This blog post, authored by Joe Stone, was originally written for and published by Jam Street Media on Oct 23, 2019 , and is no longer publicly available.
Company-wide presentations are usually horrible things to endure. Not only is there lots of false motivation, pep talks, and team-building exercises, but it also pulls us away from our work when there are already plenty of other distractions. There’s nothing worse than sitting through an hour plus of some executives beating their war drums and attempting to rally the troops when you have a full pile of stuff you’re trying to work through.
Now we know that some of you disagree and probably get starry-eyed over these things. Or perhaps you enjoy the break and free lunch catered by Subway. We get it. Subway is delicious.
But, while you’re there grinning away at the bosses, many of us are doing an eye roll (or few) while we sit there drumming our fingers thinking about all the things we should or could be doing.
Can’t I listen to some other time? As it turns out, yes!
Internal podcasts are an excellent way for executives to reach their employees on a personal level -- that doesn’t involve pulling them away from work just to sit in a mandatory company-wide presentation that no one really wants to be at anyway. Internal podcasts can be used to help promote company culture, events, and add clarity to internal or public-facing issues as well. Plus, it also allows remote workers, satellite offices, or average worker bees access to leadership on their terms.
But is it right for your company?
If your employee count numbers in the thousands or you are spread across multiple places (to include having remote workers), then yes, it would be hugely beneficial.
You could send an email or newsletter but know this -- people aren’t reading as much as they used to. According to data at the Bureau of Labor And Statistics (BLS), readership in the US has dropped more than 30% since 2004 - while podcast listening has increased by 30% in the last ten years. Coincidence? Probably.
Really though, it just further signals our move away from consuming text-based media to more a visual and audio based that’s easily consumable and, wait for it, on-demand.
To see if your employees would be receptive to something like this, try doing a poll. Maybe they’d prefer video instead. And if you went that route, you could also very easily repurpose it into a podcast. Win, Win.
NEWS YOU CAN USE
Men do this more.
Women do it longer.
Edison Research has published its SheListens report, and it has some interesting tidbits about podcasts. Fewer women (29%) than men (36%) have listened to podcasts in the last month - BUT women listen more, consuming 7.3 hours a week on average, compared 5.9 hours by men.
What A Day
Crooked Media, the creators of the super popular Pod Save America podcast, is launching its 13th podcast on October 28th. What A Day is a daily news brief that covers the top news in a 15-minute long podcast. They have plans to launch a couple dozen more shows in the next couple of years.
BPI Podcast of the Week - TRAINED
This Portland, Oregon based company known for its athletic shoes, brand domination and marketing prowess * cough * NIKE * cough, cough * is back with their Trained podcast. As one might expect, its sole purpose (see what I did there?) is helping you become a better, more physically fit, you.
It's hosted by Ryan Flaherty, the Senior Director of Performance for Nike who isn't just some talking head either. This guy specializes in training elite athletes like Saquon Barkley, Russel Wilson, and Marcus Mariotta. Each episode starts with the host introducing listeners to the podcast -- which is excellent if you jump right in the middle of the season like me. Then he presents his guests before they dig into their story and how they stay fit and also maintain balance in their life. It's pretty motivational.
Listen to Trained by Nike.
Want to get the Branded Podcast Insider directly in your inbox? Subscribe.
Comments