Owned: Barstool Sports

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.