Podcasts have surged in popularity over the past decade, evolving from a niche medium to a mainstream form of entertainment and education. With the rise of smartphones and audio platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, people are now consuming more on-the-go content than ever before. This growing accessibility and the low cost of production have made podcasts an attractive platform for individuals, businesses, and nonprofits to share their messages and connect with audiences on a more personal level. Creagent Marketing has produced five podcasts within the community:
Overall, we’ve reached over 4,000 downloads across 5 podcasts and 120 episodes.
In a Paesanos Podcast episode, owner of Creagent Marketing Sean Lukasik sat down with Maddy Masiello, an Audio Production Manager for The New York Times. In this episode they talk about podcast and audio content and why the internet can’t seem to get enough. When asked why she thinks podcasts and audio content are thriving the way they are today, Masiello explained, “podcasting is to radio the same way streaming services are to cable, they’re becoming a new normal. You’ve taken something that not many people produced and made it on demand for everybody. It’s easy to manipulate, it’s easy to iterate and it’s very accessible in ways that other media isn’t.” This shift has opened the door for creators, businesses, and nonprofits to share their messages more freely, connecting with audiences on a deeper and more personal level than traditional media allows.
For small businesses and nonprofits, having a podcast can offer a significant impact. It provides a unique way to build a loyal community by sharing the organization’s story, mission, and values in an engaging, conversational format. “I’d like to highlight the good of podcasting. It can really bring communities together,” said Masiello. She went on to explain her experience working on a show with incredibly devoted listeners. “They created a fan base and had live shows that felt like family reunions.” Podcasts create a platform for in-depth discussions, interviews with industry professionals, and the opportunity to showcase success stories, offering value to listeners while subtly promoting services or causes. Podcasts can also help expand an organization’s reach, tapping into new audiences who prefer audio content over traditional media. For nonprofits, this can be particularly effective in fostering relationships with donors, volunteers, and supporters. For small businesses, it can help drive customer loyalty and engagement.
Are you looking to create a deeper, more personal connection with your audience? A podcast might just be exactly what you need. Interested in learning more? Click here to listen to the Paesanos Podcast episode that was discussed in this blog!
My first thought when a friend or family member tells me about a home renovation or building project is, “I’ll be right over to take some before photos!”
In many cases, when faced with a lengthy or costly project, people understandably concentrate on the job at hand. But the opportunity to document “the before” is fleeting. Too many times I have heard from folks that it occurred to them to take photos or video only after the project was complete.
Take a cue from the myriad home improvement shows that document the transformation of a property. The benchmarking shots they take before any work begins become invaluable at the show’s conclusion when we see them dissolve into the newly re-done space. The juxtaposition of those before and after shots creates maximum impact for viewers.
Telling your audience what something used to look like is one thing, showing them is another altogether.
Original Brick House Brewery website… and our recent re-design for them
At Creagent, we regularly catalog the before & after in the work we do for clients – that not only helps them see the value in the work we have done, but it also builds a strong portfolio we can show to future clients.
Some of what we do is showcasing the before and after of the work our clients themselves do. For example, the Corning Housing Partnership is all about transforming neighborhoods in our City. The most effective way to show how far we’ve come in cleaning up and improving properties around the City, is to show where we were before the work began. This recent film we made for the Partnership – showing the state of several areas of Corning, both “now” and “then” – would not have the same impact without video and photographs that were taken several years ago.
Before & after shots of Arbor Housing and Development’s Lamphear Court
Make capturing before images part of your planning process for any transformative project.
At approximately 2:27 p.m. EST, on Sunday, April 14, Twitter erupted.
At that exact moment, Tiger Woods sank a two-foot putt, winning the 2019 Masters and successfully completing one of the sports world’s most remarkable comebacks.
Just minutes later, Nike dropped a 52-second video on its social media channels starring the golfer. In a matter of moments, the video was viral – garnering more than 26 million views on Twitter and another 13 million on Instagram. Three times as many people as Nike has total followers viewed, shared, and commented on the posts.
Nike’s tweet wasn’t all that special, when you think about it. It was just a quick video, a short caption, and a hashtag. The video even lacked a narrator, it was just a collection of clips from Tiger’s past and a pretty standard music bed. Nowhere in the tweet did Nike even congratulate the golfer.
The words that flashed across the screen along with the video’s images simply read:
It’s crazy to think a 43-year-old, who has experienced every high and every low and has just won his 15th major is chasing the same dream as a 3-year-old. Just do it.
-Nike
It’s exactly that script and what the tweet didn’t say that made it so viral.
Undoubtedly, Tiger Woods is one of the most accomplished athletes in the world. His success on the links is internationally recognized, and the failures in his personal life have become just as public. He has played both the hero and the villain of his own story. People love to love him, and people love to hate him. And people really, really love to talk about him.
Once Tiger made that putt, millions of tweets – recognizing everything from his incredible comeback win to those above-mentioned personal shortcomings – were shared. Nike took full advantage of that. Their tweet simply contributed to the conversation. It was a conversation that they didn’t start themselves, so they didn’t try to control its narrative. Nike’s content was specific to Tiger Woods and incredibly relevant in the moment, yet just broad enough that people were able to take the content and make it their own.
People quoted and shared Nike’s tweet as they added their own opinions and gave their unique takes on the situation. As they continued to contribute to that global conversation, Nike’s tweet earned more and more impressions and its video collected millions of views.
Nike is a global brand, so it’s sometimes easy to assume that each piece of its marketing strategy is supported by millions of dollars worth of research and creative. That’s probably true. But, at its core, Nike’s very simple and very viral tweet can still serve as a lesson for all marketers, regardless of the size of our businesses, our budgets, or our clients.
Here are some common themes of a successful tweet that we can all take away:
Interact with your followers and attract new fans by participating in the global conversation
Increase engagement by sharing original, highly relevant content
Make that content more shareable by limiting how “salesy” it is
Don’t try to control the narrative, join a conversation and let your fans, your content, and your do the work
Nike did all of the above. Its homage to Tiger wasn’t just a congratulatory nod. It was a well-timed, calculated yet simple, extremely successful social media marketing effort – one that deserves just as much recognition as Tiger’s historic victory.
