Listen Up to Web 3.0 and NFTs

Marketing Lesson of The Week

► NFT.NYC Takes Over Times Square

Filled with this sense of freedom, we were inspired by a fellow attendee at CEX (Creator Economy Expo) to attend NFT.NYC. BTW, my husband was fortunate to run into our friend in the elevator at NFT.NYC as he was running to catch an airplane.

Heidi Cohen makes the Radio City Music Hall Stage (almost)

NFT.NYC ticked the entire marketing checklist:

• Low cost (but short decision time);
• No travel since it was in our home city, and
• Covered the “hot” new topics of Web 3.0 including NFTs and more.

To check the event out, We pinged a few friends who are on the “bleeding edge” of Web 3.0 technology and their companies were sponsors.

Having felt this way about MAICON 2019 and Voice Summit 2019, we jumped in with both feet.

What we didn’t expect:

• 15,000+ attendees (I’ve never attended Inbound since it was too large. Personally, I prefer attending the newer events when they’re small and you “really” can meet people. This is how you become part of the “OG”)
• 10 stages across 7 iconic Broadway-adjacent locations. The event took up multiple floors of the Marriott Marquis. While the Marriott Marquis can be a difficult hotel to navigate whether you’re a guest or attending an event, NFT.NYC did a great job of processing registrations.

The event packed a ton of content into 3 days. Namely, they presented 1,506 speakers and panelists. In addition, they hosted 412 community and satellite activities. To keep tract of them, you needed to be plugged into both Discord and Telegram.

Further, NYT.NYC attracted 307 sponsors/exhibitors. They held demonstrations in a number of locations.

While Tuesday, June 21st was the Summer Solstice celebrated by a yoga group that took over the corner space south of TKTS on West 47th Street. They accommodated NFT.NYC so they could have their cheer at the opening of the NASDAQ.

NFT.NYC sponsors took over many of the billboards.

My favorite moment: Seeing Spike Lee interviewed at Radio City Music Hall.

Actionable Marketing Tips

• Create speaking time slots that make sense. It’s physically impossible to get from Radio City Music Hall to the 6th floor of the Marriott Marquis in under 15 minutes—even if you run and know how to zigzag your way around Times Square.The NFT.NYC schedule was so packed that it was difficult to know what to do. So once you found a location and a place to sit, the session you wanted to see may not happen.
• Make The Most of Your Speaking Time. When you run a panel talk to your participants before the event and give them a set of relevant questions. As a panelist, the way to shine is to have a short Tweet-able gem. In many sessions, the panelists acted like they met for the first time.
• Have great moderators. They excel at cutting off someone who is hogging the mike without being rude. Also, they know how to keep the show on schedule.
• Give attendees time to spend with your sponsors. They’re the ones paying your bills. So don’t make them feel like they’re on a treasure hunt for the best swag. They want and need time to build a conversation that will develop into a relationship.
• Treat the media well. Don’t bombard them with press requests. Rather offer them time and space so that your sponsors and speakers can talk with them. As I can tell you from experience, everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame and they want to look good.

Voice Talks

► When ProfG Talks, Maybe You Should Listen?

People have listened to stories told around the campfire for centuries. For many of us this morphed into bedtime tales to lure us to sleep. As the Heath brothers proved, stories make us remember things. Hearing them told in a human voice adds depth and meaning to them.

So it’s no surprise that radio is the oldest form of mass broadcast media. By 1938, 4 out of every 5 US homes had a radio and close to 700 stations offered a variety of different genres of content. (Source: ProfGalloway)

Once television arrived on the scene and continued to improve its quality and quantity of content, it relegated radio to less glamorous locations or when people needed background noise.

For radio, context reigns supreme even today. For example, despite having a television in her open plan kitchen, my mother listened to the radio while she cooked. It was always WQXR, the classical radio station of the New York Times.

At least in the US, most radio is terrestrial. This means that it covers a specified territorial region. And, it must meet certain FTC requirements. Although podcasting and other forms of audio distribution allow stations to broaden their listenership.

But for many radio stations, their listenership is local and loyal. From a marketing perspective, this adds to the relationship between the listener and the advertiser.

Before our recent driving trips, I would have been surprised to learn that AM/FM radio continued to dominate audio share as shown by this Edison Research from 2021. While we had smartphones, the cars we rented required additional fees or were unable to connect to our music.

