How to Write Podcast Ads That Sell (Part 1); Oprah Expands Her Podcast Empire; Advertising’s New Medium: Your Dreams?

So you’re ready to launch your podcast campaign. You’ve chosen the right shows, and you’re ready to bring your message to the masses. Podcasters are pros, so all you have to do is send them a few bullet points and let them do the rest, right? Wrong. If you haven’t crafted an ad that’s been designed to elicit the very best response, your podcast campaign will be dead on arrival.

Regardless of who’s reading your copy, it needs structure to make it actually work. Our proprietary system, Audiolytics™, ensures your creative is structured to enrich the value of your media schedule. We audit every piece of ad copy that goes into the market based on 9 key messaging components & 71 sub-components proven to influence human behavior, ensuring optimal response. Last month, Oxford Road’s Creative Director Stew Redwine partnered with the weekly newsletter, Sounds Profitable to not only explain the Audiolytics™ framework but also used it to create an ad for the newsletter itself.

While we shared a link to the article in the Influencer at the time of publication, it demands more than a casual mention. So while the Media Roundtable podcast is on summer break, please allow us to dive a little deeper into the mechanics of how to write podcast ads (or really any persuasive message you want to convey) that actually work. Get out a notebook and a No. 2 pencil, click here to start the class…

The Classifieds

Are You Man Enough?

Self-improvement podcasts are sure-fire performers for many of our b2b clients, and this one seems interesting, to say the least. On The Man Enough Podcast, actor-director Justin Baldoni, longtime collaborator Jamey Heath and prominent masculinity expert Liz Plank, engage in intimate, open conversations with high-profile figures to investigate how traditional structures and attitudes toward things like success and failure, fatherhood, body image, privilege, and relationships, hold back, oppress and negatively affect men, women, and humanity. The guest list includes A-lists like Matthew McConaughey, Shawn Mendes, Karamo Brown, and Glennon Doyle. This show will sell out quickly, so if you’re interested in partnering, you need to “man up” now.

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Oprah’s Podcast Club’s Next Hit

As we said, Self-Improvement podcasts are where it’s at. That’s why we want you to check out the newest podcast launching as part of Oprah’s Super Soul podcast feed. Essential Teachings by Eckhart Tolle is a new weekly podcast series from one of the great spiritual thinkers of our time. Eckhart’s wisdom will help you learn to quiet your mind, separate your ego from your true self and live a fully present life. Essential Teachings will provide a path to discover an enlightened state of consciousness for its listeners. Oprah says Eckhart transformed her life and hopes his “Essential Teachings” will inspire you to seek your own higher purpose. It has been declared by Oprah – buy this show if you know what’s good for you.

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In Case You Missed It

Apple’s Tracking Spawns Increased Spend on Android

The impact of Apple’s user-privacy crackdown is starting to take shape and unsurprisingly, advertisers are increasing their spending on Android. According to ad-measurement firm Tenjin Inc., the amount of advertiser spending on Apple’s mobile platform has fallen by about 33% in June, while spending on Android rose over 10% for the same month. We will undoubtedly continue to see Android prices climb as the lack of “granular data that made mobile ads on iOS devices effective and justified their prices” continues to erode. But while digital’s grip on tracking your performance is dwindling, the ability to track audio performance is getting better, despite Apple’s changes. So before you overpay for digital, consider diversifying.

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Advertisers Hijacking Your Dreams

Digital Marketing experts estimate that the average American is bombarded by four to ten thousand ads every day. But some marketers have set their sights on your unwaking hours, and it’s cursing a stir. Earlier this year, Coors launched a new advertising campaign for the Super Bowl that encouraged people to watch a short online video before bed, then play an eight-hour ‘soundscape’ throughout the night in an attempt to use “targeted dream incubation” (TDI) to have people buy more of their beer. The brazen attempt is getting pushback from the scientific community who’s calling the move a “corporate assault of our very sense of who we are.” Bob Stickgold, a cognitive neuroscientist at Harvard, and 34 other sleep and dream researchers have signed an open letter calling for a total ban (TDI) advertising to avoid a very possible future where “advertisers buy advertising time on smart devices, and nobody ever knows they’re hearing them.” So for now, before getting bullish on your TDI marketing strategy, consider sticking to a lucid audience.

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Uncovering The Good in Advertising

We’ve covered two stories about the uglier side of advertising this week, but we’ll close it out with what advertising can be when it’s at its best. Forbes Communications Council member Ingrid Burton wrote an article that outlines what advertising looks like when it’s doing good, and shares some practical tips for advertisers to do the same. Burton’s tips; understand your audience, be true to the brand, and test your messaging. By channeling the potential good that advertising can bring, Burton argues that “whether you are a brand, an agency or a publisher, the right ads at the right moment will not only benefit your business but also all of us as consumers.” Go forth and do good, dear Influencers.

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