The best talent and minds in the radio industry can boast a strong understanding of a century-old medium. But while radio professionals see the huge potential in podcasting – both as an additional revenue source as well as an opportunity to build stronger brands by delivering on-demand content – it isn’t always easy to for a mass media company to launch a podcasting program.
Luckily, Blubrry has a solution for that.
“We are a small media market within a medium media market,” says Zack East, Digital Media Manager for Midwest Family Broadcasting in Benton Harbor, MI, “Our consumers are thirsty for local content, swimming in a sea of out-of-state and corporate television and print.” Still, while management understood the value of podcasting, rolling out an organized effort to begin producing podcasts proved difficult until the company discovered Blubrry’s all-in-one solutions.
Here, East shares the five things he most appreciates about being a Professional level Blubrry hosting customer.
Ease of Use:
While most of the company’s on-air talent was already producing some podcasts, the popular service they were using was cumbersome and required a lot of extra effort from the already-busy staff. After switching to Blubrry, he says, “we spoke with our staffs across six radio stations and explained how they never have to insert code again, that they could do everything in one step inside their station’s WordPress website, that they didn’t have to deal with more usernames and passwords, and that their podcasts will show up among their station’s blog posts,” explains East. “Needless to say, it went really well! And, as we all know, if it’s easy to do, there’s less chance someone will ‘forget’ to get it done.”
Accessibility for Listeners:
Ease of use for the listener is also key, says East. “I am a big believer in accessibility. The more accessible material is to the consumer, the better chance they’ll give it a listen.” Blubrry’s Subscribe on Android feature was a particular hit with the staff, many of whom use Android devices and had found the process of subscribing to podcasts time-consuming. Blubrry’s attractive, innovative media player was also well-received as a great way to introduce less technologically-oriented listeners to the world of podcasts.
A Streamlined Solution:
With six radio stations housed under one roof and a lean management team, there isn’t always a lot of time to individually coach each on-air personality through a lengthy process of publishing, promoting, and sharing podcasts. That’s why Blubrry’s suite of complementary services was such a breath of fresh air to East and his team. “This idea of keeping podcast content and stories or blogs all in one place is just magical. Who would have thought that we could easily marry a lot of tech together with such little effort? And, if we are able to explain to our listeners that EVERYTHING you hear on the air – the stories we talk about, the songs we play, the chance to see our social media or listen live, can all be found at the same website – they’ll be more likely to use us and come back,” he says.
More Opportunities To Monetize Content:
Of course, any media company’s primary goal is to be profitable, so a podcast program has to promise more than just personal satisfaction. East is finding that the “easy button” nature of Blubrry’s services has made it much easier to define the benefits and potential for sales staff and advertisers who may want to sponsor a podcast or even buy a client-focused podcast of their own. And the staff workload is so much less. “We don’t have to create a brand new website just to help them host a podcast either,” he says.
World-Class Stats:
In any media buy situation, potential advertisers want to know one thing: how many people are listening, and who are they? Blubrry’s top-notch analytics make it easy for the team at MWFB to determine and communicate those numbers. “When we talked as a radio company about how we could monetize what we produce for our podcasts using our local sales staff, metrics were the number one concern. Most of our stations’ staff had been podcasting using other random services, most of which have no analytics for free. Since our sales staff is used to using our listening and digital infographics to help sell our products and audiences, it was integral that our podcasts also have just as much data. We were ecstatic to find out that Blubrry had data we didn’t think we could track from podcasting – most of it for free,” says East. “And, having data accessible to our airstaff, our clients and our sales people helps all of them justify the time and money spent on these sometimes major projects of producing a great product.”
Here at Blubrry, our focus has always been on handling the technology details so that talent can concentrate on what they’re best at: creating high-quality, compelling content. That goal explains why a small-but-mighty, locally-focused broadcasting company decided to trust Blubrry with its fledgling podcasting program. We believe that other broadcast companies, big and small, could learn something from that kind of forward thinking – and we’ll continue to be here, creating the products and services that fuel their success.