In his last “No Malice, No Mercy”, entitled “All Ears”, Professor Scott Galloway talks about podcasting, the content at the heart of voice. Podcasting provides audio content with a second golden age due to new forms of digital distribution and mobile listening.

While I’ve written about podcasting since I was a columnist at ClickZ, I knew that the trend hit mainstream when my LA-based sister told me that she listened to podcasts on her 1+ hour commute.

Galloway was fortunate to do his first podcast with Kara Swisher on her ReCode podcast 5 years ago. After it became the most downloaded episode, they tested it out a few more times and now have a podcast that gets 2+ million downloads per month. These are numbers you can take to the bank. #YourMileageMayVary

As Galloway points out:

“… [P]eople craved the contact only audio can provide. Podcasting became the fastest growing sector of any U.S. media category, with revenue increasing 72% between 2020 and 2021.”

Why?
Because people needed and sought human connection.

Actionable Marketing Lesson

Test the waters for different types of content creation and distribution. Start small and put yourself out there on different podcast programs. You’ll only learn by doing.

At Creator Economy Expo, Roberto Blake expressed the same idea:
“You have to make your first 100 bad videos before you can make your good ones.”

The key to success remains the same:
Create content on a regular schedule over time.

Of course the ease of creating and entering the podcast ecosystem means that you have a LOT of competition. Don’t let the number scare you–It’s 4+ million. But like many forms of content, just start by finding your 1,000 true fans.

Before you jump into the fray, listen to Orbit Media’s Andy Crestodina who advises you to “niche down.”

As Tom Webster said in his Podcast Movement 2021 Keynote:

For someone to read, view or listen to your content, they have to stop consuming someone else’s. 

Webster made his point by pouring water into a glass. After pouring enough water into the glass for a person’s current listening, the water overflowed to add more listening.

Actionable Marketing Tips

• Start by listening to a variety of different types of podcasts so you understand what works and what doesn’t.
• Create a few practice podcasts using the tools you already have in your phone and computer. Then get feedback on it.

NYC Marketing Minute

► Gay Pride Dresses Up The Neighborhood

In my neighborhood of New York City, every business is trying to get their windows and messaging right for Gay Pride Month. Businesses have been trying to out do each other to see who is the most gay-friendly.

Originally catering to a hip-hop crowd, the restaurant down the street from my apartment created an altar of balloons in pride colors across an awning overhanging the sidewalk. It looked so ready made for a gay wedding that it attracted a non-stop line of people waiting to take their carefully posed selfie.

Unfortunately, within a day or two, the balloons had deflated hanging upside down sending the wrong type of message.

No surprise – By prime Happy Hour time on Friday, the balloons were gone.

While my neighborhood has been dressed in its rainbow best all month. This past Sunday, the Gay Pride parade came down 5th Avenue from Madison Square Park to Greenwich Village.

The gay sports bar a few doors to the west of us was low-keyed at least on the street level. They had an orderly line of people waiting to access their establishment and to celebrate with their besties. It’s a big switch from its early days when they published colored dog paws to their front door.

Why?
They didn’t need to because their key target audience knows about them and visit when they’re in the neighborhood or in the mood.

While they have a noisy outdoor area in the back, they do try to be nice to their neighbors even if they have different values and priorities.

Actionable Marketing Lesson

Respect your broader audience regardless of their race, religion, sexual identification or other differences. Realize that people’s differences may not always be visible or auditory.

When speaking to your friends, really listen to what they have to say and how they feel about their differences. Understand that not everybody will be accepting.

Marketing Reads

► 100+ Free Summer Content Titles To Make You Look Good No Inspiration Required

Need content marketing inspiration? Use these 100+ free summer content titles to spark your creativity. Then fill your editorial calendar with content marketing.

► Can Social Media Build Real Life Relationship That Will Make You Happy?

Since people are feeling more alone post-pandemic, maybe there are ways to improve our connectedness via social media.

Marketing Training

►  How To Be A Content Entrepreneur?

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► Personal Branding Masterclass

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August 2nd through August 18th, 2022

Plan Ahead: Mark Your Calendar

► MAICON 2022 – August 3-5th, 2022 in Cleveland, OH.

The Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference (MAICON), returns to an in-person event this year. Check out MAICON’s schedule of upcoming webinars.

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