Sophie Buonassisi’s Post

You’ve probably heard the news about the Crossbeam x Reveal merger. Next week on July 17th, I’ll be going live with the CEOs who have joined forces as they share a behind the scenes on the merger and what the future of Crossbeam and Ecosystem-Led Growth (ELG) looks like. A major benefit of this session is the opportunity to have your specific questions answered by Bob Moore and Simon Bouchez. If you have any, send me a DM. I'll try not to throw toooo many curve balls at them ⚾ Save a seat to attend live or to receive the on-demand recording: https://lnkd.in/gG9d_Gyx

Podcasts can be more than just a single touchpoint for sponsors. However, I’ve noticed that sponsors are often excluded from various distribution channels. This applies to all media and events, not just podcasts. But let’s take podcasts as an example. From running sponsorships across our media (GTMnow) and events (GTMfund), I’ve found that demand generation and brand impact for partners can be dramatically amplified with a simple equation: Inclusion x Distribution In my experience, many podcasts miss opportunities to fully include their sponsors. Here’s what I’ve observed: - Sometimes, sponsors are not included in the video version. - They’re often missing from the show notes. - They’re not always featured in the email channel of the podcast. On Monday, I was listening to a podcast via Spotify during a drive but paused it for a phone call. Yesterday, I picked it back up but on YouTube. To my surprise, the sponsor wasn’t mentioned on YouTube - not verbally, visually, or in the show notes. This particular podcast had 3.9k views in the first 24 hours on YouTube alone, which means the sponsor missed out on significant exposure. Here’s how we integrate our sponsors for maximum impact. Current coverage: -- Podcast feed (verbal) - Apple, Spotify, etc. -- Podcast feed (verbal + visual) - YouTube. -- Show notes in all directories (written, with direct link) - Apple, Spotify, YouTube, etc. -- Email x2 (visual + written, with direct link) - see image screenshot example. -- Website (visual + written, with direct link) - These are all evergreen that live on in perpetuity. Currently not covered: -- Social posts: Would be too busy and divergent from the value provided to the audience in terms of takeaways, etc. Instead, we redirect them to directories/platforms to consume the podcast where exposure to sponsors will be. A podcast can be more than just a single touchpoint. The way we view it is that the decision to bring on a sponsor isn't a light one, it's a commitment to driving impact together. "Demand gen partner", "pipeline partner"... there must be a better word but I digress - terminology is irrelevant as long as sponsors are receiving the maximum possible exposure and value from their partnership with us.

If I could give any advice to a marketer starting a new role, one piece would be to hit the road as early as possible. For me that was Week 2 and then later planned a little road show and spent a couple weeks on the road. When you have the ability to be eye-to-eye and shoulder-to-shoulder with your customers/audience, you can understand what matters to them in a depth that isn't otherwise possible. ☑ How can we better serve them? ☑ What's their perception of the brand? Marry that with data to inform strategy, because those are the anecdotes you'll never get from the quantitative numbers alone. -- For context: GTMnow is GTMfund's media brand, sharing advice from working with 100+ portfolio companies and the insight of 350+ GTM leader LPs behind the fund. Real expert insight and advice from the top 1% of executives who have been there, done that.