advertising approach with you know, 44 00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:22.759 folks that are that are close to me, and and I was talking with 45 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:23.960 a buddy of mine about it, who just did it for his company, 46 00:03:24.280 --> 00:03:27.560 and we were talking about at lunch, and and some of the one of 47 00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:30.960 the big questions that I get is like does the audience stick? Because it's 48 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:34.800 easy to think like, okay, like you're you're doing this, it feels 49 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:38.680 a little hacky. Are you just having like a farm of people overseas somewhere 50 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:44.360 like tap, you know, smash subscribe and then they're unsubscribing or maybe they're 51 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:47.080 just staying subscribe that they're not really downloading any episodes. That has not been 52 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:52.039 our experience with with PDP growth. One. That the targeting, it's really 53 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:57.360 specific targeting for the programmatic ad. By so you're targeting people that have an 54 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:02.439 interest of you know, account based marketing content or content B TWOB decision makers. 55 00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:06.759 Right, you can narrow it down that far. BOB marketing decision makers 56 00:04:06.840 --> 00:04:11.719 is a category you can target and programmatic ads B two B growth will be 57 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:18.959 right back B two B decision makers. Right, you can narrow it down 58 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:25.160 that far. BB marketing decision makers as a category you can target and programmatic 59 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:30.439 ads yea, and so so by by focusing your programmatic ads on that and 60 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:34.279 then the call that action just being hey follow this show. Obviously a programmatic 61 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:38.800 ad to say hey, follow this show, check out this podcast. It's 62 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:42.839 going to be far more effective than hey, buy my hundred thousand dollar products, 63 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:46.879 so much better and so so it makes sense that it converts, and 64 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:51.319 then it's going directly to Apple podcasts, and you're only we're only running these 65 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:57.519 ads to people that have iOS devices, so Apple podcast comes on the iPhone. 66 00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:00.160 So there's a lot of layers to this that make it work. One 67 00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:04.079 thing you know that we were talking through because we're talking to a prospective client 68 00:05:04.199 --> 00:05:08.639 and this audience growth piece came up and and as you and I were talking 69 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:14.120 yesterday, there is a bit of a downside to this that that you figured 70 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:17.879 out, Like between you know, we're maintaining right now from the last campaign 71 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:21.399 we ran. We've still got eighty percent, so and I don't know, 72 00:05:21.399 --> 00:05:28.360 it's been about a month and of the new followers that we grew are still 73 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:30.600 with us. Can you walk us through a little bit though, Like because 74 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:33.920 you did a lot of math in the spreadsheet yesterday and I was like, 75 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:36.560 oh man, I'm glad dance on this team because I would have never done 76 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:41.040 this. But you figured out that, Okay, there clums a point where 77 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:43.680 paid can only get you so far. Can you talk a little bit about 78 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:46.199 that. Paid is fun because of how flexible it is and how you can 79 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:49.560 target and test and do different things. But Eventually you are going to run 80 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:55.360 into diminishing returns and building an audience with paid especially if it's fairly static. 81 00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:59.319 The results you get like we're programmatic ads. We know we can acquire Apple 82 00:05:59.560 --> 00:06:04.079 Podcasts follower for five dollars five dollars a follower. That's great. The problem 83 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:09.560 is over time you just see less returns on that growth. In the beginning, 84 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:13.519 it's fantastic, especially if you're starting from zero, right you you get 85 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:15.519 all these new followers, you have all these new downloads. But every single 86 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:19.439 month you do this, the percentage of growth is different. It's not exponential. 87 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:24.439 It's a static amount of growth. And so let's say eight hundred people 88 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:28.720 stick you got a thousand, eight hundred of them stay around, okay, 89 00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:31.240 and then of course there's going to be churned working against you because naturally they 90 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:35.000 hundred that stick around aren't going to stick around forever it's a percent of them, 91 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:39.920 or you're gonna lose every single month turn. It's going to happen eventually 92 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:43.279 if you drag this out far enough, like at first, what becomes a 93 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:46.680 like the next month will be like a growth. I did the math and 94 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:49.879 Excelsion dragged it on for multiple months, Like towards the end of after a 95 00:06:49.959 --> 00:06:54.480 year, you end up with like a each month is only netting you like 96 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:57.680 three two percent growth, and then it becomes less and less and less because 97 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:00.240 it's a static amount that you're adding and turns working against you at some point, 98 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:04.360 so you end up with these like interesting plateaus and growth. But dang, 99 00:07:04.920 --> 00:07:09.279 Like at the end of one year of average just to programmatic ads, 100 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:12.920 if you're dropping five grand a month, you end up with like thirty seven 101 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:16.800 thousand downloads a month, which is so much more than any most almost every 102 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:20.279 BDB podcast out there. Like if we were doing this for our customers already, 103 00:07:20.279 --> 00:07:23.759 which is why we're talking to our customers about this now, like they 104 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:26.360 would be at such a different place because that's that's a lot of that's a 105 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:29.439 lot of influence for one podcast, and it's just paying your way to get 106 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:32.879 there. Of course, there's that plateau, but at that point you hopefully 107 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:35.240 have kick started enough and we're starting to figure out now, like what are 108 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:40.240 some organic ways you can introduce early on so that that plateau doesn't happen. 