If you were to survey most folks in the podcast space, they’d tell you that the primary problem they face is surfacing their content: Discovery. That, of course, is the natural perception you’d expect to find among people with too-small audiences who can’t reconcile the size of their audience with the scale of the always-on, worldwide distribution provided by the Internet. My show is available everywhere and all-the-time! So what’s the problem? Well, let’s assume the problem

How to win the war for attention. And… I am Keats, and so are you! Plus, rants and raves about TV promos missing the boat, and what happens when the company that makes checks thinks they can convince millennials to use them. It’s episode 57 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the play button below: And if you’re reading this by email, click here for the audio. Sam

Look out! The attention economy is collapsing! And… ABC Family Channel rebrands as “Freeform” – and who cares? It’s episode 35 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Plus, rants and raves on yet another reference to the tired Oreo “dip in the dark” social media tactic, the mysterious connection – if any – between social media wins and TV ratings wins, and a tribute to the legendary David Bowie. Listen as we go inside media to

Think fame isn’t a formula? Think again. And RLM Public Relations head Richard Laermer is going to spell it out for you. A frequently-quoted authority on media culture and hype, Richard is a PR visionary, former journalist, and author of five bestselling books including 2011: Trendspotting, Punk Marketing, Full Frontal PR, and the forthcoming How To Fame. Here are just some of the questions we covered in this conversation at hivio 2015: What are the “how to fame” commandments

Lots of people have been talking about the phenomenon of This American Life’s Serial podcast and what it has meant to the booming ecosystem of on-demand audio. But there’s more to the story. There’s something nobody’s talking about. And that’s how Serial demonstrated with great clarity how to disrupt public radio. Now I’m not making a value judgment here. Disruption is neither good, nor bad. It just is. And if you’re a content-maker, disruption of traditional content/distribu

When I read trade headlines like “who will lead Radio?” the implication is that there is this silo called “radio” which is independent from and not subject to the constraints of every other silo in the media space known by every other label. But radio really is a gift of attention by those who are interested in our brands and in all their marvelous forms across all platforms. And gifts don’t necessarily keep on giving. Tech guru Om Malik put this well: Media companies are tho

The entire category of cable news is suffering a ratings slide. So acknowledges Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes. But what’s his solution? How will he turn the cable news ratings situation around? Well it turns out that’s asking the wrong question. In fact, CNN’s response has been to add specialty shows which are decidedly not “cable news” per se – shows like Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, a new show from Mike Rowe, and custom-produced documentaries. That is, CNN is broadening th

It’s called: Solving Radio’s Attention Crisis. What attention crisis, you may ask? Watch this presentation and find out, because the ratings for all of radio have been steadily declining for years and there are only two solutions to this problem. In this presentation, I explain both. This is a super-important presentation that shares some Arbitron statistics you probably have not seen – stats that folks in radio do not like to acknowledge. But to make plans you need to begin

This is Part 2 of my special conversation with branding guru and author Tom Asacker. If you missed Part 1 go here. Tom and I talk about his new book, The Business of Belief: How the World’s Best Marketers, Designers, Salespeople, Coaches, Fundraisers, Educators, Entrepreneurs and Other Leaders Get Us to Believe Watch the complete Q&A here, or skip to Part 2 of the abbreviated transcript below. If consumer desire precedes interest, how does the marketer effectively tap in to t

He stops traffic.  Literally. When my wife and I take him to public places crowds swarm around him, iPhones clicking away. He’s Otis, our 145-pound Newfoundland.  And he teaches the lesson of attention. Attention is scarce always – never more than today.  Bright and shiny objects abound, many of which substitute for the same or similar functions of the traditional radio experience, but always with something new.  These objects compete for our limited attention, and it’s the t

So the early results are in in the battle between DirecTV and Viacom, and they’re not pretty – for Viacom. Thanks to a deal dispute, Viacom has been off DirecTV for several days.  That is, distribution – attention – has been reduced.  And the impact has been dramatic. According to the LA Times, Nickelodeon’s ratings are off 33% as a result…. MTV’s total day average went from almost 500,000 viewers on July 10 to 273,000 on July 13, a 43% dip. VH1 has dropped almost 30% of its

Why doesn’t radio get more love given (as we’re always reminded) that almost everybody listens to it almost all the time in almost every place? This is one of the industry’s greatest frustrations, and it’s particularly frustrating when advertisers and others in the know echo themes popular in the cultural ether.  Themes like “Pandora is really cannibalizing radio” and “Sirius XM is really eating your lunch.” This is a problem I discussed at length with marketing blogger extra

“The key to getting and holding attention is having something new happen continually.” So writes Nancy Duarte in her terrific book Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences What are you doing to earn attention? Remember, attention is earned, not forced.  Promotion may be designed to result in attention, but attention is the audience’s gift to you, not a toll you levy on them that they are forced to pay.  People must give it willingly and only because you deser