109 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:45.160 You can start the leverage the organic results of getting this attention, and provided 110 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:47.639 you're making good content that they stick. Right, how else can we leverage 111 00:07:47.639 --> 00:07:51.519 other platforms other than paid in order to keep that growth going instead of hitting 112 00:07:51.560 --> 00:07:54.920 the plateau? And of course we all know this, like if you've done 113 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:58.199 performance ad, you know there's always a plateau, even in the customer acquisition, 114 00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:01.839 there's always a plateau and how far one channel can go right unless you 115 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:05.120 hit like an early wave of something like TikTok when it first started, or 116 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:09.680 when BuzzFeed figured out how to really hack shares, right, and they had 117 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:15.079 these like really crazy curves as far as how far there their blog posts would 118 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:18.800 go. Even that was short lived because shares became less powerful on social media 119 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:20.279 over time, right, and now they had to figure out something else, 120 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:24.759 and they're not nearly as big as they used to be BuzzFeed, But there's 121 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:28.120 always these these opportunities to do these things. Um and I think paid is 122 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:33.120 just way undervalued for growing a media property only because the click through rates are 123 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:37.159 two to three times as good because you're not asking them for a big ask, 124 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:39.159 you're asking for a very small ask. Subscribe to the check out this 125 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:43.679 newsletter, check out this blog post, check out this podcast, Subscribe to 126 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:48.600 ask is much a much easier thing, and for these big like decision makers, 127 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:52.200 like, yes, you didn't get them to jump on a demo, 128 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:56.360 but now you have their ear right and you can acquire them for three times 129 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:00.919 lass on your own media than just getting them to go the demo, and 130 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:05.320 you can actually build trust and affinity so that when you do throw maybe our 131 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:07.919 right hook, and they're, like Gary V says, you know, for 132 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:11.399 your product, you'll probably get a pretty good percentage of them going over and 133 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:16.720 they're probably gonna go through this the sales pipeline much faster because they trust you. 134 00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:18.720 Now. I hear Alex are mostly talking about this, and Gary's kind 135 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:22.559 of the same sentiment as Gary. But but Alex always says, you know, 136 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:26.879 the longer your time horizon is for needing to throw that right hook, 137 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.320 the more effective the right hook is going to be. And so when you're 138 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:33.519 playing a long game and you're like, hey, we're building a media property 139 00:09:33.559 --> 00:09:37.559 here, like this is something that in ten years is going to be worth 140 00:09:37.879 --> 00:09:41.440 tens of millions of dollars and we're going to own it. When you're playing 141 00:09:41.559 --> 00:09:48.879 that game and you're not constrained or handcuffed to short term revenue targets, man 142 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:52.440 the leverage that you can create for your business. I mean, it just 143 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:56.879 it gets pretty wild to think about. But a lot of people don't don't 144 00:09:56.919 --> 00:09:58.240 have that. And for you know, if if you're a VP of marketing 145 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:01.679 and you're sitting under leadership that is pressing you on these, you know, 146 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:05.679 short term revenue targets, you might not have the luxury to do what we're 147 00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:09.679 doing with GDP growth. You might have to do more, you know, 148 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:13.120 really lean on heavy performance marketing knowing that it's going to come to an end, 149 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:18.320 just like this type of stuff comes to the event eventually, it doesn't 150 00:10:18.360 --> 00:10:20.279 move the needle in nearly as much. But you know, that's what I'm 151 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:24.240 so excited about in our situation, is really getting to play the long game 152 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:31.600 with this and unlocking this channel of programmatic Sure it might only move the needle 153 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:35.759 for us in a significant way for the next twelve months, but it's not 154 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:39.279 something that we have been doing before, and so I want to capture that 155 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:43.879 attention through that channel while we still can, and hopefully do it for our 156 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:46.120 clients as well. So, Dan, this has been, as always, 157 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:50.600 fantastic conversation, and so that's that's gonna be it. We're wrapping up for 158 00:10:50.679 --> 00:10:54.919 today's episode of the journey. Remember there are a lot of ways to win. 159 00:10:56.399 --> 00:11:01.279 Commodity content is the enemy. Focus on affinity over or awareness. You 160 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:03.840 can find all things top growth at BB Growth show dot com and connect with 161 00:11:03.879 --> 00:11:09.840 each of us over on LinkedIn. Dan Sanchez, I'm James Carberry. We're 162 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:24.120 out B two B Growth is brought to you by the team at sweet Fish 163 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:28.679 Media. Here at sweet Fish we produced podcasts for some of the most innovative 164 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:31.720 brands in the world, and we help them turn those podcasts into micro videos, 165 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:35.080 LinkedIn content, blog posts, and more. We're on a mission to 166 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:48.360 produce every leader's favorite show. Want more information, visit sweet Fish Media dot com.